Stage 20 - Sunday, July 25 2010, Longjumeau - Paris, 105 km

ednwireland

ok here it is the swansong, what the heck are we going to do now nothing to talk about
will cav go for intermediates will he win on the champs elysees 2 year in a row

Champagne and Coronation time

After a TGV transfer to the outskirts of Paris, the 97th Tour de France concludes with a stage of barely 100km that includes the now traditional eight laps on the Champs Élysées circuit.

The riders will saunter into the French capital from the west as the Tour champion-in-waiting is toasted with champagne and then has his team-mates lead the race down the rue de Rivoli and onto the Champs for the first time. After that, battle is engaged for 75 minutes of high-octane attack and counter-attack, almost certainly culminating in a bunch sprint.

corkandproud

Thanks Ed for throwing up the map and new thread each day. the daily thread has really added to my enjoyment of the tour this year.

austinbyrne21

corkandproud wrote: »

Thanks Ed for throwing up the map and new thread each day. the daily thread has really added to my enjoyment of the tour this year.

+1 Fair play to you!

mloc123

Whats the story with the black Radioshack kit today?

mloc123

mloc123 wrote: »

Whats the story with the black Radioshack kit today?

odd, seem to be putting the standard kit on now as they roll out.

Caroline_ie

28? huh?

kmart6

mloc123 wrote: »

Whats the story with the black Radioshack kit today?

mloc123 wrote: »

odd, seem to be putting the standard kit on now as they roll out.

Caroline_ie wrote: »

28? huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdg31G41E-Q

mloc123

Typical Lance, start was delayed over the jersey issue. They have to all change back to standard team colours with official race numbers before the end of the neutral zone.... which is being extended/delayed for them to do so.

kmart6

Haha this is gas!

mloc123

kmart6 wrote: »

Haha this is gas!

Lance losing his temper now..... and still hasn't swapped his numbers over.

xz

one hell of a PR move though, Popovych looked like he was really enjoying the fuss.

Esroh

Caisse should piss of and dropthem all and take the team competition which has suddenly become inportant:D

mloc123

still no numbers... will he be DSQ'd?

Mint Sauce

its turning of a farce now

and their off

niceonetom

It all about Lance. It's always all about Lance.

Mint Sauce

niceonetom wrote: »

It all about Lance. It's always all about Lance.

it is the lance armstrong show after all, although they are nice kits.

mloc123

niceonetom wrote: »

It all about Lance. It's always all about Lance.

Its a pity the cameras picked up on it, they got exactly whatthey wanted... publicity whore

DirkVoodoo

What are they possibly publicising besides Lance? Oh cancer, yeah sure, because there might be people in the world who don't know about it, yeah right!

Total ego trip, let's carry on with the stage now. And he still has to make himself the centre of attention. Carried on ahead of the team, then changed his jersey, then carried on a bit more before getting his number.

niceonetom

It's amazing what you can get away with under the guise of "raising awareness".

Captain Havoc

So is this another commercially available kit along with the standard Radioshack, U-23 and livestrong kits provided to us by Nike for a small price in the name of cancer?

titan18

Esroh wrote: »

Caisse should piss of and dropthem all and take the team competition which has suddenly become inportant:D

They're 9 minutes down and that would be completely impossible

DirkVoodoo

Renshaw should have said he was raising awareness for helmet use. No doubt he would have fractures his skull with those repeated blows to the head.

My only problem with Lance this year is that he was out of the race so soon, but the cameras couldn't leave him go. People wanted to see the contenders but we were being overloaded with images of Lance struggling to hang on. He swallowed up a lot of airtime that would have been better spent on riders who mattered.

Esroh

titan18 wrote: »

They're 9 minutes down and that would be completely impossible

I was not really being serious;)

Inquitus

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Renshaw should have said he was raising awareness for helmet use. No doubt he would have fractures his skull with those repeated blows to the head.

My only problem with Lance this year is that he was out of the race so soon, but the cameras couldn't leave him go. People wanted to see the contenders but we were being overloaded with images of Lance struggling to hang on. He swallowed up a lot of airtime that would have been better spent on riders who mattered.

True enough in sentiment, but lets be honest next to nothing happened this whole tour bar chaingate, definitely not one to be remembered.

-Trek-

Why use a black jersey to show support to people living with cancer, not a very optimistic colour is it?

Good publicity stunt though.

DirkVoodoo

Inquitus wrote: »

True enough in sentiment, but lets be honest next to nothing happened this whole tour bar chaingate, definitely not one to be remembered.

I don't think it's about being remembered. I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply about taking as much limelight away from Contador as possible. After all, this is meant to be his victory salute with champagne in hand. What better way to give him the finger than to have all the newspapers and twitter feeds talking about radioshack and Lance instead.

I wonder what would have happened if someone had done something similar on one of Lance's tour wins?

kmart6

Andy had him there!haha

mloc123

Andy drop his chain again there?

titan18

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I don't think it's about being remembered. I wouldn't be surprised if it's simply about taking as much limelight away from Contador as possible. After all, this is meant to be his victory salute with champagne in hand. What better way to give him the finger than to have all the newspapers and twitter feeds talking about radioshack and Lance instead.

I wonder what would have happened if someone had done something similar on one of Lance's tour wins?

Didn't Lance and USP wear a different jersey one year on the last stage, and were left go ahead with it?

Inquitus

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I wonder what would have happened if someone had done something similar on one of Lance's tour wins?

Didn't Simeoni do just that lol? Attacking just as the champers was opened

ednwireland

mloc123 wrote: »

Andy drop his chain again there?

yep,just talking about it on itv4

great advert for sram

DirkVoodoo

W00t! Got my Mark "the Ram" Renshaw read out. I don't think Robert "the kitchen" Gesink and Ivan "kiss my" Basso made the cut though.

Anyone else submitting some?

kmart6

That was unbelieveable by Cav!!!

Murph100

S'ma boy !! Bloody incredible !!

DirkVoodoo

What a win. He may not have won green but this has to be Cav's year. Really has come into his own, silenced his critics and came back from a terrible start to the tour. The last week has been incredible, he is the fastest and no one can question his talent now.

With or without a leadout train he is amazing. Hopefully he will build on these lessons for next year.

Inquitus

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

What a win. He may not have won green but this has to be Cav's year. Really has come into his own, silenced his critics and came back from a terrible start to the tour. The last week has been incredible, he is the fastest and no one can question his talent now.

With or without a leadout train he is amazing. Hopefully he will build on these lessons for next year.

Aye Chapeau to Cav, he won every sprint finish from when Renshaw was thrown out, and nabbed 2nd when Vino got away.

Pherekydes

That was some change of pace by Cav.

Chapeau also to 'old man' Petacchi. Another 2nd in a bunch sprint and the green jersey to boot.

Fair play to Roche, too. Another few places up the GC. But for the well-publicized problem he had with a domestique he may have been a few places higher. Domestic staff, pffft.

kmart6

RadioShack with the black jerseys back on!

ednwireland

armstrong manages the podium anyway (team prize)

-Trek-

Good bye Lance.

petethedrummer

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Robert "the kitchen" Gesink

Tremendous!

IM0

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

W00t! Got my Mark "the Ram" Renshaw read out. I don't think Robert "the kitchen" Gesink and Ivan "kiss my" Basso made the cut though.

Anyone else submitting some?

thats my ki9nd of thread , you build it they will come

TinyExplosions

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

W00t! Got my Mark "the Ram" Renshaw read out. I don't think Robert "the kitchen" Gesink and Ivan "kiss my" Basso made the cut though.

Anyone else submitting some?

They ignored mine... I had Christian 'Knobbly' Knees which might have made it, but I might have been blacklisted for suggesting Lance 'Amgen' Armstrong

Chips Lovell

Further proof that Cavendish is nothing without Renshaw.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Further proof that Cavendish is nothing without Renshaw.

Absolutely... don't give him a lead out train, and he's nowhere!

kmart6

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Absolutely... don't give him a lead out train, and he's nowhere!

Pretty embarrassing how he forced them up against the barriers....sore loser!

ednwireland

kmart6 wrote: »

Pretty embarrassing how he forced them up against the barriers....sore loser!

i loved it in the interview when cav said he got onto petachi's wheel the lampre guy behind tried to bump him off his wheel

kmart6

ednwireland wrote: »

i loved it in the interview when cav said he got onto petachi's wheel the lampre guy behind tried to bump him off his wheel

Yeah I laughed at that too! If it had been a HTC guy they woulda been ined or something!!

Junior

Captain Havoc wrote: »

So is this another commercially available kit along with the standard Radioshack, U-23 and livestrong kits provided to us by Nike for a small price in the name of cancer?

Spotted a Mellow Johnny's Tweet after the race, yes the kit will be commercially available shortly. What a wanker that lad is ..

Diamondmaker

Pherekydes wrote: »

T

Fair play to Roche, too. Another few places up the GC. But for the well-publicized problem he had with a domestique he may have been a few places higher. Domestic staff, pffft.

Whats the general etiquette on this ? Should he really have given Roche his wheel ? Surely decisions like this are pre made prior to race scenario like a team call in F1 requesting a driver let his team mate pass as its better for the team.

I even thought certain riders sole purpose in a cycle team is to support their contender ?

Lumen

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Whats the general etiquette on this ? Should he really have given Roche his wheel ? Surely decisions like this are pre made prior to race scenario like a team call in F1 requesting a driver let his team mate pass as its better for the team.

I even thought certain riders sole purpose in a cycle team is to support their contender ?

The "etiquette" is: support your team leader. There is no confusion possible, particularly when your director is shouting in your ear to give him your wheel.