France is sorry ...

Zerman said:

For having kicked out of the Tour de France :

- The American Ivan Basso .
- The American Jan Ullrich .
- The American Francisco Mancebo .
- The 5 American riders from the American team Astana-Wurth .
- The American team Comunidad Valenciana .

Damn anti americans ...

And why did they do that ? To make the victory of the frenchie Floyd Landis easier of course , what a shame .

3/10

Your very first post, and that's the best you've got? 🙄

You're right: France is sorry...

Zerman said:

For having kicked out of the Tour de France :

- The American Ivan Basso .
- The American Jan Ullrich .
- The American Francisco Mancebo .
- The 5 American riders from the American team Astana-Wurth .
- The American team Comunidad Valenciana .

Damn anti americans ...

And why did they do that ? To make the victory of the frenchie Floyd Landis easier of course , what a shame .

wow can you please show me any credible source for the information you have supplied us. I have a feeling this is a really poor attempt at making yourself feel better.

-1 point for accuracy

Zerman said:

For having kicked out of the Tour de France :

- The American Ivan Basso .
- The American Jan Ullrich .
- The American Francisco Mancebo .
- The 5 American riders from the American team Astana-Wurth .
- The American team Comunidad Valenciana .

Damn anti americans ...

And why did they do that ? To make the victory of the frenchie Floyd Landis easier of course , what a shame .

You're an idiot.

Zerman said:

For having kicked out of the Tour de France :

- The American Ivan Basso .
- The American Jan Ullrich .
- The American Francisco Mancebo .
- The 5 American riders from the American team Astana-Wurth .
- The American team Comunidad Valenciana .

Damn anti americans ...

And why did they do that ? To make the victory of the frenchie Floyd Landis easier of course , what a shame .

+1 ... too bad the others just want to debate red herrings like the French reaction, the French lab, the French press. It all is designed to remove focus from the serious issues facing cycling.

The french just can't handle an american winner. Wish there was a race of the tdf status without it being in France. As Phil Ligget said the French ride to be the best French rider which is a sure way to lose the Tdf. France the country of losers. If someone told me that they spiked the test I would believe it before I believe that Floyd did anything illegal

TrekDedicated said:

You're an idiot.

obxbes said:

The french just can't handle an american winner. Wish there was a race of the tdf status without it being in France. As Phil Ligget said the French ride to be the best French rider which is a sure way to lose the Tdf. France the country of losers. If someone told me that they spiked the test I would believe it before I believe that Floyd did anything illegal

That is totally BS. If there is something France and the Frenche people don't want it is that Le Tour de FRANCE has a winner that has cheated. It's not only the rider that has been caught but the race itself. No rider is above the race is the phrase, but that the yellow jersey is a cheater hurts France a lot more than it hurts USA. The Tour is a part of France's history, you think they want to blow it on a payback risking the already shady event to a minor feeling about the USA???.. I think not.

Prano said:

That is totally BS. If there is something France and the Frenche people don't want it is that Le Tour de FRANCE has a winner that has cheated. It's not only the rider that has been caught but the race itself. No rider is above the race is the phrase, but that the yellow jersey is a cheater hurts France a lot more than it hurts USA. The Tour is a part of France's history, you think they want to blow it on a payback risking the already shady event to a minor feeling about the USA???.. I think not.

100% correct. the idea that the french sporting establishment would undermine the credibility of The tour in order to damage an American winner is frankly ridiculous. The tour is the no.1 sporting event associated with France with huge affection from the sporting public across the nation. They more than any nation have a vested interest in its credibility and standing.

Are they going to shoot themselves in both feet? I think not.

This is NOT a dispute between france adn The USA or between the french and the Americans. It IS a dispute between those seeking to rescue cycling fron the clutches of the dopers and those who profit from doping. let's not lose focus.

obxbes said:

The french just can't handle an american winner. Wish there was a race of the tdf status without it being in France. As Phil Ligget said the French ride to be the best French rider which is a sure way to lose the Tdf. France the country of losers. If someone told me that they spiked the test I would believe it before I believe that Floyd did anything illegal

Landis failed the test.
So whether you choose to believe it or not is immaterial

Further

A quick analysis of the TDF 1995 - 2006 shows how that the French do pretty well at the TDF.

Here is a breakdown of the top nations number of finishers in the Top 10 on GC since 1995 :

Spain 33
France 14
USA 13
Italy 12
Germany 10
SUI 7

Interesting stats Limerick. Notable that there is no sign of Belgium on that list. remarkable that Switzerland is ahead of the nation which more than any other is and has been the heartbeat of european cycling.

One could check onself but do you happen to have similar figures for the Vuelta adn giro. If not i'll research and post them but if so would you post them s'il vous pretty plait?

tiogar said:

Interesting stats Limerick. Notable that there is no sign of Belgium on that list. remarkable that Switzerland is ahead of the nation which more than any other is and has been the heartbeat of european cycling.

One could check onself but do you happen to have similar figures for the Vuelta adn giro. If not i'll research and post them but if so would you post them s'il vous pretty plait?

Belgium has only had 1 top 10 rider in the TDF since 1995 : and that was Axel in 1998.

The Swiss have had Rominger, Dufaux, Zulle and Roland Meier (one top 10 finish in 1998) finishing regularly in the top 10.

Holland have only had two top 10 finishes and they're both down to Boogerd.

Columbia had two - Botero in both cases.

Australia are starting to feature with Evans and Rogers.

Vino represents Kazakhstan's 2 wins.

Austria are there with one win - Peter Luttenburger.

Georg Totschnig : is he Swiss or Austrian ?

I think you'll find the Giro and Vuelta will be heavily weighted toward the Spanish and the Italians respectively.

Georg Totschnig ist Austrian.

obxbes said:

The french just can't handle an american winner. Wish there was a race of the tdf status without it being in France. As Phil Ligget said the French ride to be the best French rider which is a sure way to lose the Tdf. France the country of losers. If someone told me that they spiked the test I would believe it before I believe that Floyd did anything illegal

Err, my mind boggles at the thought of the nationalistic furore that would be rampant in the US if a race of TdF's prestige was held there.

Do you doubt it? Just consider the percentage of Americans that would not be able to immediately locate France on a world map.

[Edit] Having re-read my post, I should make it clear that I am not taking a shot at Americans. I wanted Landis to win, and I sincerely hope he gets cleared. I admire Lance Armstrong for what he achieved in prior TdFs.

All countries have a nationalistic streak,and like to see their own countrymen win. But in this case, I can't help but think the French conspiracy theories are going a bit far. When comparing French patriotism with the emotions that would be stirred up in the US, one of the most nationalistic nations on the face of the earth, if a TdF equivalent race was held, I don't think the French are overly prejudiced.

France is sorry for having spawned the greatest bike race on the planet? I am sorry that my sport, our sport is a laughing stock because of doping cheats. It has been going on for decades and has got out of hand. May this be the year that it crumbles and we can rebuild but clean this time. Or make it Festina all over again and the cheats can simply devise new, more elusive methods of cheating. I loved watching Floyd's great escape but if he has cheated then screw him. If not back the man up. Simple.

If he has cheated then he is dumping tons of bad karma on himself, lying publicly and to his saintly mom too.

God help us all. :o

Zerman said:

For having kicked out of the Tour de France :

- The American Ivan Basso .
- The American Jan Ullrich .
- The American Francisco Mancebo .
- The 5 American riders from the American team Astana-Wurth .
- The American team Comunidad Valenciana .

Damn anti americans ...

And why did they do that ? To make the victory of the frenchie Floyd Landis easier of course , what a shame .

Nice try for a French rookie. Something we haven`t seen yet.😄

longbottom said:

Georg Totschnig ist Austrian.

Thanks for that - for whatever reason I had it in my head that Georg was Swiss.

Thanks for the clarification.

Stefan Wesseman was German who became Swiss.🙂

Top 10 GC places 1995-2005 by nationality : Vuelta

SUI 6
RUSSIA 3
ITAL 11
SPAIN 64
AUSTRIA 1
FRANCE 5
USA 2
GERMANY 1
USA 3

Top 10 GC places 1995 -2006 by nationality : Giro

SUI 3
RUSSIA 9
ITAL 58
SPAIN 16
AUSTRIA 3
FRANCE 2
UKR 9
USA 1

Switzerland and Austria are probably first by capita. BTW why did you write that statistic?