Christie

Biggest problem is their game plan imo, coach should take the most of the blame. He wants to dominate with fwds, picking the biggest guys he can get like Alberts, Spies etc. The problem is if this plan does not work against Argentina, it has even less chance of working against NZ and Aus. It is highly predictable to defend against and if the first or second phase does not break the advantage line, it becomes very stagnant and slow. His plan with the backs is to kick and chase, and it looks like players like Hougard, Steyns, JdV does not have freedom to do much else. Don't blame the players if it is the plan that is the problem, changing the faces but playing the same game wont make a difference on the score board.

I am disappointed by the stance of some hubbers on this: There is a lot of sentiment here against usada. Are you all saying that if you lie and cheat to make a lot of money and become popular, you should be left alone? What message would that be sending to youngsters who enter the sport - its ok to dope as long as jou win? The whole situation in pro cycling sadly reminds me of a gouvernment minester's speech to some students the other day where he said "do not get caught with your hand in the cookie jar". Should it rather not be "do not put your hand in the cookie jar", or is that something of the past? It looks to me like the uci has given up on preventing doping, and instead now tries to hide the true state of affairs. The fact that they still try to hide it tells me that the majority of fans want to see clean riders, and consider it wrong to dope.

So, perhaps LA did not win the tdf, after all. I wonder, will Ullrich soon be a 4 time winner?

Longer crank only makes more power if you turn it at the same cadence (in the same gear ratio). I've ridden 170, 172.5 and 175, i find that my cadence goes up slightly with a shorter crank.

Somebody posted a link long ago to research done with different crank lengths, starting from 140mm up to 220mm. If I remember correctly, it made very little difference to the power output of the test batch of riders. The bodies of the riders in the test was able to adapt to a very wide range of crank lengths. Imo if your knees/feet/ancles are not hurting, ride what you have got in terms of crank length. Don't expect to do anything better on a different length of crank.

It would be great if Steyn gets to bowl to Anderson today!

It was hectic to bat in conditions yesterday. Amla got bowled by a mean ball and Pieteren and Kallis got bad descisions. Smith, JPD gave their wickets away by chasing wide ones, and in combination this put us in a lot of trouble. Still, I would only call it a choke if they bowl and field poorly and fail in the second innings as well. Give credit to England, too - they are difficult to beat at home. Smith/team brains trust perhaps a bit negative to decide to bat first imo. Plan may have been to bat for 2 days, close down the opportunity for England to win by using up time and not batting last. The aggressive approach would have been to make use of best conditions for bowling and get them out for under 300. If the track flattens out, England could end up batting once and we would then bat last.

It is looking better, but we are still in big trouble, and will need some awesome bowling to get back into the game.

Perhaps a mistake to bat first, althoug its always easy to say in hindsigt. Sounds like a good pitch for batting, hope we get helpfull conditions to bowl in as well and Steyn & co rip through their ranks. Lords have produced several high scoring draws in recent tests, so we are in a very bad position currently

Im hoping for a big 100 from AB in the 1st and 5 or 6 sticks for Steyn, imo he can still bowl better than in the first test - I enjoy watching him bowl, and he was below full tilt so far.

Some issues: Berhard Eisel pacing in front of Cav. Sure, they are team mates and room mates, but Austria did not select him to help get a medal for GB. Not right imo. GB raced like it was a tdf stage(possibly because they had a lot of stage racers and one sprinter) - peleton cruise along till 40k to go, then the sprinters' teams mass at the front and set up a sprint. They let breaks go with winners of one day races in - Cancellara, Vino, Valverde, Gilbert in a break of 22 with team mates. Very difficult to control those guys, if you were pacing the whole day already. Some other big teams raced like DAs, by sitting Cav's wheel the whole day. At least the Australians sent one guy up the road. OK for smaller nations like ZA, who had only 1 card to play. Very stupid mistake from Cancellara - not a dangerous corner, looked like that one race in SA where one of the SA ladies went into the barrier - Marissa vd Merwe ? Perhaps Ricco had a point by saying most in the peleton can't think for themselves, sentiment was echoed by O'Grady.

If you tighten the 4 screws under the cleat too tightly, that happens. The clip is pinched too tightly, and can't move like it should.

Best thing for roasties is clean thoroughly and put Granuflex plasters on before any scabs form, if there are no deep cuts that require stitches. The "glue" on Granuflex is a type of gel, that activates when in contact with moisture from the wound. Leave it on for a week (or 2) and the skin will close under the Granuflex with minimum scarring.

Imo Froome still has a shot. If he was not on the limit on all the climbs, it means he has more in reserve for the TT. Lets hope he takes 2 min out of Wigins on Saterday - unless the will tell him to slow down if that happens.

Hmmmmm, the case against him does not look like a done deal. Perhas even weaker than the one against Conto, most of the time it ends up in a ban, will have to wait and see what happens. That it happened on a rest day is too much of a coincedence imo. But then again, their main dope doctors may have received life bans in the LA saga, new guys may not be as good. Perhaps the 7000€ he paid into his gynacologist's account in 2005 or 06 was not just for a training program after all, especially since the gyne was dr. "Puerto" Fuentez.

A good thing about this case is that they are going after the doctors and managers too, for a change. I think these guys are a major source of trouble, but they always seem to keep on rolliing while the atheletes take the fall.

Plus fact: two doctors and a trainer (who courierd their dope) that formed part of the core staff of Postal, Discovery and Astana have been baned for life from all sport for being part of a doping syndicate.

Hmmm, the consulting doctor, the team doctor plus the "trainer" (courier?) have not contested and got lifetime bans. This does not sound like the conduct of innocent, falsely accused men.

Dopers are killing the sport! Not the rules, the dopers. That, and corrupt UCI officials. Why don't LA just serve his 2 year ban and take up tri again after that?

Quick result from the court is a surprize. The judge seemed to think he has a weak case. I cant help but think the actions of LA are those somebody who does not want testimonies to be heard.

Sky cost him one possible grand tour win already. Grand tour wins are not so easy to come by, crashes and bad luck happens, as we have seen. Contador (and his steaks) will be back next year, he already ripped the legs off Wiggins, Lance etc. once before, and beat Cancellara in a TT on the way, he is not easily beaten. I can't see Wiggins being a domestique for Froome at the TDF next year. Also, the equipment does not make a big difference imo, stuff at the top are all good. Cancellara is quick on his Trek, Sagan won 3 stages on a Cannondale, Greipel won 2 on his Canyon. Team choise makes a difference - Basso could have won the Tdf if he had moved to Bruneels team a year earlier. Now he never will......

I wonder how long Froome's contract is with Sky? I hope he builds his year around the Giro next year, and have good support from Sky there, or that he goes to another team to be team leader for the TDF.

Race was a bit boring till the last bump imo. Even then all attacks were easily contained. Glad Pinot stayed away at least.

Sky was super strong, and lived up to expectations today. Compare this to Evans, he was on his own for about half of the climb. Having 3 domestiques in front of Wiggins like that was very impressive. I cant see anybody beat Wiggins with a team like that behind him, unless he has bad luck. Im hoping something unexpected happens, otherwise the race will end up a bit stale like when LA used his doped up team to control it for him. Fantastic win for Froome, he was the strongest man on that mountain today - even after pacing a long stint. I wonder how much time he could have gotten back if he attacked sooner. I hope Sky cuts hime loose. PS - I think SA cycling needs a re-think on developing our riders. Climbers have zero opportunity on our local scene. We have on over emphasis on sprinters, because the pros and the funriders ride the same routes and funriders dont like hard climbs. How about letting them race in Lesotho,Sabie & Tzaneen for some big money?

Contador, Landis, Armstrong, Pantani, Ullrich, Riis - the history of dopers winning the tdf grows. Add to this some other famous big names that got bust: Rasmusen, Zabel, Basso, Mayo, Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Chiappucci, Virenque, Di Luca......