Beltran ARRESTED after positive drug test

        That the police are involved in dope-testing is an underreported aspect of France's effort to limit drugs in sport.  Going to jail for doping seems like a pretty big incentive not to dope in France.  And then there's that whole screwing your teammates and sponsors matter.  Liquigas has been in the sport too long to be scared off by the positive, but Cannondale can probably walk away and put their bikes under just about any team they want.   

Spaniard Beltran tests positive on Tour de France
guardian.co.uk - UK
By Julien Pretot AURILLAC, France, July 11 (Reuters) - Spaniard Manuel

Beltran of the Liquigas team has tested positive on the Tour de France, ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/7645907

Team Telekom Totalled the Tour for "Portnoy"

An English-language German newspaper has a correspondent "Portnoy" who complains that Team Telekon ruined the Tour for him. 

How Team Telekom totalled the Tour de France
The Local - Hamburg - Hamburg,Germany
This is the first July in more than a decade that I haven't watched
nearly every stage of the Tour de France. It was a perk of living in

Germany and working ...

http://www.thelocal.de/13019/20080711/

Local Boy Rides Tour and Reports for Hometown Paper

The hometown paper is the Chicago Tribune and the local boy is Christian Vande Velde.

Tour de France diary: Stage 6 a blur Š but in a good way
Chicago Tribune - United States
By Christian Vandevelde | Special to the Tribune SUPER-BESSE, France -
Lemont cyclist Christian Vandevelde moved up to fourth place in the Tour de

France ...

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/cs-080710-tour-de-france-christian-vandevelde,1,5327940.story

Runner's Web flacks Cycling Power Data from the Tour

Why Runners Web is plugging watching live power data from SRM and
TrainingPeaks I don't know, but they ran the press release. Didn't
think runners got into that sort of thing.

Cycling: Tour de France Power File Analysis and Live Data
RunnersWeb - Ottawa,Ontario,Canada
Tour de France cycling fans can watch live heart rate, power, cadence and
speed transmitted daily at TrainingPeaks.com from the SRM power meters of
several ...
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news_2008/rw_news_20080710_Training_Peaks_TDF.html

Vaughters says he doesn't pay for results

Well, only sort of. The Canadian Press comes up with choice bits
again. The first is best; Vaughters explains that he doesn't give
the riders an incentive to dope.

Former Tour de France rider Vaughters makes strong impression so far
The Canadian Press - SUPER-BESSE, France
SUPER-BESSE, France - Former Tour de France rider Jonathan Vaughters has
made a strong impression with his Garmin-Chipotle team so far, and he wants
to ...
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_o3pwJ521BMVffvIuTdpof4YcyA

Tips on Watching the Tour from the Sporting News

This one you don't need to read. But it's something to send your
uninitiated friends when you get tired of explaining why you watch.

How to Watch the Tour de France
SportingNews.com - USA
For the uninitiated, you might consider watching the Tour de France a
complete waste of time. However, for the casual viewer who knows nothing
about wattage ...
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/8767/how_to_watch_the_tour_de_france

Brian Moore makes a case for doping at the Tour

Moore, who writes extensively on cycling, thinks the Tour is so
brutal that drugs almost make sense.

Brian Moore: My case for allowing doping in Tour de France
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
By Brian Moore Only athletics can compete with cycling for the public's
'Who Takes the Most Drugs' award; and the Tour de France has certainly
managed to ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2008/07/10/smtour210.xml

"Bad Blood" Reviewed in Telegraph

Don't know if we'll see this book mentioned in any cycling Tour
coverage. It's by Jeremy Whittle and looks at the good and bad of
the tour. The Telegraph reviewed it.

Tour de France's ugliness laid bare
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
As the Tour de France wends its arduous way along the minor roads of the
host nation, cycling addicts watch with a mixture of admiration and
trepidation. ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2008/07/10/sobook110.xml

Canadian Tour Tidbit roundup: Testing and Picky Armstrong

There are two good tidbits here. one is that the Italian Olympic Lab
will do the Tour's drug-testing when TdF visits Italy this year. The
second is on Chef Wily, who cooked for Seven-11, Motorola, Postal,
Astana, and now Garmin-Chipotle. He found Armstrong "annoying"
because he was so demanding.

AFLD signs agreement with CONI for Tour tests to be held in Rome lab
The Canadian Press - CHATEAUROUX, France
Having also won the Giro d'Italia, Contador needs to win the Aug. 30-Sept.
21 Vuelta to win all three major races. Bruyneel, who coached Lance
Armstrong to ...
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbHf8G5Gwn6eNo_KygGTXk81XdkQ

LA Times Reporter Praises Versus for airing anti-doping spot

Confronting the Tour de France's dirty past
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Props to the folks at Versus for directly confronting the elephant in the
room during the network's coverage of the 2008 Tour de France. ...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/07/confronting-the.html

I looked for the spot on Versus. Turns out they've created a
separate site for airing the video promos. They can be found at

http://www.takebackthetour.com

JP

LA Times Plugs local bike company Felt

Tour de France bikes from Irvine
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
based team that is making its Tour de France debut in a big way, is riding
bikes from Felt Bicycles in Irvine. The small (30 employees) company can't
...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/07/tour-de-france.html

French Footballer impressed with Tour

Why the story made Canadian news, I do not know.

French football player William Gallas impressed by crowds at Tour ...
The Canadian Press - CHOLET, France
Still, even he was surprised by the amount of fans packing the roadside in
Tuesday's Tour de France time trial. Gallas rode in a team car as he

followed ...

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiK1zwO7Ir5UdHj9cxd9RIcTW-Fg

ESPN.com--the Slipstream three

Two For The Road
Editor's note: In Part I of ESPN.com's series on the
Slipstream-Chipotle cycling team, now known as Garmin-Chipotle after
acquiring a new title sponsor, Bonnie D. Ford explored the
Colorado-based team's first training camp, which brought together
young and veteran riders with the common goal of excelling as a clean
team in a sport long plagued by doping scandals. Part II followed the
team on its first major stage race, the Tour of California.

In this latest installment, Ford profiles two of the team's American
riders who will make their Tour de France debuts: 29-year-old Danny
Pate and 27-year-old Will Frischkorn.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/slipstreamthree

Muncie Star Press has Blogger at Tour

A cycling-mad fan blogs dispatches to MSP

From the Tour de France
Muncie Star Press - Muncie,IN,USA
She is attending her second Tour de France. While in France, she will be
writing a periodic diary of her experiences for The Star Press. Fanatical.

...

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/SPORTS/807080320/1006

NYT has "interactive" TdF Page

Particularly good for the geographically challenged.

The 21 Stages of the Tour de France
New York Times - United States
The 95th Tour de France features 180 riders from 20 teams who will race
2212 miles over 23 days. It is a grueling test of endurance and strategy
that will ...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/07/07/sports/20080707_TOUR_FEATURE.html

Garmin has desktop widget for TdF info

it takes Velo News' Tour feed.

Don't know if you'll want to download the bike or burrito icons.

http://www8.garmin.com/teamgarmin/downloads.html

protest by citizens at Tour fails

AP can't even figure out what they were protesting.

Protesters delay Tour de France
International Herald Tribune - France
AP NANTES, France: Tour de France riders were briefly delayed by protesters
during Monday's third stage. It was not immediately clear what the protest
was ...
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/07/sports/CYC-Tour-de-France-Protests.php

The Bretons love a fighter; ergo they love Thor Hushovd

Tour de France: Bretons salute Thor Hushovd as if he was one of ...
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
The Bretons have spawned four Tour de France winners, starting with Lucien
'Petit-Breton', the first man to win the race twice. Christened Lucien
Mazan ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/sport/2008/07/07/sotour207.xml

NPR tackles the Tour and doping

Tour De France Rides Out Doping Scandal
NPR - USA
Weekend Edition Saturday, July 5, 2008 · The Tour de France got underway
Saturday in Brest, France. The sport, haunted by a doping controversy over
the past ...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92255131

Google Street View rides the TdF

This is pretty cool.

Track the Tour de France with Street View
guardian.co.uk - UK
The Tour de France, one of the world's greatest sporting events, started
today, and Google is providing a new way to see the route, via Street View.
...
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/07/05/track_the_tour_de_france_with_street_view.html