Le Tour de France 2009

[Bram Turismo]

I'm shocked there hasn't been made a thread on the Tour yet

Anyway, Mark Cavendish won today's second stage with a huge lead. The top 10 was a very unusual one, but then again, about half of the topsprinters got wiped out in one of Euskaltel's driver error. My bet was on Cavendish, but I was expecting a Freire, Bennati, or Boonen attack upon him.

Anyway, my favourit for this year's win is Alberto Contador, I'll be very surprised of he doesn't win. As for Armstrong, he'll be more than likely driving in Contador's favor, an Armstrong win is a dream that will never come true.

As for my fellow countrymen, I'll be keeping an eye on Stijn van Devolder and Maxime Monfort. Oh, and Boonen needs to shut the media up after the cocain episode.


Fabian Cancellara won yesterday's prologue with a massive lead, less than 20 minutes on a distance of 15.5 km long. I did the same distance today, and finished around 28 minutes and 30 seconds 👍


So, who are your favourit drivers?

 

[DJ-MOSS-MAN]

menchov should run well........cavendish is a rocket sprinter..he'll rack up many stage wins for sure..........leipheimer and evans are always up there too.
armstrong will go well but i dont think he can win..............we'll have to wait and see...........

 

[boiltheocean]

I reckon Cadel Evans will do well this year, he doesn't have the strongest team but he proved last year that even with all the pressure of being tour favourite and a rubbish team he can still finish well.

I think with the pressure dropped he can go for it.

 

[hellnback]

With so many good riders/climbers this year the mountain stages are going to be epic... can't beat the drama of a mountain stage...

 

[Boffin]

I reckon Cadel Evans will do well this year, he doesn't have the strongest team but he proved last year that even with all the pressure of being tour favourite and a rubbish team he can still finish well.

I think with the pressure dropped he can go for it.

I hope he does. Contrary to what everyone says, from what I see, he doesn't look like a nice character, but I hope he does take the overall win just to see how the media over here deal with it.

I love watching it though - but more for the scenery. It reminds me of a great trip I took over there a few years back.

 

[Bram Turismo]

In my opinion Evans is in a bad position to win this year's Tour yet again. Silence Lotto isn't the best team to pull him in the mountain stages, it's more of a sprinterspulling team. However, Silence Lotto do have the quality to offer Evans the chance to give the other guys a run for their money. Evans is a very consistent guy, but he isn't pure Tour winning material as he isn't a pure mountainclimber, like we've seen last year.

 

[Keef]

That old man is really in second place? Damn, that dude has game.

 

[semilife]

Favourite drivers my friend, surely you mean riders?

I would like Mark Cavendish to do well. Just tp put the cat amongst the pigeons Lance will win (just because of all that comes with being Lance).

OK a summary of the race results thus far

The proceedings from Stage 1:

Cancellara wins first Tour stage
Fabian Cancellara powered to victory in the opening time trial of the Tour de France as seven-time champion Lance Armstrong made his return to the race.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8134563.stm

Pics from Stage 1:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8134397.stm



Stage 2:

Cavendish storms to stage victory
Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the 2009 Tour de France with a blistering long-range sprint finish.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8135165.stm

Stage 2 pics:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8135037.stm


Stage 3:

Superb Cavendish triumphs again
Mark Cavendish made history by winning the third stage of the 2009 Tour de France following a pulsating finish.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8137119.stm


Stage 4:

Armstrong just misses Tour lead

Lance Armstrong's Astana team narrowly failed to put the seven-time Tour de France winner back in the yellow jersey after a thrilling team time trial.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ng/8138996.stm

 

[hellnback]

All over for another year... Contador the winner by a margin... although it probably helped to have another three potential (one past) winners in the team. Leipheimer, Kloden and of course Armstrong.

All on different teams and it'd be game on...

Saxobank will be interesting next year, the team (and one person in particular) I believe, needs to throw their weight behind Andy Schleck...

Wiggins could be one to watch also... now he knows he can compete in the hills, this extra motivation might be dangerous...

Bring on next year...

 

[Bram Turismo]

Funny how fast it goes by, doesn't it?

I for one will be looking forward how things will go in the Silence Lotto camp next year. Cadel was nowhere good enough to even threaten the best climbers, and the team time-trial didn't help him much either. However, I did see a grown up Jurgen V.d. Broeck. He obviously has some serious pace uphill so I'm looking forward whether he can manage a top 10 next year 👍