Tour de France 2011 talk

[pll]

Are you watching the live coverage or the primetime show? IMO, the live show during the day is much better.

Watching right now. It took until 7:24AM to see the first image of the race... I can see in online sites the race images always start earlier than Versus.

E u r o s p o r t has great coverage, fewer and shorter commercials, in-depth commentary. It's great to not have a TV!

Yeah. I should just ignore the TV. But it is so much nice to see the sights and the guys in a bigger screen.

[ny biker]

Well they always start with a pre-game show. It used to be a solid half-hour, and they would run a big show opening sequence when the race coverage began like they were two separate programs. Now they go to the live feed earlier and treat it like it's all one show.

[Duck on Wheels]

Tour de Norvège! Whoo hoo!

[margo49]

Yeah, I have Eurosport In Real Time...it's like a family...
There is an "Inside the Team Bus" section pre-race and tons of interviews at The Depart...as well as re-cap of the previous Stage.

Brilliant descending, great television and well done EBH.
Nice to see the little countries getting a look in.

[blue_angel]

Once again, Voeckler is my hero! Although I'm very happy for EBH's win, especially after yesterday's frustration.

A couple of non-cycling friends have asked me recently why there are no women in the TdF, or why there is no women's equivalent. Does anybody know the answer?

[redrhodie]

Voeckler for me, too. Anyone else will be disappointing at this point. He's put up quite a fight. It's hugely unlikely, but that's my dream.

Jelle Vanendert needs to put some sunscreen on his head. Those tan lines are bizarre.

[pll]

Once again, Voeckler is my hero! Although I'm very happy for EBH's win, especially after yesterday's frustration.

A couple of non-cycling friends have asked me recently why there are no women in the TdF, or why there is no women's equivalent. Does anybody know the answer?

No women's stage race in France this year. There used be a race, but it funding problems. There are several stage races for women (you'll spot some listed in Cycling News), but about the only one for which I have coverage each year is the Giro Donne.

PS: You can find some coverage for the Giro Donne in YouTube. For example, here's this year's stage 1.

[ny biker]

For peeps watching on Versus, did you see the bit they showed today where the Radio Shack car pulled up next to the Garmin Cervelo car? Johan Bruyneel congratulated Jonathan Vaughters on yesterday's win and then said he was getting tired of saying that to him. Pretty funny.

But what was really interesting was that Vaughters told Johan to tell the TRS rider in the break that Garmin would chase them if Nicholas Roche got away from them, but would not chase otherwise. I knew that riders on different teams will sometimes strike up alliances on the road, and of course team directors communicate strategy to their own riders, but I didn't realize that the directors will share strategies with each other like that. I imagine JV thought it was better for his team to not have to chase, so he wanted someone in the break to get his message. Still, I found it unexpected. And I wonder if Vaughters remembered that he was on TV at the time.


Also, this is not actually TdF news, but it is great news nonetheless about Juan Mauricio Soler:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sole...sive-care-unit

[margo49]

Wow!
What a day!
What heroism!
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

And tomorrow the Alpe D'Huez!!!!

[TrekTheKaty]

For peeps watching on Versus, did you see the bit they showed today where the Radio Shack car pulled up next to the Garmin Cervelo car? Johan Bruyneel congratulated Jonathan Vaughters on yesterday's win and then said he was getting tired of saying that to him. Pretty funny

That was my favorite part too! Ok, that and the two cyclists ending up in the car park.