Category: Tour de France

McEwen appears out of nowhere to win Tour de France Stage 1

Counted out after going down in a crash 12 miles from the finish, Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen won his 12th Tour de France stage in Canterbury on Sunday.

The last we saw of the sprinter, until he popped out of the crowd at the finish, McEwen was looking at his right wrist as his Predictor-Lotto teammates got him back into the rear of the peloton about 4 miles from the end.

Quick-Step and Lampre led the peloton onto the streets of Canterbury, where Milram took over the train for Erik Zabel. There wasn't much cooperation among the teams, though, allowing Barloworld's Robert Hunter to jump out of the pack. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/07/08/mcewen-appears-out-of-nowhere-to-win-tour-de-france-stage-1/

Cancellara wins Tour de France prologue; amazing Hincapie in 3rd

At the end of the day, it's probably no surprise that world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (left, Team CSC) would win the opening day prologue for the 2007 Tour de France on Saturday by a 13-second margin.

The surprise is George Hincapie's (right, Discovery Channel) 3rd place finish in the London prologue, 10 seconds behind 2nd place Andreas Kloden (Astana), considered one of the overall Tour favorites.

Another US cyclist, David Zabriskie of Team CSC, briefly led the rankings in the 5-mile prologue, but dropped to 11th overall at the end of the day. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/07/07/cancellara-wins-tour-de-france-prologue-amazing-hincapie-in-3rd/

Where to watch and listen to 2007 Tour de France coverage

The 2007 Tour de France is finally underway with the prologue through London. Here's some choices of where to get live updates and commentary through the Tour's finish in Paris on July 29.

Versus — The cable TV channel is broadcasting live action and replays daily. Here's the Versus Tour de France TV schedule;

Eurosport — The UK-based sports website has partnered with Yahoo. The Eurosport Tour de France page features a “Live Audio” broadcast button; look for it on the right-hand column under “Related Video” …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/07/07/where-to-watch-and-listen-to-2007-tour-de-france-coverage/

A virtual ride through London's Tour de France prologue route

The 2007 Tour de France opens on Saturday with a 4.9-mile prologue through the city of London. Bicycle racers will start individually at Whitehall, pedal past the Houses of Parliament, loop through Hyde Park and finish on The Mall.

The BBC mounted a camera in a car and filmed “The Real Prologue,” a speeded up version of what it's like to drive the prologue route during the morning rush hour.

Meanwhile, Cycling.tv has provided a 4-minute video of the best spots to catch the prologue in London, below:

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/07/06/a-virtual-ride-through-londons-tour-de-france-prologue-route/

Who's your favorite for 2007 Tour de France? Take the poll

The bookies say Alexander Vinokourov, right, has the best chance of winning the 2007 Tour de France bike race, which starts Saturday in London. They're laying 3-to-1 odds that he'll win. Who do you think will win?

I think it would be cool to have US-cyclist Levi Leipheimer (18-1 odds) win the bike race this year, if only just to drive the French nuts. They have to go back 22 years to 1985 with Bernard Hinault to remember a Frenchman on the top step of the podium; 11 of those years it was won by an American.

I've listed other cyclists in this year's peloton who are considered to have a chance at taking the overall championship. Check out the list and vote for one, or choose “other.” The polling will close after the prologue on Saturday. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/07/04/whos-your-favorite-for-2007-tour-de-france-take-the-poll/

Zabriskie and Vande Velde picked for Tour de France rosters

Following up on Thursday's post about US cyclists picked for 2007 Tour de France team rosters, Team CSC has chosen David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde.

Pending further changes, six US cyclists will race in the 2007 Tour de France.

Team CSC did not pick Bobby Julich for this year's Tour; T-Mobile chose neither Aaron Olson or Canadian Michael Barry.

Zabriskie is the US time trial champion and finished 5th overall in the week-long Dauphine Libere earlier this month, surviving the many climbs of that bike race. A teammate, Fabian Cancellara, is the world time trial champ. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/06/29/zabriskie-and-vande-velde-picked-for-tour-de-france-rosters/

Don't bet against Versus for Tour de France viewership

OK. There's no Lance and no Landis, but we still have Levi for this year's Tour de France bicycle race.

Even so, broadcast media watcher MediaDailyNews says the Versus cable network is in for a “rough ride” with this year's Tour de France broadcast ratings, what with no clear American favorite and the doping scandals that are ripping apart cycling.

Versus has scheduled 17 hours of daily Tour de France coverage from the July 7th prologue in London to the July 29th finish in Paris. The usual suspects will be behind the microphones: Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen are returning as the main commentators, and Bob “Tour Day France” Roll and Al Trautwig will host the extended prime-time replay. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/06/29/dont-bet-against-versus-for-tour-de-france-viewership/

US cyclists on 2007 Tour de France team rosters

Pro cycling teams are announcing their rosters for the 2007 Tour de France as the race starts in London in a little more than a week.

The US-based Discovery Channel pro cycling team is sending a squad led by California's Levi Leipheimer, winner of the Tour of California in February. He'll be joined by US road champion George Hincapie.

The rest of Discovery's international cast is comprised of Alberto Contador, Vladimir Gusev, Egoi Martinez, Benjamin Noval, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych and Tomas Vaitkus…

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/06/28/us-cyclists-on-2007-tour-de-france-team-rosters/

20th place finish makes Vino a favorite for Tour de France?

Last week's Dauphiné Libéré, which ended Sunday, is considered a warm-up for the Tour de France.

But the winner of that French bicycling race, Christophe Moreau, isn't the cyclist coming out of the stage race who is being touted as a top contender for the Tour, which runs July 7-29.

It's Alexander Vinokourov, above, the captain of the Kazakhstan-based Astana team. In spite of his 20th-place finish overall, Vinokourov won two stages (a time trial and the mountainous final stage), and wore the leader's jersey for one stage. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/06/18/20th-place-finish-makes-vino-a-favorite-for-tour-de-france/

Tour de France returns to Versus on cable TV for 2007

This is good news. Once again, the Versus cable network is offering nearly around-the-clock TV coverage of the 2007 Tour de France, which runs July 7-29.

The sports network (still OLN in Canada) is broadcasting an average 17 hours a day of Tour coverage, generally starting at 8:30 a.m. (ET) with replays throughout the day and early morning hours.

Cycling fans without access to cable TV will have options on the Internet, such as the live text tickers at CyclingNews and VeloNews, audio play-by-play at Eurosport, and the virtual “tete de la course” updates on maps and stage profiles at the official Tour de France website. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/06/14/tour-de-france-returns-to-versus-on-cable-tv-for-2007/