Tour de France review: Round-table part 1 – The riders and the race

As is our wont, we’ve all got together after three weeks in France to discuss what should have happened, what could have happened and what did happen in this year’s Tour de France. And then we discussed some more! Continue reading

Tour Tweets of the Week: Celebrations, pain and puking, and the Millar-Zabriskie show

Funny, cruel, odd, personal … you get it all on Twitter. Each week, we’ll have a rundown of some of our favourite tweets. Here are the tweets for the week ending 22nd July 2012.

It’s time for some champers on the Champs

If you’ve never been on the Champs-Elysees for the last stage of the Tour de France, you’re really missing out. And this year, it was especially rollicking, as thousands of British fans had crossed the Channel to cheer on the maillot jaune Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky. Here are some of the pictures, from both fans and riders, of the celebrations after the stage.

One of the highlights of the day is when the teams ride out after the stage to get their picture taken in front of the Arc deTriomphe. It’s an opportunity for the fans to get autographs and to see the guys giddy with excitement that, thank God, they made it through!

If you remember a few TofW back, Adam Hansen had a bet with Andre Greipel – and Greipel lost so he had to ride down the Champs in surfer shorts and flipflops. Personally, with no Cancellara in the offing, this was my favourite part of the whole day! That Andre Greipel … blimey, he’s got a fine chest … and Hansen isn’t too bad either!

A lot of riders have their kids with them on the bike – Cadel Evans had his lil man with him and the Tour champ himself is obviously getting his son used to riding on those Parisian cobbles.

But let’s take a step back… A key moment in Sunday’s stage was when the peloton honoured George Hincapie by having him lead them out as they came onto the Champs, showing their respect for his long and illustrious career and giving him a retirement moment to remember.

And just to plug our darling Panache’s handiwork, here is a fan picture from the Champs … and she’s wearing a SchleckChute teeshirt!

But the week wasn’t only about the Champs. They had some mountains to get over …

I hurt myself today … again

And then there’s adding insult to injury … sounds like he’d be better off staying on the Team Sky bus.

But it wasn’t all pain, there was some lightheartedness along the way …

What happens on the Tour … goes on Twitter

Seven lions and a frog makes for a winning team!

If only we had a picture of THIS tweet …

We don’t know if Dave Zabriskie’s invitation was taken up – if you know (or if it was you!), tweet us!!!

Back to the frog …

While we may have a new contestant for Australian Idol, if he has time …

A little joke for Jens …

And, as always, the guys make sure the fans are having a good time too.

Anyone who follows Melissa German knows that she adores The World’s Greatest Living German™, so imagine her excitement when she got to meet and talk to him during the rest day in Pau. Apparently, it was Frank Schleck‘s mum who took the picture. And this must have been about an hour before the news broke about Frank’s positive A sample …

Hansen-Henderson move over … it’s the Millar-Zabriskie show!

For quite a while now, no one has been able to get near the Hansen-Henderson show. Until now. David Millar and Dave Zabriskie were sharing a room during the Tour and @millarmind made a strong bid all week to take the Comedy Duo crown away the Lotto boys. He won this week, but will this become a rivalry to cherish?

So how did that turn out?

The dynamic duo were out and about before the stages, spreading their own kind of Garmin cheer.

To end this final Tour Tweets of the Week we have …

Jens eating his words

Well, that’s the Tour over for this year … there have been some memorable moments and memorable tweets! Next up, the Olympics and then the Vuelta so there’s more where that’s come from. Thanks to all the tweeties for giving me such great material over the last three weeks! Let’s keep that standard high (or low, depending on how you look at it)!