The Cycliste Moderne, July 29, 2005

As Geoff is off playing Boy Scout this weekend, I get blog duty again. He worked like a dog to get out of the office, but didn’t manage to put any thoughts on paper. Following is my take on the WAT (week after tour). Sorry it’s kind of lengthy, but I’m writing while listening to the All Cure station on AOL and quite enjoying it.
- Kristin Wardle

Tour Withdrawals

After tuning in every morning for three weeks, I generally go through Tour Withdrawals. It’s usually a big bummer to wake up Monday morning to no coverage. OLN is just Survivor reruns now, as if the Tour de France never happened. This year, however, the withdrawals aren’t so bad. Although it was a fascinating Tour, it wasn’t as in-your-face as in previous years. Not that it was boring, but it was certainly different. As cycling photographer extraordinaire Graham Watson put it in his Paceline.com journal, “This has not been a great Tour by any means – the quality of opposition just was not there. But it has been the Tour Lance wanted to race, and in the way he wanted.” I couldn’t agree more.

But besides Lance’s #7, there were other stories. There were good days and bad days aplenty for Boonen, McEwen, Zabriskie, Valverde, Rasmussen. There were crashes, team politics, bad weather, and surprises (my favorite is George Hincapie’s fabulous ride). Many people will only remember Lance, and I guess that’s okay. The other guys are going to keep racing anyway.

I still find myself checking Cyclingnews.com daily to see if there is anything new, but of course the race is history and I’ll have to wait until next year. I’m very excited for next year, by the way. I remember the pre-cancer days. I watched LeMond win, I watched Indurain win. I watched Riis, Ullrich, and Pantani, too. I remember being happy when Bobby Julich took 3rd overall in 1998. I can get excited next year, too.

Life Goes On

While the Tour de France is history, there is still a lot of cycling to talk about. First, after partying with the T-Mobile boys in Bonn, Alexandre Vinokourov announced that he signed with Liberty Seguros and will focus on winning the Tour de France. Based on his performance this year, he has a much better shot that his new teammate Roberto Heras. I wonder if Heras will show up at the Vuelta next month?

Although Vinokourov signed with the Spanish team, Christophe Moreau announced that he is out of Credit Agricole. Apparently Moreau was put off by word that his team was considering the Kazakh rider and couldn’t get over it. We have yet to hear who wants Moreau. Maybe Liberty Seguros?

Non-Whiners

Speaking of whiners, I don’t think that Levi Leipheimer is one. The American rider was just seconds off Alexandre Vinokourov’s time at the beginning of the Tour’s final stage last Sunday. After crossing a sprint line together, the two riders were hundredths of a second apart, with Leipheimer in the lead. Then came the decision from race officials that there would be no further time bonuses. Vinokourov continued his aggressive tour and whether he raced for a new contract or time bonuses that he thought were still available, he crossed the finish line first, got the time bonus, and ended up with 20 seconds on Leipheimer in the GC.

Due to the confusion amongst the riders about whether or not there would be bonuses, and the officials wavering on whether or not to award bonuses as the roads dried off, Levi Leipheimer was in an excellent position to whine. The fact that he didn’t makes him a classy rider in my book. That almost makes up for the dressed up dogs that his wife Odessa brought along. I didn’t know they made Gerolsteiner jerseys that small. I just don’t get it.

Speaking of Levi, the journal he kept on Cyclingnews.com that was actually enjoyable to read. While he didn’t whine about placing 6th, he did whine about traffic, fresh paint, and second-hand smoke. As if riding your bike for three weeks over two mountain ranges wasn’t enough . . .

Another non-whiner is Floyd Landis. After his interview in L’Equipe riled Armstrong, he didn’t get defensive. Instead, he thanked the organization for the opportunities they had given him, praised Armstrong’s success, and moved on. Other riders should take a lesson.

Moving Day, Clearance Sale, and a Box Office

In other news, the great sprinter Alessandro Petacchi and three of his lead out men signed with Domina Vacanze. This single-handedly put Fassa Bortolo out of business. With no sponsor and no great sprinter, there is no team. Petacchi is nursing a muscle injury, so we’ll see if he can return to form yet this season.

And last, but not least, the rumor mill has it that Matt Damon will play Lance Armstrong in an upcoming biopic. I guess that’s a better choice than Samuel L. Jackson, but why can’t Lance play himself? I mean, it’s not like he doesn’t have some free time on his hands and I thought his foray into acting in “Dodgeball” was rather impressive.