You may miss the "live" race, but the links on the internet will still be around after, so that's fine.

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Hi Skipper, that's cool. Im also going to try to be a"regular" watcher of this sport fom now on. Football, Basketball and Baseball-I can take it or leave it-and for about the past 20 years or so--I left them.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

stay current here :

www.bikejerseys.com and go to the upper left link titled : todays cycling news. what's crap is that nearly all the news daily is about someone else getting prosecuted for dope enhancement(s). I have purchased an number of jerseys over the years from this outfit, one of the few that are really in the know. It really helps to chat with someone as hard core as one-self on the bike circuit

great link erich

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Anothony 'Swoff ' Swofford : A story: A man fires a rifle for many years, and he goes to war. And afterward he turns the rifle in at the armory, and he believes he's finished with the rifle. But no matter what else he might do with his hands, love a woman, build a house, change his son's diaper; his hands remember the rifle.

Hi E, I appreciate the provided likn and will keep an eye on it over the next some months.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Carl as I mentioned you have to overlook all the hug-dub of every cyclist being "accused and written off" due to doping. It's - the system is so misused by the higher powers, no cyclist with any experiences on any tour has any hope of chance to be reconciled, the only thing will be is the new membership of young cyclists may be able to stay clean because of all of this or cheat with the help of highly funded supporting agents thus again "proving" that any person of merit on two wheels is a scum bag..........

yeah right

Anyones guess this year ? Looks to be no fav's at all which is good news plus a couple new teams.

finding that no TT's invovled is quite interesting.

good luck to all !

E `

No prolouge this year either, and the first stages don't showcase the Sprinters. I agree that there needs to be change in the Cycling World, but changing the TDF in this manner isn't the best way to do it. TT's are great to watch! I also think Astana should have been invited - several other teams were caught doping during the Tour and guess who got invited back? *grumbles*

Did catch the last 40KM of the stage today. Will watch tomorrow at work too (Boss out all this week = play time) and i'm picking Cadel Evans (i believe...runner up last year) to win it this year. Expect some surprises of course.

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Not again...

BBC SPORT | Other sport... | Cycling | Spaniard Beltran tests positive

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French police detain Spanish rider after he tests positive for EPO at Tour de France - International Herald Tribune

Well, that makes only two so far...??

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I think its at 3 now. The sport needs a complete overhaul IMO. Everything needs to change about it. And they need to start treating drugs in other sports in the same manner. The equivalent of an offense in cycling that = 2 year ban, only gets you fined and miss a game or two in the NFL. Talk about double standards.

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2 Spanish riders and the boisterous Italien punk-A, R. Ricco.

it has been proven that doping was going back to the 1950's and even earlier and it was overlooked as the tech was not there to prove ones involvement

lets get over this shall we and accept that there are many cheats in the cycling/sport industry, sure it's disgusting but what are we gonna do about it, except to complain

I recently saw a short film about the human brain at an IMAX theatre. The Tour de France was the paradigm used to explain how the brain reacts to fear, pain, etc.. I walked out of the theatre with a much deeper respect for the riders who compete in the event, having been quite ignorant to it before.

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anyone see the climb up the Galiber and the Alp-du' Ez ? a great stage one of the best I have seen yet

L'Alpe d'Huez...Sastre really took off (2 minute lead!) not sure what CSC plan is as far as who the GC will be, but the Shleck brothers are a fearsome duo! Cadel is the better TT though.

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not sure who the strongest proponent of the TT is, but Cadel will most likely get his time back and wear the yellow

yes CSC put the pedal to the metal today

Hi E, I saw bits and pieces of the climb. The only reason why it was bits and pieces, is because Hurricane Dolly was blowing through at the time and the damned signal kept being cut.

PS, I think Cadell Evans (no relation) has a very good chance at winning this years race. I wonder what happened to that young guy who won last years race? I have not heard anything mentioned about him on the rare occasion I get to see these bits and pieces of the race.

PSS< what's up w/ George Hincapie? I mean, he did so much better last year. Doesn't he realize that he aint getting any younger??? Times ticking away, on his Cycling clock.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Contador and Levi signed up with Astana as DISCO was disbanded. The Tour banned the team for 'doping' despite its makes over. Unfair, if you ask me, since there were other teams caught doping last year that are still in the race...

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Argh, I missed the rest of the race. So who were the first three winners?

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

good to see ya back Bud ! I was in Germany but last I heard that the top-finisher for CSC pulled out first place.......

still have jet lag .......... arg