The Cycliste Moderne, July 22, 2005

I am tired. I left the office at 10:15 tonight only because the fire alarms started going off at 10:05 and I figured I ought to finish the outline I was preparing.

Anyway, I feel like the peleton. It has been almost three weeks and I want it to be over. I really enjoy cycling and especially the Tour de France. However, the Lance farewell tour that this last week has turned into on OLN is enough to make you toss your lunch. Anyway I do reward you with my best dressed Tour team at the end of today's entry.

Daily Recap

Today the typical third week stage: break of primarily no-names get big gap on the peleton, a European guy from a team that has not won yet wins, the leaders come in largely together, the French make a mess of the finish and cannot get a win. There was a little attacking among the leaders however. Rasmussen lost time to Ullrich who is now less than three minutes behind the King of the Mountain leader. Floyd Landis lost time on Armstrong but today it appeared that Basso was driving the break although Armstrong certainly sprinted hard to the finish. Like I said I am tired.

Looking to the Final

Saturday’s time trial is long, rolling, hot and hard. It will put the final hurt on a lot of riders. At 55km long it is one of the longest individual time trials in recent memory. It is rolling so it will not favor the big roleurs, however guys who ride their time trial bikes like Michael Rasmussen will lose a lot of time.

I think Armstrong, Basso and Ullrich should all have good days on the stage. Rasmussen, Evans and Moreau will likely have bad days.

I think there will be some significant moves up the GC in the top ten. Here is my top ten after Saturday’s stage:

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel
2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC
3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne
5 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner
6 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank
7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems
10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel

I expect Rasmussen to lose up to four minutes in the time trial to Ullrich. I expect Levi Leipheimer to have a really good day and leap over Rasmussen to move into the top five. Vinokourov should jump over Evans. Popovych should be able to make up three minutes on Moreau which would launch him into the top ten.

The big losers will be Rasmussen, although that is the problem with doing better than you expected, when you do what you hoped for it is kind of a let down, and Moreau, who is upset that Credit Agricole has expressed interest in Vinokourov as he announced that he could not be on the same team as Vinokourov as Moreau is a leader. Moreau has not done much at all during his four years at Credit Agricole but whine. Moreau’s contract is up and it looks like Credit Agricole has tired of him being the “Best French Rider,” i.e. a guy who cannot win France’s biggest race.

Winner on Saturday?

Phonak’s Santiago Botero. It is a stage that should suit him and he needs to redeem himself after a pretty quiet Tour de France. If not, it will be Armstrong or Basso.

Final Fashion Comments

Well, we are at the end. If you have been following, you should be able to figure out the best and the worst. But before we get to the worst and the best we have one last team that did not win either best or worst.

Credit Agricole

Credit Agricole is sponsored by a French bank. The team’s kit closely follows the sponsor’s logo and color schemes. The logos are clear and distinctive. Credit Agricole is the team that emerged from GAN and before that Z. The team has always had just primary sponsor and have always wedded the team’s kit to that sponsor’s logo and color scheme. The green is classic kelly green, not some goof lime color. The solid shorts are classic as well. When you see a Credit Agricole rider in the peleton you instantly know what team it is. That is what a good kit is supposed to do; to make it all about the sponsor. Green is not my favorite color and as a result the team gets an B+.

The Best Dressed Team at the Tour:

AG2R Prevoyance

So who is the best outfitted team at the Tour de France? It was the last team invited and the only non ProTour team in this year’s Tour, AG2R Prevoyance. The team was certainly demoralized by being left out of the ProTour. The team’s sponsor, AG2R Prevoyance is a long time sponsor of cycling having been the secondary sponsor of the old Casino-AG2R team. The sponsor is a French insurance company that runs cycling themed ads on French television. The use of the sponsor’s name in France has almost become like "Afflac" in the United States.

This is a small team with a small budget. Yet rather than take the route of adding a myriad of sponsors, the team has followed the lead of other French teams and highlighting the primary sponsor. Decathalon, a French sporting goods chain is not only a secondary sponsor but also makes the team’s bikes. You can walk into Decathalon stores throughout France and by your Team AG2R Prevoyance gear. The colors are distinctive, the logo is large, and if you got to see more of them, you would know exactly which team it is. That is why AG2R Prevoyance gets by top grade for the Tour. AG2R gets an A+.


And the Worst?

Francaise de Jeux

This team has been known as Francaise de Jeux, Francaise de Jeux.com, FDJeux.com and now Francaise de Jeux again. Sponsored by the French gambling and lottery company, Francaise de Jeux’s kit has always included hears, diamonds, spades and clubs in various iterations. I have nothing against Francaise de Jeux. I even purchased a pair of Francaise de Jeux bibs on sale in Paris a few years ago. That was the year before they adopted the current version of their kit. A version that no Average Joe would ever be seen in publicly. While Francaise de Jeux’s Australian stars Baden Cooke and Brad McGee complain that there poor performance is due to the fact that everyone else dopes, I think their poor performances are due entirely to the subconscious concern that they have about having to stand up on the podium in WHITE SHORTS. Yes, that is not a mistake. The team got rid of blue shorts and grey shorts to go with an ALL WHITE KIT a couple of years ago. Enough said. You get an F