Its this time of the year when one of the most controversial, most read, most viewed and one of my favourite sports event happens.
Yes folks its cycling time again
The tour de france is back
here with i am starting the official thread.
If you are new and wanna catch some history do check
http://www.funenclave.com/56282-post1.html
This thread will track 2008 edition.
This time around the controversy has struck before race was even planned out completely.
Defending Champion and Giro D Itallia 2008 winner Alberto Contador will not be able to participate as his team Team Astana have not been invited because of multiple drug involvements last year.
That will ensure we will have new champion this year.
The Tour 2008 :
The Stages:
This time around there will not be any prologue stage. The time trials have been shortened.
here are the stages
The riders :
SILENCE - LOTTO (SIL)
Sporting Manager : DAMIANI Roberto
TJALLINGII Maarten, DOCKX Bart, VANSEVENANT Wim, VAN SUMMEREN Johan,
POPOVYCH Yaroslav,
MC EWEN Robbie, HOSTE Leif, CIONI Dario, BRANDT Christophe, AERTS Mario,
EVANS Cadel
TEAM CSC SAXO BANK (CSC)
Sporting Manager : ANDERSEN Kim
KROON Karsten, BAK Lars,
VOIGT Jens, SORENSEN Nicki, SCHLECK Frank, SCHLECK Andy,
O’GRADY Stuart,
GUSTOV Volodymir,
CANCELLARA Fabian, ARVESEN Kurt-Asle,
SASTRE Carlos
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (EUS)
Sporting Manager : CARBAYEDA Xavier
HERNANDEZ Aitor, AZANZA Jorge, VERDUGO Gorka, TXURRUKA Amets, SANCHEZ Samuel, PEREZ Ruben, OROZ Juan José,
MARTINEZ Egoi, ISASI Inaki, ASTARLOZA Mikel,
ZUBELDIA Haimar
CAISSE D’EPARGNE (GCE)
Sporting Manager : UNZUE Eusebio
ZANDIO Xabier,
KARPETS Vladimir, SANCHEZ Luis-Leon, PORTAL Nicolas,
PEREIRO SIO Oscar, LOPEZ GARCIA David, GUTIERREZ José Ivan, GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente, COYOT Arnaud, ARROYO David,
VALVERDE Alejandro
TEAM COLUMBIA (THR)
Sporting Manager : HOLM Brian
PINOTTI Marco, GRABSCH Bert, SIUTSOU Konstantsin, LÖVKVIST Thomas,
HINCAPIE George, HANSEN Adam, EISEL Bernhard, CIOLEK Gerald,
CAVENDISH Mark, BURGHARDT Marcus, KIRCHEN Kim
BARLOWORLD (BAR)
Sporting Manager : VOLPI Alberto
SABIDO Hugo, CACCIA Diego, LONGO BORGHINI Paolo, HUNTER Robert, FROOME Christopher, DUENAS NEVADO Moises, COOKE Baden, CHEULA Gianpaolo, CARDENAS Félix, AUGUSTYN John-Lee,
SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
LIQUIGAS (LIQ)
Sporting Manager : MARIUZZO Dario
FRANZOI Enrico, CORIONI Claudio, WILLEMS Frederik, QUINZIATO Manuel, NIBALI Vincenzo, KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr, KREUZIGER Roman, FISCHER Murilo Antoniobil, CHICCHI Francesco, BELTRAN Manuel,
POZZATO Filippo
LAMPRE (LAM)
Sporting Manager : BONTEMPI Guido
SANTAMBROGIO Mauro, BONO Matteo, TIRALONGO Paolo, SZMYD Sylvester, RIGHI Daniele, NAPOLITANO Danilo, MORI Massimiliano, MARZANO Marco, BRUSEGHIN Marzio, BALLAN Alessandro, CUNEGO Damiano
CREDIT AGRICOLE (C.A)
Sporting Manager : BEUCHERIE Serge
HINAULT Sébastien, HALGAND Patrice, RENSHAW Mark, PAURIOL Rémi, LE MEVEL Christophe, GERRANS Simon, FOFONOV Dmitriy, ENGOULVENT Jimmy, BOTCHAROV Alexandre, BONNET William,
HUSHOVD Thor
QUICK STEP (QST)
Sporting Manager : DEMOL Dirk
HULSMANS Kevin,
BOONEN Tom, VAN IMPE Kévin, VAN DE WALLE Jurgen, TOSATTO Matteo, STEEGMANS Gert, ROSSELER Sébastien, DE JONGH Steven, CARRARA Matteo, BARREDO Carlos, DEVOLDER Stijn
AG2R-LA MONDIALE (ALM)
Sporting Manager : BIONDI Laurent
USOV Alexandre, MONDORY Lloyd, VALJAVEC Tadej, RIBLON Christophe, GOUBERT Stephane, GADRET John, ELMIGER Martin, EFIMKIN Vladimir, DUPONT Hubert, ARRIETA Jose Luis, DESSEL Cyril
GEROLSTEINER (GST)
Sporting Manager : HOLCZER Hans-Michael
WROLICH Peter, FROHLINGER Johannes, WEGMANN Fabian, SCHOLZ Ronny, LANG Sebastian, KRAUSS Sven, KOHL Bernhard, HAUSSLER Heinrich,
FOTHEN Markus, FÖRSTER Robert, SCHUMACHER Stefan
AGRITUBEL (AGR)
Sporting Manager : LEPROUX Denis
RAVARD Anthony, COUTOULY Cédric, MOREAU Christophe, LEQUATRE Geoffroy, LELAY David, JALABERT Nicolas, GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo, FEILLU Romain, CASPER Jimmy, BICHOT Freddy, VOGONDY Nicolas
RABOBANK (RAB)
Sporting Manager : BREUKINK Erik
NIERMANN Grischa, HORRILLO Pedro, WEENING Pieter, TEN DAM Laurens, TANKINK Bram, POSTHUMA Joost, MOERENHOUT Koos, LANGEVELD Sebastian, FREIRE Oscar,
FLECHA Juan Antonio,
MENCHOV Denis
BOUYGUES TELECOM (BTL)
Sporting Manager : MAUDUIT Philippe
, TSCHOPP Johann, TROFIMOV Yury, SPRICK Matthieu, PINEAU Jérôme, LEFEVRE Laurent, FLORENCIO Xavier, CLEMENT Stef, FEDRIGO Pierrick
TEAM MILRAM (MRM)
Sporting Manager : ALGERI Vittorio
ONGARATO Alberto, GRIVKO Andriy, VELO Marco, VELITS Peter, TERPSTRA Niki, SCHRÖDER Björn, MÜLLER Martin, LANCASTER Brett Daniel, KNEES Christian, GRABSCH Ralf,
ZABEL Erik
FRANCAISE DES JEUX (FDJ)
Sporting Manager : MADIOT Marc
MONNERAIS Cyrille, GERARD Arnaud, VAUGRENARD Benoît, ROY Jérémy, LE BOULANGER Yoann, JEGOU Lilian, GILBERT Philippe, DI GREGORIO Rémy, DELAGE Mickaël,
CHAVANEL Sébastien,
CASAR Sandy
SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT (SDV)
Sporting Manager : FERNANDEZ Joxean
PIEPOLI Leonardo, PASSERON Aurélien, JUFRE POU Josep, GOMEZ Angel, DEL NERO Jesus,
DE LA FUENTE David, COBO ACEBO Juan Jose, BERTOGLIATI Rubens, RICCO Riccardo
COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE (COF)
Sporting Manager : VAN LONDERSELE Francis
SCHEIRLINCKX Staf, DUCLOS-LASSALLE Hervé, MONFORT Maxime, MONCOUTIE David, MOINARD Amaël, HARY Maryan, DUQUE Leonardo, DUMOULIN Samuel, BRARD Florent, AUGE Stéphane,
CHAVANEL Sylvain
GARMIN CHIPOTLE (TSL)
Sporting Manager : WELTZ Johnny
LAURENT Christophe, FARRAR Tyler,
VANDEVELDE Christian, PATE Danny, MAASKANT Martijn, LOWE Trent, HESJEDAL Ryder, FRISCHKORN William,
DEAN Julian, BACKSTEDT Magnus,
MILLAR David
So let the excitement and
fun begin.
Tour De France 2008
What a shame really. A champion was born last year and he will sit out cos of no fault of his. (Sure Astana made a mess last year but what has Contador gotta do with it 
)
remember he is the defacto 2006 champion after Landis), Menchov and my perennial underdog Sastre 
Menchov is another good bet, esecially since Rasmussen is gone now. The guy has been preparing full time for the tour and i expect a good show 
Brilliant video scenes 
