Out and about cycling: tdf

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Some videos from the TDF

Sourse: Velonews.com

AC: "My authentic rival is Andy Schleck. Looking at the time trial, it's better for me than last year. This Tour is better for me than last year, especially with a stage finish atop a climb so difficult as the Tourmalet.
If I have good laeg, I can take out a lot of time in the mountains going into the final time trial. Astana was the most-watched team during the past year. We have nothing to hide. I don't have any problems. I hope to be the leader of the team, but I'm still don't know where I'm going to be racing. Concerning a rivalry with Armstrong, I don't see it like that. I see Andy Schleck, myself and Armstrong as a favorites. I won't look just to Lance, but rather watch all my rivals."

AS: "At first glance, the entire Tour looks hard. The first week with the classics-type courses will require special attention. The second week, we're already in the mountains with the Jura and Alps. Those stages will be harder than they look on paper. And the third week is brutal. Tourmalet is a classic, big climb, which I like better anyway. The final time trial doesn't suit my abilities, but I'm improving and I will have to adapt. Contador will be the man to beat."

LA: "I think it's going to be a lot more open than last year. There isn't the team time trial and a lot of guys will be missing that. I was one never to say this Tour is harder than another.
They're always hard. And the strongest rider always win. (The rivalry with Contador) is good for cyclin, but honestly, I think he and I could do without it. It's good for the events. The biuldup to the Tour, in April, May and June, will be really intense. I think the Schleck brothers will be good and I think Wiggins can come back."

Resume after Le Tour

So, what was hot and what was not.

++++++

1. Team Saxo Bank looked as a great team. They always look as a great team, but on TDF it's especially good:) And thanks to them for the great site with many videos!
2. I was pleased to see Heinrich Haussler's victory. He cried and it was so touched...
3. Thor in green. I'm happy for him. Not because he beat Cavendish (he is great sprinter, no doubt), but just because Thor is a cool guy and he deserves his spot on the podium. And his solo breakaway in mountains was impressive.
4. Frank's victory. No comments:)
5. Canc in yellow (and Canc - the winner of the first stage)
6. Andy on the podium. That's the main plus:)

------
1. Kurt and Jens crashed:( And another bad crashes for Gesink, Leipheimer, Menchov and others.
2. Bastille Day without radios - not a good idea to test it on the grand tour.
3. Poor results from Evans, Sastre and Menchov - I think, if these guys were in a good shape, the battle would be much more interesting. Because only the Shlecks tried to stir the peloton (maybe, Evans on a first two weeks).
4. Boring Pyrenees.
5. Doping rumours. Yes, we had no many rumours during the race (except Di Luca positive test on Giro), but it begins now - this article (click to read) says about "doping announcement" this Thursday. And they decided to re-test some samples from last year's Tour (and not just Tour, if I meant right). Every of these rumours is killing me! I know I should be confident, but I can't. I looked through some Russian cycling boards - people write stupid things. I know, I know, they don't know anything, they just can't know, but it's so in my style - to believe in stupid rumours. I should do something with myself:)

And, as I don't want to end my post in such a bad way, here is a Twit from Kurt-Asle Arvesen:
"Andy is a natural born talent. Not only in cycling, yesterday night he took our dinner/party by storm with his speech!"

TDF, stage 17. Yay for the Schlecks!

The Schlecks meet the press

An article on Velonews

TDF, stage 16

So, what do you think about today's stage? The team had a good plan. Hope they have a good plan on tomorrow too. Well, I don't know, how we will be without Jens:( But, maybe, our guys will ride even better to cheer him up? You know, "we miss you, Jens, and we try to win this Tour for you too" ? Andy said, that stage 17 was a key stage. I saw the profile of it and I think he can be right. Up and down, up and down all the time. Let's see how Wiggins, our new monster climber, will ride this stage.
Hope Andy and Frank will attack and make bigger time gaps before TT.

Jens:(

All my thoughts are with Jens now. Hope he's fine, speedy recovery for him! Today was tough stage, LA's attack was impressive (even too much), but now it's all doesn't metter - we are thinking about Jens.

UPD: LA on his Twitter: "Just heard from Frank Schleck that Jens is doing ok. Good news." Thanks God.
And it's so nice to see all the riders are worried about Jens!

TDF, stage 15

Finally action!

Andy was good. He tried to follow Contador. But it's hard, 'cos it's Contador... Saxo team was cool today!

Two interviews:
One here, on velonews.tv and one more here, on Sporza.

We believe in Andy;)

P.S. Oleg Tinkov just wrote in his blog, that it would be nice if Andy won, because he is a future of cycling:)

TDF, stage 14 (and some translations)

Sad and strange stage today. Sad because of the woman, who died in an anccident today. And strange because of the plot of the race today. You know, I looked through the forum on Russian Eurosport (that's the best forum about cycling in Eastern Europe, in my opinion - people who post there are big specilists, they raced and watched cycling during long time; I'm not registered on that board because I'm not so cool yet:)). So I read what people think and their thought are just exectly the same as my: LA wanted to "present" the jersey to his buddy, Big George.
He probaly said to his teammates: "Don't chase!", so they didn't. But I think Contador was not happy because of that, he went to the car with Bryuneel and talked with him. And than Astana started to chase. But Big George still had big chances on the jersey. And than team Garmin decided to remind all good things to team Columbia: TTT on Giro, Tyler Farrar vs Cav on this Tour, "nice" Cav' words on Garmin... And they stayed the yelow jersey on Nocentini's shoulders. LA made 7 or more posts on his Twitter to blame Garmin. His supporters did the same. But oh, c'mon, it's a sport! Many sportsmen had friends-rivalries, but that doesn't mean everybody has to make services to each other!
That's how people saw the situation. And, I think, that's how it was.
Oleg Tinkov predicts Russian victory today. His predictions come true very often:) He said about Astana: "I think Armstrong and Bruyneel will go away. Ekimov too, he can't decide anything himself. It's possible that Armstrong and Bryuneel will not be in one team.
Vinokurov will come, but the team will not be the same as now. I'm not sure that Contador will stay. Vinokurov and Kashckin (I'm not sure I wrote it write, but I wrote it how we spell it on Russian) are people from the past, they are the past time of cycling. Well, maybe he can be a good manager, I don't know...
But I'm sure it will be different Astana. Not a super-team we see now".
I hope the weather will be fine tomorrow, no snow, no bad accidents. And Andy will attack (and it will be a good attack). I wanna see he kicks asses to many riders:) and every person who doesh't believe in him. C'mon, Andy!
P.S. Oh, yes! Andy made a new entry:) He is so polite!

TDF, Stage 13.

Breaking news:

"Oscar Freire and Julian Dean have been hit during Tdf Stage 13 by an air gun.
Juan Manual Garate heard 3 shots, and suddenly Freire was screaming in pain. He had been hit right above the knee. Julian Dean has been hit in his hand.
The incident happened at 165km after the start of the 13th stage. Rabo team doctor Dion Van Bommel had to remove a metal ball in Freire's upper leg after the stage. Apart from that, he is fine."

OMG, it's something scary! I hope it will not happen again...

9-1

Sad news: Kurt-Asle broke his collarbone and out of the Tour:((( That's really bad for us:( Hope he'll recover soon!
Unfortunately, I didn't see today's stage because of my job, but, as I know, Andy had some problems with his bike, Kurt crashed and Fabian helped him to eat:) Is it true? I wanna see:) Once again, really sorry for Kurt-Asle:(

And something to cheer us up - video updates from our kind fairy missmclaren

And more new videos here, on her channel.

Curiously to know who is it. Does she have a blog or something? Wanna say thank you:)

Andy's interview

(from Yahoo! Sports)

(super sweet pic from wort.lu)

Schleck more impressed by Armstrong than Contador

LIMOGES, France, July 13 (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong has the strength to win his personal duel with Astana team mate Alberto Contador, another of the race’s main contenders, Andy Schleck said on Monday.

“Armstrong is very, very strong and he’s very lean,” the younger of the Schleck brothers, and best young rider in last year’s Tour, said of the seven-times Tour champion.

“He has the engine to win the Tour. A lot of riders focus more on Contador, but Armstrong has a good card to play.

“If one day he has the chance to take some time, he won’t miss it. And then he will be very hard to catch,” the 24-year-old Luxembourg climber told reporters on the rest day in Limoges.

Schleck, the leader of the Saxo Bank team, was unable to react when Contador attacked on the final climb to Arcalis, in Andorra, on Friday, but he does not believe the 2007 Tour winner has the race wrapped up.

“He’s strong but not unbeatable,” Schleck said of Contador. “That day, he only took 20 seconds. We must wait and see how strong he is in the Alps, but with only one stage finish at the top of a mountain, he’s not going to make huge gaps.”

Schleck is in ninth place, 1:49 behind race leader Rinaldo Nocentini, who is just ahead of Contador in second and Armstrong in third.

Schleck added he did not see the rivalry between the two Astana team leaders as an opportunity for the rest of the bunch.

“It’s more a media thing than a real team row,” he said. “The Astanas ride as a team. They rode a great team time trial and you don’t do that if there’s a row in the team.”

Schleck, who was 12th on the Tour last year and won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic this season, said the hardest stages might not be the ones everyone expected.

“The final climb to Verbier (on Sunday) is not a very hard climb. By contrast, the Platzerwasel, in the stage to Colmar, is a real tough climb,” he said.

In another article on cyclingnews, where he said almost the same, I like Frank's words: "If Andy is going to be strong in the climbs, of course I am going to sacrifice myself. Further than that I would give my life for my family." Awww, it's so... :)

P.S. Andy on Twitter: "Rest day had pressconf. always the same question only in 5 different language maybe I should learn some spanish".

Tour de France, stage 9.

Jens Voigt rules!!! This man is great:) He was in break (and, maybe, Pelizzo and Fedrigo should be thankful to Jens - he works a lot in the beginning and they made a big time gap). And then, in the end of the race, when Andy pierce the trunk (I was worried about this!), he quickly delivered him to the peloton:) He is my hero:)
So, tomorrow is the rest day and then the stage witout radios. Interesting. But scarying. What if Andy will get a punctur again?

And this photo I found on the Leipheimer's Twitter. They chenged a bus-driver:))) Now I begin to understand who is a true leader of Astana:)))

And also Robin Williams visited Lance. Stiller, Williams... Who's next? Madonna?

Video Diary

Andy explains stage 8.
Now I think his hair-style is not so bad:)
But why still no videos with Frank?

Tour de France, stage 8

Oscar Pereiro Sio quiet Tour due to the "accumulated fatigue.” Sad:( And the most sad thing is that we don't know if he ever win some big race. He said himself that he is scary after his crash on the Tour last year. He tries to be very careful on the downhills. And, actually, nobody knows what's next...

***
I'm glad LL Sanchez won today. Our commentators cherred up for Efimkin, but his win would be unfair. He didn't work at all! I hate when the victory goes to somebody who doesn't deserve it:(

***
And also our commentators during all the stage (well, almost) was talking about Astana. I'm not a Lance-hater, I respect him, and I like Yaroslav Popovych, because he is Ukrainian and a very nice person. But Astana has already annoyed me! Too bad I'm not Dutch:) Dutch commentators probably most of the time talk about Saxo Bank:)
It's nice to see Andy, Frank, and Kurt on front. I hope they have a good plan. According to Arvesen's Twitter: "Long transfer after a hard day! One day more, then a useful restday. Everyone happy in the Saxo-bus." Wel, then I'm happy too:)

Oleg Tinkov's blog

Oleg Tinkov (of Tinkoff:)?) has a blog on Eurosport.ru. He said it's just during Tour de France, but who knows, maybe he'll continue to make posts after it. Anyway, the posts are very short and simple. He writes not like a cool journalist, he has not a secretary or somebody else. He just writes what he thinks. So, his first post, just before the Tour. It's interesting because of his predictions.

"Hello everybody!

*blah-blah-blah*

...

So, about favourites. I think Lance will win. No, I'm not crazy and not use wrong letters. I'm sure in it, because I know him and Bruyneel and I know what's going in their team. And we all saw him at Giro... HE IS READY! Lance won't do anythig just for fun, he'll be wise. About Contador... I think he'll have to work on Lance. At least, he is working in Astana and he must do what his sports manager says.
So, my favourites:

1. Armstrong
2. Contador
3. Schleck (any)
4. Schleck (any)
5. Evans
6. Menchov
7. Sastre

Unforunately I don't think Denis will win and any other Russian just has no chances.
So ARE YOU READY?! Then let's go!"