Tour de France: Prologue - Rotterdam - 8.9km

[franciep10]

They're joined at the hip for better or worse. The liestrong ticker, Michelob commercials, the 'Lance in France for business' commercial, the whole LA vs Bertie angle.

I don't know how much VS paid ASO for the rights, but I guess a lot and VS is trying to recoup the costs through all possible means, brown noses included. It's a sad state for cycling ... every sport in fact. There's a lot of money to be made to perpetuate the Lance myth.

I did like that commercial though, anyway good ride from lance today I expected him to finish in the top 10, I was surprised with AC ride while watching him I said to my wife he's playing it safe maybe top 15 so I think AC is happy with that ride

 

[Big GMaC]

I noticed that too.

He was doing his bump around on the saddle too. Surely that is not efficient?

 

[Road Hazard]

...
The Tour is officially over as well. Lance has won already. Phil is appalling. I will personally tear this man to shreds if I ever lay eyes on him.
...
I hope Lance falls or gets caught doping asap. One day in and I hate this years event.

Guess I shouldn't be so upset about not having Versus until 3/4 of the Tour is over. The live webcast thing doesn't have Ligett/Sherwin.

But it could be worse... for example my bike with Trek stickers ablazin in now implicated in funding US Postal doping.

 

[Galic Ho]

Isn't that a bit much? I mean sure the coverage is a bit annoying and even laughable at times..but you're gonna let that ruin the entire event? Certainly the next best thing to do after Lance beat Contador is to complain about the commentating, but I think it's a bit ridiculous to let that ruin everything else. A lot of complaining over something we already knew was going to happen..

It really ****ed me off. I've noticed the deterioration in their commentary. Today was a new low. Nothing about keeping it real and commentating on what was to be expected. It was all Lance when he was out on the road. My point is they did not keep it real. They BS the whole commentary for their man love for LA. At one stage they said Gesink could win the stage. WTF! They were wrong on 90% of their comments. How long till the suitcase of courage is pulled out?

I relish the mountains. Lance will be suckered punched by Astana and AC. But even that will not shut those two muppets up. Only a DNF or drug bust will shut them up.

 

[titan_90]

Guess I shouldn't be so upset about not having Versus until 3/4 of the Tour is over. The live webcast thing doesn't have Ligett/Sherwin.

But it could be worse... for example my bike with Trek stickers ablazin in now implicated in funding US Postal doping.

I would rather watch any foreign language coverage that I can't understand than have to listen to Paul and Phil.

 

[luckyboy]

It really ****ed me off. I've noticed the deterioration in their commentary. Today was a new low. Nothing about keeping it real and commentating on what was to be expected. It was all Lance when he was out on the road. My point is they did not keep it real. They BS the whole commentary for their man love for LA. At one stage they said Gesink could win the stage. WTF! They were wrong on 90% of their comments. How long till the suitcase of courage is pulled out?

I relish the mountains. Lance will be suckered punched by Astana and AC. But even that will not shut those two muppets up. Only a DNF or drug bust will shut them up.

Jees, to think I get ****ed off at the British Eurosport guys. I couldn't tolerate that ****.

 

[BroDeal]

Pretty bad from Menchov, Andy & Wigans. Cobbles should be fun.

Looked like AC was sitting up a bit in the corners.

He was definitely taking it easy in the corners. From his comments about the cobble stage, he wants to reach the mountains and does not mind giving up a little time to safely reach them.

 

[Galic Ho]

Guess I shouldn't be so upset about not having Versus until 3/4 of the Tour is over. The live webcast thing doesn't have Ligett/Sherwin.

But it could be worse... for example my bike with Trek stickers ablazin in now implicated in funding US Postal doping.

Actually the timing of purchase is what counts. Did you purchase your Trek back when UPS were still around? But that might not count for much. UPS exists as RadioShack and who is to say that finance strategies and doping plans are not spread across both sponsor names. So if you have a new Trek perhaps it to funds Lance's doping regime.

 

[ferryman]

Round one goes to Armstrong...

Contador 5 sec back.


Yes!

Round one of what exactly? Are you seriously suggesting that this is a contest? 4 miles of flat. Get real.

 

[Publicus]

He was doing his bump around on the saddle too. Surely that is not efficient?

He always does that. I don't think he's ever not going to do it.

 

[thehog]

I think the worst thing is they refuse to show the actual coverage. My Dutch feed was showing actual cycling. The Versus coverage on the TV was constantly cutting to prerecorded footage of Lance and other such nonsense. You got no perspective of the day. It really is very bad for a sports coverage. At least show the darn game!

It really ****ed me off. I've noticed the deterioration in their commentary. Today was a new low. Nothing about keeping it real and commentating on what was to be expected. It was all Lance when he was out on the road. My point is they did not keep it real. They BS the whole commentary for their man love for LA. At one stage they said Gesink could win the stage. WTF! They were wrong on 90% of their comments. How long till the suitcase of courage is pulled out?

I relish the mountains. Lance will be suckered punched by Astana and AC. But even that will not shut those two muppets up. Only a DNF or drug bust will shut them up.

 

[B.Rasmussen]

He was definitely taking it easy in the corners. From his comments about the cobble stage, he wants to reach the mountains and does not mind giving up a little time to safely reach them.

Not only that, but with the trouble there seems to have been with his TT bikes lately I'm sure he is very pleased with today.

Great ride by the old guy though.

 

[armstrong]

It really ****ed me off. I've noticed the deterioration in their commentary. Today was a new low. Nothing about keeping it real and commentating on what was to be expected. It was all Lance when he was out on the road. My point is they did not keep it real. They BS the whole commentary for their man love for LA. At one stage they said Gesink could win the stage. WTF! They were wrong on 90% of their comments. How long till the suitcase of courage is pulled out?

I relish the mountains. Lance will be suckered punched by Astana and AC. But even that will not shut those two muppets up. Only a DNF or drug bust will shut them up.

Well, they are playing for the US audience. Happens in golf with Tiger Woods. Even if Woods isn't anywhere in contention, he's the story each day.

Americans know Armstrong. They don't know (and don't care about) anyone else.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm a bit surprised by Armstrong's time, it looked like Cancellara was hot on his heels, but apparently Armstrong did quite well. Gesink and Armstrong got the biggest cheer. The final 10-20 riders were quite lucky with the weater: the sun started shining and the wind died down a little.

All in all, a great experience, although they could hardly have been less fortunate with the weather: it hasn't rained here in--I don't know how long, the prologue starts, and there we go: bucketloads coming down (ok, slightly exaggerated).

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

It really ****ed me off. I've noticed the deterioration in their commentary. Today was a new low. Nothing about keeping it real and commentating on what was to be expected. It was all Lance when he was out on the road. My point is they did not keep it real. They BS the whole commentary for their man love for LA. At one stage they said Gesink could win the stage. WTF! They were wrong on 90% of their comments. How long till the suitcase of courage is pulled out?

I relish the mountains. Lance will be suckered punched by Astana and AC. But even that will not shut those two muppets up. Only a DNF or drug bust will shut them up.

+1

I couldn't stand it.

"Advantage Armstrong" + "Contador looks off his game" and Armstrong was doing a god-like ride according to those 2 fools, after being 1 sec" in front at the 1st check.

They suck so bad. Can't believe they have a job...

---

poor ride by baby schleck.
am satisfied with gesink.

 

[Anonymous]

Lets hope he can improve! Anyway, is there an over 35 jersey for LA?

Don't ever change my posts when you quote them. I have reported this one, don't do that again.

 

[SoLogy]

On the subject of bad commentary

You would think that Versus's commentators would know the rules of the Tour. I can't count how many times they brought up the subject of bonus seconds and how they might move one of the sprinters into yellow during the first week. I think every one of them touched on this on numerous occasions.

 

[pedaling squares]

One day in and I hate this years event.

Watch on mute or online. It's less painful and and you can still enjoy the event.

Great ride by LA but we'll see if he can maintain that on a long TT. I'll take nothing away from him though. Not sure what happened to Hushovd & Hincapie, they used to be good prologue riders. VDV and Wigans were probably riding too defensively to be in the mix. You won't win if you don't push it. Their times were horrific.

 

[Azdak6]

He must have the attention span of a gold fish. There was only one Saxo rider on course at the time and he knew it. It was Franck. Also the build was a dead set tell tale sign it was a Schleck. The rider was very thin. Those fools never question, ever. They haven't a clue.

I lost count of the ridiculous comments. Paul was horrible as well. These men are jokes. Correction, these fanboys are jokes. Real men do not behave in such a manner.

You're right--REAL MEN whine about the obvious in anonymous internet forums. Woohoo, the Tour d'Ironie is off to a fine start.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

i thought cycling was for the mentally tough!

will every thread for this tour be dominated by this kind of negativity about the coverage, armstrong, and such? if a newbie came here, it would be hard for them to see that you guys actually enjoyed watching cycling.

cycling is supposed to be a sport for mentally and physically strong people. but many of you are crying and whining about every little pea under your mattress. what a bunch of primadonnas.

your favorite hero will be thrashing his body about on cobbles, hills and mountains in wind and rain, pushing the absolute physical limit of what a human can do while experiencing unimaginable pain. can you really compare the "suffering" of your self-righteous indignance to this?

lighten up and let the rest of us enjoy the sport we love.

 

[Dunedain]

Well, they are playing for the US audience. Happens in golf with Tiger Woods. Even if Woods isn't anywhere in contention, he's the story each day.

Americans know Armstrong. They don't know (and don't care about) anyone else.

Hmm...a bit condescending. Americans don't just like what they know nor do they know the minimum. They know what they like and that is a tough guy. Armstrong, for all is his failures, is a tough guy, and we yanks will always pull for that. This also explains the popularity of Jens Voight here in the states.

 

[hfer07]

Today's prologue ended up like it was anticipated-no mayor surprises, except Wiggins, which is the biggest looser today with almost a minute already behind.....
Cancellara did what was expected from him-Martin was very close & the others performed as expected-Lance did very well, but he seized the advantage of the weather,& went full gas and achieving a good position for the next stages where RS is aiming to sack/ambush AC to gain the most time...
Looks like it's going to be an entertaining Tour after all

 

[The Hitch]

Today's prologue ended up like it was anticipated-no mayor surprises, except Wiggins, which is the biggest looser today with 1 minute already behind.....
Cancellara did what was expected from him-Martin was very close & the others performed as expected-Lance did very well, but he seized the advantage of the weather,& went full gas and achieving a good position for the next stages where RS is aiming to sack/ambush AC to gain the most time...
Looks like it's going to be an entertaining Tour after all

for me armstrong coming 4th was a major surprise. Hence the traffic in the Lance Armstrong thread ever since.

 

[armstrong]

Hmm...a bit condescending. Americans don't just like what they know nor do they know the minimum. They know what they like and that is a tough guy. Armstrong, for all is his failures, is a tough guy, and we yanks will always pull for that. This also explains the popularity of Jens Voight here in the states.

Jens who??

 

[The Hitch]

Jens who??

this is a proper cycling forum, not the radioshack fan club. You can support armstrong, nothing wrong with that, my advice would be not to insult a guy who has big cajones and makes cycling interesting.
Or at least do it with a smiley face at the end.