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Your best memory of Le Tour 1903-2009

Jul 4, 2009
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My favourite was Stewies 145k breakway win in the 14th stage of the `98 tour for his first stage win. The memory is failing a bit in me old age, but I seem to remember that it was ****ing down with rain the whole day and he outsprinted the few that had caught up to him.

A close second would be Brad McGee`s time in yellow, I still have a serious man crush on Brad!
 
Mar 20, 2009
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My best memory was having the good fortune to work as a Mavic Services des Courses neutral mechanic during the 1984 Tour. GC was Fignon, Hinault and Lemond (in his first Tour appearance). Seeing this race from the inside was a chance of a lifetime. Previous to the Tour we built all the Vitus-Mavic bicycles for the first ever participation of a Columbian team at the Tour.
 
Jul 4, 2009
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Greg LeMond was and is a true champion.

Forget about testicular cancer, imagine being shot in the guts by a shotgun, left for dead and recovering to ride with dozens of pellets left in your body and go on to win Le Tour in `89.

His battles with Hinault are legendary.

Its a shame his achievements have been overshadowed to a degree by Drugstrong.

LeMond put cycling on the map in the US.
 

Bagster

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Jun 23, 2009
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mickkk said:
Greg LeMond was and is a true champion.

Forget about testicular cancer, imagine being shot in the guts by a shotgun, left for dead and recovering to ride with dozens of pellets left in your body and go on to win Le Tour in `89.

His battles with Hinault are legendary.

Its a shame his achievements have been overshadowed to a degree by Drugstrong.

LeMond put cycling on the map in the US.

Think some of those pellets must have lodged in his brain given some of the crap he comes out with now. But hey he rode clean right??!

Yeah Right!:rolleyes:
 

Bagster

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Jun 23, 2009
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Hmm there are so many...Rasmussen being double teamed by Contador and Leipheimer then kicking their *** 1km from the summit drugs or no drugs.

Just to annoy...Any stage where LA kicks *** in the mountains leaving carnage behind him.

Cancellara in yellow getting the jump on the sprinters in 07 I think it was, and soloing to the win while they just looked at each other...priceless

Jens Voight just smashing the field apart last year, on the front up the Tourmalet I think it was but stand to be corrected as to the climb
 
Mar 20, 2009
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Bagster said:
Think some of those pellets must have lodged in his brain given some of the crap he comes out with now. But hey he rode clean right??!

Yeah Right!:rolleyes:
Let's see what kind of bile is emanating from LA's mouth in 15 years. And BTW, to critique is not to hate.
 
Mar 20, 2009
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Bagster said:
Just to annoy...Any stage where LA kicks *** in the mountains leaving carnage behind him.
Don't get your hopes up. I doubt there will be much LA solo carnage this year.
 
Jul 4, 2009
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If you look at LeMonds career, you see a steady improvement. He was racing against Fignon and Hinnault abd co. who were over the peak of their careers.

There were no impossible 10 minute gains over mountains, nothing spectacular, just steady chipping away.

Psychology played a huge part back then. Riders did not have radio comms, it was more a tactical game of cat and mouse.

I stand behind the statement that LeMond was clean.

I am an Aussie, I hate cheats, Ive studied doping for 20 years and believe me, if there was a shadow of doubt I would tell you.

The career of LeMond, when placed on a graph, represents a gentle natural "n" shape. If you overlay some of the more recent riders, you can see the difference.

In those days, amphetamines were the most commonly used performance enhancing drug. When used, they resulted in spectacular performances, not gradual improvements. Blood transfusions were used back then, as were IVs of various substances, however, LeMond was one of the first to be tested for abnormalities in his blood. Nothing was found in him. At the same time, abnormalities were being found in other cyclists using the same tests.

When LeMond was racing, there was hardly a cent in the sport. I cant find a motive for cheating. His personality is also very different from many other riders. He did not have the "win at all costs" mentality.

However, I do not know the man, so stand willing to be corrected should anyone have any facts to the contrary.

Not to be a smart **** about it, but I am qualified to comment on this topic. I am a member of the ASADA, WADA and USADA.

At present, we are faced with a number of criminal organisations that are putting all of their resources into developing new PEDs.

There is more money and less police attention in PEDs. Many who were producing MDMA, MDEA, MMDA etc are now concerntrating on producing PEDs.

The former USSR States, Netherlands, Sth Africa, NK and China are the major centres of research into these drugs.

If you want to know who is clean and who is dirty, look at Olympic records.

Doping is now a crime, once upon a time it was not. We now have chemical markers that are added to professionally manufactured drugs, that are only detectable if you have the right "key" to reveal them, as has been revealed recently.

Naturally it is a game of cat and mouse, we do not have the money and resources to win this battle at present. Consider all the billions of dollars that are involved in producing "recreational drugs" being switched to PEDs. There would not be 1% of this being spent on prevention and detection at present. One school of thought is that certain countries are encouraging research by criminals into these drugs, so that they may be bought out by the State at a future stage.

"Crooks" for want of a better word, are trawling through the scientific and medical literature from the 1600s to present to find new PEDs. Recently, a team of sham "Scientists" was discovered in Borneo of all places, looking at plants that may have Beta blocking properties. Pretty similar to how the western world is now exploiting Hoodia.

Everything can be found in nature if you look hard enough.

No country or organisation is willing to put the same amount, or more money into prevention and detection.

We are playing catch up and are generally 2-4 years behind the race.

LeMond was clean.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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The final TT in 1989 has to be the best for me.

Not the best memory but a very poignant and lasting memory is Javier Otxoa's win in the rain at Hautacam in 2000.
 
Jul 4, 2009
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Frosty said:
Stephen Roche, la Plagne, 1987. Seeing him suddenly appear behind Delgado was amazing


Now ya talkin, Roche was a hoot that year!

Gawd I loved those days when the boyos would look around and almost fall off when they got scalped!
 
Jul 3, 2009
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For me the mountain stages are always the moments I remember most vividly. There's something kinda sick in watchin some bloke put the hammer down and trounce the rest of the field on a climb

Pantani toasting Ullrich at Les Deux Alpes 1998 in sh***y weather:)

Yes I realise that they were both undoubtedly charged up but it still made for a good watch.

Other than that it would have to be Boardmans decimation of the prologue field at Lille in '94, just a pity his team f&&&&&d up his chances of wearing yellow on home soil by making such a mess of the TTT.:mad:
 
Jun 20, 2009
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Claudio Chiappucci - 1992 Tour, stage 13 to Sestriere. Chiappucci rides almost the whole stage in a breakaway over half a dozen major cols, through foul weather, finally dropping all his companions over the penultimate col, plunging down to the valley and then up the final HC climb to Sestriere. The Italian tifosi are going so bonkers that they block the path of the leading moto. Claudio rides around the moto and parts the seas. Claudio hurt himself even worse that day than Stephen Roche did chasing down Delgado in the '97 Tour. And that's saying something.

Thierry Marie - 1991 Tour, stage 6 into Le Havre. Marie takes off at about 2 kms and then rides the entire stage (250km+) solo to win. Unbelievable commitment from a prologue specialist.
 
Jul 4, 2009
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Man Il Dumbo on that climb was awesome. I was shattered when he died lonely from coke OD.

I loved that bloke like a brother. The tongue hanging out, the head rolling, the bandana flying, he was an inspiration. Remember when he and lance dueled up the mountain?

Chiapucci when the eyeties were going nanas was amazing.

I urge all of you to save up and see the toutr once in your lifetime.
 
Jun 20, 2009
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Miguel Indurain - 1994 Tour, Stage 11 to Hautacan. First, let's set the scene. 6 hours in the saddle through driving rain and sleet. Rough Pyreneen tarmac - no smooth Alpine ashphalt here. So dark that the cars needs their headlights on.

The bunch swings through the miracle town of Lourdes and then up the ramp that is HC Hautacam. Big Mig goes to the front (Jeff Bernard might have done a major turn for him first, but the memory is fading). Big Mig is inplaccable. In the saddle. Turning a 52x19, mind you. Behind him, everyone favourite French lunatic, Luc Leblanc, is all over the bike just trying to hang on. A few hundred metres of pure power and Big Mig has gapped everyone. Leblanc settles down, grips his teeth and hangs onto Indurain's wheel like it's the TGV. Big Mig doesn't turn around. Not once. For the entire climb. Just keeps powering on. He didn't win the stage (that honour went to the French wheelsucker), but he didn't need to. That was the Tour winning move right there.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Lance Armstrong at Luz Ardiden(Tour 2003):cool: That was legendary!

His stage 17 sprint at the 2004 Tour:D:rolleyes:
 
Mar 18, 2009
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laziali three of my all time favourites - I seem to recall Marie rode into Le Havre singing at the top of his voice.

Most memorable for all the wrong reasons: watching Bruno Roussel being escorted away from the Festina/Saeco team hotel the night before all hell let loose in the 1998 Tour
 
Apr 8, 2009
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mickkk said:
My favourite was Stewies 145k breakway win in the 14th stage of the `98 tour for his first stage win. The memory is failing a bit in me old age, but I seem to remember that it was ****ing down with rain the whole day and he outsprinted the few that had caught up to him.

A close second would be Brad McGee`s time in yellow, I still have a serious man crush on Brad!
hehe

It was pouring down with rain that day - i remember as clear as day

As disapointing as it was not to see Cadel win it, last years efforts from Stuart was a higlight and the part where saxo bank allowed him to be the one to lead the team past the Champs-Élysées

Cadel last year was a highlight too - nasty crash and working by himself virtually up against the might of Saxo Bank and sitll within a wisker of beating Sastre
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Hangin on to yellow: Vasseur eking out just one more day, Voeckler riding himself into the ground to keep the Maillot Jaune for just another day and this one:

1983 Pascal Simon takes the yellow jersey then crashes the next day. He struggles on through the Pyrenees and is finally forced to abandon in the Alpes. In 2001, as the race enters the Alpes, Pascal tells his brother Francois 'I had the jersey here but I had to leave it behind - will you go and find it for me?' At the end of the stage to Alpe d'Huez, Francois Simon is the Maillot Jaune and keeps the jersey for the next 2 stages.
 
Jun 28, 2009
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Oscar Pereiro dragging George Hincapie up the Pla D'Adet only to be blown by at the top by the great American

Lance Armstrong making sure Simeoni didn't win the stage because he "did not deserve to win a stage"