Lucky Luke.

just looks like business as usual to me, perhaps bigger business than ever.

umm.. you're welcome? x_x

Lance is jeopardising his own legacy these days by proving to be slightly more skilled as a legal tapdancer than he ever was at dancing on the old pedals. If you've read about all the testimony against him and are still won over by him, personally I find that quite amazing.

The governing body of the sport is just as responsible for the culture of doping as the riders, probably more so. Top 50 at the tour pretty much required some kind of doping and they knew this perfectly well, and had the power to do something about it. You might as well ask Fat Pat and Swine Verbruggen to cough up that loot.

he was 6th last in 2008. quite an improvement - podium looking very likely this time round.

x_x doh, yes tomorrow. whatever happens today will be behind closed doors. almost hoping the guys hit the refill bags hard today so that we can at least have some action.

It is sick what people get away with under the guise of doing good for cancer research. I watched the Burzynski Movie the other day which was a huge eye opener, especially with regard to the FDA and how entrenched their collusion with big pharmaceutical companies has become. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zBBfN5mQa8

Sagan one of the only entertaining guys at the tour this year. He can't do everything though. If nothing happens in the GC today I am turning the tour off until Paris and going riding.

Loving this album so far, only 4 tracks in. Reminds me a lot of The Beta Band and The Beach Boys.

Meat Puppets cover. Kurt's MTV live version is the best though. Different, but also better.

Absolutely, I was blown away by the scale of the ancient architecture, 2000 year-old structures that basically dominate the centre of this huge city. Also found the Amalfi coast quite mind-blowing. You can't believe it until you are actually there. Books and TV just nothing close to being immersed in it.

yes I saw that, loved the paragraph about the giant vagina. Fashion-wise, personally I'm not down with the chav cyclist look. Actually I've always quite liked Wiggins, I just take exception to the way this tour is playing out.

Please God let somebody put Wiggins under pressure. So tired of watching the sideburned-cyborg cruise-control his way to the line in every stage.

Totally agree grumps, I would give this tour to Sagan on entertainment value alone. The GC has been a real snoozefest and looks like it will remain one. The only guy who can test Wiggins is his own teammate. The sky motorcade will continue to pace hard all the way to paris and nobody with even the faintest hope of victory will be allowed to overtake it. If yesterday's steep ramps on the final climb were no use to the GC aggressors then today's stage will surely provide zero action as well. Pathetic that a few drawing pins became the second biggest point of interest yesterday after the breakaway.

But he was on Barloworld in 2008 and finished 174th?

Would be good to see Nibali go on the first climb and try to bridge to Sagan

Contador won in 2009 as well

Sanchez obviously thought Sky had no reason to chase down his break. Boasson Hagen wanted to win yesterday though, because Hushovd won the stage that finished there last year with a massive solo effort. The Norwegian fans must have been encouraging him to go for the win. Not much chance for him to outsprint Greipel and Sagan, but at least he got himself on to the podium.

http://media.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/upload_media/1843_peguere-500.jpg http://www.sbs.com.a...s-unraced-climb

http://www.steephill.tv/galleries/2005/crouzette-portel/pictures/get%20in%20your%20granny..%231aeac.jpg

Good opportunity to test Wiggins today. The final climb in particular is a long, steep one - 10km, nearly 8% average, ramping up to 18% max, with a long, difficult descent to the finish 35km from the summit. The road is extremely narrow too, which will force riders to jockey for position and suit an attacking strategy. If NIbali or Van den Broeck gets a gap what will Sky do? I guess Froome will have to try pace him back rather than chase down the attackers.

Watching it I though Goss definitely obstructed what looked like a win from Forrest - he was clearly coming around him and suddenly had to stop pedalling to avoid riding into him.

On the bus to Ciampino airport in April this year - the old geezer on the bike was doing about 20km/h without a care in the world, driver happily slowed right down and waited for him to cross over in front of him. Can't wait to go back to explore Rome on my bike.

I predict LA will not run out of money to throw at lawyers any time soon. There are several other people with a wall of cash behind them who have a vested interest in the 500 tests passed fairy tale.

definitely Froome in current form has the capacity to win both.