Tour de France 2010

When (approximately) are they around the finish line?
 
Dyslexic Untied said:
If Landis is to be believed, he used to sell some his bikes to pay for doping.
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I don't buy any of Landis' claims, he's fallen off badly and this throws him back into the limelight.

I'd like Cavendish to get the sprint win here.
 
Cavendish crashed with a km to go, there's been a crazy pile up 500metres from the line.


Petacchi wins.
 
Good points for Hushovd on Cavendish today.

Hushovd looked pretty sharp and was obviously very lucky. Been injured a lot this spring so he said today before that he'd never been more unsure about his own form.

Nice going.
 
Replays seem to show Cavendish caused that crash?
 
So what happened today? was too engrossed in the tennis to watch this today. How were Schleck Armstrong and Contador?
 
Result:
Stage One result:
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita/Lampre) 5 hours, 9 minutes, 38 seconds
2 Mark Renshaw (Aus/HTC-Columbia) same time
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor/Cervelo) same time
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus/Katusha) same time
5 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra/FDJ) same time

Overall standings:
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi/Saxo Bank) 5 hours, 19 minutes, 38 seconds
2 Tony Martin (Ger/HTC-Columbia) +10 seconds
3 David Millar (GB/Garmin) +20"
4 Lance Armstrong (USA/Radioshack) +22"
5 Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) +23"
6 Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) + 27"
 
I think Renshaw's broken his collarbone. Bad news for Cavendish.
 
I think Cavendish is brilliant, I can see why the peloton should hate him and probably think his attitude is terrible, but there's something about him I like.
 
To be fair I'm Norwegian so I always want Hushovd to win the green, even though he is a bit of a cock himself. Sprinters usually are dickheads anyway.

But Cavendish just seems even cnutier than the rest. It's one of those "my cnut vs your cnut" situations though.
 
Dyslexic Untied said:
To be fair I'm Norwegian so I always want Hushovd to win the green, even though he is a bit of a cock himself. Sprinters usually are dickheads anyway.

But Cavendish just seems even cnutier than the rest. It's one of those "my cnut vs your cnut" situations though.
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Taking into account that he's only 25, Cavendish is still very young and hasn't matured yet to be liked by the world. However, he like the rest of the cyclists aren't there to be liked they are there to win, and so you have to be cock sure of oneself and one's abilities. I think this year people are a bit more wiser to him and HTC tactics and have employed spoiler tactics which have wound him up, and more and more bad press is surrounding him. I'm sure that he'll get through this, and prove himself a worthy champion, but he'll have to do all the good P R this year and next perhaps to win back a lot of cycling fans around the world.
 
Cavendish
Mark Cavendish - the Manx mystery
Post categories: Cycling
Matt Slater | 17:11 UK time, Thursday, 1 July 2010
As I was heading out of the office last week to interview British cycling star Mark Cavendish, I asked the boss what kind of thing he wanted.

"Erm, you know, Tour de France, green jersey, Lance, Wiggins...oh, and why he is such a head case."

So there you have it. Just 25, only four years into his professional career and Cavendish already has the kind of reputation it normally takes a lifetime of boorish behaviour to acquire.

The HTC-Columbia rider is not one to wait around for that, though, he has been on a mission in the bad boy stakes of late. A feud with another sprinter in his own team, a public slap-on-the-wrist for a two-fingered victory salute and a massive crash that provoked renewed debate about his riding style, it has been quite a year already.

But how did this happen? What is it about this polite, softly-spoken bloke that attracts such bad press and so many raised eyebrows? Is Cavendish Britain's most misunderstood sportsman?




To answer these questions, or at least have a crack at answering them, we should probably rewind a couple of years to the Beijing Olympics.

Let down by the aforementioned Bradley Wiggins (exhausted after his endeavours in the pursuits) in the two-man Madison, the newly-minted "Manx Missile" was the only member of Team GB's track cycling squad to leave China empty-handed.

That was not part of the deal when Cavendish agreed to quit the Tour de France early and he took the setback personally. Still fuming weeks later, the young sprinter effectively drew a line under his track cycling career (a decision he would reconsider) and it took months before he was ready to talk to Wiggins again.

Cav's dark mood did not last long, though (they never do), as he carried his late-season form into 2009. Already considered as the master of the bunch sprint, he stunned the cycling world by winning the Milan-San Remo, one of the most prestigious one-day races on the pro calendar. He was now in exalted company.

Cavendish caused controversy when he was involved in a spectacular crash during the Tour de Suisse

His status as the fastest man in the peloton was underlined over the next few months as he claimed three stages at the Giro d'Italia and two more at the Tour de Suisse. He was now ready for his third crack at the Tour de France and this time he was targeting Paris and the green jersey, the prize for the race's points competition.

But before that he published "Boy Racer", his first autobiography and an initial attempt - in print, anyway - to set the record straight about his public image. My abiding memory of the press conference is Cavendish trying to wipe the smile off his face as he explained it wasn't really an autobiography at all but was actually a book about why he sometimes comes across as a bit of a tool.

Later that day I interviewed him in Hyde Park and he was honest, modest and patient as we messed about with our camera and microphones. The idea that this was cycling's biggest prima donna made no sense at all: confident in his own (proven) abilities, yes; arrogant so-and-so, no.

And then it was off to France. Suddenly his desire to justify his post-race behaviour made more sense. On the one hand you had Cav the Great, on the other you had Cav the Git.

His six stage wins, including a stunning victory on the Champs-Elysees, illustrated everything that was good about the man from Douglas. His reaction to losing a 13th-place finish for forcing rival Thor Hushovd too close to the barriers at the end of stage 14 illustrated all the bad bits.

What should have been a one-point gain in the race for green became a 13-point swing for the Norwegian (who would go on to win by 10). Cavendish went ballistic, blasting officials for what he still considers a "terrible decision" and Hushovd for crying foul when he knew he was fairly beaten.

Truth be told, it was contentious but it was not Hushovd's fault. The decision was made before his Cervelo team had even lodged a protest.

Cavendish, being Cavendish, realised this and issued an apology, acknowledging his rival's efforts in the mountains made him a worthy winner of a prize for the most consistent finisher, not the best sprinter.

The whole episode was vintage Cav. The all-consuming desire, the explosion of emotion at the finish line and the ill-considered words when asked for reaction with his heart still thumping and adrenalin off the charts, it was all there.

It is unfair really. What do we expect when we thrust a microphone under the nose of a man so committed to winning? Platitudes? Analysis? A "big shout" to friends at home?

Which brings me back to the recent shenanigans. A split from his childhood sweetheart, dental surgery that caused an infection, the spat with Andre Greipel, a couple of head-to-head defeats, the V-sign ruckus and that crash - Cavendish readily admits "this has been the toughest period of my professional career".

But he also has the good sense to know that much of this has been self-inflicted - "the dental thing was for aesthetic reasons, if I had known then that it would ruin my winter I would have put up with wonky teeth for a bit longer" - and is also a product of him being the guy at the top of the heap.

None of these setbacks, however, appear to have dented his titanium-plated confidence, or his ability to provide good copy.

Is he still the fastest sprinter? "Yes. Nobody is invincible but I am still the man to beat in the last 200 metres of a race."

Can he win the green jersey this year? "It should take care of itself if I reach my goals. There are six definite sprints (in this year's Tour) and nine possibles. I will be going full gas in all of them."

Does he regret that victory salute? "It wasn't intended to be vulgar. I meant it in the same way the English archers did at Agincourt. You know, 'I've still got it!' I know where that gesture came from."

Does he accept responsibility for the Swiss crash? "I'm not going to say I was blameless but I don't believe I was the only one in the wrong. (Heinrich Haussler) was the one with his head down."

What about the peloton's protest against him the following day? "There was no protest. It was about eight guys from his team and the rest of peloton said 'don't be so stupid, let's race'. The majority of guys love the sport like I do and want to win races sportingly."


But, for me, the most interesting thing he said was when I asked about people's perception of his character, largely based on his celebrations and post-race interviews.

"Nobody wants to be perceived as a prat and I hope I'm not because I'm not that way at home. The people I love know that. But I know I can seem that way," he admitted.

"I have an ability to turn my emotions off whilst I do my job - which is winning bike races for my team. But at the end of a race it all comes out, so it's a good thing and a bad thing.

"But ultimately if people want to make a judgement on my personality based on 30 seconds of what they've seen at the end of a race - which they have no idea about - then they're not worth worrying about."

He's right, of course, apart from one thing. He does worry about it. The message boards, the blogs, the Cycling News race reports. He worries about all of it.

And I think it this sensitive, almost vulnerable, side that ultimately makes him such a likeable bloke...when he's not rolling through the finishing line in emotional-release mode, that is.
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Tribec said:
Taking into account that he's only 25, Cavendish is still very young and hasn't matured yet to be liked by the world. However, he like the rest of the cyclists aren't there to be liked they are there to win, and so you have to be cock sure of oneself and one's abilities. I think this year people are a bit more wiser to him and HTC tactics and have employed spoiler tactics which have wound him up, and more and more bad press is surrounding him. I'm sure that he'll get through this, and prove himself a worthy champion, but he'll have to do all the good P R this year and next perhaps to win back a lot of cycling fans around the world.
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I don't mind his arrogance, it's his lack of fair play that irks me.
 
Elliott said:
I don't mind his arrogance, it's his lack of fair play that irks me.
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It's a fine line to be fair, and I'm not trying to defend him entirely here. I think he's made some bad decisions in the heat of the moment, that have led to crashes, but then at one point or another any other cyclist can and most have probably do the same. Whilst obviously he was to blame for the first crash yesterday, I don't for one minute think it was intentional, but because others have complained to other incidents prior to this, the first thought of everyone is Cav's at it again.
 
What were the riders 'protesting' against? Rain? They knew the route about a year ago. I can't understand it.

Wiggins, Armstrong both crashed. Vande Velde and Farrar crashed, finished and have gone to hospital.
 
Annoying. Cervélo worked their asses off to put further distance between Hushovd and Cav in the fight for green and would've been successful if it wasn't for that pathetic quasi protest.
 
A few reactions from riders on Twitter, I find it to be quite useful for post-stage reactions:

Lance Armstrong - 'Got some good "road rash" on the hip and elbow. Bike mangled, cleat on the shoe completely cracked in two. Hope it's dry tomorrow.'

Geraint Thomas - 'Absolute carnage!! Used up another 3 lives today, only 2 left now...'

Team Sky posted a photo of Wiggins' shoe after the crash, must have been pretty bad
 
MJLD said:
What were the riders 'protesting' against? Rain? They knew the route about a year ago. I can't understand it.

Wiggins, Armstrong both crashed. Vande Velde and Farrar crashed, finished and have gone to hospital.
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The current claim is the road conditions, to which everyone is comparing to an ice rink, on the decent where everyone crashed. I've just watched Lance's video blog and whilst being sketchy he wasn't sure how it got that bad. Some speculation that disel might have been dropped on the route or it was just the rain. If it was the rain, they have no complaints, any other substance and they have a right to complain as far as I'm concerned. It should be really interesting tomorrow over the cobbles.
 
Today's stage started with the following injuries - Gesink (hairline arm fracture), Millar (suspected broken rib), Dean (contusion to the back), Farrar (sprained elbow, fractured wrist).

Vande Velde has abandoned the Tour which is a shame, broken ribs and lacerated eyelid.

George Hincapie on Twitter this morning - 'Preparing for battle. Today you have to be an a-hole, to stay in front. So I will go ahead and apologize in advance.'
 
Hoping for some action today. Saxo Bank seem to be pretty agressive, hoping they can lose Contador and gain some of the time the Schleck's inevitably lost (and will lose) on the tempos!
 
Crap, Frank looks done for. That's that for Andy in the competition as well I reckon. Don't see him having much chance in the mountains against Contador in the mountains without his best supporting rider =/
 
Frank Schleck is a big loss.

Have been a lot of injuries so far. Thor is looking so strong, perhaps going to win it now.
 
Frank Shleck is fecked now. Contador looks comfortable to me, not out in front but riding well, he's going to take this Tour in the later stages.
 
Armstrong dropped massively with that puncture, gutted.
 
Wow, Lance is two minutes behind the leading group with Andy Schleck.
 
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