Tour de France 2010

[Wookiee]

Contador's in the lead by a smidge, but, what a low blow. I knew there was a reason I don't want this guy to repeat.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE66I1WA20100719

He's now saying he's sorry for not waiting.

[Mother Theresa]

I'm a day or two behind, but just watched Stage 17. Well, I guess we won't get the intense competition we hoped for in the final TT -- barring disaster the result's in the bag. But that was one hell of a climb. Hats off to both of them, but especially Schleck.



And, not quite in the same league, but I was impressed, too, by Robbie McEwen's arrival on the top of the peak.

[urodacus]

ha ha ha... good on ya Robbie!

[Mother Theresa]

Ok, so I finally finished watching the Tour. And what a great one it was.

Contador may be lacking in personality, but he's clearly a great rider. Even if he hadn't taken advantage of the chain incident he surely would have won anyway (despite the fact that he won by 39 seconds and the chain incident cost Schleck 39 seconds).

Schleck -- even greater than Contador. White jersey three years in a row. Next year it will be yellow. And a few more times after that. And a true sportsman, handled the chain incident well, got over it, forgave Contador and moved on without whining and complaining.

Cavendish -- damn, the guy's amazing. He may have just one trick in his bag, but what a trick it is. Fastest man on two wheels by a considerable margin. Not bad. And he couldn't be humbler, pointing out every single time that he's only the last man in the chain and he is deeply indebted to all the other guys who do such an outstanding job setting him up.

At 39 years of age, Christophe Moreau completed his 15 Tour and almost took a stage or two.

Armstrong, eh. . . Only placed 23d, but if he hadn't had such bad luck in the early stages with crashes, who knows. But his time is thankfully over, except for the results of the investigation.

Oh yeah, my question:

How come at the end of the final TT the commentators announced so matter of factly that Contador won the Tour? I know the last stage is largely ceremonial, looping round and round the Champs de Lycee until the sprinters have their final moment of glory. But does it have to be like that? Has there ever been a successful breakaway in the final stage that beat out the sprinters/peloton? If you were Schleck, down by 39 seconds, wouldn't it make sense to try to break away early and somehow miraculously hold on? Sure the odds of making it might be extremely slim, but what does he have to lose? Isn't it worth a try?

[scomargo]

How come at the end of the final TT the commentators announced so matter of factly that Contador won the Tour? I know the last stage is largely ceremonial, looping round and round the Champs de Lycee until the sprinters have their final moment of glory. But does it have to be like that? Has there ever been a successful breakaway in the final stage that beat out the sprinters/peloton? If you were Schleck, down by 39 seconds, wouldn't it make sense to try to break away early and somehow miraculously hold on? Sure the odds of making it might be extremely slim, but what does he have to lose? Isn't it worth a try?

I've always wondered that too. I guess you could be ostracized by the rest of the sport, but who knows. Contador got some heat for not waiting for Schleck, but not too much heat. I'd say Schleck should have organized some help to try and take the race on the last stage. It would have made the final stage a lot more exciting. Maybe one of these years it'll happen.

[Wookiee]

This just in:
Contador says bad meat caused positive test

Contador's got some 'splainin' to do:

http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/8 ... -test?bn=1

[urodacus]

I find it interesting that he KNOWS the meat had clenbuterol in it. if you Know (in hindsight) why did you eat the damn thing (in hindsight)?

clenbuterol is not a steroid but a alpha adrenergic-agonist, increasing muscle relaxation (and hence enhancing breathing) and enhancing fat mobilisation out of fat cells and into the bloodstream (reducing appetite, lowering body fat ratio, and hence used as a livestock conditioning drug, and also raising blood pressure.

any chance they'll go back to his other test samples from the TdF and retest them, specifically looking for clenbuterol (which has a very long half-life and stays in the body at detectable levels for days or weeks)? that would be interesting.

[Satellite TV]

Contador may be lacking in personality, but he's clearly a great rider.

Yeah, the drugs helped of course.

[urodacus]

Speaking about the drugs, here is an interesting exposé by Sports Illustrated. (I know, no bikinis in this one so it's not a real SI article.)


http://sportsillustrated.CNN.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

[the bear]

Congratulations to Andy Schleck for his win in the 2010 TDF. It took a while for the results to come in mind..........