brooks

Best bike in the world starts in just 7 days. Could be interesting with some of Armstrong's rivals going well including Ullrich, Mayo and Hamilton. Lets hope it isnt an Amrstrong walk over again!

Toonman1

Oh no, I dread this rubbish...

ChrisB

Is C4 showing it this year? Ligget and Sherwin (sp?) make a first class commentry team. Add in Gary 'the Git' Imlach [1] for special reports and I much prefered their coverage.

[1] He's a git as he's done NFL coverage for years as well.

PG

I look forward to it

caz1562

ITV are covering it mainly on ITV2 IIRC. I think it will be 5 wins in a row for Lance, he is formidable over the tour. Would be nice to see someone like Ullrich challenge him all the way though.

ChrisB

Bugger. Round to somebody else's house then

Is Pantani riding this year? I can't see Merc. Uno in the entry list on the Beeb web site.

The sheer speed of the sprinters is impressive but I love the mountain stages more than any. The way the attacks on the climbs can destroy a bunch of riders is something to behold.

brooks

Pantini is not riding this year. He has just finished the Tour of Italy where he finished in the top 10. I understand that he has checked into a clinic in the past few days with depresssion. The worlds best pure climber is probably now Heras - but he wont attack Armstrong as they are on the same team! Simoni won the Tour of Italy with some fantastic climbing - maybe he can cause some excitement in the mountains!

V5

Chris, I know what you mean about Imlach, the spawny litlle.....

You've just gotta remember the footage where he turns away from the camera..... face first straight into someone's shoulder pad! Talk about ROFLMFAO!

As for the tour, I don't seem to be able to muster the interest anymore. Don't know whether it's the drugs (theirs, not mine! ) or just the fact that Channel 4 don't show it anymore . The tea-time half hour show was ace - use to watch that religiously.

Iain

Duck_Pond

It's a gutter that Pantani isn't riding. The last time(s) he was in the Tour he made it, in terms of excitement. His demolision of top class mountain specialists is a joy to see...

Only topped (years ago) by that monumentous effort when Pedro Delgado looked to have won a stage by minutes, and hence the race, only to look down the road to see Stephen Roche performing what can only be described as a miracle.

Quality.

V5

Duck_Pond - that's one of my abiding memories of the tour!! Roche collapsed over the line and had to have oxygen! What an effort!

Steve Howat

Pantani was trying to join the Bianchi squad mid season so that he could ride because his Mercatone team were ommited. I guess he didn't manage it then

Short of an accident or plague of locusts it'll be win no. 5 for Armstrong. Most of his nearest challengers have already confessed to only fighting for 2nd place and not the win cos they might burn out if they tried to stay with LA. Apparantly he's in some of the best form of his life....

I don't really get chance to watch much of it anymore but FWIW the weekday coverage is on ITV2 at about 6:30 with a highlights program each sunday on ITV1 (or at least that's what it said during the GP coverage this past weekend....).

ChrisB

That is simply scarey. I remember during one of the previous years. I think it was going up Mont Ventoux the C4 guys were saying how LA could sustain a cadence of 100rpm as easy as he could do 50rpm.

cfc2

drugs drugs drugs ....!!!!

brooks

For those without cable/digital - ITV1 will be showing highlights - and some live coverage daily.

andyr

Drugs drugs drugs ?
Obviously all other sports, eg Footie, are totally drug free !
Cycling definately has a problem but I think that a)it is a historic problem which is taking a long time to shake off b)The sport is far tougher than almost all other sports and to survive events such as the TdF some riders feel they have to use illegal means to get round c) Cycling's testing policy has been far tougher than the majority of other sports and this has meant that the sport receives a bad press from the less informed journalists.
Would be interesting to put Premier league and Serie A players (sp ?) players through the same testing as cyclists go through now - I'd GUARANTEE quite a number of positive tests despite football being a sport for wimps in contrast to pro-cycling !

Going a bit OT anyway !

Lance is the big favourite obviously but hopefully he'll be pushed a lot harder this year than previously - Simoni, Hamilton, Galdeano, Ulrich ? etc

brooks

I have to agree with the above comments. Yes profeesional cycling in Europe has a huge drugs problem. But at least the cycling authorities have made some real efforts to improve things. I see very little effort in soccer, swimming, athletics etc. Cycling is not alone in the problem of performance enhancing drugs, those that think it is are deluding themselves.