Wannabe Bike Girl

This is not the first time I’ve come across people upset by OLN’s coverage. Usually the people I talk to are pissed off because OLN covered too much Lance. That group, of course, includes me. But this time the situation is reversed. I first encountered it on one of cycling communities on livejournal and now (via tdfblog) it seems that a lot of places and people are irritated as well.

What’s the problem? People, Americans mostly, are upset that OLN didn’t show Lance cross the line at the end of Stage 20 this past Sunday.

My reaction, of course, was to say something like “the sprint was exciting and I’m much rather be watching the sprint then watching Lance cross the line.” I then went on to explain that when stage 20 started, we already knew that Lance was going to win and there was no point to showing him cross the line. Plus, the sprint was incredibly exciting and important for the green jersey competition. Also, we should be watching the replays — why should they change the format (successful format) on the last stage? Just like all previous stages, the only time we ever saw Lance cross the line live was when he won the stage.

I have to confess that I understand why people might get upset, but I don’t get why it’s such a big deal. Neither does the author of TDFblog. Which is why I’m writing this post. I was just going to comment, but it ended up way too long.

Being upset about the lack of Lance crossing the line just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like me getting upset because I didn’t get to see Matt cross the line live every time — even though he was almost always at least 10 minutes behind on many of the stages. Sure, it’d be nice to see it, but there were other things (more important things), such as racing, going on. I can honestly say it didn’t even cross my mind that we didn’t get to see Lance cross the line. I think that’s partly because there are cyclists who I like better than Lance, but also because we already knew he won. And why should OLN waste time covering that? Instead we saw the replay of the sprint and then we saw interviews and the trophy presentations. Which, in my opinion, are more important.

But people, even the CEO of OLN, are upset. AP (via ESPN) reports that the CEO (Gavin Harvey) said “I think it was a missed opportunity,” he said. Sure it was, but for what? For showing the anti-climatic crossing of the line? To cut away from the real racing of the day? I don’t understand what was missed.

But I supposed that most of those 1.37 million viewers watching on Sunday wanted to see Lance and not the actual race.

But, the best thing I took away from that article was what Harvey said about the future of cycling on OLN: “We are the home of professional cycling on television,” he said. “We love the fact that Lance has brought so many eyeballs and attention to the sport of cycling. But it’s not just Lance.” It gives me hope that we will keep watching cycling on OLN. I’m not really prepared to give that up without a fight. It’s nice to know that OLN isn’t fully dependent on Lance for content — just mostly.

But does it really matter? As long as I get my cycling, I’ll grit my teeth through all the (excessive) Lance-coverage.

Music: The Diane Rehm Show

(cbs sportsline)

The promised post.

Above is German National Champion Andreas Klöden. He’s six minutes and thirty eight seconds behind Lance Armstrong and twenty one seconds ahead of Ivan Basso. His place on the podium is second. He was not the leader of T-Mobile, that was Jan Ullrich. But he has developed into something else. Something more than anyone, except perhaps Klöden himself, ever expected. He certainly took the rest of the cycling world — and his own team — by surprise.

It’s almost funny, because I predicted — as soon as it was announced that Ullrich was going back to Team Telekom (as it was known then) — that Ullrich would be beaten by his own team. Of course, my assumptions were based on the inclusion of Cadel Evans and Alexandre Vinokourov on the tour team. As it turned out, Vino crashed and torn the ligaments in his right shoulder. Cadel Evans was left off the team for reasons beyond my understanding (I don’t really believe it was ‘for his own protection’ or so that he could prepare for the Olympics, since he was left off of that team as well). Also missing from the team (due to injury) was former Giro d’Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli – another powerful man whose was supposed to be helping Ullrich. By the start of the tour, the team was composed of most unspectacular people, hopefully those who could support Ullrich in the mountains, flats, and team time trial. What happened was quite unexpected.

Ullrich cracked for whatever reason (perhaps not enough training, perhaps weight problems, perhaps he peaked too soon and it took him too long to get his form back) and his teammate — Andreas Klöden, instead of helping, sort of took over. Now, Klöden did a lot for Ullrich. He did his domestique duties quite well, until the mountains. He was ahead of Ullrich, but they hadn’t reached the mountains yet. And even into the beginnings of the Pyrenees, Klöden rode up with Ullrich and Lance. Then, on Stage ten, Klöden came in second — five minutes and nineteen seconds behind Virenque. The result was not even considered that important, except as a passing mention of Klöden’s improving form.

Stage eleven was mostly uneventful for Klöden, he attacked, but ended up 20th, behind the big sprinters. Then, seemingly out of nowhere and as his team leader was cracking, Klöden followed Basso and Lance up to the top of La Mongie. Instead of pacing Ullrich to keep up, Klöden crossed the line in third, 20 seconds behind Basso and Lance. This catapulted Klöden up the classifications, and even further above Ullrich. Eventually they all gained more time. Ullrich slowly caught up to Klöden, but never quite had enough to pass him. In the end, Klöden was just too strong.

Now, April believes that since Ullrich didn’t make the podium, he’ll probably seek out a new team — or Klöden will go somewhere else. Personally, I believe the latter. I think Klöden won’t be riding for T-Mobile next year. Why? Because, although he spent a lot of time helping Ullrich, it was clear he wanted to win the tour. The different between T-Mobile and USPS was teamwork. I believe Jose Azevedo could win the tour, and may someday, but he dedicated himself to helping Lance. And what happened? He’s fifth overall and Lance is on his way to six. Klöden, it seems, wasn’t satisfied with his team leader’s performance and decided to take advantage of the great form he was riding into. And it paid off.

But he didn’t do what the team wanted and Ullrich suffered. The fact that he focused on his own ambitions instead of his team’s, and because he almost caught Ullrich on the time trial today, I believe that he’ll be seeking a new team next year. It’s obvious that he’s turned his career around, at least for now. I think we can expect big things from Klöden — the rest of this year and next as well.

As for Ullrich? He’s still got a few more tours in him. And I firmly believe he’ll be riding in T-Mobile colors for at least one more year. Maybe next year they’ll pick the right domestiques. It’s quite possible that this year will have made him mad enough to focus him into winning in 2005. Regardless, next year will prove to be just as exciting.

(cbs sportsline)

Music: DJ Moe – (Moe’s B-Day) Live 31-03-2002 (ETS Global)

According to procycling, the cause of Iban Mayo’s poor performance in the Pyrenees? “[A] stress-induced mental block.” It was what everyone had guessed, and today, well, it took it’s final toll for the tour. Mayo didn’t start the stage, along with Jakob Piil, who left yesterday.

CN and Reuters reported that Euskaltel team manager Miguel Madariaga said “We knew he wouldn’t finish the stage today, so we decided it was better for him not to start.” It’s hard to tell if Mayo even had any say in the decision, but I’m betting he did. So, is it better not to start than to abandon? Either way you’re not finishing the race, one way just saves embarrassment.

—

Yesterday I mentioned that Matthew White was on the Australian Olympic team and I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to make the team. Well, CN apparently has started reading my mind, because they reported that Matt is up and riding again.

Matthew White (Cofidis), who crashed before the prologue in Liege and didn’t take the start of the Tour, is now on the mend after breaking his right collarbone. White also suffered facial wounds and had to get four stitches to his eyebrow. However, he has resumed training on the road and is expected to start racing again at the end of July in preparation for the Olympic Games in Athens. (cyclingnews)

—

Although Richard Virenque didn’t win today’s stage (no amount of my shouting could change that, sadly), his win on Bastille Day and invitation to the Olympics might have changed his mind about retiring. procycling reports that Virenque might extend his QSD contract. Personally, I’d like to see him try for an eighth(yes, I think he’ll win seven without any problems) KOM jersey and then retire. A nice round number that will take years to overcome. Or maybe I just like records.

—

Quote of the day:

“I gave it everything today,” the young Frenchman said at the finish. “As things got harder, there was nothing I could do – Armstrong was too strong. But I don’t feel disappointed about losing the yellow jersey,” continued Voeckler. “I held it a long time, and I was happy to be wearing it. I have no regrets – it’s been a positive experience for me.” (procycling)

And now he’s after the white jersey. I hope he keeps it.

—

Tomorrow:

The Sachsen Tour International starts.

PS. OLN? Ivan Basso is 26. He’ll be 27 in November. 11.26.77 to be exact.

Music: One Man Army – The Anthem (DI.fm)

Olympic teams:

Baden, Brad and Mark are all going. Sylvain and Thomas (and Richard!) are going. Lance is not, but Levi is. Matt (White) – status unknown. I hope he’s healed enough (he should be). I hope Tyler’s healed enough as well. I hope NBC covers cycling on the channels I get (those I don’t get being Telemundo and NBCHD). Thomas Dekker (a favorite of April’s) beat out Erik Dekker (they aren’t related) for the Dutch TT at the Olympics — although Erik is riding the road race. It should be a lot of fun.

Doping:

Man, it never stops. I suppose it will never really spot, anyway. Sean Eadie’s considering legal action. ASO and Lance aren’t speaking. Hinault “is not impressed with Greg LeMond’s insinuations that Lance Armstrong has achieved his five Tour victories with a little help” (cyclingnews). What next? I don’t know, but I suppose it does keep people on their toes.

Articles:

There is just something inspiring and hopeful about cyclingnews’ story “A victory of another kind for Euskaltel-Euskadi.” Some teams still have that something, even when they’re down and out. And it’s especially nice to be able to understand — at least to the extent that he understands — what’s going on with Iban Mayo.

Amusement:

As always, the Daily Peloton provides some good (and entertaining) reading. Tick translated Nobody Loves Me by Ploner. It’s an amusing take on the tour jerseys.

Eventually I’ll have real content back — probably when the tour is over. Until then, you just get this random collection of things. The TdF diary has my coherent set of opinions.

Oh, and by the way? Thomas Voeckler is still 25. Even Le Tour agrees.

Music: Kenneth Thomas – Live at Club Bleu with DJ Tiesto – 06.24.04 (Trancepshere)

I feel like the saga of Jan Ullrich’s 2004 tour should be called ‘oh, the places you won’t go.’ My little take off on the Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, not that that wasn’t at all obvious. It just seems that the only place he’s going is backward in time, so to speak. He just keeps losing time, yet going up in the classification. It’s all beyond me. I think he looks pretty bad, but he’s still riding strong. I’m not the only one who wonders what’s wrong either. The procycling article, T-Mobile perplexed by Ullrich, has quotes from T-Mobile manager, Walter Godefroot. He essentially says that he has no idea what’s going on with Ullrich.

He [Ullrich] hasn’t really talked to the rest of the team. They’d hoped that today’s stage (13) would have been good. But while it was better than yesterday, it wasn’t at all what they’d expected. What do I think? The dramatic weight loss he experienced (during the Tour de Suisse? Correct me if I’m wrong, please.) took a negative toll on his body.

Non-tour talk.

So. My boys that aren’t racing the tour? Most of them will be racing at the Sachsen-Tour International. Cycling startlists has the complete startlist (PDF) for the race. Included (of “my” boys) are Christian Werner (T-Mobile), Frank Hoj (CSC), Mads Kaggestad (Crédit Agriole), and Björn Glasner, David Kopp, and Phillip Mamos (Lamonta). The Saschesen-Tour is from July 21-25th (official site).

According to Cycling startlists, both Jurgen van Goolen and Alexandre Vinokourov will be back racing at the Tour de la Région Wallonne. Cadel Evans, who I believe should be at the tour right now — and part of the reason Jan’s not doing that well, will be racing. Philippe Gilbert of FDJ will be there as well. The race is July 26-30th (official site).

It’ll be nice to have other racing to follow as well. Not that I’m tired of the tour (I’m not, because I love to watch live cycling — even if it’s only on my TV). But I miss following my other favorites.

Music: Above & Beyond – Essential Mix – 06.06.04 (TranceAirWaves)

I know I complain about the hype surrounding Lance. But I’m about to succumb, in a way, to it. So, in the diary I talk a lot about Thomas Voeckler and not so much about Lance. I’ve confessed that I want Thomas to go all the way, but that I don’t think he’s going to do it (this year). I’ve also stated that I would be just as happy if Lance were to win six (record breaking and all that). I can’t predict if I’d be sad if he lost, but I’m betting I would be.

I’m a pretty loyal fan, once I get settled. And I’ve never spent much time thinking about if Lance — or any of my favorite athletes — doped. And, honestly, I don’t really want to know. Maybe if they changed the rules around (let everyone dope — it’s their own life — or tested every three months [neither of those ideas are mine, they're April's and I've come to agree with her]) I’d feel differently. But right now, I don’t want to know. I didn’t want to know that David did, or that Baden might have (I still believe that Baden didn’t).

But that’s not the point of this. The point is that reporters (and others) like to go after people. I know David’s case was different. There was actual doping evidence (I believe) of former Cofidis riders doping and then, eventually, he came forward. But most of this stuff has been in the past (even David’s, really), until now with Lance (and the riders that tested positive before and during the tour). What I’m really writing about is Lance.

I’ve read both books, I believe that he didn’t — doesn’t. But who am I to know? No one. I’m just a cycling fan in the middle of Michigan. The only person who really knows is Lance and he says he didn’t. He’s only failed one test and that was several years ago. Who are we to go against his word? And if it turns out later that he was, how do we know that everyone isn’t using stuff? We don’t know. And I’m beginning to think that it’s just a witch hunt. Maybe the French press don’t want Lance to win. Maybe they really do believe he’s doping. Maybe the UCI and ASO think they’re making a difference by cracking down on people.

I don’t know. And I don’t really care. They can keep doing what they want and people will keep riding. And, honestly, people will keep doping. That’s just the way things go. You don’t feel your good enough, you take something and you might do better. If that doesn’t work? You try something else. April spent a lot of time talking about this when David confessed. When I was telling her how devastated I’d be if Matt said he was taking something. But I’ve, for the most part, gotten over that. I might feel betrayed, but people come back. Just look at Richard Virenque. It’s not the end of the world.

As for Greg LeMond’s comments? Part of me thinks he knows something, part of me thinks he’s just making trouble, and most of me thinks he’s bitter. He used to be the named in US cycling (and, really, I think he is in a lot of circles) but no one is like Lance. There’s no real superstar. And that’s what Lance is. Not just here, but in other countries as well. And in the states? If you know nothing about cycling, you know Lance. He’s “that guy with cancer who rides the bike.” Hell, that’s all I knew about him (and that he had a book with a cool title) just over a year ago.

Oh, how things change.

But whatever the motive is, people will keep searching for scapegoats. They’ll keep doping. And they’ll keep racing. That’s just the way things work. I wish we could just get over it and be thankful that people have stopped riding drunk.

Music: Breaking the habit – Linkin Park

Race leader Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere) and Sebastian Joly’s (Credit Agricole) son, Antoine Joly, before Stage 10. (lycos)

This is mostly just a bunch of links/articles I’ve collected. Sites I’ve been reading, stuff like that. I’ll have real content later, I promise.

Blogs:

> TDF Blog

> Baden Cooke’s TdF Diary (bike.com)

> Lance’s Bike (statesman.com)

Articles:

> The Fabulous Baker Boys from Brioches La Boulangere (CN)

> The Tour is Stranger Than Fiction (bike.com)

> Lance Decides Tour Not A Priority (from the cycling dude, reposted on james raia’s site)

—

Some things that have caught my attention recently:

1. Levi Leipheimer has been picked to replace Lance at the Olympics. (CN)

2. Jean-Marie Leblanc (TdF Director) regrets kicking Martin Hvastija and Stefano Casagranda out of the tour (go figure). (CN)

3. Tyler Hamilton’s dog, Tugboat, was put to sleep the other day. He had cancer. (CN)

A lot has been going on recently but, of course, the tour overshadows everything. Hopefully I’ll write more later tonight or tomorrow after the stage.

Music: :: LIVE :: Armin van Buuren – A State of Trance 157 (ETS Global)

The yellow bracelets/bands finally came in the mail today. If you don’t have one, you should buy them for yourself and others. That being said, I’m going to take a moment to explain why I am wearing one.

—

I wear yellow because my grandfather died of cancer. Because my grandmother survived breast cancer. Because one of my mother’s close friends has cancer. I wear yellow because my favorite cyclist survived cancer.

I wear yellow because no one should have to go it alone. I wear yellow because someday we will be cancer. I wear yellow because I livestrong.

“Yellow wakes me up in the morning.

Yellow gets me on the bike every day.

Yellow has taught me the true meaning of sacrifice.

Yellow makes me suffer.

Yellow is the reason I’m here.”

- Lance Armstrong

Support The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Music: Armin van Buuren – The Newest Tunes Selected – A State of Trance 157 24-06-04 (Trancepshere Radio)

I was going to post this last night, but the UCI site crashed Firefox. And then I thought I’d post it this morning, but I sort of slept through the Pre-Race show (when I do my usual early morning updates). So here it is.

I do a lot of reading of online cycling news sites. They have pretty good coverage, with a wide variety of views, among other things. But something they all have in common is the inability to state, correctly and consistently, what Thomas Voeckler’s age is.

I have read that he’s 23, 24 or 25. Which, obviously, means he’s between the ages of 23-25. You’d think that someone would have looked this up, but, alas, it appears most people haven’t. Some sites even have conflicting articles, where his age is listed differently every time.

So I’ve decided to clear this up once and for all. After all, he is wearing the yellow jersey.

So? What is his age? Well, I first went to the UCI website. And, after finally getting it to work in Opera, I navigated until I found the listing of riders on Brioches La Boulangere.

FRA19790622 VOECKLER Thomas

Not that I don’t trust the UCI, but I figured I’d better get another source. So I went to the official BLB website. I headed over to their bio section on Thomas and what did I find?

22 juin 1979

After some quick (and easy — he’s a year and a few months younger than I am) math, I determined that the actual age of Thomas Voeckler is 25 years.

Nice to know, isn’t it? I thought so. Good luck on Stage 10 tomorrow, Thomas!

Music: Jason Mraz – Water

On this rest day — well, not really, because this stuff happened (well the tour-related stuff) yesterday and the day before — people are whining — well, mostly speaking their minds rather publicly. It’s not nearly as amusing as Simoni, though. Actually, it’s kind of odd.

First there’s Mark French’s family. Now, I don’t blame them — after all their son (cousin, nephew) is only 19. But I’m not sure their letters will help his case any (scroll down to “French saga rumbles on”). The poor kid (if his story is to be believed, I’ve read conflicting views on this) confessed and has tried to take a lot of people down with him. No one is sure how much of it is true, but still. Except maybe all of the evidence in the open will clear things up? I’m tired of it, although I contradict my own statement by the fact that I keep writing about it. I’m not sure what I think. On one had I feel bad for Mark — like I feel bad for David, etc — but on the other hand, he (they) did dope. It’s not that I can’t feel bad for them, it’s that I don’t know what the punishment should be — though I believe French has been banned from a lot of stuff for life.

Or maybe they should just make doping legal and let everyone take their own risks and, potentially, get sick and/or die. I don’t know.

Right. I think I lost my train of thought. People on AIM are distracting me. Next up, clash of the titans sprinters: Robbie v. Rene.

I’ll sum up: Rene crashed. Robbie blames Rene, and says Rene did the same thing last year (to both Robbie and Baden). Robbie falls and is hurt (Baden is fine). Rene is (seriously) hurt, Robbie yells at him. Rene gets pissed. Robbie is pissed. They fight. Oh, wait. I made that last bit up. Lots of nasty words exchanged. I wish people would just get over it and move on, but it seem neither Robbie or Rene can.

And we don’t really know what happened. The amateur video footage shows the aftermath of Rene’s crash. Bob claimed that it couldn’t have been Rene’s fault because he crashed into the barriers after he feel (or something similar — correct me if I’m wrong). Rene says it’s not his fault — that his handlebars snapped in two and he was flung off of his bike and into the barrier. Robbie says that Rene was riding to fast and his the barrier, Floyd Landis pretty much says the same thing and “don’t sprint for 35th place.”

I hope everyone feels better now that they got that out.

Maybe Robbie’s just bitter that he didn’t get the green jersey that day. But I don’t know. The video doesn’t really show. Mostly it’s the big gap between Flecha and the riders in front of him because he was going slow, then the peloton is slowing down because Rene crashed. Then the camera pans over and there are two (I think) Saeco riders that ride/crash over Rene, but we don’t really see what happened to Rene, except that there’s no one around him until those Saeco riders — a few seconds later. So, we don’t really know. I would bet that most of the riders don’t, either.

I have to say, though, that the most impressive thing was watching Thomas ride through the crash and not fall. The yellow jersey just slipped right through — lucky for him. I was worried.

Crashes are upsetting and there seem to be more than last year. But, according most things I’ve heard and read, this happens every few years. I don’t know if they should change the rules like Bjarne Riis wants or if they should just let it be. Who knows. Certainly not me.

EDIT: Because, you know, it’s kind of like a train wreck. From the BBC: Italian Stefano Casagranda and Slovenia’s Martin Hvastija have been asked to leave the 2004 Tour de France.

Music: Sam Sharp – Twister (DI.FM)