Tour De France 2008

[Russo]

Cadel will lose massive amounts of time against his rivals tonight IMO. At least 2mins on the stage, maybe more.

icon_thumbs_u

Piepoli takes out the stage and Cadel is into yellow.

[icon_lol1. Remind me never to take a tip off Leo icon_thumbs_u

Leo declared to his band of loyal followers that Piepoli would win stage 10 last night icon_thumbs_u

Thanks Leo I mustn't be in the loyal band hey :cry: , followed 2 of your earlier tips on this thread and both lost so you owe me big fellow [icon_wink

 

[ningnangnong]

Cadel will lose massive amounts of time against his rivals tonight IMO. At least 2mins on the stage, maybe more.

icon_thumbs_u

Piepoli takes out the stage and Cadel is into yellow.

[icon_lol1. Remind me never to take a tip off Leo icon_thumbs_u

Leo declared to his band of loyal followers that Piepoli would win stage 10 last night icon_thumbs_u

Damn it let me into you're little club!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LXG. :evil:

icon_smile

 

[Ari Gold]

Cadel will lose massive amounts of time against his rivals tonight IMO. At least 2mins on the stage, maybe more.

icon_thumbs_u

Piepoli takes out the stage and Cadel is into yellow.

[icon_lol1. Remind me never to take a tip off Leo icon_thumbs_u

Well, he lost almost 2 mins to Frank Schleck, who is IMO his biggest threat now, so I was half right, though obviously not in the manner I meant. Frank absolutely slaughtered the peloton 2 years ago on the stage into Alp D'Huez so he's definitely a big chance if he can reduce his ITT loses to ~2mins.

Russo, I am on Pierrick Fedrigo ($81), Amets Txurruka ($126), David Moncoutie ($81), Simon Gerrans ($126 - he's an aussie too!), Sandy Casar ($51) and Juan Antonio Flecha ($67).

Going to be a very interesting day with Silence Lotto in yellow. Frankly I think they'd prefer not to have it as there are going to be some very tough days ahead for their domestiques.

 

[Ari Gold]

Ricardo Ricco has tested positive to EPO.

 

[ningnangnong]

Young Italian cycling star Riccardo Ricco has become the third rider on the Tour de France to test positive for the blood-booster EPO, the online edition of the daily L'Equipe reported.

The 24-year-old Ricco, who has won two stages in this year's Tour, was reportedly detected with traces of CERA (Continuous Erythropietin Receptor Activator) in his urine sample.

CERA is a so-called third-generation version of EPO - a protein hormone produced by the kidney which stimulates the production of red blood cells - with a longer half-life and was thought to be virtually undetectable.

The website of the Tour de France said that Ricco's Saunier Duval team had dropped out of the race on the news, leaving only 159 riders, of the 180 who started on July 5, in the race.

Ricco ranked ninth in the general standings, 2 minutes 29 seconds behind the leader, Cadel Evans of Australia. In spring, he placed second in the Giro d'Italia.

The report was made public one day after the announcement that EPO had been detected in the blood sample of the Spanish rider Moises Duenas taken after the race's fourth stage, on July 8.

Duenas was taken into custody by police on Wednesday and his Barloworld team later confirmed that a search had turned up banned substances in his hotel room.

L'Equipe reported that Duenas was presented to a judge in the city of Tarbes early Thursday and may be placed under investigation, a legal step preliminary to charges being filed.

Doping is a criminal offence in France and under stricter laws introduced shortly before the Tour can be punished with up to five years in prison.

Last week another Spanish rider, Manuel Beltran, was dropped from the race after traces of EPO were found in his blood following the first stage of the race, on July 5.

http://news.theage.com.au/sport/italys- ... -3ghp.html

 

[ningnangnong]

Cavendish absolutely dominates in the sprint finish to win the stage.

 

[Jeza23]

Im not really surprised about Ricco to be honest, not many 'normal' or clean riders can climb mountains like he did, with the ease he showed.

They didnt really have any choice but to boot him and his team from the tour, which is unfortunate because they were leading the King of the Mountains classification with Ricco and De La Fuente (my prediction) and they were also leading the team classification by nearly 5mins going into tonights stage!

However cheaters have no place in sport

 

[m1c]

Same thing every year :(.... for mine the most amazing performance of 06 was Landis and the way he climbed, of 07 it was Vinokourov (spelling?) and this year it was Ricco and his last stage win. Each of those performances took my breath away, at the time i was in awe, they were super human feats, and now we know why. Breaks my heart to find out none of it was legit :(

I agree with O'Grady, life bans.

 

[Jeza23]

Same thing every year :(.... for mine the most amazing performance of 06 was Landis and the way he climbed, of 07 it was Vinokourov (spelling?) and this year it was Ricco and his last stage win. Each of those performances took my breath away, at the time i was in awe, they were super human feats, and now we know why. Breaks my heart to find out none of it was legit :(

I agree with O'Grady, life bans.

Rasmussen is in the same boat as these guys, but I think the difference with him was that he is a naturally gifted climber, he just took the stupid option to increase his chances of winning more, which is dumb seeing as he was easily the best climber in the field last year and would have been this year too!

 

[m1c]

On a positive note: how good has Cavendish been? This kid could be anything, and to think he's only 23! Could dominate the sprint stages for the next 10-15 years.

 

[Ari Gold]

Could dominate the sprint stages for the next 10-15 years.

He already is. There have been 3 truly mass sprint finishes and he's one them all without difficulty. To his credit too, he's also helped his lesser team-mates win stages previously and I think you'll find Gerald Ciolek taking out tonight's stage.

 

[ningnangnong]

Cavendish does it again.

 

[ningnangnong]

 

[Jeza23]

Aussie Simon Gerrans won tonights 15th stage, first in the alps.

Cadel lost time on all of his rivals and has lost yellow to Frank Schleck and could slip to 3rd behind Bernard Kohl from Gerolsteiner, who has been the massive surprise of this tour. Kohl also leads the KoM classification

 

[Jeza23]

Cadel slipped to 3rd after tonights stage.

Top 6 are as follows:

1. F. Schleck
2. B. Kohl +7 secs
3. C. Evans + 8 secs
4. D. Menchov +38 secs
5. C. Vandevelde + 39 secs
6. C. Sastre + 49 secs

Menchov gained 19 seconds on Cadel tonight, Kohl and Sastre gained 47 seconds each.

Cadel needs to be careful now, I think he may need to attack, most likely on the Alp'duez on stage 17

 

[ningnangnong]

Why won't that full picture i posted show properly? Fix it Rocky.

Tonight i think Cadel really struggled to keep up with the main players, and unfortunately as the climbs get tougher i think he may find himself slipping away further unless someone from his team can be there with him and help him out.

CSC are ruthless though, Andy Schleck was brilliant for his brother and Sastre.

This tour is going go right down to the edge.

 

[The Brizz]

Popovic needs to stay in touch for far longer in the next couple of mountain stages or Cadel might well lose touch.

 

[m1c]

Poppa has been out of form this tour, hes been one of the big disappointments for mine. He was a fantastic general for Armstrong and then Levi and Contador last year, Silence Lotto bought him over on a one year big money deal for one reason - help Cadel. He needs to pick his game up over the next 2 stages.

Cadel could be in some trouble if he gives away 30 secs a stage for the next 2, as he has been doing.

IMO himself F. Schleck and Menchov are the only ones who can win from here on. Menchov would be kicking himself he was caught in the 2nd half of that peleton split earlier in the first week.