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TDF 2006 and Next Year

July 23, 2006, 2:45 p.m.
sanrensho
Posts: 7543
Joined: June 17, 2003

Some random thoughts after watching the last stage in Paris:

*Sperm motility rates seem high in the pro peloton. Rumors of long saddle time affecting ability to procreate are greatly exaggerated.

*Post-Tour withdrawal time. No more daily Aquarel girls.:crybaby:

*What happens from here? Landis is getting his hip replaced and charting new territory in trying to return to the top level after a hip replacement. Ullrich has been booted off his team and I see him retiring. Basso might escape doping charges and return next year; rumors out of Italy suggest he may defect to Discovery. Vino will be back.

*Ekimov at age 40 announced his retirement at the end of this season. Big loss for those of us cheering for the old guys. Although he put in a hell of a pull at the front today, actually gapping the peloton briefly.

*My favorite quote from this year's Tour-Floyd Landis to his personal trainer, the morning after tumbling from 1st to 13th place: "I'm going to go apeshit on them."

*Interesting LA Times article on Landis from about a month ago. Details the running feud between Landis and Armstrong in the 2005 TDF. (This explains why Lance drove the lead group in gapping Landis on one of the flat stages at the end of the race last year. Didn't make any sense at the time.)

http://www.latimes.com/sports/cycling/la-tm-landis26jun25,1,6671069.story

"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem

"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk

July 23, 2006, 3:32 p.m.
sanrensho
Posts: 7543
Joined: June 17, 2003

Final General classification

1 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
2 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
3 Andreas Kl[HTML_REMOVED]#246;den (Ger) T-Mobile
4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC
5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
7 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance
9 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
11 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC
12 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
13 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner

Some more thoughts:

*Biggest disappointment: Yaroslov Popovych, then Levi Leipheimer. Although Leipheimer was obviously sick in the early part of the race, but it was nice to see him actually go on the attack a few times.

*Dubious achievement award: Dessel as "best-placed French rider." Is there a jersey for that?

*Yellow Jersey (Landis)-ex-MTBer, Polda Dot Jersey (Rasmussen)-ex-MTBer, Green Jersey (McEwen)-ex-BMXer.

"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem

"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk

July 23, 2006, 5:04 p.m.
Robot
Posts: 1922
Joined: Nov. 22, 2002

My favorite quote from this year's Tour-Floyd Landis to his personal trainer, the morning after tumbling from 1st to 13th place: "I'm going to go apeshit on them."

Brilliant, esp. since he really did go apeshit on, well, everybody.

"It's, like, so much fun."

July 23, 2006, 5:12 p.m.
sprinter
Posts: 1869
Joined: Nov. 22, 2002

All I can say is that I'm going to have to up my intake of beer. :D

July 23, 2006, 5:54 p.m.
Futurelooks-Guy
Posts: 338
Joined: Oct. 17, 2005

Well, if the hip operation doesn't work out for him, he can always retire from road to become a dirt bag and move to the North Shore ;) Afterall, he was a mountain biker first!

Bikes:

2005 Trek Session 77
2004 Specialized P3
2003 Giant TCR ONCE Team Road Bike

For Sale:

2004 Marzocchi DJII - NEW! PRICE LOWERED!

Tech Geek that likes to Freeride. Visit my stuff at: www.futurelooks.com and for that laptop fetish, www.laptoplifestyle.net.

July 24, 2006, 12:02 a.m.
sanrensho
Posts: 7543
Joined: June 17, 2003

Landis just extended with Phonak. Lawd knows why, since Axel Merckx was the only one who provided any significant support. In fact, the entire TDF team extended their contracts.

I guess Landis likes to do stuff the hard way.

"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem

"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk

July 24, 2006, 7:59 a.m.
Futurelooks-Guy
Posts: 338
Joined: Oct. 17, 2005

Well, the team sponsorship changed. Phonak becomes iShares at the end of the season, so there should be some money to hire a few more guys to help Floyd out.

Bikes:

2005 Trek Session 77
2004 Specialized P3
2003 Giant TCR ONCE Team Road Bike

For Sale:

2004 Marzocchi DJII - NEW! PRICE LOWERED!

Tech Geek that likes to Freeride. Visit my stuff at: www.futurelooks.com and for that laptop fetish, www.laptoplifestyle.net.

July 25, 2006, 12:13 p.m.
sanrensho
Posts: 7543
Joined: June 17, 2003

Levi goes (back) to Discovery! Just announced today.

An upgrade at best for Discovery. My guess is that it signals that the team will abandon the Popovych experiment as their Tour GC leader.

I'm fairly sure it was the Specialized helmet that made Levi defect to Discovery. What the hell is with the brow vents on the helmet? Battlestar Galactica anyone?

"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem

"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk

July 25, 2006, 12:14 p.m.
sanrensho
Posts: 7543
Joined: June 17, 2003

dp

"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem

"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk

July 27, 2006, 7:42 a.m.
Uncle-Duke
Posts: 8242
Joined: Dec. 23, 2003

drudge report is reporting rumors floating around that landis just failed a drug test.

http://www.drudgereport.com/

likley just another french conspiracy to discredit an american rider.

lol. not likely, I've been saying for yrs if you can win the tour you are more doped than cheech and chong.

July 27, 2006, 8:11 a.m.
snorris
Posts: 66
Joined: Aug. 30, 2004

I guess Landis likes to do stuff the hard way.

Or maybe he just likes the hard stuff. Phonak seems to be cursed by drug scandals.

July 27, 2006, 9:24 a.m.
LeeLau
Posts: 6662
Joined: Nov. 20, 2002

Are there no more heroes?? :( :( :(

July 27, 2006, 9:26 a.m.
Couch_Surfer
Posts: 14922
Joined: Feb. 19, 2003

sport's illustrated article

black eye for the TDF this year

July 27, 2006, 9:38 a.m.
Neo
Posts: 0
Joined: Dec. 6, 2003

landis = ownd.

July 27, 2006, 4:21 p.m.
Ninja
Ninja
Posts: 3607
Joined: Sept. 27, 2004

Levi goes (back) to Discovery! Just announced today.

An upgrade at best for Discovery. My guess is that it signals that the team will abandon the Popovych experiment as their Tour GC leader.

This is cool, I liked Levi this tour, he worked hard, when he could, attacked hard, showed great spirit and can actually do a good intervue. Unlike mister Popovych. Dude needs some more ESL classes, if he's gonna be the big guy on a US team. (atho the multiple attacks Popovych made on that one stage was so cool to watch)

"X is for x-ray. If you've been bikin' and you haven't had an x-ray, you ain't goin' hard enough." - Bob Roll

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