livestrong, die, or take performance-enhancing drugs

While some cycling fans, many of whom coincidentally seemed to be Reaganites, steadfastly stood by Floyd Landis' claims of innocence, readers of this blog will know that I never gave either Landis or Reagan much credit for being anything other than big dopes. However, just because Landis is the dopiest, angriest, most vindictive former member of the peleton doesn't mean he can't occasionally tell the truth.

Lance Armstrong has been the other big bully in cycling for years and bullies are yellow. Landis is Armstrong's 2nd teammate to accuse the 7-time TDF winner of systematic doping. Armstrong won the first case against Frankie Andreau and is winning the second one against Floyd in the court of public opinion. But should he? How is Lance any different than Barry Bonds? It's yet to be proven that Bonds took performance enhancing drugs to become the all-time home run king but everyone believes that he did. Only the superficial American cycling fan doesn't understand the fact that sure Lance has done more victory laps down the Champs Elysee than anyone in the history of cycling but that doesn't mean he's wasn't using. Listen to Lance and his coach when he speaks to the public, you'll hear him talk about being clean now and how he never had a positive test for performance enhancing drugs in his career.

The beloved and current US road champion, George Hincapie, sounded a lot like Mark McGuire the other day when he said he'd rather focus on the current state of cycling. Hincapie's sponsors (not the Steroids Anonymous ones!) would probably agree. A lot of cyclists can make similar statements about being clean today (ignoring yesterday) but no one else has Lance's seven TDF victories. And in America, we're all about winning. We're all about not getting caught. And we're all about being white.

It's hard to defend Landis because he has been such a bitter loser. Obviously what pains him the most is that he was doing what everyone else was doing at the time and he was the one who got caught and labeled a cheat. And others are seen as heroes. The timing of Landis' allegations during the Tour of California demonstrate just how bitter he remains. Landis, a former mountain bike world champion won the inaugural Tour of California. Now, he rides for a middling team that can't even buy entry into the event. And to make matters worst, Armstrong comes out of retirement and now all the media wants to do is talk about Lance. Lance. Lance. What a great guy. And his foundation. Awesome. All the time Landis is thinking, Jesus (forgive me, I have forsaken you), but I was just as good as this guy except I got caught and then burned by the system. This guys does it and he's a hero?

I don't think you've heard the end of this story but a lot of people with money and influence sure hope it goes away soon. Among those I count Radio Shack and the Livestrong Foundation. When the bottom line suffers, people take notice. Listen closely to their arguments against Landis and you'll discover that they always focus on labeling him and not on the issue of whether on not the accused took steroids during the time in question. Landis claims he spent as much as $90,000 a year on performance enhancing drugs. That should be pretty easy to prove if Landis cooperates. Authorities won't be able to access the finances of other riders who were implicated so all this will be hard, if not impossible to prove.

Ask yourself this. If Landis spent this kind of money to dope then the other top riders who claim innocence spent nothing? Also ask yourself this. Why are you so eager to find Barry Bonds guilty in the court of public opinion but not Lance Armstrong?

One of the more damning allegations, that the $100,000 contribution that Lance gave to the US anti-doping agency was in reality a bribe. UCI director. Pat McQuaid, strongly denied these allegations but this is one that should be pretty easy to uncover. For example, how many other $100,000 contributions did/does Lance routinely give and how many does UCI receive? We know the answer to the second question-none.

lance armstrong can't touch this

You've never seen anything like this—parkur meets skateboarding meets bmx tricks. Danny MacCaskill does things on a bike that no else has even contemplated.

the race is on for the tour of missouri

The recently ended Tour of Missouri brings to light just how far the reach of politics. Because of that it's sometimes difficult to get an accurate picture of race. The Tour of Missouri, let's call it TOM, is a good race. In it's first 3 years, it has consistently fielded some great teams and some top-notch riders. TOM benefits from being one of only 2 pro stage races left in the United States - next year they may be as many as four if Colorado and Georgia return. TOM also benefits from being near the end of the pro racing season but is hurt somewhat by occurring at the same time as the Vuelta E'spana, the last of the 3 Grand European stage races of the season. However, because few riders have the strentgh and stamina to compete in the Giro D'Italia, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta in the same year, some teams are looking for other venues. For pro teams with largely American sponsors like Garmin Slipstream and Columbia HTC the TOM provides them the perfect opportunity to showcase their talent on American soil. And because the TOM is a 7 day race rather than a 3 week race, it makes even more manageable from a financial standpoint.

One thing that TOM lacks, which it will never have, and will always prevent it from becoming a truly great race is mountains. We have hills in Missouri not mountains. Hills, especially the rollers that dominant our state, as any weekend cyclist knows, can be tough. In Missouri they can seem to go on and on forever. As tough as they may be to negotiate for amateurs, they aren't long enough to bring the kind of separation needed in a pro race to really matter. This is why the breaks during the long road races are always brought back and eventually won by the sprinters. Teams with strong sprinters like Columbia HTC love this because it means that they have a chance to win stages and gain media attention.

Columbia HTC sprinter, Mark Cavendish, was able to win the first 2 stages of the TOM, wear the yellow jersey for a few days and grab lots of media attention. Other sprinters, Thor Hushvold of Cervelo Test and J.J. Haedo of Saxo Bank were also in the mix most every day there was a field sprint. In fact they all won a stage and given how the bonus points were awarded they traded wearing the yellow jersey at some point during the race. However, all but Hushvold eventually abandoned the race. Sprinters may win the majority of the stages but in a race like TOM, without mountain stages, the eventual winner will be the person who claims victory in the time trial.

This year it was Dave Zabriski of Garmin Slipstream. Zabriski, the US national time trail champion 4 years running, is no slouch. He holds the record for the fastest time trial in Tour de France history. The TOM victory was Zabriski's first General Classification win of his career and was due to his ability as a time trialist.



Now that the race has ended another race has begun. How to keep the race funded for 2010. Lt. Governor Peter Kinder who single-handily has been responsible for keeping the race going over the last 3 years faces a lot of opposition from the Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. It's a bit odd that cycling, which largely draws a Democratic crowd, isn't in the favor of the Governor but that where the politics comes into play. Kinder and Nixon never talk to one another; Nixon doesn't even return his calls. Kinder has used the race to essentially campaign, without seeming to do so, for a week a year on taxpayer money. At every venue, Lt. Gov. Kinder is one of the first to speak at the start of each race and the last to leave the podium. Local politicians at every town sing his praises because the race brings a large contingent of tourists as they pass through. They spend money which is why it makes sense for tourism dollars to be spent on the race and why it's a little ridiculous for Gov. Nixon to pooh pah the spending of tax money on the race. Considering how much the state pays to support professional baseball, football, and soccer the 1.5 million seems paltry. The real question is does the investment pay for itself and all indications are that it does so quite well.

Although Missouri companies such as Edward Jones, Drury Inn, and the Farm Bureau also provide sponsorship no one seems to be willing to put up the bucks to have the race named after them. Anheiser-Busch would rather throw $10 million toward NASCAR which might be smart considering that most cyclists pride themselves on drinking better beer.

Most everyone has some connection to cycling and walking around St. Louis and Kansas City it was easy to see just how diverse the interest in cycling remains. Older club and weekend riders, many of who have been riding for years, were out in force, many wearing their charity t-shirts and jerseys of events they have conquered. Then there were the young single-track riders in their retro woolens and sneakers. There were also the serious amateurs in their kits and the families in the matching mountain bikes and Livestrong equipment.

Pro cycling also attracts interest because it's accessible in ways that other professional sporting events are not. Sure the cyclists may whiz by you on the race at speeds approaching 40 mph at times but they are just feet away. Position yourself at the top of a climb and it's easy to see the anguish on their faces. For most other sports you only get those sorts of closeups on television.

Before the races it's also easy for fans to mingle backstage and see the preparations that go into keeping the race moving. Because the races are constantly moving from town to town, the staging areas are portable and run out the backs of tour buses and vans. Mechanics set up popup tents and each day prep the bikes in full view of spectators. This has the added benefit of selling the sponsors and many cyclists are gear heads who are frequently searching for the latest technology. Pro bikes are the place to see the latest in streamlined technology before it hits the stores.

It will be a tough road for the TOM next year because Nixon is vindictive. Maybe come Christmas, Nixon will find a shiny new bike underneath his Christmas tree and have a change of heart.

wiens takes sight on leadville trail 100: armstrong on his wheel

Is Dave Wiens the mountain bike equivalent of Alberto Contador for Lance Armstrong? Weins, 6 time winner of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race, defeated Armstrong last year by a couple of minutes in the grueling climbs above 10,000 feet. It was one of Armstrong's first tests in his comeback so the 2nd place finish was somewhat measured. Since then, Armstrong has ridden in the Tours of California, Italy, and France. He's yet to win and is looking for some redemption in Leadville. Weins has no interest in submitting and Lance's plan of having Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer pace him to a new course record fell flat when Leipheimer crashed, breaking his wrist during stage 12 of this year's Le Tour.

For the first time in history you can watch live-streaming video of the Leadville Trail 100 for about the price of six-pack of beer.

lance armstrong continues his not a comeback tour

If your nickname is m.o.i. then July means fireworks, farm fresh fruits and vegetables, and Le Tour. All together that spells fun.


The 2009 edition of Le Tour, which, unless you live in a sandbox, you'll know marks the return of the dude with the yellow bracelet who's trying to stay young and win another maillot jaune is starting to heat up and this just the 3rd day of racing.

An eighth Armstrong victory would be in the pantheon of sports most unreachable achievements - along side of DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak and Cy Young's 511 career victories. Hell, Armstrong's 7 straight wins will likely never be repeated. For him to add an eighth win after a 3-year hiatus would be remarkable. It's possible but improbable.

The biggest obstacle will come from his own teammate Alberto Contador. However, Armstrong's attacking maneuvers on day 3 indicate that the man means business and that Director Sportif, Johann Bruyneel, may not be able to control Team Astana from the backseat of the race car. Armstrong was able to go on a small breakaway that split the field and and left Contador stranded in the peleton fighting a headwind. The move catapulted Armstrong into 3rd place in the GC and will likely garner lots of media attention. That's the primary reason for making such a move. There's still plenty of sun left to shine on this one; don't get too bothered yet. The team time trail (Wednesday) and the big mountains will help to see whether or not Astana can work as a team.

where you go

The world's longest bicycle race-across the African continent- from Cairo to Capetown.

I don't know why there aren't more movies like this one. Perhaps there need to be more filmakers who cycle.

the bicycle film festival

Bikes and films. Films and bikes. The bicycle film festival. Two versions. En Anglais. En Français.

A reason to live in NYC.


Some tricky Parisians.

fireworks on the mountain

We note with interest not that the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde won the last major tuneup, the Dauphiné Libéré, prior to cycling's grandest event, Le Tour, but instead that Valverde has been barred (based upon circumstantial evidence) from racing in Italy for 2 years. For the not-so-die hard Tour fans, the Tour always sequeways briefly into one of the surrounding countries for a stage or two or half. This year, Le Tour crosses into Spain, Switzerland, and briefly into Italy. Unless Valverde, who finished 2nd in last year's tour, can convince the Italian Cycling body to lift the sanction or can convince Amoury Sports, the sanctioning body of Le Tour, to let him run the 80 kilometers (albeit in the Alps) of this year's race he won't be riding. And there will be more talk of doping in cycling as one of the premier athletes is barred it's most prestigious event. Some might say that with Lance in the mix, there will always be talk...but talk is cheap and tests are expensive. Amoury Sports has announced that this year's Tour will the most tested in history; they'll have more drug tests than an Olympic weightlifting event.

As importantly though in the Dauphiné Libéré results is the 2nd place finish of Caudel Evans just ahead of the pre-Tour favorite, Alberto Contador of Astana. Evans had a good chance to win last year's tour and finished second. Denis Menchov, winner of this year's Giro will be grinding for another Grand Tour win. This alone pretty much guarantees that fireworks will be erupting on the mountain stages during this year's tour.

Regardless of what the American press would have you believe it is very unlikely that Lance Armstrong has the form to stay abreast of these riders when the deep attacks come. I expect him to shine for moments but 3 weeks is a long time to race and this year the Tour has packed some storied climbed into the package. Two days before the finish the riders will be forced to summit Mont Ventoux, considered by some to be the most difficult climb in France.

Photo: (top) Alejandro Valverde, 2008 Vuelta a España, 9th stage, Alto Gallego, Spain courtesy of Tesksman, Wikimedia Commons.

livestrong (and astana) wait for another day

Centenary Maglia Rosa goes to the Russian rider.

Six months ago Asatana was considered the best cycling team in the world. Led by the best rider in the world, Alberto Contador, and backed by a cadre of tested domestiques that included Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych, Andreas Klöden, and Chris Horner. Astana looked poised to potentially take the centenary Giro. Once Contador decided to sit out the Giro to give himself a better chance to win his second Tour, Astana was forced to look to Leipheimer to carry the burden as team leader and Lance, among others, to work on his behalf.

Lance, for his part, seems to have upheld his part of the bargain and his training regime appears to be well on track to peak in July. Leiphemer, who was hyped as a potential winner of the Giro, proved that for as much improvement as he's shown in the last few years, he isn't likely to win any of the Grand Tours.

As Astana regroups and tries to figure out the financial future of the team, it's likely that the lineup for Le Tour will feature Contador as the team leader and Armstrong as his sidekick. It remains to be seen if they can work together for 3 weeks. But if they do work together on the tough mountain stages, it could be difficult for the competition; Armstrong might find himself on the podium in Paris-not the top rung but a rung none-the-less.


This year's tour seems custom made for Astana. It opens with a short time trial and three days later there's a team time trial. Near the end of the race, nested between several mountain stages, there is a 40-km time trail. On the Saturday before the finish, which frequently has been a flat stage that allows only for little drama except a bunched field sprint at the finish, the race organizer have throw the formidable Mount Ventou, in their way. Contador and Leipheimer could potentially vie for time trial stage wins but that part of Armstrong's game appears the weakest at the moment.

long live kazahastan

Cycling has changed considerably over the last decade as money from corporate sponsorship has increased dramatically. Kazakhstan, before they stopped paying the bills, was shelling out in the neighborhood of 15 million US dollars per year to underwrite the Astana team. Now Astana riders sport faded jerseys sans the Astana logo and yellow bracelets that symbolize their hope for a payday. Luckily the country is still independent.


Cycling has long been a sport where one goal was for riders to get the sponsors name out in front of the peleton. For lesser riders, meaning those who aren't likely to contend for the General Classification in stage races, a long breakaway means a chance to get the sponsors name mentioned numerous times during the race coverage.

Stage victories are even more prized because the rider, wearing the sponsors jersey, stand each day at the podium to receive the blessings of the crowd and cheeky kisses from young women. In the last few years, teams have been padding their rosters with sprinters whose only job is to try and capture stage wins. Mark Cavendish, the little guy with a big Isle of Man attitude, is probably the best at winning the bunched field sprint. His team, Columbia High Road, doesn't have a rider in the race for the General Classification, so they are content to bag stage wins. Before he withdrew from this year's Giro, Cavendish stood on the top of the podium after 3 stage wins. He also won three in last year's Tour de France. In total, Cavendish has won 37 stages in the past 2 years, but no Grand Tours. He rarely loses in a mass sprint, in part because he's so damn fast, but also because his teammates work very hard to set him up for the win.

Once opportunities for sprint finishes disappear from the Grand Tours (they usually account for about one-third of the stages), he frequently withdraws from the race. He did this in last years Le Tour and he did the same thing in this years Giro. I understand why he does it, to save himself from the grueling aspect of the mountain stages. These withdrawals, some argue, lessen the stage wins--that Cavendish really belongs on the track from whence he came. Under this approach the prima donna rules the peleton and dictates the race strategy; if you know you're not racing for the full three weeks, then you can blast away on the flat stages and go for broke at the end. It's not likely to change as long as the price tag to keep a team up and running is so steep. And, like any sport cycling benefits from repeat winners who love to talk smack about their competitors to the press.

astana to ride 2009 tour of missouri

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, whose most significant accomplishment in office has been what he's done to elevate professional cycling as a premier event in the state, announced today that Team Astana has committed to the 2009 Tour of Missouri. Astana is the most powerful stage-racing team in the world and includes Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Andreas Kloden among its members.

The Kazakhstan Team Astana joins American teams Charmin-Chilpolte and Columbia High Road, Swiss-based Cervelo Test Team, and Italian Liquidgas as having committed to race come September. Ten more slots will be filled in the coming months but the stage is already set to have some of the best riders in the world competing in the 3rd annual Tour of Missouri.

It will likely be the end of the summer, after the Grand Tours, before Astana announces it's lineup. I'd be surprised to see Lance Armstrong ride this race, but you never know. It just might be the final swansong of his much ballyhooedcomeback training ride.

worth more than armstrong's bike

Velonews is reporting that the following items were stolen from cyclist David Zabriskie's home while he was busy finishing second in the recent Tour of California. For those of you aren't cycle-crazed, Zabriskie is a four-time US Time Trial Champion, captured stage wins in each of the Grand Tours, and holds the record for the fastest time trial in Tour de France history (avg. speed 54.68 km/hr [33.97 miles/ hr]. Think about the last time you rode your bike at 34 miles an hour and weren't going down a steep incline. Try doing if for 19 km.
zabriskie tweet
this is partial list of items reported stolen:
• Black 2008 Subaru Outback, Utah plate A189NC
• Black 2006 Toyota Scion, Utah plate 094VWM
• Giro D Italia Race Medal
• Olympic Seiko watch
• Beijing Olympic ring (silver) with initials "DZ" engraved ($4,000)
• Olympic Time Trial Bike, plus 12 other bikes (combined value of $100,000)
• Cervelo (black/red) bike frame - team issued ($5000)
• Tag Heuer watch ($6,000)
• 7 Marvel sideshow statues ($11,000)

Photo by Frank Steele via Flickr

comeback kids

Without cliches, sports would just be another endeavor for me to watch on television--the Almighty.

Americans love comebacks. And they seem to be everywhere. The Tour of California is marking the comeback of Lance, Flance (Floyd Landis), Tyler Hamiliton, and Ivan Basso. The Oscars are marking the comeback of Mickey Rourke, Meryl Streep (she hasn't won an Oscar in 16 years, and Robert Downey Jr. Richard Jenkins (he's never even been nominated before this year) marks a comeback variant just by being in a place he's never been before after 40 years in the craft. Next week golf marks the comeback of Tiger Woods. Bruce Springsteen is trying once again to be the Boss. Congress is marking its own brand of comeback, that of passing bills by Democrats and trying to get the country to work together once again, although the jury still seems to be out on this one.

Hope? Change? It was no accident those shibboleths drove the election juggernaut in a different direction. They worked because we identify with the comeback. Comeback marks familiarity, but one slightly redefined so as to suggest renewal. A comeback is not an overthrow of the status quo, it's an affirmation. We demanded our own comeback last November. And change came. Or at least we hope it will.

We are all in a state of comeback. We are coming back from defeat. Or victory. We are coming back from injury - mental and physical. We are coming back from growing old, or older, or losing the magic touch, the mojo, the magic. We are coming back from lovers - those lost, those gained, and those imagined.

Lent begins on Wednesday. A period sacrifice so that we can mark a comeback. I'd say it's time, isn't it? Time for a comeback.

it's a comeback, it's not a comeback, i am not a cancer

Lance the StrongArm moves his training rides to S. California this week where Team Astana hopes to put two-time defending champ Levi Leipheimer in yellow come Sunday. See the transcript below of Paul Klimmage predicting that Lance would StrongArm him the first chance he got in public. Amstrong's reactions in the press conference makes any potential controversy about Lance dropping his state-of-the-art drug testing program before even one sample was collected disappear.

Flance, aka Floyd Landis, whose return marks a comeback of a whole different ilk, that of a doper who never recounted, took his suspension, and now rides again, has yet to be met with the open arms of the dude w/ one nut, a yellow bracelet, and blue socks. Seven Tour victories makes one a cycling god; getting stripped of one makes you a dope. Landis is riding for the OUCH (not a joke) team. His 48th place finish in yesterday's prologue at the Tour of California indicate that Floyd isn't quite back to peak form.

Tyler Hamiliton, bounced twice from the sport for doping, is also riding in the Tour of California with the Rock Racing Team. Hamilton was a surprise winner of last year's US road championship. Ivan Basso, formerly known as Ivan the Terrible, for blowing up peletons with furious attacks in mountain stages, also marks his return to stage racing. Basso served a two-year suspension for doping.

But there's a lot more to consider during this race this who did what, when, and who got caught, and when, and who didn't get caught. The field for the Amgen Tour of California is far and away the strongest field of professional riders ever assembled for a US stage race. One problem the Tour of California typically runs headlong into, are the nasty late winter California rains that can hammer the coast for days on end. In order to attract world-class riders to the states, US events have to operate at the edges of the European pro-circuit. That's why the California tour is held in February and Tour of Missouri in September.

There's always more to a story than the news soundbites. Call Lance Armstrong many things but don't call him a cancer. Unless you're a journalist, former professional rider, who's been trying to expose the frauds in professional cycling for 10 years, and if you do, don't expect the US press, or sponsors of professional cycling, to come to your aid.

Paul Kimmage on Lance Armstrong comeback:

My reaction … I’m reminded of that memorable scene in The Shawshank Redemption, where Andy crawled through a giant pipe of steaming excrement in order to escape to freedom. That’s how I feel right now about Armstrong’s come back. I feel like we’ve been dragged through this pile of steaming excrement. And the enthusiasm that I had built up about the sport in the last couple of years has been all but completely wiped out in the last couple of hours.

Let’s turn the clock back to Armstrong’s last apparition in the sport. The Tour de France 2005. He’s standing on the podium. And he makes this big impassioned speech. Which is basically saying ‘The last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics, the sceptics: I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.’ That was 2005, his last ride in the the Tour de France. And the people flanking him on that podium were Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich. And a month after that race ended the French newspaper L’Equipe reported that in his first winning Tour de France, in 1999, Armstrong had tested positive for EPO. Six separate samples taken during that race revealed positive tests for EPO.

This return, he wants us to believe that it’s all about saving the world from cancer. That’s complete bullshit. It’s about revenge It’s about ego. It’s about Lance Armstrong. I think he’s trying to rewrite his exit from the sport. He’s sat back and he’s watched the last two years and he cannot stand the idea that there are clean cyclists now that will overtake his legacy and buy the memory of all the crap that he put the sport through.

When I heard it being mooted first that he was coming back, I thought well that’s fine, because the first thing ASO are going to say is ‘sorry Lance, we’ve seen your results from the 1999 tests , you’re not coming back.’ I expected a similar statement from Pat McQuaid. What’s happened instead is that Christian Prudhomme has said ‘yes, you can come back, no problem.’ And Pat McQiad has said ‘I really admire this man, he’s a tremendous ambassador for cycling.’ What we’re getting here is the corporate dollars and the money that’s going to accompany this guy back into the game. The money that’s going to bring for Nike, one of the big sponsors of the Tour. And for the UCI, who have been experiencing some serious problems in the last couple of years.

Much as you want to say the sport has changed, as quickly as they can change their own opinions – McQuaid, who says one thing in private and quite the opposite in public, and Prudhomme – if they can change so quickly then I’m sorry, it’s really very, very difficult to have any optimism with regard to Armstrong and the way the sport was moving forward. For me, if he comes back next year, the sport takes two steps back.

I spent the whole Tour this year with Slipstream, the Garmin team. That wasn’t by accident. I chose that team deliberately, because of what they were saying about the sport and the message they were putting out. But also the fact that so many of that team had raced with Armstrong during his best years and knew exactly what he got up to. And the stuff that I learnt on that Tour about him and what he was really like was absolutely shocking, really shocking.

What’s going to happen now is he comes back and everybody’s going to wave their hands in the air and give him a big clap. And all the guys who really know what he’s about are going to feel so utterly and totally depressed. And I’m talking about Jonathan Vuaghthers, who raced with Armstrong that first winning Tour and who doped. And if you look at that Tour, Armstrong’s first win, there were seven Americans on that team. Frankie Andreu has said he used EPO. Tyler Hamilton has been done for [blood doping]. George Hincapie was exposed as a doper by Emma O’Reilly, the team soigneur. Christian Vand Velde and Jonathan Vaughters … both are members of Slipstream and would promote the notion that this was not a clean team by any means. When you look at that and what Armstrong’s done and how he’s seemingly got away with it, it just makes his come back very hard to stomach.

Astana’s the absolute perfect team for him. He’d be renewing his old acquaintance with Bruyneel, who wanted to hire Basso last year. Will he be renewing his old acquaintance with Ferrari, the famous doctor? Will Bruyneel be taking pictures of the questioning journalists and pinning them on the side of his bus?

When Armstrong talks about transparency, this is the greatest laugh. When he talks about embracing this new transparency … I’m really looking forward to that. I’m really looking forward to my first interview request with him and seeing how that comes back. Because that would really make it interesting.
This guy, any other way but his bullying and intimidation wrapped up in this great cloak, the great cancer martyr … this is what he hides behind all the time. The great man who conquered cancer. Well he is the cancer in this sport. And for two years this sport has been in remission. And now the cancer’s back.

lance armstrong, outback edition

Sunday, Lance Armstrong begins in earnest his attempt to prove to the world that he's always been clean by racing in the Tour Down Under, the first Pro-Tour race of the season. Fact of the matter is this. You can't take away his seven Le Tour titles-they're in the books. That road been ridden down before and although many of the mighty (Flance aka Floyd Landis, Alexander Vinokourov, Michael Rasmussen, and a host of others) fell off the bike, Lancestrong was always able to stay upright and steer past the allegations.

And this time, he'll have to be clean, since he's signed onto a rigorous anti-doping testing program. And since everyone else will also be clean, and he's still a great cyclist and appears to be in good form, he'll make a good showing. Astana is sending a phalanx of capable riders to help out with the comeback. One thing about these short (1 week) stage events is that there aren't many opportunities for riders to put a whole lot of separation between themselves and the rest of the peleton. The mountains aren't high enough and there aren't enough of them to completely destroy the peleton such as what happens in the Grand Tours. The flat stages are mostly left to the sprinters who shine in mass field sprints. Lance could potentially win a sprint in a breakaway, but he perfers to watch the field sprints from the safety of the peleton. With no time trial and no big mountain stage in the Down Under, it means few opportunities for Armstrong to excel.

Elite athletes, much like politicians before a primary, like to play down comeback expectations. They love to say things like we're only hoping to finish, we're aren't expecting to win, etc. They seem to want to do all this to make any victory, high-placed showing, or stage win (if they happen) seem all that more improbable. Expect Lance to do well, don't expect him to win or even capture a stage. This race is for sprinters. But he'll do well enough to turn next months Tour of California into a media frenzy for yellow bracelets, comeback kids, and American heroes. Ultimately, Down Under and Tour of California aren't races that matter to Lance, except to promote his comeback and causes. And no, Lancestrong's race-that-matters-most is not the Race for the Cure, despite what he might say. The only race that's ever really mattered to Lance is the biggest prize of all - the one that finishes with laps around the Champs Elyesee. His comeback will be designed to win that race, and that race only.

Versus is offering daily wrap-ups of the event on the tube and the web. Cyclingfans.com will likely find some streaming video (or at least audio) to whet the appetites of the truly cycling crazed. For a more local perspective on the race, check out aussie abc.
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us national cyclocross championships

The finals of the US National Cyclocross Championships were held Sunday in Kansas City. On a frigid, windy afternoon when winds dipped into the single digits,Ryan Trebon soloed away from the field midway through the men's elite category to capture the stars and bars jersey. And Katie Compton, crushed the field, on the way to a 5-peat in the U.S.National Cyclocross Championship.

















For some reason, cyclocross attracts legions of x-dressing fans.

don't be a dope

Lance Armstrong, the dude with all the yellow braclets and yellow jerseys, is staging a comeback to professional cycling. And in what has all the trappings of a Republican running for office, Armstrong is taking great pains to convince the world that he's clean, going so far as to create his own anti-doping program. For those who don't closely follow the sport, Mr. Armstrong is following in the footsteps of other cycling teams, Garmin-Chilpolte and Team Columbia in developing strict (stricter than WADA, the world anti-doping association) policies to prove to a dismayed public that cyclists are competing clean.

We find Lance's comeback to be stangely as much about clearing his somewhat tarnished name (former teamate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy Andreu, both testified in a lawsuit that Armstrong admitted to using the blood enhancer EPO and other drugs; however Armstrong disputed these allegations and eventually won the lawsuit against a company that had suggested he cheated and refused to pay his a large cash bonus) as it is about competing to win.

It's not clear yet how Armstrong will compete in next year's Tour de France, for which team he will compete, and in what role. It's likely he'll ride for Team Astana under Johann Bruyneel, the director sportif for all 7 of Lance's Tour wins. However, as of Sunday, Alberto Condator, the current captain of Astana, became only the 3rd cyclist in history, and the youngest ever to capture the 3 Grand Tours: Tour de France, Giro DÍtalia, and Veulta a Espana. For once, we'd like to see Lance work for a teammate during a race.

tour of missouri: stage 2

Tour of Missouri, stage 2, 126 miles, Clinton to Springfield.

The only cycling news in Missouri bigger than the fact that Mark Cavendish, once again decimated the field in a mass sprint to take stage 2 of the second annual Tour of Missouri is that Lance Armstrong is coming back to the field of professional cycling. His ride last month in the Leadville 100 was just a tease. Today he told vanity fair that it's for real.

Our guess is that Lance would like to prove that he wasn't a doper all those years when he was winning 7 Maillot Jaunes. It might also be coupled to fact that there currently isn't a pro cyclist who was as well-rounded as Armstrong in his day. In order to win the Grand Tours, and especially Le Tour, one has to be a good time-trialer and a good climber. You can forgo the mass field sprints and still win, but winning the field sprints won't get one to the top of the podium overlooking the Champs-Elysee. That's why, even though he's currently the best sprinter in the world, unless he learns to ride in the mountains, Mark Cavendish will have to be content with stage wins. There's nothing wrong with that. As of today, he's got 16 stage wins this year and a world championship to boot.

Caudel Evans, the Australian, who finished second in the last two Le Tours, will likely give Armstrong a battle next year. Alexander Vinokourov, who might contest the race, won't be invited next year, having been caught doping during last year's race. Same for the Michael Rassmussen. Out. All said, Armstrong, likely perceives this to be good time to launch a comeback.

It's also likely that some of Lance's teammates won't be in a hurry to power him up Alpe d'Huez until he proves he's back to form. In Armstrong's seven tour wins he was backed by some of the greatest teams ever assembled. It was not uncommon for Team US Postal (6 of the 7 wins were under Postal), and then later Team Discovery Channel, to completely destroy the peleton and match attack after attack on climbs and long stage races before Armstrong unleashed his Lance on the field.

In fact, it's not clear who the team leader of Astana will be now if Armstrong returns. Alberto Contador has what it takes to win again and should be the designated leader until Armstrong proves that he's not. Now that's something we'd like to see, Armstrong as a domestique. We think this prospect may have been what sunk his engagement to Sheryl Crow. Perhaps Astana Team Manager, Johann Bruyneel, will let Contador and Armstrong fight it out and decide mid-race who's got the best shot at the podium. Whatever the outcome, it'll be a boost to cycling as the average American, only cares about Americans. They may not know much about cycling, but they know the dude with the single testicle and the yellow bracelet.

First though, Amoury Sports Organization has to relent and let Astana ride again in the tour. There was much chatter this year that the French, were, well sick of les americains always winning had pulled a slick one to keep them out of last year's tour - won by Spaniard Carlos Sastre. This also might be a ploy by Armstrong to force ASO to let team Astana back in the field as Bruyneel was Armstrong's manager for all seven tour wins. When folks said it was all Armstrong, Bruyneel came back and within 2 year had put Contador in yellow on Sunday in Paris.

tour of missouri: stage 1

Tour of Missouri. Stage 1. 90 km. St. Joseph to Kansas City.

Mark Cavendish, the confident Brit, current world champion Madison rider, and arguably the best sprinter in the world (4 Tour de France stage wins in 2008) took stage 1 of the 2nd annual Tour of Missouri today in Kansas City. Cavendish, with ample help from strong Columbia teammates who controlled the peleton over the last 3 km, bested Tyler Farrar of Garmin Chilpolte and Liquidgas's Francesco Chicchi to notch his first win in the states. It was Cavendish's 15th stage win in 2008 proving if he's in a field sprint at the end, it's unlikely he'll be beaten. Cavendish walked away with 3 jersey's in his inaugural US race. The green sprinter's jersey, the white jersey of the best young rider, and the yellow of the race leader.

Expect Cavendish to notch a win or two more before the week's out. Tomorrow, a 125-mile fairly flat ride from Clinton to Springfield will likely see plenty of attacks and a break-away attempt or two. The flatness of these stages, however, given the quality of riders, really lends itself to a mass field sprint at the end. Anytime that happens, you can expect Cavendish to find a way to the front. However, Mark's weakness in time-trailing means that Wednesday's time trial in Branson could turn decisive.


Best legs of the day went to Brooke Miller, US National Road Champion who separated herself from the field with 250 meters to the finish and took home the women's criterium crown. The women's criterium was held on a closed loop that featured 1 hour of riding on a 1 km loop, followed by a 5 lap sprint finish. Although numerous attacks were launched, the tightness of the course and lack of hills, prevented any strong breaks. In the end, Brooke made it look rather easy. In an unprecedented show of generosity, the crowd offered up a $1000 cash prime, almost 1/2 the first place prize, that was given out on the 5th lap from the finish.

Race organizers were definitely pleased to add the dimension of women's racing to the burgeoning Tour of Missouri as it helped to keep the crowd entertained throughout the afternoon and primed for the end of the men's stage 1 finish. Kudos to the race organizers for attracting such a strong field to the race.

thumbed!

One of the great things about the Olympics is you get to see some sports that you never get to see any other time of the year. Some of my favorites are the Madison, a bicycle race more than 100 years old that involves a complicated scoring system and the sling-shotting of riders around the track. It's fun to watch because it's like a game you might make up as a child, except this one was made up by crazy, 24-hour velodrome racing cyclists at the turn of the century who were racing around Madison Square Garden. One suspects they might have been bored or heavy into betting when they invented it, but it does make for interesting viewing. To see the Madison races you'll likely have to skip the tv coverage and move to the internet.

BMX, aka bicycle moto-cross, on the internet has all the races from all the heats instead of just the highlights featuring American riders. (I also love my country, but the logo has more than one ring.) BMX is another fun sport that moved from the streets to the track and the nick-names followed: Butter(Kyle Bennett), Stumpdog (Randall Stumpfhauser), Salad Bar (Segio Salazar), AfroBob (Rob de Wilde), and Doctor Smooth (Luke Madill). There's even an Aussie who's real name is Kamakazi. The races are fast and furious with wipeouts so you never know what'll happen at the end.

Another favorite sport, one I get to see only every 4 years during the Olympics, is water polo. Again, it looks like a game you might have invented as a child around the pool. On top of the water, folks swim around the pool trying to throw a ball in a net while opponents try to stop them. Beneath the water, it's a constant battle to create an equipment malfunction for your opponent.

US women's water polo teams are under some sort of curse, no doubt related to festering the world with all those Disney movies about mermaids. They've lost the gold medal in the last seconds for 3 straight Olympics. In 2000 at Sydney the Australians scored the winning goal with 2 seconds left in the game, in 2004 at Athens, it was the Italians scoring with 1.2 seconds left, and this year in Beijing, it was the Netherlands who scored the winning goal with 26 seconds left in the game. Talk about a thumb in your eye, but stayed tuned, the Americans will defend their silver medal in 4 years at the London games.