The Chicken gets plucked!

[spazzdog]

In the standings, everyone just moves up. I don't think they "redistribute" the points; they're just gone.


On a tangent to the doping thread; anyone know the stats on incidence of doping on the womens side of the fence? I know there must be some there, like in other sports.

[BikeMomma]

Take your pick...

Disgusted.
Flabbergasted.
Disallusioned.
Unbelievabley pissed.
Let down.
Sad.
Worried.
But yet...clinging to a thread of a hope that all this is untrue.

What a Tour.........what a freaking Tour! I'm damned near speechless.
~BikeMomma

[bikerHen]

Take your pick...

Disgusted.
Flabbergasted.
Disallusioned.
Unbelievabley pissed.
Let down.
Sad.
Worried.
But yet...clinging to a thread of a hope that all this is untrue.

What a Tour.........what a freaking Tour! I'm damned near speechless.
~BikeMomma

I'll take all of the above. This is sad. Very Very sad. bikerHen

[spazzdog]

BikeMomma, honey... it's twuu. And, unfortunately, a long time a-comin'.

Perhaps what it will take is the TdF being canceled... stopped right now. The sponsors pull out, the paychecks go away (thus they can't afford to dope), and the sport rebuilds from the ground up.

It would help if other pro-sports (and amateur) went after dopers too, instead of rewarding suspect records (eh-hmm, bonds-atchoo... excuse me)

but I digress...

[mekira]

I just erased all my Tour recordings on my tv This is my way of protesting oh and I haven't watched it yesterday or today

[ATL Laura]

This is the first year that I’ve watched the TdF. I didn’t know what to expect, but in the past couple of weeks I’ve been completely sucked in...to include crushes on a few of the riders , and even canceling brunch with a friend on Sunday so I could watch the finish live. But now I’m so disappointed in the way things are turning out...especially if that story about so many other teams pulling out is true.

Is the TdF like this every year?

[margo49]

Wow! At the rate they are dropping from the TdF, I shoulda entered! I would have podiumed ...

This is what I was thinking the other day.
I mean, If 25 years ago I toured all through France alone with a loaded bike including a tent and prepared almost all my own food (even to growing alfalfa sprouts hanging from a nylon tied under the saddle and rinsed every few hours)...
Who knows what I would be able to do *now* on a perfect road bike maintained by expert mechanics to the last millimetre, hotel accomodation, support car(s), etc

ring-ring....ring-ring....ring-ring

Sorry, gotta go...it's The Telephone

[margo49]

Yeah, that was Christian Prudhomme on the phone...
he says everybody from TE on line now gets a free ticket to Paris and he will pick us up from Charles de Gaulle and will everyone e-mail him with details of their dream bike which will be waiting at the start of tomorrow's Stage...

[Fredwina]

This is the first year that I’ve watched the TdF. I didn’t know what to expect, but in the past couple of weeks I’ve been completely sucked in...to include crushes on a few of the riders , and even canceling brunch with a friend on Sunday so I could watch the finish live. But now I’m so disappointed in the way things are turning out...especially if that story about so many other teams pulling out is true.

Is the TdF like this every year?

Normally, no
But, I believe that Pro Cycling is undergoing a sea change at this moment with a shift to clean riding and The Companies/sponsors and Team Organization being held accountable for their rider's action. (vs the old "Sgt. Schluz I know nothing" model) you know when you hit one roach with some insecticide, a whole bunch more come scurrying out? same thing.
It's going to be a wild ride, y'all.

[maillotpois]

[Trekhawk]

Ok its pretty clear tonight I cant read this forum and drink at the same time.
It really makes for a messy computer screen.

[maillotpois]

Glad it's not just me. I had to have a bottle of wine to get me through that stage. I was in Sac all day getting texts and emails from people saying "Did you see?" "Did you hear?" So I had to rush home at 90 mph and try to watch the whole darned thing before I could even turn on my computer!

Whew!

[salsabike]

I'm pretty sure Trekhawk spit out her drink because of your "That wasn't chicken" pic. I know I did. Thank you--we needed that!

[BikeMomma]

Yeah, that was Christian Prudhomme on the phone...
he says everybody from TE on line now gets a free ticket to Paris and he will pick us up from Charles de Gaulle and will everyone e-mail him with details of their dream bike which will be waiting at the start of tomorrow's Stage...

Sweet!

BikeMomma, honey... it's twuu. And, unfortunately, a long time a-comin'.

Yea, spazz......< dramatic long silence >.............I know. But damn, with all the anti-dope hype before the Tour, the last two years of Tyler, Jan, Basso, and Floyd (among lots of others) being put through the ringer and made an example of, and all the new contracts, agreements, and threats of fines from UCI, I thought maybe, just maybe we could have a "clean" (yea, yea, yea ) Tour and maybe, just maybe, we could have a legitimate winner and we could all dance around joyfully and celebrate this grand thing we lovingly call the Tour de France....the Grand Tour, as it were.

Ya know? It's disheartening. I'm truly angry that these arrogant, cheating few (yeessss, some other than Moreni still remain to be cleared, thus we must consider them innocent until proven guilty, yada yada) think that they can continue to get away with it. It's like they're blind to the change that's already here. Or that I hoped was here. Call me a dreamer, I dunno.

I feel for Contador. Wonder what jersey he'll wear in the morning. Not sure which one I'd rather see -- white because he earned it (and earned it darned well!!), or yellow because he is now the leader of the Tour. After all, it IS still an honorable jersey to wear, and perhaps the right person will be wearing it now.

Bet Rassmuss-Chick-en wishes he never missed those doping tests and never went to Italy and called it Mexico.

~BikeMomma

[crazycanuck]

We interrupt this program for the evil lurker..

Fingers crossed for Cadel Evans..C'mon Cadel, make Australia proud!! AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIEEEEEE OI OI OI..

From a non tour watcher..

Back to irregular programming..

C