Le Tour 2009

[ningnangnong]

Wiggins holds onto fourth by all of three seconds! Fantastic tour for him. Really showed some heart today, clawing himself back a number of times.

Tremendous win today for Garate, and you've got to feel for Tony Martin putting in an extreme effort only to be pipped on the line and finish second.

Andy Schleck was incredible for his brother, but still couldn't get him a place on the podium. Armstrong proving he can still match it with the very best, great tour from him and i can't wait to see him back next year.

[Darkon]

I used to wear Virenque's polka dot jersey.

Did Virenque take it back?

[Darkon]

good defensive ride today by astana, defended all they needed, and Franck Schleck didn't have the energy to use his brothers formidable work. Can't help but feel he might have given away an etape win for his brother there??

Also interesting: Armstrong won 41 seconds on the etape where the peloton broke in two due to side wins, and if he hadn't Wiggins would have been on the podium now!

[MrsB]

Did Virenque take it back?

I was so embarrassed with the Festina affair that I threw it out.

I still have a picture where I'm wearing it.

[Neil Young]

Fantastic day.

Excellent tour.

Ban fredo.

[TheStig]

Well that was a bit too easy for Cavendish

[Guest]

Well that was a bit too easy for Cavendish

He won again?

[Neil Young]

No-one has won more than six stages in a Tour for 30 years. No-one has ever won six sprints in a Tour.

Hushovd wasn't blocked out by Garmin - he'd already lost Cavendish's wheel.

Awesome teamwork and an awesome sprinter.

[Neil Young]

I thought it was an excellent Tour. Of course having two British riders doing so well helps maintain the interest and excitement.

The Armstrong/Contador politics was interesting and the tactical battle up Ventoux was electric.

And I rode the team time trial with Saxo Bank.

[ningnangnong]

Cracking tour, really enjoyed it. Can't wait for next years.

Delighted to see Hushovd hold onto the Green Jersey, deserves it.

Cav had a fantastic tour as well, the experience he's gained this year will help immensely in next years battle for the green.

[MrsB]

I thought it was a bit boring to be honest. Most stages were too predictable.

[Darkon]

I don't know what you guys are so excited about with this tour.

tbh. it is probably the least exciting tour I have seen. There where no close sprints, the polka jersey where settled to quickly and there where no fight over the yellow jersey.

Add to this that nothing happened before the last week when they hit the alpes, and you pretty much have a boring tour IMO. Even the Ventoux stage became a bit stale, but that was mainly down to Andy's loyalty to his brother.

But well done by Cavendish - by far the fastest sprinter in the tour, although not the most versatile.

[Resu]

It was a mostly boring tour.
For most of it the battle between Cavendish and Hushovd was the most interesting thing.
Cavendish is a superb sprinter, and has a perfectly set up team. Hushovd is a more complete rider for the big tours, but Cavedish is still young and could dominate in the coming years. If Colombis continues to be the only team that specializes on sprints he`ll win a lot of stages\races. Cervelo riding two horses (Hushovd and Sastre) nearly backfired badly as Sastre had a disaster of a tour and Hushovd had to do most of the sprints virtually by himself.
Astana were plainly too strong for anybody to really attack them.
It will be very interesting to see Armstrong new team, and how teams like Radobank, Saxobank and Astana goes from here.

[Neil Young]

I don't know how you lot can say it wasn't exciting. OK, it wasn't all-out spectacular racing (except for the sprints where Cavendish's train had a strange beauty and his burst of speed was exhilarating - even though you knew what to expect it still took your breath away) but the tactical variations between Armstrong, the Schlecks and Contador were really intriguing.

Maybe you have to be a real aficionado to appreciate all that.

Seriously, for me the point about the Tour is not what happens, it's what could happen at any moment and this year it was full of possibilities. So even though the favourite won, he had to go and win it and that's where the excitement in the GC was.

[ningnangnong]

Seriously, for me the point about the Tour is not what happens, it's what could happen at any moment and this year it was full of possibilities. So even though the favourite won, he had to go and win it and that's where the excitement in the GC was.