Life and Bikes - Tour de France

Biggest news today - as the Tour entered its sixth day - was the rumor that some cyclists had agreed to take a six-month suspension in exchange for their testimony against Lance Armstrong. One version of the story listed four ex-teammates of Armstrong, but as of this evening nothing has been confirmed. Here's a link to one of the latest stories.

That's said, the 2012 Tour de France continues.

In today's action there was a crazy crash near the finish that swept up Peter Sagan and others and made the expected sprint finish even more exciting. In the end, it was André Greipel of Lotto who took the stage win. The crash kept the rest of the peloton together and there was no real change overall...except in how close the Green Jersey race is getting.

Mark Cavendish finished fourth in the stage - a little surprise - maybe because of his injured hand and maybe because of the way the road climbed slightly at the end. Anyway, it was the first time Greipel had handed Cavendish a loss, which makes it significant and might also keep Cavendish away from the stage-win record he's chasing. That's 34 by Eddy Merckx in his stellar career.

Tomorrow is Stage 6, a 207KM ride from Epernay to Metz that drops about 20 meters in elevation over the final four KM. This spells SPRINT to me...unless there's finally a break that gets away from the pack and stays away.

Comments, guest posts, questions - all welcome. Chat again soon!

Stage 1 Results and Thoughts

As I've told Bob a bunch of times on the BeanCast, the Tour de France is a promotional vehicle. Yes, it's a sporting event (and one I hold near and dear to my heart), but it's also a grand way for companies and brands to get their name out there and connect with a very qualified audience.

Trouble is, the folks using the Tour to market are not really following the first tenet of content or communication - KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

I've seen more ads for stuff that just doesn't fit with a cycling-fan demographic this year and I think we've reached the point where it's now just a 'throw-stuff-at-the-wall' practice. Kinda sad, but was bound to happen as all branding people try to get ahead.

That said, here's the result from Stage 1 and some thoughts on the Tour so far...

1 - The pack is jittery - as happens in the first three or four stages of every Tour de France. Hoping that crashes don't know any of my favorites out of the race. As you saw within 25KM of the finish on today's stage, there were two big crashes. First one had four or five riders down. Second had about 15-20 riders down.

2 - There are really just two teams in the hunt for the Yellow jersey in Paris in a few weeks. These are team BMC and team Sky.

3 - I love how Phil Ligget says 'movie star' when he pronounces Movistar.

4 - At 8KM (after 190KM of a breakaway) the peloton got all back together. Five mere miles from the finish line. When you watch the stages, I urge you to pay attention to the jockeying for postion within the last 3-5 miles of each stage. It really is a chess match.

5 - Amazing finish for this stage - a mad sprint uphill to the finish - AND I'm astonished that Fabian Cancellara of team has kept the Yellow Jersey! Peter Sagan of Liquigas- Cannondale won the stage, but Cancellar came in second and the rest of the peloton was just behind.

Great stuff. I thought the pack would break apart today and once again the Tour de France is a learning process for me.

OH! By the way. If you're DVRing the stages for watching later, do yourself a favor. Add 10-15 minutes to the end of the taping so you don't miss the end of any stage. OR set your DVR to record the second or third broadcast of the stage. As this is a live event, the number of times I've missed the last three minutes of a stage because my DVR stopped is numerous. I'd say it happens at least half a dozen times in the course of a Tour de France.

Thanks for reading. I welcome your thoughts!

New Media - New Style - New Tour de France

Just wanted to share with you a quick comment on social media tools, journalism and spoilers. From this point forward - as the 2012 Tour de France begins - I'm leaving it up to the audience to accept responsibility.

Responsibility for knowing or keeping themselves insulated from Tour results.

Responsibility for either sharing or keeping the results of the Tour secret from others.

And responsibility for enjoying the Tour de France in their own special way.

For eight years, I've written about and shared Tour de France results and other information. During this period, I've taken it upon myself to keep results secret until a sufficient time had passed (at least hours and sometimes a full day) so I didn't create a 'spoiler' moment for readers.

That's out the window. Social tools make it far too easy for anyone who wants to be connected to find out what's going on. Nobody online obeys the unwritten rule of 'no spoilers' and I'm not going to swim against that tide.

If you don't want to know what happened until you get home and watch it NBC Sports or the DVR feed of Eurosport, then unplug. It will be a good test for you.

So, let's get this party started. I'm typing this as I watch my taped version of the Prologue. I don't know the results, but will know soon enough. By the way, if you watch the Twitter feed on this very blog, it probably is rife with results info already.

I hope you can enjoy the Tour as much as I do - even knowing that results might not be hidden from your eyes at all times.

2012 Tour de France - TOMORROW

And so it begins again. This year with a first stage in Liege, the Tour de France will travel clockwise from Belgium into France and then around the country. Stage 17 is where the race will be won (or cemented) with a 143.5KM ride finishing at the Hautes-Pyrenees ski station on the Plateau de Peyragudes.

My prediction(s) for this year's race? It's up in the air. Last year shuffled like a deck of cards and I haven't honestly watched enough of the early-season classics to see who's in form for this year's battle. But I will take a flyer.

I see the podium this way - 1st to 3rd - with Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans standing proud.

How do you think it will end up?

[EDIT - 5:41PM June 29]

Just got a tweet that Andy Schleck has a broken pelvis. Stupidly, I missed that news because I've been doing my other writing and am not fully ramped up for tomorrow. BUT, in light of that, I put Sammy Sanchez on the podium with Bradley winning and Cadel in second.

YIKES!

Two Different Directions on Drugs - Contador and Armstrong

Within the last month or so, we in the cycling world have witnessed two things...

Alberto Contador was finally taken to task for his doping in the 2010 Tour de France and has been suspended for two years retroactively. He'll be able to compete this summer if he doesn't delay things with even more legal machinations.

Lance Armstrong was let loose by the US Department of Justice and it seems that all American investigations into any doping allegations will cease.

My take on these two things...GREAT. Let's stop running witch hunts and goose chases when there's little to no evidence. Let's also act swiftly and decisively in the future. It's not like we don't have the technology to find out if people are taking drugs in sports. It's not as if protracted investigations help anyone.

Instead of taking more than a year to find someone guilty and more than a few years to exonerate (or at least declare no findings), let's get this stuff done fast. So much for the poor shmoe (Andy Schleck) who will now go down as the winner of the 2010 Tour de France. So much for the fans who are tired of this circus and just want to watch some cycling. And so much for the sponsors who make much of the sport possible.

I want us to start looking ahead to the 2012 racing season with a clean slate. No Contador this season in the big races. Lance is off preventing cancer and raising awareness. Let's get back on track and focus on the riders and teams who are still gearing up.

For one, I'm excited about this year's Tour. I can't wait to watch Paris Roubaix. And I'm hoping to see some cool action in the Olympics in London.

What have recent events done to whet or quell your appetite for our favorite sport?

Special Treatment? Alberto Contador's Drug Test Moved.

Life isn't fair. We all know that, but it sometimes gets really annoying when it surfaces and stares us right in the face. After a Tour de France during which he seemed human - mostly - Alberto Contador is still on the legal block about his last Tour de France victory. You see, the powers that be found traces of drugs in Contador's tests from the 2010 TDF win. So they raised a fuss and took action.

But - going back to my original point - he's glitterati, the chosen one post-Lance. So his positive test was under appeal even as Contador raced this July in the Tour de France 2011.

Would that have been afforded a regular rider? Not hardly. If a regular guy - one of the other 197 riders - would have had to sit out the two years and missed out on a chance to help his sponsors with exposure and possibly podium at other races along the way.

Now, the Contador situation has been pushed back again and we won't hear the verdict on Contador's appeal until the fall. They say November. It will happen after the 2012 Tour de France route is chosen and well after all the other races of the season take place.

Not fair. Not fair. Not fair.

What say you? And in your comments let me know if you like Contador or not.

And so it is......

At the outset of the 2011 Tour de France, I placed some bets over in London. I picked seven riders to finish atop the podium. I guess 2 out of 7 isn't horrible - especially with the carnage we saw in the first week. I'm quite satisfied with the result this year and I'm happy to say this is one of the best Tours I've ever watched.

It was close, there was a parity of rider skill, and there was only one positive drug test (that I've heard of) in all of the 21 stages.

Thanks to Versus and Eurosport for your coverage. Thanks to UCI and LeTour for your efforts as well.

See you again in the fall when they announce the route for the 2012 Tour de France. I plan to be in France for the whole of that race if you need a person on the ground during that edition.

Au revoir.

Watching the Time Trial - 2011 Tour de France

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

I'm watching the final time trial in this year's Tour de France and the podium is set. It's going to be three men - of course - but the order isn't decided yet.

It will be Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck up on the podium tomorrow in Paris. But the three are jammed so close together it's too tough to tell who will pull on yellow tomorrow.

With 20KM to go, the computers say Cadel Evans is pulling back all the time he's lost over the past few days. He started down 57 seconds to Andy Schleck and now the timers say that he's only down nine seconds.

If this happens, Cadel will be the first ever Australian winner of the Tour de France. And for the second year in a row, Andy Schleck will have finished second by seconds. Last year he lost by 39 seconds to Alberto Contador.

I am shaking right now with excitement. How about you?

Stage 18 - The Day the 2011 Tour de France was Decided

Well, that headline might be a bit over the top, but so are the world's top cyclists. And the way they finished - except for the exceptional Thomas Voekler - might be the way they end up on Sunday.

Today, we saw Andy Schleck for the first time in the race. He shattered (more like tickled at) the field and ended up about 90 seconds ahead of the field.

We saw Cadel Evans lose a little time to both Andy and Frank Schleck. But not nearly insurmountable. What will depend on how Evans finishes is how the stage tomorrow shakes out. If Frank Schleck attacks and wins on Alpe d'Huez, then the top three in Paris might well go....

Frank, Cadel and Andy - in that order.

But I still think it's Evans race to lose. He can make up time on both those guys in the Time Trial on Saturday. And he just needs to hang on tomorrow and either take back a little time or not lose any.

Oh, Alberto Contador might be DONE for this year unless he wins tomorrow by three minutes or more.

What do you say?

86.5KM to go - Stage 14

With almost 90KM to go in Stage 14, there are three riders off the front at 7:12 in front of the peloton. It might be a break that stays away for a bit because in it are Millar, Casar and El Fares, the best placed of these is Sandy Casar at only 8:47 back of the Yellow Jersey.

The other reason this break might stay away for a bit is that they'll have seven minutes with which to start climbing the next couple peaks.

Thoughts?