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Post by robmarsh on Jul 29, 2018 10:23:50 GMT
Enjoy the race all of you. John Charles I watch a bit of the TDF and this year the scenery has been spectacular. Actually I do enjoy the commentary on the TDF as well. It is just about perfect. The TDF is a Tour de Force. A travelogue and a very competitive sporting event wrapped up in one.
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Post by René on Jul 29, 2018 10:23:54 GMT
Having said all this I have been fully entranced by the 2018 Tour de France. I have been watching more and more cycling over the past few years and it is good viewing made even better by fantastic scenery and a wonderful commentary with no hyperbole and hugely intelligent and knowledgeable interjections. What a shame that Coultard et al cannot be more intellectual like David Miller on the UK ITV4 TDF coverage. Yes the Tour was wonderful this year. And with Dutch star Tom Dumoulin (he's from the same city as myself) we have a lot to cheer for. A wonderful rider who will win the Tour for sure in the near future but he will need a stronger team. He has to do it all alone now against a very strong Sky team. But that doesn't take anything away from a super performance by Thomas. Well deserved.
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Post by charleselan on Jul 29, 2018 11:23:56 GMT
Enjoy the race all of you. John Charles I watch a bit of the TDF and this year the scenery has been spectacular. Actually I do enjoy the commentary on the TDF as well. It is just about perfect. The TDF is a Tour de Force. A travelogue and a very competitive sporting event wrapped up in one. It is an amazing event Rob and although i have been aware of it all my life it has only been in recent years that I have begun to take an interest, helped by superb TV coverage in the UK and a ever increasing interest by the English. France is a truly amazing country with such a diverse panorama and I must say that the demanding and gruelling stage in the Pyrenees on Friday was outstandingly spectacular. It is my favourite part of France and i really wanted to move there, however it presented issues with logistics concerning our enterprise and the North of France became the reality. The UK ITV4 commentary is outstanding and David Miller is simply superb, his all round knowledge about all matters is exemplary and all down to his own knowledge base and not scripted in any way. Oh! to have a F1 commentary like this, without the tabloidesque rubbish we are forced to listen to from both S*Y SportF1 and UKC4. the latter yesterday in qualification highlights was nauseous in the extreme being a total "Love Fest" from beginning to end for the Mighty Hamilton. They actually attempted a real hatchet job on Sebastian Vettel, no doubt paying homage to their online sycophants and Hamilton's own sermon about how great his German GP was, and how it was undervalued by the media.
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Post by charleselan on Jul 29, 2018 11:31:25 GMT
Having said all this I have been fully entranced by the 2018 Tour de France. I have been watching more and more cycling over the past few years and it is good viewing made even better by fantastic scenery and a wonderful commentary with no hyperbole and hugely intelligent and knowledgeable interjections. What a shame that Coultard et al cannot be more intellectual like David Miller on the UK ITV4 TDF coverage. Yes the Tour was wonderful this year. And with Dutch star Tom Dumoulin (he's from the same city as myself) we have a lot to cheer for. A wonderful rider who will win the Tour for sure in the near future but he will need a stronger team. He has to do it all alone now against a very strong Sky team. But that doesn't take anything away from a super performance by Thomas. Well deserved. The time trial yesterday was fantastic sport in its truest sense. Tom Dumoulin is a great competitor René and that as one mighty close finish. Chris Froome has been the subject of much media interest over the past year, but there can be little doubt that he is a great cyclist. He is not loved in France and neither are the S*Y Team who have become a little like the Mercedes Benz team in F1. Mind you the French really cannot cope with the fact that they have not had a winner in a very long time, and openly accuse every other winner as a cheat. Funnily enough they seem to forget that they won the World Cup with two goals that were the result of either cheating and or a bad ref's decision . However all that being said there is little doubt that Geraint Thomas is a most worthy winner and hugely popular also. A great rider who has finally come of age.
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Post by mikael on Jul 29, 2018 11:55:00 GMT
Regarding Tour de France ... I might be too much into yesteryear - but as a Dane I always come to think of the great documentary from 1976 "A Sunday in Hell" (orig. Danish title: "En Forårsdag i Helvede " = "A Spring Day in Hell") by the (Danish) instructor Jørgen Leth. Maybe you all know it? It's available on YouTube; here it is:
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Post by charleselan on Jul 29, 2018 12:04:37 GMT
Regarding Tour de France ... I might be too much into yesteryear - but as a Dane I alsways come to think of the great documentary from 1976 "A Sunday in Hell" (orig. Danish title: "En Forårsdag i Helvede " = "A Spring Day in Hell") by the (Danish) instructor Jørgen Leth. Maybe you all know it? It's available on YouTube; here it is:
Mikael, We can never be too much into yesterday, fantastic film thank you. JC
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2018 12:38:46 GMT
Regarding Tour de France ... I might be too much into yesteryear - but as a Dane I always come to think of the great documentary from 1976 "A Sunday in Hell" (orig. Danish title: "En Forårsdag i Helvede " = "A Spring Day in Hell") by the (Danish) instructor Jørgen Leth. Maybe you all know it? It's available on YouTube; here it is:
That film is about the 1976 Paris-Roubaix, L'enfer du Nord, not the Tour de France, Mikael.
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Post by mikael on Jul 29, 2018 13:04:06 GMT
Regarding Tour de France ... I might be too much into yesteryear - but as a Dane I always come to think of the great documentary from 1976 "A Sunday in Hell" (orig. Danish title: "En Forårsdag i Helvede " = "A Spring Day in Hell") by the (Danish) instructor Jørgen Leth. Maybe you all know it? It's available on YouTube; here it is:
That film is about the 1976 Paris-Roubaix, L'enfer du Nord, not the Tour de France, Mikael.
You're right, Lucio - I should really have pointed that out.
Frankly speaking, it's a long time ago since I sat down and watched this movie in full and the facts and details were a bit blurry. Yet it made such an impression on me (as a boy) that the more famous Tour de France somehow always makes me think of it. For many Danes, a factor that makes this film unforgettable is actually the voice of Jørgen Leth, who narrated the film himself. He has a very unique and most "compelling" voice - a point that unfortunately is lost in other editions, like the present English one. (Not to say that the English narration isn't nice - I think the British narrator has a most pleasant voice indeed.)
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Post by René on Jul 29, 2018 18:15:45 GMT
Hats off to Lewis for a well deserved win, the second victory in a row where his Mercedes was not the outright fastest car. Lady Luck (or God...) was on his side but he drove a perfect race again.
I think Ferrari should have called Vettel in two or three laps earlier when the gap to Bottas was still 24 seconds. He would have avoided traffic and come back out in front of Bottas for sure. That would have given him the chance to hunt down Hamilton.
Red Bull is falling behind Ferrari and Mercedes more and more. Not looking good.
Great result for Gasly!
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Post by René on Jul 29, 2018 18:21:56 GMT
Did you guys hear the story about Alonso and Ferrari by the way? I couldn't believe it but it's true:
They say Fernando walked in the Ferrari motorhome on the Saturday and said aloud for all to hear: "Guys, you have the best car on the grid and if you want, I will drive for you next year, for free. Vettel will not win the championship for you. I am the only one who can beat Lewis". And then he left. Seriously....
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Post by Jamie on Jul 29, 2018 18:32:35 GMT
Did you guys hear the story about Alonso and Ferrari by the way? I couldn't believe it but it's true: They say Fernando walked in the Ferrari motorhome on the Saturday and said aloud for all to hear: "Guys, you have the best car on the grid and if you want, I will drive for you next year, for free. Vettel will not win the championship for you. I am the only one who can beat Lewis". And then he left. Seriously.... Is that really true? If so, he’s right about one thing - Ferrari have the best car.....but I think Vettel will win this year. Another excellent measured drive from Lewis and I agree with you René, Ferrari should have got him in a few laps earlier to ensure he got out ahead of Bottas. Mind you, it was a bad pit-stop which didn’t help. Lewis is very good at keeping the soft tyre alive and it’s been the main factor in his last two wins when he certainly didn’t have the fastest car (outright dry pace at least). Really good form from Lewis, whatever you think of him outside the car, he’s driving like a champion. However, I still think Seb will be WC this year. It was a shame that Ferrari couldn’t win for their fallen leader, it would have been a nice touch but it wasn’t to be. Bottas went a bit nuts at the end didn’t he 😁 The rabbid red fans on MS will be quoting all sorts of foul 😂
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Post by chrisb on Jul 29, 2018 20:57:46 GMT
JC, firstly the commentary, your thoughts somehow mirrored mine as I was watching the Suzuka 8 hrs witnessing Yamaha win for the 4th time in a row, brilliant, but what was excellent was the commentary and for the life of me I cannot recollect the guy's name who does the Eurosport commentary but he is simply the best and Nick Harris was there as well and he is brilliant sadly retired but obviously wheeled out for special occasions, whereas the nauseating sychophantic tendencies of Steve Day is vomit inducing, he is so far up Marquez's anatomy it really is pathetic, and of course Eurosport has the good Matt Roberts who along with Lee McKenzie are simply the best presenters and then I put on the radio to listen to the GP, I thought James Allen was hysterical enough but whoever it is on the BBC needs to have a think about a career change, but then i went to watch it on C4, oh dear, whoever this person is who introduces it, please go away and let the grown ups present the show, please, how Lee Mc was wasted by this nauseating moron who actually thinks he has a sense of humour, well maybe for pubescent girls but not for grown ups, and then we speak of co-commentators, Eurosport and MotoGP - pretty good, James Whitam, brilliant, Niall McKenzie, Neil Hodgson, Steves Plater, Parrish, all brilliant and then we get DV and Chandook - sheesh, another isshhoo and what ever happened to the real Ben Edwards? you used to be great , now it sounds like you are soiling yourself - my rant over -
Lewis was impressive and untroubled, irrespective if Ferrari made a mess of things or not, I really didn't see them overtaking Lewis, but its Merc who puzzled me, not sure why they didn't bring Valteri in earlier - thought Kimi drove a good race and why would you get rid of him? he is still quick and honestly I do think he could at certain circuits compete with Seb, if allowed to
totally agree a Ferrari win for their late leader would have been a nice touch, I read Mark's story of him and he sounded a real class act,
Alonso back at Ferrari, maybe he has a point? would he have been WDC last year in a Ferrari?
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Post by mikael on Jul 29, 2018 23:55:45 GMT
Did you guys hear the story about Alonso and Ferrari by the way? I couldn't believe it but it's true: They say Fernando walked in the Ferrari motorhome on the Saturday and said aloud for all to hear: "Guys, you have the best car on the grid and if you want, I will drive for you next year, for free. Vettel will not win the championship for you. I am the only one who can beat Lewis". And then he left. Seriously.... An advantage of the present situation is that he can stay happily in the belief he's still the very best driver. And the idea is even supported by some journalists.
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Post by Carl on Jul 30, 2018 2:56:47 GMT
I usually record races to allow me to edit my own replays and fast forward commercials. I carefully watched both races today and there was no comparison. IndyCar at Mid-Ohio was what racing should be, wheel to wheel with passing for position somewhere every lap. Firestone offer only two dry compounds with no pretense of black magic and both tyre and pitstop strategy are important, but less important than the driving skill demanded by the regulations. The recent reduction of downforce has returned more control to the drivers and more validity to the racing. Daniel Ricciardo's passes in Hungary were awesome, but surpassed by those of Josef Newgarden and Sebastien Bourdais in Ohio. In Hungary, as sometimes happens when drivers are captive to the boons and banes of aerodynamic downforce, the announcers speculated relatively early about which pit strategy combined with which tyre strategy was most likely to win the race. That's not racing!!!
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Post by Carl on Jul 30, 2018 3:20:24 GMT
Did you guys hear the story about Alonso and Ferrari by the way? I couldn't believe it but it's true: They say Fernando walked in the Ferrari motorhome on the Saturday and said aloud for all to hear: "Guys, you have the best car on the grid and if you want, I will drive for you next year, for free. Vettel will not win the championship for you. I am the only one who can beat Lewis". And then he left. Seriously.... An advantage of the present situation is that he can stay happily in the belief he's still the very best driver. And the idea is even supported by some journalists. After he chose to play hard ball with top level Ferrari management, Alonso may be afraid to decide anything. His career has been diminished partly by self-afflicted dumb decisions and listening to Flavio Briatore.
If the anecdote is true, by offering his services for free, he's found a way not to pay his manager any commission.
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