Tour de France 2016

thermionic

I grew up on Phil & Paul on C4, but I don't miss them. ITV4 is good but I prefer Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly on Eurosport.

I also watch it on S4C in Welsh, where the pundit is guitar hero Peredur ap Gwynedd (Pendulum/Faithless). He's on tour now so his brother Rheinallt (who played bass on Natalie Imbruglia's Torn with Peredur if I'm not mistaken) has been standing in. Surprisingly, they're both quite knowledgeable!

mudslide73

Phil and Paul are bloody heroes. Their LeMond/Fignon timetrial commentary was up there with Kenneth Wolstenholme's 1966 landmark.

Blaendulais

thermionic said:

I grew up on Phil & Paul on C4, but I don't miss them. ITV4 is good but I prefer Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly on Eurosport.

I also watch it on S4C in Welsh, where the pundit is guitar hero Peredur ap Gwynedd (Pendulum/Faithless). He's on tour now so his brother Rheinallt (who played bass on Natalie Imbruglia's Torn with Peredur if I'm not mistaken) has been standing in. Surprisingly, they're both quite knowledgeable!

Fi hefyd!!

rolls1392

mudslide73 said:

Phil and Paul are bloody heroes. Their LeMond/Fignon timetrial commentary was up there with Kenneth Wolstenholme's 1966 landmark.

Big plus one for that moment!!

axisus

strtdv said:

I was working so had to make do with the live text updates.
Contador looks to have got a nasty knock, be a shame if he wasn't able to give it a decent run due to injury on the first day.

Meh. proven drug cheat.

axisus

No Phil & Paul.

littlegreenman

Great second day. Plenty more drama, especially for Contador, falling off again and losing a chunk of time. Bad luck for Porte though, couldn't have punctured at a worse time, could be game over before it's even started for him.

Excitement at the end with the breakaway so close to pulling it off only to have the last man pulled back at the death to give a well deserved win for Sagan. Yellow jersey to add to his Rainbow WC one.

lloyd

axisus said:

strtdv said:

I was working so had to make do with the live text updates.
Contador looks to have got a nasty knock, be a shame if he wasn't able to give it a decent run due to injury on the first day.

Meh. proven drug cheat.

How clean is cycling considered to be these days?

BigLicks67

I like Ned Boulting as a presenter and commentator and I'm glad they have given him a shot at it. TBH I like Phil & Paul but didn't like the USA bias they put into their commentary, I understand why they did it but it got on my nerves.

BigLicks67

lloyd said:

axisus said:

strtdv said:

I was working so had to make do with the live text updates.
Contador looks to have got a nasty knock, be a shame if he wasn't able to give it a decent run due to injury on the first day.

Meh. proven drug cheat.

How clean is cycling considered to be these days?

I don't know if it's possible to answer that with any confidence one way or the other.

thermionic

BigLicks67 said:

I like Ned Boulting as a presenter and commentator and I'm glad they have given him a shot at it. TBH I like Phil & Paul but didn't like the USA bias they put into their commentary, I understand why they did it but it got on my nerves.

Yes, their contractual obligation to convert every km or km/h into miles for the USA audience was very annoying. Cycling is a European sport that uses SI units!

axisus

lloyd said:

axisus said:

strtdv said:

I was working so had to make do with the live text updates.
Contador looks to have got a nasty knock, be a shame if he wasn't able to give it a decent run due to injury on the first day.

Meh. proven drug cheat.

How clean is cycling considered to be these days?

Probably best it's ever been, but he still chose to cheat in the past

Niallmo

Lovely second stage. Love Sagan, he's got a decent mentality while still having so much fun. First couple of mountain stages will sort them out as per usual. Difficult to call this year but Froome is the obvious if he doesn't fall off. Would love Geraint Thinas to have a great race, deserves a good GC ride after his efforts in the past for his team.

crunchman

axisus said:

lloyd said:

axisus said:

strtdv said:

I was working so had to make do with the live text updates.
Contador looks to have got a nasty knock, be a shame if he wasn't able to give it a decent run due to injury on the first day.

Meh. proven drug cheat.

How clean is cycling considered to be these days?

Probably best it's ever been, but he still chose to cheat in the past

He hasn't been so dominant in recent years so that suggests that some of his past performances were definitely improved by the drugs.

joneve

littlegreenman said:

richh said:

I missed the main coverage during the day, and attempted to watch the highlights at 7pm.  Are ITV4 not having commentary from Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen any more?  I did like their double act, even when, and sometime because they occasionally talked complete bollocks.  I know they have been legends in places like the States for a long time.  Hopefully they are still going, or have I missed something?

You'll have to find a NBC America (or SBS Australia) feed to hear Phil and Paul, they're still commentating but ITV aren't paying for it any more.

Was also disappointed that Phil and Paul weren't on ITV4 this year....but Ned and David are doing a fine job so far (once I got over the initial shock of not hearing Phil's dulcet tones!) The hour highlights show is, and always has been the perfect daily summary for me. 

Good first two days...I hate Contador, so wasn't too disappointed to see him struggling early doors. 

crunchman

The commentators on Eurosport yesterday were a bit incompetent in the run in when they were showing the gap to the yellow jersey who had been dropped and they kept wittering on about the breakaway rider being a minute ahead of the peloton when you could see them in shot behind him.

thermionic

Wasn't their fault - Carlton Kirby explained on twitter later that the graphics/caption they were receiving (and appearing on our screens) were wrong.

crunchman

thermionic said:

Wasn't their fault - Carlton Kirby explained on twitter later that the graphics/caption they were receiving (and appearing on our screens) were wrong.

The caption was to the yellow jersey.  That might have been right, but Cavendish had been dropped fromt he group.  It was obvious even to me that it wasn't the right time for the gap to the chasing group.

rolls1392

Cav the hero!! What a sprint!!!!

strtdv

It was a great sprint. Greipel went for just marginally early, and Cavendish timed it to perfection. 

Unusual race though in that the pace was really remarkably slow with not much happening until the last 2k. Well done Fonseca and Voeckler for adding a little interest to what was otherwise a fairly dull stage overall. I suppose none of the GC riders want to peak too early.