I'm not denying that. I just think there are more factors (one of which would be the sports development backing). Also the diet of many African Americans in more recent decades is poor at best. Which is of course a lot to do with their economic background.

Anyway this is really not the place to discuss this. However I've always felt that if more black people came from similar backgrounds to the upper working class and middle class white europeans (that tend to make up the majority of tdf riders) then we'd have a lot more black cyclists giving the white guys a run for their money.

rpm, drop the feed quality to mediumm, as aroogah suggested ;)

Even money on Evans or Cavendish testing positive for go faster juice before the end of the tour? Not that I'm cynical you understand:)

Prune juice?

Crab paste?

fuck me. i no longer know what to think. they seem to be catching people though.

Michel Audran

"What the AFLD have done very well is target particular riders. I don't think their tests themselves are any more rigorous, though. They'll be adopting the same criteria for positive tests as WADA. I would say, though, that if the UCI's biological passports had been ready, which they should be soon, Riccò would never have started this Tour."

This latest evolution of EPO being some kind of virus injected by the user is proper scary. The whole transfusion thing is a thing of the past eh?

Shame about Ricco though, hoped he was clean.

I've been doing that all week!

no flies on me

What about the suffering of the indentured work force of Indians and Chinese that predominantly replaced the afro slaves?

Well, I'd expect that's where socio-economic stereotyping and role model effects kick in. The genetic advantages that may have been cooked up for Afro-Americans via selective slave breeding / surviving the conditions during mass transatlantic importation were enough to create some early successes in athletic endeavours, and this led to certain sports being viewed (by AAs and non-AAs) as one of the few jobs where they had a chance of earning some respect or reasonable reward. I don't think US culture ever had (let alone perpetuated) the stereotype of the Chinese sporting hero.

They've cloned Cadel. Be very afraid...

can't wait till scooby-doo and chums rip off cadel's mask at the end to reveal he's vinokourov all along..

evans is not aggressive enough to be vino in disguise!

Theres an interesting article on the BBC about the Chinese lust for medals at the olympic games and how they plan to dominate certain events.

but aggressive enough to be vino without EPO or the crazy doctor with all the blood. what was his name, he was linked to ulrich and half of t-mobile i think.

Candel Evans has the funniest voice in the Peloton. I wish hippy talked like that.

cav again!!

Jonny - Will be joining you for both of your afternoons of TDF watching beer quaffing relaxery next week.

Anyone else going to join?

Is the feed really jerky today for everyone else too or just me? (I've even set it to low quality)

Yes.

This feed is solid but you need to mute the video feed to not confuse the German and English audio-only commentary. Oh and they're out of synch but that really only matters at the end.

me! me! me! (do a skid)

******* SPOILER ***********

Wow. Dude is fast as fook. Well done Cav!

My feed froze in the last 50 meters!

nimhbus, are you starting to like the cavalry now
He's backing up the billy big bollocks manner now, big time.
Only 21, four stage wins, possibly five if the champs elysses becomes a bunch sprint, what more does he need to convince you that he's the real deal.

I for one am enjoying his continued success.

Again.........brilliant

The guy is fast. I really hope he isn't a drug cheat. The mind boggles how he can go 55mph+ on a road bike after having already cycled over 100 odd miles

If he can do 55mph he really is on drugs! 65kph (ish) more like...

sure hope not

easy. in the middle of a 100+ pack, he prob freewheeled over 50% of the distance.

Cav is 2nd for the green jersey now but short of Rabobank leaving thrown the Tour for doping (again) I can't quite see him catching Freire.

Did you see the dude from Grolstiener(sp) hit that sign. Bike snapped clean in two n thrown 8ft in the air then walked away.

yeah, that was some crash / breakage. trumps the folding wheels on the Giants last year. glad he was okay though - did he finish the race?

well done to Cav - once again all the big sprint guys were there and once again he showed he is fastest

He pretty much has to hang in till Paris now that he's second on points, just in case Freire crashes out or gets another of his nasty saddle sores...

Might see some interesting sniping for intermediate sprints too, unless Columbia are saving all their energy to protect Kirchen's GC position.