Le Tour de Pharmaceutical 2015

Big Dog wrote:Rest day today & i'll be away for the next couple of days.

Talk about bad timing.

On a more grim note, Basso has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He's abandoned the Tour.

tricycle wrote:

Big Dog wrote:Rest day today & i'll be away for the next couple of days.

Talk about bad timing.

On a more grim note, Basso has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He's abandoned the Tour.

Ah crap.  Hope he behaves better than the last guy with that.

Going to be the most boring tour ever.  Froome and Sky utterly dominant.

So is he doping? Seems fairly likely. How do his times compare to Armstrong when he was doping?

Dont know. He certainly rose suddenly in 2011, but his career has been far from the conventional path. I wouldn't say any top cyclist is certainly clean, but given the controls they have, I'd say that the average top division cyclist is far less likely to be doped than almost all other sports. To give Froome his due, he is also the most upfront about doping questions that I have seen.

What a ride by Yates. Both of the twins are going to be stars. Apart from that.... snoozefest of a race. When's the Vuelta?

Also forgot to mention that him going public last year regarding lack of testing in training camps in Tenerife directly led to an increase in testing this year.

vilkrang wrote:So is he doping? Seems fairly likely. How do his times compare to Armstrong when he was doping?

I think the times of today's top men are some way behind the Armstrong era when they were taking things to extremes... if they are doping then it's in a more micro-managed way now.

Movistar ramped up the pace and just played into Sky's hands, even Froome's lieutenants outlasted the main competition, was it four men in the top ten? Guess we will have to look to individual stages for drama now, unless Froome crashes or conks out spectacularly on a later stage.

Makes the choice of which sport to follow this week easy though. They really should've had a multiple mountain stage like tomorrow. Froome's not unbeatable on them, unlike hockey stick like stages.

Some serious climbing on offer today. It will be interesting to see if Porte can hang on the Polka Dot Jersey.

Might see some kamikaze descending from Berty too.

Big Dog wrote:Some serious climbing on offer today. It will be interesting to see if Porte can hang on the Polka Dot Jersey.

Porte doesn't atually have the Polka Dot jersey

taipan wrote:

Big Dog wrote:Some serious climbing on offer today. It will be interesting to see if Porte can hang on the Polka Dot Jersey.

Porte doesn't atually have the Polka Dot jersey

Really? As i said, i've been away for a few days & just saw they had Porte listed on the TdF official site.

Big Dog wrote:

taipan wrote:

Big Dog wrote:Some serious climbing on offer today. It will be interesting to see if Porte can hang on the Polka Dot Jersey.

Porte doesn't atually have the Polka Dot jersey

Really?  As i said, i've been away for a few days & just saw they had Porte listed on the TdF official site.

Froome has it but Porte is wearing it as he is in 2nd

Good tactical stage today. Should be lots of breakaways.

Another interesting stage. Something for everyone.

Indeed. Very interesting.

Guessing Rodriguez over Froome if the break doesn't take it.

British veteran Steve Cummings takes a first stage win for the Yarpie MTN-Quebeka team, with Quintana taking second overall from Van Garderen. Froome untroubled, other than having a cup of piss thrown at him by a spectator.

beamer wrote:British veteran Steve Cummings takes a first stage win for the Yarpie MTN-Quebeka team, with Quintana taking second overall from Van Garderen. Froome untroubled, other than having a cup of piss thrown at him by a spectator.

Apparently Porte was punched by a spectator during stage 10. Froome is blaming some sections of the French media for 'irresponsible reporting'.

Flat finish might help some of the sprinters pick up a stage.

Super-sook French fans just can't bear the thought of a British team coming to their backyard and winning their most beloved sporting competition again.

If Froome is doping then surely most/all of the other riders are too so may as well throw piss at all of them and give them a clump for good measure. He's only a few minutes ahead after masses and masses of hours in the saddle and thousands of kms covered.

To top it all the Brit who won yesterday sprinted away from a couple of French faves too - they must have loved that.

Big Dog wrote:Flat finish might help some of the sprinters pick up a stage.

Might also be a chance for a breakaway if they can put some time in up that last Cat 2 climb.  Looks like there's only 30k or so once they reach the bottom of the hill.

Win for Greipel, with Cavendish dropped from the peloton.

To the edge of the Alps tomorrow, finishing with the notorious descent into Gap, where Beloki came a cropper and Armstrong went cross-country, and Froome and Contador almost followed suit a couple of years ago. They'll be hoping it's not raining or very hot.

Great stage for attackers today. look for some suicidal descents.

Froome attracting some heat re. possible illegal pharmaceutical intake!

What do you two-wheel peddlers on here make of the accusations?