Tour de France

**Pauro 76** · 06/07/2004, 4:22 PM

Anyone know any websites where ya can get an up to date General CLassification? Hoping Mark Scanlon has a great debut in this years Tour....

**pete** · 06/07/2004, 4:40 PM

BBC

Official Site

Scanlon now 5th in Young Riders category & his team won their 2nd stage of Tour today.

**Dodge** · 06/07/2004, 5:04 PM

The official one is great during the stage and gives full results (of everything imaginable) soon after the finish

www.eurosport.com is another good one

Scanlon's been involved in 2 attacks so far and has lead the sprint out for his team mates on both occasions they won

**tiktok** · 06/07/2004, 8:33 PM

"Ireland's Mark Scanlon was once again to the fore in today's third stage of the Tour de France. The Sligoman who is making his tour debut helped his AG2R team-mate Jean-Patrick Nazon to claim victory in the 210km stage. Scanlon, along with several other AG2R riders, headed the pack with a kilometre to go and then helped protect Nazon in the finish shepherding him to victory. It's the teams second stage win after Jaan Kirsipuu's triumph on Sunday. Australian Robbie McEwen, winner on Monday, finished third to take over the yellow jersey from Norway's Thor Hushovd. McEwen now leads Fabian Cancellara by a second, with race favourite Lance Armstrong fifth, 16 seconds back. Scanlon is now 28th in the overall standings, just 36 seconds behind the leader."

He seems to be doing really well so far

**Pauro 76** · 06/07/2004, 10:19 PM

cheers lads! Eurosports one is very detailed! Just spotted through the riders and spotted an Axel Merckx, is he the son of Eddie? Great start from Scanlon though, im sure he'll get himself noticed even more in the coming days!

**the 12 th man** · 07/07/2004, 7:11 AM

Originally Posted by PAURO 7

Just spotted through the riders and spotted an Axel Merckx, is he the son of Eddie?

he is indeed,though he has been around quiete a while and is not ever going to reach the heights achieved by his ould fella.

i am a huge fan of the tour but i have to say the spectre of the drugs cheats hangs over the race like a big black cloud.only 2 weeks ago the main british rider david millar (cofidis team) was excluded from the tour for taking the banned substance e. p.o.
its like "the kings new clothes".the authorities will not implement tests that will exclude all performance enhancing drugs because they know that most of the riders are on them.
note,i said most not all,so its very unfair on the "clean riders".very good book written by ex irish pro cyclist paul kimmage called "rough ride"who chose to leave the sport rather than go the drugs route.

while i have my concerns about all of this, i still tune in every night to watch the highlights on eurosport.
irish rider mark scanlon has been doing well and indeed led out kiarsipu for a stage victory at the weekend,and indeed was very prominent again in yesterdays (tues) stage,again helping out his team for another sprint victory.

**Macy** · 07/07/2004, 8:29 AM

I find Cycling News the best. Excellent tour coverage, and great to follow the sport throughout the season (part timers

)

Personally my interest has wained since I read "Rough Ride" by Paul Kimmage, a few years ago. Infact, it's made me cynical about all sports, including football to a certain extent. All the drugs that are present in cycling would give advantages in other sports - just that other sports don't test for them....

**liamon** · 07/07/2004, 8:39 AM

I was wondering how long it would take for a topic on cycling to mention drugs.
Pointless sport with all the doping going on. I can't take it seriously and no longer have any respect for former heroes like Kelly and Roche. For that matter, I can't see myself watching much of the olympics this year either.

**the 12 th man** · 07/07/2004, 8:44 AM

Originally Posted by Macy

Excellent tour coverage, and great to follow the sport throughout the season (part timers

)

...

hold on there bald eagle

i try and keep up with thr likes of the giro,paris -roubaix and world champs etc.
while i like listening to dave duffield on eurosport i prefer phil ligget.
note there is no terrestrial coverage of the tour this year for the first time i can remember, so that tells me that the tv stations are distancing themselves from the sport because of the drugs inferences.

look at what happened to marco pantani.can you imagine the furore if say michael owen was found dead in a seedy hotel with a syringe in his arm ?

**Peadar** · 07/07/2004, 8:56 AM

Originally Posted by liamon

I can't take it seriously and no longer have any respect for former heroes like Kelly and Roche. For that matter, I can't see myself watching much of the olympics this year either.

Yeah, we were talking about this at the weekend.
The olympics has lost all of its magic.
Cycling is riddled with drugs but then again I guess it's probably even enough if they're all on the same stuff.

**the 12 th man** · 07/07/2004, 9:02 AM

Originally Posted by Peadar

Cycling is riddled with drugs but then again I guess it's probably even enough if they're all on the same stuff.

you ve hit the proverbial nail on the head there.
some of the riders are clean and they are at a huge disadvantage

there is no way the organisors want to catch out a certain high profile american rider for instance

**Macy** · 07/07/2004, 9:02 AM

ITV2 has the UK coverage, with basically the Channel 4 Team (or is that ESPN Team?) of Liggot, Sherwen and Imlach. Last year ITV (UTV) had highlights on late at night (after midnight anyway), but as I can't get the channel I haven't looked this year.

One hope is that ITV goes Free To Air on satellite, which should mean ITV2 (and ITV3) as well. Won't know that till August or September, so not much help for this year. For such shíte channels in general, ITV can do some sports excellently....

**the 12 th man** · 07/07/2004, 9:38 AM

[QUOTE=Macy Channel 4 Team (or is that ESPN Team?) of Liggot, Sherwen and Imlach. ...[/QUOTE]

yeah they were my favourite team of commentators though i thought imlach was a bit of a smug git.

tourdefrancenews.com is another good site

**Macy** · 07/07/2004, 9:46 AM

Originally Posted by the 12 th man

you ve hit the proverbial nail on the head there.
some of the riders are clean and they are at a huge disadvantage

there is no way the organisors want to catch out a certain high profile american rider for instance

The leaders are the most tested, but I'd say they're just ahead of the game (in the same way certain Italian teams were in the early 90's).

Look at the way Boardman suffered in the road races by being clean - he just couldn't compete.

However, I'd say EPO and the like would also be of benefit to footballers (for example) for increasing their stamina. Are footballers even tested for it?

**Dodge** · 07/07/2004, 9:50 AM

Football very nearly didn't make the olympics this year as FIFA wouldn't sign up to the rigourous IOC drug testing programme. Think they did in the end (And the GAA is the only sport in ireland no to sign up for the Irish Sports Council's drugs testing programme)

Cycling is definitely trying to clean up its act and IMO its no worse than Athletics or Swimming.

Oh and Macy; Boardman struggled on the roads as he didn't have the strength for it. I think 4kms was his limit...

**pete** · 07/07/2004, 9:59 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Football very nearly didn't make the olympics this year as FIFA wouldn't sign up to the rigourous IOC drug testing programme.

Unbelievably after FIFA wanted to deal with drugs issues on a case by case basis obviously so they could give their big names a free ride.

**WeAreRovers** · 07/07/2004, 10:28 AM

My favourite Cycling writer William Fotheringham is the main man on the Guardian's Tour de France site.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tourdefr...239414,00.html

Fair fooks to Mark Scanlon. 28th overall and 5th in the Young Rider classification.

Personally I'm not overly bothered about the drugs aspect. Over 3000k through unbelievable terrain, drugs or no drugs it's some feat.The only problem is that there should be a level playing field (sic). Let them all take whatever they want. Also the tragic circumstances of Pantani's death are obviously related to the drugs issue.

As for athletics.....

KOH

**Macy** · 07/07/2004, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by pete

Unbelievably after FIFA wanted to deal with drugs issues on a case by case basis obviously so they could give their big names a free ride.

Like Rio, who got much longer than people who had failed tests?

**Macy** · 07/07/2004, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Oh and Macy; Boardman struggled on the roads as he didn't have the strength for it. I think 4kms was his limit...

Yeah, but why didn't he have the strength compared to the others? Was it that he wasn't good enough, or the fact he couldn't compete being clean? I suppose we'll never know the answer to that one.

**the 12 th man** · 07/07/2004, 11:08 AM

i think the sport of cycling is in an absolute heap right now.
the likes of jean marie le blanc would never admit to it though.
one leading french dignitary declined a trip in the official tour car (with jmlb)
to start the stage yesterday as he was afraid it would be seen as endorsing the sport.

i think the david millar incident is the straw that might be seen as the one that finally broke the camels back i.e:young ,outspoken,high profile contender caught red handed cheating.

journalist david walsh of the sunday times is a champion of the cause of the "clean riders" and is reviled by the likes of armstrong for his investigative questions/methods.