Steel frame and raised bars

I’ve been in a bit of a retro mood lately. Regardless, If you’re new to bike racing (or you forgot about the pre-carbon days) go back into the archives of cycling broadcasting via YouTube and watch the Tour de France circa the late 80s. These were the days of split stages and 50 mile time trials. Riders didn’t seclude themselves in the team bus. Instead they hung out next to the team station wagons or vans getting their legs massaged as they waited for the stage to start.

The American broadcast of the Tour had a soundtrack by announcer and musician John Tesh. Heavily edited to show only the exciting moments and punctuated by Tesh’s up-tempo soundtrack, this was my introduction to watching professional European cycling. Thankfully my dad, who had raced in Europe, filled me in on the sport’s nuances that CBS Sports left out.

The technology is wildly different in these races. In this clip of the 1987 time trial there were few concessions to aerodynamics. It looks that only the team leaders rode with disc wheels. Sean Kelly blazes past his two-minute man who is atop a time trial bike with standard spoked wheels – no high-profile rims here.

Other than a skinsuit most riders wore either a team cap backwards or in the case of Sean Kelly a blue and yellow KAS lycra cap. There were no hard-shell protective helmets. This was pre aero-bars. Instead riders grabbed “bull horn” style bars that kept their front profile wide instead of the modern practice of trying to get as narrow a profile as possible.

One other positioning characteristic of the time that I noticed was the stem height. The stems on these late 80s bikes are actually raised with several inches of the quill exposed. This is in direct contrast to today’s “pro” style of slamming the stem as low as possible. The excellent blog by Gerard Vroomen also commented on the trend of lower bar heights and in particular pointed out Fabian Cancellara’s sprint with his hands on the hoods. As I’ve watched modern races, the riders are on the hoods – not the drops – as they solo away. Is it because they can’t comfortably reach the drops? The teachable moment here is that road bike handlebars are designed with a drop for a reason – to have another position for your hands. Don’t forget it.

So in between looking at kitten videos, spend some time browsing YouTube for vintage cycling footage and enjoy those simpler times. You never know what you might learn.

The Giro d’ Italia has taken the charge when it has come to social media. Of course there’s a Facebook page and naturally the Italian national tour has an active Twitter feed. To be fair, so does the other major tours. Here in the States our “Grand Tours” have been active on the social media front as well – some successful, others embarrassingly awful. Purely from my perception the Giro social media person has seemed to engage their fans with more frequency (and in English) in comparison to their European counterparts. All of this has paid dividends.

RAI announced the rating for the three-week event and they recorded 800 million viewers with live broadcasts in 168 countries. For those of who don’t get the RAI channels, they also streamed events live. What caught my attention was that the Giro organizers were asking from fans, via Twitter, what the pink jersey of race leadership means to them. Using the hashtag #Magliarosa the top tweets are to be printed onto the Maglia Rosa. That’s savvy thinking by race owner RCS. The Giro’s social media department/person has recognized that they need to continue the campaign and not stop because the peloton rolled into Milan. Social media is a ever growing conversation with the fans. So true to that they haven’t stopped there.

The Italian organizers just released a Giro d’ Italia 2012 promo video – and if you don’t get psyched about next May, then you really should consider watching another sport. So hats off to the Giro for making us look forward to not only their race, but to the content they contribute to the racing conversation.

After months of press releases and name changes the USA Pro Cycling Challenge stage race is upon us. The prologue starts in Colorado Springs on a mostly downhill course which has team mechanics scrambling for 60-tooth big-rings. However, before Carlos Eduardo Alzate Escobar of Team Exergy takes his first pedal strokes down the starting ramp to kick-off the seven stage race there have been some issues.

A high-profile stage race in Colorado has been missing since the Coors Classic. The terrain and conditions of the state make cycling a natural fit. With the blessing of then Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and part-time resident Lance Armstrong, the concept of a stage race in the Centennial State was a lock. What can go wrong when you have a politician and one of the most recognizable athletes in the world endorsing an event? A lot has changed.

As you’re probably aware the current name of this event is a cluster. USA Pro Cycling Challenge presented by the Millennium Promise? What does that even mean? The name sounds like a crazy Japanese game show. I can hear the announcer now, “In order to move on to the speed-round Leopard-Trek rider Andy Schleck needs to stuff 10 water bottles down his jersey and navigate this downhill slalom in 30 seconds. If not, he’s eliminated!” Also the Millennium Promise? Sounds like a secret society right out of a Dan Brown novel.

One problem is that there is another Tour of Colorado and the promoter was willing to go to court to fight to retain the name rather than give it up. The other initial stumbling block was Quiznos, the presenting sponsor, had fallen on hard times. Also, Quiznos was either unable, unprepared, or just naïve on how to organize an event of this scope. Speaking to several people there was serious concerns that the race would even start.

Then there was the sudden re-retirement of Armstrong after this year’s Tour Down Under. If you remember, on the steps of the Colorado State Capital Building a newly un-retired Lance stated, “My days in top-level European cycling are done. But I can’t say I won’t do events that help causes that I care about. We’ll never say never.” Sure it was a lukewarm commitment, but it was enough to get the ball rolling on the project because let’s face it – if you can get Armstrong to your event it is guaranteed press. A couple of sources told me that two major sponsors were lined up to continue the Tour de Georgia, but one of the conditions hinged on Armstrong competing. No Armstrong – no Tour de Georgia. The seven-time Tour winner was a valuable part of the Pro Challenge equation for success. But that was 2010.

A cycling jersey or a jockey's shirt?

Fast forward a year later and the Armstrong brand has taken the same type of beating that Lance himself dished out on the slopes of France to his adversaries. Bicycling Magazine editor-at-large Bill Strictland penned a piece in the magazine stating that he now realizes Armstrong had doped during those Tour victories – something that most cycling journalists had suspected for years but hadn’t publically written. The news magazine show 60 Minutes interviewed Tyler Hamilton who stated that he had witnessed and participated in organized doping during his time at the Postal team. Not long afterward there was the Cache Cache restaurant incident that portrayed Armstrong as a bully and caused the FBI to pay a visit to the sleepy town of Aspen to investigate the possibility of witness intimidation. Brick by brick public perception of the man who re-ignited cycling in this country, and arguably the world, was falling apart. By this time Armstrong had retired again as a professional cyclist. So where does this leave us now?

Several months ago I was approached about writing blogs leading up to the race, during the race and perhaps post-event as well. I spoke to the person in charge of the public relations and told her that who ever writes about this event will need to be spot on or it will seem like an amateur hour. Those were my exact words. She agreed and I sent her a proposal. In the end they hired another company to handle that aspect of promotion but not before some very elementary mistakes were made in press releases and tweets. Funny enough she asked me how many followers I had on Twitter making it obvious that they were trying to generate as much social media buzz behind the race as possible.

The tweet campaign by USA Pro Cycling Challenge has been spotty at best. One was poorly written that suggested Christian Vande Velde had won the 2011 Tour de France. Other tweets have used various hashtags to denote the race, causing confusion. Is it #uspro, #usapcc, #usapro, #USAProChallenge? A press release regarding the classification jerseys stated that Davis Phinney was the first American to win a stage in the Tour de France (Greg LeMond actually was in 1985). Very recently, there was a typo in a press release regarding the amateur time tria (sic). Biographies of some riders had been lifted straight from Wikipedia (Fränk Schleck’s bio). Speaking of bios, on the race web site Leipheimer’s photo shows him in an Astana kit! To get the correct photo all it would have taken would have been one email to the press person at RadioShack and they would have had several images to choose from. Some of these may seem like small mistakes, but their serious dependency on Wikipedia (the obvious source that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge used for information regarding Phinney being the first American to win a Tour stage), in addition to the lazy mistakes shows they are unfamilar with the subject of bicycle racing. If you want your event to be considered the best, there can be ZERO room for mistakes such as these. If you want your event to be considered a regional race promoted by someone with minimal budget – job done.

Not everything is doom and gloom. While they might have skimped on researchers they ponied up to bring some of cycling’s biggest riders to Colorado. Unfortunately, if you watched the press conference on Sunday you realized that they were already using the excuse of jet lag, coming from the Tour de France and the altitude for possible poor performances. The one strong favorite, RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer, was a no-show at the press conference. The reason given was he was reconnoitering the time trial course. Another reason I heard was that he didn’t want to face the press and answer any awkward questions regarding the ongoing doping investigation or perhaps what team might employ his services for 2012. But another strong favorite was tucked into the top corner of the daïs – Sergio Henao of Gobernacion De Antioquia-Indeportes Antioquia. The Colombian team had shown their strength at the recent Tour of Utah and everyone on that daïs knew it. Tom Danielson stated that the South American team was going to cause chaos. Of course everyone wants the best rider to win, but can you imagine the public relations disaster if Henao finishes in Denver wearing the checkered yellow jersey?

For this race to get a foothold in America it needs to have an American win. Before the Tour of Utah very few people knew of Henao or what he was capable of. Now he’s a favorite on a team no one this side of the equator had heard of until a couple of weeks ago! And as I cruised through my Facebook feed one retired pro who lives in Colorado wrote about the race, “So far it’s been the best kept secret of the 2011 season!” The Colorado Springs Independent wrote an interesting piece regarding the build up to the race and the reason for the low-profile was the US Women’s Open Golf Tournament at The Broadmoor was bogarting the media. Then there was the white elephant in the press conference – no Lance Armstrong.

As dignitaries took turns at the podium giving thanks to various people in the race organization as well as to both the present and past Colorado governors there was not a mention of Armstrong. Remember, he was the one a year ago who got the ball rolling and stood on the Capital Building steps announcing it to the press, which was then followed by a “tweet ride.” Armstrong tweeted that the start of the school year was the following day which made travel to Colorado impossible but he promised to be at the race Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what capacity the Armstrong brand will be used to promote the race. In a team car, standing on the grandstand talking to the masses or peeking out of the team bus window?

Regardless of these first year stumbles I’m hoping the USA Pro Cycling Challenge can overcome these issues and move forward. And oh yeah, don’t get me started on the disaster of the category leader’s jerseys…

When do we draw the line on when a gladiator of the road is picked back up and returned to the arena? As you know the Tour’s first week has been one of unexpected injuries that have knocked some potential general classification contenders out of the running. But the one incident that has become a lightening rod of controversy is Chris Horner’s horrific crash in Stage 7.

In an accident that stopped the peloton on the narrow French road like water in a kinked hose, RadioShack’s Horner crashed off to the side of the road and landed in a ditch. Team director Johan Bruyneel responded to his downed rider and gave this description.

“When I got there, he was lying in a ditch and was very shaken. It was obvious he’d hit very hard. He finished the stage and I think basically he’s OK physically, but we’re taking him to the hospital to have a scan. He doesn’t really know where he is right now or what happened. We’ll see what the results are but I fear the worst.”

If you had not seen the stage and only read Bruyneel’s first hand account of Horner lying in a ditch you still begin to wonder why the RadioShack rider was allowed to ride in a state of confusion. Horner was given his bike and his instinct to continue racing kicked in. The race doctor pulled along side Horner and monitored him the entire way. He finished the stage – confused, bruised, broken, and bleeding. It was the video of Horner after the stage, totally confused and asking what happened, that leaves cycling fans stunned and wondering why he was not pulled from the race.

The internet lit up regarding Horner’s ride to the finish. Studies have shown that having an elevated heart rate after a concussion can further the damage to the brain. Additionally, there’s that voice of common sense saying a guy that’s confused should not be controlling a vehicle that rolls on two skinny wheels. People lashed out at Bruyneel’s decision to let Horner remount and carry on. People also pointed fingers at the Tour race doctor who was attending to him as they rolled along.

JoE Silva, cycling columnist for NBC Sports said, “Doesn’t anyone remember what happened to actress Natasha Richardson after she fell off her skis and seemed to be okay?” Richardson fell while taking skiing lessons. She refused medical assistance and after complaining of a headache was taken to the hospital. She died two days later due to a epidural hematoma from the blunt impact to the head.

In response to the criticism Bruyneel fired off a curt reply via Twitter.

“To all my haters: why don’t you comment on facts instead of on rumors? Or even better: don’t comment at all!” He followed up later stating that Horner was in the hospital and was doing better.

However, Reuters is reporting that Horner’s last memory is of stage 2’s team time trial. I guess Bruyneel has a different standard of what’s considered “okay.”

So who is to blame for letting Horner continue to race? Bruyneel is the first to the scene of Horner’s crash and by his own words said he found him confused and bleeding – why hand him a bike? I don’t expect Bruyneel to be able to make a medical evaluation, but common sense should come into play. If he was as confused as Bruyneel himself stated, Horner shouldn’t have continued to ride. The other person to blame is the Tour doctor. They both let him continue while he was a danger to himself and others. It’s common practice for doctors to make an evaluation of the rider following a crash. So why would these two different people, who have the authority to pull him from the race, let him continue?

Team directors are not riders’ friends. A rider is an asset that needs to keep running until it just can’t continue. If you had seen this happen to your child or loved one would you have given him their bike back with a push back into the peloton? Of course you wouldn’t. Why? Because you care about them as a person and not as a paid asset. The Tour doctor knows how important it is to keep riders in the race, but the doctor should have looked further than the remaining 25 kilometers of the stage and pulled the plug. It borders on incompetence gambling with Horner’s life like that.

I’m sure Bruyneel cares about Horner the person, but his perspective of the rider as a much needed member of the team appears to come first. Even if he is also looking out for a rider’s personal goal of staying in the Tour, a director needs to be more detached and not let the pressures of the Tour cloud their judgement. Remember when Lance Armstrong crashed out of the Tour of California in 2010? His injuries were no way as severe, but just as gruesome looking. Like Horner, Armstrong was bloodied and bruised about the face. As it was just the Tour of California, Armstrong abandoned to recover for his run at the Tour de France. When you’re racing the Tour a rider is pushed to their utmost limit. However, that doesn’t make it right to enable them to continue.

Bruyneel isn’t the only one who continued to push his solider out of the trench and into battle. Tom Boonen crashed hard in stage 5 and finished the stage. The next day he completed another stage. Finally he quit during stage 7. After Boonen abandoned he revealed that he had thrown up in the night, couldn’t tolerate colors or sound and had a huge headache.

“That’s cycling,” said Boonen with a sigh. “If you can put on your racing number you can race.” is how CyclingNews.com reported it.

QuickStep director Wilfried Peeters is the one who allowed Boonen to continue in what is another case of staggering incompetence. You have a rider who is clearly suffering from a concussion and you don’t make the executive decision to pull him from the race? But for Peeters, Boonen’s 2011 season hasn’t lived up to expectations. He wants his pound of flesh from the sprinter, probably hoping he would recover and can win a stage to redeem the QuickStep squad’s Tour. They don’t have a GC contender and Boonen was their one solid chance for a stage victory. As with all professional athletes it’s about what have you done for the team/owner lately. If not much, well suck it up and get back out there! Cycling, football, baseball, hockey, you name the sport – they all have their own stories of athletes being treated like meat.

It was good to hear that Garmin-Cervelo’s Dr. Prentice Steffen has a protocol in place for dealing with a rider who might be suffering from a concussion.

In an interview with CyclingNews.com he says, “I came up with it based on research and the Zurich conference on head injuries in sport.”

The assessment is a step by step questionnaire that the rider must answer. Staff have been trained in this and it is team policy to pull the rider from the race if they show signs of impairment.

In a season that has seen the tragic death of one rider and the continuing rehabilitation of another, head injuries should be the foremost thought in a team director’s mind. However, winning or at least still having the foot soldiers in place to continue the fight seems to be more important. Here’s to Chris Horner and the other injured riders making a full recovery.

We’re knee deep in the Tour de France and as expected the first week is revealing cracks in some teams’ armor. Defending champion* Alberto Contador, through a run of bad luck and/or bad karma, is already 1:30 minutes behind his main rival Andy Schleck of Leopard-Trek. The Spaniard isn’t the only one behind the eight-ball. Ivan Basso, Italy’s Golden Boy, is also 1:03 minutes behind race leader Thor Hushovd. His form has been suspect since his lackluster result in the Criterium Dauphine, finishing in 26th place. For those keeping score at home, Bradley Wiggins won the overall, with Cadel Evans in second.

While a few of the top favorites are already scratching their heads wondering how and why they ended up in this predicament at least they didn’t have the kind of crash that dark-horse favorite Jani Brajkovic suffered. He crashed out in stage 4 with a concussion and a broken collarbone. It’s always terrible to see a contender, or anyone for that matter, end their race in an ambulance.

The flat stages are almost behind us and we are finally looking at the first real indicator of who are the true contenders in this year’s Tour de France. Andy Schleck is still nicely positioned on the general classification. For Contador the upcoming mountains are now a place where he needs to grab back time. He cannot wait for the final week to pounce. His return to the top end of the GC must start this weekend. The peloton will have one eye on Contador. That was evident in stage 5 when in the last three kilometers his surge for the line was nullified by his rivals who don’t want him to gain back a single second. Contador has his work cut out for him this weekend to get back to equal footing with the rest of the top GC contenders.

Stretch your typing fingers, our TourChats start back up on Saturday at 8AM EDT and continue every stage for the rest of the Tour. Join our online roadside parties for every stage or pop in whenever you can.

Week 2

• Sat July 9 – Stage 8 – Sponsored by @JulieHarden
• Sun July 10 – Stage 9 – Sponsored by @Cyclismas
• Tue July 12 – Stage 10 – Sponsored by TotalCyclist and Carolina Cycling News
• Wed July 13 – Stage 11 – Sponsored by Cycling Fans
• Thu July 14 – Stage 12 – Sponsored by Athlete’s Audio
• Fri July 15 – Stage 13 – Sponsored by @J_Tubb
• Sat July 16 – Stage 14 – Sponsored by @BGreene1

Week 3 – Sponsored by The Sufferfest

• Sun July 17 – Stage 15
• Tue July 19 – Stage 16
• Wed July 20 – Stage 17
• Thu July 21 – Stage 18 – Sponsored by Warpia
• Fri July 22 – Stage 19 – Sponsored by Carrie Cheadle, M.A., Sport & Exercise Mental Skills Coach
• Sat July 23 – Stage 20 – Sponsored by @J_Tubb
• Sun July 24 – Stage 21 – Sponsored by Pedal Chic

Additional prize sponsors: CytoMax, Handlebar Mustache Apparel and Handlebargains

The Tour de France is one of the biggest sporting spectacles on the planet. I won’t bore you with the metaphors of riders suffering or how competing in the 21 stages is the equivalent to running a marathon everyday. Instead let’s focus on something that really matters – having a good time while waiting for shit to happen.

I dare you to find someone who loves cycling more than me. However, I do recognize that there are times when nothing that exciting happens (example – most of the Dauphine). And let’s face it, the sport of cycling isn’t the only one afflicted by momentary lapses in the action. Our national pastime is filled with so much downtime that it’s not unusual to see fans falling asleep in the stands and players continually adjusting their nuts to beat the monotony (“Hmm…does it feel better hanging toward the left or right?”). But don’t despair, we have the solution to help beat any and all downtime during the Tour de France.

As the riders roll along the French roads the scenery will be littered with cycling tifosi who have probably been imbibing as they sat under the hot July sun. This makes for some rather poor choices not normally done in a more sober state of mind. Case in point – male genitalia. You’ll see it painted on the roads like it’s an arrow pointing the way to the finish. So while some of the American viewing public might blush, lets embrace it with a hearty swig from our drink of choice. This is just one example of drinking opportunities that are a part of what we affectionately call the Tour de France drinking game.

TourChats - Online Roadside Parties for Cycling Fans

Being a cycling announcer is not an easy job. They not only need to be well versed in cycling, they also need to drone on about it for hours at a time. As is the case, announcers often use the same tired cliches time and time again. So instead of rolling our eyes at another, “dancing on the pedals” cliché it’s time to upturn your cup and look forward to the next worn-out phrase that they will eventually cough up like a disgusting fur ball. It’s all about turning lemons into lemonade.

While fans of others sports can be found hanging around local sports bars in droves, cycling fans can pull up their favorite recliner (or office desk chair) in our virtual sports bar – TourChats. Cycling fans cheer on their favorites, join in the witty banter, play games, win prizes and kill time at work as you watch France’s national tour. It really is a win-win situation, so drop in and join us starting at 8 AM EDT until the racing ends.

2011 TourChats Tour de France Schedule

Week 1

• Sat July 2 – Stage 1 – Sponsored by Cycling Fans
• Sun July 3 – Stage 2 – Sponsored by @DivasTourFrance
• Mon July 4 – Stage 3 – Sponsored by Carolina Cycling News

Week 2

• Sat July 9 – Stage 8 – Sponsored by @JulieHarden
• Sun July 10 – Stage 9 – Sponsored by @Cyclismas
• Tue July 12 – Stage 10 – Sponsored by TotalCyclist and Carolina Cycling News
• Wed July 13 – Stage 11 – Sponsored by Cycling Fans
• Thu July 14 – Stage 12 – Sponsored by Athlete’s Audio
• Fri July 15 – Stage 13 – Sponsored by @J_Tubb
• Sat July 16 – Stage 14 – Sponsored by @BGreene1

Week 3 – Sponsored by The Sufferfest

• Sun July 17 – Stage 15
• Tue July 19 – Stage 16
• Wed July 20 – Stage 17
• Thu July 21 – Stage 18 – Sponsored by Warpia
• Fri July 22 – Stage 19 – Sponsored by Carrie Cheadle, M.A., Sport & Exercise Mental Skills Coach
• Sat July 23 – Stage 20 - Sponsored by @J_Tubb
• Sun July 24 – Stage 21 – Sponsored by Pedal Chic

Additional prize sponsors: CytoMax, Handlebar Mustache Apparel and Handlebargains

The “artist” tapped into two aspects of his personality to create this video – his love of the bike and doucheness (two things I know plenty about). The Euro-vibe is strong in the video: faux-hawk, smoking, popped collar, and high modulated voice. As someone pointed out in the comments section, the black bar tape on a white bike coupled with a full white kit is a Euro FAIL! Give the “Le Velo” dance a try at your local club and let me know how it works out for you.

Thanks to @BicycleRadio for bringing this to my attention

With the Tour de France just a couple of weeks away invited teams are starting to announce their rosters. Of course the big names have all made their intentions known for either contesting the overall or battling it out for stage wins.

The just concluded Tour de Suisse gave a glimpse to who is on form. Obviously with his amazing performance in the time trial and taking the win, Levi Leipheimer is now a favorite for a top placing at the Tour. But what about the other Americans?

At this moment not every team has announced their squads, so I’m making an educated guess on which Americans are going to France in July.

For RadioShack Leipheimer and Horner are locks for the squad. While reigning US road champion Matt Busche who showed how strong he is in the Amgen Tour of California is in their ranks, I don’t think he’ll get the call up this year. An outside chance of selection is Jason McCartney. He completed the Critérium du Dauphiné and is a capable domestique – a squad needs guys like this.

Just as I finished writing this piece RadioShack director Bruyneel posted on the team’s Facebook page four of the possible nine riders for the Tour squad. The selected four are no surprises: Andreas Kloden, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Janez Brajkovic. On the bubble is McCartney. At the time of this writing Yaroslav Popovych holds the lead in the fan polling.

I’m not sure how seriously Bruyneel is taking this Facebook fan poll. It might just be a cute marketing idea to encourage fan interaction (Lord knows Bruyneel never encouraged media interaction)or maybe he knows the Shack can’t win this year and is saying, “Screw it! This might all crumble by the end of the year and I don’t care! Just try and extradite me from Spain!” Either way I can’t think of a director conducting a survey for team selection.

BMC released their Tour de France roster and no surprise, George Hincapie is on the list, returning for his record tying 16th start. The other American making the cut is Brent Bookwalter who also raced in the Giro d’ Italia. They are all focused on Australian Cadel Evans as he makes one more try for the yellow jersey.

HTC-Highroad has two Americans who could get the call up for the Tour: Tejay Van Garderen and Danny Pate. Van Garderen is the diamond in the rough for team owner Bob Stapleton. Van Garderen’s final classification at the Tour de Suisse doesn’t show his true capabilities. During the time trial on the final stage Van Garderen’s TT bike suffered a mechanical and he was forced to switch to a standard road bike (I hope it was at least a Venge), which dropped him out of the top 10. He hasn’t raced the Giro, so I’m guessing the team held him back for a reason and it’s for July.

Pate is more of a long shot, but again, he’s shown his strength and is a strong domestique. I’m hoping he gets the opportunity.

Liquigas-Cannondale has two Americans in their ranks but Ted King is nursing a broken collarbone and Tim Duggan doesn’t have the experience. Maybe next year for these two.

Team owner/manager Johnathan Vaughters of Garmin-Cervelo posted on Twitter that he was having a hard time choosing the Tour squad. “One thing to remember: its not the best 9 individual riders on paper that make up the best team of 9 riders.” Very true.

While the squad has several Americans the obvious picks are Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Tyler Farrar. However, one rider who has never been called up to a Tour de France squad, but truly deserves it this year is Tom Danielson. At the Tour de Suisse Danielson finished in 9th place overall and showed his ability to climb in the mountains. On the final day’s race against the clock he finished fifth. If there was ever a time Danielson deserves “the call” it’s this year.

So there you go – possibly 11 Americans lining up in western France for the start of the 2011 Tour de France. Look for Leipheimer, Horner and Vande Velde to crack the top 10 in GC, and Farrar to bring home the stage wins.

Watching the Tour de France stages live? Join us for our cycling live chats. We’re creating our popular online sports bar experience for cycling fans again this year!

Sagan after winning stage 6 - '10 ToC

It wasn’t until I read a team press release that I noticed the stage from Brig-Glis to Grindelwald was only 107 kilometers long – just over 70 miles. In contrast stage 7 will be a brute. Not only is it 222 kilometers long but it features a Hors Category climb followed by a category 2 and finishing with a category 1 climb to the finish. I suspect that this Queen stage will not have the explosive riding that made stage 3 interesting. By Friday the favorites will have been sorted out and it will be a day of attrition.

In the Dauphine press conference winner Bradley Wiggins said of the final stage, “People are getting tired now, we’ve been racing for nearly a week. There’s no super-humans out there at the moment – those were the old days!”

I might be brushing with broad paint strokes but what if the stages were shortened, yet the hard features remained? Let’s say cap the stage distances at 200 kilometers for sprint stages and 150 for mountain? The racing would be fast and furious and endurance increasing drugs would no longer be a factor. Those distances are still a challenge, but not death marches. I’m not saying that drug use would be eliminated, but I think with the more aggressive racing style these distances would provoke, it might lure some viewers to the screen.

Maybe the news about Tyler Hamilton and Lance Armstrong getting into a pissing match at an Aspen restaurant got me doing some wishful thinking. Their tête-à-tête made the front page news in the sports section of MSNBC.com earlier today. We definitely need more than doping scandals to keep the public’s interest in the sport and perhaps this shortened style of racing might be it. Or Plan “B” – all doping accusations must be decided in the octagon.

Tour de Suisse – Stage 3 by cyclingvids

May was a full gas type of month. The Assault on Mt. Mitchell, which is a big deal in the Carolinas, was just as the Amgen Tour of California was kicking off mid-May. After covering the Assaults we flew to California to catch up on Stage 4, the first big mountain stage. After that there was the US Pro Championships invading my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. It’s finally slowing down from a couple of projects so that I can sit back and reminisce.

As we all know the Tour of California got off to a stuttered start. Stage 1 was canceled and day 2 was relocated and shortened. It was a shame as those two stages would have been majestic on television. However, there were still plenty of beautiful stages. A personal favorite was Solvang. Even though I get zero cell reception in that town, I still like it there. Maybe it’s exactly that fact why I enjoy it so much. Of course the Queen stage was special for me. I’m from that area and as a university student I worked in a sheet metal shop in the town at the base of the climb. I know the Baldy climb well and I miss the training rides in that area.

I’m going to assume that the AEG press release I missed stated that this was the most attended edition in its six year history with the deepest talent ever. If a press release did go out worded like that, I would have to disagree.

The addition of two true hill and mountain top finishes was a long awaited addition to the race but it didn’t provoke the type of racing we all hoped for – aggressive attacking that would leave the winner undecided until at least Stage 7. Even the time trial, which in the past had been the lynchpin in Leipheimer’s Amgen victories, stuck to the plot. By Stage 6 the Tour of California had been decided.

Don’t get me wrong. Chris Horner of RadioShack was a well deserved winner, but I wish there had been more actual racing rather than the Shack just laying the smack to everyone. Other than RadioShack, who else had their sights set on California? Defending champion Michael Rogers (Sky) had been felled by a glandular fever. Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank openly said he wasn’t at his best and was preparing for the Tour de France. The Garmin-Cervelo brought a contingent of potential winners: 2010 and 2006 second place finisher David Zabriskie, Ryder Hesjedal and Christian Vande Velde. While Zabriskie dominated the time trial at every time check, the key stages were too tough. Hesjedal showed panache on Sierra Road, but was not strong enough to go with the moves when it counted. Vande Velde rode solidly, but seems to have his eye on the prize in July. And with the current level playing field (read: relativity clean) he could top-five with Horner. USA, USA, USA.

I’ll spare you the blow by blow but it was a RadioShack domination. On the Baldy stage we all hoped there would be attacks. Instead it was the red and black kits leading it out on the climb blowing everyone away. There were no attacks. In the end it was just Leipheimer at the front with teammate Horner killing it to the summit. Not the most exciting racing – just a display of how RadioShack wanted to take this race back and how the others were using California for training instead of Italy. Even as I wrote this many Tour favorites are stating that the Dauphine is just training. That’s too bad and frankly disrespectful to the race. I guess that’s a sign of how the sport is getting cleaner. Riders aren’t able to maintain these long peaks and specificity rules the race calendar.

While in California I took the time to catch up with folks I know from the interwebs. I connected with the guys from Kitten of Flanders who gave me a flag of the same name. Thanks guys! I was also interviewed about social media and the effects of Twitter by Stephanie Gutowski of Podium Insight. She also quotes the recent exchange I had with Lance Armstrong and the unexpected consequences. NBC obviously doesn’t get social media.

Next up on the docket is the Tour de France and this will be one to watch. Alberto Contador, even with the Sword of Damocles hanging over him is the odds on favorite. He destroyed the competition at the Giro and I don’t see anything changing in July. I’ll be hosting Tour de France live chats again. We’ll be talking mad smack and I’m hoping I can line up some guests as well.

Stay tuned.