The Offical 2012 Tour de France Thread.

[Liep]

Mørkøv broke away from the breakaway and we're getting flooded with emotiporn. Apparently he said he'd win for his dad who died 5 years ago today, and the press is loving it.

[Liep]

Greipel won closely followed by boy wonder Sagan. Sky managed to get a lot of enemies by having Wiggins and Froome pace in LL Sanchez, a stupid and unnecessary move by Sky. Wiggo sure knows how to piss off his fellow riders, last it was Nibali.

[mongers]

Greipel won closely followed by boy wonder Sagan. Sky managed to get a lot of enemies by having Wiggins and Froome pace in LL Sanchez, a stupid and unnecessary move by Sky. Wiggo sure knows how to piss off his fellow riders, last it was Nibali.

The Sky team seems so dominant, that the other teams have no option but to 'gang up' on them, so why bother to play nicey-nice ?

Pity today's breakaway got caught and Vini fadded in the last few kms.

[mongers]

[Brazen]

What's up with all the punctures today? Protesters putting tacks on the route? If so, what are they protesting about?

[mongers]

What's up with all the punctures today? Protesters putting tacks on the route? If so, what are they protesting about?

Random chance clustering of incidents ?

I'll bet the tyres these riders are on are a fair bit lighter than the 25mm things I use on my hybrid and I think those are on the small size.

Plus of course, these roads are quite narrow, with lots of debris on the road edges, so bound to get more punctures.

[Brazen]

From a friend watching live:

"Non a l'ours written all over the road. Local farmers protesting against the reintroduction of bears to the Pyrenees. Nutters..."

A rather niche protest.

[mongers]

From a friend watching live:

"Non a l'ours written all over the road. Local farmers protesting against the reintroduction of bears to the Pyrenees. Nutters..."

A rather niche protest.

Marty will no doubt have something to say about this.

[mongers]

What's up with all the punctures today? Protesters putting tacks on the route? If so, what are they protesting about?

Oh, good grief now that I've seen today's highlights, I see what you mean; I thought you were just talking about the little clusters of punctures we've had on the tour.

What a tool that person/s is, I guess one can take comfort these incidents being rather rare.

[mongers]

Rather uninteresting stage today, the breakaway got organised and the main field didn't bother to chase them down.

However team Sky lets no one challenge Wiggin's lead. 

[Liep]

Frank Schleck tested positive for doping, or rather an illegal substance.

[Liep]

I kind of hope the B sample will be negative, a new generation top rider being caught like this will make it another year focused on doping instead of the race.

Fränk Schleck requests B sample, will claim he's been poisoned

Fränk Schleck has requested his B sample be tested after the UCI advised him of an Adverse Analytical Finding in a urine sample collected from him at an in-competition test at the Tour de France on July 14, 2012.

The WADA accredited laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry detected the presence of the diuretic Xipamide in Schleck's urine sample which he claims is due to "poisoning." RadioShack-Nissan has withdrawn Schleck from the race.

Luxembourg media network RTL published a link to a statement by Schleck late on Tuesday where he denied having knowingly used the substance. It is understood he earlier travelled to the police station himself to make a statement to officers from OCLAESP (Central Office for the fight against environmental damage and for public health).

Schleck's full statement translated from French by Cyclingnews:

"A doctor from the UCI has tonight informed me that a Prohibited Substance has been detected in my urine during a routine doping control performed on July 14, 2012.

"I categorically deny taking any banned substance. I have no explanation for the test result and therefore insist that the B sample be tested which is my right. If this analysis confirms the initial result, I will argue that I have been the victim of poisoning."

[Sheilbh]

Voeckler

[Liep]

Voeckler.

Even if he beat Sørensen, it's just hard to dislike that maniac.

[mongers]

Voeckler.

Even if he beat Sørensen, it's just hard to dislike that maniac.

Yes and an excellent stage victory, he throughly deserved it.

Pity that Cadel Evans challenge has so faded, unless of course he pulls out something extraordinary in the next 3 days. And baring any unfortunate accidents to the top three.