Now the EC is over it's time for the Tour! W0000T!! The greatest event in the world.

So, what are you guys' thoughts so far? Armstrong is looking real good again, but i hope someone (noteably Ullrich) can give him trouble, makes it more exciting. I still don't think he will win 6, cos if Merckx, Anquetil and Hinault couldn't...but Armstrong does seem to have enormous focus.

I have mixed thoughts about how they dropped Mayo in the stage to Wasquehal...i don't think it's bad, but i'm not applauding for the move either.

And what about Boonen? I think he'll win a stage or two still, if he finally gets lucky. And if that damned McEwen stops being so good.

So..thoughts, predictions, who are you rooting for? i'd love Ullrich to win this one.

Yeah don't wanna see him win his 6th, so prolly i'll go for Ullrich, although i think Hamilton has a very good chance as well, looking at his result last year with a broken ehm .. 'sleutelbeen'.

Got a bit of a mixed feeling about Mayo as well, i understand that when heading to the 'kasseien' they couldn't just pull the handbreak, and after it when the peloton was broken, i can still see why they (US Postal mainly) would try to stay ahead since others like Heras were behind. But when those 2 groups got back together i feel they should have waited, the fact that they didn't shows that Armstrong fears Mayo. Well maybe it's feared now, although it can become very spectacular: imagine that Mayo goes (with some support, or after a bigger group with some teammates) on the first or second hill in a very heavy course, which i expect to happen btw. Armstrong can let him go and take the risk of Mayo taking several minutes back. Or he can have his team chase him, taking the risk of blowing them up and become isolated. I don't see him jump with mayo rightaway. And if he becomes isolated Hamilton for example can send Sevilla out, they need to attack anyway. Of course this only applies if Lance isn't the strongest.

Dunno about Boonen, he needs to be lucky yeah, he can beat McEwen in a race, although a sprint in the Tour is always something chaotic and stressy and maybe Boonen doesn't have the 'cool' yet. Petacchi is invisible, but if he manages to get over the Alps and Pyrenees, he might find his form, but maybe he's just burned up.

Btw Merckx says he could have won 6 if he wanted, he didn't win in 1973 but he won Giro and Vuelta that year if i'm not mistaken, heard him say that on Sporza earlier this week.

Good thinking about Mayo, didn't even really consider that yet. He might idd make for some difficult situations for Armstrong with his time deficit. Such a shame that Vino and Beloki aren't here though. I'd love to see them all attack him in the mountains, isolated as he will be (apart from beltran maybe, but he can't keep chasing every escapee). It would have been cool: Ullrich, Hamilton, Mayo, Vino, Beloki, Heras...all attacking The Boss. Thankgod for te new TTT regulations, good for Ullrich and co.

Voeckler and Casar might be in yellow for a while now, barring accidents. they're both ok climbers, and with 10 minutes on Armstrong the might even survive the pyrenees.

btw J:
sleutelbeen: collar bone
kasseien: cobbles (cobblestones)

Bah, cycling is boring.
I really hope Armstrong wins this tour and the next twelve. That should teach those frogs who always accuse him from taking dope a lesson.

Lol, they're right tho. They all dope, but that doesn't take away the fun!

Cycling rocks, nay-sayer!

Yeah i think it`s a real shame that Vinokourov isn`t there, he`s a real attacker and would put the pressure on Armstrong in the mountains, allowing Ullrich to stay in Armstrong`s wheel.

Tour de BORRRRINGGGG. Serious, how can watching a bunch of guys ride bikes be fun? Maybe if they where punching and kicking each other and got to throw sticks and debris in the tires of there opponents.

Well this tour has a bunch of cyclists fall every day, so at least that's fun to watch.

That'd be cooler if they were going alot faster. Or if the road was covered with razors or something. Of course, we'd have to figure out how to keep the tires from popping.

How about every cyclist gets a handgun with one bullet? But it can't fire until their cycle is going 45 miles an hour. Yea...oh, the carnage! WOOOO! And the tires should have sharpened spikes on them.

Heh, it's actually a quite exciting sport. Some stages can be boring, but they usually end in a super-duper sprint, which makes up for a lot. And in the mountains it obvioulsy rules. It's pure heroïsm, mano-a-mano, the strongest man always wins. And if you bonk on a huge mountain (like +- 2000 meters high) you BONK. You got OLN btw 11B?


lol@ Satis. They actually ride pretty fast. Average stages are about 200kms at an average of 40-45 km/h. And in a sprint they go up to around 70 kms/h, pretty good shit. Cyclists die every few years, which isn't surprising with those speeds.

Most boring sport ever is F1, and any closed circuit racing really. Rally does rock, however.

F1 ruled, untill they invented Ferrari and Schumacher.

Yesterday Boonen took the victory, so your prediction was correct, he got lucky since he was one of maybe 30 that got into the last kilometer, and with a lot of competitors out of the way he was positioned idealy. He was strong and might have had a good chance if there hadn`t been a fall maybe, depending on how his position would have been in that case. Go Belgium !!

And cycling is a sport which you can put on tele and meanwhile do other stuff, i`m sitting on the laptop for example, and if i hear something spectacular is happening i look up, last 10 km i follow closely. Mountain rides are nearly always exciting to watch.

I think I'd rather watch paint dry. You guys are way to into sports. Most sports suck. And who cares really. Are you gonna tell your grandchildren who won the Tour de France in 2004? They'd be bored out of their skull. Well whatever, just started getting on my nerves about all of the sports. Sports are only fun when you are doing them IMO.

We have the center of the cycling world here, cycling is inherited, so very low chance of boring grandchildren. I like both doing sports and watching it, cos the top sporters do it much better, faster and harder. I agree that there are more interesting things to do, but bleh. Like J said, i usually have the tv playing in the background and listen when it gets really cool.

Beh Mayo doesn`t show a good form, still having troubles from his fall maybe, or just faking it (hopefully). Mountains are on their way, let`s pray it will be exciting stages, but i`m afraid they all fear Armstrong (pussies).

Btw Poland just scored 1-0 against Germany EK under 19 .. jeej