just to clarify moreau admitted to drug use in the 1997 (he was on festina) but claims his life has changed now and that he is clean. (thats what he said believe it or not)
just to clarify moreau admitted to drug use in the 1997 (he was on festina) but claims his life has changed now and that he is clean. (thats what he said believe it or not)
Moreau was not clean (at least in the past)
"Moreau, 36, is in his 12th year as a professional. He is in his second season with AG2R after four years with Crédit Agricole and six with the infamous Festina team. He was one of the nine Festina riders in 1998 who confessed to doping, but he said he saw that as a turning point in his career and that he now wants to be an example to younger riders."
Levi got spanked for the slingshot
Rest Day Notes: Leipheimer frustrated at time penalty; Rasmussen says 'trust me'; CSC's guiding mantra
By Andrew Hood
VeloNews European correspondent
This report filed July 16, 2007
Buried deep in Sunday's UCI commissaires' report was a penalty against Levi Leipheimer for illegal mechanical assistance and bidon pulls.
Leipheimer hopes the 10-second penalty won't make a difference in Paris.
photo: Andrew Hood
The top American contender was fined 50 CHF and penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for the bidon pull and fined an additional 50 CHF for illegal mechanical assistance.
Leipheimer couldn't care less about the money or the points, but those 10 seconds could be vital in the battle for the overall crown when every second counts.
"My chain came off on the descent off the Roselend and got wrapped in the derailleur and I couldn't pedal for the last 5km of the descent," Leipheimer told a handful of journalists on Monday's rest day. "The car was too far behind for it to come up. When I got to the bottom, I switched to the spare bike, but I even had to change that."
Leipheimer took a sling-shot off a bidon pass just as riders typically do when chasing back on through the team cars, something that the UCI seems to be cracking down on this year.
Leipheimer hopes the time penalty doesn't become a factor later in the race.
"It could make a difference, but if I hadn't gotten back, it would have made a bigger difference," he said.
Leipheimer definitely got a hearty push and deserved a penalty for it. Hopefully, the officials will be consistent in their application of penalties because I guarantee when the Tour hits the pyrennees, every Basque rider in the race will receive a big push from the legions of orange-clad zealots lining the road. Watching the Tours the last several years I was struck by the number of German fans pushing Ullrich up the hill and never once saw anyone give Armstrong a boost.
Moreau is definitely on some good form this year. He was dominant in the Dauphine Libere and has maintained fine form at the Tour. He's pretty old to be riding like that, but it certainly is not impossible without some corrupt form of assistance. As someone said, part of it may be that he seems stronger relative to his competition. For all his strength he still couldn't drop those second-raters on the climb. Were he up against Armstrong-Basso-Ullrich, et al., he would have been dusted. I hope he's riding clean, but with his checkered past, who's to know?
Bob Roll says a lot of crazy things especially with respect to lactic acid. That's the first I've heard of anyone doing really strenuous riding on rest days. If riding really hard on the rest days make you stronger, why wouldn't guys hammer every day to keep getting stronger and stronger. It doesn't make much sense to me.
I'm a little skeptical that this year's race is as slow as everyone seems to think. Sure, there was one really slow stage, but compared to last year at the same time (8 stages + prologue completed), you might be surprised. 2006 and 2007 both had short prologues. 2006 had an early ITT, but the rest of the stages were mainly flat. By contrast, in 2007, the Tour has already gone over 4 category 1 climbs, which slows them down considerably. Despite going over much harsher terrain this year, the leader's speed after 8 stages is 39.2kph compared to 42.6kph for last year's leader after 8 stages.
Poor Stuart O'Grady, he really was messed up in his crash. He broke 8 ribs, a collar bone, and a shoulder.
After the flats, the mph was 24 something this year compared to 25 something last year. During one of armstrongs wins, the avg was 29.6 for the first few flat rides.
"I'm a little skeptical that this year's race is as slow as everyone seems to think"
So after todays crazy stage, what does everyone think about the favorites for the individual win. Today's stage knocked Vino out, for the time being at least... I think he may be doing some work for Kloden now. Morreau had a nice ride, but he does look tired. Valverde looks great and had a good team to help him out. Sastre is dangerous and also has a good team. Rasmussen, he is a monster on the climbs but I cant wait for that ITT, it will be the great divider this year I think. Cadel Evans, really good form this year.
Im pulling for the American favorite, Leipheimer. Today was Contador's big chance IMO to take over as the solid team leader, but when that gap was bridged I now think Leipheimer will take his big shot in the Pyrenee's. Levi is a very solid time trialer as well, so Im holding out hope.
I do think Rasmussen needs to build a bigger lead as he is not a strong time trialist. Valverde looks great, he is an enigma, reminds me alot of Lance just great all around. Mayo looks good again. Morreau had to do alot of work today, and I think is out of it. Kloden is looking very strong and should have Vino working for him now as Vino lost a ton of time today. Contador is a real nice surprise, but Discovery will sort out who leader is in the next few days I think. Whether it be Levi or Contador, they will have a great team backing them up. Contador and Popyvych protecting Levi on the climbs would be great!
frankly, contador is a better TTer than levi. while the Albi TT may suit Levi pretty well, the stage 19 TT will not. of the current leaders, count out Moreau, Rasmussen, Mayo after the time trials. they will all lose big time. Levi will have to limit losses. then again, even Balaverde will have to limit losses to Kloden (assuming he survives the Pyrenees) in the TTs - especially stage 19s. Kloden at this point must be the odds makers favorite.
What about 2 stages ago when Landaluze got that HUGE push from the Basque fans. Ligget and Sherwen even commented on it. Was he penalized for that? He sure should have been.
Count out Moreau after the TT? Are you mad? I would count out Moreau in the Pyrenees (too steep) but he's a great TT rider.
no, no he's not. he's an average TTer, like Levi. he's always been a noted climber, hence his pursuit of KOM. if he were likewise a good TTer, this wouldn't be his first tour for pursuing GC, would it?
It isn't his first time riding for the GC. He's been top 10 several times, just never on the podium.
because he can't time trial. did you see the prologue? did you see the Dauphine (which he convincingly won) time trial?
I agree that Kloden looks like the favorite now: he is probably the strongest time-trialist and he won't have to work for Vinokourov in the Pyrenees. (He must have lost at least 30 seconds yesterday by waiting for Vino.)
Evans is also pretty strong in the time trials and has to be one of the favorites. Valverde, Contador, and Leipheimer also have decent chances (Leipheimer more for the podium than for the win).
It's hard to know what to think of the pure climbers like Rasmussen and Mayo, but I think they will lose too much time in the TTs to win--maybe one of them can make the podium.
At the other end of the race, Zabriskie really cemented his credentials as a Lanterne Rouge contender by finishing DFL today, behind even Thor Hushovd. Only Vansevenant stands between him and his prize! (Of course, the two time trials will probably ruin his chances.)
Rasmussen said in his interview yesterday that he thinks he can defend his jersey in the first TT as it stands now. When confronted with the fact that he lost way more time in previous years he replied that on those occasions he wasn't 100% motivated for the TTs. Except for the fateful one in St. Etienne but that wouldn't repeat itself.
He also said, "all due respect, but the people behind me are not Ullrich or Armstrong." Way to motivate your opponents, jackass!
Pretty stupid remarks by Rasmussen, I agree.
I would be very surprised to see Rasmussen on the podium, and flabbergasted to see him in the lead, after the two time trials. In St. Etienne two years ago, people who "are not Ullrich or Armstrong," like Vinokourov, Evans, Popovych, Sastre, Moreau, and Leipheimer all beat him by more than 4 minutes.
In last year's stage 19 time trial, Rasmussen finished 8 minutes behind Kloden and 5 minutes behind Evans.
I think Rasmussen is bluffing about the time trial. He claims he's riding for GC, but hasn't trained much on the TT bike. I think it's a very cunning ploy to trick the main GC threats into allowing him freedom in the mountains to gain time. Now he has a lead of >2:30 minutes. The Albi course is hard and climbers will lose less time to pure TT'ers. If anyone thinks there will be a repeat of Rasmussen's disasterous TT in 2005, don't count on it.
To whomever claimed that Contador would beat Leipheimer in an ITT, thanks for the laugh! Leipheimer will handily beat Contador. A month ago at the Dauphine Libere, Leipheimer put 2'10" into Contador in only 40km. The two ITT's this year are around 55km. Definitely to Levi's advantage.
Ol Grumpus wrote:
In last year's stage 19 time trial, Rasmussen finished 8 minutes behind Kloden and 5 minutes behind Evans.
Lots of people shoot the breeze on that last TT. He was 13th or something before that TT and just waiting to roll into Paris in dots the next day. I wouldn't take that result as any indication.
Correct. Most of the riders don't try very hard in the final time trial because it is of no consequence to them. Rasmussen has a chance to keep the yellow jersey. In the past he hasn't seemed to believe in himself. This year might be different. He will lose big time in the two time trials, but if he has one outstanding day in the Pyranees (gains at least one minute on all his rivals) and is consistent on the rest of the stages then he is capable of winning. Last year he didn't even consider going for yellow because he was focused on helping Menchov. This year he has his opportunity.
Following in the wake of Patrick Sinkewitz' positive A-sample German national TV-stations ARD and ZDF will no longer cover this years Tour de France (they had planned daily broadcasts of up to six hours).
Please tell me they aren't using that same lab.
not again wrote:
Please tell me they aren't using that same lab.
Of course they are. This whole doping in cycling thing is just a figment of imagination. The labs are planting evidence just to stir up controversy and no riders or teams have ever done anything unethical. Floyd was out binging on scotch one night, they saw him and decided to take him down a notch. That's all it is. Americans never cheat and there was definitely never any doping on team U.S. Postal.