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Friday, May 19, 2006
Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Jan Ullrich is back. At least the Ullrich that has no peer today when it comes to riding a long, flat time trial in a Grand Tour. His stage win yesterday couldn't have come at a better time too, for his own confidence as well as for raising hopes among cycling fans that he'll be ready for July's battle in the Tour de France. Perhaps he did benefit from more favorable wind conditions with his earlier ride but he is not in peak condition either; he'll get better. He can now focus on riding into climbing form, using at least part of the remainder of this Giro for that as well as racing and/or training in June. Ivan Basso was almost as impressive and the only rider inside a minute of Ullrich's time at just 28 seconds back. More importantly, he put even more time into all of his rivals for the overall win in this Giro d'Italia. Basso rode the best long, flat time trial of his career and has now fully erased any doubts there; time trials, regardless of the course, are no longer a handicap for Ivan Basso. He hasn't won this Giro yet, and has no win in a Grand Tour on his record, yet. And being able to do it all again in July is not a given. But he's looking good for the win in Milan, though if the climbers go nuts in the mountains next week and the race becomes uncontrollable anything can happen. The team is strong, Bobby Julich and Carlos Sastre took it easy yesterday to save energy for supporting Basso in the mountains in the final week. It's all for Basso. The next best CSC rider in the overall classification is Jens Voigt way down in 33rd place, 15:01 behind. Discovery Channel, on the other hand, with defending champion Paolo Savoldelli and Tom Danielson sitting in the 4th and 5th places, respectively, has some cards to play, certainly for a shot at the podium, stage wins, and the possibility, albeit remote, of pulling off an upset if Basso falters. Danielson has been targeting the final week from the start and while he is at the Giro to support Savoldelli, his going all-out in yesterday's time trial confirms that his role is not the same as, say, Bobby Julich with CSC. Danielson is positioned to go on the offensive in the mountains as an outside threat himself and to take pressure off of Savoldelli, not simply to tow his team leader. If Savoldelli falters, Danielson would at least give the team some shot at the podium. But Danielson will have to be able to hang with the leaders in the mountains despite an expected brutal pace set by Team CSC. And if he manages that, he'll have to have enough left to do something. On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Thursday, May 18, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy 
Michael Rogers 2004 Grand Prix des Nations Exciting time trial today as those aiming for high placings in the general classification battle it out with some big gun specialists looking for a stage win. Among the specialists: Michael Rogers of T-Mobile is expected to put in a solid showing as three-time World Champion in this discipline. Will his dental problems earlier in the week hold him back? Jan Ullrich, also of T-Mobile, is the best in the world among active riders when it comes to long, flat time trials during a Grand Tour. Is he ready? Who needs the confidence boost of a top placing today more, Jan or his fans? Jose Ivan Gutierrez, a regular competitor in the 70km GP des Nations events, has to be reckoned with. Among those in the battle for the overall: Ivan Basso has become a solid time trialist but is still somewhat unproven in the long, flat time trials. A win today would put to rest any questions there. But with half of the race remaining, Basso can use the advantage of departing last and knowing the times of his closest rivals for the overall to decide how deep he needs to go today. Jose E. Gutierrez is solid but likely cannot make up his deficit to Basso. Paolo Savoldelli no doubt did not expect to be down 2:35 at this point and before the tough climbing in the final week so who knows what the thinking is in the Discovery Channel camp. Savoldelli, who reportedly suffered from allergies earlier in the race, can use today to get back into the top 3-4 before the team decides how to approach the final week. Serguei Gonchar could get a big result today. Realistically speaking, he's probably more interested in a possible stage win than solidifying a G.C. position that he knows will be in serious jeopardy with the tough climbing next week. The climbers, especially Damiano Cunego, Gilberto Simoni and Jose Rujano, will just look to limit their losses before the mountains. On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Giro d'Italia: Second and final rest day today Big Time Trial Battle Tomorrow
Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) 2006 Giro d'Italia Stage 1 time trial You win the Tour de France, as Jan Ullrich did in 1997, and everywhere you go people will be watching you closely. They'll climb over one another to get your photo, camera straps dangling dangerously close to your handlebars. Nevermind that it's been nine years since that breakthrough win. Nevermind that you've started your season so late. Again. Nevermind that you're wearing #219, as far as you can get from #1 in this Giro d'Italia. Fans everywhere want to see you in action. You're Jan Ullrich! --- Whether Jan Ullrich is ready to make a statement in tomorrow's 50km pancake flat time trial remains to be seen. For the sake of competition, let's hope so. The Tour de France is just over six weeks away. Briefly: - As expected, the French policeman who forged evidence during a 2004 investigation of the Cofidis team (see yesterday) has been given a suspended prison sentence (10 months). The policeman was also ordered to pay former Cofidis rider Cedric Vasseur nearly $13,000. (Vasseur had sought about $40,000.) (source: AFP) - A.S.O. has posted stage details for the Tour de France. Tuesday, May 16, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy 
A French family finishes lunch as Tomas Vaitkus of Lithuania rides by in the port town of Dieppe, France on the English Channel 2003 Grand Prix des Nations, 70km individual time trial Quote of the day:
When Tomas Vaitkus (AG2R), then with the Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team, competed in the 2003 GP des Nations (photo), a whopping 70km individual time trial, he was just 21 years old. Sure, he finished more than six minutes behind the winner, Michael Rich (1:31:01), in 19th place of 23 riders. But the 2002 World Champion time trialist (espoirs category) was now racing against big guns like Rich, Serhiy Honchar, Uwe Peschel, Laszlo Bodrogi, Michael Rogers, Jens Voigt, and a young Fabian Cancellara. (Lance Armstrong won this event in 2000 (at 75km), with David Zabriskie beating out Cancellara in the Espoirs category (37.5km). French great Jacques Anquetil won this event a record 9 times. Unfortunately, the GP des Nations was discontinued after the 2004 edition but it is coming back in the fall as the Chrono des Nations , co-organized by...french rail company A.S.O.) Now 24, Vaitkus yesterday showed he is someone to be reckoned with after beating the likes of Paolo Bettini, Olaf Pollack and Robbie McEwen to the line. It was the first-ever stage win at the Giro by a Lithuanian. Briefly: - Sentencing is expected this afternoon in the Paris suburb of Nanterre in the case of a police investigator, Richard Deydier, who forged signatures on statements taken from former Cofidis rider Cedric Vasseur in January 2004. Police, under orders from judge Richard Pallain, were investigating Cofidis team riders and staff for doping offenses in what became known as the Cofidis Affair. Facing possible prison, Deydier is expected to get a suspended sentence. Vasseur contested the accuracy of the statements, which he had not signed, and is seeking monetary damages. (source: AFP) - Cyclysm: The Men Who Would Be King. That's what OLN is calling their upcoming coverage for the Tour de France in their latest attempt to entice cycling fans in the U.S. “This year is going to be one of the most exciting Tours in history,” said Gavin Harvey, President of OLN. “Lance had an amazing run, but his reign produced a crop of world-class athletes hungry for a win. It’s going to be a phenomenal race. The U.S. riders are stronger than ever and we’ve got the potential for several Americans in the top ten. It’s an unprecedented situation.” OLN will be providing daily live coverage of the 2006 Tour de France. They will also offer pre-race shows and race replays four times per day. According to the press release , OLN will be airing on average 17 hours of race coverage per day. (!) On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Monday, May 15, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Briefly: 
Graham Watson - Cycling photographer extraordinaire Graham Watson is getting a little flak from some for spending the weekend in the French Alps with Lance Armstrong and friends instead of at the Giro, but how many people would have turned down such an invitation? Little did Graham know that yesterday's fireworks in the race would be so big... Giro: Quick glance at the top 10 and others:
On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Sunday, May 14, 2006 Note: It seems unbelievable that today's stage of the Giro, with even more fireworks than expected, was apparently not broadcast live by anyone but RAI, Italian television. Eurosport stayed with its coverage of a tennis match which unfortunately ran late. Sounds so 20th century, even 1960s, doesn't it? (Given the technological options available to broadcasters...) Today's exciting stage of the Giro may or may not prove to be the decisive stage of the race and even in Europe apparently most viewers couldn't watch it live on TV. That of course meant no Giro live audio streams for those of you who listen in on those. Thank goodness for the RAI Sport live streaming (link below) which while not great quality was certainly better than nothing. It's not too late to start learning Italian....for next year. On tomorrow through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Saturday, May 13, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy OLN and Yahoo! Sports teaming up to bring
streaming video to the web
Paris (cyclingfans.com) -- The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) and Yahoo! Sports have announced an agreement that will bring OLN TV programming, including exclusive streaming video recaps and updates of the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia, to the web via Yahoo SportStream. OLN has already begun providing limited Giro d'Italia video content to Yahoo SportStream, but you'll have to dig for it. Further, it is not available to all countries. At the moment, this agreement looks more like hype than real substance. Worst case scenario?: OLN may be planning to remove cycling from its cable programming entirely, at least the live programming (or what's left of it), settling for live web streaming and video archives... For more:
OLN/Yahoo! Sports Press Release
Yahoo SportStream
(Select any video from the SportStream archive, then select "Cycling") (Note: You may need to first enable pop-up ads for the Yahoo site.) Briefly:
--OLN's schedule (see our links section) indicates that tomorrow, Sunday, there will be an hour-long program for the recent Tour de Romandie. It does not appear that OLN viewers in Canada are included, but check your listings. --The cycling media reported on Lance Armstrong's arrival in Italy and France "to celebrate birthdays" by riding Alpe d'Huez. What no one seemed to mention though is that Armstrong is also honoring commitments to Trek Travel at the Giro d'Italia. 
Alpe d'Huez
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2003 Tour de France