Cavendish pulls it out yesterday, solo.

Wow.

Makes me glad I went for gold piping on my spandex shorts.

Best to be flashy.

He's something else. I bet on Sagan today. He's been unstoppable lately in tough finishes. Who you rooting for in Paris? I think Cadel has a slight edge, but it's a long race. I always like to root for a Brajkovic kind of rider.

I have to say that I am not so much pulling for Evans, as I am for Big George to lead yet another team to yet another victory, in his final season.

It is impressive to see how much work he's doing, yet again, as the Lt., keeping Evans on the front, and hammering the group...making sure the team is focused and on point with impeccable timing and aggressiveness.

It's just a show of the veteran leader doing his thing...leading the team, and still incredibly powerful.

George deserves a lot of respect. I dont think Cadel had/has a chance w/o him.

I wish I knew more riders and stuff, but I am really getting into it this year. Quite an exciting finish yesterday from Cavendish!

I first started following the TDF back around '89 or so when Greg LeMond won his 2nd tour after recovering from a hunting accident. I also watched it while Indurain was tearing up the courses. Very exciting then. Then along come Lance Armstrong, whom must be a descendant of Superman!... I haven't really followed it much since Lance's 7th victory tho. I don't think that record will ever be broken in my lifetime, and I just turned 55 a couple days ago.

ONE RULE IN THIS THREAD

Do NOT spill the beans (announce who won) until THE NEXT DAY.

I couldn't watch live this morning so I will watch the repeat/highlights at 8pm tonight.

Hmm.

Hey Paul, stick with listening to Phil and Paul and you'll get to know the key players pretty quick. Most important is to find out who the "team leader" is, what his strength is (and the team's strength and goal) and be able to ID the team around him and watch them do their thing...or try to.

For example, so far this year...with Cadel Evans as last year's winner, Team BMC is just trying to keep him out of the crashes, and up close to any other contenders. So, the "real" Leader within BMC...Big George Hincapie serves as his lieutenant, just as he did Lance in ALL of his victories, and as he did Cadel last year in his FIRST victory). So, this year, we are seeing the legendary George front and center pulling Cadel up front time and time again...FLYING up past the pack, or hammering away on the front to wear the peloton out. It's amazing, after all these years, to see him still doing these super human feats.

Jens Voight is another like this. And Popovych "Popo", both on Radio Shack this year. These are real men who will absolutely kill themselves to get the "team leader" where he needs to be.

Phenomenal.

I will never get over watching George stay in the Tour a few years ago, with a broken collar bone, when he was on Team Columbia and had Cavendish as the sprinter. That team just thrashed anyone who tried to stop them. So, in the final stage, coming into Paris, Team Garmin tried their best to disrupt Columbia's lead out train...over and over. But the Columbia team was calm, cool, disciplined, and able to improvise. Then Big George, with broken collar bone, led them behind Garmin, waited until the right moment, and exploded out past them and just left them hanging.

Stud.

Then, once they had won the final stage, he reported to the doctor for x-rays.

And he's from my home town in SC.

You have to take the group spirit in account, if you want to bet on who wins. You have to be a strong cyclist, but if the group dislikes you, they won't let you win.

The first week or so is the toughest. A lot of pedal turning & sprint finishes while the real cOntenders lay in wait trying not to get into trouble. When things start to point upward, I really get into it. Tactics are alway fun to guess. Who will go first, where will they make their move. Last year Andy, let some time gO on a finish so they would let him go the next day. It didn't really work out for him in the end, But it was interesting to watch

I haven't watched any of le tour this year... All the doping has just left a bad taste in my mouth. I sure do miss Phil & Paul's commentary filling my house tho.

I feel about the same. I'm more interested in the Giro for the same reason. Less controversy. You have guys like Sagan who have been a little "too good" all year & all the focus is on a guy who won the tour, what, 8 yrs ago?

Sorry, 10 yrs ago!

I haven't watched any of le tour this year... All the doping has just left a bad taste in my mouth. I sure do miss Phil & Paul's commentary filling my house tho.

Damn ruger9, you're doing it wrong, you're supposed to inject it, not ingest it

If that is your litmus test, than NASCAR is all you're left with. All pro and college athletes are doing something.

I covered a couple stages of the Tour in '99 -- Armstrong's 1st win -- for Fox Sports. It was cool of course, and at the time I was living in Paris, which made it even cooler since it was a great year all in all. I remember we interviewed Tyler Hamilton, at the time a domestique for Lance, this was of course long before his expulsion for doping.

Aside from the doping nonsense, I've always been caught up by the glamor of pro cycling, but never bothered to look at the details. Now I'm learning it's all in the details, as you lay out Steve. If by Phil and Paul you mean those two smart Brits who provide such excellent commentary -- well yes, it's through their coverage that I am finally learning what goes into pro cycling at the rider level.

That second stage, what was it, 200+ kilometers? Effin' incredible. And these guys are moving how fast at top speeds? Up to 40+ m.p.h.? Then there's the strategy and tactics of racing, the points, the sprints, pacing oneself, timing, avoiding crashes, the awfulness of the crashes when they happen, riding hurt, and so forth... and I ride a road bike just a little so to think of what these guys do, dope or no dope, it's just huge.

I missed stage 3 on Tuesday and 4 because of the holiday.

Can't wait to get back to it, as I find it pretty riveting.

AND IT'S CLEAR THIS SPORT IS NOT FOR SISSIES:

Stage 4 1.59pm: The original field of 198 riders has been reduced by three: Sky lost Kanstantin Svitsov to a broken leg yesterday, while Movistar will have to make do without Jose Rojas, who suffered a broken a collarbone. Rabobank's Maarten Tjallingii has also withdrawn from the race after cycling the last 40 kilometres of yesterday's stage with a broken hip.

Not for sissies at all. It's a painful sport of extreme endurance. It's impossible to explain to someone who hasn't ridden 130 miles with 15,000' of climbing in a day, let alone 5 days of it in a row after two weeks of racing.
If anyone has no respect for Lance Armstrong, it had better be for Doping. I'm not a huge Armstrong fan but, give someone an hour lead going into the tour de france(anyone), 7 years in a row & see how many of those they win. The fact is, anyone who can win 7 in a row has pulled off a miracle. There are daily crashes to avoid, unanticipated anomalies(Wind, train tracks, bike problems, weather) which can, in a matter of seconds, ruin your chance at winning. It was an impossible feat, given any advantage.

If that is your litmus test, than NASCAR is all you're left with. All pro and college athletes are doing something.

And I disrespect every one of them that does.

Baseball is pretty much the only sport I watch now, and then only occasionally, I have plenty of complaints about that sports as well... McQuire's HR record means nothing to ME.

UNLIKE music, which I love to watch as much as I love to play, watching sports for me has fallen by the wayside...I still love to ride, I'm just not interested in watching others do it, wondering if their doped up, going to get their tdf title revoked next year... sports are supposed to be about who's the best, not who can inject the most substances the most often w/o getting caught.

I'm against the ridiculous controversy more than anything. Every year since Lance won, the Giro ends & It's just a matter of time til' some big doping scandal is announced right before the tour. It's real downer. I'd love to see a clean tour with no scandal. Doubt it will ever happen again. There is always some new way to cheat or get an edge. It's been happening in every sport since the beginning. Do research on Smokey Yunick. There's always a way to bend the rules. Sometimes it's called innovation. Sometimes it blatant cheating. People will do just about anything to win. & People can justify just about anything, in their mind. It's one of our greatest flaws & assets.

I did 45 miles on my new bike today - 2011 Specialized Roubaix

Too many crashes this year, wiping out the sprinters and main contenders...today finally swapped the standings around a bit.

Unfortunate, some young hopefulls were taken out in crashes. If all goes well from here on out, were are looking at the 3 podium guys pretty early in the race. Wiggins is a great TT guy, Evans is a tough SOB & Nibali could be great

New bike 2nd ride, this time with a better saddle. It came with a gel saddle that, with my chamois, made it feel like riding on a pile of jello

I'm putting on a Fizik Arione...hard as a rock.

Unreal the crashes this year. So many sprint teams, no one dominant sprint team (like Columbia) and little "selection" in the courses to spread things out. And then just driver errors, like Farrar leaning into somebody who was no longer there. Tough luck.

And Cancellara showed once again the fight worthy of the Yellow. Team Sky already looks like a pro team in the mountains.

I did 45 miles on my new bike today - 2011 Specialized Roubaix

Too many crashes this year, wiping out the sprinters and main contenders...today finally swapped the standings around a bit.

So it's about 22.5 miles one way from your place to the gay bar? LINK

New bike 2nd ride, this time with a better saddle. It came with a gel saddle that, with my chamois, made it feel like riding on a pile of jello

I'm putting on a Fizik Arione...hard as a rock.

I sold my bike when I moved to Idaho as there are mostly dirt roads here. I had an old Brooks B17 on it. The best saddle ever made!