team radio shack

Rumors flying around the cycling world that Team Radio Shack will be Lance's new team for next year, proof that being a domestique didn't suit the yellow braceleted dude. It's funny to hear Lance shrug and make insinuations about the performance and motives of his better teammate Alberto Contador when in reality, Lance's role on the team should be to ensure that Contador wears the maillot juane come Sunday and that means Lance should be sacrificing all for the team leader. All that talk about Lance being the team-leader-in-waiting was true, but for different reasons.

One also has to question the loyalty and tactics of Team Astana Director Sportif, Johann Bruyneel, who will join Lance in the new team, during this year's tour. Certainly Bruyneel will earn his 9th Tour Victory as Director Sportif (7 with Armstrong, and then 2 with Contador) but for him to go backwards with the old order, instead of forward with the new, doesn't make much sense - except that Bruyneel understands that Lance is a media machine like no other. The official announcement of the new team is expected today after the finish of today's time trial. If we've learned anything about Lance's comeback it's that, regardless of his love-hate relationship with the media, he still has the biggest ego in the peleton.

governor jay nixon: time to remove your training wheels!

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is in danger of pissing off a whole bunch of cycling fans and costing the state much needed revenue. Nixon has placed a hold on 1.5 million dollars of tourism funds needed to operate the Tour of Missouri - a seven day stage race across the state in September. The world's best cycling teams have already committed to this year's TOM, as fans call it. Pulling the race sponsor (The Department of Tourism) seems shortsighted especially in light of the media-saturation that surrounds the Lance Comeback Tour; more so given that Team Astana, the Kazakhstan squad that includes Armstrong will be riding again this year. Astana also includes the American Levi Leipheimer, but more importantly Alberto Contador, the best stage rider in the world.

Team Astana is poised to crush the field in this year's Tour de France and Lance will likely end up on the podium in Paris - a step or two below his teammates. There's a chance that Astana could do the unheard of, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, a feat that would do as much for Lance's comeback as a win. The press that Armstrong brings to the sport is beyond measure - especially in America. Most of the other big names in cycling, Garmin-Slipstream, Columbia High Road, Ceverlo Test Team, and Liquidgas will also be in the 2009 Tour of Missouri. Although 1.5 million may sound like a lot of money, the race is by far the most watched sporting event in the state and generates an estimated $30 million in revenues over a 2-week period. It highlights the state just before the fall foliage season. Not to mention football. I bet half the fans of the both the Chiefs and Rams come from out-of-state. Same for the baseball teams. It would seem like a no-brainer for the State's chief executive officer but Nixon's beef may have more to do with politics than money.

Unless Nixon decides to remove the training wheels from his tricycle, he may be surprised to learn that many cyclists are politically active, most are probably Democrats (as is Nixon), and this is the wrong year to cancel a major cycling event. With the Lance comeback; public appetite for professional cycling is at an all time high. I'll say that again for the governor. ALL TIME HIGH! And this without performance enhancing drugs.

Lt.Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, and without whom the TOM would never have happened has used the race over the last few years as a low key campaign event - but every politician uses every public event that's successful as a low key political event. Kinder takes the stage at the start and end of most races and proceeds to let everyone know who he is since for the most part, Lt. Governors are rarely seen and heard. Unless the Governor resigns under a cloud of controversy (Rod Blagovitch replaced by Pat Quinn) or appointed to the Cabinet (Nancy Sebelius replaced by Mark Parkinson) nobody has a clue who holds the office of Lt. Governor.

If you want to tell Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to take the training wells of his tricycle contact him at: 573-751-3222 or email the governor and his staff

Images: Top. Mark "the fastest man in the peleton" Cavendish speaks after his win in stage 1 of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

Bottom. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder softens the crowd before the real action begins.

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.

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.

lance armstrong found his bike

The Oscars weren't' the only event taking place in Southern California yesterday as the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California finished in San Diego. Levi Leipheimer won the event for the 3rd straight year.
The Astana train had a relatively easy time protecting the yellow jersey.

“I don’t know if I want to answer questions about questions about the past,” Floyd Landis speaking to the press after stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. After the eighth and final stage on Sunday, Flance may not want to answer questions about the future. Drug-free Floyd finished 23rd overall but was never a factor in any stage. Granted his team, OUCH, is nothing compared to most of the other teams in the race, so he may still make his way back. The problem for Floyd is that without contrition, public sentiment just isn't on his side. It's the Pete Rose phenomenon.

Fan fav, George Hincapie (right front), and Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing).

Lance Armstrong, on the other hand, although not true to form and not answering that many questions from the press, showed that come July, he might be throwing wrenches in the Astana hierarchy. I still think it's going to be very difficult for Lance to win another Tour, but can see him possibly winning a stage. His next test comes in the Giro D'Italia, a race that Lance avoided when tackling his 7 Le Tour wins.

Team Astana pretty much outclassed the field with it's group of riders. Levi Leipheimer, who proved he's the best American stage rider, won his 3rd consecutive Tour of California. Leipheimer won the race pretty much how you win a stage race - in the time trials. He finished second in the prologue and he won the individual time trial in stage 6. And he did so against formidable competition. Michael Rodgers, Christian Vande Velde, Oscar Sevilla, Jens Voight, and the Schleck brothers. This was the strongest field ever assembled for a bike race in the US. And the crowds for the last day were reported to be the largest ever for a sporting event in US history.

Photos by Deb Murphy of lose the mittens, who lives just minutes off the route in Pasadena and took these during the closing minutes of stage 7. Images were taken with a Flip videocam and then pulled out as stills.

livestrong strongarm

The livestrong blog is reporting that Lance Armstrong's time trial bike was stolen, along with 3 other Team Astana bikes, from the Astana bus last evening. It's going to be hard to ride down the street on the bike and not have anyone notice. California law enforcment aren't going to look very highly on this prank.
livestrong strongarm