The Cycliste Moderne, July 9, 2006

Well with the end of the World Cup, I have to hand it to Italy. It is a deserving champion and has played as a true team. Its defense has been solid throughout the World Cup and it has never looked rattled. Italy did not play particularly well during the second half and overtime on Sunday but the shocking actions of France's captain Zinedine Zidane in the overtime period cemented the equity and justice of the Italian victory in penalty kicks.

Zidane had almost single handedly gotten France to the World Cup after he left international retirement to play for the team during the closing stages of qualification. The French emerged from the first round of games without Zidane having shown anything that would cause anyone to not believe that the 3 time world player of the year was indeed past his prime. However, in the knockout stages, Zidane put the country on his back and almost single handedly dragged them to their second World Cup. He had announced prior to the tournament that he would not only retire from international football but also from his club Real Madrid. For nearly two hours Zidane put in an effort that would end his career with the type of glorious memories that are reserved for the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer, and Platini.

Then Zidane completely lost it. So far behind the play that the main television feed did not capture the image, Zidane turned and lunged head first into Italian defender Marco Materazzi as the two exchanged words heading back up the pitch. It was several seconds before the referee stopped the match and the cameras returned to Marco Materazzi lying on the pitch. Only then did the graphic nature of what Zidane doen become apparent. In one minute he went from beloved elder statesman to crazed psycopath. Neither the referee nor the assistant referee saw the act but the fourth official on the side line did and after several minutes, Zidane was shown a red card and sent off the field. What a way to end your career. And it begs the question, will the French press go easy on him or will they hound him like they hound others they perceive to be cheats?

Time Trial Recap

On Friday you would have thought that after the Stage 7 individual time trial on Saturday America would have been asking “Lance who?” The national press services picked up articles about the next crop of American cyclists.

Non cycling outlets were all over the impending conquest of European cycling. The Associated Press ran a story about Levi Leipheimer emerging in light of him being the highest placed returning rider from last year, having finished 6th. Reuters ran an article picked up by ESPN.com among others about George Hincapie’s impending ascendancy as the captain of Discovery and leader of the Tour. Bobby Julich was reported to now be able to ride for himself in light of the doping scandal at this year’s Tour de France. Even the cycling press like Velonews.com was breathlessly awaiting another 1-2-3-4 sweep of the time trial by Americans like happened at the Dauphine Libere.

The result was not what everyone had anticipated. Levi Leipheimer had the worst time trial of his life finishing 96th on the stage and losing more than six minutes to the leader and stage winner T-Mobile’s Serguei Gonchar. George Hincapie was only the third best rider on the day for Discovery Channel finishing 24th on the stage. Bobby Julich had the misfortune of crashing hard and ending up in the hospital with a sever injury to his hand. Even Team CSC’s Dave Zabriskie lost almost two minutes on the stage and finished outside of the top ten.

Leipheimer was not the only projected contender to have a disaster of a race. Liquigas’ Steffano Garzelli who was looking to the Tour to redeem a poor spring lost more than five minutes Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Iban Mayo who looked to be returning to the form he had a couple of seasons ago and a real threat in the mountains lost five and a half minutes. Lampre’s Damiano Cunego who is a past Giro winner also lost more than six minutes on the stage.

Floyd Landis, however, showed that his results in time trials this season have not been a fluke and finished second on the stage just over a minute behind Gonchar.

The T-Mobile team, significantly injured by the ejection of Jan Ullrich and Oscar Sevilla at the start of the Tour placed four riders in the top 8 on the stage an now occupy 4 of the top 6 spots on GC. T-Mobile has already had a Tour to be proud of with two stage wins and the yellow jersey. They will likely attempt to defend the jersey through the Pyrenees due to the strong showing they have among the leaders. Strategically that will benefit Floyd Landis’ Phonak team as they will be able to defer to T-Mobile in defending the lead.

Landis has to be the favorite at this point. He put in a strong ride on a day when many contenders saw their races probably lost. Landis is a better climber than any of the remaining T-Mobile riders however, and Gonchar cannot climb, so even though Gonchar will likely be the favorite for another strong performance in the final individual time trial, he will not be a threat to the overall.

All in all, Lotto Davitamon’s Cadel Evans had a good day and is well positioned heading to the mountains. T-Mobile’s Michael Rogers and Andreas Kloeden are both strong climbers but not as strong as Evans and Landis. Denis Menchov of Rabobank and Vladimir Karpets of Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears are well positioned also heading into the mountains.

However, I think the Tour will be much more competitive and unpredictable this year due to the withdrawals, injuries and poor form of many expected to contend. It very well may be a race of attrition or a race where a few riders have some really good days and some really bad days with no one being like Armstrong and steady everyday but one.

We all have been spoiled by sixteen years of racing where, with the exception of 1998, the model has been to be the best time trialist in the field, and then defend in the mountains only attacking when time can be gained. This year it is likely to be a knife fight.

ProTour Fight Continues

The ongoing knife fight between the organizers of the Grand Tours and the UCI took another twist over the weekend with the ASO, organizer of the Tour as well as Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, announced that they would never join the ProTour, nor would Unipublic in Spain or RCS in Italy and that the ProTour was essentially dead to them.

The UCI responded by pointing out that the riders excluded from the Tour as a result of Operacion Puerto were only excluded because of the ProTour’s ethical code and that the UCI as the governing body controls the calendar.

Girls, girls, girls. You are in the midst of a crisis that threatens the very soul of the sport and you cannot even come to an agreement about who gets invited to what. Quit acting like a bunch of 8th grade princesses deciding who gets to come to your party.

Landis Health Disclosure

The rest day Monday will include a major announcement as Velonews.com is reporting that Floyd Landis will have a press conference where he will confirm a report by the New York Times that he will undergo hip replacement surgery after the Tour.

Landis has developed osteonecrosis in his right hip that was caused by a crash a couple of years ago. As a result, the hip joint has deteriorated. Landis is reported to have had surgery to correct the problem which resulted in a leg length discrepancy of one inch. It has also been reported that Landis has been given dispensation by the UCI to receive cortisone injections to alleviate inflammation and pain.

The French are going to have field day with this one if Landis wins. Just like they did not believe Armstrong, they certainly are not going to believe that a one legged Mennonite rocker dude could stick it to their countrymen like Landis has without being on drugs.

I have heard criticisms of Landis based upon his laid back demeanor. Generally the criticism is that he lacks the killer instinct of a champion and that he does not have enough ambition to be great. I think he is a guy who loves to ride his bike and knows what is important in life.