Scottish bloke loses at Wimbledon

[colfromdonny]

Former British favourite Andy Murray was today beaten by OAP in park game.

[MrFrost]

How about beaten by the best player in the world.

[Donnywolf]

Officially he is now Number 1 again (Federer that is) but my god he played some really DUFF shots - check his unforced error count !

Fortunately he played some ridiculously sublime shots as well and (unfortunately for Murray) he was too good for his opponent

[MrFrost]

When your as good as he is, you can afford to play some shocking shots.
Murray was good though, and I feel he will win a grand slam at some point.

[Donnywolf]

When your as good as he is, you can afford to play some shocking shots.
Murray was good though, and I feel he will win a grand slam at some point.

I dont care which one he wins - as long as its NOT Wimbledon !

[roverstillidie91]

Unlucky murray !!! Think with federer nadal and djokovic around cant see him clinching Wimbledon

[BillyStubbsTears]

Unlucky murray !!! Think with federer nadal and djokovic around cant see him clinching Wimbledon

f**king hell! Has he lost again?

[wilts rover]

South African Englishman not quite as fast as Cockney Englishman on cycling holiday around France - neither of whom have fallen off quite as much as Isle of Man Englisman

[RedJ]

technically Kenyan

[The L J Monk]

Unfortunately for Wiggins two factors are detracting from his efforts:

1. The absence of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador.
2. Sky reneging on their promise to be whiter than white when it comes to doping issues.

[wilts rover]

Unfortunately for Wiggins two factors are detracting from his efforts:

1. The absence of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador.
2. Sky reneging on their promise to be whiter than white when it comes to doping issues.

You are being somewhat unkind there LJ, you may as well say itxs underminded because Eddie Merckx and Lance Armstrong are not in it. If Rovers win next years League I will it be undermined because Sheff W or Charlton are not in it? And surely your No2 point undermines no1 when you namecheck the biggest drug cheat in current cycling?

I presume you are referring to the appointment of the Rabobank doctor as an advisor? I dont wish to get too boring on this but see Millars' comments after todays win and Brailsford's the other day.

http://road.cc/content/news/61543-dave-brailsford-defends-team-skys-employment-former-rabobank-doctor

[BillyStubbsTears]

Eric Brailsford? Has he been involved wi doping push-iron merchants then?

Kin 'ell.  I allus knew there were summat not reight about how Duggie would be in ' gutter outside Park Lane at 2am of a Satdi morning, then leading ' line at BV come three o clock. Are you saying old Eric were pumping him full o monkey glands then?

[wilts rover]

Now funny you should mention it. When you are looking for drug cheats you look for 'spikes; in performance, people doing something unusual that they rarely ever did. For years I have always been suspicious about that Tommy Gaynor goal against Rotherham when he danced round about 20 players....

[The L J Monk]

Unfortunately for Wiggins two factors are detracting from his efforts:

1. The absence of Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador.
2. Sky reneging on their promise to be whiter than white when it comes to doping issues.

You are being somewhat unkind there LJ, you may as well say itxs underminded because Eddie Merckx and Lance Armstrong are not in it. If Rovers win next years League I will it be undermined because Sheff W or Charlton are not in it? And surely your No2 point undermines no1 when you namecheck the biggest drug cheat in current cycling?

I presume you are referring to the appointment of the Rabobank doctor as an advisor? I dont wish to get too boring on this but see Millars' comments after todays win and Brailsford's the other day.

http://road.cc/content/news/61543-dave-brailsford-defends-team-skys-employment-former-rabobank-doctor

Your analogy doesn't quite work because Wiggins is operating at the top of his sport. Rovers aren't. What we've seen this year is that Wiggins and Froome are a class apart, but the opposition has been particularly average. If Wiggins wins it, it is without doubt one of the greatest British/Belgian sporting achievements in history, but personally I would like to have seen him take on and beat A. Schleck and Contador (drugs or no drugs) just to show that he is the undisputed number one. (although Froome's performance already undermine this idea)

The other problem for Wiggins is, no matter what he says, we've heard it all before. I personally don't think he is doping, but plenty of people will, and the sport as a whole only has itself to blame for that. This post sums it up quite nicely: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17734

And yes I'm referring to the appointment of Leinders. When a team like SKY promises to act with complete transparency and effuses an ant-doping agenda, to the point where they pledge not to appoint any doctors with any prior cycling background I welcome it. However, when a team like SKY then turns round and appoints someone with Leinders' background, how can anyone really be expected to take them seriously?

[wilts rover]

I quite agree that cycling has a 50 year history of drug misuse in sport, from Tommy Simpson to Contador so people have a right to feel sceptical about the whole sport. It will take a long time to get away from that, Lance Armstrong or not. I am not here to defend Sky. I know people who work and race for them and they say they are clean, but they would wouldn't they. Would you be happier if they were at the back of the field as per their previous tours?

Neither Wiggins nor Froome are the 'best' riders in the Tour. Mark Cavendish is the World Champion for instance. What they are the ones with the best team and preparation for this particular race. If Nivali or Menchev had the Sky team working for them and Froome & Wiggins were in Cofidis would the order still be the same. No way. Wiggins is leading (and will hopefully win) because the route is favourable for him, but he needs Froome et al to help him. And just because they are doing well there is no need to insult the rest of the riders by calling them average. Maybe you just mean that being drug free means that the best prepared riders can win rather than the ones with the best drugs?

It would be unlikely Andy Schleck would do anything this year, he and his brother favour races with high mountain stages and are poor time-triallers, they were trailing Wiggins by a long way at the Dauphine. Who knows with Contador.

[The L J Monk]

Wilts - it's refreshing to hear someone who knows and enjoys their cycling. I tried to talk about cycling with someone at work the other day, and it was still a tough sell

Back to your post - I'm happy to see SKY at the front of course, and with their budget I'd be extremely surprised if they weren't really. However, I'm disappointed in what I see as a win at all costs, even if that means undermining their original values, mentality. If they were launched as the new, transparent, ethical etc etc face of cycling, they really shouldn't be involved with Leinders.

When I talk about the Tour being average, I'm more referring to it almost resembling a procession this year. Yes SKY are setting a strong tempo and dictating the stages, but so strong that no other team wants to attack at all? Nibali has had a couple of attempts on descents, Evans had a token effort a couple of days back, but it's been pretty dull stuff apart from watching Sagan's debut and Voeckler living up to his nickname.

From my perspective, the Tour is the pinnacle of cycling, and its top riders are the "best". The road race world champion very rarely wins the Tour (Evans is the only one I can think of in recent years) so I wouldn't personally use that as a barometer for "best" . Cavendish for example will never win the Tour - just to see him setting the pace up the Mur de Peguere this week was nothing less than extraordinary.

And for me, the best and most ambitious riders invariably end up at the strongest teams, and if they're good enough they'll get their opportunity to go for the GC.

Froome may well find that out next year - if Wiggins keeps it together on Wednesday.

[wilts rover]

Just back from doing a few laps on Tuesday night club training and watching my nephew win his 6th time trial in a row, we will have to get some SW Exile jerseys done.

I have to agree with most of what you have written, but it is only a procession because the other teams have allowed Sky to control the race, it is up to Liquigas, BMC, Greenedge et al to attack them. But if anything is going to happen it will be in the mountains during the next couple of stages. It wont be Frank Schleck though, who would have thought he would be the first to be caught this year.

[The L J Monk]

The fact Frank, as one of the most high profile riders in the Tour, has tested positive is yet another blow for the credibility of top level cycling.

I've lost count now of the amount of top riders who have tested positive or admitted doping over the last few years. Most of my favorites growing up have:

Pantani, Ullrich, Abdoujaparov, Zulle, Riis, Zabel, Virenque, Hamilton, Heras, Basso, Mayo, Contador, Landis, Vino, Millar, F. Schleck.

And in the pending pile we have the Texan. I'd also wonder about Andy Schleck.

Begs the question, is there an argument to legalise doping in cycling?

[wilts rover]

I know where you are coming from LJ but I do hope that Wiggos victory has proven it can be done. Like (hopefully) Hinault, Induerin, Mercx, LeMode before him. But of course there will always be riders who try and push the boundaries and get that bit of an extra advantage. Tommy Simpson, Pantani, Fausto Coppi show the dangers of going down that route and over the edge.

You have to think that F Schleck was either being extremly stupid or a pure accident as whatever he was doing certainly wasnt perfomance enhancing.

Could Britain have the Tour Winner, World Champ and Olympic RR Champion in the same year? It's hardly beliveabe.

[colfromdonny]

British star beats worlds best at the British olympics 

[Donnywolf]

Murray wins AT Wimbledon is different to Murray WINS Wimbledon

[MrFrost]

Fantastic performance from Murray. He's still young. I think he could easily dominate the sport.

[MachoMadness]

I'd personally rank the Olympics above Wimbledon. I don't even like tennis but was enthralled watching him today, it's a shame they couldn't make it 2 golds in the mixed doubles.

[RedJ]

I'd personally rank the Olympics above Wimbledon. I don't even like tennis but was enthralled watching him today, it's a shame they couldn't make it 2 golds in the mixed doubles.

Seeing that Laura Robson more than made up for it.

Obviously I mean seeing a British athlete/pair of athletes make a final..

[DC-]

Murray wins AT Wimbledon is different to Murray WINS Wimbledon

I'd take an Olympic Gold Medal over Wimbledon any day of the week.