Watching the Tour de France 2011

I've got Versus on my flatscreen and I'm watching the recap of yesterday's race. Holy crap was the crash at 9KM a vision of carnage!

Now I understand how stage 1 ended up the way it did. As reported yesterday - because I was following along via an iPhone app and not video - I THOUGHT Andy Schleck and Contador went down in the crash at 9KM to go. They did not. It seems that Contador was kept back by the crash, but didn't go down.

And when Andy Schleck did go down in the crash with 2KM to go, he ended up with the same finish as the field.

According to the commentators at Versus, the 1:14 deficit Contador has lost to Schleck could be the margin of victory this year. In fact, last year, Contador won by a mere :39 over Schleck. So, there's lots to think about for 2011.

Now, I'm going to watch today's Team Time Trial. Back shortly!

UPDATE - Stage 1 Shake-up - SPOILER - INCLUDES RESULTS

Today, in stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France, there were numerous crashes. But, for some reason even though Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador crashed at the 10KM to go mark and lost about 1:20 on the pack, Andy found a way to get back into the field and finish with everyone.

He did it by crashing AGAIN within the 3KM mark which meant that he got the same finishing time as anyone involved in that crash. As I see it - and I could be wrong - that meant that a rider who didn't crash got penalized.

And the standings at the end of the day bear that out. The official board has Contador back 1:20 on the pack and Schleck only losing :06 on the leader.

Not sure how that works, but that could be the tour right there because the margin between Schleck and Contador is very slim. I'm just sad they both didn't finish back by 90 seconds or so.

Stage 1 - Nice Little Shake-up in the Field - SPOILER ALERT

I don't have all the details yet, but the stage today has already created implications for the podium in Paris. During most of the 192KM stage there wasn't much to see, but then about 10KM from the end there was a crash....

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

It has been reported that Contador and Andy Schleck were both caught in that crash and lost about 1:40 to the eventual stage winner and now Yellow Jersey wearer Gilbert of the Omega Pharma-Lotto squad. In his career, Philippe Gilbert has worn the Yellow Jersey nine times (not counting today) and has never had a green or polka dot on his back.

Before tomorrow's Team Time Trial, I'll get you another update on today's stage 1.

Did your favorite rider finish in good stead after today's event?

Tour 2011 - the Tour de France iPhone app

When I can, and this might sound pretentious, I like to follow the tour from the road beside each stage. This requires that I fly to France and spend three weeks galavanting around the countryside. I don't have a problem with that, but my wallet and my employers do. So most of my pursuit of the Tour is done electronically and online.

As many Tour fans know, Eurosport isn't available in this country as the satellite they use to beam the signal to Europe is situated in the wrong spot in the sky. Some folks in SOUTHERN FL can grab the signal, but for the rest of the United States, it's impossible.

The other option for following Tour coverage is the sometimes lame, sometimes great programming on Versus. They've done the Tour for years, but they are still relegated to the whims and programming/filming choices of the Eurosport staff. *This might change now that Versus has the power of NBC behind them. We'll see.

So, many folks either find themselves watching the Versus recaps at night and trolling the Internet for simulcast Ustream or Livestream feeds that Europeans are kind enough to share. I'll be doing some of that this year too.

But the best option I've found - and I did this last year too - was to load a few apps onto my iPhone and follow the tour that way. My favorite for this year (and it cost about $2) is the "Tour 2011" app. They have lots of news feeds, a stages overview section, rider features and facts, a live stream that has been pretty feature rich so far (only stage 1 mid-way right now), and a leaderboard.

This app is as well appointed as the dispatches you can get at Le Tour - the official TDF site - or elsewhere on the Web.

Other apps I've gotten to supplement my enjoyment are the team apps for Radio Shack and others. And I'm following a number of riders on Twitter.

Your mileage may vary, but I prefer to immerse myself in the race and this is a great way to do it.

Stage 1 - Tour de France 2011

Traveling 192KM from La Barre de Monts to Mont des Alouttes, stage 1 is a flat one with one category 4 climb near the end.

Sprinters should take this stage - and as I write this the riders are about 50KM into the day's race and there hasn't been anything major to change the facet of the 2011 Tour de France.

As some pundits say, the quest of the prospective leaders is to win at the end and not crash in the beginning. Therefore, riders like Evans and Contador will try to stay near the front of the field during most stages to avoid getting hung up in madness if there's a large kerfuffle near the back or middle of the peleton.

I'm wearing my yellow Tour de France shirt and following the tour on an iPhone app. Will review that app in the next post.

Ladbrokes - Who's on Your List?

The Tour begins this weekend and I had to get my bets in. It's the first year (except for 1998) that I've bet on the Tour - and in '98 I didn't know what I was doing.

So I sent a tweet out to the world to find a friend in London who could place a bet or seven for me on the race. I wanted to ensure that I picked a winner in this year's Tour de France and was pretty certain who would finish on the podium.

By the way, if you go back through the blog, I've been really good at picking the podium in the past so this seemed like a great way to make my millions. OK, I only put £1 on each rider, but still, it could be £100 when all is said and done.

My picks were - in no particular order...

Sammy Sanchez
Ivan Basso
Andy Schleck
Cadel Evans
Levi Leipheimer
Bradley Wiggins and
Alberto Contador

Were I to compose the podium from that list, I would put it in this order...

Win - Cadel Evans
Place - Levi Leipheimer
Show - Sammy Sanchez

Alberto Contador will likely crash out this year.

Just my predictions. What are yours?

Lance and Drugs and the Future

It's being covered nearly every day in the press. Mostly Bicycling Magazine's recap of court proceedings and purported discussions by George Hincapie and real comments by Tyler Hamilton. What seems to be happening is a consensus that Lance was certainly involved in a doping situation on the teams for which he raced. What is not clear - and it probably doesn't matter - is whether Lance doped or not.

Here's my stance...

I don't care. While I was a soapbox fiend when baseball players started getting caught for using drugs, I was at a different and more enlightened stage of my fandom when I learned what pro cycling was doing. You see, I never knew pro cycling to be any different.

From my first real experience with the Tour de France in 1998, I understood there was animosity between the UCI and the riders. And I understood that many - if not the majority - of the riders took drugs. So the playing field for me was always tainted.

This didn't make me, as a fan, any less involved or passionate about watching the sport or desiring to attend the races. It didn't move any of the riders down in my eyes, because it was all apples to apples at the top end.

So, if Lance did dope, does it matter now? And if they decide to sanction or remove his awards, does it matter now? Finally, to be fair, how could they (UCI and other governing bodies) be sure that riders #2, #3 #4 and beyond didn't also dope?

The powers that be would have to effectively remove all awards and trophies and records from the books and start anew. And that isn't going to happen.

I want to bury that part of cycling in the sand and go forward in the post-Lance era. I still yearn to attend the TDF every year (and I've already been a number of times). And I still am excited to put my life on hold for 20+ days in July every year while I blog, watch and eat, drink and breathe the event.

This hasn't changed my outlook, it's just given me one more topic to write about. Now go get clipped in and let the races continue!

Lance Retires

We've heard this before, but now it's true. Lance Armstrong has finally hung up the clipless shoes. While he's been dogged of late by doping allegations, he's still the winningest Tour de France champion of all time. And he's my hero, still.

For all he's done for the sport.

For all he's done for cancer.

And for his attitude throughout his career.

Happy trails Lance - seriously. Hope to catch up with you mountain biking, Xterra-ing and persevering.

Thanks, Lance.

TDF Doping Tests

Most nights I drift off to sleep after reading some AP updates on my iPhone in bed. This was the case the other day when I noticed that in the news were a lot of pieces on cycling.

Well, it's cold out right now and cycling news is out of place. So I took a look.

Seems as if the government is now focusing on the doping allegations of one Floyd Landis against many of his ex-teammates. This means that the circus of allegations and tests and rumors is back in full swing.

Happy Holidays cycling!

CONTADOR CHEATED!

So, what’s the big deal with doping and cycling? Hasn’t this been asked a million times before and hasn’t the issue been raised in concert with such names as Hamilton, Armstrong, Ulrich, Pantani and Landis.

Well now, according to a NY Times story, Alberto Contador has tested positive for a banned substance. And that might mean his title - and respect - and maybe his career - will all go away.

Is it such a big deal? Isn’t everyone doing it?

I don’t think so. I think the truly gifted are not cheating and have not cheated in their winning ways. I choose to believe that Lance Armstrong didn’t cheat during any of his Tour de France wins. I also choose to believe that Floyd Landis was clean for the bulk of his career as was Tyler Hamilton.

The difficulty comes with the pressure to perform and I don’t know anyone who isn’t in that position can relate. I’m a great empathizer, but even I don’t know what it’s like to feel the pressure of pro athletes breathing down my neck as I strive to complete a bike race, baseball or football game.

And the stakes are so high if you give it careful thought. So much money is on the line. So limited is the window of opportunity for a human athlete in regard to skill level. And there’s massive ego involved.

I don’t have the answers today and might never have them. But I wanted to get people thinking about this stuff. Especially as we look at Contador being accused of cheating and possibly losing his TDF title.

How do I feel about this? I am angry. If Contador played by the rules, maybe Lance would have his eighth title. Not saying Contador cheated in 2009, but if he cheated this year he could have cheated before.

What do you think?