posted Jul 10, 2008

Both Cav and Millar have been fantastic so far, stunning win yesterday!! however with the mountains looming millar's about to dissapear into the pack and Cav, well whats the chances of him actually getting through the mountains?

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posted Jul 10, 2008

it takes substance to win this tournament ...

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posted Jul 10, 2008

still a lot unclear about Cav's plans - TDF vs Olympics - what a situation to be in - where's the best victory to come from? and can I win at both? tough decision to make eh?

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posted Jul 10, 2008

"Perhaps time for a better nickname than Cav though?"

On Eurosport yesterday, Stephen Roche was referring to him by Manxman Steve Joughin's old soubriquet: "The Pocket Rocket". Not very original, but very accurate descriptively.

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posted Jul 10, 2008

Further proof that Cav is probably the fastest pure sprinter in the peloton at the moment, especially given that he had to go early so as to be sure of catching Vogondy. Only Petacchi and Cipo could go first like that and not find someone (usually McEwen) coming round them in the last 50m.

Stage 3 he cocked up, getting blocked on the inside by a fading lead-out man just as he was winding up the sprint - occupational hazard in a bunch sprint, and one that wouldn't have happened if they were racing for the win.

Great work from Columbia yesterday, particularly Hincapie in coming back from his puncture and still producing the big turn from 2 to 1 km.

Top effort from Vogondy, but it always amazes me just how much ground the sprinters can make up over the last 400m or so.

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posted Jul 10, 2008

"What a stupid comment. Millar wasn't bright enough to avoid a two year drugs ban. Eloquence is not the same as being a winner. Millar is now an also-ran."

and that is totally out of order too. David Millar is a top man, he's actually turned his experience into something positive and he's reaping the benefits and he is not an "also-ran".

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posted Jul 10, 2008

David Millar is a top man?

Sorry - don't agree - he brought shame to British cycling. He and all other performance drug cheat cyclists should have got life bans.

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posted Jul 10, 2008

Would be interested to know if there are others out there who share my opinions on the derisory ITV4 coverage............ "Highlights?.." should be re-titled "Random summary of various occurences in the final 15km of the stage". Last night's "1 hour" transmission covered only 22 minutes of actual racing (usually no more than 29 mins - monitored by family & friends for the last couple of years), fragmented by multiple commercial breaks, travelogues, visits to mayor's parlours and the ritual consideration of superficial emails by tedious pals cosying up in the commentary box - now descending into farce and each year the joke on TDF viewers on terrestial channels grows worse........... Can you imagine the uproar if this was done to transmissions of football/FI/golf/cricket/rugby? ITV4 demeans cycling as a sport and trivialises its outstanding athletes in the interests of cosmetics, toothpaste, insurance and yoghurt, to name but a few. On your bike, ITV4

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posted Jul 10, 2008

eurosport coverage is better, provided you can understand Sean Kelly's accent...

Tend to get a 1 highlights hour show with ~45 minutes of racing, mainly the final 30km or so.

As for David Millar, he has always been an intersting person to listen to, not least with regard to why he took EPO, and how he trained harder while doping than previously (something about taking the sport more seriously because he had committed to taking the drugs and therefore risking both his health and being caught). I'm not saying I have much sympathy with what he did, but it was definitely interesting to hear something other than drugs being the short-cut to success (i.e. take the drugs rather than training harder).

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posted Jul 10, 2008

When I say he's a top man I'm referring to the way he's conducted himself since returning to the sport clean. If Dwain Chambers had adopted the same approach I think he would find himself in a different situation right now.

I really like David Millar. He's admitted his mistakes and now he's a spokesman for the anti-drugs lobby. He is very open and honest in what he says and he's clearly articulate and intelligent and the way he conducts himself makes him a credit to the sport and a definite plus whereas Chambers is a negative in his sport.


"eurosport coverage is better, provided you can understand Sean Kelly's accent..."

That's where I have a problem with Eurosport coverage. Kelly's voice annoys the hell out of me to the extent that I can't watch!

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