Tour De France 2009

[Araxen]

And it will be in HD this year!!!

Woot! I can't wait to watch it this year!

Versus to televise 2009 Tour de France in full HD | www.cyclingfans.com

[Araxen]

I just got done watching the preview show on Vs and man the montain stages are going to be brutal this year. Mont Ventoux Stage before Paris is going to be interesting to watch and grueling!

[Brutul Tarew Marr]

Lots of opportunity for drama this year with the return of Lance and possibly 3 podium contenders on the same team (Astana). Also the return of the Team Time Trial and Mt. Ventoux should be an awesomely epic showdown between the big boys. I will be ditching work to watch that stage.

[Araxen]

Yeah, I still don't know how they are going to manage Astana. It's such a strong team, but ego's will be it's big weakness and ego's could keep all three of them off the podium.

[Quineloe]

This still exists after all the doping? Who cares at this point...

[Araxen]

Yes, just like baseball still exists after all the roids.

[arkk123]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Yes, just like baseball still exists after all the roids.

Lol exactly. Quineloe with brilliant posts all over the place.

[Brutul Tarew Marr]

If baseball and football had the kind of doping controls that cycling does it wouldn't be pretty.

[arkk123]

Originally Posted by Brutul Tarew Marr

If baseball and football had the kind of doping controls that cycling does it wouldn't be pretty.

Stop.

[Quineloe]

Originally Posted by Araxen

Yes, just like baseball still exists after all the roids.

ah people don't really care about baseball either.

[Warrian]

Originally Posted by Brutul Tarew Marr

If baseball and football had the kind of doping controls that cycling does it wouldn't be pretty.

Do tell us the control differences between baseball/football and cycling. Which one is more strict and why? You seem to know what you're talking about.

[Araxen]

Nice TT by Fabian today. He just blew everybody away.

[Arbuste]

Armstrong #10. Not bad. Beyond that, nothing very exciting so far. Contador should win.

[Laek]

Originally Posted by Warrian

Do tell us the control differences between baseball/football and cycling. Which one is more strict and why? You seem to know what you're talking about.

Its hard to find out how people are tested in baseball and football and I won't pretend I know anything about it. For pro cycling people are randomly tested at their hotels in the morning( alot of the times the testers show up before they are even awake) and the winner and other randomly selected people are tested right after the end of the race. Test and samples are held onto for a long time so that they know what the normal blood cell and hormone levels are for each rider. There is also no Union of lawyers on the side of the cyclist. And finally the governments are spending time and money to catch people and charge them in court.

Oh and testing positive in cycling gets you kicked off your team and suspended for 2 years. The MLB has a 10 day suspension. Bud Selig stated this was their zero-tolerance program. According to a USA Today article I googled on steroid testing from 2005 the MLB said that 5% of test results in 2003 were positive yet no one was kicked out of the sport.

[Daerath]

Originally Posted by Arbuste

Armstrong #10. Not bad. Beyond that, nothing very exciting so far. Contador should win.

Have you ever watched the Tour before? Armstrong doesn't give a shit about stage 1. He never did. No tour winner ever gives a shit about the first week. It doesn't mean shit.

I don't expect Armstrong to win. What I suspect will happen is that Armstrong will bust ass, make people think he wants to win, and then step back to help Contador win the GC. Armstrong has no real need to win this race. He doesn't need the money, he doesn't need the victory. He's racing now because he wants to race, not because he has anything to prove.

Armstrong will help Contador win by pulling him up the hills, he'll help him win at least two stages. You'll see the ultimate Tour de France champion help his team win while stepping back. It will catapult him even further into legend status.