Tour de France [Archive]

pete

06/07/2004, 4:40 PM

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/tour_results_and_standings/default.stm)

Official Site (http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/index.html)

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

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 (http://www.cyclingnews.com/) 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

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

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

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 :rolleyes:

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 sh�te 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

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 :rolleyes:
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

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/tourdefrance2004/0,14667,1239414,00.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..... :rolleyes:

KOH

Macy

07/07/2004, 10:58 AM

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

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.

Dodge

07/07/2004, 11:15 AM

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.
Well there's not too many track specialists that come into the road races and do well. Good for prologues certainly and the odd time trial but he was never going to do anything in the mountains as these lads train all their life for it. Boardman came into Road racong fairly late on and admitted himself that he didn't know to much about it having focussed completely on the track

WeAreRovers

07/07/2004, 12:06 PM

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.

Give me Lance Armstrong over David Walsh any day. When Walsh has beaten cancer and won 5 Tours de France (and shagged Sheryl Crowe ;) )he can lecture a great athlete like Lance Armstrong.

KOH

Dodge

07/07/2004, 12:32 PM

Give me Lance Armstrong over David Walsh any day. When Walsh has beaten cancer and won 5 Tours de France (and shagged Sheryl Crowe ;) )he can lecture a great athlete like Lance Armstrong.

KOH
Yeah but could he have beaten cancer without the drugs?

Cheat

And Walsh has shown no evidence of any kind...

the 12 th man

07/07/2004, 1:34 PM

And Walsh has shown no evidence of any kind...

he doesnt need to,we all know its endemic in the sport.the laws of libel
restrain people from speaking openly about it.
now if the tour really wanted to clean itself up.................well that would be someting to aspire to.

btw,how do you know he is actually shagging miss crowe :rolleyes: :D

liamon

07/07/2004, 3:30 PM

When Walsh has ..won 5 Tours de France ..he can lecture a great athlete like Lance Armstrong.

KOH
And so no one should ever have questioned Michele Smiths performance in Atlanta unless they had themselves won multiple gold medals?
Anyone who uses drugs to achieve a performance enhancement doesn't deserve to be referred to as a "great athlete".

Peadar

07/07/2004, 3:37 PM

btw,how do you know he is actually shagging miss crowe :rolleyes: :D

Her brother, Glen, was saying it down the pub :D

WeAreRovers

07/07/2004, 3:41 PM

And so no one should ever have questioned Michele Smiths performance in Atlanta unless they had themselves won multiple gold medals?
Anyone who uses drugs to achieve a performance enhancement doesn't deserve to be referred to as a "great athlete".

Comparing Michelle Smith and Lance Armstrong is only showing your ignorance.

BTW When has Armstrong "used drugs to achieve a performance enhancement"?

KOH

drinkfeckarse

07/07/2004, 3:46 PM

Anyone who uses drugs to achieve a performance enhancement doesn't deserve to be referred to as a "great athlete".

Haven't read his book or anything but has he admitted using performance enhancing drugs?

Metrostars

07/07/2004, 3:48 PM

Regarding Armstrong, his recovery from cancer is quite a remarkable story in itself. He is one tough motherf-er. Everyone will have suspicions about him taking performance enhancing drugs but he has been tested and nothing has been found yet.
BTW I have read Armstrong's book but no mention of him taking banned drugs.

Dodge

07/07/2004, 5:29 PM

Armstrong's book is great and he's easily one of my all time idols.

Europeans got suspicious of him because he was so damn good and have tried everything to find dirt on him (with no success) (BTW I can't believe I'm siding with an American sport star over a european...) In the book Walsh just makes wide sweeping generalisations and concludes that Armstrong has to be on drugs :rolleyes: (from what I've heard, I haven't read the book)

WeAreRovers

07/07/2004, 5:45 PM

Armstrong's book is great and he's easily one of my all time idols.

Same here, truly one of the greats and I usually hate your All American idols (Sampras, Tiger Woods :rolleyes: )

As regards Armstrong taking drugs, Dodge alluded to it above. In his book he points out the irony of the many banned drugs he took in his battle against the big C.

Since then he's been tested and tested (by sniffy Europeans) and always been clean and as I write He's just moved into yellow after the team time trial. It's all over already.

KOH

Pauro 76

07/07/2004, 9:43 PM

the 12 th man

08/07/2004, 7:20 AM

Yeah US Postal just won the Team Time Trial... whats the story with the new rules about the TTT? In fact why bother having one, cos the top 10 is now between nearly all riders between 2 teams, which kinda blows the competition away?

believe it or not they changed the rules to try and make it a closer race!!
in the team time trial now,the gap between 1st & 2nd in the ttt is limited to 20 seconds ,even if the team thats 1 st beats the team thats 2nd by say 2 mins.
yesterday the us postals won the ttt by over a minute but because of the new rule they only got a 20 sec gap to the 2nd team.

i could be wrong but i think the ttt was held early this year for some reason and because of the nature of it (as in all team members get same time)this caused the team members of the winning team to hog the top 10 spots.

not a great day for mark scanlons team as they paid for their efforts in the previous 3 days and lost time.
he slipped to 4th in the young rider category (white jersey) but i think he still has a lot to give

Macy

08/07/2004, 9:05 AM

i could be wrong but i think the ttt was held early this year for some reason and because of the nature of it (as in all team members get same time)this caused the team members of the winning team to hog the top 10 spots.
Nah, it's normally held first week, so most teams have at least most of the team. There were a few years when there was no ttt.

The 20 second rule defeats the purpose of the ttt - no point in it.

Re: Postal dominating the top 10: They'll just send a man in every break and then they won't have to defend the jersey until the Pyrenees, so be suprised if Armstrong holds yellow for too long...

Dodge

08/07/2004, 9:22 AM

I think the TTT is just there for the sponsors. The whole team in sync with no other sponsors to clutter your view...

And half of Armstrong's winning margin last year was through the TTT so some people were saying that the new rules were brought in to make it harder for him to win his 6th. I definitely don't think a rider should lose 4/5 minutes on his rivals becaue his team can't ride a time trial so in that respect the rules aren't too bad

Oh and Scanlon actually moved up from 5th to 4th in the White Jersey comp.

the 12 th man

08/07/2004, 9:31 AM

Oh and Scanlon actually moved up from 5th to 4th in the White Jersey comp.

my mistake so,
i thought he was in 3 rd to 4th,so thats good news :D

NorthoftheLee

08/07/2004, 10:05 AM

The TTT is crap and should never have been brought back in a few years ago.it is well unfair on riders who are not in strong teams. At least the new rule limited the amount of time riders lost.......

The tour will only really get going for the serious contenders once the tour hit the mountains.....this is when talk of placings should really begin because up until then placings mean absolute nothing in the overall aspect of the race...Its for the sprinters to get their heads and sponsors into the media...

looking forward to the mountain stages because I think Mayo will now have to attack armstrong at every opportunity to try and get back all that lost time...its gonna be great.....I can see armstong being attacked from all quarters this year which will make it a great race....

hopefully Scanlon will be able to handle the mountains....

WeAreRovers

08/07/2004, 11:31 AM

hopefully Scanlon will be able to handle the mountains....

That's the big question. Does anyone know if he can climb? My (always pessimistic) old man reckons he won't even make it to the mountains.

KOH

Dodge

08/07/2004, 11:53 AM

He's not a climber cetainly but he's far stronger than most sprinters. He'll get over them alright but don't expect any heroics

Schumi

08/07/2004, 3:36 PM

the 12 th man

08/07/2004, 3:51 PM

Quality stage today! Five guys 15 mins ahead with about 12k left. Looks like Thomas Voeckler will be miles ahead of all the favourites after today.

There's commentary off the TV on letour.com, very handy.

big crash today involving 5 us postals (not armstong).the other us postals got to the head of the peleton and slowed it down which helped the breakaway

Schumi

08/07/2004, 4:15 PM

Armstrong about 10 mins down overall now!

Dodge

08/07/2004, 4:28 PM

Yeah but US postal let them away as none of them are in with a shout of winning. IF Scanlon was in that break he'd be in yellow tonight...

Metrostars

08/07/2004, 6:07 PM

Armstrong is 9'35" back now but that doesnt really matter.

But controlling the race lead so early brings pressures along with honors -- and Armstrong's coach said the 32-year-old Texan was willing to give up the yellow jersey temporarily and focus on bigger threats.

"We can't kill the team for a breakaway by five people who aren't a threat in the overall classification," Postal sporting director Johan Bruyneel said. "I'm comfortable with the situation."

This year's Tour is more interesting as the organisers have seemed to have made it more difficult for him to win again with the mountain stages coming later. It should be really interesting.

the 12 th man

09/07/2004, 7:11 AM

today friday,
yet another flat stage.
190 k from bonneval to angers.should be set up nicely for the sprinters

anyone fancy a prediction for today fri ?.

i reckon a semi suprise with (super) mario cippolini winning.
let the lion roar!!!!!!