I dunno, I've enjoyed it. We have three days left and there are still 4 riders in with a shout of winning it. Last year was over on the first weekend.
I think the route has been well balanced. Flat stages and a few hilly stages in the first week, a couple of medium mountain stages on the first week, gradually getting harder and harder until the Stelvio tomorrow. The back and forth switching of the jersey between J-Rod and Hesjedal has kept things interesting, with Basso threatening to swoop in and pinch it either today or tomorrow.
If you want to know what a boring route looks like, wait until July...
Not wanting to give too much away, but if you're not watching the Giro live now, you want to put your telly on, or watch the highlights later. There's a possibility of something absolutely sensational happening.
Not wanting to give too much away, but if you're not watching the Giro live now, you want to put your telly on, or watch the highlights later. There's a possibility of something absolutely sensational happening.
Almost... but not quite. Really great effort though.
Coverage is popping about the schedule a bit, at the mercy of 5 set dramas in the Tennis. Good cast of racers, though, quite a few of the TdF contenders are present.
I really hate the French Open. It seems that as far as Eurosport goes it is the only sport that exists whilst it is on. At least use Eurosport 2 or the website for other sports.
Coverage is popping about the schedule a bit, at the mercy of 5 set dramas in the Tennis. Good cast of racers, though, quite a few of the TdF contenders are present.
Why is he hardly racing at the moment? I always am suspicious of guys that lay low only turning up to the major tournaments or such like.
It's always been his style to keep a low profile and just pop up for the Tour de France (and occasionally the Ardennes classics) but the past two days have been weak whatever way you look at it. Compare him to Wiggins and Evans - both riders have been criticised in the past for their defensive riding, but the past couple of years they've both changed and gone into every race aiming to win, gaining lots of fans in the process.
But like grassmarket says, neither Schleck brother is happy at the moment. Bit of a personality clash with Johan Bruyneel. Whether Andy is out of shape or just not trying is up for debate... but Frank Schleck is in the Tour de Suisse next week and I bet he'll be the same.
I had a reminder about 10 days ago for a fantasy Tour De France game run by Halfords, the link is at the bottom.
To summarise, for 10 days the site has seemingly been down. I have tried 15 or 16 different computers, PCs, laptops etc, you name it over that time, home, work, around the country over the weekend. I haven't managed to get the site up on one of them.
The only thing it has worked on (occasionally) is on my mobile phone - but that's only the home page as the site & game is not compatible.
The problem is, I've emailled the site and they have replied twice to emails to insist that it is all fine and working ok at their end.
I've read through a couple of cycling forums, a few people seem to be having the issue I am, some more have but sorted it, but most of them can view the site fine.
I have no idea what I can be doing wrong on so many different PCs. I do not always go via the link, I've tried googling it, even going via Halfords own site.
I've tried it on Internet Explorer, Chrome & one other on a kindle and no luck, The site is via www.halfords.com and a link in the middle at the bottom.
Another great day for Bradley today - very significant that they were able to keep 4 guys together at the head of the field on the hors categorie climb.
The Dauphine was on before the motorcycling: Bri Smith noticeably drawing Harmon back to stage coverage whenever he strayed.
Andy Schleck has withdrawn. Bruyneel previously said only Cancellara is selected for this year's Tour so, taken at his word, Andy is out and preparing for a Vuelta against Contador?
But are we ever going to get a climber like Pantani ever again? Like Armstrong et al the current Tour favourites depend on having a strong team around them and a high pace to control the mountain stages.
I watched, this morning on You Tube, the 1997 Alpe D'Huez stage finish. Pantani, Ullruch and Virenque went mano a mano without the domestiques controlling the pace. Pantani of course murdered the other two but we have seemed to have lost that.
Was reading Cycle Sport today and they intimated that the cleaner peloton may be the reason for the lack of devasting Pantani like attacks - the only recent one like that was Contador.
Onto the Tour of Switzerland now - half of the peleton had just been held up at a level crossing, so many arguments about what happens next.
Aha, commisars have put a car at the head of the first peleton group and are stopping them from racing so that the second group can catch up, paced by motorbikes.
Meanwhile there are 3 guys 8 minutes down the road, so looks like their lucky day.
Onto the Tour of Switzerland now - half of the peleton had just been held up at a level crossing, so many arguments about what happens next.
Aha, commisars have put a car at the head of the first peleton group and are stopping them from racing so that the second group can catch up, paced by motorbikes.
Meanwhile there are 3 guys 8 minutes down the road, so looks like their lucky day.
New definition of unlucky = turning up to a race and seeing Peter Sagan's name on the start list.
Comments
I think the route has been well balanced. Flat stages and a few hilly stages in the first week, a couple of medium mountain stages on the first week, gradually getting harder and harder until the Stelvio tomorrow. The back and forth switching of the jersey between J-Rod and Hesjedal has kept things interesting, with Basso threatening to swoop in and pinch it either today or tomorrow.
If you want to know what a boring route looks like, wait until July...
Almost... but not quite. Really great effort though.
There's live coverage on Thursday and Friday but only highlights for the first few days
And Andy Schleck.
Why is he hardly racing at the moment? I always am suspicious of guys that lay low only turning up to the major tournaments or such like.
It's always been his style to keep a low profile and just pop up for the Tour de France (and occasionally the Ardennes classics) but the past two days have been weak whatever way you look at it. Compare him to Wiggins and Evans - both riders have been criticised in the past for their defensive riding, but the past couple of years they've both changed and gone into every race aiming to win, gaining lots of fans in the process.
But like grassmarket says, neither Schleck brother is happy at the moment. Bit of a personality clash with Johan Bruyneel. Whether Andy is out of shape or just not trying is up for debate... but Frank Schleck is in the Tour de Suisse next week and I bet he'll be the same.
13/8 Wiggins
11/4 Evans
15/2 Schleck
I'd put Heather Mills ahead of Schleck, actually.
I had a reminder about 10 days ago for a fantasy Tour De France game run by Halfords, the link is at the bottom.
To summarise, for 10 days the site has seemingly been down. I have tried 15 or 16 different computers, PCs, laptops etc, you name it over that time, home, work, around the country over the weekend. I haven't managed to get the site up on one of them.
The only thing it has worked on (occasionally) is on my mobile phone - but that's only the home page as the site & game is not compatible.
The problem is, I've emailled the site and they have replied twice to emails to insist that it is all fine and working ok at their end.
I've read through a couple of cycling forums, a few people seem to be having the issue I am, some more have but sorted it, but most of them can view the site fine.
I have no idea what I can be doing wrong on so many different PCs. I do not always go via the link, I've tried googling it, even going via Halfords own site.
I've tried it on Internet Explorer, Chrome & one other on a kindle and no luck, The site is via www.halfords.com and a link in the middle at the bottom.
Or the site itself is: http://www.halfordstdfgame.co.uk/
http://www.halfordstdfgame.co.uk/?cm...fold-_-tdfgame
If nothing else, I'd just be insterested to know how many people can just click the link and get staraight onto the site.
But if you cannot - and can see what the fault is, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time,
www.halfordstdfgame.co.uk
The page isn't redirecting properly
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.
I flicked on at around 3.15 expecting the Dauphine and it was the prologue from Suisse..............
So I went back to the cricket..............
Andy Schleck has withdrawn. Bruyneel previously said only Cancellara is selected for this year's Tour so, taken at his word, Andy is out and preparing for a Vuelta against Contador?
But are we ever going to get a climber like Pantani ever again? Like Armstrong et al the current Tour favourites depend on having a strong team around them and a high pace to control the mountain stages.
I watched, this morning on You Tube, the 1997 Alpe D'Huez stage finish. Pantani, Ullruch and Virenque went mano a mano without the domestiques controlling the pace. Pantani of course murdered the other two but we have seemed to have lost that.
Was reading Cycle Sport today and they intimated that the cleaner peloton may be the reason for the lack of devasting Pantani like attacks - the only recent one like that was Contador.
Aha, commisars have put a car at the head of the first peleton group and are stopping them from racing so that the second group can catch up, paced by motorbikes.
Meanwhile there are 3 guys 8 minutes down the road, so looks like their lucky day.
New definition of unlucky = turning up to a race and seeing Peter Sagan's name on the start list.