Tour de London

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

32km - Wiggins' time out in front is coming to an end. 2'00" is his lead now.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

30km - It's Credit Agricole and the Quickstep boys who are pulling the peloton along.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

24km - The CSC team are moving to the fore on the left hand side of the peloton. They are highly distinguishable as they are wearing fluorescent yellow numbers becuase they are also highest in the team classification thanks to Astana's bad day yesterday.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

22km - Wiggins is still toiling away on his own out in front, though the rest are just biding their time with him.

 

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

20km - 1'40" the gap as they go under the 20km barrier.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

15km - 1'00" is the gap with 15 kilometres remaining.

 

Sorry lads, but I'm gonna have to go over to the pub to watch the rest of this!!!!!!

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

STAGE SEVEN: AND THEY'RE OFF! A great stage is set, Bastille Day, the first day in the Alps, and a perfectly sunny trip at the Tour de France! Stay with me for every moment..... well, until I go to footy!

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

197.5 - And after the imaginary start was given at noon, ten minutes later the real start is given! Ruben Lobato of Saunier Duval joins Oscar Freire in not starting today's long day in the saddle, including a Cat. 1 climb the Col de Colombiere with the summit coming with just 14 kilometres left to ride.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

194 - The peloton is still bunched closely together. We might not see a break until after the opening intermediate sprint of Pont D'Ain at km 16,5 with the green jersey contenders looking to get a few cheap points.

 

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Erik Zabel is to be stripped of the first of six consecutive green jerseys he won during the 1996 Tour de France after admitting to doping that year

 

Zabel recently admitted that he had briefly used the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) in 1996, leading race organisers to strip him of the jersey for that year.

 

The German's former Telekom teammate Bjarne Riis, who also recently admitted to the use of EPO throughout his entire career was also stripped of his 1996 Tour victory.

 

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

188km - Two riders have had a go at leaving the peloton. One Agritubel man, who wanted to escape, went off but was quickly caught. Then Italy's Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) tried to go off alone in an effort to steal the sprint bonus. He was caught after a few seconds.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

182km - Quick Step is taking control of the peloton to set up the sprint for green jersey Tom Boonen, who is looking for the bonus points and to solidify his hold on the points lead. When asked by Eurosport this morning if he could finally survive an entire Tour de France to retain the green jersey, the 2005 world champion was coy, basically saying "We'll see."

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

180km - Surprise, surprise. Tom Boonen takes the first intermediate sprint at the Pont-d'Ain bridge, and adds 6pts and 6" to his green jersey margin. Erik Zabel (Milram), who is chasing the Belgian in the green jersey race, is second in the sprint claiming 4pts and 4". Status quo at the head of the points classification. Daniele Bennati (Lampre), 3rd in this sprint, earns 2pts and 2".

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Oh fukk this, it's saturday, if you want to find out what's going on in Le Tour, just switch eurosport on!

[cantos]

You're such a let down Westie.

[Rob_the_Saint]

Just when it was all going so well, too.

 

Some German in a pink suit won, his saddle was so high he could hardly sit on it.

 

Great to watch though, lovely scenery and you never know when there's going to be an almighty pile-up.

[Greg_Dyke]

O'Grady out of the tour !!!

[Greg_Dyke]

Originally Posted By: Westie

Oh fukk this, it's saturday, if you want to find out what's going on in Le Tour, just switch eurosport on!

outrageous

[cantos]

I agree Dykey,he spoilt the weekend for everyone.

[Greg_Dyke]

Rather immodestly, I think my posts on this thread are far more interesting....