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.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 25, 2005

Well, we are at the end. It has been a long three weeks. Lance Armstrong proved that he is going out as the strongest grand tour rider of his generation. I am honestly surprised, but it is a deserving win. He was under attack at various times, his team looked fallible at times. He was not really ever able to launch the type of explosive attacks in the mountains that he has used in the past. On the road to Courchevel, he did blow the race apart but Valverde, Mancebo and Rasmussen managed to stay with him. During later stages, Basso was able to stay with him. He was stronger than virtually everyone else, but not that much better.

Armstrong did not do anything different this Tour. He used the same playbook as he has in five of his prior six wins. As he has in the past, he tried to blow the race apart on the final climb of the first mountain stage. He would then use his team in the mountains to wear down the other teams and to attack on the final climb of each mountain stage. This year, however, his competitors went on the offensive on the smaller climbs, on the difficult rolling stages of the Tour and on the second day in the mountains. It was not enough.

That said, T-Mobile showed flashes of strength but its three-headed-monster approach with Ullrich, Vinokourov, and Kloden worked for only about a week. Vinokourov will be leaving T-Mobile most likely for a French team. Ullrich maybe has one last chance to win the Tour next year depending on what happens with some of the younger riders coming up. T-Mobile is reloading with the signing of Michael Rogers and Patrik Sinkewitz from Quick.Step.

T-Mobile is also restructuring its management with the retirement of Walter Groodefroot. However, the success of T-Mobile alumni during the year makes you wonder what more the team could have accomplished with better management. Paolo Salvoldelli, Cadel Evans, Santiago Botero, Bobby Julich and Georg Toschnig have all found success only after leaving T-Mobile. Certainly had Jan Ullrich ridden for Discovery or CSC, he would have continued to win Tours. If T-Mobile had signed Bjarne Riis as a directeur sportif, with the team’s resources I am convinced that Armstrong probably would have won five Tours over the last seven years and Ullrich would have won at least two. It is not a lack of skill; it is poor management.

Rasmussen’s Really Bad Day

Michael Rasmussen came to the Tour to win a stage and win the King of the Mountains jersey. However, after spending almost two weeks within minutes of the lead, he had raised his focus to finishing on the podium. Saturday it proved not to be. Had you told Rasmussen at the beginning of the Tour that he would finish seventh, I am sure he would have taken it.

However, Rasmussen could not have reasonably expected to hold his place in the general classification in light of his poor time trialing skills. Rasmussen crashed early and it was clear the race was over for him within the first 20km. He was passed by Ivan Basso, he was passed by Lance Armstrong and ultimately lost more than seven and a half minutes on Armstrong and Ullrich. With crashes, mechanicals and a bad case of the nerves, Rasmussen wilted in the heat of the Massif Central. Maybe it was the polka dot gloves he wore.

I think after his first crash Saturday, self doubt and nerves caused most of his problems. After reviewing the coverage yesterday as well as some of the other accounts of Rasmussen’s mechanical difficulties, I think that they were largely psychological and not technical. I hope this was not the highwatermark of his career. Saturday’s time trial is the type of event that could stick in his mind forever. You really had to feel for him but he has had an excellent Tour and if he works on his time trialing, he can be a force in the future.

Basso Had Nerves Too

I really expected Ivan Basso to have a better day. He finished fifth, losing almost two minutes to Lance Armstrong after starting really strong and leading the stage after 20km. The profile of today’s time trial was similar to the one Basso won during the Giro d’Italia. Basso has really stepped up this year improving his time trialing. He looked tentative, however, on the descents and that cost him.

If Armstrong had not been in the Tour, I think Basso would have blown Ullrich out in the mountains. Basso was stronger than anyone except Armstrong and showed explosiveness. I don’t think that CSC thought Basso would be able to beat Armstrong this year or else they would not have sent him to the Giro d’Italia. Basso went to the Giro with the form and team to be able to win, but his performance at the Tour suffered by doing the Giro earlier this year. Next year, CSC will most likely send Basso only to the Tour. CSC has signed Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland for next year. I expect Cancellara to be the team’s leader in Italy next year.

American Time Trialing Prowess

Americans finished the Tour just like they started. In the first time trial there were six Americans in the first fourteen on the stage. Zabriskie (1st), Armstrong (2nd), Hincapie (4th), Landis (6th), Julich (11th), Leipheimer (14th). They followed that up in the final time trial with Armstrong (1st), Julich (4th), Landis (6th), Hincapie (8th), Leipheimer (14th). The teams that did well were the teams that you would expect: Discovery, T-Mobile, CSC. Those are teams that take the time trial seriously and do well as a result of it. There is no reason why the smaller teams do not make the effort to do better in the individual time trial.

Final Thoughts

France was disappointed yet again. The two best French riders, Moreau (11th) and Brochard (28th), are towards the end of their careers. Moreau showed promise but has never been able to put it together at the Tour since his fourth place finish in 2000. Brochard has never been a real GC threat even though he was a great climber. The French teams seem to spend more time whining about “cycling at two speeds” than actually preparing to win their national tour. The French teams have not shown the ability to adapt to the more professional techniques of CSC, Discovery, and T-Mobile.

The big disappointment in the Pyrenees was the disappearance of Euskaltel Euskadi. I was surprised by the fact that the team did not seem to attack once over their home climbs. Their fans were more aggressive than the team was. Euskaltel Euskadi finished last in the prize money as well. The team took home just over 9,000 euros for three weeks work. Discovery Channel on the other hand took home 545,000 euros. Even Credit Agricole managed to earn more than 100,000 euros. Amazing, 1,000 euros per rider for three weeks work. I hope they do not spend it all in one place.

The Armstrong Era appears to be over. It has been great for American cycling to have such a dominant performance. I fear, however, that with Armstrong’s retirement those people that have jumped on the Armstrong band wagon will not care next year. After listening to ESPN Radio Sunday morning praising Armstrong’s performance, the commentators were opining that no one would care next year if Ivan Basso wins because he is not Lance. They even suggested that Tour management would be begging Armstrong to come out of retirement in a couple of years because “he has made their race what it is today.” Silly Americans.

Next year will be very exciting. We will know that there is no defending champion. It will be a wide open race. You owe it to yourselves and your sport to go find a team to support and find races to follow even though Lance won’t be there. The future of American cycling is brighter than it has ever been. The fact that European teams are signing Americans to lead them is a good thing. And when Ivan Basso wins next year, I for one will be more excited than I have been for several years.

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

The Cycliste Moderne, July 21, 2005

Go Paolo Go

Paolo Salvoldelli of Discovery Channel and winner of the Giro d’Italia rolled to his first Tour stage win. Of course it came as part of a breakaway that gained over 20 minutes on the peleton. Typical stage of the third week of the Tour de France, big break with a lot of guys hours behind the leaders and ultimately the French riders make a mess of the breakaway and fail to win. Today it was Francaise de Jeux who had two riders in the breakaway and when it split with 30km to go, they were both left looking at each other while Salvoldelli, Arvesen and Sevilla among others rolled off the front.

Action Behind

Interestingly over the last climb of the day T-Mobile attacked in attempt to have Ullrich gain time on Rabobank’s Michael Rassmusen. They did not gain any time on him but Floyd Landis got dropped as did Christophe Moreau. At that point Discovery went to the front and worked with T-Mobile to keep the split away. Ultimately, Lance Armstrong was taking hard pulls to the finish. Why? Well it appears that Lance took umbrage with comments Floyd Landis made to L’Equipe that were published on Tuesday. Who says that the greatest Tour de France rider in history is above getting into the occasional catfight.

Final Word on Sitting On.

Here is an excellent analysis of the ethics of sitting on from Thomas Prehn at Velonews.com.

Fashion Flury

I realized that we really just have one more work day for posts for the Cycliste Moderne and I have a bunch of teams left to review so here we go:

Domina Vacanze

This Italian outfit sponsored a team that over the last few years had zebra stripes and Mario Cippolini. The sponsor, an Italian resort company moved its entire sponsorship to a different team this year that is based upon the small Italian professional team DiNardi-Colpak.

The colors have improved and the resort motif is ok, but the jersey is still a jumble of small secondary sponsors. It looks a lot like something you would see at the weeknight office park criterium. Domina Vacanze has done nothing in the Tour and their colorful jerseys and shorts are the team’s best showing at the Tour.

They get a C+.

Liquigas-Bianchi

Liquigas-Binanchi takes the classic Bianchi green of their bike sponsor and manages to come out with something that cannot really be explained. Taking the Bianchi green and mixing that timid lime color is a crime. You may not like Bianchi green but it is distinctive and classic. My respect for Bianchi is all that keeps the team from an F.

Liquigas gets a D.

Lampre

I provided criticism of Lampre during the Giro. I don’t see any reason to change my opinion so here is what I wrote before:

Lampre-Caffita’s kit requires some comment. For a team outfitted by sportswear manufacturer Kappa, their uniforms leave a lot to be desired. The black seat pad insert in the shorts is ugly and distracting. The Lampre blue is flat and unappealing and is even worse with the pink highlighting stitching. The Kappa logos on the front hips are too big and there are too many other sponsor logos. The old Lampre blue and pink jerseys were certainly distinctive and identifiable. The new Lampre kit just makes you scratch your head. You would expect a better design from Kappa; the Saeco team kit they put together the last few years was classic and classy. Additionally, thei Rudy Project helmets with the Elvis muttonchop ear fairings are about the ugliest time trial helmet in the peleton.

Lampre gets a D.

Quick.Step
Davitamon-Lotto

Belgian Fashion. Now there is an oxymoron. Neither team likes the other. Quick.Step emerged from the Belgian portion of the old Mapei team when it withdrew its sponosorship. For awhile it was Quick.Step-Davitamon. But there was a nasty split last year, lawsuits ensued, damages were awarded and Davitamon took its various sponsorships to the former Lotto-Domo team. Lotto, the Belgian lottery, has had various cosponsors over the years and has been in the peleton for ten plus years. The Davitamon-Lotto kit has the color schemes of each cosponsor. Not too busy, not to bizarre, nothing wrong with red, white, blue and yellow. Solidly Belgian.

Quick.Step, the Belgian modular laminate floor company has a cosponsor this year to replace Davitamon, Innergetic. But who really cares. The team’s kit has followed Quick.Step’s color scheme since its intial development. The blue and grey is simple and classic. Commercially functional gets you a B. With a flooring company and a mattress company as sponsors you wonder if the Quick.Step guys get free product. Better than mortgages I tell you or German bolts and screws.

The two Belgian squads both get B’s for Belgium.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 20, 2005

Geoff has been writing a brief for three days straight so Kristin gets to help out again.

Tuesday Recap

Tuesday night, I was asked how Lance had done in the stage. I had to think really hard to remember that Lance didn’t really figure into today’s race. “Status Quo” isn’t want people want to hear. They want to hear that Lance attacked and finished 10 minutes ahead of everyone. That scenario just isn’t being played out this year, anywhere. Armstrong is marking his closest rivals, keeping an eye on those a little less close, and seems to be happy with “Status Quo,” as long as that means staying Yellow by a bunch.

Now, had someone asked me how Oscar Pereiro or Cadel Evans did today, I’d have a better answer. Evans made the break that moved him from 11th overall to 7th, a move that I’m sure didn’t scare Armstrong much but certainly pleased the Davitamon-Lotto rider. A stage win would have been better, but Oscar Pereiro took a page out of the George Hincapie book, sat on Evans in the closing kilometers and took out the sprint at the line. Somehow I don’t think that Cadel Evans will be whining about his loss as much as Pereiro did after losing to Hincapie on Sunday. It’s strategy, pure and simple. As in any sprint, one rider gets lucky, one doesn’t. Sunday it was Hincapie, Tuesday it was Pereiro. And in cycling it is almost always the guy coming to the line in second place conserving his energy. To complain when you came a bit short is unsportsmanlike.

Wednesday’s stage from Pau to Revel is this year’s longest at 239.5 km. The stage profile features several Cat 3 and 4 climbs, but we can probably expect a bunch sprint at the end without any change to the GC. It is questionable whether Andreas Kloden of T-Mobile will begin the stage after x-rays showed a broken hand which Klodi sustained in an early crash. Not being able to grip a handlebar could be troublesome on the longest stage.

Sad Day in Germany

Not to end with a downer, but in the cycling world there are bound to be a few. While training in Germany on Monday, six riders of the Australian Institute of Sports team were plowed down by an 18-year-old driver. They were prepping for the Thueringen Rundfahrt, a women’s stage race that was to begin Tuesday. The driver entered the street from a side road, overcorrected and took down the six women. 29-year-old Amy Gillett died instantly, and the other five riders were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Each of these five riders face potentially career ending injuries. On Tuesday, a memorial service was held in lieu of the prologue of the Theuringen Rundfahrt and the Australian contingent of the Tour wore black armbands in memory of the fallen riders.

As Baden Cooke (Française Des Jeux) told Cyclingnews.com, “It's every cyclist's nightmare to be involved in an accident like that. You do everything you can to avoid crashes, but it doesn't matter how good a bike rider you are or how careful you are, a car ploughing into you is something you can't do anything about.” This is a valuable lesson to learn, and I used it on Tuesday when my 9-year-old son asked if he could ride a mile to the dollar store with his 8-year-old buddy and his 12-year-old sister on one of Boise, Idaho’s most dangerous streets. I’m sure Amy Gillett’s bike handling skills are far superior to my son’s, but there are certain variables that I cannot control. Many Australian families are mourning today because someone’s momentary lack of control, and I told my son NO.

More of Geoff’s Fashion Reviews

Liberty Seguros

Liberty Seguros is sponsored by the Spanish branch of the American financial services and insurance company Liberty Mutual. Thus the team that used to be ONCE has a Statue of Liberty motif and blue instead of yellow jerseys. Secondary sponsor Wurth takes a prominent position on the team’s kit with its big red W. Wurth is a German conglomerate that makes screws, bolts and other fasteners. This is really a team that you do not join for free sponsor product.

Although Liberty Seguros won the Vuelta a Espana last year, they have had little success at the Tour de France. Jorg Jaksche has had a strong performance but the rest of the team has not. The mixture of navy blue and royal blue and robin’s egg blue just does not do it for me and neither does the team. That gets you a C.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is one of the best, if not the best, financed team in the world. They have the backing of Deutsche Telekom. Their clothes come from Adidas. They have been one of the strongest teams in the world for ten years. And this year they take Pepto Bismol Pink to a new level.

T-Mobile and Team Telekom before that has always had pink in their color scheme. Deutsche Telekom uses pink in its marketing throughout the world. Pay phones in Germany are pink.

That said, a classic and simple design like T-Mobile’s current kit cannot withstand fashion evaluation when it comes with a solid pink jersey. Fortunately, they have shorts that normal guys would buy. Classic design cannot overcome the inherent weakness of pink as your primary color. T-Mobile gets a D+ just because.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 18, 2005

Weekend Recap

This weekend proved that while Lance Armstrong may not be as explosive as he used to be and that his team may not be as strong as it was projected on paper, he still is the strongest stage race cyclist in the world. T-Mobile should also be commended for its attempts on Saturday to finally race to win, however, I think Kloden and Ullrich made a major blunder when they attacked before Vinokourov had been captured, nullifying Vino's attack as they brought Armstrong and Basso back up to Vino. Armstrong did not panic with the loss of his team; however, T-Mobile's efforts on Saturday rendered everyone a lone wolf.

Saturday was as great a day as you could have expected. A deserving winner, Georg Totschnig, managed to keep the peleton away and win a stage for Gerolsteiner while teammate Levi Leipheimer had a strong day. Armstrong and Basso showed that they still are the strongest men in the mountains for the second year running. Ullrich showed he is still a fighter and is just not quite the climber he needs to be to win. Rasmussen showed he is still a great climber but that he needs more experience with effort and recovery in a three week tour.

Sunday was more of the same. Armstrong weathered all attacks, Basso showed he was Armstrong's equal in the mountains and Ullrich showed that he is still better than virtually all the other riders in the Peleton. As poor as Discovery Channel's tactics were last Saturday, they were equally as good on Sunday.

Last week I criticized Discovery Channel for putting George Hincapie into the early break and expending too much energy for no purpose. I stand by that criticism. The first week of a grand tour is about staying out of trouble and not losing any time to the other team leaders. Hincapie was in a break that had virtually no chance of staying away due to the stage's profile and the high likelihood of attacks over the final climb. On Sunday, that was the correct tactical move. Due to the greater time gaps that existed, riders that broke away were typically looking for a stage win, not to move into yellow. The profile today made it much more likely that an attack could get away and stay away. Hincapie has shown incredible strength in the mountains and with an uphill finish, there was virtually no chance of a group finish unlike last Saturday.

Hincapie rode exactly like a rider supporting the race leader should. Get in the break, monitor the break, help the break get away and then sit on it and do nothing. Although Oscar Pereiro of Phonak would have made a deserving winner, his post-stage criticisms of Hincapie are unpersuasive. He knew or should have known that Hincapie would have beat him over the line, thus it was Pereiro's obligation to ride him off before the summit. Like Bernard Hinault said last year, "Pas de Cadeaux" ("No gifts"). That is not to say that Hincapie is not a deserving rider. He is.

Unlike past years, over the last two days in the high mountains everyone took their shots at Armstrong and raced to win as opposed to racing not to lose. They kept Armstrong from following the strategy he has used for six prior Tours and still could not beat him. If he remains in yellow for another week, this will have to go down as one of Armstrong's best Tour wins. The route has been significantly more difficult than in years past and although he is not as explosive, he has proven himself as strong as or stronger than ever.

Kristin’s Two Cents

What a Sunday! It’s bad news when the most crucial stage in the Tour de France falls on a Sunday morning. What comes first? Tour or church? Stealing time for a shower was difficult, taking time out to feed my three children breakfast wasn’t an option, and getting ready for church had to wait until the finish line. Who could turn away from watching George Hincapie take the win away from Pereiro, or Armstrong and Basso show Ullrich who’s the boss? Not Kristin. My 16-month son laughed at me as I stood on my bed and yelled “Go George!” for the last kilometer. My 5-year-old daughter laughed at me as I chanted “Go Georgie Go” while making her breakfast. My 9-year-old son rolled his eyes as I cheered “U S A” while opening his granola bar.

Don’t worry. We made it to church on time. But it was certainly a stage to remember. Why?

1) It marked the anniversary (almost) of Fabio Casartelli’s death on July 18, 1995, as the peleton passed the monument on the Col du Portet d’Aspet which marks the spot where the Motorola rider crashed, sans helmet, on a descent. While the riders rode the route non-competitively the following day, teammate Lance Armstrong raced two days later to the win the stage which he dedicated to his fallen teammate. Incidentally, Casartelli’s widow told Lance to win Sunday’s stage. I hope she understands why he was happy with seventh.

2) George Hincapie became the first of Armstrong’s teammates to win a stage in the Tour de France since Lance’s first Tour win in 1999. Others have come close, but none have taken the win. I can’t think of a more deserving “henchman” for this honor than George, who has accompanied Lance on each of his TdF victories.

3) George, the perennial runner-up, has finally gotten his big win. Mr. Spring Classics won the queen mother of this year’s mountain stages. Who would’ve guessed that we could compare George to Eddy Merckx?

Two more cents from Kristin

Of the three people to wear the yellow jersey in the 2005 tour, only Lance Armstrong is still in the race. David Zabriskie of CSC abandoned in Stage 9 due to injuries, and Jens Voight withdrew in Stage 11 after his bronchitis developed into pneumonia. Due to knee injuries, Green jersey holder Tom Boonen of Quick-Step did not start Stage 11 and White Jersey wearer Alejandro Valverde of Illes Balears withdrew during Stage 13. It’s always sad when a rider withdraws from the race due to illness or injury and even sadder when they are wearing the jersey. Let’s hope that the current jersey contenders can keep it together for one more week.

In each of Lance’s past six Tour victories, he has won at least one stage. This year, he is happy with keeping his rivals in check. Sunday, he didn’t even bother passing Ivan Basso on the line. Maintaining his overall lead was sufficient. Will this be one of the rare Tours where the yellow jersey fails to win a stage? Although incomprehensible to the casual observer, it may happen.

Tour Fashion Review #9

Gerolsteiner entered the top of the pro peleton a few years ago with a navy and white kit that was emblazoned “Gerolsteiner” across the chest. The design is the same but the colors are not. The German bottled water company has had an excellent Tour de France with Levi Leipheimer in the top ten and Georg Toschnig winning the difficult stage 14. However, Georg forgot to zip up his jersey when he crossed the finish line. The team’s use of light blue, although consistent with the product they are advertising, is rather weak and even though it is a simple classic design the robin’s egg blue shorts again suffer from the same defect that Phonak’s shorts do. Average Joe will probably not buy them to ride out with his buddies. The fact that they are not lime gets you bonus points but you only get a B-.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 15, 2005

Weekend preview

It does not take a genius to predict that the stages on Saturday and Sunday will be decisive in this year’s Tour de France. Both stages end with uphill finishes. Both stages traverse some of the toughest climbs in the Pyrenees. Saturday’s stage is the longer of the two and slogs 15km up the Port de Pailheres, which averages 8% over the climb. The finishing climb to Ax-3 Domaines is not as steep or as long as the finish on Sunday but does come at the end of a 220km stage.

Sunday’s stage has the profile you would expect for a stage in the Pyrenees. It looks like an electrocardiogram with six categorized climbs over the last 100km. Although the stage is shorter and the climbs are generally shorter than Saturday’s stage, each of the climbs is steep, and the combined effect of the six climbs will put the hurt on the peleton.

Both stages are longer than the stages in the Alps this year. Tuesday is still a very hard day in the Pyrenees with the riders climbing over the Aubisque before dropping down into Pau and following a rest day. Three stages of over 200km each in the Pyrenees will leave the peleton really tired. Then three undulating days into the Massif Central and the long final time trial face the riders before they reach Paris. This year’s Tour de France will go down as one of the most difficult ever, not due to really epic mountain stages, but rather due to the incessant rolling and mountainous terrain the peleton has faced since they rolled out of Pforzheim to start Stage 8.

So what will happen?

I had to chuckle when reading comments from some team directors and riders that the race would turn in the Pyrennes because it is going to get hotter and Armstrong does not perform well in the heat, or that now that he is one year older and 34 he certainly has had his best days behind him. It is not going to be easy for anyone. However, to expect Armstrong to suddenly crack and wilt in the Pyrenees is highly unlikely. If he is going to get beat then CSC, Phonak, and T-Mobile will have to cooperate and utterly disregard their own abilities to win. That has not happened to this point and will not likely happen this weekend either.

That said, I like Armstrong for the finish on Saturday. It is the type of stage he has won in the past and I think he will be motivated to win a mountain stage for the team. Sunday, I would expect and hope that the Euskaltel Euskadi riders actually show up. It is a long stage that will permit a motivated break away to get up the road, especially one with riders well down in the GC. Armstrong will mark his rivals and attack to put time into them but not to win the stage.

Sunday evening I expect Armstrong to have increased his lead over the expected team leaders by at least two minutes. Rasmussen is the wild card. He is an excellent climber and is motivated like never before. He has never had good form for all the grand tour mountain stages he has raced and is suspect in the individual time trial. I would expect him to remain within two minutes of Armstrong by the time they leave the Pyrenees.

What about the loss of Beltran?

Discovery Channel suffered a major blow when Manuel Beltran crashed Thursday and abandoned with a concussion. The loss of an experienced climber will hurt Discovery somewhat. However, when compared with last year’s US Postal Service team, I do not think it will affect the outcome of the race for Armstrong and Discovery Channel.

First, the loss of Slava Ekimov was a major blow for Discovery for the flat portions of the race. However, Discovery essentially replaced Ekimov with Paolo Salvoldelli who, although he is showing fatigue after his victory at the Giro d’Italia, is certainly a stronger climber.

Second, Beltran has not been with Armstrong over the high mountain passes this year. He has been dropped early and team management conceded that his efforts were primarily being used over the mid-level climbs.

Third, George Hincapie has been amazing. A couple of years ago, Hincapie missed all the spring classics with a bug and did not race much until the Tour de France. At the Tour, his climbing ability was greatly improved and he frequently stayed with Armstrong up to all but the highest passes. This year Hincapie stayed with Armstrong and the team almost to the top of the Galibier, the highest climb in the Tour and a climb that goes on for 30km when climbed from the north. He then raced back on the descent. I cannot remember another rider since Eddy Merckx who could finish on the podium at Paris-Roubaix in April and then be with the leaders in the Alps.

Finishing with Salvoldelli, Hincapie, Azevedo and Popovych in Briançon showed that Armstrong had a strong team for the mountains. Last year Benjamin Noval got stronger as the Tour went along as well. Moreover, Chechu Rubiera has had a quiet Tour but has had some monster days in the Pyrenees in the past.

Tour Fashion Review #8

Today we will talk about the orange teams Rabobank and Euskaltel Euskadi. Orange is cool. When we decided to make our Team Cyclista kits last year, living near Boise State and knowing the passion which the Dutch and Basque fans have for cycling, we blatantly ripped them both off in our design.

You probably have not missed Rabobank this year with two stage wins already and the lead in the king of the mountains competition.

Rabobank has the traditional Dutch orange jerseys which furthers the Dutch bank’s brand identity. However, this year, the jerseys are more orange than they have been in the past and the team looks like giant orange creamsicles.

The sponsor logos are smaller than in the past and I would argue misplaced. On the right side of the jersey there is no discernable Rabobank logo. Moreover, they have reserved the prime locations on the shorts for the following phrases “hypotheken” and “Nr 1 en hypotheken.” That is Dutch for mortgages. Mortgages are not a very sexy thing to put on your shorts. Because this year’s Rabobank kit is not as cool as last year's wild flame type thing, I can only give them a C+

You probably have not seen Euskaltel Euskadi at this year’s Tour de France. They have had a miserable time and had better spring something for their fans over the next few days as the race heads through the Pyrenees or they may not be allowed to come home. I fear milk cartons throughout the Basque region are starting to have their pictures put on them with the question "have you seen this team?"

The team is sponsored by the Basque regional authority as well as the regional telecom. Their jerseys are orange with their sponsor’s logos. Not too busy, which is something small teams fall victim to each year.

Euskaltel gets an A- for their simple yet classic design. The Cycliste Moderne’s fashion grade unfortunately may be the best result the team gets at this year’s Tour.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 14, 2005

Happy Bastille Day

July 14th is Bastille Day in France. Typically French riders try to show up on Bastille Day and do something. Thursday’s profile is a difficult but not too difficult day. After the high mountains, it could be a day when an opportunistic French rider like Laurent Brochard of Bouygues Telecom and his famed mullet get in a break and tries to ride away to victory.

Americans may know that the storming of the Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was reviled as a symbol of the French Monarchy but at the time it was stormed, there were just a handful of prisoners in custody. Now when you finally get to go to France to see the Tour de France and you get off the Metro at “Bastille,” don’t be an ugly American and ask “Where is the Bastille?” They tore it down. It’s not there. There is a monument in the middle of the traffic circle, really cool but not overpriced shopping, the new opera house and a whole bunch of cafes at Bastille. However, there is no Bastille.

Stage 11 Recap

Stage 11 went off pretty much as expected. It was a very difficult day with the monster climbs over the Col de la Madeleine, the Col du Telegraphe and the Col du Galibier. Climbing the Galibier from the north really turns it and the Telegraph into a single climb that goes on forever. However, with a long downhill to start the stage from Courchevel and a 40km downhill run to Briancon from the top of the Galibier, the stage did not really provide an opportunity for the leaders to pick up any major time gaps on each other. As is typically the case, two team leaders who rode poorly on the first day in the mountains and lost significant time were allowed by Discovery Channel to seek redemption by attacking over the big climbs for a stage win. Alexander Vinokourov of T-Mobile and Santiago Botero of Phonak spent much of the day off the front and trying to stay away. Their efforts resulted in just over a minute gain over the Discovery Channel lead peleton by the finish.

Sorry I do not have more insight into today’s stage. Although I watched some of it this evening, this morning I was in my motel room in Riggins, Idaho, refreshing the live internet commentary at cyclingnews.com and velonews.com and waiting as long as I could before heading off to my meeting this morning.

Oh No Dario!

Fassa Bortolo’s Dario Frigo got busted again for drugs. As you may recall he got caught four years ago during the Giro d’Italia in a drug raid where he was found to be in possession of “Hemassist,” a drug that was so dangerous that it had been removed from US testing when it was determined that almost half of the patients who used it died, as opposed to a less than 20% mortality rate for the control group. He confessed to having purchased the drugs “just in case” he needed them and was given a suspension.

It turns out that his expensive “stash” purchased over the internet, naturally, was nothing more than saline that he had paid thousands of dollars to acquire. This week, his wife was arrested by French police after they stopped her car and searched it, finding ampules of EPO and human growth hormone hidden in a thermos packaged in ice and hidden in his trunk.

After the Raimondas Rumsas affair a few years ago, where Mrs. Rumsas was arrested shortly after her husband finished on the podium at the Tour de France, returning to their home in Italy with a veritable pharmacy in her trunk, you would think that riders would not be using their wives or girlfriends as mules. I just cannot see either Sheryl Crow or Odessa Gunn carrying their man’s stash.

Tour Fashion Review #7

Cofidis is a French telephone credit company. Just like in America, you pick up the phone and somebody gives you a loan at 200% interest for a month. Cofidis has always sported Red, Blue and Yellow kits that are tied to the color and logo scheme of the sponsor. Cofidis only gets a C+ for their uniforms, however. I do not have any problem with the color scheme or placement or number of logos, but the toll free number on the front of the jersey is just too much information. If this were in the United States, you know there would be a disclaimer to follow the telephone number.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 13, 2005

Geoff is on the road again but had the following thoughts:

I think I was wrong

I may have been a little harsh on Discovery Channel. Tuesday's performance was completely unexpected. It is not that I expected the team to perform poorly; I expected them to put in a workman-like performance and not show weakness. The European Press was salivating over the team's performance on Saturday and had marked it as the end ofthe line for Armstrong's team.

Tuesday's performance by Discovery and Armstrong was unexpected for two reasons. First, although the climb to Courchavel is long, it is not the most difficult climb that the riders will face. It is not particularly steep and it has some relatively flat areas. This is especially true since the peleton only faced one other climb on the stage. Coming as it did after a rest stage, I really did not think that it was the type of stage that would shake up the general classification like it did. It was not particularly long, not particularly difficult and just did not seem like it would be an epic day in the mountains.

Second, I expected the team to ride defensively on the first mountain stage coming as it did after the rest day. I expected them to make a strong showing but was amazed when the team regrouped after the first climb and had every rider at the front leading Armstrong to the base of the climb to Courchavel. I did not expect the team to expend the resources that they did shattering the peleton at the base of the final climb. The fact that George Hincapie was taking pulls at the front with Jose Azevedo and Paolo Savoldelli was nothing short of impressive. You did not see other sprinters like Tom Boonen up there at the front. With team leaders falling out the back of the main group with Hincapie setting tempo, it was an amazing sight.

Although Armstrong historically attacks hard on the first mountain stage, and with the exception of 2003, has put big time into all his challengers, I did not think that the team would follow that same strategy yet again, especially in light of the aggressiveness of theother teams over the weekend. Armstrong showed his strength, however, by riding the final 10km by himself. I am convinced that if he had to, he could have dropped Mancebo, Valverde and Rasmussen and won the stage.

Vinokourov's collapse today was shocking. He has always been an aggressive rider and had improved his skills in the high mountains over the last couple of years. He rode to victory on Mount Ventoux during the Dauphine Libere in June. Less shocking was the performance of Roberto Heras. Since leaving US Postal Service to ride for Liberty Seguros, he has done nothing at the Tour de France. He won last year's Vuelta a Espana but history is proving that success at the Giro or the Vuelta does not translate to success at the Tour. He is a great climber but like Gilberto Simoni, Heras really does not seem to perform when given the responsibility of the team leader.

Armstrong can still lose the Tour de France. However, as one of Cyclingnews.com's columnists wrote, it will take an injury, illness or incident for Armstrong to lose the Tour de France.

Fashion Review

I have to give Illes Balears extra credit. Their jerseys are bad but you can wear bad clothes when you ride as well as their leaders did on Tuesday. I will increase their grade to a C even though their kit looks like what you get when your kids leave their crayons in the back seat of your car on the hottest day of the year.

Fashion Review, Part Deux

(Since Kristin is left to post the blog, she gets to add her own fashion comments.)

Geoff has been sharing his opinion of the team kits featured in this year’s Tour. What I think is most impressive is how the shorts match the jersey which matches the helmet which matches the socks (case in point: Rabobank). However, besides the team jerseys there is a certain Yellow Jersey (general classification leader), a Green Jersey (points leader), a Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains), and a White Jersey (best young rider). As the leader of one of these distinct competitions, you not only get a stylin’ jersey with your team’s logo, you get a whole outfit. If you are wearing yellow, you get coordinating shorts, helmet, and sometimes even a wristband. Tom Boonen managed to wear coordinating sunglasses. The Tour’s Fashion Police are certainly on their toes.

However, I’m wondering if they don’t like Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank. David Zabriskie had a complete ensemble for his first day wearing yellow. Tom Boonen had his Jolly Green Giant suit the next day as well. So why did Rasmussen have to spend his first day in polka dots looking like my five-year-old daughter dressed him? Apparently, someone must have complained because Tuesday he was looking fine, right down to the matching, polka-dotted helmet. Someone must have put in some overtime on that one.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 11, 2005

How Quickly Things Turn

As predicted, Saturday’s Stage 8 was a difficult day for the peleton and particularly Lance Armstrong. Discovery Channel, which had been labeled by some as one of the strongest teams ever to line up at the Tour de France, looked like a weak domestic team on Saturday under the relentless attacks by T-Mobile during the final climb of the day.

Armstrong was quickly isolated as he endured attacks by Alexander Vinokourov, then Jan Ullrich, then Vinokourov again and finally Andreas Kloden who Armstrong allowed to ride off the front. Kloden ultimately finished second in a photo finish and Armstrong finished in the chase group of 35 which contained all of the team leaders for the general classification at the Tour. What that group lacked, however, was any Discovery Channel teammate of Armstrong. Paolo Salvoldelli was the last rider with Armstrong who closed the gap on Vinokourov’s first attack and was quickly lost.

Discovery’s climbers did a poor job of protecting Armstrong and a poor job of getting themselves to the finish. It was not a good day at all. The OLN TV broadcast team did not pull any punches in their interviews with Kloden and Armstrong at the finish nor did they withhold the criticism that Discovery Channel deserved for its poor performance. Even ESPN dedicated significant coverage and commentary to the team’s poor performance with John Eustice being interviewed on ESPN News. The team looked a lot like the 1999 US Postal Service team which was possibly the weakest team since Greg LeMond’s 1989 ADR team to have its leader win the Tour de France.

The events of Saturday show how quickly the fortunes of teams change in a week. Discovery had looked strong from the outset. The start for the Stage 1 individual time trial had every T-Mobile rider followed after one minute by a Discovery Channel rider. In a little reported fact, last Saturday’s individual time trial was incredibly demoralizing for T-Mobile, not just because Jan Ulrich got passed by Lance Armstrong, but rather because seven of nine Discovery Channel riders caught and passed the T-Mobile rider that started one minute ahead of them. Alexander Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden were the only T-Mobile riders not to get passed by a Discovery Channel rider before of the finish.

Saturday gave T-Mobile hope that it could isolate Armstrong and use their multiple leaders to attack him relentlessly. T-Mobile’s strategy has shown that it can put Armstrong under pressure but its strategy will only work if T-Mobile is not wedded to Ullrich as its team leader. If the team races to beat Armstrong with Ullrich, Kloden and Vinokourov each taking turns to attack, the team can beat Armstrong. If the team races for Ullrich to be the team leader and to take Armstrong on directly, T-Mobile will once again finish on the podium but not in first place.

Sunday was not a good day for T-Mobile. Ullrich crashed early on a descent. Discovery Channel worked hard to keep the chase together but clearly had no desire to bring Michael Rassmussen, Christophe Moreau and Jens Voight back. That resulted in a surrender of the yellow jersey to Voight, but it puts the pressure back on to CSC as the race enters the Alps. Tuesday’s first mountain stage is hard but not the most difficult mountain stage as the final climb is only about 6% and there are only two climbs during the stage. Wednesday’s mountain stage is more difficult but does not have an uphill finish. If Discovery Channel does not get the jersey back until the Pyrennes it will not be the end of the world.

T-Mobile and CSC can beat Armstrong if they race opportunistically and aggressively. With one week down and today’s rest day, it is clear that the Tour has just begun.

How Quickly Things Turn #2

Sunday unfortunately saw the withdrawal of David Zabriskie of Team CSC after less than 20km. Saturday, Zabriskie finished dead last on the stage, more than fifty minutes behind the winner. He was still suffering from his crash in the team time trial and had crashed again. He barely made the time cut on Saturday and pulled out Sunday after starting the race.

When a rider abandons during the Tour de France, race officials remove the rider’s numbers from their jersey pockets. It was very sad to see Zabriskie going from leading the race to last place to out of the race in the course of four days. He will certainly be back and he has a bright future on Team CSC.

Why Discovery Channel Raced So Poorly On Saturday

There has been a lot of speculation as to Discovery Channel’s poor performance on Saturday. I think it comes down to one thing: hubris. The team’s dominating performance in Stage 1, humiliating most of the T-Mobile riders, made the team over confident. Although Discovery Channel was strong, Team CSC was just as strong in the opening stage.

With the modification of the rules for the team time trial that results in relatively limited time losses among the teams, it is still important to place well and ride a strong team time trial. A team that finishes in the top six or seven in the team time trial will not see its team leader lose significant time to its chief rivals. Additionally, Stage 4 was over a course that everyone knew would be fast, would have a strong tail wind and would have a technical final 20km which would significantly limit the gaps between the teams. Discovery Channel was clearly overconfident going into and completing Stage 4.

Discovery Channel knew it was riding a good time trial during Stage 4. It knew it was gaining time on its rivals and that it had increased its lead over T-Mobile significantly over the last 20km. Discovery Channel did not need to win the stage but did so anyway, putting Armstrong in yellow. The team’s stated strategy had been to be over a minute and a half ahead of the main riders from T-Mobile and CSC by the end of the team time trial. Any belief that Discovery could put those kinds of gaps into teams as strong as those was just silly. It was not going to happen and Discovery Channel wasted a lot of energy trying to make something that was impossible happen.

Discovery Channel also believed that it would not have to defend the yellow jersey and could relinquish it at will, as has happened over the last few years. Had the team more closely considered the dynamics of the first week of the Tour, caused by the larger time gaps caused by the stage one individual time trial as well as the clear opportunities for the sprinters, Boonen, McEwen, Hushovd, Davis, Cooke and O’Grady, due to the relatively flat, straight and tailwind aided routes of the first week of this year’s Tour, Discovery should have known that it was unlikely that a breakaway would get away, let alone one with a rider who could take the yellow away from Armstrong. Just because it worked in the past did not mean that it would work this year.

When it became apparent that the routes and time gaps would not result in an unthreatening rider getting up the road in a breakaway and riding into yellow, Discovery Channel actually discussed trying to get George Hincapie into yellow. Hincapie came out of the team time trial second to Armstrong in the general classification but almost a minute behind. Saturday, Discovery Channel put Hincapie in an early break that did not succeed. Having failed to break away and ride into yellow, Hincapie, who has been the only member of all six of Armstrong’s winning teams, was maxed out and unable to provide any assistance to Armstrong on Saturday even though the climbs were not anything that should have put him in difficulty.

If Discovery Channel loses the Tour de France this year it will be because of the team’s hubris. This weekend may have just been one of those momentary bad days that every winner of the Tour has to endure. Three weeks is an incredibly long time. If this is just a momentary flash of weakness, then Discovery Channel should be able to overcome and guide Armstrong to victory. I fear however, that complacency and overconfidence are manifesting themselves in the team’s performance.

Tour Fashion Review #6

Both Phonak and Fassa Bortolo wear team kits that are closely tied to the color scheme and logos of their primary sponsors. Fassa Bortolo uses classic colors and a simple design that conveys the sponsor’s logo. There is nothing wrong with that, it is the safe thing to do. However, being safe only gets you a B.

Phonak is much like Fassa Bortolo in holding true to their sponsors logo and colors. However, lime green shorts are neither flattering nor something joe average cyclist would ever purchase. Lime green gets you a D.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 8, 2005

Vino Shows His Strength

T-Mobile’s Alexander Vinokourov showed his form during Thursday’s Stage 6 into Nancy. Attacking about 2km to the finish, after difficult conditions and a difficult climb, Vinokourov was powering to a possible win. However, with 1km to go, the riders took a hard right on the rain-soaked road and many of the top sprinters crashed into the barriers.

Vinokourov managed to stay upright and finished second behind Lorenzo Bernucci of Fassa Bortolo. Lance Armstrong and many of the other GC contenders were caught up behind the crash. Since the crash happened in the last 3km of the race, all those delayed by the crash were given the same time. Race officials awarded Vinokourov the same time as Bernucci and the rest of the main peleton was given the time of the third place finisher seven seconds behind.

Vinokourov came out of the stage picking up seven seconds on Armstrong and a twelve second time bonus for second place on the stage. I still believe that Vinokourov is the best rider on T-Mobile this year. He has an opportunistic eye for stage wins and is willing to attack much more than some of his teammates. He has shown himself to be stronger in the mountains this year during the run up to the Tour de France than he has in past years. Discovery Channel would be wise to keep a closer eye on Vinokourov and not let him get away under any circumstances.


Heading into Germany

Stage 7 takes the riders over rolling hills into Germany on Friday. It is certainly not an easy stage; however, Friday will likely be a day for the sprinters, especially since the next few stages do not lend themselves to field sprints.

Saturday’s Stage 8 will start in Germany and head back into France. It starts with 4 third category climbs in the first 50km and finishes with a second category climb in the last 50km. It is not a true mountain stage and has a downhill finish but Saturday’s stage will further mix up the general classification. Stage 8 is the type of stage that Vinokourov can win. It’s finish is very similar to Stage 9 of the 2003 Tour de France when Vinokourov attacked over the last 1000m climb and raced in over the last 20km of the stage. That was the stage when Armstrong, Ullrich and Beloki were chasing Vinokourov down and Beloki had his disastrous crash.

Sunday is a difficult day for the peleton even though there is a relatively flat ride in over the last 60km into Mulhouse. The day starts with a ride through the Vosges, the mountains located in northeastern France. The ride includes 4 third category climbs, a second category climb and a first category climb. The climbs are not as long or as difficult as those later in the Tour and the finish is relatively flat, so it is possible that the peleton will regroup before Mulhouse. That said, Sunday’s stage will be a day for an opportunist who can get away and stay away. Discovery Channel will have to watch Vinokourov on this stage as it, too, is a stage tailored to his talents.


Tour Fashion Review #4

Bjarne Riis has done an excellent job with a modest budget at CSC. The red and black of the team's kit are distinctive. As the primary sponsor, CSC’s logo is prominent and memorable. However, the secondary sponsor’s logos have become quite busy on the front of the jersey over the last couple of years. The logo on the team’s shorts for “ALM Brand” looks like a short logo you would find on a US club team’s shorts for “Bob’s Plumbing Supply.” A couple of years ago, the team added black and white highlights on the jersey that kind of remind me of feathers. Feathers are never good, even if the team has expertly used black, red and white. CSC gets a B-.

Illes Balears from Spain has one of the worst color schemes in professional cycling. The team emerged from Banesto which had the classic red, white, blue and yellow that Miguel Indurain wore while winning five Tours de France. When Banesto dropped its sponsorship, the government tourism division of the Baleric Islands (Majorca, Menorca and a couple of other islands) came to the rescue. They integrated the color and logo schemes for Illes Balears into the team’s kit. Fortunately for us all, the Baleric Islands have decided to sponsor a basketball team next year and the team will be sponsored by some French financial entity called Caisse D’somethingorother. Their jerseys have to be an improvement next year. Illes Balears gets a D.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 7, 2005

Robbie McEwen is a Five Year Old Girl, Too

Robbie McEwen, the Australian national cycling champion who races for Belgium’s Lotto-Davitamon, is my least favorite cyclist next to Gilberto Simoni. Although he is very fast, as evidenced by his multiple sprint wins at the Giro d’Italia, he is utterly lacking in charm. I have met a lot of Australians in my travels and participation in international events. I never thought it possible for there to be an uncool Australian. However, McEwen, the winner of Stage 5 of the Tour de France is totally uncool.

He did have a breakthrough today in winning the stage. However, in case you missed it, let’s take you back to Stage 3. At the finish, McEwen sprinted too late and got boxed in. As Boonen surged for the line Stuart O’Grady, a truly cool Australian and Olympic gold medalist in the Madison, attempted to get on Boonen’s wheel. As he did so, he and McEwen made contact. McEwen then head butted O’Grady twice while going 60kph. McEwen claimed that O’Grady elbowed him and that he was just trying to stay upright.

The overhead camera views do not show any more contact between the two than would be normally expected for such a sprint finish. O’Grady was obviously upset afterwards and told Cyclingnews.com "That was over the top! Sure, there's argy-bargy in the sprints but today was too much." Cameras at the street level clearly captured McEwen’s head butts and the race officials agreed with O’Grady’s assessment. McEwen was relegated to the back of the bunch and lost all of his sprint points for the stage.

In winning today, McEwen timed his sprint perfectly and beat Boonen for the first time. However, McEwen was unrepentant as reported by Velonews.com. He told reporters after his win today that, “The win today doesn't change my mind. I have watched the video enough times, the pictures enough times. There are other people who definitely know what they are talking about who agree with me. One of them is Sean Kelly. He's not a nobody. He has won the green jersey five times. Eddy Merckx has won the Tour five times and he agrees with me as well.”

That sounds a lot like my daughter’s invocations of “it’s not fair” to excuse bad behavior. Nobody would have gotten relegated had McEwen literally kept his head about him. You are never going to convince anyone that your head accidentally got in the way of Stuart O’Grady while sprinting to the line. Anyway, it is nice to have competitive sprints even if McEwen is the winner.


Tour Fashion Review #3

French team Bouygues Telecom is sporting turquoise and white kits this year. I have already offered my opinions about Discovery Channel’s use of the color. Generally I am not a fan of turquoise/teal/sea foam blue/or any other derivation thereof. However, in adopting the exact color scheme of the team’s sponsor, Bouygues Telecom has actually pulled off a good design. It is distinctive and recognizable. If you are French, you automatically know who the sponsor is from a quick look at the jersey. It is not cluttered up with secondary logos. Unfortunately, the Bouygues Telecom logo and color scheme do not go well with polka dots. Although Thomas Voekler’s stay in the king of the mountains jersey was mercifully short, the bad color contrast means I have to give Bouygues Telecom an A-.


Johnny (Halladay) Come Latelys

It never ceases to amaze me how many people get interested in cycling during July solely because of Lance Armstrong. It will be interesting to see how the Johnny (Halladay) Come Latelys fare next year when Lance is retired. People see the 10 second news blurb that Armstrong is leading the race and ask how he did today and when you say he finished in the main pack with the same time they just don’t get it.

Even Al Trautwig, OLN’s resident know-nothing, seemed exasperated by American fans who were upset that Armstrong did not win every stage of the Tour de France. I just have to remember that this is my opportunity to educate the trendy masses of Johnny (Halladay) Come Latelys that there is so much more than Lance and that he has a team and that he does not win everyday and that it is OK for a red blooded American like myself to say, “You know, it is OK to be pulling for an Italian riding for a Danish team with an American sponsor.”

FYI: Johnny Halladay is considered the “French Elvis.” Leave it to the French to think there needs to be a French Elvis. There was only one Elvis. And if Mojo Nixon had just written another verse to “Elvis Is Everywhere,” he probably would have included Johnny Halladay in his list of people like Michael J. Fox that had no Elvis in him.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 6, 2005

Team Time Trial Mayhem

Wednesday’s team time trial lived up to expectations. It was very fast, in fact the fastest team time trial in Tour history. Teams with GC contenders showed up and raced hard. Not one team “mailed it in” this year like last year when FDj.com lost 7:33 to US Postal Service.

Unfortunately, David Zabriskie crashed in the last two kilometers ending his run in yellow. It is clear that had he stayed upright he would have likely remained in yellow. Team CSC had an excellent performance and would have not likely lost by two seconds to Discovery Channel. Discovery rode a perfect team time trial. It did not lose a single rider over the course unlike CSC, T-Mobile and Phonak. Discovery kept its pace under control and appeared to get faster as the race went on.

The big question now is whether Discovery Channel will defend Armstrong’s yellow jersey for the rest of the Tour or if they will let a break go like they have historically done. Due to the long individual time trial and the early team time trial, letting the jersey go to another team will be easy to do. It is unlikely that the sprinters teams will let a break go over the next couple of days. Moreover, letting a break go once the race hits the Vosges (hilly region in northeastern France) could be dangerous as there are not the long mountain top finishes that Armstrong has used to take back time in the past.

Although I had some reservations about the “special rules” for the team time trial implemented last year, I have gotten over them. Poor teamwork should be punished, while strong teams should be rewarded. The current system does both of those things without skewing the race too much.


Simoni Whines Like A Five Year Old Girl

You know by now that I am not a big fan of Gilberto Simoni of Lampre Caffita. He has always talked too much and not proven his abilities when faced with the best in the world. He has had success in the Giro d’Italia but last year was upstaged by his younger teammate Damiano Cuenego. This year Cuenego was supposed to be the team’s leader for the Tour and would ride the Giro in support of Simoni. Cunego had a disasterous Giro and was of little assistance to Simoni. Simoni all but blamed Cunego for his failure to overtake Paolo Savoldelli of Discovery Channel. Simoni announced that he would go to the Tour and support Cunego, much to the surprise of team management.

After the Giro, Cunego was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Syndrome and was obviously out of the Tour de France. No one heard anything until a week before from Simoni when, he proclaimed for all who were interested that he would not be competing in the Tour this year due to “muscle fatigue” and that he would not be able to help the team due to his “condition.” Do you think that had anything to do with the team’s announcement that it had extended Cunego’s contract for three more years while refusing to offer Simoni a contract for next year?

Gilberto reminds me of the pronouncements by my five-year-old daughter after learning one of her siblings is sick or injured and getting more attention.

Tour Fashion Review #2

There has been some criticism of Discovery Channel’s jerseys this year as looking too much like some of the other teams, namely Quick.Step and AG2R. Supposedly the grey on the Discovery Channel was inspired by shark skin and was intended to play off of Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” block of programming.

Discovery Channel’s team kit is neither the best nor the worst in the peleton. However, I give it only a B- because it is not really that original or distinctive plus it is kind of turquoise. The yellow “livestrong” sleeve band is a nice touch but does not go with the rest of the kit. It is not anything that I would run right out and buy. Plus, last year’s USPostal Service Kit with the dark navy blue and wide red and white stripes is probably the best kit a US team racing in Europe has ever worn. It clearly identified the team as an American team. This year is kind of a let down.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 5, 2005

Following up on Monday's post on why Armstrong will not win the Tour a seventh consecutive time, it is only fair to provide you with who I think will win this year.

My pick for the Tour.

When Armstrong won in 1999 for the first time, he was not a rider that anyone expected to win leading up to the race. The 1999 US Postal Service team was a fairly weak team. No one knew if he could climb and time trial consistently over three weeks. He was frequently left alone by his team in the mountains, yet managed to win. It was Johann Bryuneel’s leadership and encouragement that enabled Armstrong to believe he could win and have his team support him to victory.

My pick for the Tour this year is Ivan Basso of Team CSC-Nobili. Basso was clearly the strongest rider at the Giro d’Italia in May. He was the best climber and the best time trialist. His untimely sickness cost him his first Grand Tour. He did not quit, however, and even after losing almost an hour over two mountain stages, he rode to two stage victories before the end of the Giro, one in the mountains, one in the final time trial. Bjarne Riis, the team manager for CSC, is a former winner. He has shown his ability to get the most out of his riders. CSC is a lot like Discovery in management and direction and team work.

If Alexander Vinokourov rode for CSC and not T-Mobile, he would be my pick. He is one of the most aggressive and consistent riders in the peleton. He finished on the podium two years ago. His climbing skills have improved as evidenced by his victory on the Mont Ventoux during this year’s Dauphine Libere. However, the drama that is T-Mobile in the form of Jan Ullrich has stifled Vinokourov. T-Mobile will not get a rider on the podium unless the team races for Vinokourov from the outset of the Tour. Vino would be my choice, but he has too much holding him back to overcome.


Americans at the Tour

The Tour has a strong American flavor this year and not because of the presence of an American team, Discovery Channel. After the opening time trial there were five Americans in the top 11. David Zabriskie of CSC was first, Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie of Discovery Channel were second and fourth respectively, Floyd Landis of Phonak was sixth and Bobby Julich of CSC was eleventh. That is a phenomenal result. The best placed Spanish rider was thirteenth on the stage, the best Italian was twentieth and the best French rider was twenty fourth.

Cycling has become much more global and America has been at the forefront of the emergence of cycling outside of the traditional powers of Italy, France and Spain.

More impressive is the fact that there are more Americans on non-American teams than ever before. Discovery Channel only has two Americans on the roster at the Tour. Chris Horner is riding for the Spanish team Saunier Duval-Prodir. Bobby Julich and David Zabriskie are riding for the Denmark’s Team CSC. Fred Rodriguez is at the Tour with the Belgian Lotto-Davitamon team. Levi Leipheimer is at the Tour for the German team Gerolsteiner. Floyd Landis is riding for Phonak of Switzerland. Last but not least is Guido Trenti, of Quick.Step of Belgium. Trenti is an Italian rider whose American mother traveled to Italy in the early 1970’s, fell in love with an Italian and never returned. He is an American who speaks little English but who obtained U.S. citizenship a few years ago so that he could more easily gain entry to the World Championships as an American.

It is incredible to see a couple of guys who came up through the regional racing scene in the Intermountain West, Zabriskie and Leipheimer, racing in Europe. Both raced as amateurs in Salt Lake City and have gone on to win races in Europe.


Tour Fashion

You know that the mainstream is focusing on bike racing when ESPN.com’s columnist Paul Lukas spends much of his recent edition of “Uni Watch” on the fashions of the Tour. He explains the various jerseys to the lay man and provides pictures. As I have done earlier, I will provide my Tour Fashion Review as we go on over the next few weeks.


Tour Fashion Review #1

Back in the day, Spanish team Once would come to the Tour in pink jerseys to differentiate themselves from the yellow jersey winner. Pantani’s Mercatone Uno team similarly changed their canary jerseys to pink on occasion at the Tour.

This year, Spanish team Saunier Duval-Prodir has come to the Tour with a slightly different jersey than they typically wear. The Saunier Duval jersey has been made predominately white so as to avoid confusion with the yellow jersey. Not really that bad. However it is unclear if they have had special white long socks made for their appearance at the Tour this year. Saunier Duval gets a B. Not to flashy, not too exciting, but not distracting either.

The Cycliste Moderne, July 4, 2005

I am thankful for a wife who has developed an interest in the things I like. Kristin really saved me last week. I am now more or less focused for the next three weeks. I may post daily, we will have to see. Due to the fact that every news outlet in America is following the Tour de France, I am not going to provide a stage by stage recap as I did during the Giro d’Italia. You can get that from the links that we provide to Cyclingnews.com, Velonews.com or Pezcyclingnews.com. I will provide you with insight that will make you look like an expert at the office, however.

Who Will Win Le Tour?

A lot of people have asked me who I think will win the Tour de France this year. I think it is going to be interesting to say the least. Here are my thoughts:

Why Armstrong Won’t Win #7

I am writing this after Armstrong’s impressive finish during the Stage 1 time trial where he finished second and more importantly put over a minute into Jan Ullrich and most of the other projected contenders. Yesterday’s performance does not change my belief however, that Armstrong will not win the Tour this year. Why?

1. None of the prior 5 time winners went out on top. Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain all won five Tours de France. They all tried to win six. They all failed in their last attempts at winning the Tour. Anquetil abandoned during the 19th Stage of the 1966 Tour de France and retired two years later. Merckx, after winning five Tours, attempted the race again in 1975 and 1977, finishing second and fifth. Merckx retired in 1978. Bernard Hinault finished second at the 1986 Tour de France, “helping” Greg LeMond win his first Tour. Miguel Indurain finished 11th during the 1996 Tour and retired later that year after abandoning during the Vuelta a Espana.

2. Armstrong has not raced enough this season. Entering the Tour, Armstrong had participated in just a handful of races. He abandoned during Paris-Nice after just a couple of stages. He rode the one day Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Tour of Georgia and the Dauphine Libere. All told he has less than 15 days of racing in him for the season. He has certainly continued to train hard, however training does not replicate racing.

3. Armstrong has been very lucky over the last 6 Tours. Over the last six Tours, he has had almost perfect conditions. He has avoided most major crashes. He has avoided illness. He has had maybe one bad day each Tour. It is amazing that he has managed to continue winning and avoiding the types of accidents, injuries and destructive behavior that have sidelined other competitors like Joseba Beloki, Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani. During the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, Ivan Basso was clearly the strongest rider with the strongest team. But for a stomach bug which sapped his strength over two mountain stages, Basso would have ridden away from everyone else. The same could happen to Armstrong.

Why Armstrong Will Win #7

That said, Armstrong will win the Tour de France. Why?

1. Nobody can climb as well, time trial as well, and has as strong a team as Armstrong.

2. For all the talk of riders like Jan Ullrich, no one has consistently challenged Armstrong in the Tour.

3. Discovery Channel is still the strongest, most focused team in the race.

4. Who else can win it?



Now on to Le Tour!!!!

Stages 1, 2, 3

This year’s tour started with an individual time trial. Generally, the Tour starts with a “prologue” which is simply an individual time trial less than 10km long. As it did in 2000, however, the Tour started with a short 20km individual time trial. The effect of such a time trial is to shake up the general classification from the outset of the race and unlike a prologue, where the main sprinters will lose only thirty seconds or so, most of them lost over two minutes to the leaders on Saturday. That means that the Yellow Jersey is not likely to be worn by a sprinter this year.


Zabriskie Breaks Through In Stage One

Dave Zabriskie, the Utah time trial specialist who moved from US Postal Service to CSC in the off season, has become just the third American to ever wear the yellow jersey as a result of his win in the Stage 1 time trial. In winning the time trial, Zabriskie set the speed record for a non-prologue time trial, surpassing Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong.

Zabriskie has had a phenomenal last 12 months. He was the US Individual Time Trial champion. He won a road stage at the Vuelta a Espana last year in a solo break away. He finished fifth at the World Championships in the individual time trial. He won the first time trial at this year’s Giro d’Italia. He won the opening stage of the Tour de France. In short order, he has joined a rather exclusive group of American cyclists who have won stages in a Grand Tour and an even more exclusive group of Americans who have worn the Maillot Jaune (Armstrong, LeMond, Zabriskie). What makes that all the more impressive is what he had to overcome before his run of good form started.

Much has been made of Zabriskie’s crash in 2003; while training in Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City he was hit by an SUV. The crash hospitalized him with multiple fractures, including a broken leg. Most people do not know about the horrific crash he suffered during last year’s Redlands Classic. After finishing second in the prologue to eventual winner Chris Horner, Zabriskie went down during the first stage of the 2004 Redlands Classic. He suffered a serious concussion and had to be taken to the hospital in a helicopter.

Zabriskie is only 26 years old. His best years are ahead of him as a cyclist. Moreover, his interviews with the press during these first two days of the Tour de France remind me a lot of the interviews with Lance Armstrong after he won the prologue at the 1999 Tour. He was almost overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he had accomplished. He will stay in yellow, at least until the team time trial on Wednesday.

However, should CSC manage to beat Discovery Channel in the team time trial, it is possible that Zabriskie could stay in yellow until the Alps. The team is in the midst of sponsorship negotiations with CSC to extend its sponsorship. CSC is in fact an American company based in Northern Virginia. Having an American in the lead at the Tour de France for as long as possible certainly is good for the sponsor and the team. Discovery is not going to want to attack and take the yellow this early in the race. CSC has always been pretty good at the team time trial. It is unlikely that T-Mobile or Credit Agricole will be able to win and put enough time into Discovery and CSC to put Alexander Vinokourov or Lazlo Bodrogi, their respective general classification leaders, into the yellow with a win.


Boonen Performs as Expected in Stages 2 and 3.

The second and third stages of the Tour de France have unfolded as would be expected. There have been early breaks of 3-4 riders that stay away for most of the day only to be caught in the last 20km of the race. Then the sprinters’ teams go to the front in an attempt to control the tempo and set their leaders up for the victory. This year there is no Alessandro Petacchi, Mario Chippolini or Erik Zabel, riders whose teams have historically committed their entire efforts to delivering their leader to victory. Those teams would put anywhere from 6-8 riders on the front of the race to lead the sprint out.

This year with the advent of the ProTour, more teams are competitive and the talent is deeper. Moreover, virtually every team has a general classification contender. As a result, teams do not commit their entire resources to the sprint finishes. There have been only 3-4 riders per team at the front to lead out their sprinters. The effect has been sprints which are much more competitive and more teams have the possibility of victory. That said, Tom Boonen of Quick.Step has proven himself to be the best sprinter in the race so far this year. He has easily won the second and third stages, outsprinting Robbie McEwen who is probably the best sprinter in the world next to Petacchi.

Boonen’s talents in the spring classics and Grand Tour sprints make him a rider who could have a very long and successful career. He is clearly the most consistent Belgian rider in the peleton today. Boonen turned pro with US Postal Service but left the team after one year due to his concerns with his ability to develop on a team solely focused on preparation for the Tour de France and supporting Lance Armstrong. It was clearly a good move for Boonen.