Americans Losing Pace At TdF Stage 7

((HT: Tour de France/TV2/youtube))

RadioShack rider Chris Horner lost consciousness after a crash 36 kilometers into today's 7th Stage, and American teammate Levi Leipheimer lost more than three minutes during the run that seemed to have more crashes than excitement.

Team manager Johan Bruyneel says Horner will go to a hospital for tests and is unlikely to continue the tour.

Leipheimer now says that he will work for teammate Andreas Kloeden, who is fifth in the overall- 10 seconds behind leader Thor Hushovd.

Here's the Bradley Wiggins crash that took out Horner...


Oh...

Mark Cavendish won the stage- for those of you who picked against him in the STFC

Tyler Farrar Takers Stage 3 of Tour de France

((HT: EuroSport/youtube))

How's this for Independence Day...???

American Tyler Farrar takes the third stage of that Tour de France thing...


It was the first Tour stage victory ever for Farrar, one of the world's best sprinters, and showcased the dominance of the Garmin-Cervelo team.

The 123-mile flat route from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon favored sprinters like Farrar and a handful of others who were in it all the way to the end in a mass finish that included Tour leader and Garmin teammate Thor Hushovd.

"I certainly would have taken it on any day," Farrar said. "But as an American, winning on the Fourth of July, it's the icing on the cake. ... Lucky me."

Tour de France Thing Does Not Like Lance's New Clothes

In most sports, you have to tell the powers that are that you're going to go through a wardrobe change to see if you're going to stay legal...

This morning in France, at the Tour de France thing, the HQ is guessing Team Lance either didn't of just plain "forgot" to do that.

They came out in the jerseys that you'll see below...
((HT: ozcyclingdotcom))


Here's the spot from The Shack their ownselves on the cause...


The TdF officials told them they couldn't race with them on their persons...
The Shacks hemmed, hawwed, and loitered enough to get their point across, and eventually changed into their regulation-approved jerseys with their numbers on them...

Oh, by the way, Mark Cavendish won the stage and Alberto Contador won his third Tour.

But the HQ does really dig the jerseys...

Cavendish Wins Stage 11 Of Tour de France Thing, Renshaw DQ'ed For Head-Butting...

Iy got really interesting today at the end of the 11th Stage- even after Mark Cavendish was declared the winner in another sprint to the line.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg retained the overall race lead.

Cavendish picked up his third stage win on a 114.6-mile trek from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence that featured one mid-grade climb. The stage was mainly flat.

Schleck kept the Maillot Jaune for a third straight day by finishing in the peloton. Defending champion Alberto Contador is second overall- 41 seconds back.

But watch the end... one of Cavendish's teammates, Mark Renshaw of Australia, does a little extra-curricular bumping that earned him a DQ...

Pretty rare, but watch for yourself...

Here's the end of the Stage where Renshaw uses his noggin...
((HT: TdF/VersusvsTV))


Here's Renshaw after the decision...
((HT: OzCyclingdotcom))

Schleck Gets Yellow In Stage 9 Of Tour de France Thing...

Sandy Casar of France won the mountainous ninth stage of the Tour de France and Andy
Schleck of Luxembourg has captured the overall lead.

The Frenchman won the second Alpine lift through the mountains leading a seven-man break in the 127-mile trek along three tough climbs- including Madeleine pass.

Schleck took the yellow jersey from Cadel Evans, who had it for only one stage, finishing just behind the stage winner and alongside Alberto Contador.

Here's Schleck after the podium, thanks to the tour their ownselves...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Schleck Wins Stage 8, Lance Chance "Done"

Cadel Evans of Australia took the yellow jersey at the end of stage 8, with previous yellow jersey holder Sylvain Chavanel falling behind the top contenders on the tough La Ramaz climb.

SaxoBanks' Andy Schleck got to the front of the pack with less than a mile left and winning a two-man sprint ahead of Samuel Sanchez of Spain.

He clocked in at 4:54:11 to win the stage...

Armstrong is 13:26 back...

With about 12 miles to go, shortly after the La Ramaz summit, Armstrong had a rider crash in front of him- his third wreck of the day.

Earlier, Armstrong fell while trying to negotiate a roundabout along with the pack. His team quickly got him on another bike, but he returned to the race with the back of his jersey and his bib numbers torn.

Here are two of the wrecks with Armstrong...
((HT: TdF/EuroSport/BritainsOnTalent))



"I clipped the pedal and then my tire rolled off," Armstrong said. "Then, the next thing I know, I was rolling along the ground, at 60-65 [kilometers] an hour."

"My Tour is finished," he admitted...

Here's Schleck after the podium...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Chavanel Wins Stage 7 of Tour de France Thing

Sylvain Chavanel won the seventh stage of the Tour de France and recaptured the yellow jersey as the race entered the mountains over the weekend.

Riding for team Quick Step, he also won the second stage, and completed the 101-mile route Saturday from Tournus to Station des Rousses ski station, with six low to mid- grade climbs along the route.

Chavanel began the stage in fifth place 61 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara.

The main race contenders, including Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, were near the front of the peloton about two minutes behind Chavanel.

Here's Chavanel after his podium presentation...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Cavendish Goes Back-To-Back Wins, Avoids Cyclist Fight...

Mark Cavendish made it back-to-back stage victories leading another sprint for the line as the contenders finished in the peloton close behind.

The HTC Columbia rider earned his 12th career Tour stage victory on the 141.3-mile sixth stage from Montargis to Gueugnon- clocking in at 5 hours, 37 minutes, 42 seconds to edge Tyler Farrar of the United States and Alessandro Petacchi of Italy.

The main title contenders had the same time as Cavendish. Defending champion Alberto Contador was 28th, seven-time champion Lance Armstrong was 38th, and overall race leader Fabian Cancellara was 41st.

Here's the biker fight... actually, they're not on hogs...
It's a cyclist fight... very European right-hands, though... it's more of a pounding.
((HT: Tour de France/VersusTV))


Here's Cavendish again... to the winner goes the sound bites...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Cavendish Takes Stage 5 of Tour de France Thing

Since a lot of people thought he was going to take Stage 4, they were only one off...

Mark Cavendish won the fifth stage in your normal-end-of-the-stage sprint, collecting his 11th career stage victory at the Tour over the 116.3-mile trek from Epernay in Champagne country to Montargis.

Fabian Cancellara retained the yellow jersey. Cadel Evans of Australia holds third place, 39 seconds back, and last year's runner-up, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, is sixth, 1:09 back.

Defending champion Alberto Contador is ninth, 1:40 back, while seven-time winner Lance Armstrong is 2:30 back in 18th.

Here's Cavendish after the podium...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Petacchi Takes Stage 4 Of Tour de France Thing

Alessandro Petacchi won the fourth stage of the Tour de France in anther big sprint at the finish that included Lance Armstrong and other contenders finishing in the pack.

Petacchi picked up his second stage win in the 95.4-mile ride from Cambrai to the champagne capital Reims on Wednesday.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland also crossed in the main pack to retain the yellow jersey. Cycling regulations dictate, for those of you who don't know, that everyone who finishes in the peloton picks up the same time overall.

Here's your postgame with Petacchi...
((HT: tourdefrance))

Hushovd Takes Stage 3 Of Tour

Thor Hushovd of Norway won a cobblestone-laden third stage of the Tour de France while Lance Armstrong was held up by a flat tire and lost time to the leaders.

Fabian Cancellara finished in a five-man group behind Hushovd but regained the yellow jersey he had given up a day earlier to Sylvain Chavanel. Armstrong, the seven-time champion, dropped to 18th place overall, 2 minutes, 30 seconds behind.

Hushovd finished ahead of Britain's Geraint Thomas and Australia's Cadel Evans in a sprint finish among the leading group of riders.

Here's Hushovd on the Stage win...
((HT: letourdefrance))


SaxoBank rider, and Tour contender, Frank Schleck is out of the race after a crash on the stones. Stage 4 is tomorrow...

Tour Stage 2: More Crashes And A New Leader

Lance Armstrong bloodied his thigh in a crash during Monday's Stage 2 in a rainy second stage won by new race leader Sylvain Chavanel of France .

Armstrong and defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain fell on a slippery descent on Stockeu Pass toward the end of the 125-mile run from Brussels to Spa.

Chavanel took the yellow jersey from Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara. The Frenchman finished in 4 hours, 40 minutes, 48 seconds, winning a Tour stage for the second time in his career. Armstrong is in fifth place overall, 3:19 behind.

Look for those times to change over the next few stages.
This isn't set in any kind of stone as Chavanel is not looked at as a contender...

Here's the recap, taped from a television...
((HT: TdF/Versus/Dogbreath987654321))


And here's your Chavanel postgame...from the Tour their ownselves...
((HT: letourdefrance))

Tour de France Crashes In Belgium's First Stage

Alessandro Petacchi of Team Lampre won the stage that ended in Brussels today, but the story was all the crashes that took out some contenders from stage wins.

Here's your quick look at all of them...
((HT: TdF/France2/teamrunski))


Fabian Cancellara, the Swiss who won Saturday's prologue, retains the yellow jersey and seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong remains fourth, 22 seconds back.

Alberto Contador, the 2009 champion, was sixth, 27 seconds behind.

"It was really nervous today, and at the end it was just insane," Cancellara said. "At the end, I couldn't do anything. I was also in the chaos. I hit the ground pretty hard. ... Tomorrow I will feel the asphalt that I found at the end."

Stage 2 is 125 miles tomorrow from Brussels to Spa...

Lance Finishes 4th After Stage One

((HT: Versus/Tour de France))

After having already tweeted that this was going to be his last Tour de France, Lance Armstrong comes out and does this in stage one...

Here's the recap and post...
((HT: MyCooper05))


Fabian Cancellara collected a fourth Tour prologue win and second in a row, clocking 10 minutes even for the 5.5-mile ride on rain-dampened roads in Rotterdam.

Armstrong is 22 seconds back in fourth. Armstrong beat Alberto Contador by 5 seconds.

"In my heart, that was a surprise," Armstrong said. "I wanted to have a decent day in the time trial, and I was not the best out there today."

Astana Squad Under Investigation For Syringes

((HT: CP))

Nothing like something found during the Tour de France thing to raise an eyebrow...

Again...

L'Equipe newspaper reported Tuesday on its website that prosecutors opened the case after "the discovery of several suspicious syringes in a container given by organizers to all the teams in order to collect the medical waste."

((Aren't all syringes at sporting events suspicious...???))

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third-place Lance Armstrong rode with Astana on this year's Tour. The Spaniard is still under contract with the Kazakh-funded team while the Texan left to launch his own squad, RadioShack.

According to L'Equipe, the syringes will be analyzed by a forensic lab called Toxlab, which is responsible for determining their content.

Of course it is... nothing like a Euro-lab on a hunt for anything...

Here's some old video of the third-place guy when he smoked the field in a previous Tour de France thing...
((HT: TDF/Versus))

DHEA: Done! Hamilton Ends ((It)) All

First it was Greg LeMond in the role of "Greatest American Cyclist." Then it was supposed to be Andy Hampsten, Lance, and the guy we're talking about now...

And this is what athletes do to try and keep up with reputations and prophecies...

((HT: CBSSports))

Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, once touted as the next great American cyclist and an heir to Lance Armstrong's throne atop the sport, ended his doping-tarnished career Friday by saying he tested positive for a banned substance and would retire.

Hamilton admitted taking an herbal product for two days in February to combat depression, knowing it included a steroid.

"There's nothing to fight about," Hamilton told the Associated Press. "I took a banned substance. I accept the consequences. You make mistakes in your life and I accept the penalty like a man."

Hamilton, 38, will likely receive a ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that may range from eight years to life, a sentence that would have ended his racing days anyway.

"He has had a cloud over his career for a while now and the sport is better off without him," said Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union.

Hamilton's win at the 2004 Athens Games was overshadowed by a blood doping scandal. He tested positive for doping a second time later that year, served a two-year suspension and returned to racing early in 2007 -- never revealing that he was fighting depression, which he said runs in his family.

Going through a divorce and seeing his mother fight breast cancer made things worse in recent months, Hamilton said.

Seeking relief, he took something called Mitamins Advanced Formula, billed as a "natural depression treatment with vitamins, herbs and supplements."

"Obviously, that was a mistake," Hamilton said.

In a statement, USADA said it will continue going through the process of issuing a sanction.

"Although Mr. Hamilton has now retired from the sport of cycling and has publicly accepted responsibility, this is a pending matter and USADA will make an announcement of the final outcome and imposition of the exact sanction in accordance with the rules when the process is complete, which should be in the coming months," the statement said.

The Mitamins product contains common things such as vitamins D, B-6 and B-12, along with thiamin, riboflavin and calcium. Each serving also contains 20 milligrams of a steroid called Dehydroepiandrosterone -- DHEA, as it's known.

"Clinical research has suggested that taking DHEA orally might improve the symptoms of depression," reads the company's website.

Hamilton said the amount of the steroid found in his system was "so, so low" and that subsequent tests, including ones later that same week before the Tour of California, all came back negative.

"I took it to help my mental state," Hamilton said. "I did not, 100 percent, take it for any performance enhancement."
Hamilton said he was taking a prescription antidepressant called Celexa, and was feeling so badly a few months ago that he decided to double up on the dosage. After seeing no significant change in his mental state, Hamilton stopped taking the drug entirely.

He tried the Mitamins product, he said, on February 6 and 7. USADA testers knocked on his door the next day.

"I was thinking everything would be fine," Hamilton said. "It might sound a little crazy, but I wasn't really worried. I wasn't really stressing about it. Maybe it's because of everything else I was going through. I don't know why."

About five weeks later, he learned everything was not fine.

Citing bronchitis, Hamilton did not ride in the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in Spain -- the race where Armstrong fell and broke his collarbone. And Hamilton was expected to be the leader of Rock Racing's team for a race in Portugal earlier this month, but was replaced on the roster shortly before that event.

At the time, few knew why.

"This is, for me personally, a really tough day," said Rock Racing owner Michael Ball. "My personality is to always fight for what I feel is right."

Others around Hamilton also encouraged him to fight the latest positive test. Hamilton's attorney, Chris Manderson, said they were mapping "several different strategies" including one to file a federal suit against USADA over the testing.

"Tyler has decided he does not want to pursue that route," Manderson said. "He wants to focus on the reasons why he did what he did and he wants to focus on getting better and getting on with his life."

Hamilton won the road time trial at the Athens Olympics, capping one of the finest days USA Cycling had known.

Americans won three medals that day on a road along the Saronic Gulf, with Hamilton's gold and Bobby Julich taking the bronze in the time trial and Dede Barry winning silver in the women's time trial.

Soon after, Hamilton's first positive test for blood doping came back, but he was ultimately allowed to keep the gold medal because his 'B' sample collected in Athens could not be properly tested. A month later, he tested positive again.

Hamilton has long denied participating in blood doping, the transfusion of extra blood that can increase endurance because more red blood cells are available to deliver oxygen to muscles.

For this latest positive test, he denied nothing.

"I knew it was banned," Hamilton said.

Hamilton briefly considered himself retired last year, then returned to compete in several races, plus won USA Cycling's road race national championship by less than one one-hundreth of a second.

He doesn't know what he'll do next, other than focusing on his health and family.

"This isn't about a test. It's a bigger issue," Hamilton said. "It's a disease that I'm going through, that my family has gone through, that I need to take care of. Cycling is just a sport, racing your bike from Point A to Point B. What I'm going through is so much bigger."

Hamilton, riding for Team CSC, was in the middle of the peloton in 2003 when this happened... and he made sure the group showed proper respect for Armstrong...
((HT: TdF/Versus))

That Tour de France Thing...

Hey, it’s that time of year again…

Yeah, you say, the slowest time of the sports calendar… since the Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton, pretty much, carried us through the Professional Baseball Mid-Week Popularity Contest and Baseball Game with his performance ((dare we say- “Ruthian” performance?)) in the Bronx. And now we have to kill time until college football teams are allowed to practice…

Nah…not that…

The Tour de France…

What???!!! Isn’t that the bike race where Lance Armstrong had Sheryl Crow wave and wish him good luck before he was seen with the Olsen twins and Kate Hudson???

Well, yes, it was… But he doesn’t race in it anymore…

He’s busy being seen with the Olsen twins and Kate Hudson these days, remember…?

Hey, they’re all clean riders now… or at least they say they are clean…

We’re supposed to believe in that concept, right…?

It’s Not About The Bike…

But, apparently, and to no one’s surprise at OSG HQ an entire team has exited the proceedings after one of their riders came up on the plus side of an International Cycling Union-mandated testing procedure after the 12^th stage of this year’s Tour.

I know what you’re saying… they’ve already gone 12 stages this year…?

Riccardo Ricco had won two stages, and the A-sample of his test had what was referred to as a “new generation EPO” in it. Two marginal riders had been bumped off with positive tests earlier in the race- one of them, Moises Duenas Nevado, was still being questioned by authorities when Ricco was being led away in handcuffs. Ricco’s team, Saunier-Duval, decided enough was enough and pulled out as a group.

You realize that this is the third year in a row that something like this has happened…? And some of the riders are talking out of both sides of their mouth when they see their peers checking in to the French equivalent of the Po-Po.

Australian Cadel Evans said that “that the sport is being cleaned up in serious, fair and transparent way. Our sport is being crucified for doing the right thing.”

Understand, simply, that if you guys didn’t keep thinking that you could win in one fashion- enhanced- that the rest of us wouldn’t laugh at you and your too-tight tights, your six-hour rides, your aerodynamically efficient helmets, your Schwinns-turned-into-rockets, and your sport in general.

Simple, really… isn’t it...?

You don’t cheat. You play fair. You take your tests. You pass your tests. You win.

See Jim bike. Bike Jim bike.

See Jim cheat with a needle in his ass. Cheat Jim cheat.

See Jim suspended by his sport

See viewership go away.

Go viewers go.

"It's just amazing. It's irresponsible," British cyclist David Millar said. "This guy does not have any love or care for the sport."

You think…? And fans are leaving in numbers as well… or at least they should…

I’m half-tempted to say that either all of you should be allowed to cheat, or none of you should be allowed to cheat. The UCI should make up their mind once and for all. Let all of their hearts explode on the French countryside in some reckless, over-speeding, Autobahn induced excuse of a peloton.

Or shut it all down…

dot…dot…dot…

Ricco had been under some watchful, and appropriately-raised, eyebrows ever since he admitted that he’s had high hematocrit levels “ever since he was a child.” For those who don’t have PhD’s in hematology ((that’s English for the “study of all things bloody…” Got that one…?)), hematocrit levels are the indicators for red blood cell count levels inside the body. High hematocrit levels make people suspicious of EPO use, and you can circumstantially add one and one to come up with EPO use.

You just can’t connect those dots outright. The UCI did, anyway.

All you have to do is check other things, like hemoglobin levels, for back-up.

The two cycling teams based in the US, Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia, independently test their riders- separate from the UCI or Tour testing procedures. They are making pledges to cycling fans they will ride clean or the rider busted is out of a job.

I think it’s too late to bring interest into this country, even with such a noble thought. Ricco is 24 years old. If younger cyclists think they can skirt the system with new, designer drugs they will think of themselves as “bulletproof” until further notice.

Irony of ironies… after Ricco’s win in the 9^th stage, he said:

"I hope soon that everybody will stop speaking about that."

Maybe later…

Play it safe, everyone… I’ll talk to you soon…