Chris Horner Watches the Tour, but only after training

Otherwise, he'd be too depressed to ride.

The ever-candid Horner not only told the San Diego Union-Tribune that politics are the only reason he's not at the tour, and that he expects Armstrong to win, even though Contador has the better form.

Armstrong looking seeking $20m for new team

So says Bloomberg News. What is most interesting is that, according to Bloomberg, he already almost had it and the potential sponsors backed out.

Contador Feud Speeds Armstrong Push for Cycle Team

Since Bruyneel, Astana's director, almost certainly won't put up with the return of Kazhak Alexandre Vinokourov, he's out anyways. And Contador might be forming his own team as well.

Stay tuned.

Eight-Year Suspension not enough for WADA

File this in the double-standard cycling lives in the fight against doping. Pro athletes in the Big Three US sports get a slap on the wrist and a little shame when they test positive. Bike racers lose everything. They're typically fired by their teams and lose any sponsorship deal they might have had. Tyler Hamilton, who already got busted for doping in 2004 and served a two-year suspension, got caught again. The US Anti-Doping Association, USADA, recommended an eight-year suspension. That would make Tyler 44 before he could race again. Now the World Anti-Doping Association, WADA, wants to make it a lifetime suspension. Some think it's about setting a precedent. Might be. Tyler blames his suspension on mental illness, specifically depression, that caused him to take a medication that he knew contained banned substances. But WADA probably wants to scare people straight. Eight years seems pretty long to me, but banning would keep people from participating in sport in any way for the rest of their lives--unless they want to go into unsanctioned sports like power lifting and pro wrestling.

Desert Stahlight Ridazz dig the Tour

Called one of the few regular group rides in Palm Springs, the ride leader is amped on the Tour. True, not much of a surprise that a cyclist is paying attention to the Tour, but the hippety-hop name and the thought that no one else is riding in the desert caught my attention.

Trek helps you get your Wow on

They've got a TdF lottery. You can do it by getting a card at a trek dealer or visiting their site. They say you can win Lance, Levi, or Alberto's actual TdF bike.

Seems like a good payout for easy work.

Astana Riders Slow to get (drug) tested

It will be interesting to see if this story has legs.

The Associated Press reports that: "French Sports minister Roselyne Bachelot confirmed Thursday that Astana team riders at the Tour de France stayed too long out of sight of an UCI inspector during a random doping test last week." The officials "didn't test the riders for nearly an hour." (after a random test visit)

Apparently, the UCI official had coffee with the Astana officials while they were waiting for the riders.

Making News out of nothing: The Daily News and Lance's Flat Tire

folks, it wasn't a big deal. Tires occasionally get cut and lose air. And when you're a leader or even co-leader of a team, at least one teammate is guaranteed to wait for you to help you back. That's what happened to Lance today. It happened with 37 miles remaining in the stage and teammates waited. Somehow, for the New York Daily News, he "avoided disaster."

I guess he did. And I avoided disaster by not getting hit by a car. A little ignorance makes for great copy.

Keeping with their sensationalism, they have a photo essay called Gore de France. I wouldn't write that these are the "tour's most gruesome crashes," save one, but these are the ones they must have had easy access to.

Evans Must have earned Hinault's respect today

While Stage 12 looked like a simple affair, the journos largely overlooked Cadel Evans insurrection. The Pre-race favorite lit up the race with an escape that contained a few other fellow left-behind stars. He started drilling it and after 70km, his little split had 15 seconds. Not much, but it showed that Astana had some work to do. Evans isn't going to roll over just yet.

chapeau!

Will there be a Red Kite Prayer tomorrow?

The Red Kite aka Flamme Rouge aka one kilometer to go banner has been known to tease those at the head of the race. The Red Kite Prayer is what you've got when you're in the mix and aren't sure which way the race is going to play.

We're not the praying type, but we find ourselves tense when we see a race get down to the final kilometer. That goes for whether we're in the middle of the action or if we're watching a race. So close to the finish and yet so much can happen. Anyone solo at the sharp end of the race is both elated and worried at the flamme rouge. Breaks can get caught, sprinters can

If you want another take on cycling, and like an indy vibe, check out the site of the same name. I'll probably be there some myself

Flat Stages Are Not Easy

It's hard to read or listen to people discuss flat stages being easy. Here's one guy's take on yesterday's stage 11, "Another flat stage, another easy ride with a bunch sprint at the end."

These aren't easy. It's more than just a four-plus hour spin. The roads are narrow, the turns tight, the wind shifts, there are countless hills even on what seems like a flat day, and just one mistake by one rider can have the effect of blowing the race apart at any moment.

The finish, despite what many think, isn't all that certain. Look at today's stage 12. The field held the gap to the break at three minutes much of the day and then when Columbia realized they were going to have to do all the work to see the breakaway brought back, they threw in the towel and the breakaway's gap quickly shot up to six minutes, where it stayed.

Columbia was playing "chicken" with the field. Only the field had little interest in seeing another Cavendish stage win. Just as the field should have little interest in Astana winning the Tour. When you're the best sprinter with the strongest leadout, don't expect the field to help. Likewise, Astana shouldn't expect any help starting tomorrow.

Want to sound like a choad, I mean tifosi?

Yes, folks, it's that easy. Just like Walter Kirn fakin' it at Princeton, you can learn how to fake it with people like me* by using a few key phrases from the Examiner.

A warning, don't ever use "velodrome track." And get the distinct feeling Kirn's faking us out now.

*not really.

Vlogger Lance Armstrong gets praise

Some just love Lance. Others love the color he brings. This person loves that he brought in Robin Williams. Much more interesting than any cyclist, and yet, Williams is a cyclist.

Official XBox TdF Game Available Now

Why watch the race when you can race the actual racers yourself?

http://www.411mania.com/games/news/110292/Tour-de-France-2009:-The-Official-Game-Available-on-Xbox-Live.htm

"Players will be able to take control of individual racers during the time trial stages and think of various strategies during the other legs. All of the riding goes towards trying to get a team member the yellow jersey, of course.

Up to two players can play on the same system, or four players can compete over Xbox Live. The game will set you back 800 Microsoft Points to get."

Versus TdF coverage up 83%

And even 18% above when Lance last won the tour.

Reuters covered the story. Apparently, Versus wants to grow their network. "The strong numbers for the Comcast Corp-owned network's early Tour coverage are a sign of the sports broadcaster's momentum as it looks to add content, broaden its reach and boost advertising revenue, network president Jamie Davis said."

Confusingly, the 2008 Tour apparently had record viewership. "Versus has aired the Tour in the United States for nine years and is in the first year of a five-year extension that runs through 2013. Davis is positive Tour viewership on the network will eclipse last year's record of nearly 33 million."

will HTC give us a special TdF Phone

That's what the mobile phone world is asking. Or at least a guy on Mobile Phone News.

Cav is so good, his lead out man is now a star

As every bike race fan knows, it's the team that makes the difference. Mark Cavendish has an amazing sprint, but he has the best lead out train in cycling. The Team Columbia roleurs go to the front and bring back the break, then George Hincapie takes over a little more than a kilometer to go. When he's through, Mark Renshaw takes over. Renshaw burns out just as Cav needs to get his sprint on.

Renshaw's skill is nearly as important as Cav's. And, with the press tiring of Cavendish stories, there's now a rash of Mark Renshaw stories. The one linked to is from Agence France Presse

USA Today Knows Cycling

Every year, I try to give a shout-out to the best coverage of cycling found in daily newspapers. When Sal Ruibal is on the job at USA Today, his paper takes the title easily.

Here he is writing about the radio-free stage 10. He's the rare journo to point out that the upcoming, currently scheduled to be radio-free stage 13, is the stage that nearly derailed Lance's bid for a seventh victory in 2005.

His blog is a decent read, too, though filing daily stories and blogging should result in overtime pay. How's he going to ride and enjoy the eats with that kind of workload? (you can read the fatigue in his writing "velodrome track sprints"?)

18 Pedal Strokes

Team Columbia gives an incredible leadout. They ride fast enough to keep the other sprinter teams on the ropes in the final few kilometers and then drop Mark Cavendish off at the perfect spot every time. on the flat stages that moment was at 200 meters to go. on stage 11's uphill finish, it was at 150 to go.

Cavendish still hasn't taken more than 20 pedal strokes in a sprint. Today, it was only 18 before he stopped pedaling short of the line, victory assured.

No one is going early to disrupt the Columbia train. Some one ought to try it because no one has the jump Cav has. If they wait for Cav to jump before jumping, they're going to lose every time.

Brute Force!

It's a great noir. Skip the next CGI-infused thriller and check out this old flick instead.

Despite what writers at Sports Illustrated think, Bernard Hinault, not Lance Armstrong, is the multi-time Tour de France champ who is not afraid to speak his mind. He may be from "old europe," but the 55-year old, who won the last of his five Tours in 1985, is still The Badger.

in an interview with Velo News' Andrew Hood, said, "There is nothing but brute force that can win a race. The only thing the head is good for is to help endure the elements, because there are some riders who are not so strong in the head and not so good at that."

While Hinault had a rep for grinding his opponents into submission, he also was a pretty savvy racer. Still, he supports Cadel Evans for trying to make the race hard on the Astana juggernaut and suggests that making the race hard is the only way anyone will have a chance to beat Contador, Armstrong, and company.

Cadel Throw in Towel. Is it a bluff?

"I can't win the Tour de France this year, says Cadel Evans" So leads a story in The Australian.

Since Lance is known for bluffing off the bike, is Cadel taking a page from his playbook? The Aussie challenger isn't as far back as Sastre and is a better time trialist and has finished second in the two previous tours, despite a weak team both times.

Sastre likes it Tranquilo, benefits from Astana Feud

No doubt the 2008 Tour champ likes things low-key. He was a forgotten man at the Giro and surged at the end to finish fourth. While in the race as the defending champ,he has been largely ignored by the press. And he seems to like it that way.

20 Pedal Strokes to Victory

That is Mark Cavendish's game. His team drops him off at 200 meters to go and he takes 20 pedal strokes and it's game over. David Jordan of DJ Coaching pointed this out to me and he seems to be right. Watch this video.

The only way another sprinter is going to win a gallop against Cav is to get him off his game. Hushovd, Farrar, Freire, even Boonen need to get their team up there and open up the sprint early because once Cav gets started, none can match him. It also helps Cav that he's smaller than the other guys and sprints in such a compact style. A big rider like Hushovd or Boonen has a hard time getting a good draft from such a small rider.

For an old-fashioned day, an old fashioned game

In honor of the radio-free stage today, I give you Leader 1, a cycling-themed board game. No screen, no keyboard, no mouse. A board and icons and luck. Seems like a nice respite.

'I want my guys eating real food' in a Clif Bar Ad

While it lacks the humor and panache of the latest Dos Equis ad campaign ("I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis"), Clif deserves kudos (maybe even a Kudos bar) for running an internet ad where the main spokesperson, Garmin-Slipstream physiologist Allen Lim, advocates eating "real food" as much as possible.

SWF Desperately Seeking Hook

Sort of. Leave it to those Examiner correspondents/contributors/whatever to stretch the bounds of tie-ins. This story, by a single examiner, relates to food and love, and unfortunately, cites He's Just Not That In To You. Fortunately, crepes come into the picture as well.

Riis thinks Lance already missed his chance to win the race

From the Plain Dealer: "I'm not going to see him in the yellow jersey. I don't think so. I think it would have been something very special for him to have the yellow jersey, but I think he missed it. He missed the opportunity." Bjarne Riis, former TdF champ and director of Team Saxo Bank.

You don't need to go to the Tour to get your message on the road

Nike has a Chalkbot to do it for you. It's a robot that can write (? stencil? transfer?) messages in chalk on the roads of France. All you have to do is: "You can submit your very own message by texting "LIVESTRONG," followed by your message, to 36453, or by visiting the official site."

I want the thing to pick up swag for me from the caravane and send it home, or maybe there's a swagbot on the job for that.

We're hoping for No Earpieces Tuesday

Race radios have been a fixture in pro racing for the past decade or so. It's an innovation thanks to Motorola's sponsorship of cycling. They started providing radios to the team in 1990 or 1991 and as they got smaller, and the fruits of the change could be seen, more teams wanted it. As an observer, they seem to have changed racing. It's much harder for riders to benefit from confusion. Chase-downs of small breakaways seem to have become more successful. There was always an art to the chase, but now it is really well-defined. Maybe more importantly, stages in the mountains don't break up the same way, and when they do, they can be more decisive.

While the racing is different with the radios, I'm excited about seeing two stages radio-free at the Tour. It allows for riders with race-reading skills to shine.

The team directors are complaining because they claim the radios make racing safer. I'm not sure how true that claim is, but it's a macguffin. The real reason they want the radios is for better control of the racing, for greater assurance that the result is what they want. The Tour has actually met this objection by making a race channel available to all where they can get safety information. Though once they allow this, I would think the riders could secretly tune into their team's channel. Hope the Tour is threatening time penalties to the cheats.

American critics are playing the anti-French card, as the first of the two radio-free days is tomorrow, Bastille Day, and French riders are expected to go all-out to win on Bastille day. They figure attackers will benefit from the ban. I don't know if that many French riders really go for it. Yes, we do typically see long attacks that include French riders on Bastille Day, but then again, we see French riders in long breaks just about every day. I think there are 45 French racers in the Tour, more than any other nationality, so it shouldn't be surprising that we see French riders in just about every move.

No radios on stage 10 could be good because it will be interesting to see how the riders do without their directors yelling in their ears a day after a rest day, on a stage that while not hilly, isn't flat either. The other stage where there are supposed to be no radios, Stage 13, is mountainous, so you have both the hex of 13 and the hard stage to see how well racers think for themselves.

Tour Twitter Fiend Amits Addiction

Didn't think people really paid attention to tweets from the Tour. Thought wrong, as this woman from the Salt Lake Trib details her "problem."

Politics in the Peloton? At The Tour?

Cadel Evans tried to make the Tour interesting on Saturday's Stage Eight. He attacked the peloton and got away on the first climb of the day. It could have been a grand escape that took him to yellow or at least shook up the favorites a bit and made them race on a day they were set to take for granted. That's the kind of surprise that Tour fans love.

Instead, he got chewed out by his colleagues and scorned by team directors. The riders in the break he joined wanted an easy run to the finish without fear of being caught and thought they had the perfect move. Then Evans intruded on their party. What's surprising to me is that both Cancellara and Hincapie seemed opposed though his presence could have been a help to both of them. Cancellara had team leaders Andy and Frank Schleck behind, so he could have sat on, and Astana would have driven the chase and if the move was good, one of the Schlecks could have attacked up to the move on the last climb. Hincapie could have benefitted because Thor Hushovd was also in the move and he was there to take the green jersey from Hincapie's teammate Mark Cavendish. Hincapie would have had another reason to sit on.

Of course Bruyneel was critical. Astana would have had to work. All race favorites ahead of Evans want him to stay down where he is for as long as possible. The longer they wait to ride hard, the better it is for them. And, the less likely it is that Evans can move up far on GC.

While I've been critical of Evans for his seeming preference not to attack, he gets rough treatment from the press and fellow racers regularly. While five-time Tour champ Miguel Indurain pretty much won by amassing leads in time trials than hanging on to the best climbers in the mountains, the tactic isn't so popular when you're a second-place rider trying to win by hanging on in the mountains and then killing in the time trials.

The Dallas Cowboys of Pro cycling: Astana

I love the conclusion of Tour de France 2009: is team Astana the Dallas Cowboys of cycling? "This team, under Bruyneel's direction, could be an unstoppable force. Commend Astana for their commitment, courage, and competitiveness. Give these guys some pads and toss them a football and my money would be on them thrashing the Dallas Cowboys at their own game."

Nice.

Not exactly a surprise to me, as I think most football players are pansies compared to the average pro cyclist, but it's great to see the sentiment from someone else.

Lance Knifed in the Back?

"As if set in a Shakespearing drama, he was knifed in the back by his own teammate - Alberto Contador." says Joe Oneill of the Bleacher Report.

My feeling is climbing is a game for the strong. If Lance could have gone with Alberto, he would have. That Contador gained any time on a climb that didn't favor him was impressive. The headwind facing the riders effectively flattened the climb, making drafting possible thus giving those who follow a big advantage over the rest. If Contador could take time into a headwind, then he should be able to get gobs of time on steeper climbs.

Oneill's conclusion: "I don't think Contador will go for that (letting Lance win). I think he wants to take down Armstrong because nobody else has. But what a story for Lance Armstrong. Even if he doesn't win, it has me wondering if, perhaps, he was clean all those years?"

2006 Tour Champ Pulls out, Inspires Silence

Oscar Pereiro, the 2006 Tour de France champion, pulled out of the Tour today, 100km into the eighth stage. Almost nobody noticed. Here's the Reuters story to give you a feel:

"ST GIRONS, France (Reuters) - Spaniard Oscar Pereiro, the 2006 champion, pulled out of the Tour de France during the eighth stage on Saturday, organizers said.

Pereiro got off his bike after some 100 kilometers in the 176.5-km stage from Andorra to St Girons.

"Oscar Pereiro, the 2006 champion, has pulled out," organizers said on their website (www.letour.fr)

Pereiro's Caisse d'Epargne team were not immediately available for comment."

The guy has had a hard year. At the 2008 tour, he had a dramatic crash where he flipped over a guard rail and fell some 30 feet onto the road below, breaking an arm in the process.

Want to Bet on the KoM Jersey? Here's a Guide

Betfair wants fair wagering. So they offer up a guide to who's who in the polka-dot jersey competition. Here's the big takeaway: "This market is probably best grappled with in-play, when the instructions and motivations of the various contenders become clearer."

Find the "market" here: http://www.betfair.com/Index.do?mi=100634859&ex=1&rfr=3013

There are moments I hate Phil and Paul

I'll see if I can find the final 5k video and commentary from Anglo commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. When today's stage winner Luis Leon Sanchez won, they called him a deserving winner. It's as if they forgot four of the final five kilometers. When Vladimir Efimkin attacked, Sanchez sat at the back and refused to chase with Mikail Astarloza and Sandy Casar. He spent four K shaking his head as the other two took hard pulls and looked back at him for help. Then, with less than 1K to go, he went to the front. Savvy racing, but he cheezed off his fellow chasers when it counted. To me, Astarloza and Casar were more deserving; they never skipped a pull. Casar got dropped on the last mountain and chased back and Astarloza put in some good attacks.

Oh the Tour, it's related to this story, sort of

"Area riders spending summer pedaling the world on one, two, and three wheels"

It's in the first three sentences, then "While the international cycling superstars climb the gut-busting peaks of Europe, some bold local cyclists are tackling challenging bike tours of their own, on trips across the United States and in Africa and Croatia."

While I understand a rationale behind designating May as Bike Month in the US, it seems that when you look at the media, Bike Month is July. As with the story above, it's because of the Tour.

I've been arguing for years that the bike community should piggyback on the Tour and make July bike month. So far, they're not listening, which is a pity. Most of hte media seem to be scraping for whatever they can to make a Tour story somehow with their content.

Did Contador Sit Up and Cause Stage 3's Split?

I find this a bit hard to believe, but a French rider claims that Alberto Contador sat up to help foster the split that occurred near the end of stage three. The result of this move was Contador lost 41 seconds to teammate Armstrong and a few other favorites.

It seems that such a move is a bit early for Contador, or any favorite to be playing. He could have lost more time than just 41 seconds. He allowed two other potential winners to gain that time as well.

Then again, if it was deliberate, maybe that's why Popovych and Zubeldia were helping drive the escape, when most woudl have expected them to sit at the back, thus minimizing the time penalty to Leipheimer, Kloden, and Contador.

Nice soap opera stuff. Which is why the Tour can be so compelling.

Sports Illustrated gets so much right and still gets it wrong

I've been troubled by a story on cycling in Sports Illustrated. Tour de France, cycling a clash of cultures for Americans, Europeans by Alexander Wolff. The guy did his homework. Lots of references to knowledge only the most avid students of bike racing would know.

Despite doing such diligent homework, he failed in his own memory. He writes of visiting the legendary climb of L'Alpe d'Huez in 1987. "Sure enough, Ireland's Stephen Roche clinched the Tour that day, clawing back seconds in the final meters before collapsing from the effort. He had to be revived at the finish." Only the effort he's discussing happened not on the Alpe, but atop La Plagne, as he would have known if he had re-read his own story. And the performance didn't clinch the Tour as much as save it for Roche; he wasn't in yellow (lost on L'Alpe d'Huez), he just minimized his deficit so he could beat Delgado in the time trial.

But his thesis, a variation of Americans are from Mars, Euros are from Venus, specifically the tired trope of naive, idealistic Americans vs. cynical Europeans, doesn't hold up for me. Maybe it was novel in Henry James' time, but I've been reading about it since Catch-22. Wolff opens with an anecdote about how the European press spilled gallons of ink on Contador bonking in the Paris-Nice stage race this year, a mistake which cost Contador the victory, while Armstrong dissed his teammate and the most impressive current stage racer in the world in a sentence.

What Wolff fails to mention or know or understand is that Armstrong's put-down would hardly be out of character for any number of European cycling champions. Bernard Hinault was famously dismissive of competitors, even of his talented teammate Greg LeMond. Wolff also didn't appreciate the irony of reading Armstrong putting down his young teammate for the same mistake that nearly cost Armstrong the 2000 Tour.

To be fair to the European press, I have no idea if Wolff really read all those Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, Spanish, and German reports so as to accurately compare.

It doesn't matter. Because I don't think Wolff cares. He merely wants to prove his thesis. Wolff discusses that the European peloton is a medieval guild, with rules and customs, and you have to know someone to get in. For Wolff, doping is what the Euros do for their jobs, while for Americans it isn't what they do because in America, cycling is a middle-class sport.

Of course there are differences between regional groupthinks. But both Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis fit in to the Euro mold better than the American mold. Lance had a tough childhood. Floyd had a strict rural childhood where he had to go to school and then go to work before he could get on his bike at night. Both guys treated cycling as if it were the escape plan. Lance's Tour success is very much tied to his relationship with Johan Bruyneel, a Belgian who made most of the management decisions--which reflected a strong Euro bias.

While it's nice to pretend that doping was something Americans didn't do and weren't tempted by until the mid 90s or later, that simply isn't the case. In 1984, some of the the US Cycling team blood-boosted at the Olympics (story in Sports Illustrated), a precursor to today's blood-doping. One of the top American women, Cindy Olivarri, was busted for doping before the Olympics, but it was passed off as mononucleosis. Alexi Grewal, the 1984 Olympic champ recently admitted to dabbling with drugs throughout his career. In the print article that goes with Alexi's online essay, he also names Steve Speaks and Doug Shapiro (third American to ride the Tour) as guys who got busted for doping in the 1980s. Busted in the US.

He also strives to show how the Euro world is corrupt in other ways as well. "The guild also permits sundry corruptions and collusions, which (Joe) Parkin (author of A Dog In A Hat) would discover in Belgian kermis races that were fixed on the fly, and Dutch criteriums that involved more aforethought: 'All the riders would dress in the same room and a list would get passed around,' he recalls. 'At the top was the time the winning breakaway would go. There'd be a check mark next to the names of the riders in the winning break. And the name of the winner would be underlined.'"

What Wolff fails to mention or know or understand is what Parkin wrote in his book, that for pros, Kermis' were seen as unimportant races and they were carnivals, entertainment, for the locals and that when the races were "fixed on the fly" it was because, as Parkin explained, "Think of this as Homecoming for bike racers. As such, the local cafe might offer him a small bonus for winning in front of his people." Pro baseball pitchers have been known to give away home runs in league play. I'm sure there are plenty of basketball games where people let their buddy on the opposing team make a good show for his girlfriend. While I'm not sure about all the Dutch races Parkin refers to, there is a well-established tradition in Europe after the Tour de France where the criteriums aren't really races but exhibitions where the stars of the Tour always win. Everyone knows it's going on, it's just like a dinger-fest or slam-dunk contest or the Pro Bowl; the viewers are in on the score and they're happy to see the Tour champ flash across the line first in his yellow jersey--as any student of racing knows, wearing the yellow jersey from the Tour in another race is a no-no, so there is another tell that the race is a show.

Wolff writes, "And so, like innocents abroad in a Henry James novel, American riders reached a moment of reckoning. You can leave Colorado or California with your water bottles and Clif Bars, but eventually you'll discover, as Mart Smeets of NOS Dutch TV puts it, "If you want to dance, you put on your dancing shoes." Poetic, nice reference to James, but not true. I'm sure back then, some riders went over not knowing, but many did. Pretending otherwise is nice for stories but bad for gaining understanding or truth-telling.

And what of our American Sports? Our beloved Big Three. Do they have guilds? Do they have codes they live by? Are they colluding, are they giving signals to each other, are they living by a code where doping is part of the game? That matters not to Wolff. We're talking bike racing here. European bike racing. I think if Wolff bothered to train the same lens, he'd find variations on the same thing. If he watched Bigger, Stronger, Faster, he'd know that a doctor formerly employed by the US Olympic Committee to take charge of drug controls claimed in the movie that the USOC wanted testing, but testing that wouldn't burn US Athletes. Exum eventually gave documents to Sports Illustrated that showed "some 100 American athletes who failed drug tests and should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics were nevertheless cleared to compete." (wikipedia)

And to help hammer home his thesis, he reminds us of the famed antipathy between Armstrong and the French, "Today the relationship between Armstrong and the French has deteriorated into schoolyard namecalling." From where I sit, it's mostly Armstrong doing the name-calling. The French have been a convenient foil for him, one that he takes full advantage of, though other than some writers at L'Equipe, a leading sports newspaper in France, I see little evidence that the French people or press is anti-Armstrong.

These days, when Americans go abroad for bike racing, they know about the doping because it goes on at home. Not only have top, mid-level, and bottom-level pros in the been caught in the US, but amateurs with jobs have been busted as well. The hypocrisy American racers see isn't in cycling, where people who get caught sometimes pay with their careers, but it's in the rest of sport, a world where Manny Ramirez gets busted with Clomid in his system and serves a 50-day suspension. Cyclists have tested positive for Clomid, and have gotten two year suspensions. These days, American bike racers are the knowing sophisticates giving a crooked grin when people express surprise that our Big Three Superstars dope.

In the end, Wolff writes, "In the States we're not much for shades of gray in our heroes. But in Europe people take their riders as they are: Wan and haggard, "for us." If doctors and drugs can help a fellow human being survive cancer, Europeans dare ask, why shouldn't doctors and drugs help one contest the world's most difficult bike race? As its most dominant rider contests the Tour de France once more, it's worth pondering not just whether we Americans want the truth, but whether we can handle the truth."

Wolff fails to mention or know or understand that several European nations are doing more to combat doping than we are here in the US. They don't appreciate the shades of grey or doping. German state television networks pulled TV coverage of the Tour de France in 2007 after a German cyclist was revealed to have failed a drug test earlier in the year. Can you imagine any American network pulling football coverage after a positive drug test? Operacion Puerto was a Spanish government operation to bust dopers. So far, only cyclists have been named, though allegedly over 200 athletes were fingered, including soccer and tennis players.

Wolff asks if Americans can handle the truth? So far, at least to me, when it comes to our Sports, we're acting very European. We handle it by saying that when our guy does it, it's ok, but its wrong when the other guy does it, particularly other guys in other sports. This is culture clash?

Some Fluff on Team Columbia-High Road

The best racing team in the world and they have trouble getting press. Between the Astana soap opera and Garmin "clean" story, these guys get missed. They've won more than any other team in 2008 and thusfar in 2009, and they do it with a clean program that rivals Garmin.

In honor of them, I share this video fluff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEJvZlXYZ0

Can the Lance Effect Save the Tour of Missouri?

Lance Armstrong's presence kept the Tour of Georgia alive for many years. Now, the recently-established Tour of Missouri might need a visit from a certain Tour winner,or the promise thereof to keep this race alive. As you can imagine, a state that is facing an economic crunch might see an investment in a bike race as a great way to boost name recognition and then tourism and then see the state's coffers fill up.

Power: Not A Lot

Power Junkies out there: as written earlier, you can find power files of Tour riders online.

Garmin offers up power files of the Garmin-Slipstream riders daily. I just took a look at Dave Zabriskie's power for the Stage four Team Time Trial and there are two things to notice. First, it doesn't look like he used much power. 224w for 1:38. But the TTT was 24 miles. Have to find the right program so I can download his data and then do some data pulling to see how much he really used.

Mass Market Bagels and Lance Armstrong

I thought about those cruddy round-shaped pieces of bread that are passed off as bagels when I got an email from Livestrong.com with the the title "Lance Ranked 2nd Overall After Stage 6."

Ranked? Yes, in the general classification (or gc or classment if you prefer the French), on which Lance has the second lowest overall elapsed time, Lance is indeed in second place, I couldn't help but be disappointed in the word "ranked." I would have preferred "Second Place" or even "2nd Place." I think Lance fans have enough sophistication in the ways of bike racing to understand Lance's position in the race.

I think of the bagel because it appears that many bagel makers decided to make their offerings taste more like traditional bread in an effort to gain a wider following. It hurt the bagel. Lance is big enough that his minions at Livestrong should use cycling terminology.

The picnic in the middle of each stage

Since there are no time-outs during a Tour stage, the guys eat on the go. No surprise there. But even a long time racer might be surprised by how much food the Garmin-Slipstream team says they pack per rider. I'm guessing that the guys don't eat everything. Six bars, five gels, four packs of bloks per rider is a prodigious meal even if the riders were much, much bigger.

Still, it's not the funniest part of hte packing list. Here are the items of greatest amusement:

.10 ml sun lotion/start oil depending on the weather
8 safety pins
.10 ml chamois cream

4 pages newspaper each long descent or/and wet day to pack in shoes.
0.5 caps laundry detergent
1 large bath towel for shower in bus
20 ml shower gel
0.5 cups massage cream
0.25 rolls of plastic tape to attach earplugs from race radio to their ears so it doesn’t fall out.

And now for the Question you've been too polite to ask

How Clean Is The 2009 Tour? The Associated Press answers.

On the one hand, the UCI anti-doping chief says it's cleaner. On the other, anti-doping expert Michael Ashenden says, “It’s clear that riders have learned to dope within the passport...I could write it down on a post-it note.” Apparently, micro-dosing of blood or EPO could work.

If it can be done within cycling, it makes you wonder about other sports, where they're not looking so closely.

What say you?

From far afield, a TdF Tea Party

While I think The San Jose Tea Examiner was struggling to come up with a Tour topic, she succeeded at doing something nobody else has. Design a tea party menu for those days when you're watching an epic stage with friends. Or in her case, a menu for when she's hosting Tour Fiends on her sofa. Know that the chef isn't a cyclist, but a foodie, so there are no variations on electrolyte drinks or jersey pocket food and no pasta plates to celebrate post-race binges.

The Fever is in flavor

e4sf9quhr7

Does the Bike Give It Away?

Andreas Kloden has some impressive palmares. He's even finished second in the Tour and has good form this year. But despite all that, Astana must not think much of his Tour chances. As you'll see from this picture, he's riding the old Trek TT bike, and not the new one that Lance, Levi, and Alberto have. Ouch. Look at the black bike next to Kloden's. You can see from the front which one is supposed to be faster. Klodi even beat Lance and Levi in the stage one time trial, and was only four seconds behind Contador.

The Telltale (racer) Heart

Polar, a big name in heart rate monitoring, has hooked up a number of their sponsored riders to transponders and is broadcasting their real-time heart rate data to the world. All you need to do is go to Polar Cycling and click through to "live race data." Click around and y0u can enter yourself to win stuff, too.

There's a Lance Documentary being shot

Alex Gibney, the guy behind Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, is directing. Here's the easy takeaway from the article, "Hollywood loves beat-the-odds stories, and Sony hopes that Armstrong's return to racing after a 3 1/2 -year absence could prove as enthralling as any make-believe film." Looking for the easy way out? Never thought Hollywood would do that.

Sometimes it's hard being an expert

I don't think I'm alone when I write that the more I know on a subject the more I despair when journalists get things wrong. What about those stories where I'm not expert? Could they be as wrong, too?

Here's a story from Popular Mechanics on Tour Tech that will be at a shop near you. The images on the second page are the disturbing ones. They show an old pic of David Zabriskie on a time trial bike with mechanical shifting. They write, "Zabriskie’s time-trial bike (at top of page) doesn’t yet have new electronic shifting, but his road bike soon will." Only his TT bike at the Tour had electronic shifting on it. He's the guy in the Captain America getup; notice the battery pack on his left chainstay. I guess this is forgivable as the story and pictures appeared in the June, 2009 print edition of the mag, though Z's certainly been playing with electronic shifting at least as far back as February.

But then, they try to pass off titanium cogs as new. They try to pass off aero water bottles as a new thing. They show a conventional Shimano Ultegra brake and caption it with "Pro bike manufacturers mount rear brakes down toward the bottom bracket to declutter the frame. Front brakes are being moved inside or behind the bike’s front fork." So far, this is only true of some time trial bikes. And they show a Zipp 808 wheelset and describe it as a "solid core rear wheel." The 808 is hollow--the only solid core is a disc, which they don't show.

I guess one right out of seven isn't bad.

3,000 Water Bottles for Team Milram...and they'll probably run out

Michael Zellmann of SRAM somehow is penning a column for Chicago Now. It's not like he'll be giving press to SRAM-sponsored teams or anything.

OK, this story has to do with team Milram, a SRAM-sponsored team. And what goes into having a team at the tour. He lists the gear needs of the team in this article. Milram is the milk product name of Nordmilch, which specialized in "curds" among other things.

The Tour can be on your iPhone or Pod Touch

This is what our weary, over-busy world needs. The Tour Live on their iPhone!

I received this headline, but so far, the link isn't working. The tech is via NOS, the Dutch public broadcaster.

Power Junkies, your site is ready

If you live and die by your data download and your powermeter, then you'll get a kick out of seeing power files from Tour riders. Training Peaks, a power data intrepretive program, sponsors a number of teams and will be giving the world some peeks at Training Peaks files of sponsored riders. TP sponsors the Saxo Bank team as well as Team Columbia. Every day, they'll be putting up a few power files, so you can see what the big boys are actually doing during each stage. After reading the files, you'll know exactly watt's up when the racers throw down.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/races/2009-tour-de-france-files.aspx

Trainspotting at the Tour

To me, the Tour is, among other things, the biggest product launch for the bike world. And with countless company flacks and thousands of journalists, they should be uncovering every last bit of gear. If a team is riding re-labeled stuff, we should be hearing of it. If Lance has special handlebar tape, it is big news to bike sites.

So, it is a surprise to me that no one has thusfar commented on Astana's wheels. Bontrager, a Trek label, supplies the wheels. However, the team has been rolling on conventionally-spoked deep-dish wheels this Tour. It appears that Bontrager/Trek has abandoned the paired spoke technology that Trek has utilized since it was selling Rolf wheels in the 90s. So far, there's no explanation anywhere.

The second oddity is Fabian Cancellara's Specialized S-Works Shoes. Specialized has been making hay about how their pro riders don't get custom shoes, they get what the public can get. But a close look at Fabian's slippers reveals that he's running two Boa knobs and no Velcro strap at the bottom, unlike the rest of the team or public. Does Spartacus pull out unless he's got a second line of fishing wire holding his feet in place?

TdF Live and on the web and no copyright violation

Versus is doing it here: http://www.versus.com/tourdefrancelive. There are both free and paid versions. The paid is "enhanced."

Tour Fever: sort of in stores

I've gotten some questions lately as to where to score a copy of Tour Fever. It could be at your local bookstore, but the way most bookstores deal with books, it's hard to say for sure. I regained the rights to the book and have been planning an updated edition, just haven't found the time to finish the updating. Poor timing, I know.

I have tried to track down the remaindered copies, which were sold to a company that specializes in remaindered books. Figured I could offer them online. For some reason, they have them randomly sorted on pallets of books. Those pallets haven't been opened and thus the company doesn't know where they are and thus can't sell them.

In the meantime, I recommend going through AbeBooks. Independent booksellers and used booksellers use the site to sell their wares. You can definitely find copies there. I think Amazon owns Abe these days.

Lancaster "spitting chips" after Stage 2

Aussie Slang dominates reportage of their home boys at the Tour in Cadel Stays Cool On Tour de France. Even the "on" as opposed to "in" of the title threw me. What are they, New Yorkers?

Here are my fave's:

"Cadel Evans was content but fellow Australian Brett Lancaster was spitting chips after the first bunch sprint finish on the Tour de France."

"'The guy needs to pull his head in.'"

"Roulston came a cropper on Sunday when he crashed with 70km to go, according to his team, then he missed a split second decision which meant he didn't pull as planned in the lead-out."

Stage 9 @ BXL to Benefit the CRCA Junior Development Program

From two guys who care.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Jed Kornbluh

Christophe Jammet

NYCX

Stage 9 @ BXL to Benefit the CRCA Junior Development Program, presented by CJ & Jed

NEW YORK, NY July 6, 2009– Mussels! Schleck! Frites! Berto! Beer! Bottle! Lance! Who? On Sunday, July 12th at 7PM, come out to support the CRCA Junior Development Program and enjoy the company of fellow members of the NYC cycling community as we watch Stage 9 of the tour de France, featuring the classic climb up to Col de Tourmalet, at BXL Café on west 43rd (b/t 6th and Broadway). Belgian beer will flow, prizes will be raffled, and great TdF racing will be on the TV as CJ and Jed bring you another great party for a worthy cause.

The event begins at 7PM, with coverage on Versus beginning at 8PM, and will run until the end of the broadcast at 11PM. Offers for the night will include drink specials, courtesy of BXL and other event sponsors, a steady steam of prize raffles, as well as pre-recorded extended coverage of Stage 9. Raffle tickets will be sold for $5 throughout the event and all money raised will go directly to the CRCA Junior Development Program.

Raffle prize sponsors for this event include:

CRCA

Sportique Body Care

Univest Grand Prix Cyclosportif 100k

NYC Velo

Finkraft Coaching

New Jersey State Fair SpectaCross

David Jordan Coaching

Uvex Helmets

D'artagnan

OrthoChick

Velo Classic Tours

Gage Desoto Tees

Wafels & Dinges

BXL Cafe

AND MORE!

For additional information, contact: newyorkcross at gmail dot com

Flyer is HERE.

Ville Etape puts your town on the map

Ever heard of Tonnere? You will now. The 2009 Tour's 12th stage begins there. It's a distinction that Tonnere's mayor hopes will make the town known the world over. Not just for their amazing 300 meter deep well. While it feeds the town, townspeople are hoping the Tour feeds the town as well.

Want to know who's the fave'? Check the odds

Oddschecker.com does the checking for you.

Here's their Tour de France page.

Lance Armstrong: The perfect person*

*according to his coach.

Chris Carmichael tells us the truth. Lance is "one of the best on-the-road tacticians the sport has ever seen."

Maybe Carmichael forgets Lance's early days, when he'd go out to obliterate the competition and get beaten by fellow juniors. or how he rode too aggressively early on in races like the 1991 worlds or 1992 Olympics. Maybe Lance learned in his early pro days from Motorola Directeur Sportif Hennie Kuiper, widely considered a great tactician. No doubt he learned something from Johan Bruyneel. Or maybe it's just experience; he's got ten years on his teammate Contador and much of the peloton.

Myth-making aside, we'll get to see how Lance does without a radio in his ear on stage 10 and 13. Stage 10 could well be a tough one, occurring on the heels of a rest day and countless little ups and downs that could create chaos. And stage 13 has two category two climbs separated by a category one climb. Doesn't look to be a decisive day, but without radios and a tired peloton splintering, we could learn how good Armstrong's on-the-road captaining really is.

No "Opening Prologue" this year

One small bit of relief for me this Tour. No prologue. As a result, Tour experts couldn't make the mistake of calling the short time trial which typically begins the tour an "opening prologue." To me, it's like people using "who" instead of "whom." I can accept it among laypeople, but not experts. Or should I refer to them as "experts."

scraping for relevance in TdF Stories

The Idaho Statesman might not have a homegrown rider to boast about. But they do have a homegrown journo who just got his ticket punched to the big show.

"Vestal has filed recent stories on Contador's new Trek time trial bike, and the nuances of the new Specialized bib shorts. While Vestal writes about cycling gear from around the world, his Boise roots often help him."

A journalist getting the star treatment. It's a beautiful thing. We're ready for our close-up. We think.

Learn How Allen Lim Makes Rice Cakes and share your recipe

I have to admit Allen Lim's rice cake recipe looks pretty good. I love rice and I should get around to trying his concoction.

Team Garmin/Slipstream wants you to be inspired by his recipe and to submit your favorite ride food concoction. Not sure about sharing my favorites, but Allen's is pretty good. Watch the video.

Doping Controls Are Lax...In Tennis

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the Operacion Puerto scandal or anyone who heard about the heroism of certain tennis players after taking cortisone shots. Still, somehow the subject doesn't come up much when cycling or baseball is the dirty sport.

Slate's feature on doping in tennis entitled, "Steroids Anyone," doesn't have any bombshells because there has been so little testing. They do cite Jim Courier, who, in 1999 thought EPO was a problem at the top level.

Here's the final paragraph, "Why does tennis remain so lax when it comes to drug testing? Perhaps it's taking a lesson from the other major sporting event taking place this weekend: the Tour de France. Cycling, baseball, and track and field are the sports that have been the most stained by drug cheats. They're also the sports that have the most-rigorous testing programs. Based on recent evidence, it's not realistic to expect top-flight athletes to be clean. It is possible, though, to simply sweep the syringes under the rug—or better yet, not look for them in the first place."

Free CTS Tour de France Newsletter

While Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) is a corporate entity, while Chris Carmichael seems like more of a celebrity chef than coach, and it's really hard to believe that the advice spouted by Carmichael or his ghost writer is actually imparted to their start client/partner, occasionally they do have something interesting to share. A recipe, a trademarked training routine, a photo, a podcast you can download and use to lead you through a workout. If nothing else, it can help you live a Lance-centric world. Hagiography as training advice is a different sort of wisdom.

sign up here

Lance's Twitter Love now a marketing tactic

The guy has been tweeting for some time. He used it during the Giro d'Italia to bypass the reporters assembled at that race. Now he's using it to both bypass reporters and help market his sponsors. Brandweek details the effort in Lance Armstrong Peddles 'Tour de France' via Social Media. Oakley, Nissan, and Clear20 are in on it. The last one is the best--it is a portable filtration system.

Magnum Photo Essay on the Tour

Not all cycling, but the images from Magnum Photos are amazing. Love the B&W. Commentary by Jorgen Leth, the director of A Sunday in Hell. Check it out.

The Tour de France Band

"Tour de France" is also the name of a music group. This quartet plays "music of the French provinces." "Many of the tunes played are drawn from 19th and early 20th century sources and were used to accompany then-popular ballroom dances: waltzes, schottishes, polkas, and mazurkas. Also featured are older regional dance forms: distinctive branles, rondeaux, and bourrées."

A Culinary Tour de France...In New York City

Since a Tour de France means any number of things, some New York restauranteurs teamed up to offer a tour of French restaurants in the big, bad city. If we go by their map, the first stage is at Nice Matin and the finish at French Roast. The finish is already looking like a disappointment, but perhaps appropriate.

Allan Davis' Tour is in Doubt

Allan who? Australia's Herald Sun newspaper wants you to know that it is currently undecided whether or not their homeboy will ride the Tour. To them, this is big news.

Davis, despite his relative anonymity, is currently ranked fifth in the international cycling rankings. Pretty good; for most teams, having a sprinter that good should be enough to guarantee a ride in Le Grande Boucle. But he has the luck of being on the same team with Tom Boonen, one of the most famous cyclists in the world, a wearer of the green jersey, winner of several Tour de France stages, and a national hero in his native Belgium.

Relevance? For most of the world, the headline would read Tom Boonen's Tour In Doubt. Boonen again tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test, which makes him a felon to Belgian law, but still clear to race. Sort of. The Tour doesn't want a cokehead in the Tour. But the cycling federation, Boonen and Davis' Quick Step team, and all of Belgium wants him in. Davis only rides if Boonen is banned.

LES CHIENS dans la rue and a Certain Lanterne Rouge

The Irish Times has given the world the binary equivalent of Pierre Salinger and Brent Mussberger adding "french flavor" to the old television broadcasts of the Tour on ABC and CBS with their Monte Carlo's Tour de Force. How I loathed those segments where these allegedly august commentators of sport forced us to take a step back from their networks paltry servings of the Tour and appreciate French Culture. I hope they used their ration of Tour de Force for the year with this article.

The culture was and is fine, but we were watching because of a certain bike race.

The reason for mention of this otherwise forgettable article is a little bit at the end. Don't know whether to believe it or not, but it does intrigue. "As you watch the spectacle you might care to ponder that Samuel Beckett, a keen cyclist in France, was aware of a veteran competitor, surname Godeau, and one of life’s natural lanternes rouges ."

Newsflash! Armstrong to Headline Versus TdF Coverage

Bet you never would have guessed that Versus would recycle. We shouldn't guffaw; it might be why you're bothing with this blog in the first place.

Candid Chris Tells All on Being Overlooked for the Tour Roster

Kudos to Chris Horner by demonstrating yet again how he's the rare pro who isn't afraid to speak his mind. He dishes on his non-selection to Oregon Live. In his mind, it's politics. Contador needed one of his guys and sponsors needed one Kazak.

Extreme Birthday Celebration

Turning 50 is supposed to be a chance for reflection. A half-century down, a half to go. Upon looking forward to his 50th, it seems one cyclist got a bug he couldn't shake. He wanted to ride the entire Tour de France. Almost as a touriste-routier of old. So he's going to France with his wife. She gets to drive the motorhome, he gets to ride his bike. His plan is to ride every stage in full a few days ahead of the race. She's writing it up. It's bound to be a crazy read.

Horner might be out of Le Tour, but he got a great write-up in Oregon Live

We're Chris Horner fans. Candid at all times and smiles when racing. He wasn't afraid to criticize Armstrong when the Discovery team folded, and he's still got the Astana team nod. This story in Oregon Live does a better job than most mainstream press at capturing what it means to be a pro cyclist. Their video feature at the top is pretty funny, a must watch.

gearing up for the Tour

The sites are getting ready. Journos are dusting off their France guidebooks, stateside editors are reacquainting themselves with cycling. Lance, Inc. will make the seven-time winner the most covered cyclist in the history of cycling, if not the most covered athlete in the history of the world.

Watch the Giro d'Italia Live on the Web

What a world.  The guy who produced the "music video" Tour de France broadcasts on CBS sports in the 1980s runs Universal Sports Network online.  Because of his interest in cycling, he just inked a deal to carry it on the web.  Finally!  

Click Here to see the schedule.  Goes great with espresso. 

Chasing De Panne--A Tour of Flanders

Part 1

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2009/04/chasing-de-panne-part-i.html

Part 2

http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2009/04/chasing-de-panne-part-ii.html

Part 3 coming up

JP

Off to Flanders

I fly to Flanders Sunday night.  Arrive Monday.  Watch a little De Panne, race a kermis in Brugge, ride the paths and pave and bergs, take in the bike racing museum and a little meeting with Freddy Maertens, and ride the Ronde Van Vlaanderen Wielertouriste Saturday April 4.  All 260k, just like the pros, only the day before.  And, with that in my legs, I eat, eat eat, get a good night's sleep and then do the rallye thing and course hop the Ronde itself.  

Look at doping from management perspective

The author of "What to do when you become the boss" argues that "teams" as opposed to "groups" are less likely to dope and operate better together.

Tour de Farce or Team de Force?
Management-Issues - London,England,UK
It's probably fair to say that most followers and even casual observers of
the recent Tour de France expected the race to throw up some drug cheats.

...

http://www.management-issues.com/2008/8/1/opinion/tour-de-farce-or-team-de-force.asp

Columbia Sportswear Company happy with Tour

There are a few amazing htings to know here. One is that Columbia
had already locked in their marketing budget for the year. Another
is that the Euopean division was opposed to it. Must have been an
incredible powerpoint demo.

Columbia says Tour de France sponsorship 'an unqualified success'
The Oregonian - OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
But in the first public accounting of the team's success in the recently
concluded Tour de France, Chief Executive Tim Boyle was anything but
ambivalent. ...
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1217476509289450.xml&coll=7

Sastre gets hero's welcome at hometown

As the Australian newspaper points out, "the only man to finish ahead of Australian Cadel Evans."

Hero's welcome for Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia
TOUR de France winner Carlos Sastre received a hero's welcome when he
returned to his home town today after becoming the third Spaniard in a row

to win the ...

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24105494-11088,00.html

Ricco calls himself a "false idol"

Riccardo Ricco never fails to entertain.  He calls himself a false idol, then says he should have tested positive for EPO every time at the Tour, so the anti-doping tests need to be recalibrated or re-analyzed.

Ricco admits to doping at Tour de France
Earthtimes (press release) - London,UK
... Wednesday in a hearing in front of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI)
which was called following his failed dope test at this year's Tour de

France. ...

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/222460,ricco-admits-to-doping-at-tour-de-france.html

Tour Viewership down on Versus

Not exactly a good sign, but not as bad as a complete drop-off either.  Not that I have any data on this, but I think more American cycling fans are appreciating the Tour for the Tour and not for Lance.

Tour de France viewership drown in US on Versus
The Oregonian - OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
Bas Czerwinski/The Associated PressTeam Columbia's Marcus Burghardt wins
the 18th stage of the Tour de France. Average viewership of the Tour on

Versus ...

http://blog.oregonlive.com/playbooksandprofits/2008/07/tour_de_france_viewership_drop.html

Prof studies doping in cycling

UVM Professor Brian Gilley is starting to study why people dope in cycling.  He'll be looking through his anthropologist's lens, also as a former racer and current faculty advisor to the UVM cycling team.

UVM prof studies doping in pro cycling
BurlingtonFreePress.com - Burlington,VT,USA
It seems that during the 95th Tour de France, which concludes today, doping
has taken the leader's yellow jersey. The fact that riders continue to be

caught ...

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080727/NEWS02/807270311

Cervelo isn't going to amp production after Tour Win

More Canadian love for Cervelo.  This time we read they don't want to make a bigger brand thanks to Sastre's win. 

Winning Tour de France event was Canadian cycle-maker's dream ambition
The Canadian Press - TORONTO
TORONTO - Tired and wired after a party that lasted until 4 am, Phil
White had to make sure The Tour de France wasn't just a fantastic dream.

...

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7ZK64mPg7meTEtCgIcIQhi1KRGg

Writing to tell the world how little this columnist cares about the Tour

Got to admit, there's something ironic about a columnist who bothers to pen a column about how the Tour is irrelevant.  Maybe it's a plea for attention.   

JAMIE SAMUELSEN'S BLOG Without Lance Armstrong, Tour de France is ...
Detroit Free Press - United States
Has anything ever lost more relevance in sports so quickly than the Tour de
France? It was never relevant to start with. Lance was relevant, the Tour

wasn't ...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/SPORTS18/80728054/1217/SPORTS

After finishing the Tour, it's time to Hike and mountain bike

That's what Adam Hansen is doing.  Not sure if the hunger is real, metaphoric, or both.

Hansen's Tour heroics trigger hunger
Cairns Post - Cairns,QLD,Australia
He admitted a gruelling year of racing which included the big three of the
Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Tour of Spain had taken a toll. ...

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/07/29/5844_local-sport-news.html

They danced the Conga in Sastre's Hometown

Isn't that what victory celebrations should be about?

Carlos Sastre´s hometown celebrates his Tour de France triumph
CCTV - Beijing,China
Hundreds erupted with cheers the minute his Tour de France victory became
official as the Spaniard led the final parade. Family, friends and elated

fans of ...

http://www.cctv.com/program/sportsscene/20080728/104065.shtml

The Tour invades a Mariner's Game

An ESPN Senior Writer watches the Tour on his trainer rides.  He also thought that by going to a baseball game, he wouldn't have someone inadvertetntly inform him of hte winner of the Alpe d'Huez stage before he watched it on Tivo.  Wrong.  And like most observers, this writer doesn't feel the race was "doping scarred."

Thoughts on the Tour de France while waiting for next year to come
ESPN - USA
By Jim Caple I love the Tour de France, but 3:30 am starts on the West
Coast are beyond me (hell, who am I fooling, 9:30 am starts are beyond me

-- sleeping ...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/080728

60 Euros for inappropriate Urination

It is the Tour, and yet is the Tour getting all American on us?  Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated gives his thumbs up for this year's race and runs down the highlights, including the above, to one unlucky rider.

INSIDE THE TOUR DE FRANCE
SI.com - USA
A dramatic, transformative Tour de France has been decided by one of the
narrowest margins in the 105-year history of the race. Cycling fans who've

been ...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/austin_murphy/07/28/wrap.up/

A First for Canada at The Tour

A Canadian Bike Wins!  Will Evans join the people of South Park and Blame Canada?

Tour de France champ rides to win on Canadian bike
CTV.ca - Canada
A Canadian didn't win the Tour de France, but a Canadian bike did. Carlos
Sastre won the prestigious event Sunday, becoming the third Spainish rider

to win ...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080727/bike_canada_080727/20080727?hub=Canada

le Tour de France en Minature

Burned out on finishing up the tour blogging for hte moment.  Crashing after the Flame Rouge, cracking on the final mountain, if you will.  This animated film gave me a chuckle.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x65a6i_minitour-un-grand-moment-de-tele-ma_fun

Clean Tour...and curtailment of 100m dash

From Brendan Gallagher of the Telegraph--"One or two media outlets have even curtailed their coverage of hte Tour this year because of the drugs issue.  Presumably, they will be relegating their reports of the men's 100 metres final in Beijin next month to 'sporting briefs'."

Carlos Sastre wins 'cleanest Tour de France for years'
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
By Brendan Gallagher in Paris Rafa Nadal and Wimbledon, Euro 2008 and now a
third consecutive winner of the Tour de France. King Juan Carlos should

probably ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/2463469/Carlos-Sastre-wins-'cleanest-Tour-de-France-for-yearsandrsquo.html

TdF Director dislikes predictions that come true, likes exhausted cyclists

This story from the AP will probably be the big talk in the sports pages.  It gives the Tour de France's side of the doping scandals of this year's Tour.  Expect columnists to rebut the Tour side of the story.  Tour director Christian Prudhomme's big quote, "I don't like people who can read tea leaves to predict a stage win." In regards to Riccardo Ricco predicting what stage teammate Leonardo Piepoli would win. 

Race director hails 2008 Tour de France as victory over doping cheats
International Herald Tribune - France
AP PARIS: Race director Christian Prudhomme hopes the 2008 Tour de France
will be remembered as a victory against doping cheats. The Tour, won by
Spaniard ..

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/27/sports/EU-CYC-Tour-de-France-Prudhomme

Should Women Race the Tour Alongside Men?

The author  of the piece below thinks so, though I wish she had much more knowledge with which to make her argument.  As it is, she doesn't prove her case.

The missing filles in the Tour de France
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
I WAS watching the Tour de France when a thought struck me: Where are the
women? I've now learned that women have their own "tour" called the Grande

Boucle. ...

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-missing-filles-in-the-tour-de-france-20080727-3lp5.html

Tour "color" courtesy of The Guardian

Lots of looking at the Tour, few gems from this writer.  The one surprise starts as follows: "While it is true that cycling fans are spoiled, it occurs today that few events are as anti-cycling as the Tour de France." 

Prato Nevoso, Sunday
guardian.co.uk - UK
Being part of the official Tour de France entourage is a privilege, but it
comes with certain responsibilities. We learned about one of them today.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/27/tourdefrance.cycling2

"New" tour

This is the first of what will probably be a spate of articles on the Tour overcoming drugs scandals.  the author was a regular contributor to British cycling mags.

Tour de France: Old race finds new lease of life without the need ...
Independent - London,England,UK
By Alasdair Fotheringham This afternoon, just as they have done for the
past 23 years, the survivors of the Tour de France will speed up and down

the ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/tour-de-france-old-race-finds-new-lease-of-life-without-the-need-for-drugs-878336.html

"Bored by the Tour de France: No doping, no drama"

Joel Stein takes a satirical jab at the Tour for daring to clean up its mess.  So dry you might think he's serious, until he takes baseball to task.  Which is serious.

Bored by the Tour de France: No doping, no drama
Houston Chronicle - United States
By JOEL STEIN You might not have noticed that this is the lamest Tour de
France ever, probably because you already find guys racing bicycles to be

the ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5908170.html