2014 Tour De France

[Gen]

@CyclingDirectSA: Another one bites the dust! Fabs will not continue #tdf to concentrate prep for worlds ITT http://t.co/BgpMjD4qyk

No more Fabulous. . This is not good at all.. *runs to bed to cry into pillow*

[Joe!]

The #framegate conclusion on road cc

So, Contador's bike didn't snap underneath him, as many thought has happened, and didn't snap when he crashed either. The photo was of his spare bike that was broken in a crazy team car incident, and the bike he actually crashed on survived the fall with no breakage occurring.

http://road.cc/content/news/123757-real-story-what-happened-alberto-contadors-broken-specialized-tarmac-bike-tour

[rock]

Does Contador's broken bike have its own Twitter account yet?

[Shebeen]

So looking ahead to the end of the tour/paris.

 

Yellow jersey - nibs has got it, would be overwhelming favourite but is going to have to work his butt off to keep it all the way.

Green/points - Sagan has a monster lead 287, coquard on 156 and kittel on 146. he'll keep on going for it, and probably not enough other points left for anyone else to overhaul him.

polka dot/KOM - rodriguez is on 51, voekler 34...lots to come here, would need voekler to get into a break as he doesn't have the measure of jrod when it gets steep.

white/juvies - 3 way split with Bardet, pinot and kwiatkowski all within 2 minutes.

[Shebeen]

EXCELLENT article by nicolas roche

 

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/we-were-so-confident-in-alberto-we-didnt-have-a-plan-b-then-plan-a-went-out-the-window-30431225.html

I jumped off my bike and ran back up to where he was lying in shock on the grass at the side of the road.

As I helped Alberto up, I noticed his bike was broken and there was a stream of blood coming from a gash just under his right knee. His wound looked pretty bad but as a rider, my natural instinct was to simply hand him my bike and encourage him to keep going.

"Take my bike Alberto! Go, go, go!"

"Nico, I don't know if I can," he said as he hobbled out onto the road.

"Go and see. Try it, just jump on the bike!"

- See more at: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/we-were-so-confident-in-alberto-we-didnt-have-a-plan-b-then-plan-a-went-out-the-window-30431225.html#sthash.uA9dSBmr.dpuf

[jcza]

The #framegate conclusion on road cc

 

So, Contador's bike didn't snap underneath him, as many thought has happened, and didn't snap when he crashed either. The photo was of his spare bike that was broken in a crazy team car incident, and the bike he actually crashed on survived the fall with no breakage occurring.

http://road.cc/conte...armac-bike-tour

Snapped frame had the transponder on it which means its the bike that he was riding. From what I read he was trying to have a bar and hit a hole in the road. Sad that he is out but shows that things can change in a second. Nibali must be overwhelming favourite.

[NotSoBigBen]

Bernhard Eisel‏@EiselBernhard34 mins

 

“@Sky_Gernot: NetApp Endura becomes Team Bora in 2015. On twitter to be found under @Team_Bora #radsport #ssnhd” great news!

[Joe!]

If you're a gambling man, these are the odds being given now:

 

Nibali 1/5

Porte 6/1

Valverde 18/1

Van garderen 40/1

 

I think Valverde is great value for money!

[Gen]

Is it true that Cancellara will not start tomorrow?

 

It's true.. there is a statement from trek and a tweet from Fabulous. .. if I wasn't sitting at a hair salon with freaking foil in my hair I would perhaps stomp my feet.

 

He is taking a rest.. still has his eye on the hour record.

 

 

[jcza]

Does anyone else think that Nibali can win the TdF this year? (or am I the only loon?)

If only I was a betting man......

[fanievb]

Spazmatic should just sue the little guys again, should make them fall feel better!

 

Sue Allez out of the French roadworks company.

The Tarmac is not up to standard.

Someone was not doing their S-works!

 

Epic ... Epic FAIL!

 

 

be carefull just now you get a "strongly" worded letter

[Frosty]

And then this.

 

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35596780/452147184.0_standard_709.0.jpg

Photogapher (white helmet) to Contador: Si, senor - your saddle is level.

[Shebeen]

If you're a gambling man, these are the odds being given now:

 

Nibali 1/5

Porte 6/1

Valverde 18/1

Van garderen 40/1

 

I think Valverde is great value for money!

1/5......ja whatever, i sommer put money on the rest of the field.

[Frosty]

So looking ahead to the end of the tour/paris.

 

Yellow jersey - nibs has got it, would be overwhelming favourite but is going to have to work his butt off to keep it all the way.

Green/points - Sagan has a monster lead 287, coquard on 156 and kittel on 146. he'll keep on going for it, and probably not enough other points left for anyone else to overhaul him.

polka dot/KOM - rodriguez is on 51, voekler 34...lots to come here, would need voekler to get into a break as he doesn't have the measure of jrod when it gets steep.

white/juvies - 3 way split with Bardet, pinot and kwiatkowski all within 2 minutes.

There's one intermediate sprint per stage, with 20 points on offer for 1st place.

That means 11 stages x 20 points = 220.

Sprint stages have 45 points for 1st place moving down to 2 for 15th place.

There are 4 flat stages, 45x4 = 180 points.

Other stages without a summit finish also counts towards the Green jersey, so there's plenty on offer.

 

In short, it's far from over, but now one understands why Sagan attacks the intermediate sprint on summit finishes, as his rivals can't stay with him on some of the climbs before the intermediate sprint.

[Spoke101]

This is starting to get old but as there is new information and I personally never leave a case unsolved I will continue in the pursuit of the truth.

 

This is supposedly Contador's crashed bike:

 

Now the bike looks legit, SRM, Stem notes etc. but there is very little cosmetic damage for a crash at 70kph? The hoods do appear to have been knocked inward and the bar tape is muddy. As for the other side of his bike it's hard to tell if there is damage?

 

This 2nd pic is apparently of the same bike but I'm not sure as can't see the bar tape but here are a few things I have picked up.

Within the red circles there is some sort of graphic which match on both bikes and are only on Contador's race bike, within the pink circle is the transponder, it's blue with a white center, finally the chain has come off.

Not sure what the black mark in the green circle is? maybe a break in the frame?

Quoted by Nicolas Roche "As I helped Alberto up, I noticed his bike was broken" [we assume he means crash-damaged - ed] or h could be about the black mark?

 

Now if you look at the broken bike there are no graphic's on the fork or chain stay and the transponder is blue but with a yellow center.

There are also no stem notes or dirty bar tape on the broken bike.

 

And his shoe:

 

Judging by the shoe being damaged very badly but only on the inside and it being a left shoe, yet Contador's right knee had the major laceration also on the inside, this also makes it difficult to say which side he fell on initially but I would have to guess left as the right side of the bike and kit is unscathed and Contador's left knee has the laceration.

The bike behind him in the above pic is not his but belongs to Nicolas Roche who gave his bike to Contador after the crash but before he stopped to be patched up by the tour doctor.

 

Hope this clears up some of the confusion.

 

edit:more info

[Spoke101]

on a lighter note.

 

For the "Berto" fan's.