Tour de France 2011

Alexander Kolobnev has tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide. First drugs casualty of Le Tour although they're all using them

Good to know that the police are invesigating it. And someone had to get busted for doping.

Standings

I wrote:Standings:

Stage result:


General classification:


Points competition:


King of the mountains competition:


Youth competition:


Team competition:

Just imagine how far in front Thomas would be in the white jersey had it not been for the Wiggins crash

Exciting finish to todays stage with Cavendish being outsprinted at the end by Greipel.

Today was the first time I realised Ben Swift was riding the tour, I've raced against him before

You raced Ben Swift?

Yeah it was a shame Cav couldn't win it but I'm just amazed he managed to stay with the group til the end. Wasn't an easy stage by any means. Pleased that he managed to gain so much on Gilbert though

Textbook sprinters stage today, caught the break with around 3k to go, and Cavendish takes the sprint. Enjoyed that today. I love Cavendish's interview, never feels the need to be diplomatic, very entertainting.

Ben wrote:You raced Ben Swift?

Yeah, only the once, in a time trial in England.

And he seemed genuinely happy and surprised that he also took the green jersey. Hope he takes it all the way to Paris

Really, really happy for Cav, he seemed genuinely over the moon when he found out he was in Green.

Also noticed that Hoogerland's bandages had gone at the end which could be a good sign, but it could also be because the rain washed them off like Flecha's

Exciting finish there, Contador losing more time, nearly two minutes behind Evans and the brothers Schleck now. Great ride from Voeckler as well to stay in yellow, managing to stay with the GC contenders untill the last km or so, gutsy ride.

Partly looks like the old Yellow gives wings and partly because none of the GC riders really attacked before it was too far up the mountain. Good to see F. Schleck were ready today, Sanchez didn't look too safe when he saw him coming up fast from behind, ate away their 50 second lead very quickly.

I fear that it could be a while before we see the GC riders go at it again, tomorrow is another HC mountain but from the top there is 40km to the finish, definitly won't see the schlecks doing anything there but if Sanchez/Contador has a good day they can go down the mountain very quickly. Perhabs on saturday where the last 3 moutains is a category 1 3 and then HC. But else it could very well be that the GC riders ride it out until the 18th stage in the Alps

It looks possible that Sanchez (one of the best downhill riders) and Contador could work together, especially with the Schlecks not exactly being that good at going downhill. An attack from Contador/Sanchez/Evans could give the Leopard boys problems.

I wonder what the hell happened to Chris Anker and Fuglsang today. The former looked great, almost until he was gone, while the latter was dropped on Tourmalet.

Agree with most of what has been said. Shame that Geraint couldn't keep it going and at least get white.

Did any of you hear about what happened with Voeckler's yellow bike? Pretty funny really seen as he had to get rid of it with 60km to go.

Also, how do you think the Schleck brothers will ride? I thought that Frank would ride for Andy but Frank is looking like the better of the two so far so it's tough to call.

Sanchez was always gonna win that from the minute he had a go, did well considering he hit the deck!

By the way, what a hero Jens Voigt is! 40 years old and able to cycle like that! What a man!

Yea that was quite insane, i had not expected him to lead that long, he made Cancellara look like a pansy. Although Leopards efforts didn't pay off as they probably expected to, when Andy had to switch wheel and Hernandez from Saxo Bank took the lead for a short while many more dropped off, he just had more pace going for him. As well as Ivan Basso's helper on the last climb, Leopard put in a lot of work but i think the 2 helpers from Saxo bank and Liquigas really had the heavier punch.

Don't think tomorrow will be too eventful for the GC unless someone has a really bad day

What a brilliant ride by Thor Hushovd Amazed he managed to get over those mountains and so far ahead of the yellow jersey too.

So unfortunate for Roy though, how many times has he been caught right near the finish?!

Great ride from Hushovd, amazing how he managed to limit his losses on the climb and still stay so strong in the last 40km.

That was quite an exciting finish, amazing ride by Hushovd. Very much looking forward to tomorrow, gonna catch as much as i can from the couch as ill probably be getting rid of tonights drinking. Im still not sure about the GC riders tomorrow, but i hope we'll see something, my hopes are that Basso and Cadel will push the brothers and Contador some. And if Contador sticks to Andy like glue Frank needs to take his chance, he is number 2 at the moment and i think that he could win the tour if he has over a minute and a half down to riders like Cadel and Contador when we get to the 20th stage.

Another reason why Le Tour is so good:

Yeah ITV's theme tune is classic, listened to it and the voices of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen all through my childhood. I've watched the tour on British Eurosport for the last few years though, better coverage and if you're lucky you'll hear Sean Kelly swear live on air (he said cow shite on yesterdays stage )

Yeah I much prefer Eurosport coverage. Always have done. But we've always watched highlights on ITV4 at 7 as well to get the after thoughts and also Chris Boardman's view.

Who is it that's with Sean Kelly on Eurosport? Forgotten his name but I really like him. Phil Liggett sadly doesn't have a clue anymore. If you heard him on Greipel's win against Cavendish you'll know he's lost it.

David Harmon is the main commentator with Sean Kelly being the 'expert'. Yeah I like David Harmon as well, sometimes some good banter between the two. Harmon is great when it comes to a sprint finish as well, can talk a mile a minute

I know haha and he's always so aware of what's going on. And he can figure out a plan in a second

Phil Liggett was saying that Cav had an almighty lead out when he was sat on Rojas wheel in 3rd and then a second later said that Cav had been dropped

The commentators here is also a huge part of why the danish watch it, the stage Thursday had just around a million viewers (population 5,6m) legendary commentator Jørgen Leth who has been doing it for just around 30 years, former tour rider and stage winner Rolf Sørensen and Journalist Dennis Ritter are the 3 commentators on every stage. Leth always gets the interviews and speaks every language needed to do that before and after the stages and when the stages are flat and boring there is not anything they can show in the picture he doesn't have any something to say about, castles, roads, cities, mountains, stages.

I've changed my drunken mind, GC riders will attack today, it will hopefully be f crazy.

The stage today finishes at Plateau de Beille. The winner of that stage has always been at the top of the podium in Paris when the race ends.

It would be funny if Voeckler keeps the yellow with over than a minute. He'd be a serious candidate by that point.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised, should Voeckler win the entire race. He has been great this year, and is keeping a good lead.

The statistic about the winner at Plateau de Beille also taking a top position at the podium in Paris might still hold true.

Pantani won at de Beille in 98, where he also won the tour.

Armstrong won in 02 and 04, and won the tour.

Contador won in 07, and won the youth competition (as well as taking the top of the 2-3-4 GC podium).

I don't see Vanendert winning the GC, but I have a feeling he'll win the KOTM competition.

Voeckler looks like a real candidate now, seemingly effortless at closing the gaps when needed and still 1:49 in front of Frank, who he is certainly better than at the time trial. They need to acctually attack in the alps to do anything else the Frenchman will certainly take it.

Not that interesting today will watch the sprint probably.

Ben wrote:I know haha and he's always so aware of what's going on. And he can figure out a plan in a second

Phil Liggett was saying that Cav had an almighty lead out when he was sat on Rojas wheel in 3rd and then a second later said that Cav had been dropped

Yeah, did you hear him call Mikhail Ignatiev 'Mickael Delage' Fairly obvious the rider for Katusha would be the one with the Russian name, but nope he cocked it up!

Nah I didn't notice that, I try not to pay attention to their commentary anymore.

Cav win again today, only 15 off Merckx now

That should take just about 3 years, if he has to do that his predictions about Alex Rasmussen can't come true. He said in an interview last year or the one before (Can't remember it came up in an interview where griepel was mentioned) that his teammate Alex Rasmussen was the only one he knew that would beat him in an equal sprint. That said, if Cav signs a new contract with Sky as the rumor says then he could very well have to look far after that record because of Sky's GC hopes. All i know is that the biggest danish talent in the speed department is still running on tracks because of cavendish incredible winning form.