I don't figure there is a lot of cycling fans around here but for those of you that are what have you thought of the TDF so far? Only the second stage today and already tons of crashes and injuries. I'm hoping Lance can pull off this 8th win at the Tour De France and if not him Andy Schleck from team Saxo Bank.

I'm with you there. I want to see Lance win it. I'm not a huge cycling fan, but i've watched the Tour de France every year since about 2000. I kind of get excited every year. I love seeing the country as they ride through it and I think the sport is a great one.

I reckon Contador will win it, though Armstrong has a strong team. It's a shame Frank Shleck is already out.

Glad to see a Belgian in the top 10 overall today :smile:

Here is a picture of Frank after his crash today. http://tweetphoto.com/31160227

 

Todays race was another rough one. Lance got knocked back to 18th Place. Andy Schleck got bumped up to 6th.

the whole "no sprint to the final" deal royally pissed off some of the sprinters. I mean, the roads are dangerous, you know what you sign up for right?

Nice. E. B. Hagen on 3rd and Hushovd on 9th (I think) and still in the green jersey. A good day :-D

The crashes were pretty bad. I mean, the route didn't seem too bad to me, but I certainly acknowledge that I wasn't riding at the time.

 

Honestly, I don't really care whether or not Lance wins: he still has more wins (by far) than anyone else, he's got loads of money, and is very well-known and respected. I have no idea why he's coming back to race [again./i]

Pretty mellow day on the Tour today. Lance is like the Brett Favre of cycling he just enjoys the sport so he's going to keep riding as long as he can.

And Cavendish wins his first stage! Hope Farrar gets well soon.

And Cavendish wins his first stage! Hope Farrar gets well soon.

And his second one. Seems all the fuss about him losing his talent was a bit overblown.

I'm hoping Cavendish can keep winning stages, he's an awesome sprinter and it's good to see him do well. I think Contador will probably start to shine in the mountains, I'd like to see Armstrong do well but I don't think he can win it any more. He used to be very strong on time trial stages but he doesn't really have the fitness for those like he used to.

Wonderful day for Quickstep today :smile:

That's it for Armstrong then.

Yeah, sad deal. :(

Eh, I'm rooting for Contador :smile: But it's a shame to see him go in this way. Bit of bad luck with the fall too.

Yeah felt bad for Armstrong yesterday, he had some really bad luck. Brutal peloton pace on the first climb too, looked tough.

I have to agree it was a bit disappointing seeing his chances of winning the tour disappear. I still have my man Andy Schleck sitting in 2nd ahead of Contador. So things aren't looking to bad.

Yeah I think in the end Contador and Andy are going to be the main contenders, I still don't believe Cadel Evans is capable of winning the yellow jersey. He got his big chance in 2008...

Yep, looks like it's definitely going to be Contador or Schlek after today's stage. Pretty exciting finish too.

Fantastic stage. Some good performances by Belgians too, not used to that in the mountains haha.

It's hard to decide between Schleck and Contador. Shleck seems to be in better form, but Contador has the better team.

Agreed, a great finish, I was at the edge of my seat that last 3km.

The decision to ban Renshaw was justified imho.

I don't think what he did was all that bad, at least not bad enough to get himself DQ'd from the tour.

I don't think what he did was all that bad, at least not bad enough to get himself DQ'd from the tour.

 

It was pretty dangerous if you ask me : it was not only the headbutts but also forcing Tyler Farrar to the side. like that.

The combination of the two I suppose marked him as reckless but the headbutts I don't think they should have counted against him at all.