Saying that he's "100 percent committed to retiring" after 14 years of pro cycling, Lance Armstrong announced that he will retire on July 24, at the conclusion of the 2005 Tour de France. He said that his children are the motivating factor and he has gotten a lot of advice on this from his mother. He also thanked Sheryl Crow and Johan Bruyneel for their roles in his success.

Armstrong made the announcement at the opening press conference for the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia. He decided to make the announcement at this time to deal straight up with the fans and the media. Hundreds of media representatives attended the press conference.

Lance was joined on the podium by Johan Bruyneel, director sportif of Team Discovery Channel, and Dan Osipow, director of corporate communications.

Stan Holm, director of the Dodge Tour de Georgia said:

While we certainly wish {Lance Armstrong would} never stop racing... we're thrilled and honored that he has chosen the Dodge Tour de Georgia as what could be his last professional race here on American soil. We are pleased that the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia will be the platform to celebrate Lance's career and we look forward to finding ways to work together in the future on our shared goal of defeating cancer in our lifetimes.

The Tour de Georgia officially begins with Stage 1 tomorrow morning at 11:30am.

Update: A transcript of the Lance Armstrong press conference is available at ThePaceline.com. Note that the URL may be a temporary one (lance.aspx), so the page may be relocated at some point in the future.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, I watched an interesting new documentary called Doping to Win on the Discovery Times Channel. The documentary debuted on August 10 and I recorded it on my TiVo.

This was an interesting program, explaining who the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is and how they operate. It tells the story of how USADA reverse-engineered tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) from the remnants of an injection provided by a track coach. It also has segments where an anonymous body builder explained how and why he uses anabolic steroids in dosing cycles, and about the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) scandal.

Of greatest interest to pro cycling fans is the interview with Jesus Manzano, a Spanish cyclist who had ridden for the Kelme team. This interview occurs at about the half-way point of the one hour documentary. He has given evidence about his own use of banned substances to investigators in Spain and Italy. Manzano's whereabouts were unknown for part of July, but he was reportedly hiding from the press at that time.

The documentary says nothing of the controversy surrounding Manzano's statements to investigators, but TDFblog has pointed to a number of articles that question Manzano's truthfulness and motives for testifying as he has.

Another cycling-related person interviewed in the documentary is Antoine Vayer, an exercise physiologist. Several websites describe Vayer as a trainer of the Festina Pro Cycling Team from 1995 to 1998. Vayer compares the performance of Tour riders from year-to-year, apparently looking for dramatic performance improvements that he finds difficult to believe are achieved naturally. The narrator says:

In the 2003 Tour de France, 15 riders generated more than 400 watts each. The year before, only the winner, Lance Armstrong, was in that league. While some have raised questions, Armstrong denies using drugs and has never been sanctioned.

Antoine Vayer thinks the cyclists gaining on Armstrong couldn't be doing so without using drugs, and he believes that more riders will die from doping.

Toward the end of the documentary, it talks about technologies on the horizon such as gene doping where athletes would presumably use bio-engineering on their own bodies. Such techniques would be very difficult to detect, because they would result in changes at the sub-cellular level.

Near the end, the program discusses USADA's attempt to create a so-called non-analytical positive standard. USADA attempted to get Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery to confess to use of banned substances on the basis of circumstantial evidence obtained in the BALCO investigation. Lawers for these athletes are interviewed to provide some balance to these charges. Montgomery subsequently failed to make the U.S. Olympic Team. Jones qualified in the long jump and has not been charged with any violations by USADA.

"Doping to Win" doesn't treat illegal performance enhancement in Olympic-level and professional athletics as an open question. It presumes that the practice is wide spread. It provides little balance in that only two people who appear on camera (both lawyers for athletes under investigation) raise questions about the tactics that regulators are using in their investigations. If this was your only exposure to Olympic-level or professional sports, you could easily conclude that the people achieving victory today are quite likely to be taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

In the end, everyone who cares about this issue has to look at the information that's available to them and make their own judgement. This program would have me believe that performance-enhancing drugs are making substantial changes in the results that we could otherwise expect in many high level athletic competitions. I'm not prepared to jump to that conclusion.

However, I don't doubt that some athletes are engaging in doping and that USADA's testing techniques have uncovered some abuses. The information that "Doping to Win" provides about modern doping techniques and testing protocols is valuable and interesting.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was in New York City yesterday for some meetings. After they were over, I swung by Niketown on East 57th Street to look for Tour de France-related souvenirs. This is always a good place to find fairly unique T-shirts and hats that people in the suburbs rarely get a chance to buy in a local store.

I bought two yellow t-shirts that say "Jaune, Tete de Course" on the front and have the number 6 printed on the back, one for me and one for my wife. They also had them in black, as shown in the photo.

You may not be surprised to hear that the demand for memorabilia this year has been tremendous. There were not nearly as many choices in terms of item variety, size, and color as their had been at this time last year. Also, while I was there looking at T-shirts, three people asked the cashier near me whether they had any LiveStrong wristbands? They don't, which means that they must have sold thousands in that location. (If you are looking for LiveStrong wristbands, I have advice for finding them in the United States and finding them outside the United States.)

I now have T-shirts commemorating Lance Armstrong's fourth, fifth, and sixth Tour wins. I hope that this doesn't make me too much of a groupie. [ product photo by Nike ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I tuned into the two hour finale of The Lance Chronicles last night on the Outdoor Life Network and I have to admit that I was disappointed. This was a very good condensation of the entire series for people who had not followed it from the beginning, but a problematic way for it to finish if you had seen every episode that had been aired previously. They really should have called it "The Best of The Lance Chronicles."

My wife watched the first 20 minutes with me, but said after five minutes, "I've seen all of this already." I stuck around, thinking that at some point something new would be added. If there was a new wrinkle introduced, I missed it.

I guess my only complaint is that the last episode was not promoted as a two hour summary of the series. In this case, that would have been the most respectful way to communicate with regular viewers. Aside from that, it was a terrific series that I hope is released on DVD in time for the holidays.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the questions that I am most disappointed that I was not able to ask Chris Carmichael when Kathleen and I met him in Freehold on Saturday is, what kind of training effort would be required in order to successfully complete L'Etape de Tour?

For those of you who have never heard of it, L'Etape de Tour is an opportunity for amateur cyclists to ride a single stage of the Tour de France. It typically takes place on one of the two Tour de France rest days, and in recent years, one of the longest stages of the Tour is chosen.

In 2003, L'Etape de Tour was ridden over the course of Stage 16 from Pau to Bayonne. This was a route of 197.5 kilometers (122.7 miles), with two Category 1, two Category 3, and two Category 4 climbs. A British mountain biker described his experience completing the ride in approximately 8 hours and 46 minutes. This qualified him for a "silver medal." He could have received a "gold medal" if he had finished in under 7 hours and 30 minutes. I wonder if the pro scouts get a list of those people.

I've never ridden anything close to 122 miles in one day. Last Summer, when I did the most riding I've ever done, I only managed to ride 100 miles in a week four times. I rode the equivalent of a "metric century" (100 kilometers or 62 miles) only once. Could I ride that distance twice in one day in France? And how would I plan the training to do it, assuming I have a fulltime job? This is probably one of the problems that amateur athletes bring to a coaching organization like Carmichael Training Systems.

I don't know when or if I'll be able to compete in L'Etape de Tour, but it's one of my not so secret goals for the next few years of my life. I hope I have the good fortune and the family support to do it one day.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I feel that an article summarizing Lance Armstrong's victory in the 2004 Tour de France is overdue on Operation Gadget. My explanation for not publishing it sooner is as follows:

1. Armstrong's victory became so decisive as the Pyrenees gave way to the Alps that I felt like I was repeating myself. I like to think of myself as a fairly descriptive writer, but I had difficulty coming up with additional synonyms for terms like "dominant," "decisive," and "impressive". Maybe I didn't use the term "emphatic" enough.
2. Spectator behavior at La Mongie, Plateau de Beille, and Alpe d'Huez caused me to stop and think for longer than I realized. It also seems to have influenced Armstrong's subsequent race tactics, as evidenced by an on-camera comment he made in one of the final episodes of The Lance Chronicles. Armstrong did not want Andreas Kloden to win the stage at Le Grand Bornand partly because of the way that German fans treated him at Alpe d'Huez.
3. Rider behavior surrounding the dispute between Filippo Simeoni and Lance Armstrong raised a lot of questions in mind. Maybe my only comment about what happened during Stages 18, 19, and 20 ought to be that I learned through years of competitive ice hockey that there are some things that go on in games that cannot be fully understood by spectators no matter how much they are studied or discussed. Cycling may be like hockey in that respect.
4. Media behavior surrounding the whole drugs in cycling issue made talking about the end of the Tour less enjoyable for me. The more circumstantial evidence and innuendo brought forward by the anti-Armstrong media faction, the less I pay attention. Will coverage of professional cycling continue to degenerate until it is fundimentally similar to coverage of U.S. politics, where you almost have to choose who you read or watch based on their pre-conceived points-of-view?

I should also point out that external events have played a role. A few weeks ago, I approached a major IT infrastructure software developer regarding a fulltime job. I spent the last week of the Tour being interviewed or preparing for interviews for this position. This effort definitely cut into the time I spent reading Tour-related media, although I did watch most of the coverage provided by the Outdoor Life Network.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Alex Trautwig, son of Outdoor Life Network anchor Al Trautwig, had a front row seat at many of the critical stage finishes of the 2004 Tour de France. Alex published a number of extremely well-composed, high resolution digital photos of the Tour de France Heads of State on the Carmichael Training Systems website at trainright.com.

Graham Watson should ask Alex if he wants to learn how to take pictures from the back of a motorcycle.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, Lance Armstrong again demonstrated his mastery of the competition in the 2004 Tour de France by winning the Stage 16 mountain time trial to Alpe d'Huez. It was not surprising that Armstrong considered the stage dangerous because of the sheer number of fans on the sections of the course that did not have barriers:

It was a little scary. The Pyrenees were exactly the same, so it wasn't necessarily abnormal. But [on Alpe d'Huez] you had longer sections of four and five kilometres with people on the road.

Perhaps the most surprising development was how quickly Tour de France race director Jean-Marie LeBlanc called the venue choice a mistake.

As I said yesterday, my wife and I made the pilgrimmage to Alpe d'Huez in 2001 for Stage 10. There were more people than ever before on the mountain, but I think the crowd was still manageable. We were able to drive up from Grenoble, find a little space on the lower slopes of the mountain, enjoy the Caravane and the race, and return to Grenoble in one long day. That doesn't seem to have been possible this year.

It seems like Alpe d'Huez reached a critical point during last year's Centenary Tour. People seemed to accept the size of the crowd back then as if it would be a one-time inconvenience. However, the crowd grew even larger and more unruly this year, probably because most cycing fans concluded that the mountain time trial could be the Tour's decisive moment. I don't think that continued crowd growth at Alpe d'Huez is in anyone's interest, and the Tour organization should do something to disrupt the momentum.

If I were the Amaury Sports Organization, I would seriously consider not including Alpe d'Huez next year. There are several places where the Tour could have a mountain-top finish in the Alps. One place I'd like to see the Tour return to is Sestriere, Italy. I think the last time the Tour visited there was 1999. Sestriere might have trouble hosting a stage finish next year because they will be preparing to be a venue in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the Tour venues in the Pyrenees, but the crowds looked just as crazy and difficult to control in some places as they did at Alpe d'Huez. I think the rate of growth of the crowds in the Pyrenees may be faster than in the Alps. Greater venue diversity may be a good idea there as well.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

On July 17, 2001, my wife and I saw Stage 10 of the Tour de France from a vantage point on the lower slope of Alpe d'Huez. We drove to Bourg d'Oisans, the nearest town to Alpe d'Huez, from our hotel in Voreppe which is just north of Grenoble. We got up quite early to drive 50 kilometers up the mountain road from Grenoble. When we got to Bourg d'Oisans, we were able to park along the road known as Avenue de la gare, also known as National Route 91, facing back toward Grenoble for a quick get away after the stage was over.

Since 2003, it has been particularly difficult to travel up to Bourg d'Oisans and walk up to Alpe d"Huez in one day. I never know whether to believe crowd estimates I hear on television, but some people thought that over 1 million people occupied a place on the roadside on the 14 kilometers of mountain road. This may be due to the fact that "The Look", one of the most famous strategic moments in recent Tour history, took place that day, and since then, many more people have wanted to experience a stage ending at Alpe d'Huez in person.

In 2001, we got to Bourg d'Oisans before 8:00 in the morning, so we were able to walk around the town, eat breakfast at one of the hotels, buy a couple of hats at Cycles et Sports, and scout out a prime viewing spot.

My wife and I decided that we wanted to watch the riders from fairly low on Alpe d'Huez because we were afraid that we wouldn't get back to Grenoble before midnight if we walked further up the road. This turned out to be both good and bad. We staked out a spot just past the left hand turn where Alpe d'Huez really begins, below the first switchback, and within site of the Sommet a 14km sign.

This spot gave us plenty of room to stand or sit, but it meant that we didn't see Lance Armstrong in the lead. We were about half a kilometer before the point where "The Look" took place. We left our vantage point on Alpe d'Huez not knowing that Armstrong had made a decisive move and was on the way to victory.

But by being low on the mountain, we were able to start walking back to Bourg d'Oisans about 25 minutes before the stage ended. We noticed people screaming and jumping up and down as we passed the first cafe in downtown Bourg d'Oisans. Walking over to within site of a TV that had been placed outdoors, we saw Lance Armstrong cross the finish line in the lead.

People call this the Mecca of Cycling and I definitely think so, after being there. I hope to go back some day, rent a bike, and ride from Bourg d'Oisans to the top of Alpe d"Huez as the riders will today in the mountain time trial.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lance Armstrong sprinted away from Ivan Basso in the last 400 meters to Villard de Lans, probably taking the yellow jersey for good in this year's Tour de France. I was a little surprised at the move Jan Ullrich made on the Col de l'Echarasson early in the stage. It reminded me of the move he made on the Col de Tourmalet on Stage 15 last year: surprising to some, but ultimately futile.

Armstrong is a completely different rider this year than he was last year. With the exception of Stage 15 in 2003, he didn't seem to be able to put the hammer down by himself on a climb. This year, Jose Azevedo sets him up as Roberto Heras did last year, but, he is able to work more intensely at lower levels and drop off earlier than Heras could.

It's frustrating to see so many top riders drop out of the Tour; Iban Mayo is the latest to go. His team says he may have a virus. Regardless, his spirit was broken.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I would be remiss if I didn't point out the excellent article that Engadget published that explains how Matsport times and scores the finish of each Tour de France stage, so that the UCI can determine the winners. Diagrams and detailed explanations of the system are included in this article, as are the names of most of the major component manufacturers. I wish I had been able to assemble an article that documents the timing system so completely.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Aperto Networks announced today that France Telecom is using Aperto's PacketWave 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access gear to create portable broadband wireless networks at the Tour de France media village as it moves from stage to stage. You can see Aperto PacketWave antennas atop many mobile television production trucks such as the one operated by Digi TV Mobiltelevision [ cycling production photos ], shown here in the media village at the end of a recent stage.

Update: Several television networks are using the PacketWave network, including TV2, OLN, ZDF, and France 2. Journalists from the Associated Press are also participating.

Aperto Networks is a provider of broadband wireless access equipment to telecommunications companies throughout the world. Its products are in use in a major wireless IP trial in the Brittany region of France and a fixed network under development in the Parkersburg, West Virginia area, to name just two high-profile projects. The Tour de France effort is confirmation of France Telecom's faith in the reliability of Aperto's wireless infrastructure gear. [ photo courtesy of Aperto Networks ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kudos to TDFblog.com for covering pretty much everything in the English language press that's worth reading about the Tour de France. They pointed out the article in The Washington Post by Sally Jenkins on Friday that profiled Johan Bruyneel, directeur sportif of the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team. It's a terrific article that gives a good summary of Bruyneel's career and why he is an effective counterbalance to Lance Armstrong in many ways. For those of you who don't know, Jenkins co-wrote Lance Armstrong's two books, It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life and Every Second Counts, so she knows the USPS Cycling Team well.

TDFblog pointed out that not everyone is happy with Bruyneel's success at the helm of USPS. The directeur sportif of the new Liberty Seguros Cycling Team, Manolo Saiz, characterized Bruyneel as "disrespectful", in part because he suggested that Jose Azevedo might be a better lead climbing domestique than Roberto Heras was for Lance Armstrong. An entire episode of The Lance Chronicles was devoted to this issue, including how Heras chose to leave USPS and the effort it took to acquire Azevedo at the last moment this winter.

I think Saiz, known by some as the "Venga, venga, venga" man for the way he shouts at his riders during time trials, is almost as psychologically affected by the outcome of the 2003 Tour as Joseba Beloki:

• His leading rider suffered a devastating crash;
• He cracked under the pressure while trying to help Isidro Nosal win the Vuelta a Espana last year, and got himself expelled from the race; and
• His long-time team sponsors, ONCE and Grupo Eroski, stepped away from cycling, forcing him to search for new sponsors for an otherwise very strong team.

Saiz should lay low at this point and focus on a strong performance in the Vuelta. There is no reason why Heras would not be the favorite to win that race this year, unless he expends too much energy in an attempt to salvage a respectable finish in the Tour de France. If I were Saiz at this point, I would have Heras and the team ride to the finish of the Tour, while conserving as much energy as possible.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the weekend, several of Lance Armstrong's rivals abandoned the race including Tyler Hamilton, Haimar Zubeldia, and Denis Menchov. You know it had to be bad if Hamilton abandoned on a day when his foundation was running a fundraiser across the United States, that had cycling fans watching the stage in movie theaters.

Personally, I was shocked when I saw Tyler Hamilton climb into the van. He was able to survive the entire 2003 Tour with a collar bone fractured in two places, yet he couldn't climb effectively in this Tour with a lower back injury. For those of you who do not follow other pro cycling races, Hamilton has had a very good season, winning the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland, an important race to his Swiss-sponsored team.

The guy who has taken on the leading inspirational role in this year's Tour is Thomas Voeckler. He hasn't broken his collar bone like Tyler Hamilton did last year, but his never-say-die attitude has thrilled everyone I've talked to about the race. It also helps that he shows his enthusiasm when he finds a way to stay on the pace required for him to stay in yellow. He's also proven to be a good interview for OLN-- he speaks pretty good English.

There are some people whose performance hasn't made sense to me. Roberto Heras, for instance, has not had the injuries that Hamilton has experienced. There were also no concerns about his weight or form, as there had been with Jan Ullrich. In a column written for the Associated Press, Chris Carmichael said Heras may not raced have enough to reach his peak form. He did little racing in June, and I think it shows.

The big questions that remain in the Tour are:

1. Did Lance Armstrong experience his entire share of bad Tour luck last year?
2. Will Ivan Basso or Andreas Kloden have what it takes to seriously challenge Armstrong in the Alps and the flat time trial?

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I guess Samuel Abt got some of the action he wanted today.

Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team took advantage of a strategic opportunity and put significant time between Armstrong and the other favorites for the General Classification. Ivan Basso won the stage, but Armstrong thumped Jan Ullrich, Roberto Heras, and Tyler Hamilton. Even Iban Mayo lost over a minute, despite his previous performance successes against Armstrong this season.

I guess this will answer half of the questions that people had about Armstrong, primarily was his "advanced age" (32) an obstacle to further dominance of the Tour? But, his dominating performance probably makes the cynics in the European media even more suspicious of him.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Kudos to Samuel Abt of the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times for having the courage to write an article entitled Stray Cows Provide High Point for Boring Tour. I've sat and watched the leaders jockey for position in the last 400 meters of each stage, fighting to stay in front of any gaps in the finishers, so they can steal a couple of seconds from one another. Every day, commentators on OLN suggest that tomorrow will be more interesting. Will it?

We learned about the death of Tyler Hamilton's dog, Tugboat, today. Granted, that dog is well known in the cycling community. But he's had more mentions on OLN during this Tour than the entire RAGT cycling team. Perhaps this is the best indication that there is time to fill during the evening broadcasts.

I guess I'm wondering what will happen if today's stage to La Mongie is effectively neutralized by the "Tour Heads of State", as the last few have been? Saturday's stage to Plateau de Beille is supposed to be harder and more definitive. Unfortunately we may have to wait until after the second rest day before we will see anything truly riveting.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Tour de France will hit the Pyrenees tomorrow. When this happens, you can expect to see Didi Senft, the most telegenic fan in professional cycing. Who is Didi Senft? He's the man in the devil costume who is seen at strategic points in most stages of the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia, the Vuelta a Espana, and a number of other major professional cycling races.

PezCycling interviewed The Devil before the Tour began. Some of what was said in this interview I already knew, because my wife and I met the Devil and saw his van and his bike at Alpe d'Huez during the 2001 Tour de France. I was shooting video at the time that we saw him, so I don't have a still photo of us with him. I regret not changing cameras.

I did some further research into Didi Senft using the Internet. One of the articles that told me something new was The BBC's H2G2 encyclopedia entry Didi Senft - Devil of the Tour de France. In it, I learned that he originally chose to dress as a devil because German sportscasters refer to the last kilometer of a criterium as "the red devil's lap".

This also explains Senft's strategy of positioning himself at the point in the race where he thinks the most intense television and photographic coverage will be. This is generally not around the flamme rouge (French for "red flame", the place where the red flag is over the road signifying 1 km to go), but is someplace further from the finish. He is very partial to mountains, where the riders are moving slowly, and he can run alongside them for a short distance.

If I was looking to meet the Devil at the Tour de France tomorrow, I would look for him mid way up the final climb to La Mongie. Since you will probably have to arrive hours in advance anyway, you can walk along the road looking for the big bike.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are stories in major European publications that are not making it into the English language sites that provide Tour de France news. A good example of this is the article that appeared in Le Monde a few days ago about the Lance Armstrong Foundation's efforts to raise funds at the Tour de France by selling LiveStrong yellow wristbands. Apparently, Nike is sending a small group of young people to the end of each stage to sell LiveStrong wrist bands for € 1.00 each.

(The Le Monde article is written in French. If you can't read French, follow the suggestions I provide in Translating Tour de France News in Major Non-English Publications for help converting the text to English.)

This is the first exposure that many French cycling fans are getting to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the LiveStrong Surivorship Program. The Le Monde reporter is apparently surprised that fans are buying LiveStrong yellow wristbands in such large numbers. One young person selling LiveStrong wristbands suggested that his group of 10 co-workers is selling 2,000 to 2,500 LiveStrong wristbands per day.

Amazingly, the article ("La fondation Armstrong collecte des fonds contre le cancer") manages to connect the LiveStrong fund raising effort to allegations of doping against Lance Armstrong. The article says that the book L.A. Confidentiel contains a quote where Jean-Paul Le Bourgeois, head of cancerology services at l'hopital Mondor de Creteil, said that he he rides a bicycle himself and is astonished that anyone who recovered from metastatic cancer was able to win the Tour several times in a row.

An even more dismissive statement was made by Thierry Bouillet of the medical oncology and radiotherapy department at the l'hopital des Peupliers, in Paris. The translated text says:

The cancer specialist, who looked after high level sportsmen suffering from the same evil that the American, explained to have noted "impossibility of bringing back them to their level of performance former to their cancer" .

This is the best example I've found of the extreme political viewpoint present in the European media with respect to Lance Armstrong. You often hear people like Lance Armstrong and Phil Liggett refer to the innuendo expressed in many publications that Armstrong is guilty of doping on a massive scale. Even in articles that talk about the charitable work of Lance Armstrong and his friends, the allegation of doping is made.

As Americans and pro cycling fans, we need to see these allegations for what they are: fundimentally unfair.

Update: If you are looking for places to buy a Livestrong Yellow Wristband after the Tour de France, please consult these Operation Gadget articles:

• Readers Successfully Buying 10-Packs of LiveStrong Yellow Wristbands Directly from the Lance Armstrong Foundation
• Where to Buy a LiveStrong Yellow Wristband
• Suggestions for Finding a LiveStrong Yellow Wristband Outside the United States

If you are looking for information about how to buy Pink Breast Cancer Research Wristbands, please consult this Operation Gadget article:

• Pink Breast Cancer Wristbands Available from Target.com and Amazon.com
• "Living in Pink" Also Running a Wristband Program

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (41) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the techniques I've relied on this year while watching the Tour de France is reading non-English publications with the assistance of Google Language Tools. As a result, I've been able to read articles that appear in L'Equipe, Le Monde, Marca, and Gazzetta dello Sport, all major print publications written in languages that I do not speak.

This technique is greatly aided by Google Toolbar which provides a "Translate into English" function on the Page Info pop-up menu. The big problem with Google Toolbar is that it only works with Microsoft Internet Explorer, a web browser that I cannot recommend due to its vast security problems. However, the Mozilla Project has a tool that emulates the Google Toolbar which is called Googlebar. It also has the "Translate into English" function.

When my wife and I saw the Tour in person in 1998 and 2001, I bought L'Equipe on a regular basis. This was the best source of Tour news available in some places, because the International Herald Tribune isn't always available in small towns in France. In spite of the fact that my wife studied French in high school, it was often difficult for us to understand the nuances of stories in L'Equipe. As a result, our understanding was often limited to what the headlines and photo captions said.

The Google Translation Tool is an advantage that people watching at home have over people who are seeing stages in person.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On Saturday, TDFblog reported that Lance Armstrong was photographed wearing a prototype Oakley product combining sunglasses with a portable audio player. Gizmodo reported on this photo as well, saying that Armstrong wore the prototype during the Prologue time trial, citing a SunSentinel.com article for attribution. These articles were pointed out to me in an email from Josh Gray.

Here's how I replied to Josh:

Josh:

I don't believe the Sun-Sentinel report that {Lance Armstrong} wore these Oakleys in the Prologue. Here's why:

1. He wore a radio. We know this because this is what he always does to communicate with {Johan Bruyneel}. We also know that Rudy Pevinage's critique of Jan Ullrich's Prologue performance included the fact that Jan did not wear a radio. This would not have been so widely reported if Lance hadn't either.

2. If you look closely at the glasses in the Gizmodo/TDFblog photo, and compare them to the photo on Graham Watson's site of Lance actually riding the Prologue, the frames are not the same:

   http://grahamwatson.com/gw/imagedocs.nsf/images/04tourPro/$file/11.jpg
   

Subsequent research indicates revealed that Oakley announced a new integrated eyewear/portable audio player today. The press release says the device will be called Oakley Thump. The sunglasses include 128 Megabyte and 256 Megabyte models, and will be priced at $395 and $495. The product will be initially sold at Circuit City and Oakley O Stores in the 2004 holiday period.

Comparing photographs of Lance Armstrong during the Tour de France Prologue to the Oakley eyewear catalog, it appears that Lance was actually wearing Oakley Zeros. Note that the Thump prototype has a frame piece above the lenses, while the eyewear Lance is wearing in the Prologue are frameless. [ not sure who to credit the photo to, it's been everywhere ]

Update: Frankie Andreu gave the OLN viewers a good look at the Oakley Thump in the Infinity Technology of the Tour segment. If you recorded the July 13th broadcast at 9:30am EDT, look for the segment at about 23 minutes into the program.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Several publications have referred to the follow cars driven by the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team as Subaru GT's. I did a little bit of research and found out that the specific model is the Subaru Legacy GT or Subaru Legacy GT Limited station wagon. These are not the most popular vehicles Subaru sells in the United States, but they are available.

Both the Legacy GT and the Legacy GT Limited have 2.5-liter turbocharged engines, producing 250 horsepower. They are both priced at less than $30,000 MSRP, without all of the customizations done for the Tour.

Edmunds.com reviewed the 2005 Legacy models, saying the following:

Known primarily as the wagon that spawned the Outback, the Legacy is the oldest nameplate in the Subaru lineup, dating back to 1990. In recent years, it has been living in the shadow of its armored-wagon offspring. Starved for power and features, the 2000-2004 Legacy wagon was what you bought if you couldn't afford one of Volkswagen's expensive Passat 4Motion wagons, and/or you wouldn't be caught dead in a Taurus.... Happily, Subaru has given buyers more reasons to consider its midsize sedan and wagon for 2005: The.... GT models feature a modified version of the WRX STi's 2.5-liter turbocharged engine rated for 250 horsepower and 250 lb-ft of torque. Although the continued absence of six-cylinder power in the Legacy might seem like a blow, rest assured that you won't miss it. The turbo four responds with the heart and refinement of a much larger steed.

These wagons are an interesting alternative to a larger SUV or the Subaru Outback and Forester models that seem to be everywhere around my home. I didn't even realize that these Legacy wagons were on the market in the USA.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few Operation Gadget readers have asked for pointers to mobile resources to help Tour de France fans follow the stages while they are at work. Here's our list:

• Mobile-friendly Websites
  • Yahoo! Cycling
  • BBC Sport / Cycling
  • Eurosport Cycling
• SMS
  • USA
    • Outdoor Life Network Stage Results, subscribe at http://ww2.olntv.com/OLN-wireless-tdf04.asp
• PalmOS Software
  • Tour de France 2004
    • English language version
    • German and French language version

There are undoubtedly more services available, particularly in Europe and in languages other than English. More sources will be added as I find them. Feel free to post comments pointing out any good Tour de France wireless and handheld resources that you don't see here.

[ Some information in this article came to us via TreoCentral. ]

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the big differences between Outdoor Life Network's coverage of the Tour de France this year and last is the complete absence of any on-screen graphics in the French language. The momentary appearence of graphics saying things like "Tete de Course", "etape", and "l'arrivee a 10km" didn't take anything away from broadcasts in previous years. If anything, it made watching the race slightly more interesting.

The fact that all of the on-screen graphics appear in English is another indication of increased production effort on the part of OLN. Their graphics are very informative, alternating between miles and kilometers to go, and showing riders names in breakaways.

One thing that I didn't realize until today was the fact that OLN is showing the gap between the stage leader and Lance Armstrong. When he was in yellow (on Stage 5), the graphic showed a yellow jersey icon, which made sense because everyone wants to know how far the overall leader is behind the stage leader. Today on Stage 6, however, the graphic changed to a small blue jersey icon, symbolizing the U.S. Postal Service team.

Phil Liggett made reference to its appearance on the screen, saying that it represented the gap between Armstrong and the riders out in front. It's helpful, but I'm not sure that I want to be reminded constantly that some people feel this is the Tour de Lance, not the Tour de France.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you are following the Tour de France, you probably heard about the revised Team Time Trial rules long before the Tour started. Originally, I understood that a team's losses would be limited to three minutes relative to the winning team's finish time. If this had been the case, I would have expected that no individual rider would have lost more than three minutes yesterday, unless he abandoned or was eliminated by failing to actually arrive by the time limit.

First thing yesterday, I heard that the rules were not what had been discussed on television. The actual rules were that the second team to finish would lose no more than 20 seconds, while the third and subsequent teams would lose no more than 10 seconds versus the previous team to finish. The stage results basically reflect this:

• US Postal Service, +0:00
• Phonak, +20 seconds
• Illes Ballears, +30 seconds
• T-Mobile, +40 seconds
• etc.

After the stage, however, I learned that there was another significant wrinkle in the rules that I did not know about. The time loss limitation only applied to the riders on each team finishing in the "same time" as the five riders setting the team's time for the stage. In other words, if a rider finished more than a couple of bike lengths behind the fifth rider from his team, the later rider did not receive his team's time. Instead he received his actual time relative to the winning team. Are you confused yet?

Gilberto Simoni of Team Saeco crashed near the finish line of the Team Time Trial stage. Although he remounted and finished the stage six seconds after his team's fifth rider, he lost 2 minutes 42 seconds instead of the loss of 1 minute 30 seconds that five members of his team scored. This is confirmed in the stage results and the VeloNews news roundup for the stage.

In any other stage I can think of, if a rider crashed within 1 kilometer of the finish, he would receive the same time as the riders around him who did not crash. Because the rules were different for the Team Time Trial, it appears that the Saeco team would have been better off if they had all stopped within sight of the finish line, and waited for Simoni. If only they had known.

I don't love or hate Gilberto Simoni or the Saeco team, but I think they got a raw deal. I realize that the Team Time Trial rules were written to blunt the advantage that the US Postal Service team had in last year's Team Time Trial. But, the rules unfairly penalize Simoni, Stefano Casagranda, and the Saeco team.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier today, I learned that the Tyler Hamilton Foundation will be hosting a special closed circuit presentation of Tour de France Stage 13 on Saturday, July 17, at movie theaters across the United States. These events will benefit the charities associated with the THF, Multiple Sclerosis and Junior Cycling.

Tickets are $25, including breakfast and a THF pin, or $40, including breakfast, a THF pin, and a T-shirt.

The nearest location to my home is Regal Commerce Center 18, 2399 U.S. Highway 1 in North Brunswick, NJ. That's only a few miles from here. It will also be presented in Manhattan and Philadelphia, so people from throughout the area can get there to enjoy the companionship of fellow cyclists. Check the THF website for other locations in the United States.

The event will begin as early as 7:00am EDT, due to the time difference with France and the expected length of this stage. Make sure you confirm the schedule before leaving for the event.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you watched the Tour de France Team Time Trial earlier today, you may have seen Bobby Julich, the American rider on Team CSC, wearing a Camelbak hydration system. This is the first time I ever saw a rider wearing a hydration pack during a Tour stage. But, it was obvious and unusual enough to be noted by Outdoor Life Network analyst Paul Sherwin who said:

....That's Bobby Julich on the front. You can see that straw just sticking in front of his skinsuit there. That's to a pack on his back, the Camelbak, which is filled with liquid. Keeps himself topped up throughout the course of the event.

Julich carried the Camelbak inside his skinsuit, which means that the suit had to be fitted with him wearing a full hydration pack. It did not look like the Camelbak affected Julich's aerodynamics, as I would have expected. It appeared that the bladder was positioned directly behind the point of his helmet when he is in riding position on his time trial bike.

I don't ride with a Camelbak myself, but I think it's something worth looking at again if a pro cyclist wears one in a Tour de France time trial. He probably thinks that the drag induced by reaching for a water bottle, bringing it to his mouth, drinking from it, and returning it to the bottle cage is more than the slight increase in drag associated with wearing the Camelbak.

It will be interesting to look carefully at other Tour riders to see if any more of them are using hydration systems.

Update: According to Camelbak, Bobby Julich and David Millar both wore Camelbak Race Vest hydration systems in the Stage 9 time trial from Lorient to Lanester in 2002. It's surprising then that the 2004 Tour de France TTT is the first time I've seen indications that a rider is wearing one.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)