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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2013 4:53:34 GMT
The Tour begins in Corsica this year. It's the 100th Tour de France. Even though the first Tour took place in 1903, obviously it was interrupted during the wars. There's nowhere convenient for me to go and see a stage this year, but who know? Certainly on television, the Mont Saint Michel stage should be among the most photogenic. I am pleased to see that they are going to the Mont Ventoux again this year. I still have fond memories of my drive to the top last year. anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=france&action=display&thread=5993
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Post by mich64 on Jun 18, 2013 17:36:33 GMT
Also very excited for the Tour to begin! We love the traditions, intensity and of course the scenery.
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Post by waterhazardjack on Jun 25, 2013 1:02:23 GMT
Yes, despite all, it remains impossible to ignore.
Hoping for a good show this year from Ireland's young Dan Martin.
Nico Roche has been knocking on the door of the GC Top 10 for the last few years but Dan is the man to keep an eye on for the future...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2013 19:33:56 GMT
Tonight, with the Tour starting this weekend, there was a historical documentary on French television about the Tour -- quite hair raising on a number of levels.
Some of the footage back from around 1903 showed the riders washing their own clothes at night -- after riding for up to 18 hours.
As for the doping, back then the drugs were cocaine and chloroform before moving on to amphetamines.
And there was also the xenophobia -- sabotaging the dominant Italians so that the French could win. There was also a period where the 'North Africans' from French Algeria were popular because they could face the high temperatures better than the northern Europeans -- until they keeled over from the drugs.
It is really amazing how such a corrupt sport has remained so popular over the years -- but I am as hooked as ever after my brief 2-year boycott due to the Festina years.
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Post by waterhazardjack on Jun 26, 2013 2:09:02 GMT
It is really amazing how such a corrupt sport has remained so popular over the years -- but I am as hooked as ever after my brief 2-year boycott due to the Festina years. Yeah, it's car crash viewing at times, alright. Kinda like when Italy get to a World Cup final while their domestic game is mired in corruption. The better part of us would like to ignore it, of course, but it's difficult not to watch, when all is said and done. Particularly with 2 ascents of L'Alpe d'Huez on the same stage! Anyway, my money is now down... Each-way on Dan Martin for the Polka Dot at 25/1 and 3/1 for a Top 10 GC finish. Bit of value there, I believe...
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Post by nautiker on Jun 26, 2013 21:03:43 GMT
and it never ceases to amaze me that someone considered it a bright idea to put sprinters and stayers among with the chasers into one single race - a bit like running the Arc, the Abbaye and the Cheltenham Gold Cup (as well as the Dewhurst Stakes) simultaneously and sorting out afterwards who gets which prize... well, looking at the attendance figures, it seems they were right.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2013 21:13:28 GMT
Apparently, in terms of a sporting event, the Tour de France is the event which has the greatest number of live viewers in the world. Then again, how many events last almost a month and can be seen along thousands of kilometers of roads?
Then again, that seems to be exactly how popular sports should be, instead of confined in stadiums for the lucky few.
For years, I never really understood how the teams work, but I am just beginning to do so. But I will never approve of the fact that somebody can never be #1 for a stage and still have the yellow jersey. I think they should come up with some technical rule that would prevent this. For me, the yellow jersey should be reserved only for people who have come in first for a stage at least once.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2013 18:50:26 GMT
So, the event starts tomorrow, June 29th, and the 2 days in Corsica should be among the most scenic of the entire Tour.
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Post by nautiker on Jun 29, 2013 21:10:33 GMT
Given the past decades, I wonder whether it would enhance the credibility of this sport if the winner was ripped of his maillot jaune right after the victory celebration on July 21st and banned for life…
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2013 5:01:23 GMT
I was glad to see a nice young guy like Marcel Kittel win the first stage, even if it was mostly by accident after all of the collisions of the big stars due to that unfortunate finish line confusion.
One good thing that might come out of this is that they might stop giving the riders TOO much information in their earpieces. Kittel said that he didn't hear about the problems because his earpiece wasn't working all that well and there was too much noice, so he just kept going. Meanwhile, all of the big stars were bombarded with instructions on changing their strategy because of the finish line moving 3km (temporarily). When they tried to sprint, half the peleton didn't react, with those bloody conséquences...
I never liked the generalisation of the earpieces anyway, just as I don't like the radios in American football helmets.
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Post by nautiker on Jul 6, 2013 11:19:13 GMT
those earpieces indeed are disenchanting, IMO they clearly diminish the individual athletes achievement - and I'd say the relief that was portrayed after that 1st stage shows that a large percentage of the audience is tired by 'remote control'. how did they do it in the olden days? stop-watches and chalkboards?
meanwhile, the Tour has dropped significantly in media coverage over here: live-coverage has been confined from the main state channels to a small special interest station and I'm not sure at all whether short comments on the daily stages still even make it into the 8-o-clock-news anymore...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2013 16:25:27 GMT
I was out all day so I don't know what happened today but I know that yesterday everybody was delighted about the first African to ever wear the yellow jersey.
France 2 and France 3 show the Tour in its entirety (F3 gets the boring stuff and F2 gets the last two hours with the finish line and the interviews), but I have not yet read whether viewing figures are up or down this year.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 12:26:57 GMT
The news today was saying that with Germans winning so many of the stages this year, there are 20% more viewers for Eurosport Germany while the main channels are regretting the fact that they stopped their broadcasts in 2011.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 12, 2013 12:50:51 GMT
My initial enthusiasm for Le Tour has wained. Yes, like the rest of the world I was totally in disbelief at Lance Armstrong's confession. The first sportsman to numb my senses to sporting matches was Hansie Cronje`. Anyway, I digress.... In past years I got out my map and hi-lited the route as they cycled along. I even hired a car to drive part of the route one year. I sat spelled-bound in a cafe in Paris and watched Lance's last time trial before moving on down the rue de Rivoli to see him fly past. I know I shouldn't really put so much into past Tours and move on and enjoy this year's 100th as it is as good as any in past years......
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2013 14:15:56 GMT
The Armstrong years were terrible in France because we absolutely knew he was cheating but there was no way to prove it. And of course if you implied that he was somehow breaking the rules, you would get accused of sour grapes if not blatant anti-Americanism. But worst of all, he was just not a nice human being, refusing to stay in the same hotels as the others (now we know why) and making himself as inaccessible as possible to the European press. One of the greatest attractions of the cycle races of Europe is that the athletes are so ordinary and human, totally approachable and pleased when people are interested in them and want to touch them or get an autograph. Lance, on the other hand, acted like Michael Jackson.
This made the American love affair with him even more upsetting, because he was the absolute opposite of everything that cycling stands for and yet half of the world found him admirable.
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Post by htmb on Jul 12, 2013 15:38:01 GMT
While here in America we were presented with "Lance the clean-cut, All-American, Mr. Nice Guy and family man." Those of us who follow cycling peripherally only heard how great Lance was, not the negative behavior. Plus, this country tends to idolize athletes and place them on a pedestal above everyone else just the way the majority of Americans tend to adore celebrities. It places undue pressure on those who truly are good people, while also elevating the rat scum to the level of "heros." The American media is partly at fault, but so is the everyday American who believes that just because someone is really great at performing they are also someone who should be worshiped. It's pretty twisted in my opinion.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 12, 2013 18:07:26 GMT
Seems to be the way of the world this hero worship business and everyone loves a winner- Now Andrew Murray is the new kid on the block but at least doping doesn't seem to be an issue in the clean cut world of tennis..... The Tour de France seems to have always had weird things happen, even way back to its infancy with cheaters throwing tacks onto the road. To hear of the same thing happening as recent as last year(?)or the year before, boggles the mind.
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Post by bjd on Jul 12, 2013 18:33:28 GMT
The other day on the radio I heard an interview with a man who wanted to be a professional cyclist, but left after a few years because of the prevalent doping -- not just at the Tour de France level. He now works for the Aquitaine region, going around testing athletes for doping, not just cyclists.
He claimed that the kind of doping used for the tour de France was of no use in short term activity, like a short race, but that anyone who believed that those cyclists could keep up that performance over a month, in the heat and in those conditions of mountains, etc, was completely deluded. He said his son likes to watch the Tour de France, but that he discourages the boy from doing so and won't watch it himself.
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Post by nautiker on Jul 12, 2013 21:27:49 GMT
German state television was desperatly busy last week to get hold of the TV rights for the Wimbledon Women's final (in vain), I'm not sorry they're missing out on the Tour, too. IMO cycling has squandered too much credibility to merit a lot of screen time anytime soon again...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2013 16:53:42 GMT
Well, once again nobody has been able to prove anything about doping yet in this year's Tour, but there has been a lot of speculation about Christopher Froome -- basically he is much too skinny to have performed so well in the mountain stages. When you are that skinny, your muscles cannot develop sufficiently for this sort of effort. An article that I read mentioned three new drugs -- as yet undetectible, obviously -- that might have been used.
Many other competitors seemed to be 'clean,' though -- for example Contador who really suffered on several stages. But of course, he was caught once before in the past and cannot risk ever being caught again.
I will say that Christopher Froome seems to be a very nice guy, modest and personable and very accessible to the public. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment and will be pleased to see him win tomorrow (if he doesn't fall off his bike on the last day).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 19:34:45 GMT
I am happy that a new rider won the final sprint on the Champs Elysées. Bravo Marcel Kittel!
I have to confess that I am perplexed by the popularity of the first name Marcel in Germany.
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Post by htmb on Jul 21, 2013 19:43:44 GMT
After watching the end, I'm exhausted!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 19:55:39 GMT
I'm waiting for the prize ceremony which will be followed by fireworks.
One of the French television channels has done a 12 hour broadcast today -- starting at 11:00 and finishing at 23:00.
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Post by htmb on Jul 21, 2013 20:01:32 GMT
We are getting that here, too. Much better than the view I had three years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2013 20:09:31 GMT
The visuals are more and more fabulous every year.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 21, 2013 22:58:35 GMT
Indeed, the show at the finish was over the top but somehow still tasteful. Froome said on the podium that he was proud of his win and said, "this yellow jersey will stand the test of time" obviously referring to some recent wins that did not.
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Post by htmb on Jul 22, 2013 0:35:07 GMT
Did I hear correctly that the first three days of the 2014 Tour will be in England, including York, Cambridge, and ending at Buckingham Palace?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 4:58:56 GMT
Yes, the Tour starts in England next year.
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Post by bjd on Jul 22, 2013 7:14:04 GMT
It sounds like the "Paris-Dakar" which takes place in South America.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2013 9:39:41 GMT
It's a shame that the Eurotunnel is not also a road tunnel.
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