Just kidding, but man your boy Tyler is on fire. How nice to sponsor a team that has a great looking kit, beautiful bikes and kicking butt at the same time. Happens to me all the time, then the alarm goes off and I have to go to work. Congratulations Mr. Cervelo. G
I second the congratulations, Gerard. Is it me or am I sensing the growing North American tidal wave seriously picking up steam in European cycling?
Not only Noth American, but scarier still if you are a fan of French cycling, English speaking riders are now capable of completely monopolizing Le Tour. GC threats include, Armstrong, Tyler, Levi, Cadel Evans and possibly David Millar. And for the stage wins you’ve got a slew of Aussies, O’grady, Brad Mcgee, Baden Cooke, McCewen and others. On the horizon Tom Danielson, Roland Green, Floyd Landis, Ryder Hejdal etc. If your French the only thing more appalling may be listening to Bob Roll say Tooor Deeee France over and over again on OLN!
Ha Ha! I thought my wife and I were the only ones who got such amusement over Roll’s butchery of the language, especially the words “Tour de France” Its obvious that he’s been schooled over it because every once in a while now he gets it right. But some time before the end of the show he’ll forget and slip back into his “Rollisms” Gotta love him. Unless, of course, you’re French.
Ha Ha! I thought my wife and I were the only ones who got such amusement over Roll’s butchery of the language… Gotta love him. Unless, of course, you’re French.
This is one French (Canadian) guy who sure does love Bob Roll. If I ever need a quick pick-me-up I’ll watch Bob on tape at the Tour or read an entry in his book “Bobke - A Ride on the Wild Side of Cycling”.
The funny thing is that, when he wants to, he seems to be able to pronounce words in French and Italian with a very good accent indeed. As for “Tour dee France”? Well, how else is a white trash cyclist supposed to say it? Just like that.
understanding is that Tyler, Lance, Bob, Phil, Paul and Millar et al all speak good french as a necessity, I dont know if thats true.
In fact I’d swear I’d seen Roll interviewing people in French on OLN, definitely seen Sherwin and Liggett at the announcement of a tour route press conference speaking good french.
Hey Stuey Ogrady has a shot at the green Jersey with how he has been riding… maybe it will be like the TDF last couple of years with a great battle for the sprinter’s jersey… especially if cippo makes it into the tour
understanding is that Tyler, Lance, Bob, Phil, Paul and Millar et al all speak good french as a necessity, I dont know if thats true.
When I read the headline I really thought this would be an interesting thread. Oh well.
Anyway, I don’t think they necessarily have to speak french, if you ride fast and drop everybody there isn’t much time to talk anyway. But it’s probably like everywhere in life, you have an edge if you can speak to people in their own language. You probably have a better chance of getting another rider to do something for you if you speak their language than if you speak your own. Riis is great at this, he speaks five or six languages and it really helps to make all different riders feel appreciated. That said, the official team language is english, and guys like Sastre who didn’t speak english at all a year ago are pretty good by now.
But I think it’s the same everywhere, speaking your languages gives you an edge. Just last year I was at Interbike and I was negotiating a contract, and these two Italians across the table started talking among themselves about what price they were going to give me. They went back and forth and in the end they offered a not so great price. But they didn’t know I had understood how far they were willing to go, so I knew I had to keep pushing.
As Goethe once said, “So viele Sprachen man spricht, so viele Menschen ist man” or something along those lines (one is as many persons as one speaks languages).
When I saw Gerard jump in I thought this thread would become more interesting. Oh well. 
I love Bobke!
What I can’t figure out is whay he can’t say the name of the race right after doing it several times and spending many years over in Europe. OR, is he just trying to get our goat? I suspect that he is just trying to get a rise out of people.
Well in the world of sponsorship, this is called a home-run - and the best may yet be to come. It was likley a huge commitment for a small company such as Cervelo to step up to the plate for this and I congratulate Gerard and Phil for doing so. I wish them the best of success with the CSC sponsorship. Think about it: A small Canadian bike company being ridden into contention in the Tour de France. How cool is that!