Le Tour: Call me when it's over

I’ll watch it… I’d hate to miss a stage simlilar to Stage 17 of the Landis Tour… Exciting to watch regardless of the eventual outcome…

There just aren’t that many opportunities to see that anymore… Besides… It gives me ideas for Des Moines

“except one”… really? i now believe all of our heroes are dopers (or have crossed the line at some point). heck even the greatest of all time tested positive… twice.

i’ll watch the tour this year… with the same sadness and cynicism i did last year.

so are you jumping off the tour bandwagon now that your clean guy isn’t racing anymore or jumping on the “i’m too cool to watch the tour because of astana/doping/better things to do/I ride instead of watch/blog, bandwagon? I can’t tell.

I wish the UCI and ASO would quite bickering like an old married couple, but in the end I’ll still watch The Tour.

@bandwagon

It’s not that deep. I’m at the don’t care anymore about professional racing. Taking a break, hope it gets better.

Performance enhancing drugs are no different than other technological advancements like freewheels, carbon fiber, or derailleurs.

Fausto Coppi admitted to using amphetamines. Chances are good that Eddy Merckx used amphetamines as well. Drugs are part of the Tour.

I’ll be happily watching the tour this year at the Summit Tavern.

Not watch Phil Liggett’s broadcast? NEVER!

Indurain was the hero, btw. Who got out I think, right as the two-speeds in the peloton started.

I watch because I love the sport. The NFL is not clean. MLB is not clean. I still enjoy those competitions. Le Tour is working hard to get clean as are the other major sports. If not watching the tour is a form of protest why watch any athletic event? I can’t wait for July and the grandest cycling event of all. Time will take care of the issues.

@ All,

Note I’m not saying don’t watch it or that I’m not going to watch it as some sort of a protest. What I’m saying is, “whatever” this year. In the past, I was up at dawn to watch every second and I’d watch it more than once, even sit through Bob Roll’s inane commentary. I mean, I’ll watch the damn Land Rider informercial cause it’s got bikes in it.

The allure of the tour has changed for me is what I’m saying.

I will probably watch the Tour this year. I love biking, commuting, racing, looking and watching bikes. All types of bikes. You never know what may happen.

I’ll watch Le Tour this year. Why?

I’m with you, I hate the politics of ASO vs. UCI. Send in the clowns? Don’t bother, they’re here.

I’m tired of finding a hero, only to have him confess to doping- or worse, feign innocence even when all the tests confirm it, all the eyewitnesses confirm it, and the remarkable shifts in the GC confirm it. I’m looking at you Floyd, Tyler, and Vino.

I don’t care about Campy 11 speed, Shimano electric shifting, or which teams have ditched Campy and Shimano for SRAM. I can save a couple hundred grams of weight with the new groups and a couple thousand dollars. But I can save entire kilograms by getting off the couch and actually riding.

I don’t even care about Phil Liggett. He’s still the best voice in professional sports. But when something as graceful and ferocious as the mountaintop duel at Plateau-de-Beille of last year’s Tour is produced by the same people who produce Bull Riding and Bass Fishing shows, not even the greatest voice in professional sports can save it.

I’m going to watch Le Tour for one reason, and one reason only: this is the only time of the year cycling is relevant to my non-riding friends. They don’t understand Paris-Roubaix, Superprestige, or the World Championships. But they will see Tour highlights on Sportscenter (probably the only time each year cycling will be shown at all), and for a few fleeting moments over the next three weeks at the water cooler, we’re going to have something in common, and they’ll finally understand why I get up 3 AM on a Saturday to finish mid-pack in a Cat 3 crit. And I won’t let dopers, politics, the cycling industry or cable television take that away from me.

@ Mathew,

Very well said. Thanks and you’re right. It’s also just not STP (seattle to portland, a big tour in the Seattle area) that you can talk to your colleagues about. It’s something relevant. Lance certainly was on the public’s mind in past years and I’d talk at length explaining all the nuances. My friends and neighbors also followed Landis. From last year, without a hero to follow or known race leader it is more confusing to explain it’s based on time.

for the most part, all i care about are the bunch sprint finishes. but boonen’s not in it (don’t like him anyway), petacchi’s not in (correct?), Zabel (bless him) is kinda long in the tooth, and then there’s mcewan, who for me, oscillates between entertaining and irritating.

maybe cavendish can put some flash into it.

i love a helicopter longshot of the train barreling into a small town. that’s the catch, ya gotta have that overhead view to see things best. any other camera angle and the telephoto lens compresses the apparent depth of the shot and doesn’t convey the fantastic speed.

i especially hate when the producers just leave it on the head-on shot as the field comes to the line…sure you get to see the faces all contorted, but you can’t see any relative placing. then they go to the overhead for the replay after the finish is already known. what a waste.