I know we're a few weeks away from the opening Prologue, but I'm more exited for the Tour to start than I've been in a long time. After watching Basso smoke everyone in the Giro, I'm itching to see if he can keep it up in the Tour. Pulling off a double would help put to rest the idea that a double is "impossible" in the current era. Although I'm torn because I'd love to see Jan win so he can retire in peace.

Finally, the Lance domination of the Tour over and we have a slew of serious contenders for the win. Lots of good American talent. Thankfully, OLN is still doing the live coverage with extended coverage of the mountain stages. I hope the viewership remains somewhat stable, despite no Lance.

Some enterprising individual has created a Google Earth map complete with departs, feed zones, etc.

I can see your point. It would be great to have world class cyclists who treat all the grand tour races as opportunities to win, but maybe it’s just asking too much of today’s athletes. There might be demands -- of team sponsorship or brand sponsorship -- that put pressure on the best cyclists to focus on one race or even one stage rather than trying to take it all.

What do you think of someone like Ulrich, who uses the Giro as a conditioning race?! Gott in Himmel, that’s F’d up!

kenziegirl, how do you get that Google Earth (.kmz file) link to work? My computer doesn't know what to do with it.

Cheezitsofcool, I had Google Earth installed before I clicked the link. When I clicked on the link, my Google Earth opened and "Tour de France 2006" was listed in the "Places" section in the left hand side, under "Temporary Places". Then I expanded the Tour de France 2006 heading and underneath was a link with the same name. I double-clicked the link and it opened in the main window. Other than that, I'm pretty Google Earth illiterate.

ETA:

Yay Ulle for winning the Tour de Suisse! And, he's getting married. Couldn't be happier for the guy.

It's only 8 days to the start of the Tour and still no decision on Vinokourov's team, Wurth. Talk about taking it down to the wire! It would really suck of Vino wasn't there this year.

OMG! Seriously have not been paying attention to cycling because of the World Cup but only 8 more days to go, yeah! I'm really looking forward to seeing who will take it this year (glad Lance will not be there to dominate--enjoyed his wins but not sad to see him go).

I am rooting for an Ullrich win because all those second place finishes must really knaw at his soul. He doesn't have, probably, many more tours left in his legs so this may be his last, best chance. I also adore Basso and would be glad to see him compete well.

Can't wait for Phil and Paul--the best commentators on TV. I would be ever so grateful if this were a Trout free tour--but that wish is probably not to be granted.

Google Earth is fantastic!

Vino is in. Let the race begin. I'm also looking forward to seeing how David Millar does. I'm sure he'll be sweating bullets before the prologue.


I don't know what Trout will find to talk about now that Lance is retired. Although I'm betting that he'll find a way to mention Lance at least a half dozen times per broadcast. Hey, it could be a drinking game. Our solution to a Trout-free TdF is to watch or record the live, morning coverage and avoid the evening program.

That's what I've done for the past few Tours, and boy, it's so much better that way. Just Phil and Paul, the way God intended. I can't wait!

This Spanish doping scandal is really frustrating. The newspaper, El Pais, is leaking all sorts of information that is supposedly coming from the official reports. However, the officials in the Spanish guard have yet to say anything on the record. All the innuendo is putting a black cloud over the Tour and I wish they'd hold a press conference and reveal what they have. Even though Ullrich and Basso were named by a Spanish radio station as being amongst the infamous list of 58 (or 56 depending on what you read) riders, the Tour officials can't keep them from riding based on that alone. So, bring on the evidence!

Can someone who follows cycling tell me what the deal with this list is? I saw it on Marca's website, but if there was an explanation, I missed it. Does anyone know where the information is coming from, or has it just been published without anything to back it up?

I had a good chuckle when I saw that the Tour's organization was trying to ban the Astana-Wurth team on the grounds of protecting the integrity of the race's image or whatever. Isn't the image of this sport already that it's rife with doping and doping allegations? I usually watch some of the Tour de France every year because it's such an event, but in no way to do I have any confidence in the event being anything like clean. I've always assumed that probably 50% or more of these guys were doing something.

It would kind of be too bad if Ullrich is booted for doping, it seemed like this might be his year now that Lance is gone. I just read an article on Floyd Landis in Outside magazine, and he seems like a very interesting character. I'm inclined to like anyone who would stand up to Armstrong. They were touting him as the new American hope now that Lance is gone. Does he actually have any chance, or is that just hype?

Ullrich and Basso are out (among others).

Ullrich and Basso out of Le Tour

My tour enthusiasm is getting crushed. The thing is, probably most of the rest of the tour dopes too, they just haven't been caught yet. I want to see what Phil Liggett has to say about all this. By the time they sort through the whole list maybe the peloton will only be made up of 20 guys no one's heard of.

Maybe the prologue brunch I had planned for tomorrow will be a World Cup brunch instead...

hipscar, my enthusiasm is crushed too. It is truly a black day for cycling. Worse than the Festina scandal of 1998. I still cannot believe the stories. OLN is having a pre-Tour show tonight at 9 PM EST. Unless it's been pre-recorded, we'll get to see what Phil, Paul and Bobke have to say.

I suspect that Ullrich and Basso are going to be on the phone all day with their lawyers. They both so vehementaly denied involvement. Neither has shown themselves to be sneaky guys, so I have to have some bit of faith that there is something not quite right in the supposed links that the Spanish investigators found. Then again, I didn't think there was a snowballs chance in hell that Tyler Hamilton could be guilty. *sigh* On the other hand, I have never had any faith in Rudy Pevenage, Jan's advisor. For all we know, he could have been working with the Spanish doc (can't think of his name right now) and given him Jan's blood. And, Basso. I cannot bring myself to believe that he had anything to do with the doc. It is all very surreal.

At this point, we have 3 of the top 5 from 2005 out of the tour. Nearly all of Vino's team is out of the Tour, so I think by default he is out because a team needs a minimum number of riders (6??) to start the race. That means that none of the top 5 riders from last year will be riding in this year's tour.


This is part of a larger investigation by the Spanish authorities into sports doping. It covers more than cycling, but cycling is getting the lion's share of coverage right now. If you go to www.cyclingnews.com and click on any of the news stories, you will find links to a slew of stories about the investigation and allegations.

It's hard to know exactly what to make of all the news coming out and at first some of the links to the Spanish lab seemed tenuous at best, but with T-Mobile saying things like



about Ullrich, it sounds pretty damning. Haven't seen anything so unequivocal about Basso but it's not looking good.

I'm something of a newbie cycling fan, having just gotten into it in the last few years, but the thing that seems crazy to me is the extent to which the team directors, managers etc. are so quick to hang their riders out to dry. Surely they are well aware (if not the ones promoting it) of what their riders are doing? Maybe I'm not understanding the whole process but it just seems so hypocritical for the race organizers, team directors etc to condemn individual riders when they are just as culpable as anyone for rampant doping in the sport?

I'd have to think that even if they had pre-recorded stuff in the can, they're going to be a lot of "live" or new coverage.

What the hell went on in Spain? Where are my clean cycling boys? Did they ever exist? I was still sticking by Tyler until yesterday. I'm sticking with Basso and Jan a while longer - please, let them be clean! - but it's getting harder.

I came to this sport post-Festina. This is my first real trial of faith (the LA years were so easy!) and it's hard. It sucks.

What are the odds that this dirty doctor is implicating people just to screw with them? If they're willing to suspend someone because of code names, what stops anyone from labelling a drug vial "Jan" and giving it to the press? Is this a nasty way to sink an opponent?

And really, what kind of code name is "JAN" for a guy named "Jan" ?

Thanks for the link, kenziegirl. I knew that this is all part of that Operacion Puerto, but I didn't have many details.

Wow, what a bad day for cycling. This is awful. I'm so sad. I am also one who believed in Tyler which turned out to be, well, unfounded. Now Jan and Ivan Basso--two of my favorites. This is awful. I'm holding on to hope until all the evidence is in but it's getting harder to believe their protestations of inocence. I still love TdF and will watch (yup, the morning coverage with Phil and Paul) but this will really cloud my enjoyment quite a bit.

I just read that Vino's team has pulled out. I still can't believe this is all real. What will the mountain stages be like? Will we see Landis or Leipheimer at the top of the podium on July 23rd. Unreal. Hell, Iban Mayo might finish in the top 5. *laugh*


I know it seems harsh, but they really have no choice. The rules state that any rider implicated in a doping investigation is suspended. They aren't fired from the team, but they're suspended until the conlusion of the investigation. The main sponsor of the Tour will not allow anyone associated with a doping investigation to ride in the tour. The sponsors wouldn't have it any other way because they don't want to be tainted with a whiff of doping scandal. I'm sure Bjarne Riis is crushed that he had to withdraw Basso from the race, but his hands were tied. This is how cycling works. It's not like baseball where a player can be implicated (see Bonds, Barry) and continue to play. In cycling the riders are very beholden to their sponsors, unlike most U.S. sports. For example, when Manolo Saiz (manager of the Liberty Seguros team) was arrested in May, Liberty Seguros dropped their sponsorship within 48 hours. If a baseball or football manager was arrested, they'd be fired, but the entire team wouldn't be potentially out of a job.

I'm torn here.
Obviously, I'm upset that the allegations go so deep and so wide and take in so many top competitors. I want to believe that they wouldn't do it, but am enough of a realist to not be surprised by it. It's actually probably a good thing that so many big names have been implicated this timearound, because they can't sweep it under a rug.

And I've been fan for long enough to remember the dark days of the '90s, when some top up and coming cyclists were dropping dead because they'd done so much blood doping that their blood turned to sludge.

And yes, I realize that there probably are more dopers out there who haven't been caught.

But from an unpredictable, interesting comeptition angle? Geez, talk about a wide open race. It's anyone's game -- and I have this corner of my heart that will be rooting for George Hincapie. I remember watching him during the Tour de Trump when he was still an amateur.

I'm eager to hear what Bob, Phil and Paul have to say about the scope of the Puerto affair. In the past when someone was suspended they discussed it as if it's isolated - just one cheat who was caught. I would like them to speak frankly about how pervasive doping is in professional cycling. I would very much like to hear about any personal experiences Bob and Paul had with pressure to engage in doping. I know it would be breaking the code of silence but I just want someone from inside the sport to speak honestly about it. If they feed us palliatives about how the cheaters have been removed so now we can have a clean tour, I will lose all respect for them. I don't believe for a minute that the riders who were not implicated are clean. They just haven't been caught in this net.

I'm eager to hear what Bob, Phil and Paul have to say about the scope of the Puerto affair. In the past when someone was suspended they discussed it as if it's isolated - just one cheat who was caught. I would like them to speak frankly about how pervasive doping is in professional cycling. I would very much like to hear about any personal experiences Bob and Paul had with pressure to engage in doping. I know it would be breaking the code of silence but I just want someone from inside the sport to speak honestly about it. If they feed us palliatives about how the cheaters have been removed so now we can have a clean tour, I will lose all respect for them. I don't believe for a minute that the riders who were not implicated are clean. They just haven't been caught in this net.

Worth saying twice, Grinder. I'm looking forward to seeing Phil and Paul tonight, and hoping they can help make sense of this.

What I had to say was not worth saying twice.

Interview with Bobby Julich. He's standing by Basso. He's frustrated that the riders have not been given any information about the specific evidence.

I think Phil summed up this whole debacle best on the show this morning - that if the riders are found to have been doping, good riddance to them; if they're found innocent, a grave injustice has been done.

Yay Strasbourg! I love it when the Tour is in places I've been. And yay Thor! Cute Scandanavians make me smile. That was a nice ride, and very exciting when the difference between first and second place was .73 seconds.

I'm a relative newcomer to watching the Tour, only the last few years, so i'd never seen a missed start like Landis had. Added a bit of drama to the morning.

Poor Vino. I was so hoping that his team would get an exemption and be able to start the Tour with five riders. I thought they might have a spare or substitute on hand in case of injury, but they'd probably tapped out any second-stringers to even get the number up to five after the dismissals.

I think this year's race is definitely going to be won on consistency rather than dominance.

I wasn't expecting Valverde to do so well. I am curious to see how he does in the longer time trials. He's good in the mountains. Can he win the overall? Even though I'm still mourning the loss of my two favs, Ulle and Basso, I am excited that the Tour is wide open at this point. I think it will probably be a good 10 days before we really have an idea of who might win this thing. What a refreshing change from the last 7 years. heh.

As for the coverage. *sigh* I admit, I'm spoiled from watching the commercial-free, streaming coverage of the Giro on the web that OLN offered via cycling.tv. And, I'm grateful OLN has the rights to the Tour, to a point. Between the commercials (necessary evil), unecessary rider profiles, Lance snippets, and OLN show promos, I'm surprised they managed to squeeze in any actual race coverage. At least the commercials are more varied. I remember when they had like 3 commercials in rotation before Lance-mania and Cyclism took hold. heh.

Sadly, I also think that Phil and Paul might be losing their edge a bit. Silly mistakes in riders/teams names by both them and the OLN editors. I know that Lance won the last 7 years, but its like the PTB at OLN are so cynical that they think that no one would possibly watch unless he is mentioned every 3.2 minutes. I was almost expecting "And here is the American Levi Leipheimer. His first name starts with "L", which brings to mind another rider, a certain Lance Armstrong!"

Oh yeah, Asswig, the next time you pick a rider for the stage, be kind enough to pronounce his damn name correctly!

Lordy, that man loves Lance almost as much as Tim McCarver luvs Derek Jeter.

I finally got my cable hooked up today, just in time to see Floyd blow the start. What the hell was that? And his trainer, trying not to say "Dude, that's f'ed up..." was hilarious.

This is going to be one heck of an interesting three weeks, to say the least.

Apparently Floyd had a bad tire and made an extremely last-second wheel change.

I'm getting pumped for an exciting three weeks. I miss Ulle, but it'll be a good race.

"Sadly, I also think that Phil and Paul might be losing their edge a bit. Silly mistakes in riders/teams names by both them and the OLN editors. I know that Lance won the last 7 years, but its like the PTB at OLN are so cynical that they think that no one would possibly watch unless he is mentioned every 3.2 minutes. I was almost expecting "And here is the American Levi Leipheimer. His first name starts with "L", which brings to mind another rider, a certain Lance Armstrong!"

It's just begging to be made into a drinking game isn't it? :D

Nice to see George Hincapie wear the yellow jersey but sad to see the way Thor Hushovd left the finish area today. Hopefully it's not as serious as it looks.

Does anyone else think Johan Bruneel was bluffing when he said he didn't know who the team leader would be in this year's tour? I'm still not sure it will be George but I bet Johan knows exactly who it will be. He doesn't seem like a team manager who waits to see how things shake out to develop his strategy.

Sorry about that double post on Friday. That's what a combination of pre-Tour excitement and cocktails can do to you.

Go, Georgie! He looks good in the yellow. It will be interesting to see if Disco tries to defend it for awhile or just let it pass on. Hopefully Thor's injury is not a tour ending one--that sure was a lot of blood! He was so happy with the win yesterday and I just love the "big" guy. As we watched, we wondered if someone deliberately gouged him, a la Monica Seles all those years ago, or if it was purely accidental.

I think this will be a good tour. It is definitely wide-open in terms of GC contenders. I'm rooting for George and/or Floyd but am really just glad to see so many guys go for it.

Phil today said that a lot of people watch for the scenery, which was beautiful today, and that used to be my main reason for watching until I actually started to somewhat understand the stategery (hee) that goes into the tour. Now, I can't imagine July without this spectacle and I still hope to be there in person in the near future.

I want the incessant Lance-ing to stop. For TPTB at OLN: He's gone, get over it. Tour de France viewers know he's not there so stop acting as if he is. People who tuned in for the "Tour de Lance" are not watching this year because they know that Lance isn't there and they don't really care about cycling, just Lance. Most of us watching now actually want to see the tour for the tour' sake. /end of rant, thank you/

They say that Thor lost so much blood because his heart was pumping near max. I believe it - that was a ton of blood. I'm glad he was back in it today, even though my boy George is out of yellow.

I can't understand why everyone says they haven't decided a leader for team Disco - didn't they announce that George was the leader when they announced the team?

I didn't realize Disco announced that George is the leader. Everything I read said Johan is waiting to see how things go. It makes more sense to me that they decided in advance on George. He certainly deserves some individual glory.

Nola, you are not the only one drooling over Alsace. My husband and I plan our fantasy vacations every year during the Giro, TdF and Vuelta. Now that the asshats at OLN took away daily Giro and Vuelta coverage, I'm stuck with France. I love the racing but during 2+ hours of flat stage coverage, bring on the pretty scenery! I was very happy yesterday when Paul gave some backstory on Mont Sainte-Odile. More please...

Thor's bleeding was bad... but Erik Dekker's was freaking scary. Poor guy's got a long road of recovery ahead of him, not to mention he'll most likely have multiple dental and facial surgeries. And it just makes it so much sadder since this was to be his last tour.

Sorry to see Valverde go out, I was really hoping to see good things from him.

I didn't see any of yesterday's coverage, but I did read that they had to put him under general anesthetic to dig all the gravel out of his face. That's some serious road rash.

I looked at the Paceline and apparently Disco just announced the tour roster, not the leader. So I guess that's my mistake.

Just finished watching the broadcast of today's stage. Pretty good finish--Robbie McEwen really does come out of nowhere to take it. The fall by Thor's teamate at the end looked pretty bad--they showed his road rash and it was raw--ouch. Trout and Bob said something about Thor being "relegated" and that he would lose his points. I didn't see him doing anything outrageous so I wonder what that is all about. I guess I'll have to watch the pre-stage show to find out more, eventhough I do all I can to avoid Trout.

Re the doping scandal, I guess I'm not surprised that Phil and Paul are saying so little about it. I would be shocked if there was more open discussion. I've been glad that Phil has said the guys are innocent until proven guilty but if guilty he's glad they've been caught and should be punished accordingly. Doping has been cycling's dirty little secret for a long time and it's always hard to air the dirty laundry, even when under subpoena (MLB, I'm looking at you).

I'm excited that they will be riding to Caen tomorrow 'cause I was there about a year ago and that area was soooo beautiful. I'm truly a sucker for the French countryside scenery (but I'm rooting for the Azzuri in the World Cup).

I love watching McEwen. We always have to replay the sprint finishes when he wins to see where he came from.

McEwen is like a stealth fighter. "It's Boonen, Hushovd, Boonen, Hushovd, Boonen, Hushovd, Boonen, Hushovd, Boonen, Hushovd, McEwen wins!"

Just have to say that the scenery today did not disappoint. My husband and I kept wishing we were there again. Normandy really was amazingly and unexpectedly beautiful and I can't wait to return.

Other than the scenery, today's stage was a bit boring--except for the crashes (pay attention, boys!)--until the end when the sprint was onnnn! I think one big turning point in this year's tour will be the time trail on Saturday because then we will see the GC contenders come out.

Although I would like to see him win, I wish OLN would stop hyping Floyd at this point. He hasn't done anything yet and I've never felt like Phonak is the most organized of teams, as was noted in the Prologue this year (remember the time trial a couple years ago when they had like 5 flat tires and ended up across the line with the minimun number needed--bad luck or bad equipment or bad planning, whatever, it was bad). I'm a-waiting and a-seeing in this case.

edited 'cause correct spelling, punctuation and grammar are all good.

Al Troutwig bugs me, so allow me to vent: You don't mean backslash, Al, just a regular ol' slash goes in that URL. And what was up with the giggling tonight? Too much cider drinking.

For whatever reason, when I see George Hincapie interviewed he reminds me of Probie from the show Rescue Me. Something about the weird deer caught in the headlights expression on his face and the dark hair.

As someone who's only a casual fan of cycling, this is driving me crazy - the commentators on OLN are always talking about the "GC" but they never explain what it is. Can someone tell me what GC stands for?

"GC" is an acronym for General Classification, which is the overall standing of the riders in the Tour.

Ah, I figured it was something to do with the overall results, but I wasn't sure. Thank you!

No kidding. My aunt who is a french teacher usually comes to visit while the Tour is on and we mock him constantly. "Shall we watch the Tour "day" FrANCe?" "Oh yes, let's watch the Tour "day" FrANCe!" I took French right through 1st year of university and the hatchet job he does on those words just makes me shudder. I will say that he provides lots of interesting insight, somewhat off his head at times but informative nonetheless.

And since he actually rode in the Tour he should know how to say it right so I wonder if he tortures it out of habit now because it gets people talking about him?

So am I the only only who giggles like a moron every time Phil (or is it Paul?) talks about the "Leaky Gas" boys?

No. No, you're not. I've gotten to the point where I giggle when they show a Liquigas rider and I see the logo.


He explained it last year. When he was a Tour rider, he'd go out to dinner in French restaurants and get snubbed by the French. This is his way of getting back; he knows full well how to pronounce it.

I'm sorry there's no team time trial this year, I always enjoyed watching that.

I like the "history of the tour" segments that they play during the first am showing. I started watching in '89. I hope they replay Bjarne Riis meltdown, that's good tour history. He had won the tour the year before and wasn't having a good year. Jan Ullrich was the new glory boy and his bike failed him during a time trial so he chucked it out into a field and went berserk.

I'm sorry Bobby Julich crashed out. I don't really feel Landis or Leipheimer.

As far as commentating goes, I love Sherwen/Liggett. I view them as a married couple where Phil does most of the talking but Paul is the stern papa. I love that Phil pronounces the lisp in "Alethandro" Valverde, sorry he crashed out too if only because I miss Phil saying his name. I don't really care much about Trautwig.

The first three days of the tour I kept waiting for Phil to say Leaky Gas 'cause it cracks me up each time. Seriously, comedy gold! Phil and Paul really make the tour for me. And, as much as Bobke amuses me, I just don't like Trout and, therefore, see much less of Bobke than I would like because he is never Trout-less.

I didn't realize there was no team time trial this year. That saddens me because I really do enjoy watching them get into formation and race the clock. Too bad.

Anxiously awaiting the first mountains to see who still contends for the GC then. My thoughts: Levi WON'T come back, Floyd will stay close to the lead, Disco boys will get back in it, but a non-favorite will pull ahead. I just don't see Levi, George or Floyd as having that killer instinct it takes to win the TdF. We'll see....

So far, overall, I think OLN is doing ok with the coverage. It seems to be getting less Lance-focused as it goes on (or maybe I'm doing a better job of skipping these parts of the coverage). I have enjoyed the profiles of non-American, non-stage/Green,Yellow, Polka, White jersey winning, but still awesome athletes. It gives me a broader understanding of the riders in the peloton and I appreciate that. Gosh, it's been a week already. Only two more to go until there's nothing at all good on TV.

Well that's mature (eyeroll) and it explains the chip on the shoulder type comments that come out of his mouth from time to time about the French. I feel like I'm listening to kids in the school yard when he does that. It makes him hard to take seriously - he needs to focus more on the insightful comments.

Sorry to disappoint, but it actually is pronounced "leaky gas." My brother lived in Brazil for a while and they're the largest gas supplier down there.

It's still funny, though.

Anyway - go, Hincapie!

I just started watching the Tour seriously last year, and I laughed my ass off EVERY time P or P said 'leaky gas'. Eventually I realized it really is pronounced that way, like you said E F.S. I looked forward to P & P's first 'leaky gas' this year, much the same way we Big Brother fans are literally counting down to Julie Chen's first 'But first...' of the season.

Rockin' the HoYay! - Lance and Matthew McConnaughy. Hilarious pics.