Or, Tur Day France as Bobke would say. Just thought I'd start a thread since la grande boucle starts tomorrow.

I'm really hoping that this will be an exciting year and Lance's competition puts on a full court press. Most everyone seems to be on form and healthy, for a change. Too bad that Cunego is out with mono, it would have been interesting to see him up against Lance. While it's exciting to see Lance go for 7, I have to admit I'm rooting for guys like Ullrich, Basso, Vino. I'd be ecstatic if one of them beat Lance as it would be a much bigger deal to beat the best Tour rider in history this year than to win next year without Lance. Hey, maybe a cyclist other than Lance would then actually be acknowledged in U.S. news outlets. hee.

Yay, the Tour starts tomorrow! I've caught some of the Lance love fest on the various Discovery outlets and it has given me a different perspective on how hard these guys really work to try to win races. The technology innovations alone are amazing (like the stuff to decrease the vibrations on the pave for Paris-Rubeis race). I don't know if I want Lance to win again but I really do want it to be a contest. If he's way out ahead it's just not as exciting as if the other guys are really challenging him.

No matter who wins or loses, I don't think the US media will pay attention to the many other talented, brilliant cyclists out there--Lance is just too popular and telegenic. He's like Tiger Woods--he can be 10 or more off the lead but you're still going to see some of his play and hear the speculation that he may still win it all (I love Tiger, though, so I'm always glad for the updates :).

Yeah, now my stomach's going to be churning for weeks while I cheer for Lance and, at the same time, obsess that this might be the one he doesn't win. I admit I'm a little worried about Basso this year; I hope Lance's competitive drive can carry him into Paris in the lead just one more time.

(And if he wins and then retires, I hope he doesn't pull a Michael Jordan in a few years and ruin it all.) :-)

Oh god: I tuned in at 5:30 thinking Stage 1 was about to start. Instead we get a 3-hour(!) pre-show. Well at least it's interesting.

What do y'all think of the new OLN logo? I find it too big, ugly and gray. I like the unobtrusive circular one better.

Also, any thoughts on Al Trautwig? I couldn't stand him during last year's TdF, when I first heard of him. But since then he's invaded nearly every sports programming I've watched (Olympic gymnastics, "The Contender"...), I'm reluctantly getting used to him.

Ugh, I can't stand the Trout. I wish he would at least put a little bit of effort into prouncing the names of non-American cyclists correctly. The "pre-game" show was more of the "all Lance, all the time" stuff. Don't get me wrong, I respect Lance, but after watching all the "Road to the tour" stuff and his and his mom's appearances on various Discovery-owned channels/shows, I'm completely Lance-d out at this point.

As for the logo, it seems kinda retro to me and for a while when they were showing the various logos I got confused and thought it was the one from 10 years ago. heh.

I tuned in this morning, bleary eyed but excited, only to start cursing when Trout appeared on my TV screen. Damm, I cannot stand that guy. I can only hope he'll be better than he was last year. Anyone notice the quick shot of Miss Gumm with dark brown hair? I didn't see her face but I thought she looked good at first glance. Also, I have already have seen too much of Sheryl Crow. Where are the other wives/girlfriends waving their dudes off? If there was just a little coverage of the non-famous companions it wouldn't bother me so much to see Sheryl.

I thought it was a pretty exciting prologue; usually it's so boring it puts me to sleep. It was cool to see Lance pass Jan but still not win the stage (Go David Z!). I felt bad for Jan because of the crash the day before and I hope he (and the other guys) can pull it together and make this a contest.

Ok. I've now reached my fill of Sheryl Crow too. Who cares what she thinks about the race. What's the deal with OLN, I guess they have to pander to the subset of folks who never watch cycling and tune in cuz they think that Sheryl and Lance are HAWT!

It'll be interesting to see if OLN will do the wall to wall, live coverage of the Tour next year with no Lance to pimp. I'm sure ratings will plummet after his retirement. Sad for the cycling fans as there aren't a whole lot of options unless you have satellite or pay for online streaming coverage.

Hey everyone! I'm so happy it's finally July. This will be my second Tour de France to watch.

I have to admit, I'm rooting for Lance... I just have so much respect for him and he's just an amazing athlete. I'm also hoping that Basso and Ullrich do well.

I really can't stand the new ticker they're using now to show the times of the peloton and breaks. I'd rather have the box in the lower left corner like they had last year.

I concur.

It was awesome to see Boonen get the stage win today, even though I have McEwen and "Cookie" (as Phil calls him) on my fantasy TdF team. I have to say that I miss Zabel being here this year, but T-Mobile has decided to put everything into Jan (why this didn't occur to them 5 years ago is anyone's guess!) I really believe that Jan may have won in 2003 if he'd been riding with CSC. Riis is a much better tactician than Godefroot and Jan raced with Riis. Well, that's my gut instinct, non-expert opinion, at least.

This is the 8th Tour I've watched pretty much beginning to end (prior to that I hadn't really watched any coverage since LeMond won in 1989/90) and I must again thank Lance for winning the last 6 years as the coverage has only gotten better. Well, except for the addition of the Trout the last couple of years. BTW, with Kirsten Gumm's hair color change, I almost didn't recognize her.

Of all of the Lance Discovery Channel pimping I think my favorite (and strangest) so far is the commercial with the "What Not To Wear" folks.

At least OLN now has 3 Americans, count 'em, in the top 10 so they have others to jingoize on the 4th du July. Not all of them are dating Sheryl Crow, but maybe they're expert trout fisherman and can destroy that thing.

I.Must.Not.Let.Trout.Ruin.My.Tour.
I.Must.Not.Let.Trout.Ruin.My.Tour.
I.Must.Not.Let.Trout.Ruin.My.Tour.
I.Must.Not.Let.Trout.Ruin.My.Tour.

I HATE Him.

Four. In the top SIX. And six of the top 14...
1- David Zabriskie (United States)
2- Armstrong (United States)
3- Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary)
4- Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)
5- George Hincapie (United States)
6- Floyd Landis (United States)
7- Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
8- Jan Ullrich (Germany)
9- Jens Voigt (Germany)
10- Vladimir Karpets (Russia)
11- Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spain)
12- Bobby Julich (United States)
13- Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Spain)
14- Levi Leipheimer (United States)

The other Americans: Christopher Horner (49th) and Fred Rodriguez (56th). Yep, this makes... lemme count... 27 countries that we'll not be hearing much about.

I'm wishing I had put Boonen on my fantasy team instead of McEwen. I'd love to see Boonen win the green jersey this year. McEwen getting smacked today by the officials, good for them as that was a cheesy move on O'Grady.

The saving grace about the coverage is that the feed comes from French TV. Imagine if say ABC were covering the race, they'd be focused on LA the entire ride and incidentally inform us that some Belgian won the stage. </sarcasm>

Ok, I laughed my butt off a the commercial with Bob, Phil, and Paul scratching off their Lucky 7 tickets. It looked like Paul was trying hard to keep from laughing.

The the scenes of the call of nature were pretty humorous, particularly the guys back in the peloton adjusting their packages.

What channel is it on in America?

Outdoor Life Network (OLN).

I agree that OLN focuses too mucho on the American riders. I just don't know if the coverage in other countries focuses just as much on their riders; I imagine it does somewhat because surely, for example, Spaniards want to know where Joseba and Roberto and Iban are more so than where whoever from Holland finished. Since I've been watching the tour on OLN, I would have to say that their coverage gets more and more Lancecentric every year; but without Lance we probably wouldn't have so much of this wonderful race on tv, so it's good and bad. Wasn't Greg LeMond relegated to an hour on Sundays on CBS? At least they're doing the "Athlete of the Day" features which are not just about the American riders... I really miss the French TV graphics, though, they were so much neater and clearer.

I thought the call of nature scenes were funny, too, especially how respectfull Phil and Paul tried to be in instructing the cameras to look away--I didn't!

Team Time Trial tomorrow--should be exciting. Will David Z keep the jersey or will Lance get it?!? I'll go out on a "limb" and say Discovery will take it. I wonder which of the four "hosts" on OLN will pick Lance? My guess it that it's whoever picks first!

Ha! Good point. Since Bob seems to be going for the "far out" picks, I could see him going with Phonak. Trout will definitely go with Disco. I could see Phil or Paul going with CSC. I would love to see CSC win as I'm a long time Bobby Julich fan and it's been a joy to see his "comeback" over the last two years, plus the wins this year in the Crit International and Paris-Nice (first American ever to win, although I heard barely of mention of it in the mainstream U.S. press). But, bottom line, it's the Disco boys race, especially if it is raining. The only gotcha that I see is if they faulter ever so slightly from the lack of Eki's presence. It should be an exciting race!

Oh my God, I cannot think of a more horrible way to lose the yellow jersey than what just happened to David Zabriskie- crash in the time trial just outside of the last kilometer, when he would have been (crash-wise) in the clear. And as it turned out, he would have wound up tied with Lance at the end of it. Just... someone buy that guy a beer; he's gonna need it tonight. I don't blame Phil and Paul for going nuts.

On that note, say goodbye to the other 188 riders, Lance is in yellow. Hope you enjoyed them. And it's starting to look like the Tour's over before it's even begun. You just do not pull 55 seconds ahead of the pack after stage 4. Unless Lance goes over a cliff in the Alps, he's got it already.

ARGH! Talk about the agony of defeat. That really sucked. It also sucks that now the only interesting thing is who will come in 2nd. Like mtvcdm said unless Lance goes over a cliff, I don't see anyone catching him. His team will not let any of the contenders get on an extended breakaway and Lance is just too powerful in the climbs, no one can get away from him. Poo, I was hoping it would be more competitive this year, not less!

Wow, that was incredible. I really thought CSC was going to win because they were doing so well in the beginning! And Zabriskie's crash was so devastating... he looked so heart-broken as he crossed the line. The worst part was that he crashed 1.5km before the finish line. If he crashed 1.0k before the line, it wouldn't have mattered. So close.

Gosh, such a heart breaker this morning. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for CSC's results and then that horrible wipe out from Dave Z. I've been rooting for Lance to get his seventh title, and I didn't really think Dave Z would win the whole tour, but I was hoping he would stay in yellow until the first mountain stage. For him to crash like that and fall to ninth was incredibly sad to watch. I just hope that beyond any physical injuries he doesn't let another crash screw with him psychologically. There were a few mentions in different articles about him that mentioned his history with big crashes has made him a bit gun shy in large groups, but the nervousness seemed to be fading over the last few days. I'm hoping this isn't a step back on that front.

Hee! I can't stand him doing the Olympics AT. ALL. But here he doesn't bug me too much, probably because this is the first tour I've watched from the beginning and he actually knows more about this subject than I do, so I'm not catching all the 'well duh, Al' moments.

Too bad to hear about DZ's mishap. I'm going to go home and watch the show tonight on OLN with my hands over my eyes in fear of the inevitable crash.

David Zabriskie's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day continues. From olntv.com and Phil Liggett:



I repeat, somebody buy this guy a beer.

Hubby was home today and watched it live and said he just couldn't believe what he was seeing. I watched the DVR recording when I got home from work and I actually cried when I saw it happen. It's one thing to read it on the cyclingnews.com ticker, but to see it was too much. To hear that he might be out of the race is just the worst. And, think of how the team must feel. They have to rebuild their morale over the next few days. Win it for Dave, guys! hee.

Wow! Just finished watching the TiFaux of the morning broadcast. So sad--David, the next round is definitely on me. That was devastating and so very unlucky. I really hope he's not out of the tour altogether. He needs to get back on that bike and ride to the end for the psychological healing, if nothing else.

I was cracking up because Phil kept saying "leaky gas" for LiquiGas. And, of course, he never ceases to amuse with his pronunciation of Isles Balears--I think it changes each time he says it! Also funny was Paul imitating an American Sportscaster during the pre-show; his rate of delivery was dead on.

I'm still ignoring Trout and Sheryl. Now was it reallynecessary to show her grimacing face as Disco (good one kenziegirl) crossed the line? Boy, I'm totally tired of those two and there's 2 and a half weeks to go. I may need to buy David some more beers and keep him company while he drinks ;).

And I concur that there's no way Disco is going to let Lance lose the race now (although they could get seriously unlucky--e.g., David Zabriskie). Four stages and basically it's done. As they say in golf, "those guys are good."

Oh, man, I just wanted to hug Dave Zabriskie. Holy smokes and then I felt bad because I kept trying to sneak a peak at his naked thigh. He's so damn cute.

Bob Roll(?) annoys me more than Trautwig but I love Phil and Paul. Why do they even need the other 2 guys?

I only reluctantly cheer for Lance, I want him to earn it, I hope they fight him every step of the way.

I laughed every time they said "Leaky Gas" and I couldn't believe no one else did.

Why oh why couldn't Dave Z have crashed directly into Sheryl Crow?

BWAH! I like Sheryl Crow, but the fawning over her is just too much. Bruyneel commenting on how she knows so much about cycling, knows more names than Lance for gosh sakes! -- No wonder she gets to rid in the team car! I can't imagine the former Mrs. Armstrong ever being invited to sit in with the commentators, let alone getting to ride in the team car. Hm...I actually can't recall her ever being on the screen except at the end in Paris and I don't think she was ever interviewed during the coverage. IIRC Lance in the past had vastly different opinions about spouses/partners "place" at races than he seems to have now. Maybe he's just mellowed over the years.

If anyone is looking for an alternative viewpoint on the Tour, check out Eurosport's live audio coverage, it's fantastic. One of the commentators is Sean Kelly, so it's great fun. Oh, and you will also hear interviews with riders who aren't Lance. Hee. Like right now, listening to Flecha interview. It just occurred to me that after 6 years of watching OLN, I've never heard Ullrich speak on American TV. *laugh*

I don't have have any DVR yet, (I know - sacrilege!) so I had to watch OLN's 'extended primetime coverage' last night to see the rest of the race I'd missed yesterday morning. Anyway, I posted too soon yesterday regarding the Trout in saying that he didn't bother me. He made my jaw drop last night at least twice with his comments. One that really galled me was his pissy comment regarding the French feed, (because it's the team trial) 'now they'll HAVE to show Lance'. OMG dude, Lance doesn't get enough coverage? There was one other thing that really got me, but I've since forgetten. Probably for the best.

ETA: I'm a Couch Potato!!! Not that I didn't know that already, but ya know what I mean. :)

Yeah, I agree that Bobke can be annoying. I give him more leeway, though, because he actually rode the Tour (for Motorola) and was a pretty respected cyclist in his day. Trout, OTOH, is just an annoying blowhard who knows as much about cycling as Sheryl Crow (after all she's been dating Lance for, I quote, "one year and 8 months")! And, this is the last time I'll say this-I promise, I HATE HIM!

huggybuff, are they showing rider interviews during the nightime show? They don't really show many during the am broadcast and I love hearing what the guys have to say.

nola, it seems like there are a few more interviews at the back end of the show, rather than just the jersey presentation that we get in the morning. Not sure if this is shown in the live coverage, but Kirsten Gum has a feature every night where she goes out and does French stuff. Last night she was touring a winery and Trout and Bob mentioned she'd been at a spa the previous day.

Oh yeah, you just made remember (thanks a lot) another thing that Trout said last night to piss me off. He rattled off the factoid that when the vineyards in France were facing a blight, (paraphrasing) 'Where do you think they went to save their vines? California...the United States...of course.' Then he really hammered home his disdain for the French when he literally sneered something like, 'Wouldn't you know it?', or 'Not the first time we had to bail them out'. It was disgusting. Not that I love the French, but jeebus, you're a guest in their country and ON THE AIR. Save your contempt for behind the scenes.

Cool piece on the nonannoying commentators.

We generally fast forward through the Trout so I'm glad I didn't hear the comments you mentioned huggybuff as it would have made me punch a hole in the TV and that's never a good thing.

Aptly put. I love me some Phil and Paul. Thanks for the link to that article, huggybuff. I don't know if I'll brave the evening broadcast, even for the racer interviews, since it would involve more Trout than my stomach and nerves could actually handle (Latricia on "I want to be a Hilton" said, "you're working on my reserve nerve" and that's exactly how I always feel about Trout).

Exciting sprint today. Those guys really have nerves of steel. I didn't pay super close attention to the entire stage but David Z was there, right? I saw his interview before the race and I must have missed the updates. Poor cutey pie.

Nice of Lance to not want to wear the jersey but also cool that he got the smackdown from the race organizers: "wear it today or don't start tomorrow," indeed!

And, wow, the Loire Valley is so very beautiful! I can't wait to visit that area of France.

Best Line Evah!! She certainly likes the camera.

I'm totally on the Phil/Paul love train. Best. Commentators. Ever. I laugh out load at least a few times during each stage due to their comments.

I'm a total Lance fan as well. He stricks me as one that too into his sport to be caught up in the media circus too much. I wish he and his wife were still together, though... Sheryl is just too famous for my tastes. I'd also have to recommend his "autobiography" (with resiquite ghostwriter, of course) "It's Not About the Bike." As for Dave Z, I'll be more than happy to root for him next year without Lance in the race.

I've been a Dave Z fan for two years (hometown boy!) so I'll definitely root for him next year. I just wish he'd stayed a Postie.

I hope this year Paul does more commentary in Swahili. I think I laughed milk out my nose last year when he did that. It's so hard to leave for work in the morning when I can hear the dulcet tones of Phil in the background, and I know I can't watch until evening when Trout is on. Had I a TiVo, I would only watch the AM broadcasts.

Given what Johann said about Dave Z, that he "doesn't know how to ride in the peloton", it makes me wonder if Johann's "confidence" in him led him to look elsewhere. And, if you have any ambition behind being a domestique for Lance, why stay? I wonder how different Hincapie's career would have been? But, he's happy to play the roll of Lance's lef-tenant (tm Phil/Paul), so good for him.

How about that finish yesterday. Heartbreak for Mengin, surprise gift for Bernucci (who?). If Vino hadn't slid on that corner as well, I have to wonder if he'd have won the stage. The last 3 flat stages have been really fun to watch, very exiciting finishes. I'm looking forward to seeing if any of the Germans in the peloton try for the win today. Too bad Zabel's not there as this seems like his kind of stage, well maybe if he was a couple of years younger.

Ouch! The crash at the finish line today...I don't know who it was in the green shorts from the Quickstep squad, ouch! First I was all "oooh, naked heinie" then ewww, that looked like a pretty deep cut.

Sometimes I would really love to see Phil and Paul as they are shouting out the results at the end. I just want to see them all excited.



Exactly, The Disco boys have only one goal, keep Lance safe in front. They get nothing for themselves, but how will that change next year? There seem to be 2 kinds of teams. Solid block performers who work for their "hopeful" whether it be T-Mobile for Ullrich or CSC for Ivan Basso. And then scattered teams who seem to be every man for himself. Teams which have sprinters like Robbie McEwen. What do the rest of those teams do? Since OLN only focuses on Discovery, I'm curious about other teams. Do sprinters do anything besides work for themselves? When they hit the mountains are they expected to pull anyone else along?

I'm kind of glad the "postal" team became "Discovery" because it used to irritate me every time the post office wanted to raise the price of stamps and it seemed so wrong that essentially the government was sponsoring a team. It probably didn't work out that way but it always bothered me.

I always thought the exact same thing. Now they're getting screwed with online banking and other internet functions taking away their profits, heh.

Jesus, another crash today? As much as the Trout makes me puke I'll have to tune in tonight.

ETA:Wisconsin State Journal hates Sheryl Crow as much as you guys do. I don't hate her, but I do agree that she's figuring too prominently in OLN's coverage.

I can't wait until they get to the mountain stages. I enjoy the time trials, and the sprinting at the end of the flat stages are exciting, but nothing is more enjoyable for me than the torture of the mountains. I guess it's my inner masochist coming out, but I'm getting bored with the comparatively easy flat days where pretty much everyone is in one big pack. Though if I have to hear Paul talk about Ullrich's big engine, Lance's cadence, or anyone dancing on their pedals again I'm going to throw something at my TV. They seem to have particular gems about each rider that they like to repeat over and over again.

Hey, don't get angry, just grab your trusty Phil & Paul Bingo Card and play along.

In the mountains the spinters are pretty much expected to finish the stage within the cutoff time so they don't get eliminated from the race and can make it through the next sprint stage wins. Particularly the guys in competition for the green (points) jersey. If you don't make it to Paris you can't win the jersey. Mario Cipollini (I really miss his savoir faire in the peloton) was famous for coming to the tour, racking up multiple sprint stages and bailing when they reached the mountains. He wasn't concerned about the green jersey, but stage wins. In 2003 his team wasn't selected for the Tour. The following year he made an impassioned plea to Jean-Marie LeBlanc saying that he promised to finish the Tour. Mario was 37 at the time. Alas, Mario had to abandon due to injury from a crash on a previous stage, as I recall. He's one of the winningest sprinters in cycling history (40+ stage wins at the Giro for heavens sake), so no one (except maybe LeBlanc and the Tour directors, I guess) cared that he never finished a Tour.

Here is a great article about watching the Tour from the 5:30 a.m. West Coast perspective. (How will I do it tomorrow, at 3:30 am?)

The article mentions how Dave Zabriskie is a regular at my local bike shop, which is so awesome. So is Fred Rodriguez. I'm assuming they've biked past me many times!

Great article! I've tried to explain to people why I love to watch the Tour and they give me that "I always knew you were strange, and now I know why" look. It's exciting. It's dangerous. It's tough. It's beautiful. I love July because of the Tour. I may disparage Trout and Sheryl but I'll put up with them for the chance to see every stage live. Thanks OLN!

BTW, I actually like Sheryl Crow's music. She is a great songwriter. However, I hate that she is everywhere on OLN's coverage. She knows next to nothing about cycling and would not be around if she weren't screwing Lance. Even the famous cycling fanatic Robin Williams only got a couple of quick appearances. She gets to sit at the desk regularly. That's what I don't like.

Exciting mountain stage today. That was truly a "too close to call" finish. But good for Pieter Weening (who?). Interesting to see all of the guys attack Lance. IIRC, this has been the strategy of his challengers for the past two Tours. It hasn't worked yet, so we'll see this year. And, yay, mountains tomorrow! I thought it was hysterical that Robbie McEwen said he has a vacation until Friday when they have another flat stage! He sounds like a trip, I'd love to have a few beers with him!

magic_eightball


I apologize for my ignorance, but does the 1km rule apply in a time trial situation like that? I thought that in a time trial, if he didn't stay with his team, it didn't matter how close it was to the finish line? I don't know why I thought it was a different rule for a time trial; I just did. :)

I've found the perfect replacement for Al Trautwig: Alex Trautwig

Damn, he's good!

(Posted at 2:30 am because I'm taking Trautwig's advice, and staying up all night.)

ETA: Don't miss this post, which is not on the front page.

If Al is the Trout, is Alex the Fry. *rimshot* Thank you, thank you, I'll be playing another set at 11 PM.

Nice to see there are no Oliver Stone style raging conspiracy theory debates about yesterday's stage unlike some other cycling message boards.

I actually took Tuesday morning off from work, so I hope it pays off in the sense that there is some major attack action from the big contenders.

Honestly I'm not exactly a bicycling expert myself, that's just what I heard from the commentors. Of course, this was at the 5:30AM showing, so I might've heard wrong. =] Does anyone know what the exact rules are?

Oh, the agony of having to keep up with the Tour with the crappy weekend coverage on CBS. Heck, if Sheryl's going to be around, please lend CBS some rocking music to use as background tunes instead of the cheese-tastic crap they blare during the commentary. We almost bit for Adelphia's digital cable package to get OLN, but those rat bast@3%ds put it in the "Gold" package, upping the bill to almost $90 a month. We even went to Best Buy to check on Direct TV, but it'll be 7-10 days before they can install. Aargh!!!

Decormaven check out Eurosport for live audio coverage online. I remember when CBS was all you could get, back in the bad old days when John Tesch did the music. *shudder*

The "1 km rule" does apply to the team time trial. Individual time trials and summit stage finishes have no rule for crashes. For all other stages, the zone is extended to 3 km from the finish. The rider who falls gets the same time as the group they were with at the time of the crash as long as the person who crashes makes it to the finish line.

Thanks for the tip! We've been keeping up online, but there's nothing like OLN's coverage. Supposedly our Adelphia unit will be switched to Comcast; if I could confirm that would take place in the near future, I'd sign up today.