Category: Tour de France
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? …
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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 …..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/06/farrar-discloses-secret-to-beating-cavendish/
“The Tour de France is so physically, mentally and emotionally grueling, it's said that every time you ride it you take a year off your life.” [I suppose it's a good thing that the race is only held once a year.]
KUSA-TV news story (9News.com) about Lance Armstrong's return to pro cycling.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/06/quote-tour-de-france-hyperbole/
Mark Cavendish marked his 5th-ever win at the Tour de France on Sunday with a Stage 2 sprint just ahead of Washington's Tyler Farrar hanging onto his wheel.
George Hincapie and other members of Team Columbia executed a textbook lead-out in the village of Brignoles for sprint star Cavendish.
Just behind, Danny Pate and Julian Dean of Garmin-Slipstream helped Farrar negotiate the traffic and get as close to Cavendish as he hoped to get.
Meanwhile, Fabio Cancellara finished in the pack, easily holding onto the yellow jersey that he earned in the Stage 1 individual time trial….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/05/cavendish-wins-stage-2-sprint-with-farrar-on-wheel-cancellara-leads-tour-de-france/
Lance Armstrong tore through a 9.6-mile individual time trial course in Monaco at 20:12 on Saturday morning, finishing in 10th place on the first stage of the 2009 Tour de France.
It followed by nearly four years Armstrong's declaration of “Vive Le Tour” as he bade farewell to professional cycling from the top step of the podium in Paris with his 7th Tour de France win in 2005.
Armstrong was the 18th cyclist on the course and set an early best time. By the end of the day, after all 180 riders had finished, he had only dropped to 10th.
Swiss time trial phenom Fabian Cancellara had the best time of 19:32. He'll start in yellow to start Stage 2, a 116-mile race from Monaco to Brignoles …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/04/lance-armstrong-takes-best-time-briefly-at-2009-tour-de-france-cancellara-wins-stage-1/
It will be all Lance all the time on the Versus cable network when the 2009 Tour de France kicks off in Monaco on Saturday.
After a series of 10 one-hour shows on Friday highlighting the all-time best Lance Armstrong stages, Versus will launch its live coverage for Stage 1 at 9:30 a.m. (ET) Saturday.
There will be live coverage in the morning, followed by three two-hour replays throughout the afternoon, followed by a 3-hour “expanded” primetime show in the evening that will be repeated once.
That's 14 hours a day for the “routine” stages. Mountain stages could get 17 hours of coverage in a 24-hour period.
I'm sure that's OK with most cycling fans. Although I try to watch as much of the live show as possible in the morning, I'm often hooked in the evening by the primetime show …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/07/03/watching-the-2009-tour-de-france-start-with-14-hours-a-day-on-versus/
This 2009 Tour de France — starting Saturday in Monaco — might seem like old times for viewers, as many of the seven cyclists from the US are blasts from the past.
In fact, the seven spread across three teams has tallied 47 Tours de France among them.
The biggest name is of course Lance Armstrong, 37, who returns to the peloton after a three-year hiatus. A winner of seven straight Tours de France between 1999 and 2005, he needs no introduction. This is Armstrong's 12th Tour start.
Returning to the Tour de France in 2009 for his seventh start is Armstrong teammate Levi Leipheimer, 35, who had to sit out last year because he happened to be a member of the banned Astana team. Remember Let Levi Ride …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/06/29/us-cyclists-at-2009-tour-de-france-are-an-experienced-bunch/
“I got the call — from Johan Bruyneel, our team manager at Astana — that I had been waiting for. As I had feared, his message was that I wasn't going to the Tour this year. Many reasons were given, but all I really heard was that there would be no Tour de France for me.
“Politics seemed to once again be what was holding me back from doing what I love, racing at the top of my sport. Johan gave me many reasons why he couldn't take me, and all of them made sense to me from a political standpoint, but absolutely no sense from a straight up who deserves to go standpoint.”
— Chris Horner writing about his disappointment in not being chosen to ride alongside Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer in the 2009 Tour de France. A native of Bend, Oregon, Horner's Freewheeling column appears in the Oregonian.
Horner doesn't blame Bruyneel, whose “hands were tied….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/06/27/quote-why-chris-horner-isnt-racing-in-2009-tour-de-france/
Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador is the choice to lead Team Astana's 9-man squad at the 2009 Tour de France this year.
Citing his 2007 Tour de France championship and victories at all three Grand Tours, team manager Johan Bruyneel writes at the Astana website:
“… It's hard to find a better stage race rider than Alberto. He has worked very hard, earning the right to represent our team as the leader this July.” ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/06/25/contador-will-lead-team-astana-poll-results-say-it-should-be-highest-placed/
Lance Armstrong peers from the cover of the VeloNews Tour de France Guide: “7-time champ and his team of superstars defy all challengers.”
Alberto Contador looks out from Cycle Sport America: “Don't mess with the Spanish stage race superstar.”
It's only 1-1/2 weeks until the beginning of this year's Tour de France in Monaco on July 4, and it's still unclear whether Astana will start the race with an absolute team leader. If you were in charge of Astana and facing this decision, who would you pick? See the poll at right. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2009/06/22/poll-who-is-going-to-lead-team-astana-at-tour-de-france/
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