Whats that paragraph about Chris Sutton the footballer­ now cyclist, what Wally wrote that?

Great idea, hlsj! It sounds a bit tough, but then­ again, it's ridiculous how some riders actually­ believe they are the best without winning a single­ stage, or at best one with the assistance of an entire­ team.

On that criteria, nobody has won the Tour since Bernard­ Hinault in 1979 (assuming you're excluding TTs from­ flat stages).

To really make it a race - do not allow overall victory­ without a flat stage win as well as a mountain stage­ win in addition to the lowest elapsed time.

The family that plays together­ ............................
That childs gonna grow up­ in a positive (literally!!) environment!
Odds on Ricco­ lasting the remainder of the year without getting­ caught out??

On the subject of banned riders....Mrs Ricco has just­ tested positive for CERA too!

a whole blog on the TDF and no Tom Morris (aka Willy­ Voet, Peter Joachim, what is the world coming to??

Cow­ Blood, hemopure blah blah blah. nike sell sneakers!­ blah blah blah

We just need more high mountain top finishes in the­ TdF, rather than those lame mountain top passes, then­ 10-20-30km descent to the finish line stages, like we­ had last year. Utterly meaningless!

The climbers are­ the most exciting, the sprint finishes are boring!

Blazin Saddles - mostly 'armless

Landis at the 2010 Tour? What?!

Unlikely for a­ number of reasons: -
a) He's a shadow of the rider­ he was and is way below the level required to compete­ at that level;
b) He doesn't have a team as such­ (RockRacing are on the brink of collapse), let alone a­ spot on a reputable/ProTour team; and
c) Even if b)­ wasn't true, ASO would never allow him to­ compete.

And rightly so - he's a disgrace.

It's easy ......... If you don't want someone­ (or some team) in the race you have an enormous bust 3­ days before hand that implicates them ..............­ Q.E.D.

I don't know if they can. They've banned­ entire teams before and got away with it, but to do so,­ had to hold the event outside of the UCI. CAS might­ have a thing or two to say if they tried to ban­ individuals though. Race organisers didn't want­ Bettini and Piti to enter the worlds, but both still­ managed to.

If they do, it'll be big news, and not­ hidden in the back pages.

Thanks very much for the info Thomas. For some reason­ i thought the ASO could decline certain riders if they­ wanted to, obviously not. Would have liked to see­ Rasmussen battle it out with Contador in the­ mountains....but we all know what his TT's were­ like! Luca

"And what about Ricco and Landis,"

ASO as­ far as I know, hasn't said anything either way­ about any returning dopers.

Landis just a few days ago­ said himself he doesn't know if he even wants to be­ at the tour.

Basso and Piti say they'll be­ there.

Rasmussen exceptionally unlikely to get an­ invite (Mexican team, UCI Americas tour)

Ricco too­ busy playing slagging matches with Frodo to talk about­ actual cycling.

Didn't see it myself, but I'm­ told Vino said words to the effect of "we'll­ see" in a Kazakh newspaper recently.

So can we expect to see The Helemt Head at Liguigas in­ August! Is he going to be allowed to compete in the­ ToF? And what about Ricco and Landis, are they­ allowed.....oh and Basso? Thought the ToF organisers­ wouldnt allow it so Schumacher couldnt win the 2011­ prologue. Oh and is Vino going to be racing in the ToF.­ Thomas, where are you? Luca

I like the Prologue. I certainly cannot convince­ myself that replacing it with yet another bunch sprint­ (albeit, one that might be one by a puncheur instead of­ a sprinter) is a good idea.

I also miss the longer­ time trials that we used to have in the olden days,­ before Indurain took too much time out of people, and­ ASO made them smaller.

But mostly, it doesn't­ matter what they do to the route until somebody finds a­ GC rider that's prepared to do something outside of­ the last 40km anyway.

And #13, I don't know­ whether to laugh or cry.

The Prologue for me was always about seeing who of the­ favourites had good form at the start of an exciting­ race.. but what I particularly like in the TDF is that­ for some of the riders it is the only time in the whole­ race when they have an opportunty to ride for­ themselves.

Non-team leaders have a chance to post a­ good time and on some occassions out perform their­ respective team leaders. Surely this is good for their­ confidence and gives other riders more confidence to­ believe in themselves to be able to stay with the­ "big names" in the other TT's or­ mountains etc... so I for one will miss it, however I­ recognise the most important thing is to have an­ exciting route overall so good luck to TDF and lets­ hope for an exciting race in 2011.

Disagree. Covered the '84 Tour end to end, and­ crowd excitement 1st day was palpable; the prologue­ brings everything together. And tradition counts,­ though it may not be obvious. When they decided to­ allow radical change in bike aerodynamics for the Hour,­ Eddy Merckx lost a record that might have held for­ decades. Before then it was the rider that counted; now­ it's a technicians game.

Hey @#$% pls ask us.yahoo if they could use your­ services.

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