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Tour de France 07

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Welton Toffee

Welton Toffee

Player Valuation: £40m
I know me and Bruce Wayne are going, anyone else watching the Grande Depart in London next weekend?

It should be a wide open Tour this year. Let's hope one of the Brits can win the prologue, my money's on Badley Wiggins :P
 
wiggins used to be a.... how do you call it, a indoor cyclist? sprinter? you know what I mean, in the velodromes.

anyway, the tour de france is great, I wish it got more coverage, but then any sport that gets dominated by one individual for so long gets steadily less popular (forumla one for eg)
 
Yeah, Wiggins is the Olympic pursuit champion. Both Gerraint Thomas and Cavendish have come from track cycling as well, a sport in which we by and large kick arse in. The first week of the event could see quite a lot of British interest with the likes of Wiggins and Millar tipped to win the prologue and Cavendish in with a chance on many of the flat stages. It's a pity we havn't had anyone that could climb since Robert Millar as that's where the winner is usually found, in the mountains.
 

Rob said:
wiggins used to be a.... how do you call it, a indoor cyclist? sprinter? you know what I mean, in the velodromes.

anyway, the tour de france is great, I wish it got more coverage, but then any sport that gets dominated by one individual for so long gets steadily less popular (forumla one for eg)
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I disagree, now without a superstar in the ranks, it isn't going to get the media attention, especially over here. When Lance was riding, people talked about it all the time, whens it starting, how is lance doing etc etc. I bet if you polled people now and asked them what the tour was and when it was ou would most likely get the response "Isn't that the thing Lance Armstrong won, like, 7 times" (Remember, here in the US)
 
Despite the success of Armstrong and LeMond the sport does remain largely European, particularly around France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Germany. The sport is massive in those countries and you only have to look at the crowds lining the routes to see that. For instance whenever they race up Alps D'Huez they regularly attract crowds in excess of 1 million along its 14km climb and it wouldn't surprise me if around the same number didn't go to London to see the Prologue this year.

It's a deceptively popular sport and may even be the biggest spectator sport in the world, certainly in terms of those attending live and of course its free to attend so is a great day out :D
 
armstrong is one of if not the best, indurain did it in an unpopular team though, 'US postal' is the best financed isnt it? boardman wore the yellow jersey a few times - specifically after time trials (setup for him to win to gain 'le tour' some coverage in money laden britain)

i'll do my best to follow it, but i dont have sky, so no 'tour' for me, give me the days of channel 4 daily coverage and a sport in steroids infancy.
 
Dylan said:
I disagree, now without a superstar in the ranks, it isn't going to get the media attention, especially over here. When Lance was riding, people talked about it all the time, whens it starting, how is lance doing etc etc. I bet if you polled people now and asked them what the tour was and when it was ou would most likely get the response "Isn't that the thing Lance Armstrong won, like, 7 times" (Remember, here in the US)
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Lance Armstrong is what Nationality? :D

of course people and tv are gonna talk about it, an american has just dominated it for the better part of 10 years!
Without armstrong it will get little to zero tv coverage in the US I imagine, outside of the sports shows I mean.

Bruce, it just goes to show that when we invest in out athletes then they can do the business, amazing velodrome in manchester right?
 

Just got back from London. It was a really good day, the route was packed with people but we managed to get a great spot on the Strand so had a great view of the riders, not to mention the surreal pre-race sponsors carnival :D It was a pity that Wiggins couldn't get the win but it was a cracking ride by Cancellara to win by such a large margin.

All in all it was a cracking day, although if I had one grumble it was the lack of food and drink stalls on the route, especially as crossing the road was made tricky by there obviously being a race on it. A minor quibble though. Hopefully it will return to England again soon :)
 
Thing is Bruce even if there were food and drink stalls, they would be charing a quid fifty for a drink!

or is that just music festivals....

Glad you had a good day out (been a long time waiting) any tip on who will win the tour this year?
 
Well it's London so you generally get charged that anyway!

As for my tip. Kloden looked very good yesterday and is usually good enough in the mountains to hold his own. Vino also looked quick. They'd be my two tips based on yesterdays dash.
 
I hope you keep regular updates in this thread bruce, bbc sport are useless for anything that isn't footy, cricket or tennis.
 

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