Category: tour de france (Page 16 of 23)
Anyone playing any of the Tour de France Fantasy Cycling contests? I have played the Versus Fantasy Cycling Challenge for three years now I believe.
The race is fun enough on its own, but the Fantasy Challenge makes it even more interesting.
You pick a team of 15 riders with a total of $500 for salaries – the better (more successful) the rider the higher the salary – just like real life. For each stage you pick your 9 man roster and accumulate points based on how each rider does.
Are you interested? For more information about how it works and to sign up visit Versus (NBC Sports) Tour de France Fantasy Cycling Challenge.
My team is “4loveofbikes†and I created a group by the same name. If you want to play you can join the 4loveofbikes group, join a different group or create your own. Everyone creates their own team.
I’m still filling my 15 slots, have to choose those guys wisely since once the practice round is over you can’t change the riders on your team. You can change your daily lineup though.
It’s fun, sign up!
If you were around this time last year you know I love the Tour de France. Last year I blogged on each stage of the Tour – daily posts for three weeks – over thirty posts on the 2010 Tour de France.
Although I still love the Tour – have since the early 90’s and will as long as I’m breathing – my schedule isn’t going to allow me to cover the 2011 Tour de France with the kind of detail I did last year’s Tour.
I still will blog about it, possibly even daily updates with highlights of the Stage, but not the “pedal by pedal†coverage I gave it in 2010.
For many fans this year’s Tour de France doesn’t have the drama that last year’s did. For one thing, a certain Texan isn’t riding and that alone takes some of the excitement out. A bigger factor though is the unresolved status of last year’s race. Although he was cleared by his own Spanish Federation of doping (Clenbuterol), the UCI (International Cycling Union) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed. The Court of Arbitration for Sport won’t hear the appeal until August so Contador will race this year’s Tour in a cloud of suspicion – and with the possibility of losing last year’s Tour championship.
Regardless, he is still the heavy favorite to win this year. Even if he races without failing a single drug test he will likely bring more criticism and suspicion to a sport that already has more than it deserves – while all the other sports have less than they deserve.
That’s the part of the Tour that I could do without. I love the race, without a doubt it is my favorite sporting event – nothing else compares – and I am a fan of all the big U.S. sports – but I hate the way the sport of cycling is viewed in the U.S. Most Americans know little about bike racing and when they hear about the riders that dope (and alleged to have doped – Armstrong for one) their misunderstanding and lack of appreciation of professional bike racing grows.
And no doubt, the 2011 Tour de France will bring allegations of doping and failed drug tests. Count on it.Â
Also count on great racing – phenomenal displays of strength and skill – and exciting stage after exciting stage – for three weeks!Â
The Tour de France is the Super Bowl of professional cycling and it starts this Saturday, July 2. If you’re unfamiliar with how bike racing works, check out my Tour de France Primerfor the basics. Also, by going to the link in the first paragraph you can relive last year’s exciting Tour de France – I just did.
Edit: 10-16-12 – Times and events change and so do we, at least I hope we do. I need to update this post, and will soon, because my views about Lance Armstrong have changed dramatically and I need to explain.
Please read my latest post, “Armstrong’s Doomsday“.
Lance Armstrong announced today he is retiring again. Retirement 2.0. is no doubt his final retirement from professional bike racing.
I have followed the career of Armstrong since the early days – before his Tour de France racing. The picture here is from his 1992 Olympic card which I have. He competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and turned pro shortly after.
I’ve been a fan of the Tour de France since the mid-1990’s. I was hopeful when Armstrong competed in the Tour in 1996 and disappointed when he had to quit. Like everyone I was shocked when he announced he had cancer.
And like everyone else I was shocked again when he beat cancer and then against all odds, beat the best bike riders in the world to take his first of seven Tour de France wins.
Armstrong was without equal on the bike then, both in his physical ability and his preparation. He was phenomenal and I loved watching him race.
I love bike racing and the simple fact is that Armstrong racing in the Tour de France meant Americans began to care about bike racing. And that meant we got coverage of the greatest bike race in the world – in my mind the greatest sporting event in the world.
Amazing amounts of coverage. I could actually watch the race – every day – whereas when I first started following the Tour I read about it when I could and watched the occasional 5 or 10 minutes of coverage it got on television on Sunday afternoon.
We have Armstrong to thank for that too. I watch more television in the month of July than I watch the rest of the year combined. And when I’m not watching the Tour in July I can still watch the 1999 – 2005 Tours on DVD.
I’ll miss the attention he brought to cycling – and the respect. Armstrong riding a bike changed things for all bike riders in the U.S. I personally saw attitudes change toward me on the bike – especially during the peak of Armstrong’s Tour performances.
It was like all of a sudden motorists thought it was sort of okay that I was on the road. At least they didn’t look at me as if I was from another planet. Well most of the time anyway. The spandex still threw them.
But what Armstrong did for cycling here was huge – beyond measure – and I will forever be thankful for that.
What he has done for cancer awareness and for people coping with cancer is also beyond measure.
When his book, “It’s Not About the Bike†came out I bought it even though it wasn’t about the bike – and most of my wanting to read it was about the bike – I still enjoyed it. I loaned it to several people when they learned they had cancer.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and one of the first things I did was re-read that book. And it wasn’t about the bike that time. My doctor recommended I go to Denver for further tests (which ultimately showed no breast cancer) and my husband and I decided to drive. I read it throughout the drive out. It gave me hope. Armstrong has done that for millions affected by cancer – and for the most part that’s the group that fiercely defends him – and I understand why.
We may never know whether or not he doped during any or all of his Tour de France wins. Like many, I believe he did. That was the climate then, it is not the climate now – largely because of the international obsession with whether or not Armstrong doped and the tests and anti-doping protocols put into place because of it.
Absolutely my preference is that Armstrong raced clean, my preference is that all cyclists race clean.
My preference is that all football – baseball – basketball – soccer – track and field (I don’t care about hockey) athletes compete clean too.
If we expect one group to compete clean, shouldn’t we expect it of all?
If Armstrong is proven to have doped during his career I will be very disappointed like every other fan of cycling.
Regardless of how you see it and whether you believe he raced clean or not, we should be able to agree that what Armstrong has done both on and off the bike is nothing short of extraordinary.
(edited 7/5/12)
A tribute to cycling and more so, the Tour de France. Includes some beautiful images.Â
In less than five months we’ll be watching the Tour live!Â
Until then…
More great bike videos here.