Thanks, Rick, for showing props to Phil Liggett (the “suitcase of courage” remark). He and Paul Sherwen are, so far as I am concerned, as much a part of “Le Tour” as the publicity caravan, the podium girls, the “Credit Lyonnaise” toy stuffed lions, and the Maillot Jaune itself.
Unfortunately, this year one fixture isn’t there: Didi Snefft (sp?, aka, The Devil). He’s supposedly in the hospital for something or other. Don’t know any details, other than Phil’s short mention on the prologue day. When I heard it, my first thought was, “Isn’t this grounds for cancelling The Tour?”
Come on Wiggo and Froomey! And hope Cav finishes each day before the cut off.
ITV4 is doing the tour coverage properly this year in Britain. The commentary of Phil and Paulis a key part of every July for me. The mainstream press has noticed that the TdF is unusual from a UK perspective now that the tennis and football have finished.
It’s a bit of a revelation, isn’t it, hearing the TdF on the Today programme and mainstream sports news?
British Cycling is in pretty much its best condition ever. A real team to be proud of. A Tour win for Wiggo and a good haul of medals at an Olympics at home would, I hope, finally start launching cycling as a “proper” sport in the UK.
That’s because the mainstream media are just waking up to the fact that Britain has quite a lot of successful sportsmen/women in a whole range of sports outside of football.
I get annoyed every time someone asks me if I’m watching TDF. No, I don’t. But you ride a bike! Yeah. You drive? Do you watch NASCAR or Paris Dakar? I don’t even wear bike jerseys…
If the footage was, let’s say… at least 50% helicopter shot, that would be extremely watchable. Some of the scenes observed from above I’ve seen in the past few days were fantastic, but only a few moments each…!
From my point of view, it would be also only good if there were less camera vehicles mixing in with the cyclists…
@Birch Creek: The scenery _is_ great from the helicopters, but those high altitude shots validate Yehuda’s skittles comment and make the cyclists look tiny. And it’s hard to get a feel for the steepness of the climbs from the air. I like the shots from the motorcycles as they follow riders down the mountain descents.
AdamDZ, I agree completely! But unfortunately, in in the area where I live, the NASCAR question wouldn’t help much, because there’s a pretty good chance the amswer would be a resounding YES!!! For someone like me, who has no interest in any sort of racing (or competition in general), it means I spend a lot of time listening on the edges of very tedious conversations.
Good thing my shipment of EPO came in. Now I can stay up and enjoy the tour with my Bretheren. (Hey Alberto – don’t bogart that syringe… I mean, be careful where you purchase your beef.)
I’d love to see the results of the same aggressive levels of drug testing applied to football (either type, USA or soccer), baseball or other major sports… I think it’s only because cycling is so keen on purging the drugs from the sport, and doing it so publicly, that it has such an association with drugs.
I find it quite sad that the connection in the minds of people is so strong. Each time someone displays a remarkable feat – like continuing the race after a heavy fall, for instance, the first reaction of the public tends to be “of course, he’s a half-robot on drugs”. Almost noone goes for the (old-school?) “sport hero” interpretation or ponders the force of strong will and determination.
I don’t have enough information to judge which of the interpretations is usually closer to the truth, but that is not the point here].
I give all riders the benefit of the doubt until the pee cup test comes back positive.
How many cups has Lance filled with “0″ positives??? Hundreds if not more… Ergo, innocent until proven guilty by emperical evidence, not circumstantial… Lance has 7 wins… vive le Tour De Lance!!!
Everything has its own. In the aerial shots, you cannot judge the inclination of the terrain as well (sometimes), but, as a compensation, you get much better idea of the speed the riders move through the landscape.
I don’t think there is any dispute here.
Yes, some of the “inside race” shots are also very interesting.
Hinault in 1985, I think, was the last French winner of the greatest French classic. He is known for conning American Greg Lemond into staying back with him to help him win, when Lemond clearly could have won in 1985. The next year, he tried to con Lemond again, but Lemond had enough and won his first tour. I think the cycling gods have been punishing the French ever since for Hinault’s duplicity (they had to watch an American win seven years in a row). The closest they came was Fignon in 1989, but Lemond came through again. I watch the tour for the history and the racing. My wife watches for the images of France, where we have ridden together. All that being said, there is no TDF winner like a French winner, they are way more excited than the English or Americans. L’Eroica is a whole different story, for the purist, like watching bike porn.
Vive le Tour!
Can’t really argue with the skittles comment, unfortunately.
Is this because there aren’t any noisy Americans in with a chance of winning this year?
It doesn’t appear that an American will win this year, but when was the last time a Frenchman won?
For that matter, when was the last time an Englishman won?
re: Paul, Bernard Hinault, some time in the mid-80s.
re: Plaidmac, never! That’s why it would be incredible for Bradley Wiggins to win this year!
Although I am rooting for Cadel, but I have to agree with you…. (shhhh, don’t tell) :)
I prefer to think of them as Peeps.
This one even includes Didi Senft!
http://thebikerackdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Tour-de-Peeps-at-Artomatic-2012-Photo-by-Bike-Arlington.jpeg
Thanks, Rick, for showing props to Phil Liggett (the “suitcase of courage” remark). He and Paul Sherwen are, so far as I am concerned, as much a part of “Le Tour” as the publicity caravan, the podium girls, the “Credit Lyonnaise” toy stuffed lions, and the Maillot Jaune itself.
Unfortunately, this year one fixture isn’t there: Didi Snefft (sp?, aka, The Devil). He’s supposedly in the hospital for something or other. Don’t know any details, other than Phil’s short mention on the prologue day. When I heard it, my first thought was, “Isn’t this grounds for cancelling The Tour?”
Didi Senft! I was wondering where he was!
Didi Seft is recovering from brain surgery to remove clots. He is recovering well and is home in Berlin. http://www.road.cc/content/news/61234-didi-devil-misses-tour-he-recuperates-brain-surgery
The Phil Liggettism is a nice touch. It inspired me to just order a used copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891369555/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
Allez allez allez!
Come on Wiggo and Froomey! And hope Cav finishes each day before the cut off.
ITV4 is doing the tour coverage properly this year in Britain. The commentary of Phil and Paulis a key part of every July for me. The mainstream press has noticed that the TdF is unusual from a UK perspective now that the tennis and football have finished.
It’s a bit of a revelation, isn’t it, hearing the TdF on the Today programme and mainstream sports news?
British Cycling is in pretty much its best condition ever. A real team to be proud of. A Tour win for Wiggo and a good haul of medals at an Olympics at home would, I hope, finally start launching cycling as a “proper” sport in the UK.
That’s because the mainstream media are just waking up to the fact that Britain has quite a lot of successful sportsmen/women in a whole range of sports outside of football.
So what happens when the Africans wake up to cycle-sport?
They already have, there’s a Kenyan in second place GC.
I get annoyed every time someone asks me if I’m watching TDF. No, I don’t. But you ride a bike! Yeah. You drive? Do you watch NASCAR or Paris Dakar? I don’t even wear bike jerseys…
If the footage was, let’s say… at least 50% helicopter shot, that would be extremely watchable.
Some of the scenes observed from above I’ve seen in the past few days were fantastic, but only a few moments each…!
From my point of view, it would be also only good if there were less camera vehicles mixing in with the cyclists…
@Birch Creek: The scenery _is_ great from the helicopters, but those high altitude shots validate Yehuda’s skittles comment and make the cyclists look tiny. And it’s hard to get a feel for the steepness of the climbs from the air. I like the shots from the motorcycles as they follow riders down the mountain descents.
Paris Dakar? Doesn’t she race for the L’Erotica team in NASCAR?
It’s much more annoying when people ask me if I’m going to ride the Tour. Yeah right, as if you have any clue…
@Ergates_thi_Ant: And cyclists wonder why they aren’t liked by more folks.
Don’t retaliate, educate! And be sure to do it with a smile.
AdamDZ, I agree completely! But unfortunately, in in the area where I live, the NASCAR question wouldn’t help much, because there’s a pretty good chance the amswer would be a resounding YES!!! For someone like me, who has no interest in any sort of racing (or competition in general), it means I spend a lot of time listening on the edges of very tedious conversations.
Good thing my shipment of EPO came in. Now I can stay up and enjoy the tour with my Bretheren.
(Hey Alberto – don’t bogart that syringe… I mean, be careful where you purchase your beef.)
I’d love to see the results of the same aggressive levels of drug testing applied to football (either type, USA or soccer), baseball or other major sports… I think it’s only because cycling is so keen on purging the drugs from the sport, and doing it so publicly, that it has such an association with drugs.
I find it quite sad that the connection in the minds of people is so strong. Each time someone displays a remarkable feat – like continuing the race after a heavy fall, for instance, the first reaction of the public tends to be “of course, he’s a half-robot on drugs”. Almost noone goes for the (old-school?) “sport hero” interpretation or ponders the force of strong will and determination.
I don’t have enough information to judge which of the interpretations is usually closer to the truth, but that is not the point here].
Unfortuately, scandal sells more advertising* than strong will and determination.
*For broadcast, print, or online.
I give all riders the benefit of the doubt until the pee cup test comes back positive.
How many cups has Lance filled with “0″ positives??? Hundreds if not more… Ergo, innocent until proven guilty by emperical evidence, not circumstantial… Lance has 7 wins… vive le Tour De Lance!!!
Wow… I haven’t heard anyone use “bogart” as a verb since I was a kid! I thought maybe it was just a St Louis thing. : )
@Guest: Or a West Coast thing. I heard it quite a bit growing up there in the 60s & 70s.
Even with the rigorous testing I still find myself wondering what new drugs are hidden under the maillot jaune.
The manufacturers are always ahead of the enforcers in boxing, horse racing, dog racing, track & field etc…
Everything has its own.
In the aerial shots, you cannot judge the inclination of the terrain as well (sometimes), but, as a compensation, you get much better idea of the speed the riders move through the landscape. 
I don’t think there is any dispute here.
Yes, some of the “inside race” shots are also very interesting.
Google maps update with European Cycling: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/07/13/0136251/google-maps-adds-uk-cycling-directions
Yehuda likes L’Eroica? Figures. He’s the biggest Luddite in the strip.
Hinault in 1985, I think, was the last French winner of the greatest French classic. He is known for conning American Greg Lemond into staying back with him to help him win, when Lemond clearly could have won in 1985. The next year, he tried to con Lemond again, but Lemond had enough and won his first tour. I think the cycling gods have been punishing the French ever since for Hinault’s duplicity (they had to watch an American win seven years in a row). The closest they came was Fignon in 1989, but Lemond came through again. I watch the tour for the history and the racing. My wife watches for the images of France, where we have ridden together. All that being said, there is no TDF winner like a French winner, they are way more excited than the English or Americans. L’Eroica is a whole different story, for the purist, like watching bike porn.