Sports - Cycling Thread #1

thegreenlight · 04-14-2005, 06:14 PM

Hey, anyone here a fan of cycling?

Avatar · 04-15-2005, 01:30 AM

I am.

I'm very much looking forward to the TdF ... hopefully our guy, Thor Hushovd, is gonna go one better this year and win the green jersey. Tom Boonen seems awfully good, though ... the way he won both the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix was very impressive.

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong haven't looked his best, but then again he never does before the Tour ... it'll be interesting to see whether or not he wins for the seventh time - I can't really see who's gonna prevent him. T-Mobile seems in a bit of a disarray, and that's not good for Ulrich's chances.

**NikNak** · 04-15-2005, 07:14 AM

Welcome to the Sports Board, Em17sK!

Glad to have you here with us.

thegreenlight · 04-15-2005, 02:04 PM

Thanks NikNak.

Avatar, I too am excited for the Tour this year, and i'm really glad Lance is going for number seven. I could see Basso being a contender like last year, only if he worked on his TT. Who do you think will be in it for KOM?

Oh yeah, do you know who won Tour of Flanders? I was watching it until about 50k to go, but I had to do something..

Avatar · 04-15-2005, 02:17 PM

Boonen won the Tour of Flanders quite impressivly, which is why I think he'll be the one to watch for the green jersey in the TdF. Yeah, I'm not sure about Basso's time trials either - he's good in the mountains, but so's Armstrong, and Lance will take a lot of time on the time trials. I think Hamilton will be a challenger, especially since he's with a very good team in CSC., and Vinokurov (sp?) might challenge as well - I think he'll be the closest T-Moblie competitor to Armstrong, not Ulrich. You can't count out the Spaniards (Zubeldia, Mayo) either.

Not sure about the KOM ... has Virenque finally retired? If so, it's wide open, but I think one of the Spaniards have the best chance. The polka dot jersey's ugly, though, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to wear it.

thegreenlight · 04-15-2005, 02:31 PM

Hamilton.. you mean Tyler? He got "fired".

And the last team he was with was Phonak, not CSC. Yeah, I forgot about Vino, and can't forget Kloden. I wonder if Cunego is going to give the tour a try this year with that first place Giro under his belt.

Virenque did retire

Heh, the polka dot jersey is interesting indeed..

Avatar · 04-15-2005, 02:54 PM

Really?

I haven't heard anything about that. What happened?

Kloden, Vino, Ulrich... I think it's too many good racers there for things to work out for them. At US Postal (and Discovery Channel now), everyone's racing for Lance Armstrong, and that's how you win in the Tour.

You can't really win any combination of the Vuelta, the Giro and the Tour unless you're a madman like Eddy Merckx, so I doubt that, but you never know.

I never really liked Virenque because of his past with doping, so I'm not really disappointed that we'll see a new KOM this year.

thegreenlight · 04-15-2005, 03:04 PM

Wow, I can't believe you haven't heard about what happened to Tyler. After he pulled out of the Vuelta, we found out his tests from Athens and the Vuelta were "postive" for doping (blood transfusion). They weren't both positive though, it's really confusing. The sample from Athens was "thought" to be positive but he got to keep his medal since the red blood cells were frozen when they shouldn't have been. From the Vuelta i'm pretty that did come back positive. But, I don't think he doped and he's really fighting hard to get his name cleared and sort this mess out. If you really want to know they whole thing you can read his journal at www.tylerhamilton.com

Yeah, too many big guns at T-Mobile.

Yeah, I didn't like Virenque 'cause of the doping, but he's been clean, so he's OK in my book. And I think he is hott, so maybe i'm biased

Avatar · 04-15-2005, 03:20 PM

Oh, of course... I knew that.

I just forgot about it because of the new scandal with Daniello Hondo. And I think Hamilton should have been stripped of his gold ... there may have been a procedual mistake, but I don't think that changed the result. He doesn't strike me as the guy who would do something like this on purpose, but it doesn't really matter as he had an unfair advantage over his competitors (at least if you presume that everyone else is clean, which I doubt).

Like I said, I don't think Hamilton and Hondo is the only ones who's souped up on something, though ... I don't think Armstrong is, simply because of his past with cancer ... I don't think he'd be stupid enough to drug himself and risk harming his body again, but I have a nasty feeling one of the big guns is gonna get busted during the TdF.

And hee, well, you can never underestimate the importance of eye candy.

Just too bad there's no hot female cyclist.

thegreenlight · 04-15-2005, 03:28 PM

Aw, I like Tyler, i'm glad he kept his medal. Yeah, I think he's hott too

I didn't hear anything about Hondo, I don't think.. care to explain?

Yeah, I don't think Lance dopes. A big gun getting busted at the tour, hm, could be interesting..

Sorry there's no hott female cyclist for you..

Avatar · 04-15-2005, 03:35 PM

Well, at least you're being honest about your reasons.

There's a blurb on Hondo here.

Off to bed now.

thegreenlight · 04-15-2005, 03:38 PM

Thanks for that about Hondo.

G'night. By the way, where are you? It's only like 6:30pm here.

thegreenlight · 04-18-2005, 02:06 PM

Whoa, Lance announced he's going to retire after the 2005 Tour!

Avatar · 04-18-2005, 02:14 PM

Yeah, I saw that ... kinda shocking.

I wonder who the next big star will be...

BTW, I'm from Norway (that's why Hushovd is my guy

) ... Kurt Asle Arvesen, for CSC, finished a respectable 12th in the Amstel Gold Race this weekend, but come the big races, he's still just gonna do Carlos Sastre's dirty work.

Anyone else wanna post here?

thegreenlight · 04-18-2005, 04:08 PM

The next big star.. wow.. I know within the team Lance said he thinks Popovych could be shaped into a tour contender. I still think if Basso could work on his TT.. man..

Oh, Landis, leading Phonak now. Wonder how that will go at the tour. I know Heras left to lead his own team and that didn't work out too well for him..

Ah, Norway, Hushovd, makes sense

Yeah, c'mon, there has to be more cycling fans..