The Cycliste Moderne, June 18, 2006

Tour de Suisse Recap

Jan Ullrich looks to be in good shape for the Tour de France. He stayed close to the lead throughout the race and won the final time trial today as expected. It did not look like he had to expend too much energy in winning and he certainly has shown that he is in shape to be one of the top five riders at the Tour de France next month. Ullrich also appears to be thinner than he has in a few years. I don’t think that Ullrich can win the Tour but he will once again contend and will once again finish on the podium. Sorry there is not more, I just have not had the time or energy to really follow the race. The World Cup is on and that is the most important thing right now.

Armstrong Calls Out Pound

Lance Armstrong fired off an eight page letter to the IOC this week calling upon the organization to take action against Dick Pound and WADA for the breaches of ethics that have occurred as a result of the L’Equipe investigation of the 1999 Tour de France. A copy of the letter has been published by Cyclingnews.com. This month, Dick Pound was interviewed by Outside Magazine and reasserted his belief that Armstrong doped in 1999. The war between the two certainly has not ended and will continue. At the end of the day, however, the IOC is going to have to step up and decide whether WADA is best served by having such a polarizing figure as Dick Pound as its leader. Moreover, if the IOC and all of the individual sports federations want to truly do something about doping WADA needs to be led by a strong figure whose integrity is above reproach and who does not appear to have a personal ax to grind. Dick Pound is neither. If you want to know more about the Canadian lawyer who publicly defended Ben Johnson’s doping in 1988, check out this column by Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post in 2004.

Eindhoven Team Time Trial

The ProTour added a team time trial last year to give ProTour teams an opportunity to train and compete in the event. However, the Tour de France has now removed the team time trial and it really is not an event which attracts the best line ups from the ProTour teams. Moreover, the event suffered significant lack of sponsor support in its first few years. It is still around and was contested today in Eindhoven. The coolest thing about the race is that it goes right by the Eindhoven Holiday Inn where I always stay when I am in Eindhoven. (Before you judge me for my hotel choice, the Eindhoven Holiday Inn is a four star hotel within walking distance of the city center, the train station and Phillips Stadium where PSV Eindhoven plays.) Even the Eindhoven Team Time Trial organizers recognized the importance of the World Cup as its start time was adjusted to avoid competing with the World Cup matches today. Team CSC won the race and clearly took it seriously since it brought Dave Zabriskie, Bobby Julich and Jens Voight as part of the team to contest it. Discovery Channel and Gerolsteiner finsished second and third. Of course the best placed French team was in ninth place and no Spanish team cracked the top ten.

Just Riding Along

Yesterday we went out for an hour and a half ride so that my ten year old could complete his Cycling Pin for Cub Scouts. It never ceases to amaze me the things you see people doing when you are out for a ride. So here are some of the things we saw:

Old guy on a Trek Cyclocross bike with his button down long sleeved shirt tucked into his cycling shorts.

Old guy on a Cannondale with his bike jersey tucked into his cycling shorts so far that he covered up half of his pockets.

Couple on cruisers who obviously having mechanical problems pull off the Boise Greenbelt into the area marked “Warning Stay on Path: Puncture Vine.”

Family out for a ride where the parents ride without helmets, but the kids ride in flip flops.

A really big 6 year old out on his 16 inch wheels with his little legs spinning at about 200 rpm while wearing his hooded winter coat.

It is good to be out riding but a few notes for people:

Wear shoes not flip flops
Wear your helmet especially on the Greenbelt because you never know when a kid will take you out.
Do not tuck your jersey into your bike shorts. Jerseys and shirts go over shorts not under them.
If you have a mechanical go somewhere that is safe for you and your bike to do your repair

World Cup Recap

The United States played one of the gutsiest games it has ever had to play holding on to tie Italy 1-1. The United States can advance with a win over Ghana and an Italian win over the Czech Republic. Any other scenario is unlikely for the United States to advance as it lakcs the goal differential needed to advance if the Czech Republic beats Italy. You have to wonder, however, why the Uruguayan referee who officiated the US-Italy match, who had been suspended by the Uruguayan FA for corruption in 2002 would ever be called up to referee at the World Cup with that mark on his resume.

Anyway, Brazil has not yet looked like Brazil in the tournament. Argentina has looked the best of anyone so far in the tournament as they have the total package of defense and offense. None of the African or Asian have looked like they belong in the tournament. Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago have not won but they have at least been competitive. Ecuador is probably the surprise of the tournament so far. The difficult South American qualifying process has benefited them. The best game of the Second Round will likely be Portugal versus the Netherlands as both teams play an attacking style with significant possession in their midfields. It could be either a 6-4 or a 0-0 outcome but it should be exciting.

The thing that has been most evident to me is that the draw this year just has not resulted in terribly exciting or competitive matches except for in the US’ Group.