Tour de France

[Jack Frederick]

I began following the Tour since the mid-80’s when the great American rider Greg LeMond began winning the Tour. It is just a great event. It is hard as h*** to follow, but so pleasant to watch the beautiful scenery. Phil Liggett and Bob Roll, the announcers play very well together.

[John Terefenko]

Lost interest since Armstrong was caught cheating and believe now they all cheat.

[Larry Frank]

Yes, many probably cheat. I am still amazed what they can do. How the heck can the body do the mountain stages? And the tour has the biggest idiot people along the route.

[Lee DeRaud]

What always amazes me are the poor buggers filming while riding backwards on the back of a motorcycle.
I couldn't do it: there is literally no one on earth I would trust to drive the thing.

[Todd Trebuna]

Lost interest since Armstrong was caught cheating and believe now they all cheat.

i understand the idea and I’m not justifying, but this is one event where “cheating” probably has the least impact. Essentially these are humans riding bicycles over 2000 miles over 22 days. Either way it’s superhuman, cheating or not. :). Totally respect your decision to not watch it, just noting that performance enhancing drugs probably play less of a role in an event of this duration and intensity.

[Tom M King]

It wasn't just drugs. They saved their own blood beforehand, and did blood transfers overnight to start with a fresh, oxygen rich supply the next day. They also adjusted the amount of red blood cells. It was their own blood, enriched by manipulation, but not after being filled with lactate the day before. Russians and East Germans did that back in their days at the Ollympics too.

That's what they meant by "blood doping". They could still pass a drug test because it was their own blood.

[Alan Lightstone]

I also used to follow the tour religiously. A good friend of mine actually used to have one of Lance's bikes on his wall with a jersey. Since removed.

I was not at all surprised to see all the cheating revealed. We were asking these riders to perform superhuman feats. We shouldn't have been surprised at all that they all cheated to be able to do them.

The most telling fact regarding the level of cheating came from Greg Lemond. He was injured in that freak accident, after winning the Tour, and came back 2 years later in what he described the best shape of his life. He couldn't keep up with the peloton. So something had changed, and was rotten. Now, of course, we know what that was.

[Thomas Wilson]

It wasn't just drugs. They saved their own blood beforehand, and did blood transfers overnight to start with a fresh, oxygen rich supply the next day. They also adjusted the amount of red blood cells. It was their own blood, enriched by manipulation, but not after being filled with lactate the day before. Russians and East Germans did that back in their days at the Ollympics too.

That's what they meant by "blood doping". They could still pass a drug test because it was their own blood.WADA is onto that and has it pretty well policed. They use a long term monitoring program called the Blood Passport for red blood cell count, testosterone level, and other natural factors.If the count varies downward during training periods or upward during competition, that is a positive test for blood doping. Also, there are blood additives for storing blood and impurities from the blood bags and tubing that are detectable. If the riders keep the amount of whole blood or EPO OR HGH below the positive test threshold then they can get away with doping, but the performance enhancement is small too.

Most of the PED usage today is asthma drugs and is prescribed and given a waiver. I don’t remember the percentage of riders who have asthma exemption but it is way higher than asthma in the general population. So many riders have died from doping, most riders are strongly anti doping and want the rules rigorously enforced.

[Marc Fenneuff]

I watch the coverage every year and this year's tour has been amazing! The Vuelta España will be on Peacock in August as well.

[Jerome Stanek]

i understand the idea and I’m not justifying, but this is one event where “cheating” probably has the least impact. Essentially these are humans riding bicycles over 2000 miles over 22 days. Either way it’s superhuman, cheating or not. :). Totally respect your decision to not watch it, just noting that performance enhancing drugs probably play less of a role in an event of this duration and intensity.

I saw where they were installing a small electric motor to help on the hills. You could not tell that the bike had one. Is that cheating

[Marc Fenneuff]

I saw where they were installing a small electric motor to help on the hills. You could not tell that the bike had one. Is that cheating

In most any competitive event it would be. The gendarmes on the world tours use FLIR cameras to monitor the bikes on the road.

For the blood doping, they combat that now with blood testing that looks at red blood cell oxygenation. The pros get tested constantly.

[Warren Lake]

whats next you are going to tell me its been in body building the last 40 years as well. :)

[andrew whicker]

If everyone cheats, it's a level playing field : )

The cyclists are amazing. Lance Armstrong came over to my neck of woods and a few local fast / pro cyclists got to mtn bike with him.... he's very fast.. blood doping or not. They all are.

I have a friend w/ a USA jersey. When you get to compare yourself to a local amazing athlete and then you see that guy compete against a world level athlete... then you start to get a sense of how slow you are :D

[Thomas Wilson]

Tomorrow is a big day in the Pyrenees at Peyragudes. Could decide the winner.

[Jason Roehl]

I remember an announcer quipping quite a few years ago, before the Armstrong scandal broke, “you just have to wonder if something is up when you see guys pulling away from the pack, going uphill, with their mouth closed.”

[Jerome Stanek]

In most any competitive event it would be. The gendarmes on the world tours use FLIR cameras to monitor the bikes on the road.

For the blood doping, they combat that now with blood testing that looks at red blood cell oxygenation. The pros get tested constantly.

They did a documentary on these motors and they could not detect them without taking the bike apart.

[Greg Funk]

They did a documentary on these motors and they could not detect them without taking the bike apart.That seems unlikely. They have found motors in bikes (Femke Van Den Driessche) without disassembling the bike. It shouldn't be that difficult to detect a motor/battery shielded by some carbon fibers.

[Jack Frederick]

I, too, was burned by the Great American Cheat armstrong and I have not watched a lot of the Tour since. I picked it up at about stage 12 this year watching the Alps stages and the past couple days in the Pyrenees. McNulty and Koos, two young American riders have done very well. Vingegaard in the Yellow Jersey and , Pagacar, in white, the winner of the last two Tours have been the race. Pogacar sitting 2:25 behind the yellow had to make a move to make up that time while in the mtns. They broke from the Peloton on the second to last climb and were away. On a very fast and tricky descent on fresh pavement they were each other’s wheel. Pogacar was leading and spun out going down on the shoulder. He was back up quickly. Vingegaard not wanting to take advantage of the fall waited for him to recover. As Pogacar caught up they shook hands and continued the race with Vingegaard winning by over a minute, extending his lead and barring some catastrophe pretty much guaranteeing the win on Sunday in Paris. It was worth watching this years Tour to see that one moment of sportsmanship.

[Frederick Skelly]

On a very fast and tricky descent on fresh pavement they were each other’s wheel. Pogacar was leading and spun out going down on the shoulder. He was back up quickly. Vingegaard not wanting to take advantage of the fall waited for him to recover. As Pogacar caught up they shook hands and continued the race with Vingegaard winning by over a minute,...... It was worth watching this years Tour to see that one moment of sportsmanship.

Wow. I haven't seen that kind of behavior in a long time. That's refreshing.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were a big let down. I watch old Eddy Merckx and newer Peter Sagan youTubes sometimes.

[Alan Lightstone]

... On a very fast and tricky descent on fresh pavement they were each other’s wheel. Pogacar was leading and spun out going down on the shoulder. He was back up quickly. Vingegaard not wanting to take advantage of the fall waited for him to recover. As Pogacar caught up they shook hands and continued the race with Vingegaard winning by over a minute, extending his lead and barring some catastrophe pretty much guaranteeing the win on Sunday in Paris. It was worth watching this years Tour to see that one moment of sportsmanship.

That's actually normal Tour etiquette. It's occurred many times before. The handshake, however, was a very nice touch.

[Jim Barkelew]

I began following the Tour since the mid-80’s when the great American rider Greg LeMond began winning the Tour. It is just a great event. It is hard as h*** to follow, but so pleasant to watch the beautiful scenery. Phil Liggett and Bob Roll, the announcers play very well together.

Me too. Not sure why but the scenery, speed, danger, team strategy, and exceptional athletes. Notice the idiot spectators running beside the riders can't keep up going uphill. As far as the past cheating I assume those who don't watch because of it, don't watch football, baseball, basketball also.

Jim

[Greg Funk]

That's actually normal Tour etiquette. It's occurred many times before. The handshake, however, was a very nice touch.I've seen riders wait when a contender is delayed because of something outside their control, e.g. mechanical, fan interference, crash in a group etc. I've never seen it when one rider makes a mistake on a downhill.

If Vingegaard had been behind at the time no on would have batted an eye if he pressed on without waiting.

[Lee Schierer]

That's actually normal Tour etiquette. It's occurred many times before. The handshake, however, was a very nice touch.

According to the commentary during the race Vingegaard and Pogačar are good friends.

[Michael Weber]

I get almost as excited as Arlo. Almost.483386

[andrew whicker]

I finally finished the extended highlights last night. What an excellent experience. I never watched a full TDF before. Those guys are beyond amazing on a bike. 19 days of extremely hard riding and they can still put down a 25 mile / 1400 ft gain TT lap w/ a 31.6 mph average on the 20th day!! That is crazy. Can't even imagine.

The beginning of the last stage was fun to watch. I enjoyed how much Pogacar was enjoying himself even though he couldn't catch the yellow. The race between them was a great show of two amazing athletes.
I'll be watching extended highlights of the women's soon.

[Patrick McCarthy]

According to the commentary during the race Vingegaard and Pogačar are good friends.

I heard that comment too, BUT i also heard Tadej tell a commentator he did not have Jonas' mobile number . . . . which i think he would if they were good friends.

But agree wholeheartily, the sportsmanship was impressive, so much so that i was happy with Jonas Vingegaard winning the tour.

[Matt Day]

Count me as a previous watcher. Watched every state for about 10 years, just can’t afford the time these days. It’s a huge commitment to watch and follow it!

[andrew whicker]

Yeah, each extended highlight was around an hour.