A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
An American cyclist cheats death then returns to his sport to win its premier event, the grueling three-week-long Tour de France.
Thus reads the hagiography of Lance Armstrong, who survived advanced testicular cancer then won the 1999 Tour. But it is also the story of Greg LeMond, who rode victoriously into Paris ten years earlier with 37 shotgun pellets in his body, the result of a 1987 hunting accident.
This really shouldn’t be surprising at this point. Here are the details of Tyler Hamilton and George Hincapie joining Floyd Landis in accusing Armstrong of doping.
Earlier today while making my morning perusal of Reddit, I came across this picture.
Even if you only follow sports peripherally – hell, even if you just follow pop culture – I’m sure you can appreciate the appropriate chuckle-to-yourself juxtaposition of these two books.
Immediately I knew that this image would provide the raw material from whence my first demotivational poster would emanate. [Read more...]
Tyler is out on vacation this week, actually doing some bike riding, so in his absence I will step outside of my NCAA Tournament/Chicago White Sox cocoon and post the biggest cycling news of the day:
Lance Armstrong fractured his collarbone today during a race in Spain, leaving his planned participation in this year’s Tour de France in doubt. According to Armstrong (as reported in the Lance Armstrong injury update by ESPN.com), “it’s a very big problem.”
From the ESPN.com report:
Armstrong was knocked off his bike during a pileup in the first stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon race and was taken to a hospital by ambulance. The American, who crashed about 12.5 miles from the stage’s finish, was grimacing and trying to hold his right arm as he entered the ambulance.
“The collarbone is broken, and I have a little bit of road-rash abrasions,” Armstrong said as he left Valladolid University Hospital. “I’ve never had this happen before; it’s pretty painful. I feel really miserable.”
Astana team leader Johan Bruyneel said on his Twitter feed that there were no complications in the break, and suggested Armstrong could be back riding soon.
“Clean collarbone fracture,” Bruyneel said. “Should be fast recovery.”
Armstrong is scheduled to compete in the Giro d’Italia from May 9-May 31. The Tour runs July 4-26.Armstrong’s participation in the Giro will now be “very complicated,” he told reporters.
So it seems as if the early prognosis is somewhat conflicted. Lance Armstrong says it’s a big problem concerning his Tour de France participation and that he feels “really miserable.” But the Astana team leader suggested Lance could be back soon and that he should have a fast recovery.
I have broken my collarbone twice (when I was much younger) and it was at least 6-8 weeks before I could really move it or do anything. Two months would put Lance at the end of May, which certainly does complicate his expected participation in the Giro d’Italia. I would assume that he would be back healthy by the beginning of the Tour de France, but obviously his preparation is going to be severely limited from what he is used to.
And you would have to think that Armstrong won’t want to put his 7 straight wins on the line if he is not at full strength. Certainly this will be a story to monitor for all of the cycling enthusiasts out there. I’m sure Tyler will check in with more when he gets back.
The 2009 Tour de France will mark the return of 7-Time Tour Champion Lance Armstrong. Armstrong will be riding alongside Alberto Contador, who has won the Giro, Vuelta, and Tour de France and is undoubtedly the best stage race cyclist on the planet. Other notable riders will include Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde, Danilo Di Luca, Ivan Basso, Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen, and Thor Hushovd.
Note: The television schedule has not yet been released, however Versus will be picking up every stage live and have highlights following the stages. Cycling.tv will have highlights after the stages completion. The TV Start column will be updated once the schedules are released.
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| Stage | Date | Type | Distance | Profile | Where | TV Start |
| Stage 1 | 7/4 | TT | 15K | Link | Monaco -> Monaco | |
| Stage 2 | 7/5 | FLAT | 182K | Link | Monaco -> Brignoles | |
| Stage 3 | 7/6 | FLAT | 196K | Link | Marseille -> La Grande-Motte | |
| Stage 4 | 7/7 | TTT | 38K | Link | Montpellier -> Montpellier | |
| Stage 5 | 7/8 | FLAT | 197K | Link | Le Cap d’Agde -> Perpignan | |
| Stage 6 | 7/9 | FLAT | 175K | Link | Girona -> Barcelona | |
| Stage 7 | 7/10 | MT | 224K | Link | Barcelona -> Arcalis | |
| Stage 8 | 7/11 | MT | 176K | Link | Andorra-la-Vella -> Saint-Girons | |
| Stage 9 | 7/12 | MT | 160K | Link | Saint-Gaudens -> Tarbes | |
| Rest Day | 7/13 | Rest | 0K | Rest | Rest day in Limoges | |
| Stage 10 | 7/14 | FLAT | 193K | Link | Limoges -> Issoudun | |
| Stage 11 | 7/15 | FLAT | 192K | Link | Vatan -> Saint Fargeau | |
| Stage 12 | 7/16 | FLAT | 200K | Link | Tonnerre -> Vittel | |
| Stage 13 | 7/17 | FLAT | 200K | Link | Vittel -> Colmar | |
| Stage 14 | 7/18 | FLAT | 199K | Link | Colmar -> Besancon | |
| Stage 15 | 7/19 | MT | 207K | Link | Pontarlier -> Verbier | |
| Rest Day | 7/20 | Rest | 0K | Rest | Rest day in Verbier | |
| Stage 16 | 7/21 | MT | 160K | Link | Martigny -> Bourg-Saint-Maurice | |
| Stage 17 | 7/22 | MT | 169K | Link | Bourg-Saint-Maurice -> Le Grand-Bornand | |
| Stage 18 | 7/23 | TT | 40K | Link | Annecy -> Annecy | |
| Stage 19 | 7/24 | FLAT | 195K | Link | Bougoin-Jallieu -> Aubenas | |
| Stage 20 | 7/25 | MT | 167K | Link | Montelimar -> Mont Ventoux | |
| Stage 21 | 7/26 | FLAT | 160K | Link | Montereau-Fault-Yonne -> Paris |
The 2009 Giro d’Italia will mark Lance Armstrong’s return to grand tour stage racing and it will mark his first appearance at Italy’s premier cycling stage race. Armstrong will have to fight the likes of Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Gilberto Simoni, Danilo Di Luca, and Denis Menchov to earn the right to wear the Maglia Rosa (The Giro’s version of the Yellow Jersey). Below is a schedule of the race along with elevation profiles for each stage:
Unfortunately, no television schedule has officially been released. Cycling.tv will cover all of the stages live for a fee, while Versus will be picking up coverage of the race sporadically.
Update 4/30: Sorry for the lack of info below. The profile links Tyler used have since been removed, and cycling.tv still hasn’t announced the TV schedule yet. We’ll update this post when there is more information, or hop over to cycling.tv to see if they have it update.
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| Stage | Date | Type | Distance | Profile | Where | TV Start |
| Stage 1 | 5/9 | TTT | 20.5K | Link | Lido Di Venzia | |
| Stage 2 | 5/10 | FLAT | 156K | Link | Jesolo -> Trieste | |
| Stage 3 | 5/11 | FLAT | 200K | Link | Grado -> Valdobbiadene | |
| Stage 4 | 5/12 | MT | 165K | Link | Padova -> San Martino di Castrozza | |
| Stage 5 | 5/13 | MT | 125K | Link | San Martino di Castrozza -> Alpe di Siusi | |
| Stage 6 | 5/14 | FLAT | 242K | Link | Bressanone -> Mayrhofen | |
| Stage 7 | 5/15 | FLAT | 244K | Link | Innsbruck -> Chiavenna | |
| Stage 8 | 5/16 | FLAT | 208K | Link | Morbegno -> Bergamo | |
| Stage 9 | 5/17 | FLAT | 155K | Link | Milan Circuit Race | |
| Rest Day | 5/18 | REST | 0K | Rest | Rest Day | |
| Stage 10 | 5/19 | MT | 250K | Link | Cuneo -> Pinerolo | |
| Stage 11 | 5/20 | FLAT | 206K | Link | Torino -> Arenzno | |
| Stage 12 | 5/21 | TT | 61.7K | Link | Sestri Levante -> Riomaggiore | |
| Stage 13 | 5/22 | FLAT | 150K | Link | Lido di Camaiore -> Firenze | |
| Stage 14 | 5/23 | FLAT | 174K | Link | Campi Bisenzio -> San Luca | |
| Stage 15 | 5/24 | FLAT | 159K | Link | Foli – Faenza | |
| Stage 16 | 5/25 | MT | 237K | Link | Pergola -> Monte Petrano | |
| Rest Day | 5/26 | REST | 0K | Rest | Rest Day | |
| Stage 17 | 5/27 | MT | 79K | Link | Chieti -> Blockhaus | |
| Stage 18 | 5/28 | FLAT | 181K | Link | Sulmona -> Benevento | |
| Stage 19 | 5/29 | FLAT | 164K | Link | Avellino -> Monte Vesuvio | |
| Stage 20 | 5/30 | FLAT | 203K | Link | Napoli -> Anagni | |
| Stage 21 | 5/31 | TT | 15.3K | Link | Roma -> Roma |
The 2009 Tour of California is set to kick off this Saturday and it marks Lance Armstrong’s return to professional cycling in the United States. All eyes will be on Lance Armstong’s Team Astana as it boasts the Tour of California’s two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer. The Tour of California is undoubtedly the premier American cycling event and the 2009 edition features one of the greatest fields ever assembled on U.S. soil.
In an article from VeloNews: “The unprecedented field of riders expected to compete in the fourth-annual event, which drew a record 1.6 million spectators in 2008, includes two Tour de France Champions (Armstrong, Sastre), a Giro d’Italia Champion (Basso), 10 World Champions (Armstrong, Boonen, Cancellara, Michael Rogers, Cavendish, Brett Lancaster, Stuart O’Grady, Francisco Chicchi-Jr, Yoroslav Popovych-Jr. and Janez Brajokovic-Jr.), 26 Olympians and eight Olympic medalists (Armstrong, Cancellara, Hamilton, Leipheimer, Gustav Larsson, O’Grady, Rogers and Hayden Roulston) and 25 past and current National Champions.â€
……
2009 Tour of California Race Preview:
Winning the Tour of California’s General Classification, just and any other major stage event, comes down to 2 things: the ability to climb and the ability to time trial.
Watch for these names in the General Classification (Overall Time):
Ag2r: Cyril Dessel – 6th in the 2006 Tour de France and won a stage in 2008
Astana: Lance Armstrong – 7 Time Tour de France Champion
Astana: Levi Leipheimer – 2 Time Defending Tour of California Champion
Cervelo TestTeam: Carlos Sastre – 2008 Tour de France Champion
Columbia: Kim Kirchen – 8th in 2008 Tour de France
Columbia: Michael Rogers – 9th in 2006 Tour de France, Australian TT Champion
Garmin-Slipstream: Christian VandeVelde – 5th in 2008 Tour de France
Liquigas: Ivan Basso – 2nd in 2005 Tour de France, 1st in 2006 Giro d’Italia
Ouch: Floyd Landis – Former 2006 Tour de France Champion (Stripped of Title)
Rock Racing: Tyler Hamilton – 2008 U.S. Road Race Champion
Saxo Bank: Jens Voigt – 2nd in 2007 Tour of California
Saxo Bank: Andy Schleck – Best Young Rider in 2008 Tour de France
Saxo Bank: Frank Schleck – 6th in 2008 Tour de France
Expect Levi Leipheimer to win his third straight behind the help of one of the strongest teams the sport has seen (Astana). Lance Armstrong will want a good showing, but expect him to do Leipheimer the favor of being a domestique now in return for Leipheimer’s help during the 2009 Tour. Look for Sastre and VandeVelde to be in the mix with stronger TT abilities and the Schlecks and Ivan Basso to be attacking hard up the mountains. This is as wide open as a field gets and anything can happen with an unexpected breakaway. But it’s tough to pick against Levi Leipheimer, the leader of the strongest team being pulled by a 7-Time Tour de France champion.
Watch for these names in the Points Classification (Points are awarded for finishing position after each stage as well as crossing certain checkpoints first throughout the course):
Cervelo TestTeam: Thor Hushovd – 1st Paris-Nice Points Classification
Columbia: Mark Cavendish – 4 Stages 2008 Tour de France
Columbia: George Hincapie – 1 Stage 2008 Tour of California
Quick Step: Tom Boonen – 2008 Paris-Roubaix Champion, 1 Stage of 2008 ToC
Rabobank: Oscar Freire – 1st in 2008 Tour de France Points Classification
Saxo Bank: Fabian Cancellara – 2008 Olympic TT Champion
Saxo Bank: Stuart O’Grady –2007 Paris-Roubaix Champion
This will be a shootout between Cavendish and Boonen as one of them will take the prize. Fabian Cancellara should be in the mix after he takes the short time trial in the prologue and its tough to leave out Oscar Freire’s name, but the pure sprinting power of Cavendish and Boonen is unparalleled in the peloton. I’ll take Cavendish with the flip of a coin.
Complete rosters can be seen here.
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2009 Tour of California Route and Schedule:
Versus live coverage begins this Saturday. The television schedule and route of the Tour of California is listed below (All times are Central):
Saturday, February 14: – Prologue: Sacramento (4PM) – Time Trial
Sunday, February 15 – Stage 1: Davis to Santa Rosa (5PM) – Flat Stage
Monday, February 16 – Stage 2: Sausalito to Santa Cruz (11:30AM) – Mountain Stage
Tuesday, February 17 – Stage 3: San Jose to Modesto (4PM) – Flat Stage
Wednesday, February 18 – Stage 4: Merced to Clovis (3PM) – Flat Stage
Thursday, February 19 – Stage 5: Visalia to Paso Robles (3PM) – Flat Stage
Friday, February 20 – Stage 6: Solvang Time Trial (3PM) – Time Trial
Saturday, February 21 – Stage 7: Santa Clara to Pasadena (4PM) – Mountain Stage
Sunday, February 22 – Stage 8: Rancho Bernardo to Escondido (4PM) – Mountain Stage
