It’s a ‘minor’ thing to get caught using; he isn’t even thrown out, but most expect Radioshack will withdraw him. I’m at the loss for the name now, but it is apparently mostly used to lose weight, but can also be used to mask other drugs.
The drug is Xipamide and Radio Shack has confirmed he’s out. Seems a silly thing to get caught with…
At first sight, but if you look into why it is banned you’ll find many articles such as this one: Xipamide is banned for its use as a masking agent for other drugs. – bolding mine.
Now, I am not accusing Frank of anything, but he sure went hard at Contador when his problems arose. That said, I doubt there’s been a clean podium in the Tour in…oh hell…who knows? It is what it is. Not just cycling either.
If Frank is on drugs they aren’t working
I just meant that its apparently a well-known diuretic, and of course, well-known to be on the banned list. Dosing problem from the team, or Frank being desperate on his own? This along with the Johan/Armstrong stuff may stick a fork in any hope of Radio Shack continuing on as a team.
I can’t decide whether to stay up and watch the mountain stages today and tomorrow. On the one hand, I think Sky are almost certain to have the climbs locked down as they have been all tour. Porte and Rogers will steam up just below redline and no one will be able to make a move off the front stick. On the other hand, if someone does manage to break out of the Skytrain convincingly, it will be well worth watching.
Decisions, decisions.
I’ll be watching in the UK - thinking wistfully about the European mountain bike trip I’ll be able to take in about 10 years when the kids are grown up.
Not sure I’d be staying up into the wee hours in Oz though - tough one. Like you say the stage could be big on scenery short on action.
Well two races for the price of one: a front group of 38 (!) with names like Voeckler, Vino, Hoogerland, etc. and the pack 3/4 minutes back. As we speak it is the Aubisque… Tourmalet up next.
That raises a question I’ve had while watching some of this Tour. The roads they’re on, at least in the mountains, sometimes don’t even look wide enough for two cars to get around each other. How heavily used are they during the rest of the year? Are these really the main roads over some of these mountain passes, or does the Tour deliberately chooses back roads so that closing them for the race will be less of an inconvenience?
These roads are used and often have some villages or ski resorts somewhere along the road, but in most cases there are tunnels or highways nearby, for people who just want to get from A to B. I remember our navigation system telling us to take the ‘scenic’ route once; it took us at least a couple of hours longer than going back down the hill and through a tunnel, but a nice route. In the summer you see a lot of cyclists on these famous hills by the way, amateurs who want to climb the hills. It can be quite interesting descending an Alpe col for the first time in your life, being tired and surrounded by trucks and cars:).
I think I’d rather suffer and ascend one of those climbs than see how good my brakes are as I attempt to make it back down.
I do a bit of riding for exercise, but the hills just kill me. I struggle to comprehend how they make it over some of those mountains.
Great ride by Voeckler that - avec panache.
Wiggins looking bulletproof right now. See what tomorrow brings.
I like to ride my bike and I can sort of see how they ride a mountain stage - I say ‘see’, it’s far, far over the horizon from the riding I do but with some massive extrapolation I can imagine how a stage like today could be ridden.
Doing it with 2000km in your legs, then getting up tomorrow morning and doing it again? That’s just in a different solar system of bike riding.
We holiday in Austria most years and have driven the Grossglockner road (highly recommended). I am constantly impressed by the cyclists doing it for fun. It is a 2500 meter pass for god’s sake!
Highlight of the trip was going over the top of the Hochtor and passing a chap in full cycling regalia, helmet, glasses cycling shorts, the works…
on a unicycle! I shit ye not.
I’ve done the Seattle-to-Portland ride a few times, which is ~200 miles. (I did it in two days, lots of people do it in one.) The worst climb on the route is about 500 feet. I didn’t always make it without stopping.
Any route that starts with “Col” would probably kill me.
I think it’s pretty clear from last night’s stage that Cadel simply doesn’t have it in him to compete with Wiggins. He seems to be capable of keeping up with the peleton on the climbs, but as soon as the pace picks up either from his own attacks or in response to others, he runs out of legs.
I do a bit of riding and enjoy climbing but that sort of stuff is way out of my league. It’s not so much the length or elevation gain but the grade in some of those climbs that would get me. I’m fairly heavy so I really feel it when the hills steepen.
I’ve signed up for the Rapha Rising challenge which involves climbing 6881 metres (about 22500 feet) in eight days between the 15th and 22nd of July. Although I climbed 1600m yesterday in a series of repeated short climbs, I don’t think I’ll make it as there are only a few days left and I won’t have time to ride on a couple of them. Might be able to do 1000m today.
What do you climb? I can’t remember your precise location.
This is some sort of organized challenge that you’re on your own to complete?
I don’t know whether people heard this from earlier in the Tour - apparently it is genuine but I didn’t catch it at the time as I was watching Eurosport as opposed to ITV4’s coverage in the UK. Pretty funny blooper from Paul Sherwen: