Pieter Henning

I liked Boonen's expression better - The one where he realised that he was busy celebrating Cavendish' victory and not his own.

Van de Velde's GC performance seems "pretty ******* good", now doesn't it?

Just kidding. Send them to jail and give them a lifetime ban from the sport. I believe everybody deserves a second chance at life, but they sure as hell don't deserve a second chance at a professional cycling career. Other riders might see what happens and then not make the same mistakes themselves. Phen2008-07-18 02:08:32

No, cut their heads off.

There isn't one this year.

My interest has taken a dip, but I'll be keen to watch again tomorrow. Love the sport.

I think the pole vaulter is prettier. Isenbayeva or something. Awesome to watch her jump.

I'm a bit pissed off at the sport right now. Stupid stupid stupid Ricco. Will try come up with the model tomorrow or Monday. The main idea is a theoretical model that estimates the probability of the system currently in place catching riders that dope.

Hahaha! Okay, we gonna have to make a lot of assumptions unfortunately (remember, when you assume, 'you make an ass out of u and me), but atleast we can get a rough idea, and at the worst we get to kill some time. I'm off to class now (we only start at 12h30 on Thursday's this semester, how cool is that?), but for starters let's get some figures: How many riders get tested daily (stage winner, yellow and some randoms)? How often do they use drugs? Etc.

Unless your name is Tyler Hamilton

Why would them going home on the day the test was revealed be deemed suspicious?

Oh, it was Fassa in 2003. When they had 3 or 4 guys wait for Pettachi when he got dropped. He got in the car. The others never got back and missed the cut-off. Some others crashed, and others got sick. They finished with two. Basso and another. Maybe Frigo, but not sure. Phen2008-07-16 08:24:43

The riders actually cycle from the hotels to the start and they ride with Camelbak's and spare tubes Haha, no I know Gerolsteiner kept using the teambus for just the two riders, although half the staff went home. I remember another case where they also sent the bus and truck home and just used two team cars to transport the guys, but I can't recall what team it was.

I think you can continue with one rider. Gerolsteiner finished the Giro with only two riders.

Some young pro riders' ages, just for interest sake, and to compare: John-Lee Augustyn - 1986 (turns 22 in November) Riccardo Ricco - 1983 (turns 25 in September) Andy Schleck - 1985 (23) Mark Cavendish - 1985 (23) Roman Kreuziger - 1986 (22) Gerald Ciolek - 1986 (turns 22 in September) Simon Spilak - 1986 (22) Eros Capecchi - 1986 (22) Vincenzo Nibali - 1984 (turns 24 in November) Scary to think that Andy Schleck finished second in the Giro before his 22nd birthday. John-Lee can still compete in the best young rider competition for the next three years.

Froome took a British licence in order to stand a (small) chance of competing at the Olympics, since Kenya has no start slots for road cycling.

I have a book called "The Tour de France for dummies" - Maybe give it a read...

He is quite a bit younger than Ricco and Schleck - Keep that in mind. Whom of you knew who Riccardo Ricco was two years ago?

Hugh R. Laim?

You're kidding, right?

Heras

Seems they jinxed it. Wonder if the entire team will be sent home like last year. And now any good performance will once again be surrounded by doubt. So sad for the sport.

But now this happens, ai. Tour's first doping positive reported Spaniard Manuel Beltr?n has reportedly become the 2008 Tour de France's first doping positive. The Liquigas rider's A sample is said to have tested positive for the banned blood booster erythropoeitin following the first stage which ended in Plumelec last Saturday. Tour organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation, has yet to make a formal announcement, but the Associated Press received confirmation from French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) president Pierre Bordry of the result, and said that Beltr?n has requested a B sample analysis. The French newspaper L'Equipe also reported that Beltran was one of the riders found by the AFLD to have abnormal blood values in the days prior to the Tour. Beltr?n, one of Lance Armstrong's former mountain domestique has ridden for the Liquigas team since leaving the Discovery Channel in 2006. Cyclingnews will bring more details on the story as it unfolds.

This article was on CyclingNews.com this morning. The Tour's great unmentionable By Daniel Friebe, Procycling's Features editor The Tour de France is different this year, and it's different because no one's mentioning the Great Unmentionable. You know the one. Cyclist's oldest taboo. Or maybe its newest. The elephant in the room. Sport's equivalent of the Scottish Play. Those fingers tightly crossed now? Okay, sod the consequences, I'm going to say it: the Tour is different this year because no-one's talking about d-d-d-doping. It's not just me - everyone's noticed it. And we like it. We like it not because talking, writing, pontificating about doping isn't stimulating or important, but because there's been precious little reason to broach the subject on the first few days of the race, and that's mighty encouraging. It's also a novelty. Once the "D-word" never alighted on Tour journalists lips because they were either too naive to realize what was going on, or too pious to acknowledge it; then came the Festina scandal and a decade when we talked about little else. This week we haven't bothered simply because, well, it's starting to seem as relevant as the new Coldplay album my colleague Ellis Bacon keeps playing in the car. Now don't get me wrong. At least two stages and their winners this week have elicited their fair share of sniggers and sarcasm (I don't need to tell you who they are). On the whole, though, the atmosphere in the press room has been worlds away from the cynical, rabid, Robespierrian fervor of last year. Soon we'll be logging on to Youtube, wistfully reliving those press conferences where Michael Rasmussen looked one nasty question away from bursting into tears. We'll be pining for Alex Vinokourov and his blood transfusions. But for now we're just fine. Even Paul Kimmage seems to be enjoying himself.

I can't imagine that the teams are responsible to provide their own yellow/green/white/polkadot jerseys. For interest sake, where did you guys read/hear this? The idea sounds kind of silly from a logistical point of view. I'm not sure, but I always thought the Tour organisation provided the riders with racing yellow/green/white/polkadot jerseys (short and long) before the next stage, and I know the ones on the podium are only presentation jerseys which zip up at the back. But to answer the original question, yes there is more than one yellow jersey (probably hundreds - Just look at all the jerseys getting signed after the presentation).