Cycling

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Deserves its own thread. 

And what a day for the Tour De France.

Cavendish gets another excellent stage win.   

But the excitement is tempered by Bradly Wiggins crash which left him with a broken collar bone.   

Very unlucky as he was a real contender.

Really enjoying this years tour.  Excellent ITV 4 coverage and commentry as usual.

Yeah Cav was great.  I just wish he'd stop moaning about the other teams in his post race interviews.  It's getting really boring.

Terrible shame about Wiggo.  Hopefully he makes a quick recovery and maybe has a go at the Vuelta as, looking at who else will be riding it, it might be his best chance of a tour win anyway.

I used to love C4/ITV4 coverage although I haven't watched it for years because of Eurosport.  The Tour looks awesome in HD.

Oh and apparently it gets a bit bumpy tomorrow

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Terrible shame about Wiggo.  Hopefully he makes a quick recovery and maybe has a go at the Vuelta as, looking at who else will be riding it, it might be his best chance of a tour win anyway.

Wiggins needs an op on a broken collar bone so it looks like he wont be able to tackle the Vuelta instead which is in September IIRC.  Shame.

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Aww, nasty.

I broke my right collar bone maybe 10 years ago, cycling.

Ironicaly i was going really slow around a slippery country lane and the front wheel slipped away from me.

And i landed on my right shoulder.

Snapped it in two places.

I didn't have an operation, instead the doctor in casualty, poked and prodded the broken bit of bone until it was more or less back in place, and then put my arm into a sling.

I was bed ridden for a good 6 weeks whilst it healed.

It's as good as new now, apart from being a bit lumpy, where the bones have fused back together.

And my arm movement is a bit more limited than it was.


There have also been several Moto Gp riders who have had broken collar bones recently.

Colin Edwards had pins holding his together if i recall.

Missed the live tour today, going to catch the hghlights shortly.

TMC

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Ouch. 

There do seem to have been a lot more crashes than usual on the Tour so far this year.

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After watching todays stage it appears my last post was an understatement.  Wow   

A long breakaway of originally 5 riders means Voekler takes the yellow jersey, but unfortunately the real talking point were the crashes.

A crash on a decent left Van den Broeck with a broken collar bone, Zubriskie with a broken wrist and, worst of all, Vinokourov with a smashes pelvis after he flew down a grassy, tree lined bank.  That's the end of his career then as he was retiring at the end of the year.

Even worse later on, a French TV car side-swiped the breakaway group of 5 riders causing one to hit the tarmac and Jonny Hoogerland to fly over his handlebars and be left hanging by his legs upside down on a barbed wire fence.  He got back on and had his legs bandaged as he continued, but judging by the amount of blood streaming down his legs I'll be surprised if he rides again in this tour.

Amazing stuff.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) Hit By French TV Car	powered by Aeva

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Yeh, i was flipping channels between the F1 forum and the Tour and missed the crashes.

I just saw the aftermath.

With Hoggerland being treated by the doctor on a motorbike as he rode along.

Shocking stuff.

And Phil Ligget commentating that he's never seen a tour with so many crashes before.

Amazing.


Got to Give Thor Hushovd a special mention.

He's had the Yellow jersey for 10 days now.

For a sprinter thats pretty incredible.  

Day off Monday, so thats got to be a godsend for Hoogerland.

Hope he continues with the tour.  That was a brave ride.

TMC

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Hoogerlands barbed wire fence inflicted injuries.  Not pleasant.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/7/10/1310323224657/Vacansoleil-DCM-rider-Hoo-007.jpg

A couple more days before the really mountainous stuff. 

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Go Cav.    Be the last we see of him for quite a few days mind as the real mountains start tomorrow.  Can't wait!

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Yeh, excellent victory for Cav.

In pretty bad conditions as well.

Live coverage from Midday today.   

TMC

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Live coverage from Midday today.   

Just getting under way now.  Let us see if Contador is as off form as he's looked so far or whether he's been sandbagging.  He's quite a way behind some class riders so can't afford to wait until the later mountain stages if he's got it in his legs.

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Well it looks like Contador really is struggling as I thought.

Caught doping.... Loss of form.... Coincidence?

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Well it looks like Contador really is struggling as I thought.

Caught doping.... Loss of form.... Coincidence?

I wouldn't really say he has loss of form.

He's still a front leader.

Andy Schlek seemed to be struggling today.

Frank made a late charge but left it a little too late.

Today was a really tough stage.
I was exausted just watching it.   

Did you watch the excellent Tour De France documentary, on ITV 4 just after the highlights.

It was brilliant and follwed Cav's team in 2009, when Armstong was making a come back.

Very well made documentary and really shows just how arduous the sport is.

TMC

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Well it looks like Contador really is struggling as I thought.

Caught doping.... Loss of form.... Coincidence?

I wouldn't really say he has loss of form.

He said in an interview he's been struggling with knee injuries, but was feeling a little better this morning.  He did look a bit better in todays stage although surprisingly nobody put in a really big attack so it was hard top say just how good.

Did you watch the excellent Tour De France documentary, on ITV 4 just after the highlights.

It was brilliant and follwed Cav's team in 2009, when Armstong was making a come back.

Very well made documentary and really shows just how arduous the sport is.

No, I missed that although as it's ITV it will no doubt be repeated a dozen times so I'll catch it then.

I've read a couple of Lance Armstrong biographies and it is amazing what they put themselves through behind the scenes.

On the subject of books, one of my favourites is French Revolutions by Tim Moore which is essentially about a middle aged, unfit bloke who decides to cycle the whole Tour route one summer while keeping a diary.  It's a really entertaining read.

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On the subject of books, one of my favourites is French Revolutions by Tim Moore which is essentially about a middle aged, unfit bloke who decides to cycle the whole Tour route one summer while keeping a diary.  It's a really entertaining read.

I just read the description on Amazon.

Sounds a great read.

I might try and get that down the library.

Reminds me of a documentary series that was on tv a while back about a cyclist riding from canada all the way down to south America.

And another i watched of a race from coast to coast of the United States.

Very entertaining.


Todays stage was very exciting.

Contador is bearing up well and the Shlecks couldn't shake him on the climbs despite numerous attacks.

And Thor Hushovds win yesterday, or was it the day before was Awsome.   

TMC

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Todays stage was very exciting.

Contador is bearing up well and the Shlecks couldn't shake him on the climbs despite numerous attacks.

Just reading a review of the stage and the leaders took 3 minutes longer on the final climb than the likes of Pantani and Contador himself have taken in the past.  At this level that's a huge difference and suggests that none of them are in particularly great shape. 

The slow climb would also explain why someone like Voekler could comfortably stay with them.  That was a fantastic ride by Tommy who always rides like a man possessed when he's in yellow, but at their best he couldn't live with the others on a climb like this.

Anyway super flat stage today so fingers crossed for Cav again.