Yeah I saw that. If it was a dig at Evans - then laugh it up over-paid, under-achievers or rasther non-achievers.

Erm, this is shaping up quite bloody nicely, isn't it?

I think the most salient thing over the next few days may well be the fact that both CSC and Saunier Duval have two guys in striking distance. If, say, Sastre and Cobo go up the road, Evans has a very hard time deciding whether to chase them and risk tiring himself and getting buried by Schleck and Ricco, or let them go and make up their losses. I don't see him squaring the circle.

There's a whole bunch of excellent riders could still do this. Menchov is looking good - we know he can TT, we know he can climb, and while he's never quite got it together at Le Tour, he's won the last couple of Vueltas after racing the Tour beforehand - this year he raced the Giro first, and so is theoretically racing with his (superb) Vuelta legs.

Efimkin and The White Jay-Z are two excellent young riders, who've long promised to be contenders. I think Evans and Schleck will underestimate them at their peril, and if the tactical shitfight becomes too engrossing one or other could well sneak away and put himself in the reckoning.

So basically, superb parcours so far. It's hard to think of one which has seen so much spectacular action at this stage, and yet is so genuinely open.

Also, anyone mocking Evans' climbing style is okay with me. OTF Italophiles should know how important styling and profiling is, but once the road tilts upwards he looks like a gorilla on a tightrope.

The White Jay-Z

Today is a day for Juan Antonio Flecha.

Another EPO bust this morning. Moises Dueno Nevado.

But it's not a day for Moises Duenas Nevado.

Second positive EPO test. And not one of the riders who had letters sent to them last week, either.

Damn. Beaten to it.

Will be interesting to see if the 30 gendarmes who raided the hotel (where both Barloworld and Bouyges Telecom were staying) will have found anything of interest.

Quite a shock that it is a Spaniard, of course.

Since all 17 teams have now left the ProTour, will OTF be taking the opportunity to enter a team in their place? We already have Fausto, Felicity, Toro, La Lanterne Rouge, Baroudeur, TPC...

I wouldn't mind being a domestique. You get first dibs at the musette.


This is interesting...

QUOTE:
The news came on a day when one of the ProTour's main aims - globalisation - received a boost. A new professional team, called Katyusha and backed by a consortium of Russian businesses with €30m (£23.8m) a year, will join the peloton in 2009, targeting the new Tour of Sochi and the Tour de France.

The budget is enormous, given that most teams operate on a budget of around 6-8M euros a year.

Incidentally, just seen this:

Jesus Christ, Bafflin. Pls take care of yourself.

Thanks, ursus, I'm healing up nicely.

Did you get one of those L'Equipe Hinault specials, by the way? I found a source if you want one.

Extremely interesting, sounds like Son of Astana to me.

Also interesting that they named the team after a piece of artillery.

[Edit: Yes I did (airports are useful for some things; it's ace.]

I've only had a chance to flick through it so far, but it's good stuff. I picked up a copy in town yesterday, and they had a couple left. If anyone else would like one, let me know.

That is a greta name for a team isn't it?

Surprise, surprise.

L'Equipe is reporting that "traces of third generation EPO" have been found in Ricco's samples from the 3rd and 4th of July.

Daft fucker.

Fuck. The whole team's pulling out. Evans has less to control now. It really does test your patience, this sport. Every year the Tour promises showdowns, revolution, and the unexpected. Every year I spend countless sunny afternoons in dark campsite bars, ignoring my children, waiting and hoping for this to happen. Yet nearly every year a sort of sad inevitibility takes hold and the predictable result you are hoping not to see ends up happening.

As Toro was saying above, I could see a real dog fight developing in the Alps this year and the Sauniers would have been a major factor. It's just going to turn into an Evans grind though, isn't it?

Another whole year has passed and cycing has once again let itself down while it is in the world spotlight. I don't think it's got much time left now to save it's credibilty. Personally, I don't care what the rest of the world think so long as the cycling community remains large enough on its own, but these constant withdrawls ruin the Tour as a spectacle.

Oh and you can count me in for the OTF team as well. Every year I "hisse la carcass" over big Pyreneen hills on a fat tyred Hybrid with rack lock and mudguards. I'm not quick, but I never stop until I get to the top. I could be the sort of domestique who takes the leader up the first big climb and then holds on for about the first 3 or 4k in the final climb, before the big boys begin their mano a mano.

I also used to start the Tour threads back in the old amateur days of OTF. The threads used to be called "Round And Round And Up And Down We Go Again".

Since then, I've tended to defer to people on here who are real cyclists and follow things much more closely than I do. But I still read all the cycling threads avidly.