Hellooooo? Anyone watching the Tour?

[kelownagirl]

Tired of all the drugs and disappointment. They're all cheaters - even Lance. Not watching it any more.

[BikeMomma]

....Fabian Cancellara. He. Is. Specialized. Team CSC also has Carlos Sastre, Jens Voight, Stuart O'Grady, and Bjarne Riis for team manager. I'd say these guys will be a force. Maybe podium, but we'll see. It really is a toss-up this year. Hopefully clean too....but...dare we hope.

I must say how disgusted I am that Team Astana couldn't get in, especially after all the public outcry to let them race. Now them -- they would kick some tail.

I've got a hill ride in the morning, but you know the dvr will be recording everything!

~BikeMomma

[Kalidurga]

Well, Schmalz is watching, and that's enough for me.

[deedolce]

Carlos Sastre. I am watching it later, with club friends and a bbq, this early eve.

[sundial]

I'm gonna support the underdogs. I hope David Miller works some magic and wins a stage. We set the DVR so we can watch it commercial free.

[dachshund]

I'm gonna support the underdogs. I hope David Miller works some magic and wins a stage. We set the DVR so we can watch it commercial free.

Yeah, but don't miss the bike ads.

[KnottedYet]

I'm housesitting for a friend who has cable, so I can watch!

got up at 5:00 this morning (well, a little before, actually) and was glued to the TV until it was over.

I'm rooting for Garmin/Chipotle and Columbia. The commentators were saying that Columbia is going thru the same self-testing stuff Garmin/Chipotle is doing. I hadn't known that. Cool.

Two teams I can root for!

[sah]

Fabian is on CSC, they ride CERVELO.

[Popoki_Nui]

I'm watching today's recap now. I'm kinda hoping the TdF will rekindle my desire to ride; I've totally lost it, haven't been on a bike in a month and don't miss it a bit.

Well...maybe a little.....

We have a rider from right here in Victoria on the Garmin Chipotle team, so I'll be rootin'for them. Wish they were riding Cervelo's, though....

[BikeMomma]

Fabian is on CSC, they ride CERVELO.

Yea - I was really mocking Bettini's commercials: "I y'am Paulo Bettini. I. Y'Am. Specialized." (Link: http://www.specialized.com/bc/home.j...29&language=US)

That's what I get for posting so late in the evening (morning?), as not only did I mix up Fabian's Cervelo commercials with Paulo's Specialized ones, but I also spelled Bjarne and Sastre wrong. Triple DOH!

(Note to self -- do not post on TE after 1am, or risk being corrected by well-meaning folks like sah.)

AWESOME stage today, eh?

~BikeMomma

[janeho]

Hi
8.30 pm here in Britain now and Eurosport has an hours coverage every day from 9pm, so just time now to find a bottle of red and settle down infront of the telly.
For the first time for quite a while we have a bit of British interest to follow with Mark cavendish who won a couple of stages at the giro this year

[OakLeaf]

watching the recap right now. Amazing how hard Versus is pushing the angle of this being a New Day (and also that they do it in all the other sports too ). They must've really lost a lot of viewership. Not sure how much the commentary and those little... what do they call those little segments?... not sure how much good they'll do since only people who've decided to watch the Tour will see them.

[DDH]

Tired of all the drugs and disappointment. They're all cheaters - even Lance. Not watching it any more.

I don't remember ever hearing anything about Lance cheating. Of course that's not saying much, cause I didn't pay much attention to it all when he was riding.

I can't believe that they are ALL cheaters, I have to keep some hope.
I'm sure there are some that want to make the sport honest and without so much contraversy, and that don't dope.

I'm just watching, not rooting for anyone, cause I don't know who to cheer on. They sure do have some nice bottoms and legs, I can say that about them. I can say this much for them, the most of them, have some really nice bottoms and legs. LOL

[Veronica]

I don't remember ever hearing anything about Lance cheating.

Lance's answer always seemed to be that he never failed a drug test.

I'd like to think that he didn't cheat, but the way he was SO MUCH better than his competition, will always make me wonder.

V.

[redrhodie]

This is a fantastic tour. I'm loving the no time bonus stages. I hate time trial stages (except for team time trials, which are awesome, and I miss) so less of them is a big plus. It's going to be fun to see what happens when everyone's fried in about a week. I bet this ends up being the fastest tour, with the fewest finishers. It's an open field. It's going to take a lot of heart to win this one.

Lance was so much better than everyone else because he knew how to use his team the best. He did not expend any unnecessary energy, he let George do all the work. He was a great time trialist, and a great climber. He was not Eddy Merckx, who could ride solo for an entire race and never see a teammate, or the peleton, for that matter, and win again the next day.

Lance also was big into gear improvements. He spent more time with mechanics and designers, improving everything he could to wear yellow, than any other racer. I'm not saying he didn't dope, but I'm saying, put him on a steel frame with down-tube shifters and toeclips, and he would be looking at Eddy's back like the rest of them did.

Anyone who isn't watching this tour because some riders doped is really missing an opportunity to see the most beautiful sport in the world. And, it's your sport. But if it really bothers you that much, then you shouldn't watch the Olympics (track and field, swimming, gymnastics) either, because I hear some of them doped, too. And baseball. Football. The stuff some basketball players do to dogs is ungodly, so that should be out, too. Maybe bowling is safe, but I wouldn't bet on it .