Congrats to your Belgian Gert Steegmans and Quick Step. Hopefully, next year Boonen will be able to race again and it will be a clean race. We can only hope. It was fun to watch everyday, wasn't it? I haven't seen the stage into Paris yet. I missed it this morning and they haven't replayed it yet.

Gaff, thanks and I hope you will see the stage and the sprint of Gert. It was certainly fun to watch every day. This morning when I waked up, I thought there is not Tour and I felt sad. Yes I am going to miss the Tour. But this week every day there are the 'criterions' in Belgium. Today it is in Aalst and Sastre is invited. Tomorrow in another town where Cadel and Freire are invited and Thursday in Herentals with Tom Boonen and Cavendish. This is after-Tour-enjoyment :love:

I felt much the same way. I'll try to watch for those races. Don't know if we'll have coverage here.

Tour de France for 2009 starts on July 4th. Marthe, I understand that Tom Boonen will be allowed to race. I don't get TV coverage at my new house, so I will have to rely on internet and news coverage to find out what is happening. I wish Tom good luck!

Yes Gaff, the Tour has started and Tom was allowed. We were all very happy because it had been sad and difficult weeks. We will never know what had happened because after a test of his hair on cocaine, the result was negatif. So his manager has sued ASO, because Tom had not tooken any drug in doing his job, but in his spare time. At first ASO allowed him to the Tour, but the same day they withdrew their words, under the influence of the Secretary for Sport mr. Laporte who did not wanted Tom in the Tour. But why did he have to interfere in the contractual relationships between Quick-Step-Tom Boonen and ASO ? So this Laporte was relieved of this duties by president Sarkosy. The loyers of Boonen stretched after the veto of ASO an interim order for the court, le Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre. But de judge there declared himself incompetent. The last chance was the arbitration court. And the day before the Tour, this Court has allowed Tom to the Tour. You can understand that is was a terrible week. The last sunday of June, Tom had won the Belgian championship. So we were proud that he could go to the Tour. So Gaff, you can see him riding in a sweater with the Belgian colours. Now we are a week further and he has not had much luck, flat tires, crashes ... And all the Belgian riders are not so good. Gaff, you American are doing very well with Armstrong, Leipheimer and Vandevelde, all in the top 10. I wonder if Armstrong will win the Tour. I hope that Tom will win one stage. For the green jersey, I think it will be to late. You must get him in the first week. I remain solidair with the other riders because each rider deserves a victory, they alle work very hard. Gaff, I hope and perhaps the others girls who are interested, you can follow the Tour. You can follow him on www. sporza.be and then click to Tour Live, but that is in the afternoon Belgian time. Vive le vélo :clap:

Thanks for the link and the update on Tom Boonan. I watched a little of the race on my lunch yesterday. At work, we have a tv and cable in the break room, since no one else was watching, I put on the Tour. Sorry Tom is not doing well. Hopefully, he will win a stage. It is great that he won the Belgian championship. As for the Americans - I proud and it is good to see Armstrong riding so well. I would like to see George Hincape do well. But, you can't have everything. My brother-in-law who is a big fan of Lance Armstrong went on a ride from Seattle Washington to Portland,Oregon yesterday. It is 206 miles. Most people do it in two days, he was trying to make it in one day. I haven't heard yet how he did.

Well Gaff, another week in the Tour has passed. And it is not a beautiful Tour. It is always the same. The Belgian riders are not good. Boonen is not strong enough to beat Cavendish who is the King of the sprint. Boonen told that of course Cav is much younger and when Boonie was his age, his was also faster in the sprint. I do believe him. But they also think that with that whole situation, his training was not so good. His head was not with his training and always thinking is not good for your mind and body. I still hope he will win one stage but I am not sure. Your brother-in-law is a very sporty. 206 Miles is a lot. I think he has the perseverance of Lance Armstrong. He is really the boss in the Tour. He has a lot of respect and fans in Belgium. I also like him. But will he win the Tour ? Some people say that it is an Astana show and that finally Contador will win.

Marthe, my dad is watching the tour and the other day I caught a glance and they mentioned Tom and I was like that's Boonen from Belgium. Happy that he is riding again and dad looked me with surprise how did I know that because I don't follow the race.

Selma I am pleased to hear that you recognized Tom Boonen. I can understand that your father was surprised. But Tom has left the Tour. He is ill, he had to throw up, he has diarrhoea and the flu. He felt so bad that he could not start yesterday. I is very hard on him. He has told that he has never felt 'toppie' during the Tour. Everybody is very disasppointed. His team manager told that it is a Tour to forget fast. Tom has not had the right preparation, neither physical nor mental. In fact Tom is a already for weeks, a mental wreck. He had better never started the Tour. If his mental condition had been perfect, he would have started even if he had the flu. I think that Tom Boonen is not himself anymore. We all hope that our favourite champion will recover quickly but especially mental. There are a lot of fans in France, in the Alpes to see Tom Boonen and to support him. They are very sad now, but understand it. Gaff Hincapie was not lucky saturday, he almost had the yellow jersey. And yesterday the Tour has finally started. We saw what the Tour must be. Real riding. Very good for Contador who is the strongest, but a lot of respect for Lance.

Sorry to hear about Boonen. Maybe some time off to get his head together and healthy will help him. Today is a rest day which may help Lance Armstrong. He still has a shot at the whole thing, but who knows? I wish I could follow the race on TV, but I don't have that cable package. My brother-in-law did well - he made the distance in one day. Armstrong is his hero, so I think he does inspire him.

Sorry to hear that too, Marthe. The thing with my dad happened quite a few days ago, when the sports commentators on EuroSport mentioned him during some stages during of the race. As I understand, and as you said he was banned from racing before and they allowed him in racing the tour, but he wasn't prepared enough. Hopefully he will recover soon.

Thanks girls, I do hope Tom Boonen recovers well. And yes Gaff, Lance still has a chance.

Gaff, did you watch the two last stages in the Alpes. What a performance of Lance. He is so good. I think if he could, he would beat Contador. But we do not know what they want in Astana. Fact is that yesterday Lance and Leipheimer were not pleased with the fact that Contador rode away with the two Schlecks. He had to wait for Klöden, because Astana wants three Astana riders on the podium in Paris, Contador, Armstrong and Kloden. There is a little battle in the Astana house. Did you hear that Lance will leave Astana together with his team manager, our Belgian Johan Bruyneel. Today Lance will announce it. And he wants to ride the Tour in 2010 again. Today is the time trial. I think today is very important for the three first places. Wiggins is also dangerous. In any case it is very exciting. And tomorrow the last mountain : the Mont Ventoux.

Amazing, Cavendish won in Paris, victory six. Congrats to England. Contador is the winner and Lance is third. A fantastic man, smart, strong, congrats to America. But everybody did his best, every boy in this Tour :clap: :clap: :clap:

Those are good results. I'm happy for Cavendish, too. It seems once Lance realized the facts of the race - he played the part of the good teammate and supported Contador. Maybe next year, he will be more prepared to win. Same with Tom Boonen.