I imagine Armstrong will nail the Alpe d'Huez (sp?), he usually does.

Very funny about Pantani btw.

Hmm, Armstrong in yellow before Marseille

I'll be giving BB a miss until after Huez - hoping for a Beloki charge.

I know it's pointless, but I'm cheering for a certain Cofidis rider...

Not as pointless as placing a bet at 80/1 on him winning.

Can't stand the commentary on Eurosport, much prefer Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin on ITV2.

got to agree about the commentary - that Irish bloke does my ed in - i thought he was German or Swedish when i first heard him
but they are quite funny when they are talking about what they've had to eat.
I love Phil Liggett - to me he is the voice of le Tour

I think I must be very British. Lance Armstrong is without doubt the greatest athlete on the face of the earth - he would be even without his past health problems which also make him one of the greatest stories in world sport.

BUT...he's won it four times already and so I would love to see someone else get a go! As of now (and probably for the next couple of years) - every other rider is an underdog and we love an underdog.

Thanks for the reminder about Jackie Durand - I seem to recall he won one or two. Steph could indeed be the domestique - pushing her leader into position to win before dropping out just before the finish. Hang on - Jackie Durand with a domestique?

As for Der Teufel - as I recall he isn't in the race but is always on the TV waving his trident and sticking his tongue out at the real competitors. Remind you of anyone since Friday night?

Remember when they used to give them a stuffed lion for winning the stage - good old Credit Lyonnais....

[quote]Originally posted by Crimpo

[b]I think I must be very British.

we love an underdog.

Steph could indeed be the domestique - pushing her leader into position to win before dropping out just before the finish.



CONTROVERSIAL - surely if as you say - we love an underdog - then shouldnt that imply that the British public would be cheering for steph to WIN ?

I thought Virenque had one yesterday didn't he ? He gave it to his son.

Or am I dreaming?

[SIZE=4]THAT IRISH BLOKE!!!!!!!!!!![/SIZE]

Bloody hell Chrissie thats the GREAT Stephen Roche you're talking about - get down on your knees and worship girl!!

Alpe D'Huez today - I am SO excited. I agree its nowehere near as exciting as watching Ray and Cameron paint their nails but hey - I'm being positive here

BTW I disagree about Eurosport commentary. I love it when the main man (name escapes me) starts talking about food and .. we had a lovely brioche in the so snd so bistro last night - etc.

I WISH I could get Eurosport. Fair play to ITV tho the coverage is better than previous years.

MG
Who'd love to see Richard Virenque have a really briliant climb

well - yes i would LURVE Virenque to have a good day again today

BUT

I was not talking about Stephen Roche - i can understand HIM -

I was talking about the great MUMBLING shaun kelly
[i wish i could do bloody great letters]

THE DEMON DESCENDER

would i be so denegrating to Stephen Roche ?????

so where's the best tour mesage board ? I find the official one unusable...

well there is one on ITV.com
but i dont know if its any good

to bring this thread back to a link with Big Brother
my hubbie swears

Lisa may have been evicted from the house

but came in second in yesterdays stage of the tour

Ooops sorry Chrissie - it IS Sean Kelly. Not quite a God but certainly well up there in the celestial hierarchy.

What a struggle today. Wish I'd seen the climbs up Telegraph and Galibier but great to see at least part of D'huez live.

Meantime the HMs have slept for 8 hours, then woken up and talked about 'being in the house' then gone back to sleep again

MG

Major struggle with hubs today as e4 has le tour on from 10.30-17.00 and he's got day off !!!
I missed the last part of D'huez yesterday afternoon as i fell asleep [too late watching nothing happen on bb the night before]

hubs says that Lance was a bit boring yesterday - a bit like steve davies - did what he had to do to get the yellow jersey -
what about today - has Lance really got what it takes now ?
Good to see Veronque finish the race though.

Lance Armstrong = Scott but with charisma and energy
Lance - gives me the will to live - Scott [not]

They might have the measure of Lance on the climbs this year and keep attacking him, unlike Channel 4's secret weapon Jon's supposed penetrating attacks on our boring HM's.

penetrating attacks with the garden hose ?

I agree completely, the guys an absolute inspiration, imagine being riddled with cancer in your stomach, testicles and even BRAIN, being given about 6 months to live and then coming back and winning the hardest trial of endurance on the face of the earth 3 times (so far). He's a true hero.

Are you sure the Irish bloke isn't Sean Kelly, I might be wrong I think he's great though, very inciteful, its David Duffield I hate, he is such a bore, just wish he'd shutup.

I like Virenque, he's a real character with his one man breaks and madness.

David Millers doing well too, COME ON DAVID!

Nah, sorry

David is the Gos of Le Tour

Nice enough lad but when the going gets tough he LEAVES IT !!!

( bystander, nice to see you're a fan, perhaps something else we can talk about in the dark nights of November !! )

Pardon my ignorance, but is David Miller related to Robert Miller? And whatever happened to Robert Miller anyway? Last I heard (several years ago), he was alleged to be going through a sex change.

No, they're not related, David's surname is MILLAR

Robert Miller was around before I started following it, all I know is that he was one of the few Brits who could climb the mountains*

Coincidence - just as we speak the Eurosport commentry team have an e-mail from someone asking what happened to Robert Miller

Answer - no one knows where he is, rumours are flying aorund, none of them have been in touch with him for some years, appeal for him to contact them if he's watching.

*A Scot who could climb - he's the Sandy of Le Tour !!

( is that in order, MG !!! )

Yep that's nooo baad

First time I saw Robert was elbowing some pratt on the side of the road on Tourmalet. I thought - that's my kind of cyclist!!

David's a specialist. I reckon he did well to increase his position on Telegraph/Galibier/D'Huez. Like the new Cippo - Pattachi?

Tyler's the man this year tho' awesome - simply awesome AND he's got a Scots surname !!!

And as for our Le Tour/BB analogies (just to keep Beth happy):

Scott is the Ulrich of BB - means well - tries hard - but doesn't set the road on fire.

MG

(Who loves this thread)

...a renaissance year perhaps?

Even Kraftwerk have released a 2003 version of that old classic 'Tour de France' and it's got a new entry in the Top 20.

Check if you don't believe me:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/top40/index.shtml

See.

Nush is the Vinokourov of BB, because, erm, she looks exactly like him !!

Have you ever seen them in the same race ? No