Tour de France 2011

Recreation Cycling
1

Route announced.

Looks pretty interesting.

Discuss:

cyclingnews.com/races/98th-t … france-his

Stage 1 Saturday, July 2 2011

Location:
Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts - Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers
Distance:
191 km

Stage 2 Sunday, July 3 2011

Location:
Les Essarts (TTT)
Distance:
23 km

Stage 3 Monday, July 4 2011

Location:
Olonne-sur-Mer - Redon
Distance:
198 km

Stage 4 Tuesday, July 5 2011

Location:
Lorient - Mûr-de-Bretagne
Distance:
172 km

Stage 5 Wednesday, July 6 2011

Location:
Carhaix - Cap Fréhel
Distance:
158 km

Stage 6 Thursday, July 7 2011

Location:
Dinan - Lisieux
Distance:
226 km

Stage 7 Friday, July 8 2011

Location:
Le Mans - Châteauroux
Distance:
215 km

Stage 8 Saturday, July 9 2011

Location:
Aigurande - Super-Besse Sancy
Distance:
190 km

Stage 9 Sunday, July 10 2011

Location:
Issoire - Saint-Flour
Distance:
208 km

Rest Day 1 Monday, July 11 2011

Stage 10 Tuesday, July 12 2011

Location:
Aurillac - Carmaux
Distance:
161 km

Stage 11 Wednesday, July 13 2011

Location:
Blaye-les-Mines - Lavaur
Distance:
168 km

Stage 12 Thursday, July 14 2011

Location:
Cugnaux - Luz-Ardiden
Distance:
209 km

Stage 13 Friday, July 15 2011

Location:
Pau - Lourdes
Distance:
156 km

Stage 14 Saturday, July 16 2011

Location:
Saint-Gaudens - Plateau de Beille
Distance:
168 km

Stage 15 Sunday, July 17 2011

Location:
Limoux - Montpellier
Distance:
187 km

Rest Day 2Monday, July 18 2011

Stage 16 Tuesday, July 19 2011

Location:
Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux - Gap
Distance:
163 km

Stage 17 Wednesday, July 20 2011

Location:
Gap - Pinerolo
Distance:
179 km

Stage 18 Thursday, July 21 2011

Location:
Pinerolo - Galibier Serre-Chevalier
Distance:
189 km

Stage 19 Friday, July 22 2011

Location:
Modane - Alpe-d’Huez
Distance:
109 km

Stage 20 Saturday, July 23 2011

Location:
Grenoble (ITT)
Distance:
41 km

Stage 21 Sunday, July 24 2011

Location:
Créteil - Paris Champs-Élysées
Distance:
160 km

2

So what’s the status on Contador’s inadvertent doping by hamburger case? Am I correct he won’t get in trouble for it, at least won’t be banned from next years Tour? As I recall, it was an extremely small quantity of the banned substance.

Anyway, just wondering if Andy Schleck will have any serious competition this year or will he do it alone. It’ll be nice to see him switch from the white jersey to the yellow. If anyone deserves it. . .

3

Contador’s still waiting on a verdict. Not looking great from him, as [according to online sources, not me] apparently plastic residue was also found in his blood from the day before, hinting that he may have transfused blood that he had stored from some time earlier, not realising that it wasn’t completely clean.

velonews.competitor.com/2010/10/ … ion_146340

4

damn those home clenbuterol test kits. Not very sensitive, are they? and he should have stored his blood in GLASS. Moron.

5

The Alps are not going to be very interesting. Pramartino is a nice little climb but the rest of that stage is a bit easy. There is a false flat leading up to the Galibier so people aren’t going to be able to get away before the mountain top finish there.

Alpe d’Huez stage may have a break, but it will only be from within the climb. There won’t be a long distance attempt because of the long run in between Galibier and AdH.

Bit stages will therefore be in the Pyrenees, particularly Luz-Ardiden. Those are the only ones for which there may be a long-distance break.

There is only 41km of individual TT in total - so that should favour poor TTers like Schleck and Rodriquez - bad news for Evans and Menchov who won’t be able to sustain their TT advantages from attacks on the mountains. And the TTT favours those with a strong team - eg someone with Cancellara working pulling everyone along.

6

Contador likely will be out for a year…his Spanish beef defence is doomed to failure since if the UCI let him off it creates a precedent for the whole peloton. Most likely Schleck will also be awarded this years Tour after AC’s inevitable disqualification. Pro cycling; don’t you just love it?

On a positive note; should be six sprints in there for Cavendish to win.

7

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]So what’s the status on Contador’s inadvertent doping by hamburger case? Am I correct he won’t get in trouble for it, at least won’t be banned from next years Tour? As I recall, it was an extremely small quantity of the banned substance.

Anyway, just wondering if Andy Schleck will have any serious competition this year or will he do it alone. It’ll be nice to see him switch from the white jersey to the yellow. If anyone deserves it. . .[/quote]

Better not think he will be there, news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_s … 169082.stm

He could be banned and have his 2010 Tour Victory taken away.

8

From the above link:

[quote]Clenbuterol is a muscle-building and fat-burning drug and a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Cologne, Germany, found a “very small concentration” of the substance in Contador’s urine sample on 21 July.

However, the amount was 400 times less than the 50 picogram benchmark measurement that anti-doping laboratories accredited by Wada must be able to detect.[/quote]

400 times less? :eh:

That’s miniscule. I assume the argument is that he used it in the off-season and expected it would be completely flushed out of his system by the Tour, at least to the extent that it couldn’t be detected?

Strange that it was detected when it was 400 times below the general testing threshhold.

Oh well, GO ANDY!

9

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]From the above link:

[quote]Clenbuterol is a muscle-building and fat-burning drug and a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in Cologne, Germany, found a “very small concentration” of the substance in Contador’s urine sample on 21 July.

However, the amount was 400 times less than the 50 picogram benchmark measurement that anti-doping laboratories accredited by Wada must be able to detect.[/quote]

400 times less? :eh:

That’s miniscule. I assume the argument is that he used it in the off-season and expected it would be completely flushed out of his system by the Tour, at least to the extent that it couldn’t be detected?

Strange that it was detected when it was 400 times below the general testing threshhold.

Oh well, GO ANDY![/quote]

Its 40 times not 400…that typo has been replicated ad nauseum throughout the sporting press. I even wrote to one paper to correct it but no use. sportsscientists.com/2010/09 … itive.html

10

The benchmark is the highest point used for accreditation, and most labs would be able to detect far less than that. The low level could be because he had been using clenbuterol, then waited a while for the clen to have been mostly metabolised and excreted, and then took some blood for storage so that he could inject it back into himself on the rest day.

I am guessing that blood dopers like using the rest day to inject to also allow their body time to adjust to the new blood they have added, and to rehydrate past the point where their haematocrit would be below 52% on the next race day.

11

Teams have just been announced for 2011:

cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de … s-22-teams

[quote]2011 Tour de France teams
Omega Pharma-Lotto (Bel)
Quickstep Cycling Team (Bel)
Saxo Bank Sungard (Den)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa)
Movistar Team (Spa)
Ag2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Sky Procycling (GBr)
Lampre - ISD (Ita)
Liquigas-Cannondale (Ita)
Pro Team Astana (Kaz)
Team Leopard - Trek (Lux)
Rabobank Cycling Team (NEd)
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team (Ned)
Katusha Team (Rus)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
HTC-Highroad (USA)
Team Garmin-Cervelo (USA)
Team Radioshack (USA)
Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne (Fra)*
Saur - Sojasun (Fra)*
FDJ (Fra)*
Team Europcar (Fra)*

  • indicates wild card selection.[/quote]

No Geox.

12

This thread needs some musical accompaniment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLiai4gg_0Q

13

Sorry, slightly off topic.

Is Tour de Lance going to jail?

14

[quote=“irishstu”]Teams have just been announced for 2011:

cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de … s-22-teams

No Geox.[/quote]

And not a single German team.

15

goods news…looks like AC’s going to be cleared of the drug charges…game back on.

16

Why is that good? Now everyone will be taking clenbuterol.

17

AC vs AS makes for compelling viewing. Plus until they nail the king of the dopers (you know who I mean) I’m not interested in seeing anyone else busted.

18

Let’s see what the UCI does-it should appeal this RFEC bullsh*t-will be interesting during the Summer-Dopeador will want to race the TdF, and there may not be a final decision…

He should get 2 years. Plasticizers in the blood indicate off season use.

19

I don’t want to sound like a wanker but my view is that a lot of those guys are taking performance enhancing substances and they will continue to do so because the rewards make it worth the risk. I know you have to do something, but I find it ridicuous that they can strip someone of a medal or place on a results sheet, elevating everyone else when they are probably guilty of foul play too but they didn’t get caught.

He rode the race faster than everyone else, he was willing to take the risk, he took it and it paid off. What’s wrong with that? A lot of people will disagree with me, but in my opinion the only way to solve the problem is just to stop drug testing altogether. Get it out of the press, out of the minds of the public and just let them get on with it. They’ll all take the best shit they can get their hands on which will likely be the same shit, they know it’s a risk but deem it to be worth taking. The show goes on and the best man wins.

There is an argument that they don’t know the long term health effects of these new synthetic substances, but they are free to choose if they want to expose themselves to the risks or not. If they choose not to, hard luck you’re not going to make it as a pro but you might live longer. This is exactly the system in place in pro bodybuilding.

There are a lot of dangerous things we can choose to expose ourselves to or not, as long as they’re 18 and consenting I don’t have a problem letting them get on with it.

As it is it creates a lot of bad press and the rich and connected athletes (i.e. “The king of doping”) get away with it, expecting everyone to believe they are above it and just better than the field. Come on!

I apologise in advance to anyone who finds that view obnoxious or offensive. It’s just my opinion.

20

[quote=“jaame”]I don’t want to sound like a wanker but my view is that a lot of those guys are taking performance enhancing substances and they will continue to do so because the rewards make it worth the risk. I know you have to do something, but I find it ridicuous that they can strip someone of a medal or place on a results sheet, elevating everyone else when they are probably guilty of foul play too but they didn’t get caught.

He rode the race faster than everyone else, he was willing to take the risk, he took it and it paid off. What’s wrong with that? A lot of people will disagree with me, but in my opinion the only way to solve the problem is just to stop drug testing altogether. Get it out of the press, out of the minds of the public and just let them get on with it. They’ll all take the best shit they can get their hands on which will likely be the same shit, they know it’s a risk but deem it to be worth taking. The show goes on and the best man wins.

There is an argument that they don’t know the long term health effects of these new synthetic substances, but they are free to choose if they want to expose themselves to the risks or not. If they choose not to, hard luck you’re not going to make it as a pro but you might live longer. This is exactly the system in place in pro bodybuilding.

There are a lot of dangerous things we can choose to expose ourselves to or not, as long as they’re 18 and consenting I don’t have a problem letting them get on with it.

As it is it creates a lot of bad press and the rich and connected athletes (i.e. “The king of doping”) get away with it, expecting everyone to believe they are above it and just better than the field. Come on!

I apologise in advance to anyone who finds that view obnoxious or offensive. It’s just my opinion.[/quote]

what a wanker!

nah, its a valid point of view. everyone is sick of the issue of doping in the peloton. it won’t go away anytime soon since the mode of doping just keeps evolving. its hard to say what percent of the peloton is still doping. I don’t think its as high as say 80% which was the figure bandied about during Lance’s peak.