bollocks. last year it was 23 seconds and nobody tried anything.

guys, it's going to come down to the time trial*. i'm just being a realist here. if CSC couldn't shake Cadel on tuesday, they've got no hope tomorrow over a measly category 2 and 3.


Sastre may pull out the ride of his life on saturday and hold Cadel off. Menchov may whip out a blinder, and Sastre and Cadel may have shockers. But the most likely result is that Cadel will beat Sastre by a couple of minutes and not lose too much to anyone else, take yellow, and win the Tour de France.

*barring crashes, doping scandals, lightning strikes or plagues of frogs.

that's my bet.

look mate, Cadel is a fucking homo, you need to start coming to terms with that.

he may be a homo, but he's an aussie homo, and that makes him ok with me.

aw yeh

I've got nothing against homos, but aussies?...

I think Sastre is only marginally less boring than Evans. I couldn't really give a fuck who wins anymore.

Even though I'll always side with the climbers, I think Cancellara deserves a medal for the number of times he's wasted himself for the benefit of his team.

In fact, I'd like to see a more 'Top Trumps' approach to Le Tour. A holistic marking system, where riders are graded on combativity, versatility, entertainment value, number of bottles carried, giving good interview/copy, looking stylish, and boring stuff like overall position.

...and nationality. (Points off for being Aussie, naturally).

cadel's out soon, look at the evidence:

lashing out at reporters with fists and barbed comment
threatening to cut someone's head off!

the actions of a man who will be showing unusually high testosterone readings..(or that twat out of Oasis)

I'm just gutted it's nearly over :(

it should be three months, not three weeks!

Cadel was brought up in the remote outback of Convictia, an only child who kept himself to himself, the reporters tell us.

what a shock.

i'll say this though -fuckign Phil liggett and paul sherwin can fuck off. i am so sick of their semi-literate wittering. seriously. the number of words they get wrong, mispronounce, make up, is staggering.
' the french are the main..perpetrators of hydro-electric power, Phil'

yes, well done. not 'exponents', or 'developers', no.

and their stupid little historical facts about the area. and the way they tell us EVERY FUCKING DAY why the riders put newspaper up their tits.

awful commentary. really dreadful. I'm pretty sure a few of us from this forum,with a few beers, could do a much better job.

Ouch. You made me cry.
Are you upset because Cav isn't there... even though you slag him off. Is the Manx blood not good enough? Are you just upset because we beat you at everything except non-sports like darts? Were you an abused child? Sorry.. we didn't mean it..

Oh, I forgot.

Moo.

yes, actually i was an abused child. when i was 9 an australian made me lick his 'little purple wallaby', and it still hurts.

Mainly, yes. But it's not all one way traffic. Point being, sport's not the only thing we have...

the very same hydro-electric power that they've had for 2000 years, apparently!

count arthur strong would be more accurate

I dunno about you guys but I'm predicting Wim VANSEVENANT for the win. Probably get some good odds right now. He should easily make up the 3h 45m on the next stage.

phil and paul are better than Duffers any day...

I occasionally have to commentate at Rollapaluza's and thinking of new things to say and coming up with exactly the right words under pressure is not easy.

it would be boring without their little foibles, for sure.

but I wish they wouldn't act all gay in the studio, all that leg touching and gazing into each others eyes isn't what we want to see on a program about cycling

i don't think they are very good, tbh. their command of english isn't up to it

Benaud. listen to benaud, there's a sports commentator.

Wash your mouth out. Duffer's is a legend. Have you seen the gear he wears? Quality dithering old biffa got to love him get him back in the commentary box!

Phil and Paul, suspect

Fail.

I like that Andy Scleck geuy. I know he has no chance of winning. But he is always right there and he always seems to be smiling. Which is good. Bloody young too

Yeah, you have dirty immigrants as well.

If he's smiling, it's too easy. I want to see mofos coughing up blood and shedding limbs on the climbs..

tbh I've grown up listening to Paul & Phil - although mostly Phil. So I like them but they've been a bit too annoying this year. I think its the ad breaks thing that makes me mad in the first place.

Eurosport guys are good. Sean Kelly is actually really funny if you can understand his accent and his mumbling.

Can't you just ramble on about the local cheese and red wine produce for half an hour?

I miss Duffers :0(

I loved his quote last year "the guys built like a brick you know a brick err shithouse.. err i mean.. umm errr"

They look like two ventriloquist dummies fighting over who puts their hand up who's ass... that said, I too grew up with them and it just wouldn't be the same without them. Did anyone see the '20 Greatest Moments' after the highlights last night? The lack of Il Pirata was a shock, but anyone else notice that Sherwin sounded a lot more scouse back in the day?

Saw that. Left me wandering what they bumped for Cav's 4 wins.

He's from Widnes but hasn't been back there for years, hence the mellowing of the accent...

See also: Pistonator

have to say I prefer david h and sean on eurosport - sean is always spot on with his tactical anaysis and always calls breaks and attacks before they happen - even if he does start every sentence with 'certainly' *
I have to say though that given they have no control over the pictures and they can only commentate on the same pictures that we see they all do a pretty good job.

*good idea to link a drinking game to this on flat stages

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5lR1AQnKg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEQ3N...eature=related

phil and paul all the way