Le Tour d' France 2015 (Live thread)

LeTour.com ^ | 7/3/15 | Site staff

[Baynative]

Pinot (Thibaut) - (fra) / Bardet (Romain) - (fra) © Presse Sports

In the lead up to the start of the 102nd Tour de France in Utrecht, letour.com has chosen to highlight five key stages. Of symbolic importance in the development of the race or perhaps decisive with regard to the final general individual classification, they feature the required characteristics for an extraordinary sporting show. The last episode is l'Alpe d'Huez where the final battle is scheduled on the eve of the grand finale in Paris. In a recent past, Frenchmen have performed on the so-called «Dutchmen's climb». Will they do well again this year?

[PeteB570]

“...Cancellara out of Tour de France with fractured vertebrae...

Sad News

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/cancellara-out-of-tour-de-france-with-fractured-vertebrae_376820

[patriotspride]

Sad news. I think this was to be his last tour ?

Wonder if he will come back next year.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

You forgot the Spoiler Alert! I haven’t seen today’s race yet. Guess what I’ll be doing tonight? :-)

[PeteB570]

Had a slow day today so I could watch it. Usually I watch it at night.

Regular days I have it on my iPhone and follow the TdF site news feed.

Other than the headlines I still watch it at night just to see how the “herd” moves down the road.

[Baynative]

"Cancellara was whisked off to the hospital for a CT scan shortly after he crossed the finish line of the crash-marred stage three at the Tour de France, and hours later the news confirmed the worst: two transverse process fractures in two vertebrae bones of the lower back," the statement read.

It is the identical injury he sustained in E3 Harelbeke last March, but this time the L3 and L4 vertebrae on the right side were the culprits, not the L2 and L3 on the left side he injured in Harelbeke."

1. This is going to make his later years in life uncomfortable, if not painful.
2. His team had one job today - PROTECT THEIR LEADER WEARING YELLOW! - Where the hell were they and why was he that far back in the pack on a sprinters stage this early in the Tour?

[Baynative]

" I haven’t seen today’s race yet. Guess what I’ll be doing tonight? :-)"

Sorry about the spoiler alert, but there was bound to be plenty of comment about this unfortunate event. It is bad enough that this happened ...worse that a pole was in the spot where they tumbled ...and really bad that the Tour Leader was back there amidst the mayhem.

SPOILER ALERT- The crash is hard to watch; almost like a NASCAR wreck.

[al_c]

I was afraid his injuries were going to knock him out. He looked like he was in a lot of pain after that spill.

[Vision]

Wow. I’m a day behind, just finished watching stage 2 via dvr. So sad.

[Eric Roelfsema]

Looks like we are getting a multi pelaton situation again right now before the first section of cobbles. I think I saw 3 or 4 groups.

Unfortunate for Cancellara to have to withdraw as well as Dumoulin. Laurens Ten Dam in the wreck had dislocated his shoulder, but the doctors put in back in place.

[patriotspride]

This year it’s his team and he has some good support riders. Keep an eye on this fine young man.

---

Would love to see him on the podium. Would relieve a little of the “ Lance Letdown” for the USA

[Baynative]

I'm becoming a nit picker, I guess; but that bike change Nibali went through was as messed up as could be. The team car pulled up and stopped, but didn't even have his bike ready in position. The mechanic was even on the other side of the car. Then after they finally made the change Nibali was holding two water bottles that he mounted on the new bike.

it seems a simple plan would have been to pull the team car a kilo or two ahead and stop to take the bike down, load the water bottles and just let him hop off and on when he got there.

All this for a stiffer bike to ride for 40 miles before going back to the loose machine for the final cobble sections. It seems a bit obsessive to me. But hey, I'm sitting at my desk and they are in the grand tour.

[Baynative]

"...relieve a little of the “ Lance Letdown” for the USA"

In addition to being a clean rider, he's an all around good guy. When ever he speaks he does so with respect for the sport and others in it. He doesn't have that egotistical abrasive edge that Lance has.

[Baynative]

I should have said, "at least he doesn't seem to have that edge"

[Solson]

I don't believe there is any such thing as a "clean rider" anymore. Just those who get caught and those who do not. While Lance was wrong for consistently lying, he was doping...just like the rest of the pros.

Call me pessimistic but I think all of them are doing it to one degree or another.

[patriotspride]

I should have said, “at least he doesn’t seem to have that edge”

---

Agree.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

Saw it. OUCH! but there were TWO crashes. No camera at the second one, but they say it was equally bad.

And they have to do cobblestones today. There are going to be some extremely sore guys today. The road rash from yesterday was gruesome.

[Baynative]

For years I've said athletes at the pro level are entertainers and like the actors and performers we love who alter themselves in unimaginable ways, they should have no limits on what they choose to use in order to leave their audiences in awe.

If you asked rookies in any sport if they would jeopardize their future health for fame and fortune today, 9 out of 10 would probably say yes.

I also believe that once all sports reduce themselves to the level of pro wrestling, leagues and competitions would naturally develop for competitors who preform Au natural. The slide began when the Olympics opened the doors to pros. I'd like to see a return to amateur Olympics, but the unionization of college athletes is about to shut down that idea forever.

[PeteB570]

191 signed the start sheet this morning.

[PeteB570]

From the web site about this stage “...It’s a celebration of the braveness of Anglophone soldiers who lost their lives during World War I, passing near the Canadian memorial of Vimy, the British cemetery of Sailly-Saillisel, the necropolis of Rancourt, the historial of the Big War in Péronne, the South African memorial of Bois Delville in Longueval, the franco-british memorial of Thieval and the last one in Villers-Bretonneux where the names of 10.733 Australian soldiers who died at war from 1916 to 1918 are written...”

[PeteB570]

Some great aerial views of the monuments, not too bad on the road and a great final sprint.