O RLY?

How much on the cobbles this year? How many glorious castles?

No Andy Schleck, new Aussie team Orica Green Edge, Contador suspended, looks good for our Cadel.

Any big names missing due to the Olympics?

I love Cadel, he is the ultimate little Aussie bleeder.

What's the route? The French countryside always looks so awesome.

How much on the cobbles this year? How many glorious castles?

I'm looking forward to more gabriel gate action this year.

though in some seriousness, sbs are live streaming the whole thing online, take that channel 9.

What's the route? The French countryside always looks so awesome.

I love the coverage, especially the historical details onscreen during the boring bits.

Thor Hushovd out as well, Ryder Hesjedal is looking good...should be an interesting one.

Comfy couch? Check. Stash of Beaujolais? Late starts at work? Check.
My training for Le Tour is complete.

Side note, what's this about Andy Schleck being out of the race?

Fractured pelvis, kuro.

Yowch.
Heinrich Haussler is out too?

Is Cavendish in? If so, how many stages will he win?

We have just arrived in Paris & have a few days here before picking up a motorhome & heading to Liege for the start of Le Tour.

Second time we will have followed the race around...good this time to have our son along for the ride.

Excited.

Comfy couch? Check. Stash of Beaujolais? Late starts at work? Check.
My training for Le Tour is complete.

I like this level of dedication to living a double life. It'll be cheeses and Cote du Rhone for me. Great impetus to resume cycling in august..

sounds delightful, littlesmoke. what are some of those mountains like to drive on?

In a motorhome....interesting! There was a few times when we thought the thing would give up & start rolling backwards. Harder still is riding a bike up them, I did several of the big climbs last time & it was tough work.

wow. sounds ace.

Stage 11 looks a beast

Blog littlesmoke?

Motorhome!

Followed by Wolf Blitzer in third.

Otto Pfister?

Just to play devil's advocate, imagine you're an up and coming pro cyclist circa late '90s/early 2000s. You've managed to get signed to a UCI-approved team (which is a feat on its own) and then selected for the TdF squad within that team (even harder). You start the tour and watch guys obviously juicing routinely zooming past you up the climbs. If you don't want to dope, you're not going to last long in the industry - and remember that you've got years of hard training invested in your chosen profession. I'm not saying it's right, but it's not a black and white decision for all individuals.

frank schleck's in the frame now too.

for those of you who missed the point of my cadel post, here is another question:

do any of you recognise the third man in the pic posted by seahunt?

yeah, it's jesse 'the body' ventura, former wrestler, action film star and us state governor

for those of you who missed the point of my cadel post, here is another question:

Is your ''point'' anything beyond ''ooh, Cadel might be doping too!''?

why, did you miss it the first time?

No. You're just way off. And the Schleck thing was months ago.

so you know the third man?

No more free Nike gear for Lance.

Considering he left SL after Kohl and Dekker had been caught (he left just months after Dekker), I get the feeling he just didn't want to be associated with those guys. Hope he did however gain assurances from Hincape when he joined Cadel.

Stephen Hodge just admitted to doping too.

Also Cavendish has ditched his team due to Wiggins hindering his own desires.

makes sense.

hmmm... next you'll be telling Martin Vinnicombe is dodgy!

mean

haha

what is his left nut worth these days?