Tour talk -- Spoiler alert

[tulip]

My bit-o-Portuguese pride swelled up yesterday, too. But given that I'm a French citizen and it was the 14 juillet, I was a bit bummed that a French rider didn't win.

[Zen]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...in-sprint.html

When I saw that I was shocked. Then I thought it must be the camera angle; they were sprinting so hard and wobbling side to side.
But no.

What was he thinking?

[ny biker]

This is interesting, about David Millar. He rode most of the last big mountain stage alone and in pain, but he didn't want to quit even if he missed the time cut.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mill...n-through-pain

I like his comment about breaking the big climb into 5k segments. That's a good technique when you're suffering and have a long way to go -- although my segments tend to be much shorter, i.e., to the next telephone poll. But still, it can help you get to the end.

[ny biker]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...in-sprint.html

When I saw that I was shocked. Then I thought it must be the camera angle; they were sprinting so hard and wobbling side to side.
But no.

What was he thinking?

I haven't seen the footage yet but on the velonews live coverage, Charles Pelkey gave Renshaw the "wanker of the day" award for that headbutt. And Davis Phinney also thought it was DQ-worthy.

I'm glad no one crashed as a result.

[Zen]

I'm glad no one crashed as a result.

Really.
That was incredibly dangerous.

[arielmoon]

I saw the head butts when watching live but I missed Renshaw cutting Tyler off. No wonder he was so ticked off.

[redrhodie]

The aftermath interviews were great. All the commentators were so revved up, I was expecting the guys would be livid, but no. Julian Dean was completely calm and just shrugged it off to "that's sprinting". It was about as upset as I've ever seen Farrar, but he was still not throwing wheels.

ETA: Renshaw's been thrown out.

[XMcShiftersonX]

I'm so glad they kicked Renshaw out of the Tour... what a douche. It was obvious that both accounts were intentional. I don't like him and I don't like Cavendish. This was a similar situation to what Cavendish did to Thor last year. Then they try to play the "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong" BS. Please. They know the rules, they've been doing this long enough. I really like Farrar, he's a good sprinter and he plays fair.

[ny biker]

The aftermath interviews were great. All the commentators were so revved up, I was expecting the guys would be livid, but no. Julian Dean was completely calm and just shrugged it off to "that's sprinting". It was about as upset as I've ever seen Farrar, but he was still not throwing wheels.

ETA: Renshaw's been thrown out.

And yet the stories on velonews.com and cyclingnews.com say that Dean and Farrar were really mad. Hmmmm.

[redrhodie]

And yet the stories on velonews.com and cyclingnews.com say that Dean and Farrar were really mad. Hmmmm.

They apparently got madder after watching the video. Dean didn't know Renshaw had cut into Tyler's line, and Tyler didn't know about the headbutt.

[Skierchickie]

That's the very behavior that turned me against Robbie McEwen a couple of years ago. I used to really like him until I saw him doing that.

[berkeley]

Yeah, in that post race interview with Tyler, it was clear he was pretty POed. Ironically, they replayed the Hincapie debacle from last year during the broadcast... more HTC Columbia/Garmin drama...

The pace into the finish was crazy. I'm excited when I hit 35 MPH going downhill. lol

[Possegal]

What a strange tour this has been this year. Who knows what the remaining days hold!

I agree about the Robbie McEwen thing - I liked him til I saw him do that same thing. I also liked Renshaw, but now not so much. And now, this pic, where he and Bernard Eisel are looking right at me, means a lot less to me.

[Zen]

Who knows what the remaining days hold!

Can't make any bets on the drama in between but I know one guy who's gonna be on the podium. i saw that in him last year.

Also, stage 17 sounds like a great one to watch in it's entirety.

[malkin]

What a strange tour this has been this year.

This makes me think of a highlights video with the Grateful Dead in the background...What a looonng, strange trip it's been....

Although some people might get tetchy about that livin' on reds, vitamin C and cocaine part.