Last Chance 'til 2011 (la tour)

Dutch2

I do not believe anyone has mentioned the Tour da France this month; therefore, I may be the only on this forum watching it this year. For the past three weeks I have looked forward to going home at lunch to watch the days events. I believe Frank and Alberto are only 8 seconds apart with three days yet to go. Lance had so much bad luck this year early on that he is playing the role of a domestic this year. I seem to recall they he hit the deck three days in a row and more than once on one day. A flat route today, individual time trails on Saturday and then the ride into Paris on Sunday and the 2010 tour is in the books. Lance has said from the beginning that this will (for sure) be his last year in the tour.

Paul in Cannon Beach

I heard there is a guy from Bend, Oregon in the race this year and he is doing well. That's all I know though.

I was in Paris in 1990 when the riders came through on their way to the finish led by a young American named Greg.

ACU Frank

We'll always have Paris, Paul.

Tony Kessler

Dutch, Lance hasn't worked out very well as a domestic/domestique (sp?) (i.e., team worker bee). In addition to the many early falls you mentioned, he hasn't often or maybe ever put himself into a position to help teammate and fellow American Levi Leipheimer (sp?), who was higher up in the overall race. But Levi and Lance appear to be good friends, and Lance could argue that by occasionally finishing faster by himself (and not in a supporting role for Levi or anyone else), he helped his RadioShack team try to win the overall team competition, which is based on the daily finishing times of the three top riders from each team. This is probably TMI for most people, but the upshot is that the Tour is an amazing race, with one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world. The Pyrenees and the Alps are awesome.

Dutch, too bad we don't have an HRHero bike race team -- if we did, you would be welcome to ride in the team manager's car and help me send out instructions to our riders, including Paul and Frank. Do you have any preferences on which one of them would be the team leader and who would be the domestic?

As for the dark side of the sport, I'm glad no one in the real Tour has been caught doping this year (so far, that is -- keep your fingers crossed). If they have finally succeeded in cleaning up the sport to an extent, that may help to explain why the daily stages were more exciting this year. In the past, only the dopers had a realistic chance of bursting up the mountain and leaving everyone else in their dust to claim victory. This year, the playing field has seemed more level, and the French (who reportedly face the toughest antidoping testing of all) have won more stages than usual. If you can get over the fact that an American rider isn't leading the charge, it has been a great Tour to watch. tk