Sluffy's Idiot's Guide to The Tour De France (2012 Version)

More theatre on the Tour!

Quite a well known Johnny Foreigner as just be caught for doping - the thing is, is that he was never really down for riding the race this year but another rider got injured and had to pull out (his own brother actually) and there really was no way he could avoid not taking his place.

He's sort of hidden throughout this years race – under performed (but not too noticeably) with his team saying he was a little bit off form - I'm guessing because the Tour's day's winners (I think) are routinely drugs tested.

I'm guessing he either was asked for a random test - or he was specifically targeted - its funny how in the Tour the drug cheats seemed to be named on the rest days - when they have to help the police with their 'enquiries'.

I make no excuses for cycling and drugs - I just see it as being part of the twists and turns that happen on every Tour.

If Wiggins and his team can survive the next two days without cracking badly the Tour is his.

Hopefully he is drug free - but you never know for sure!

It's all good fun to watch!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18880417

I would be very surprised if Wiggins were to test positive for a banned substance.

Both the time trial, on Saturday, and Sunday final leg will be both on ITV1 instead of ITV4 - although will also be shown on Eurosport.

Good news for viewers and for the sport - C'mon Wiggo!

Wiggins to be 'crowned' today.

Cavendish wins on Friday - he went like an absolute rocket, unbelievable and on that form I can see him winning in Paris today -



Wiggins won the Time Trial yesterday -



And last but my no means certainly not least Chris Froome (who lets be honest could have won the Tour this year if the roles with Wiggins were reversed) - will finish second.



A fantastic achievement all round!

Like many people Sluffy you have left out David Millar, the other British rider who won Stage 12.



So if Cav wins today, that will be 1 and 2 on the podium and 7 stage wins out of 21 for British riders. Amazing. It will never happen again.

largehat wrote:Like many people Sluffy you have left out David Millar, the other British rider who won Stage 12.



So if Cav wins today, that will be 1 and 2 on the podium and 7 stage wins out of 21 for British riders. Amazing. It will never happen again.

Hopefully it will - but alldepends on next years course and amount (in km) of time trials - which will be announced in October.

Have they drank their champagne yet? I love the Tour de France, one of my favourite sporting events, I love the racing and I used to go on holidays camping every year up until about 17 years of age in France, I love seeing all the amazing scenery and places.

Its always a nice touch them having a glass of champagne on the last stage. I will watch the highlights tonight.

Cav to win today for sure.

Must admit I wish I was in Paris today, along the Champs A'lysse (sp) - would be wondeful to watch. Seen the TDF twice before, in real life, when I was young in the mountain stages and its great to see. (in those days it was only on TF1 in France and Channel 4 in UK)

Really pleased for Wiggins. Surely a shoe in for BBC Sports personality of the year barring some great Olympian achievement over the next few weeks.

Reebok Trotter wrote:Really pleased for Wiggins. Surely a shoe in for BBC Sports personality of the year barring some great Olympian achievement over the next few weeks.

Paul Scholes hasn't had his turn yet.

Scholes was and is a great midfielder but Wiggins has scored a first by winning the Tour De France.

Will Cavendish now leave team Sky though?

It would make sense if he did.



World champion Mark Cavendish will be allowed to leave Team Sky if he wants to go, says boss Dave Brailsford.

Cavendish, the world's best sprinter, signed a three-year deal in October and Brailsford wants him to stay.

But having just dominated the Tour de France Sky are determined to claim more titles, which might not suit Cavendish.

"If he felt, or if it was felt, that he would like a dedicated team around him, then he is quite within his rights to want to do that," said Brailsford.

As a sprinter Cavendish is helped by having a team working to set up sprint finishes for him, but Sky want to follow up Bradley Wiggins becoming the first ever British winner of the Tour by winning it again and again.

That means that, just as was the case in this year's Tour, they will frequently not be able to devote team resources to help lead out Cavendish.

Brailsford added: "This team will keep its GC [general classification] ambitions and I am sure that we will sit down and discuss that with Mark and see how he feels about that.

"He is a prolific British winner and on the one hand we would love to have a prolific British winner on the team."

Cavendish, who was undisputed team leader at his previous team, HTC, as he won 20 stages in four Tours de France prior to 2012, won stages two, 18 and 20 of this year's event.

However, he was only given a full lead-out on the last two of those stages as Wiggins's bid for overall success took precedence at Team Sky.

Brailsford insisted there would be no hard feelings if the man nicknamed the 'Manx Missile' decides to depart Sky.

He said: "We wouldn't fall out about it, there wouldn't be an issue about it, but we are very proud to have him on Team Sky, he is a fantastic champion and long may that continue.

"I can't see an issue at all, there's no problem and we will take the common-sense approach and sort it out like that."

The Sky boss now wants them to become the sport's greatest ever team, insisting: "If you're going to become the best cycling team the world's ever seen, you've got to win the biggest race in the world [the Tour de France] time and time again.

"I am quite driven by that: to see what it takes to be the best professional team this sport has ever seen. The components of that would be success over time."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18949125

Reebok Trotter wrote:Scholes was and is a great midfielder but Wiggins has scored a first by winning the Tour De France.

I'm sorry RT, that was a joke. I disagreed with Beckham winning it in 2001, and even moreso Giggs in 2009.