The First 100 Miles

Everybody's Happy

So, the three grand tours (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana) have been released from the UCI's Pro Tour roster, as requested.  The Tour Down Under has been moved up into their place as a new Pro Tour for next year (something the Aussie's have been wanting for a long time) allowing the UCI to expand the Pro Tour to countries outside of Europe (something they've been wanting to do for a long time).  Are we all happy now?  Can we play nicely?  No more fighting? 

I think that the Tour Down Under organizers should be careful what they wish for.

Moving on, I'm scrolling through the news on CN today and I see this little item buried halfway down the page about how tests have now revealed that Rasmussen was taking Dynepo - an EPO-like product - during the 2007 Tour.  This isn't bigger news?  Technically the UCI hasn't listed Dynepo as a banned substance yet, but that's simply because it's fairly new on the market and the WADA doping tests haven't caught up to it yet.  But basically the Chicken was doing EPO during the Tour this year.

My guess is that the Rabobank team management found this out earlier and that's part of the reason they pulled him out.  And thank God they did.  What happened this year was bad enough. Can you imagine if he'd stayed in the race, won it, and then tested positive for a drug akin to EPO?  Two TdF winners testing positive back-to-back?

Bettini and Valverde will both be riding on Sunday in the elite men's road race at the World Championships.  Valverde won his appeal with the CAS and, according to CN, "the Stuttgart District Court dismissed the petition to grand a preliminary injunction" against Bettini to prevent him from starting on Sunday.  A very important break for both of them as this is a huge race on each of their calendars.  Bettini is obviously defending the title that he won there last year, and Valverde has taken 2nd place twice in this race and 3rd last year.

Cathy, thanks for dropping by and giving us the great update on Interbike.  Sounds like you're having a great time.  I hope you'll provide pics when you get back.

Dicovery Channel's Fumiyuki Beppu has announced that he will be riding with Dutch team Skil-Shimano next year.  Always makes me happy to hear that another one of those guys has found a new home.  We'll have to take the ones that are left over at the end of the season and put them in a cardboard box and leave them on the doorstep of Jonathan Vaughters.

Our favourite Fat Cyclist has recently started contributing a weekly column over at Bike Radar.  Check out his piece from last week.  So funny.  I was still chuckling to myself about it last night as I was getting ready for bed.

T-Mobile unveiled their new squad for 2008 yesterday and they've decided to hire a whole fleet of baby cyclists.  12 out of the 27-man team are under the age of 25.  Big George is going to be like the wise old grandfather.  He'll sit them on his knee, one by one, and tell them about how they did it back in his day.  "When I was your age we didn't even have wheels.  We had to push the bike along the road with our bare feet.  There were no team cars.  We carried 400 water bottles on our backs up the Alps each day.  And a man named Lance Armstrong was our king."

Answers

Okay, there's a lot of questions out there that I have been very bad about getting to, so let me try to answer them now.

Cat - and whoever else asked me this question recently - I have no idea what happens when you click on "Add me to your Typepad people list" or "Subscribe to this blog's feed."  I say someone should try it and let us know.  Maybe it tells you who Tom Boonen's dating.

Now to the Bitch Kittie situation.  I chatted with her this morning and told her that the folks here were concerned about her and had questions about how she was doing and what was up with the BK blog.  Here is her response to you all:

"I've been pretty torn up about Floyd's verdict. I have found myself really needing to FILTER what's coming out of my mouth concerning the issue. My site and filtering did not go hand in hand.  I'm also making some major changes in my life that need to have my full attention at this time.  Everything's great, everything's good . . . or at least its heading that way.  Feel free to find me on Facebook . . . . if you dare!  Who knows. The site could be up again in an hour or a week.  . .please keep checking back . .. I'll definitely put it up on Sara's blog when we're live again."

Take care Jessi, we love you and miss you.

The new "Next" button.  I don't know where it came from or why Typepad decided that it was necessary. I know it's annoying and, for a while there, everyone was thinking that their comments weren't getting posted, but I think we've all figured it out now so we'll just have to get used to it I guess.

Does that answer all of the questions that people have had lately?  I hope so.  If I forgot something, please remind me.

Amy, thank you so much for being so generous with your offensive bracelets.  I can't wait to get it and I'll wear it with pride - just not to dinner with my in-laws.

Rocket Robbie has a new post up on his website where he answers some questions of his own - namely why he's not competing at the World's this week.  Basically - too many hills.

Sonic Boom

Totally ripped off my headline this morning from Eurosport, but I just thought it was perfect and why mess with perfection?

21-year-old Lars Boom of the Netherlands is the new U23 World Time Trial Champion, beating out last year's winner - and the heavy favorite to take the title again this year - Russia's Mikhail Ignatiev.

How adorable is this kid?  And the hilarious part is that Boom doesn't even have any interest in being a road rider.  He's a successful competitor in the cyclo-cross discipline and says that this win doesn't change that.  Cyclo-cross is what he loves, and cyclo-cross is where he'll stay.

Nice for Rabobank though. They really have redeemed themselves after their dark days during the Tour.  First Denis Menchov's win at the Vuelta and now a shiny gold medal from the World Championships.  Very nicely done.

Interesting piece on VeloNews today about this talk of a "Tour of America." It's a 27-stage grand tour that would take the best riders in the world from one coast to the other over 30 days.  Sports management company, Aqu, Inc., is the group with the idea and they are scheduled to provide more details about their plan at a press conference tomorrow at Interbike in Las Vegas.

God, wouldn't that be fun? I know cycling doesn't have anything like the following here in North America that it does over in Europe, but I really think a race like that could be hugely popular and could ignite a new love for the sport over here.  I so hope they can make it happen.

Matt, you crack me up.  Yes, the search engines certainly do pick up terms from the Comment section here as well as my posts.  But, while I admire your creativity, I checked this morning and we have yet to have anyone visit us after searching for the term "napalm."  Keep trying. 

We did however, manage to really confuse two more people who were searching "tom boonen and lore."  Seriously ladies, check out the thing with him and his mom - it's not hot.

Thank You Gerolsteiner

A big thanks to my new favourite Pro Tour team - Gerolsteiner.  On Monday the Canadian national team that was heading to the World Championships had most of their bikes stolen from their team bus outside their hotel in Herrenberg, Germany. 

According to Cycling News, "the thieves cut through a rubber gasket and removed an entire window from the squad's team truck, taking off with nine bikes, including all of the U23 road and Time Trial bikes and two spare bikes."

There was a question as to whether or not the team would be able to replace the equipment in time to compete.  But happily, the generous members of the Gerolsteiner team - who are based very near where the Canadian team is staying this week - have offered to provide the team with enough Specialized bikes so that they can compete as planned.

On behalf of all Canadian cycling fans, I thank the boys of Gerolsteiner.  If I could buy the water here in Canada - I would.

On a totally unrelated topic, I have found that people on the internet are very concerned about Tom Boonen's love life.  I told you all before about how Typepad allows me to see what search terms people entered into various search engines that eventually brought them to my blog - Waddy has since been using the information to torrment MD.  But lately the most common terms that are bringing folks here are "tom boonen relationship", "tom boonen and girlfriend", "tom boonen and lore."  It's very funny.  The unfortunate thing is that I don't talk about Tom so much anymore since I started getting the creepy crawlies about his relationship with his mom.  But there is clearly a market out there for a blog soley based on Tom Boonen's love life.  Maybe I need to start that up.  Larry, Matt, Paul, Waddy, Greg, Woofdawg, Adam, would you still visit if all I talked about was whom Tom Boonen was #$*!ing?

So, I ordered my HTFU bracelet last week, only to get an email the following day telling me that my order could not be processed because they don't take international orders at this time.  Bah!  Does anyone know where else I can get one?  I know that some of you ordered them from Australia but paid a hefty fee for shipping.  Any other US or Canadian suppliers out there?

And, in happy news, I changed my own brake cable last night at my Wenches with Wrenches class!  Yay!  I know that for most of you guys that seems ridiculously simple, but for someone like myself, who previoulsy imagined that my brakes and gears basically worked via magic, this was very exciting and empowering.

Cathy, I hope you're having a great time at Interbike.  When you are offered more work than you can handle from all of your meetings and interviews - keep little ole' me in mind ;)

Gotta Run...

Sorry guys, this is going to be a really short one.  I'm been running around all day with kids and  meetings. I found an hour to get to the gym and took a crazy boxing/marshal arts-style exercise class that just kicked my butt and makes me want to just go to bed right now, but instead I have to drive all the way downtown for my third Wenches with Wrenches class.  I think we're doing brakes tonight.

Congrats to Denis Menchov for winning the Vuelta even though I think Cathy is the only one of us who was really paying any attention.

And thanks to Susie for sharing the note that Floyd sent out to his supporters.  Nice to see that he hasn't crawled under the bed, refusing to get out of his pyjamas until he finishes his tin foil hat to keep the mind rays at bay.  One thing we all know about Floyd is what a tough SOB he is and if anyone can get through this reasonably intact, it's him.

Anyway, again, I'm sorry guys but that's all I've got for you today.  I have to run again now but I'll be back tomorrow and, I'm sure, much more aware of my surroundings.

Moving On

Before I say anything else I'd just like to clarify the meaning behind the title of yesterday's post.  After reading the comments yesterday I think a lot of people took it the wrong way.  I didn't mean "it's over" for Floyd.  I mean that the wait was over.  The worrying, the wondering, the guessing was over. 

I don't feel at all that yesterday's decision marks the end for Floyd.  His intelligence, passion and integrity, coupled with the support of his incredible friends and family, are going to serve him well as he moves into this next chapter of his life.  And I have no doubt that he is going to continue to inspire us - it just won't be from the seat of a bike for a while.

Paula, from TBV, asked that I post a link to their information on the Hoist a Glass to Floyd initiative which is now more relevant than ever.  Take a look. 

It was so great to read all of the comments here yesterday.  I loved the reference that, I think Waddy made, to it being like a wake.  As soon as I read the verdict yesterday my first feeling was deep sadness, but I was immediately buoyed by the knowledge that I would have all of my fellow Inane Asylum residents to get through this with.

So, now what?  Floyd may appeal to the CAS but really, what are the chances of anything changing there?  The UCI has already proclaimed Oscar Pereiro as the winner of the 2006 Tour.  I saw that some folks here think that he doesn't deserve it.  If I recall, someone even called him a big whiney baby. 

As many of you know, I have had mixed feelings about Oscar over the past year.  At times I've felt that people were too hard on him.  He didn't ask to come in second to a rider who subsequently became the first winner of the Tour to fail a doping test.  Whatever you think about their personalities, or the sound bites that they give to the media, these guys all work ridiculously hard.  They sacrfice and suffer every day to get where they are and I don't think that any of us is in a position to say that anyone who can complete the Tour de France doesn't deserve to win it. 

So, I was with Kathleen a bit yesterday in sort of feeling that it would be tough for Oscar to deal with the media crush now and have to win the tour by default.  But then I read about his interview with Radio Marca, and what was Oscar's reaction to yesterday's verdict?  He would like to receive official documentation "witnessed by notary public" of his win.  He feels that this would help make up for all that he has lost in not being able to enjoy the win on the cobbles of Paris.  Way to take the high road Oscar.  Now, I know that often something is lost in the translation of these interviews, but something tells me that this one was pretty straight forward.  And while I still give him great credit for his abilities as a rider, I think he's an ass.

In other Caisse d'Epargne news, UCI President Pat McQuaid obviously read my post the other day about putting up or shutting up and has come out and challenged Valverde to prove his innocence by submitting his DNA for comparison to the OP blood bags and end the matter once and for all.  Now, I'm not saying that I agree with the idea that the burden of proof should be on the accused. I still think that if the UCI is so sure that he's dirty, they should be the ones to come up with some evidence.  However, given the fact that the World's are looming ahead and that Valverde's career is on the line here, I think this challence from McQuaid poses a great opportunity for Valverde to clear his name and end the speculation.  Again, I'm not saying it's the right way, I'm just saying that that the clock is ticking and this is a chance to end the debate.

But Valverde won't submit his DNA. Perhaps that's because he's philosophically opposed to the idea that he would have to prove his innocence.  Perhaps.

So, instead, a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport will be held Wednesday in Switzerland to determine whether or not Valverde will ride for Spain at the World's.

The Canadian Cycling Association announced their lineup for the World's yesterday.  The team will consist of Svein Tuft (road race and time trial), Cam Evans (road race), Ryder Hesjedal (time trial), Dominique Rollin (road race) and Andrew Randell (reserve - road race).  All fabulous riders and I can't wait to see how they do in Stuttgart.

And Larry, thanks for mentioning the interview with former Canadian road racer Genevieve Jeanson.  I give Jeanson great credit for coming out and telling her story.  You can read about her interview at Canadian Cyclist.

Phew, lots to talk about today.  And I didn't even get into Tom Boonen being out of the World's and officially ending his season.  Unlike Oscar Pereiro I'm going to take the high road and resist the urge to make any comment about his mommy or the kissing of boo-boos. 

Get better soon Tom.

It's Over

The wait is over.  After a year of waiting, wondering and hoping, the arbitration panel in the Floyd Landis appeal has released their decision - 2 to 1 against the American rider.  Floyd will now be officially stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title and be forced to serve out a two year ban from cycling which will be retroactive to January 30, 2007.

According to the history books - when they are written - Oscar Pereiro will have won the 2006 Tour de France - with as asterisk beside his name. 

A sad day for Floyd, for his family, and for all of his fans.  Paula, and all of the folks over at TBV, I'm sorry for you today.  You guys have spent more than a year working every day to bring us news and updates on the case, to help us understand the often confusing details of Floyd's hearing, and you have done it all because of your belief in this man and your passion for doing what you could to support him and his family through this ordeal.  Thank you so much for your excellent work.

The one thing that makes me happy to see is that his ban will indeed be retrocative which means that he could, theoretically, be riding again in just over a year.  It's not much, but it's something to be hopeful for.

We love you Floyd.  And we still believe in you.

Valverde Tug-o-War

The Spaniards have finalised their team for the World Road Championships in Stuttgart this month and Alejandro Valverde's name features prominently on the list.

At present, the Spanish lineup is: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), Óscar Freire (Rabobank), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Carlos Sastre (Team CSC), Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom), Carlos Barredo (Quick.Step - Innergetic), Manuel Beltrán (Liquigas) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank).

However, being confident is one thing, being reckless is another, so they have admitted that José Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d'Epargne) will be waiting in the wings to be brought in as a replacement for both the road race and time trial should it be necessary.

It's the strangest situation because the UCI is adamant that Valverde will not ride at this year's Worlds.  But the Spanish Cycling Federation - and his team - are just as adamant that he will.  I get almost daily news releases from the Caisse d'Epargne team and these days they like to make casual mention of how Valverde's training for the World's is going and how strong and ready he feels.

But this system of guilty until proven innocent that the UCI is working with has got to stop.  These guys work their whole lives to get to this level of racing.  And when they get here, they only have a few good years in the legs in which to make their mark and then it's over for them.  They don't have time to sit around arguing with arbitration panels and the courts.  If the UCI has evidence that Valverde cheated, let's get it out on the table and deal with it.  If they don't then shut up and let the guy do what he's worked so hard to do.  If they suspect that he's cheating then they need to roll up their sleeves and get to work finding the evidence before they start throwing wrenches into his career.

And, I'm not sure who Maurice Montana is, but I think I'm in love.

The Last Week of Waiting

They're saying that this will be the week.  After more than a year of questions and confusion surrounding the 2006 Tour de France and the positive doping test of winner Floyd Landis, the word has come down that the U.S. arbitration panel has concluded their deliberations and that their decision will be made public before next Monday.

I'm trying to be positive and send good vibes out into the universe, but I have to admit that it's not easy.  It just seems to me  that the entire process has been so stacked against Floyd that I just don't see why justice would raise it's head at this point in the whole mess.  Why would this part be any more fair than the rest of this joke of a system has been?

Not happy about these rumors of Johan and Levi heading over to Astana.  It's a dirty team and the idea of those two getting involved with them smells bad to me.  No good will come of that.

Obviously it was sweet to see Big George with the Tour of Missouri over the weekend.  What a great ending for a great team and an even better rider.  Nicely done boys.

I was really proud of how my Canadian boys did on the Symmetrics team down in Missouri.  Andrew Randall finished 8th overall on GC and Zach Bell and Andrew Pinfold brought home two second place stage finishes.  Unfortunately, Jake Erker had to retire from the race after a crash when he was hit by a media car carrying a photographer through the field. Jake was diagnosed with a slightly broken clavicle, but hopes to recover soon.

So, this week we wait.  We wait to hear where Levi - and the rest of the still unclaimed Disco riders - will go next year.  We wait to see if Menchov is going to win the 2007 Vuelta.  And, we wait to hear whether we're going to spend July of 2008 reading online stories about how Floyd's paying the rent during his two-year ban, or perched on the edge of our seats screaming at the TV as we watch him inflict pain over the Pyrenees.

It's going to be a long week.

Now There's a Reason To Go Home

Saunier Duval's Leonardo Piepoli abandoned the Vuelta yesterday after learning that he wife had fallen seriously ill due to complications after she gave birth to a baby boy - the couple's first child.  Piepoli's wife's doctor told him that the new mother would be fine and that he should remain in the race, but the concerned husband decided that he would be too distracted with worry and pulled out to head home to be by her side.

We had a good conversation here the other day about Oscar Friere's plan to leave the Vuelta early in order to go home and train for the World's.  Wherever you stood on that discussion, I think we can all agree that this is a good reason to leave a Grand Tour.

As we all predicted, Discovery is dominating the Tour of Missouri.  Nice win for Levi in the time trial and it's just great to see George so well set up to win this race.  Plus, there's something really neat about a team where a talented, dedicated, loyal and skilled rider like George gets to have the winner of this year's Tour de France working for him in a race.  I just love that.

I'm so enjoying getting these on-the-ground reports from Theresa and Janann, you guys sound like you're having a blast.  I'm so jealous!

Very funny quote in Rory Sutherland's diary over on CN.  Sutherland (Health Net) is writing diary entries during the Tour of Missouri and he is in love with Dave Towle, one of the announcers for the race.  Here were Rory's favourite quotes from Stage 3:

"Oh my god... here come the heavy hitters!!"

"Welcome to DOWNTOWN PAINSVILLE!!"

"This is gonna be on like Donkey Kong."

"Find something to hold onto 'cause there's a tornado about to blow into town."

It's sort of like if Phil Ligget and Dave Zabriskie had a baby and it became a cycling race announcer.