*** OFFICIAL Lance in France with Tight Pants thread ***

[Clarkmeister]

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there was actually talk of Vinokurov being the leader of discovery next year.

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Who cares? Once Lance is done, in the US the Tour will revert to the obscure status it deserves.

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[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] It does not deserve an obscure status. It is best sporting event that is being arranged. Not many sports where all nationalities cheer for all nationalities.

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The fact that they tried to rig the course this year to stop Lance from winning, in my mind, completely validates that it's a non-event.

[jakethebake]

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[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] It does not deserve an obscure status. It is best sporting event that is being arranged. Not many sports where all nationalities cheer for all nationalities.

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Well your first mistake is calling it a sport... [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[razor]

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there was actually talk of Vinokurov being the leader of discovery next year.

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Who cares? Once Lance is done, in the US the Tour will revert to the obscure status it deserves.

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watch yourself...

[jakethebake]

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there was actually talk of Vinokurov being the leader of discovery next year.

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Who cares? Once Lance is done, in the US the Tour will revert to the obscure status it deserves.

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watch yourself...

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He's right though, regardless of what anyone thinks of the race personally.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

Yooooohoooooo!!!!!!11

I can keep my avatar! [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

WTG, Thor!

[razor]

congrats

[jdl22]

Congrats man.

You can thank team discovery and the gc contenders for not reeling in breakaways and not getting in the break. I was happy to see long breakaways making it once Hushovd was dressed in green. Makes it a lot easier to defend.

Overall this tour was a bit boring compared to past tours. It was just Armstrong putting down attacks and grinding out time gains. Pretty good from a strategic point of view, especially the collapse of T-Mobile and their 3 pronged attack. Lacked a big exciting moment or stage. Next years should be amazing and wide open.

Anybody know who Discovery will use as their top GC man for the Vuelta? My guess is Azevedo. Be interesting to see if they can get the grand tour sweep with a different rider in each one. Don't think that's ever been done. Will be difficult with Liberty Seguros and Euskaltel looking for a good showing after not having such a good tour.

edit: You should use this image from the final podium:

[Arnfinn Madsen]

Thanks, and congrats on Lance!

Next years tour will be incredibly exciting since Ullrich is a clearly better time trial rider than his challengers (Basso, Vinokourov, Rasmussen etc.). Thus he will be ahead of them when it gets into the mountains. He is not the best climber but still a very good climber so expect a lot of attacks at him and him battling with all he has, to defend it.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

I'm calling Basso. He's improving in the time trials and we've seen what he can do in the mountains. Oh yeah and he's been second the last two years...

I can't believe how Rasmussen completely just fell apart on the time trial. It's really too bad. It was expected that Jan would pass him anyway, but the way he went out was just sad.