Sunday, July 26, 2009

Tour de France 2009: That's a wrap

Even the brash Lance Armstrong had to admit Astana teammate Alberto Contador was simply too strong to beat in this year's Tour de France.

But, in some ways, Armstrong may be the bigger winner.

The 37-year-old Armstrong surprised many people by standing on the podium Sunday in Paris, relishing his third-place finish. Armstrong, once vilified by the French, received resounding cheers throughout the Tour. When he returns to France next year for Team RadioShack, he will have to be considered one of the pre-race favorites.

The Lance effect on this year's Tour was clear, the New York Times reports:

• USA Cycling’s general memberships grew about 5.5 percent per year during the time Armstrong won the Tour from 1999 to 2005, Johnson said. When he retired, the membership dropped by 3.5 to 4 percent annually. This year, with Armstrong back in the peloton, Johnson said the membership growth was back at 5.5 percent.

• The network Versus, which broadcast the Tour, said the average viewership for its live morning coverage was up 95 percent through Stage 18.

As you've read at various media sources during the past few weeks, conflicts were high between Armstrong and Contador throughout the Tour, culminating in Armstrong's decision to skip a celebratory dinner Saturday with Contador and instead wining and dining with officials from Team RadioShack.

You can look at it in at least a couple of ways. One is that Armstrong snubbed the great accomplishments of his Astana teammate. The other is that because of the conflicts, it would be best to let give Contador some space to celebrate.

There's speculation over at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's 10 Speed blog that Astana could pull out of the Tour of Missouri as a result of the split and the likely move of Astana team director Johan Bruyneel to Armstrong's new team. However, Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, who broke his right wrist during Stage 12 of the Tour de France, indicates he plans to ride in the Tour of Missouri.

“I’m 100 percent for that,” Leipheimer told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “Well, 99 percent.”

While Contador may want to defend his Vuelta a Espana title and skip Missouri, Armstrong already has a commitment the week of Sept. 7-13. Armstrong is scheduled to participate in the Cedars Tour de Lance 09 on Sept. 11 in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The event is a fund-raiser for the McGill University Health Centre's Cedars Cancer Institute in Montreal, and cycling commentator Phil Liggett is expected to join him.

With or without Armstrong, the Tour of Missouri should be a first-rate event. It will be interesting to see how the Garmin-Slipstream/Columbia rivalry will play out in Missouri, especially since it's perceived a Stage 14 charge by Garmin-Slipstream knocked Columbia's George Hincapie out of a chance to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey for a day.

Labels: Tour de France, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments 11:40 PM

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Lance Armstrong's new team

RadioShack and Lance to Form New Cycling Team in 2010 -- powered by http://www.livestrong.com

In case you missed the news earlier today, Lance Armstrong and his LiveStrong charity will team up with RadioShack and other sponsors to form Team RadioShack for the 2010 season.

Not only does Armstrong and his new team plan to race in the 2010 Tour de France, The Associated Press reports Armstrong plans to participate in running and triathlon events for Team RadioShack.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us as an organization and as a cancer survivor. It’s pretty mega,” Armstrong added after Thursday's Tour de France time trial stage in Annecy, France.

Armstrong put himself back on the podium with today's performance. Earlier this week, Armstrong more or less conceded the yellow jersey to current Astana teammate Alberto Contador. Barring a major catastrophe on Contador's part, the best Armstrong can hope for is second or third. Still, it's a major accomplishment for a 37-year-old professional cyclist.

Labels: Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 9:44 PM

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Lance leads strong U.S. showing so far

In case you haven't noticed, American cyclists hold 5 of the top 17 spots -- and 4 of the top 12 sports -- after four stages of this year's Tour de France.

Thanks to Astana's dominant performance in the Stage 4 Team Time Trial today, Lance Armstrong is virtually tied for the overall lead, just two-tenths of a second off yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara.

Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer is fifth, just 31 seconds behind Cancellara and Armstrong. David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) is ninth at 1:09 back, Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) is 12th at 1:16 back, and George Hincapie (Team Columbia-HTC) is 17th at 1:36 back.

That, along with Tyler Farrar's (Garmin-Slipstream) second-place finish to sprint king Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia-HTC) in Sunday's Stage 2, have made for an amazing start for U.S. cyclists so far.

Armstrong's confidence is high after the Team Time Trial, as he said on the Tour de France Web site:

“I wanted to be one of the strongest in the race. I think that I am. I may not be strong enough to win but I think somebody on this team will win. I know the race and I understand what it’s all about. Yesterday we saw a critical point in the race. It’s the Tour and I know the Tour; I know how to race it and how to be in the peloton… so sometimes it pays to be old and experienced and not young and strong. We’ll see what happens from here but I’ll take it day by day."

Labels: Lance Armstrong, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 2:46 PM

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Tour de France 2009

There's no doubt that the folks over at Versus are absolutely thrilled that Lance Armstrong is back in the Tour de France. There no doubt Armstrong's presence should boost ratings for the cable TV channel, and it also helps there will be six other Americans in the race.

The question, of course, is how well will Armstrong do. Is he capable of winning after spending three years away from the world's most prestigious bicycle race. My hunch is that if anyone is capable of pulling it off after such a long absence, it's Armstrong. However, Astana teammate and 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is considered the favorite to win.

I guess we'll see what happens on the road. Versus' coverage of the Tour de France begins at 8:30 a.m. CDT with the Stage 1 time trial in Monaco. As been the case in recent years, Versus will air plenty of Tour de France coverage until the July 26 finale in Paris. Go to the full schedule for details; keep in mind that all times listed on the Versus schedule are Eastern Daylight Time.

Another Astana teammate, American Levi Leipheimer, has to be considered a contender for a podium spot, as could Illinois native Christian Vande Velde, who finished fourth last year then came back to the States to win the 2008 Tour of Missouri. George Hincapie back for another go, although it will be odd to see him not riding in support of Armstrong.

I probably won't write about the Tour in great detail, mainly because there's so many sources out there who can provide much more insightful coverage than I can, including Versus, VeloNews, Bicycling magazine and other news sources on the right column of my blog.

Have fun following the Tour!

Labels: Lance Armstrong, racing, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 1:40 PM

Monday, July 14, 2008

Doing the Land of Lincoln proud!

Yes, indeed, Christian Vande Velde is the pride of the Land of Lincoln, as far as the cycling world is concerned!

Vande Velde, a native of the Chicago suburb of Lemont, is just 38 seconds behind new Tour de France leader Cadel Evans after today's Stage 10, which featured the difficult climbs of the Col de Tourmalet and Hautacam. Evans and Vande Velde finished in the same group that finished 2:17 behind stage winner Leonardo Piepoli. The only rider between Vande Velde and Evans is Frank Schleck, who is a mere second behind Evans in the overall standings.

Vande Velde, 32, rides for Garmin-Chipotle and is the son of U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame member John Vande Velde. Until this year, he was best known for playing a supporting role in two of Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories. He has come into his own this year. He wore the maglia rosa one day in this year's Giro d'Italia, took third in the Tour of California and seventh in the Tour of Georgia.

Now that Vande Velde is among the leaders, I guess we need to figure out how to spell his last name. Even though the official Tour de France site and Versus are spelling it Vandevelde, I'm going with Vande Velde because that's the way the Garmin-Chipotle team, The Associated Press, VeloNews and his byline on his Tour de France Journal in the Chicago Tribune (I'm linking to the account that appeared in today's edition) spell it. That's good enough for me!

Labels: Illinois, racing, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 10:42 AM

Monday, July 07, 2008

Will Frischkorn? Who's he?

I was surprised to see this morning that American racer and Tour de France rookie Will Frischkorn not only came in second in today's Stage 3, but is sitting in third place in the general classification.

If that wasn't enough, Frischkorn was named the most aggressive rider of the stage, and his American-based squad, Team Garmin-Chipotle, is leading the team classsification.

Just who is Will Frischkorn?

Well, Tour of Missouri fans may remember that Frischkorn finished second to George Hincapie in last year's inaugural event. Frischkorn finished 1 minute, 38 seconds behind Hincapie in the six-stage race.

Frischkorn, 27, was born in Charlottesville, Va., and now lives in Boulder, Colo., according to his biography at the Team Garmin-Chipotle Web site. Frischkorn won the 2007 Univest Grand Prix and he won the U.S. Under-23 National Championship Road Race back in 2002.

Being in third place in the Tour de France, even this early in the race, is a career highlight.

"I felt pretty darn good," Frischkorn said in an interview on the Tour de France Web site. "I’m ecstatic to have done this. It’s weird to feel a little disappointed right now actually.”

Why was he disappointed? Because he had a chance to win the stage.

“The sprint at the finish was a long one," Frischkorn said in the interview. "It started from two kilometers out really. (Samuel) Dumoulin hit out and I had literally been planning to attack after coming back from my previous turn of pace but he timed it perfectly. That really started the game.

“He rode a great finish and I hesitated just a little bit with 400 meters to go and I think that’s where I made my mistake but I take my hat off to him, he was great."

Dumoulin won the stage, but fellow Frenchman Romain Feillu, who was part of the lead breakaway, is wearing the yellow jersey. Frischkorn is 1:42 behind Feillu in the general classification. The breakaway finished 2:03 in front of the peloton.

Frischkorn, one of four Americans in this year's Tour de France, is writing a journal about his experience at VeloNews. It should be interesting to see what he writes about Stage 3.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France, Tour of Missouri

Roger 0 comments 12:07 PM

Friday, July 04, 2008

Tour de France 2008

Part of the reason I include the news feed that I do in the right column of this blog is because I know sources such as VeloNews can provide much better coverage of the Tour de France than I can in this humble little blog. Nevertheless, here's my two cents worth on the race:

I'm extremely disappointed former Discovery Channel riders Alberto Contador, the defending champion, and Levi Leipheimer, who finished third, won't be there because of the decision of Tour de France to exclude Team Astana from this year's event because of the team's past doping transgressions.

I suppose one could argue that Contador, Leipheimer and former Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel should have had some clue that Astana would be targeted for punishment, but I don't find it particularly fair that a restructured Astana team should be so severly punished for sins of previous team members.

With Leipheimer's absence, I have to wonder how much interest there will be in this year's Tour de France by casual cycling fans. The die-hard fans, of course, are going to care about the race, but the lack of an American among the major contenders will reduce coverage of the race by the mainstream media.

In addition to the greatness of the race -- even a heavy-handed management style cannot rob the Tour de France of its splendor -- there are two American teams in this year's race. One is Team Columbia, which includes former Discovery lieutenant George Hincapie, and Garmin-Chipotle, which is best known for its anti-doping stance. Christian Vande Velde is the best-known American on that team.

If your local newspaper or TV station provides inadequate coverage of the Tour de France, the three best sources are probably VeloNews, Versus and the Tour de France site itself. Versus, as always, will provide almost-constant TV coverage of the race. Gene Bisbee also provides a list of sources at his BikingBis blog.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 1:53 PM

Monday, February 18, 2008

Let Levi ride!

Fans of Levi Leipheimer no doubt will want to go to his new Web site, LetLeviRide.com, to let their feelings known the Tour de France's decision last week to exclude his new team, Astana, from this year's event because of past doping problems with that team.

In the effort to "save the 2008 Tour de France," Leipheimer is calling on his fans to sign an online petition to have him and his team reinstated in the race.

"There can be no comparison between the Astana team of 2007 and the new Astana," the Web site states. "The entire organizational structure has been rebuilt under the direction of the team’s new General Manager, Johan Bruyneel, who has thoroughly cleaned house. What’s more, Astana has adopted the rigorous doping controls developed by anti-doping expert Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard, and Astana now spends more money on anti-doping controls than any other team in the pro peloton."

In addition to the online petition, T-shirts, hats and stickers will be available soon.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 3 comments 12:04 AM

Saturday, July 28, 2007

The ride of his life

I can't think of a better phrase than Phil Liggett's classic line "the ride of his life" to describe Levi Leipheimer's time trial win today in the Tour de France.

By winning the time trail, Leipheimer pretty much assured that an American will be standing on the podium tomorrow for the ninth consecutive year. Granted, it most likely will be for third place rather than first place, but it's still a nice place to be.

Barring unforeseen circumstances -- and there have been plenty on this Tour -- Leipheimer's Discovery Channel teammate, Alberto Contador, will be on the top step of the podium. Discovery Channel has all but won the team title.

Watching today's stage has caused me to reassess what I said Wednesday about the Tour de France and bicycle racing.

One, there is still plenty of glory to be had in cycling at the highest levels. While much of the media will remain focused on cycling's serious doping problem, anyone who can ride 34.52 miles in 1:02:44 as Leipheimer did today deserves all the glory he can get.

And while the doping scandals still may have an impact on events such as the Tour of Missouri, the presence of the Discovery Channel team cannot do anything but help the stature of that event. The Kansas City Star reported this week that Leipheimer likely will participate in the Tour of Missouri.

While the Tour of Missouri doesn't have a title sponsor as of today, it still has plenty of other sponsors, and organizers will be busy in the coming week revealing details about the route. Here's a schedule for the press conferences:

Kansas City: Monday, July 30, 11 a.m.—Country Club Plaza, 810 Zone, 4686 Broadway
Columbia: Tuesday, July 31, 10 a.m.—the Henry County Courthouse, 100 W. Franklin
Springfield: Tuesday, July 31, 1 p.m.—Jordan Valley Park, 635 E. Trafficway
Branson: Tuesday, July 31, 4 p.m.—Branson Landing on Branson Landing Blvd.
Lebanon: Wednesday, August 1, 10 a.m.—Lebanon City Hall, 401 Madison Blvd.
Columbia: Wednesday, August 1, 2 p.m. – Convention & Visitors Bureau, 300 S. Providence Jefferson City: Wednesday, August 1, 4:30 p.m. – Convention & Visitors Bureau, 213 Adams
St. Louis: Thursday, August 2, 11 a.m. – St. Louis Union Station, Grand Hall, 1820 Market

While there are plenty of problems that cycling has to solve, I'm confident the sport will overcome them.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France, Tour of Missouri

Roger 1 comments 12:09 PM

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Tour de Farce

Already, media outlets are calling this year's Tour de France the Tour de Farce because of the recent doping scandals.

Now that Rabobank has yanked Tour leader Michael Rasmussen from the race because he lied to his team about his whereabouts, you can expect to hear or read that phrase over and over again the next few days.

In case you missed it, here's what The Associated Press reported tonight:

"Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma said.

The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team's sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. The Danish cyclist missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. But a former rider, Davide Cassani, told Denmark's Danmarks Radio on Wednesday that he had seen Rasmussen in Italy in mid-June.

Late last week, Danish federation officials announced that Rasmussen had been ejected from that country's national squad and would not be representing Denmark at the world championships or at next year's Olympic Games because his missed the tests.

Even before Rasmussen was yanked from the Tour, respected cycling reporter Samuel Abt of the International Herald Tribune said, "Let no one mistake it: This (Wednesday) was one of the blackest days in the 104-year history of the Tour de France."

Abt cited the removal of Alexandre Vinokourov and Cristian Moreni from the Tour, the protest staged by dozens of riders at the start of Wednesday's stage and the jeering Rasmussen faced at the start and end of the phase.

Yet, Abt was stunned by the normalcy of the atmosphere that surrounded the Tour on Wednesday. He writes:

In short, life went on placidly in the Tour de France on Wednesday, just as it has gone on despite the Festina Scandal in 1998 and the ouster of a dozen riders before the start in Strasbourg last year.

If nobody cares enough to get mad, do they care at all? The possibility of more doping scandals depends on the answer.

And here's some commentary from Australian sports commentator John McCoy of the Brisbane Times:

"Been watching the Tour de Chemist?"

Question put to me by a mate in a half joking, half serious manner. But the truth is that one of the world's great sporting events, now more than 100 years old, and famous for its stages, has recently gone through some unfortunate public perception stages ... disbelief, disillusionment, disgust and now derision....

I love cycling, its history, traditions, champions. There are few, if any, events which in the past have epitomised strength, determination, extraordinary fitness and good old sheer guts like the Tour de France. The great modern sporting tragedy is that it's now the Tour de Farce and may never recover its deserved glory.

As an avid cyclist myself, I have experienced similar encounters from my colleagues at the Belleville News-Democrat. One colleague even accused Tour de Donut participants of "donut doping."

I can't help but think that the newest scandals will make it more difficult to convince sponsors to back events such as the Tour of Missouri, and it probably will take years for the sport to recover from the damage that has been done.

Fortunately, there's still plenty of glory to be found in cycling. I hope I'm wrong, but just don't expect to find it at the highest levels of the sport, at least for now.

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 1 comments 11:29 PM

Monday, July 16, 2007

News and notes

Today's post consists of some bits and pieces from the cycling scene:

TOUR DE DONUT: Congratulations to all the winners in this year's Tour de Donut, which was run Saturday in Staunton, Ill. A round of applause goes out to all the winners, and you can see all of the actual times and doughnut bonus adjusted times at the ride's Web site. As you know, I consider the people with the best adjusted times as the champions of the Tour de Donut, and special credit goes out to Anna Witt, who defended her title in the Women's Under-50 division by eating 16 doughnuts for an adjusted time of 1 hour, 13 seconds.

ITS TRAIL: Speaking of Staunton, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today reported on the efforts of the ITS Trail Committee to build a trail from Staunton to Benld. The trail would link a proposed Madison County Transit trail from Worden to Staunton to the existing Gillespie-Benld trail. The long-term goal is build a network of trails that would connect St. Louis and Springfield, Ill.

The Macoupin County Board supports the project, and county government will act as the committee's fiscal agent for expected future grants.

"We've seen what the trails have done in Madison County," County Board Chairman Andy Manar told Post-Dispatch reporter Terry Hillig. "It's an issue of improving the quality of life and health, and it has the potential for countywide impact."

TOUR DE FRANCE: Today was a rest day after Michael Rasmussen grabbed the yellow jersey with his Stage 8 win Sunday. Tomorrow should be a interesting day with climbs of the Col de l'Iseran, the Col du telegraphe and the Col du Galibier. The first week of the tour was slower than in recent years, and experts have various theories about why -- headwinds, cyclists saving themselves for the Alps and a reduction of doping.

TOUR OF MISSOURI: The Associated Press reports why the state of Missouri is putting so much effort in promoting the Tour of Missouri on Sept. 11-16.

The bottom line: marketing.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

Life after Lance Armstrong has been anything but smooth for pro cycling, which this time of year is normally celebrating the annual Tour de France. Instead, the sport is struggling to preserve its public relevance, financial footing and athletic integrity amid increasing allegations of a rampant culture of cheating.

So what in the name of Floyd Landis is the Show-Me State doing rolling out the red carpet - not to mention more than $1 million of taxpayer money - for the inaugural Tour of Missouri, a six-day, 600-mile stage race that will bring some of the world's top riders here in mid-September?

For Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, the answer is simple: a global marketing bonanza the likes of which Missourians have never seen.

"This is the greatest opportunity we have ever had to brand Missouri to a national and international audience," said Kinder, who is also chairman of the Missouri Tourism Commission.

Labels: Tour de Donut, Tour de France, Tour of Missouri, trails

Roger 0 comments 12:33 PM

Friday, July 06, 2007

Tour de France 2007

For the second straight year, the Tour de France will open without its defending champion.

Last year, of course, Lance Armstrong didn't return after winning seven consecutive Tours. This year, the race opens without Floyd Landis, who is out because of doping allegations stemming from last year's race.

Frankly, the doping revelations that have shaken the cycling world leave me a bit ambivalent about this year's race. Will I follow the race? Yes. Will I follow it as closely as I have in previous years? Probably not.

It's good to see that all 189 cyclists who will begin the race Saturday with the Prologue in London have signed the International Cycling Union's anti-doping charter. That means they promised to submit DNA samples to Spanish authorities for the Operation Puerto probe. Cyclists also had to agree to pay a year's salary on top of a two-year ban if caught doping.

Despite the pledge, I expect fewer Americans will be watching the Tour de France this year on the Versus channel, although it is still planning many hours of event coverage. Six Americans are racing this year: Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie of Discovery, David Zabriski and Christian Vandevelde of CSC and Christopher Horner and Fred Rodriguez of Predictor-Lotto.

As usual, I won't be doing much commentary on the Tour. The news sources listed on the right column of this blog do a much better job of putting the Tour in perspective than I can hope to do.

Let the racing begin -- and the doping end!

Labels: cycling, racing, Tour de France

Roger 0 comments 1:01 PM

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

"Wired to Win" coming to St. Louis

"Wired to Win: Surviving the Tour de France," the IMAX film about the legendary race and how the human brain wires itself to handle the demands of the grueling event, is coming to St. Louis.

Beginning June 15, the movie will be shown at the Omnimax Theater at the St. Louis Science Center. The movie's Web site says the film will remain at the theater until Jan. 3, 2008. The film already has been shown in numerous theaters around the world since 2005, so it's finally making its way to St. Louis, but the timing actually may be good: The Tour of Missouri bicycle race, which will be Sept. 11-16, is a sponsor of the St. Louis screening, along with Big Shark Bicycle Co., Trailnet and Johnny Mack's Sporting Goods.

The film's Web site has all kinds of goodies, including desktop photos and podcasts, but I've posted the movie's trailer below in case you don't have time to visit the site:



The movie tells the story of Australian Baden Cooke and his French teammate Jimmy Caspar as they compete in 2003 edition of the Tour de France. "Just to finish in Paris, they will need to avoid danger, stave off crushing pain and fatigue, control their emotions, seize fleeting moments of opportunity and stay highly motivated. It's the brain that controls all of this," the film's Web site says.

By the way, there's no truth to any speculation that "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment" will be shown along with "Wired to Win."

Labels: cycling, movies, racing, Tour de France

Roger 1 comments 3:57 PM