Official SJ.com Tour de France running thread

Edit: With apologies to TigerVols who started the thread, I present the customary running thread for a big event. First stage is tomorrow.

As I mentioned below, I predict Levi Leipheimer (claimed by Callifornia where he was born, Montana where he lives and Utah where he went to high school) will be the new American to root for. George Hincapie will do fine, but I think will struggle to pop out of Armstrong's shadow on the Discovery Channel team. David Zabriski might surprise a few people and was even a Yellow Jersey wearer laast year before a crash took him out of contention.

Cadel Evans of Australia is to be reckoned with, too.

Those are certainly not all of the favorites now that Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich have been given the boot for doping controversies. Should be a wide open race in many ways.

Will reader/viewer interest drop without Lance? and how far?

...so there's hope for you now!

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tourdefrance2006/story/0,,1809681,00.html

With Ullrich and Basso now banned, I would make the argument that this is the biggest sports drugging scandal in the history of sport. It's like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., being banned from the Daytona 500 for drinking moonshine. Yes, that big.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

Now all he needs is a bike...
anyone seen it?

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

Lance can probably show up with a Schwinn Sidewinder at this point and get No. 8.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

Basso and Ullrich! Wow, that's a massive shocker, but not totally unexpected. I can't imagine the French press and how it's reacting to this and trying to throw Armstrong into the mix.

I vote for Levi Leipheimer (sp) or George Hincapie.

Darkhorse is Zabriski.

And my new bike arrives at the shop tomorrow. It is, according to the manufacturer (which I completely believe : ), the same model and component setup Lance rode to his first Tour victory.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

You think Hincapie has a shot, Modaho?

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

Chi,

Right now, a lot of people have a good shot. Also look out for Cadel Evans out of Australia. He had a very good Tour of Switzerland and is a good sprinter. it's the climbs he will have trouble with.

Levi, George and Zabriski all have decent shots now with Basso and Ullrich out of the way.

I'll be tuning in to OLN every day.

One cool thing I'm doing is at the local rec center. The spinning class there is replicating and condensing each day's stage. So we'll spin for an hour 20 days in a row (except for Sundays and July 4 when there will be no spin classes) and everyone that completes the "Tour" wins something yellow at the end.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

As long as it's not a bag of urine, I'm sure you'll enjoy the prize. Have fun with the new bike, and you'll get to see it all the time since you're keeping it in the house this time.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

More of the "everybody gets a trophy mentality" that is killing our country.

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

I hope my wife doesn't get jealous when I park it next to the bed at night

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

Ides, you'll be glad to know that a "spinner" in Deutschland means "a crazy person."

 

Re: Idaho, you better get to France! Tour favorites have been banned...

My father teaches German in high school, has a M.A. in German and lived in Deutschland for about four years. But I took only a year of the language in school and understand the language nur ein bitten.

He chuckled once when I told him I was going to spinning classes. Now I know why.

 

it may deep in the hearta' for the obvious reasons. But WTF is one gonna run besides ESPYs in July?