[Closed] Great TdF quotations

What did he say the other day on the cobbles, something along the lines of 'I saw Contador was struggling so I told Richie to get on my wheel and we smashed it'

Total legend.....

"I was a hero, and a second afterwards it was all over. Casartelli was dead so what I had achieved was worth nothing" - Virenque

"Put me back on the bike." Tom Simpson

"Pass the EPO!" 😕

wwaswas - Member
"Put me back on the bike." Tom Simpson

Apocryphal?

"Assassins!"

Octave Lapize to Henri Desgrange, 1910

[quote=eddiebaby ] wwaswas - Member
"Put me back on the bike." Tom Simpson

Apocryphal?

Yep, invented by a journo, Sid Saltmarsh, who wasn't even there

[quote=somewhatslightlydazed]"Assassins!"

Octave Lapize to Henri Desgrange, 1910

Slightly misquoted due to poor translation. In French the quote "vous etes des assassins" is more like "you are murderers"

"He's digging deep into his suitcase full of courage"
makes me chuckle every time i hear it 🙂

[i]As long as I breathe, I attack.[/i] - Bernard Hinault

Counts for protestors as well as other riders : )

Shut up Legs!

I can't quote it but I loved it when Wiggo in 2004 (I think) rode a 120 mile solo breakaway to be caught in the last few Km's. When he was interviewed he said something along the lines of 'I wasn't planning to go solo, I always knew I would get caught but what can you do? It is the bloody Tour de France, you can't just sit up and wait for the pelaton to arrive!'

This is my body, and I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it, study it, tweak it, listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I on? I'm on my bike, busting my ass 6 hours a day. What are you on?

Finally, the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics: I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles.

And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.

Guess who 🙂

[i]there he was, at the very summit of every bike racer's ambition, with the eyes not just of a vast crowd in Paris and the sport's worldwide audience on him but those of his own nation, watching on television. Then he was handed the microphone.

"Right," he said. "We're just going to draw the raffle numbers[/i].

I can't quote it but I loved it when Wiggo in 2004 (I think)

Bit early for Wiggo - 2007 maybe?

"It's curtains for Karpets!"

This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time

I really hope he's right.

Wiggo's raffle quote is fantastic though.

"Make the calculation" - Kelly, every 3 minutes

"new" insert noun here "on the block"

Sherwen and Ligget seem to use this phrase about every 5 minutes.

billet pour un, s'il vous plaît.

Maurice Garin, 1904...possibly, allegedly. 🙂

A place in the lakes was selling mugs with the following

"It never gets any easier. You just go faster" Greg Lemond

"Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill" Fausto Coppi

Also like Stephen Roche's quip, after being given oxygen at that famous finish in 87, that he wasn't ready for a woman just yet

"I don't do other people's expectations"

Robbie McEwen when and interviewer started a question with "nobody expected you to do that"

"Training is like fighting a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired." ~ Greg Henderson

Bit early for Wiggo - 2007 maybe?

Google confirms that you are spot on.

 

I always liked it when after talking about what a lovely hotel he was staying in, and after all the fine cheeses and wines he had consumed there while basking in the sunshine of The Tour, David Duffield would always say "back to the dungeon" when cutting back to the facts man back in London. His sly digs always pleased me.

Racing is licking your opponents plate clean before starting on your own - Hennie Kuiper

"Turn your Grannys face to the wall"

"Hold on to your hats"

"I have never had a single positive doping test, and I do not take performance-enhancing drugs."

"we had a lovely dinner last night, coq au vin, with a lovely little local wine" Duffers to viewers at home, numerous occasions

Normally interrupted by:

'The break David, the break...' Roche to Duffers, numerous occasions 😀

"He's a very good descender because he used to race mountain bikes." Liggett every time Cadel Evans went down a hill.

Just heard on today's commentary

"That's without doubt, the trickiest finish I've ever seen since the previous one"

Wiggins on Armstrong (after the Oprah interview):

It was heartbreaking in some respects for the sport, but then the anger kicks in and you start thinking what a fing ahole.

and on his (Armstrong's) claims not to have doped on the Tour 2009/10

you lying bastard

[i]“Do you really believe we can do this on bread and water?”[/i]

Jacques Anquetil - 1950's