Norway's Thor Hushovd of Cervelo wins 7th Tour de France stage
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/09/thor-hushovd-3/
Norway's thundering sprinter Thor Hushovd won a tightly contested sprint in Barcelona on Thursday after the peloton took a squeegee to David Millar's hopes of a solo victory on Stage 6 of the Tour de France.
The overall leaders finished intact on the slippery streets of Barcelona as Fabian Cancellara held onto the yellow jersey for another day with Lance Armstrong trailing by less than a second.
Cancellara should savor his last hours in the yellow jersey, however, as the Tour rockets into the Pyrenees on Friday with a mountain top finish at Andorre Arcalis. He's unlikely to survive in the lead as a host of climbers, including four on Astana, will be ready to take over. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/09/hushovd-wins-a-wet-stage-6-cancellara-leads-tour-de-france/
Would you expect to be ticketed for rolling through a stop sign on a charity bicycle ride?
Eight bicyclists participating in the 700-strong Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway fund-raiser in Virginia earlier this month were ticketed by sheriff's deputies for failure to come to full stops at signs along the route.
No warnings; just a ticket that carries a fine, fees, and 4 points on their driving record.
The cyclists, whose accounts of the tickets are detailed in the Washington Post, the Loudoun Times-Mirror and a lawyer's blog, say they slowed at the intersections and rolled through only when they saw that the coast was clear ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/09/ms-8-bicyclists-go-separate-ways-in-response-to-no-stop-tickets/
Just like the Wright Brothers' first airplane that sits in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, some transportation marvels deserve recognition.
So it is with the triple tandem built by bicycling advocate and enthusiast Bill Bliss.
The bicycle carried Bill and his two daughters, Shannon, 8, and Heather, 7, on a 4,200-mile TransAmerica bike ride in 1976 to commemorate the nation's Bicentennial. It now adorns the entryway to the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters in Missoula, Montana …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/08/historic-tour-bicycle-joins-missoula-collection/
Sometimes the breakaway does survive to the finish at the Tour de France and rewards a long-suffering cyclist with victory.
That's what happened on the 122-mile race from Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan for Stage 5 on Wednesday when France's Thomas Voeckler once again raised himself from virtual obscurity to win his first-ever stage of the Tour de France.
Fabian Cancellara held onto the yellow jersey for another day, as he's led the race since Stage 1. Lance Armstrong still trails by a fraction of a second.
If you remember Voeckler's name, it's because the improbable hero of France wore the yellow jersey for 10 days back in 2004, beating the odds daily to hold onto the yellow jersey….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/08/voeckler-wins-stage-5-cancellara-wearing-yellow-at-tour-de-france/
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler wins Stage 5 of Tour de France.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/08/thomas-voeckler/
Team Astana delivered Lance Armstrong to the finish line for Tuesday's team time trial in the exact time that he trailed Tour de France leader Fabian Cancellara — 40 seconds — and not a second faster.
That made the finish so close that race judges had to rely on fractions of a second. The decision went to Cancellara, who has held the yellow jersery since the finish of Stage 1.
Cancellara certainly earned the honor of wearing the yellow again. His Saxo Bank team finished in third place in the 24-mile team time trial largely on his efforts at pulling them through the final couple of miles on the course.
Astana hit the last time check before the finish line 41 seconds ahead of Saxo Bank, but lost a second to Cancellara's team over the final section. That's were the Swiss time trial specialist had hunkered down and led his team home. ….
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/07/cancellara-survives-in-yellow-armstrong-trails-by-0000-at-tour-de-france/
[Updates inside, including “Contador caused the split”]
Sometimes just showing up to work is enough for a routine stage of the Tour de France, but sometimes you have to pay attention.
Lance Armstrong pays attention.
The veteran of 12 Tours de France, Armstrong caught a Team Columbia attack late in Stage 3 on Monday that split the peloton. Armstrong's position in the break caused him to jump from 10th to 3rd place in the General Classification.
The titular head of Team Astana, Alberto Contador, was caught in the chasing peloton that finished 40 seconds behind the lead group.
New Astana leader?
Observers will note that Armstrong had Astana teammates Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia in the breakaway with him, and all three helped drive the breakaway from the peloton. Conspiracy theorists also may note that longtime Armstrong lieutenant George Hincapie rides for the Columbia team that created the split and pushed the pace.
Astana is favored to win the Stage 4 team time trial on Tuesday. As the top-placed rider on Astana, there's a chance that Armstrong could be in the yellow jersey after that stage …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/06/armstrong-moves-up-to-3rd-overall-cavendish-wins-stage-3-and-cancellara-still-yellow-at-tdf/
The return of Lance Armstrong to the Tour de France has brought out at least one book — “Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion.”
And at least one cyclist, defending champion Carlos Sastre, might like to offer an alternate subtitle, “What Makes Him So Disrepectful?”
In an interview in the book with author John Wilcockson of VeloNews, Armstrong talks about some of the things that helped him decide last September to return to pro cycling. As quoted in Boston.com:
“The Tour was a bit of a joke this year. I’ve got nothing against Sastre . . . or Christian Vande Velde. … Christian’s a nice guy, but finishing fifth in the Tour de France? Come on!’’
That's got to sting a guy who has battled valiantly for years to reach the Tour de France podium. And how many Tours did Armstrong ride before he finished in first place back in 1999? …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/06/no-wonder-defending-champion-sastre-is-upset-with-armstrong/
Tyler Farrar of the Garmin Slipstream team is the closest that cycling fans in the Washington state have to a hometown hero at the 2009 Tour de France.
So many of us were excited to see the 25-year-old from Wenatchee battling to pass Mark Cavendish as he crossed the finish line in Brignoles on Sunday.
As so often has happened this year, Farrar came up short against Cavendish. He finished 2nd in Stage 2 of the Tour de France.
In a post-race interview at CyclingNews, Farrar told the secret to beating Cavendish …..
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/06/farrar-discloses-secret-to-beating-cavendish/
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