Tour de France 2011 talk

[Aggie_Ama]

Sounds like fun!!

It's high time we discussed the important issue of podium outfits. I like the black dresses worn by the women who present the stage-winner stuff, though they're almost too much for daytime. The yellow jersey women seem to have a different outfit every day. They're pretty classic styling, okay, nothing exciting. I don't like the dresses worn by the green jersey women -- white with green collar and belt. They're too sporty.

I still haven't seen the polka dot or young rider presentations. I wonder if we can see up the skirts of the polka dot dresses again this year.

Slight threadjack but did you see the dresses the girls wore at the Tour de Suisse? They were hideous, mid calf, not much style! I like to see the dresses too. I thought last year's polka dot girls dresses were hilarious, it was over the top like the tour. Of course I did hear all the talk about how they had matching polka dot undies.

Found a photo of the polka dot dresses, ummmmmm..... It looks very unflattering, what is that a housecoat? And the young rider dresses, nothing exciting just simple.

[ny biker]

Slight threadjack but did you see the dresses the girls wore at the Tour de Suisse? They were hideous, mid calf, not much style! I like to see the dresses too. I thought last year's polka dot girls dresses were hilarious, it was over the top like the tour. Of course I did hear all the talk about how they had matching polka dot undies.

Found a photo of the polka dot dresses, ummmmmm..... It looks very unflattering, what is that a housecoat? And the young rider dresses, nothing exciting just simple.

Oh my eyes!!!!! It looks like they took some polka dot curtains and made frocks out of them, like Carol Burnett's version of Gone with the Wind. And I'm pretty sure those giant red dots could induce seizures.

The white ones aren't bad, kinda dull but I like the shape.

And yes, the Swiss dresses were horrible!! And what was with those hats??

[KatzPajamas]

This is completely awesome!

I've never watched the Tour before, and have always wondered what people liked about watching others ride bikes. But after skimming through the enthusiastic comments on this thread yesterday, I decided to watch the 8 pm Stage 5 broadcast. GRIPPING! Seriously, I am now obsessed. I'm preparing to turn the TV on in a few minutes to catch the live morning broadcast. You all have created a monster!

Never really understood what the hoopla was either until I began riding and found out how difficult it is.Talk about monsters...my husband takes a week vacation to watch the Tour, we buy the Versus access so we can watch it again at our whim...This year I am right there with him! Completely awesome!

[Trek420]

Go Norway! Thor will smash.

[rubysoho]

I was finally able to watch last night. The first thing I saw was each cyclist grabbing a bag of food and whatever else they had then a few proceeded to ride with no hands, staying ahead of others, and rearrange their goodies into their back pockets. How the heck do that do that?!?!? I am so jealous. I still wobble a bit when I drink my water and I definitely don't keep the same speed when I drink.

[ny biker]

Dammit!! Horner crashed and finished > 12 minutes back today. Hopefully he is not too badly injured.

Wiggins went down in the same crash and is out with a broken collarbone. Boonen abandoned due to injuries from the other day.

I hate the carnage. Prefer to see guys fighting it out, not gaining or losing time because of bad luck.

[denda]

Man, Radio Shack is having nothing but BAD luck! I hate that some of the big name guys of the Tour are in so many of the crashes. Although I wouldn't be too upset if Contador was in a few more

[ny biker]

Horner's on the way to the hospital to have his head checked out.

Update from Bruyneel: Chris fractured his nose and has a concussion and calf hematoma.

Dislike!!!

[Mako]

Cavtastic!!!!!!

But poor Wiggins - gutted

[pll]

Could we abstain from wishing crashes on any cyclist? I know Contador is the evil guy of the day, but from disliking him to wishing he would crash, there is a huge distance... I find such wishes appalling.

Horner hit his head hard. If he has a concussion (which it looks like the case, judging by his confusion at the finish line about actually having crashed and finished -- see the video from bicycling.com clip here), I hope he does not start tomorrow. It would be too dangerous if he were to fall again.

[bmccasland]

I thought if you didn't finish a race you were out. Granted it's been a while since I've read the race rules on the official tour website. How does one go get checked out at a hospital and get back to complete a race with sufficent time to not be disqualified?

[pll]

Horner was taken to the hospital *after* finishing the stage.

[ny biker]

I'm really surprised they let him finish the stage. Usually if a rider is confused like that after a crash, they put him in the ambulance right away.

[pll]

I'm really surprised they let him finish the stage. Usually if a rider is confused like that after a crash, they put him in the ambulance right away.

I know! Did you the video I linked? He did not seem to remember crashing or understand that he had finished. How did he ride 25km in that condition? he must have simply gotten on his bike before medical personnel even looked at him.

[blue_angel]

Horner hit his head hard. If he has a concussion (which it looks like the case, judging by his confusion at the finish line about actually having crashed and finished -- see the video from bicycling.com clip here), I hope he does not start tomorrow. It would be too dangerous if he were to fall again.

That is so insane! I can't even believe that he managed to finish the stage in that condition. It just goes to show how incredibly *trained* these guys are--they can do it on reflex.

Man, Team Radio Shack is really trapped under a cloud. Here's hoping that nothing else bad befalls any of them!