Tour de France 2012 (with SPOILERS)

[Doseone]

I don't think he does. He and Boulting are actually an excellent comedy act. I watch the highlights just for that if I've seen the race live. He's got good comic timing too.

They are really funny in the podcast. They can cut loose a little more.

 

[BJH]

Frank Schleck criticises 'boring' Tour de France

Him and his brother are amongst the worst culprits for causing boring racing, neither had he bottle to go for it against Bertie. Worse still he has never answered exactly what he was doing consorting with drug doctors, maybe he was just "drug curious"

 

[aJohnson]

OK, I'm going to play devil advocate and a different take on the Evans punture and Wiggins .....
on itv4 Wiggins was asked what the problem was going up the climb, he replied he was having a bike problem and wanted to change bikes, now maybe, just maybe when he heard of Evans punture he took the opportunity to slow the peloton under the guise of helping Evans but really to change bike, stopping any attack from Nibali etc

edit... forgot to add a smilie...

Seems like he wanted to slow the group down initially then they started to chase when Rolland attacked. He didn't have to change bikes until some time after didn't he?

 

[Willo]

Frank Schleck criticises 'boring' Tour de France

Pot, kettle, black.

Love watching Andy Schleck when he does attack on a mountain, but jaysus, this Tour has at least seen some opportunism by one of the GC contenders to attack, however doomed to failure, on the majority of Stages. Now I know he may have some bias given how the Schlecks left him, but Riis described Frank Schleck as very cautious in his book, with Frank always holding out for 'tomorrow' to do something. Last year it was descending the Schlecks didn't like, this year it's the TT..................

p.s. glad to see the yellow jersey group doing the right thing by Evans today. Okay, maybe there is no need to shout about it from twitter, facebook etc. but at the end of the day the press officers etc. are going to highlight any good press and why shouldn't they. At the end of the day, Sky kept Wiggins' lead intact while also gaining some respect from the peleton, something that could be crucial should Wiggins or Froome encounter similar misfortune during the remainder of this Tour.

 

[Chuffy]

OK, I'm going to play devil advocate and a different take on the Evans punture and Wiggins .....
on itv4 Wiggins was asked what the problem was going up the climb, he replied he was having a bike problem and wanted to change bikes, now maybe, just maybe when he heard of Evans punture he took the opportunity to slow the peloton under the guise of helping Evans but really to change bike, stopping any attack from Nibali etc

edit... forgot to add a smilie...

Ooooooh, controversial! and utter bollocks.
Wiggy was looking awkward and humpy on the way up to the summit, even P&P spotted it. It looked like a very well controlled bike change, consistent with being pre-arranged, as would have to have been with the team cars so far back. I'm pretty sure it was before the race got neutralised too.

 

[crisscross]

... now if only Team Sky could neutralise the peleton on Stages 16 and 17 - I, for one, would sleep a bit easier!

 

[Chuffy]

this is from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...eman-after-race-is-attacked-by-saboteurs.html

"Nibali immediately nodded his assent, a generous gesture as the Italian had been looking to attack down the descent, one of the few opportunities remaining in this tour for him to make good the 2mins 23 deficit which separates him and Team Sky leader.
Then Wiggins himself suffered a mechanical failure and had to change bikes and was quickly paced back to the bunch which slowed to a crawl before the organisers officially neutralised racing, allowing Evans and others to comfortably regain contact before the end. Those ahead in the break were allowed to race on with Luis Leon Sanchez claiming the win"

New info, ta. I thought it was Nibbles he was talking to - doesn't look like any persuasion was required, but sensible for Wiggy to get assent from the other GC contender. Couple of points:- I don't think they'd have pegged LLS back anyway and there was no real need for them to do so. Even if Nibbles had tried a jump on the descent I doubt it would have given him much time back, certainly not enough for it to be worth Sky cooking up a crafty attack-killing wheeze.

 

[Crackle]

If they did neutralize it, it was after two teams had already chased down Rollands for a good few k, though when they caught him it did look like he'd already given up and slowed.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Why does Boardman always look so miserable?

He's from Liverpool.

 

[Norm]

Why does Boardman always look so miserable?

Halfords.

 

[User169]

Rolland misheard instructions. He thought the DS said "attack", when he said "a tack".

 

[Peteaud]

Halfords.

 

[thom]

To me Rolland's explanation here is plausible - it is actually possible he was so far from a team car that he had no DS communication at the time and he had not really understood what was going on - he wasn't the most important rider to discuss neutralising the stage with after all.

 

[Crackle]

He's from Liverpool.

You daft bugger, he's from Hoylake, that's not Liverpool, it's not even the one eyed city of Birkenhead. Geographically, he's nearly a wooly back.

 

[dellzeqq]

Pierre Rolland says he didn't get, or didn't hear, anything on the race radio about the peloton waiting for Evans. No harm done in the end so I guess he gets the benefit of the doubt.

yeah. right. They discussed it, he set off, nobody chased, and it took twenty minutes for his team to haul him back. Either Europcar didn't want to tell him or he wasn't listening.