Cyclists, are you just cyclists for exercise

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by bluegoose

I follow the pro cycling tour and all of their grand tours from afar, aside form Le Tour, which I follow pretty closely.

For me, its just a matter of time. College football is really the only sport that I follow closely throughout the entire season. College hoops I follow closely in Feb and March. But all other sports has fallen back to checking the headlines in the paper over breakfast each morning or on the internet at lunch.

I follow the Tour for the history, pagentry and for the world class competition. Eveyone brings "it" for the Tour. The Giro and Vuelta, while grand tours, are still second rate on the world stage compared to the Tour. For a lot of guys its a good workout leading up to July or just a way to gauge the fitness levels of your competition.

Plus, there are too many Eye-Talians in the top 10 that I've never heard of.

Although without Astana, the Le Tour won't be very special this year.

[creekster]

I have followed the Giro this year, although not as closely as I have in the past. I have been affected by two issues: my own lack of fitness and the drug scandals. The more I am riding the more I pay attention tot he tours and races. This year, I am only now starting to ride again and it is not pretty. I also have to admit that the drug scandals have got me down a bit. I am just not as excited about it as I used to be. All winners back to Indurain are suspect for me and it does taint my view of it all. As much as I think he has handled himself poorly these last few years, I also find LeMond's story to be persuasive given what we now know about the peloton. Even so, I will be deeply wrapped up in the TdF this year, as usual, although the lack of Astana will make the Tour look second rate.