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Saturday, May 27, 2006
Note: Our U.K. correspondent, Bernie S., has a particular interest in the smaller races in France and Italy and is helping us bring you links to corresponding video coverage. Among the archive video clips you'll find today in our selection: a French TV report of today's Grand Prix de Plumelec-Morbihan won by Cédric Hervé. If your French isn't good, well, what's one more language to work on since many of us have been picking up some Italian the past three weeks... Allez, y'all. Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy
- Vino to the rescue? Alexander Vinokourov, amazingly, may have found a Kazakh sponsor to replace Liberty Seguros for the remainder of the season. (Vino seems inclined to save his current team rather than entertain offers to lead other teams, something that his current teammates and team staff members will appreciate to no end.) But there would still be hurdles. The UCI's ProTour license committee is meeting this weekend to evaluate the situation. (L'Equipe) - Sam Abt has published an update on the blood doping scandal in Spain. (link below) On through May 28: Tour of Belgium LIVE: Stage 4 ticker
Friday, May 26, 2006 Below is a guide to live online coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Have Bike, Will Travel
Alexander Vinokourov determined to ride Tour after Liberty Seguros ends sponsorship of team in wake of growing doping scandal in Spain 
Alexander Vinokourov in Nice, France, March 2006 (photo Pete Geyer) He has based his entire 2006 season on the Tour de France. In fact, he's given himself two years, all or nothing, to win cycling's grandest event. Having left his longtime team, T-Mobile, in the offseason to join the Liberty Seguros-Wurth team of Manolo Saiz, Alexander Vinokourov, the popular rider from Kazakhstan, seemed set to have his best chance yet of conquering the Tour. Saiz had built a very strong team, including Vinokourov's compatriot, Andrey Kashechkin. And they'd be riding in support of "Vino"... All of that is now in doubt with the arrest this week of Saiz amidst what observers in Spain are calling the country's biggest doping scandal, and with the withdrawal yesterday of the team's main sponsor, Liberty Seguros. The team, which is run by a company by the name of Active Bay, of which Saiz is majority owner, has vowed to continue with its remaining riders to the finish of the Giro d'Italia in Milan. Saiz, who was released on Wednesday after spending a night in detention, apparently is determined to move forward as if nothing has happened. (Today's L'Equipe reports that Saiz on Thursday phoned all of his riders, one by one, to reassure them that the team will survive despite losing its main sponsor.) But Saiz's problems are numerous with just over one month before the start of the Tour. They include the conditions placed on his release by investigators in Spain, the possibility that the ProTour commission of the sport's governing body, the UCI, will suspend or revoke Active Bay's ProTour license, and the likelihood that even if Saiz overcomes those hurdles, race organizer A.S.O. will seek to block the team from starting the Tour. And those doubts don't exactly make the team attractive to a new sponsor, though the Wurth co-sponsor could potentially increase its stake in the team. (ed. - Cyclingnews is reporting that Wurth will indeed continue on as the team's sole sponsor) Meanwhile, Vinokourov, assuming he doesn't get caught up in the scandal himself, is going to need assurances from someone, and soon, that he'll have a spot on a team guaranteed to participate in the Tour. The only thing certain today is that the name Liberty Seguros will not be on his jersey... Today's Giro Stage 19 profile
On through May 28: Tour of Belgium LIVE: Stage 3B ticker
Thursday, May 25, 2006 Below is a guide to live online coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Briefly: - Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz was released yesterday by authorities in Spain investigating doping. Four others remain in custody. It appears that Saiz is "only" considered a possible customer, not involved in the organized doping operation itself. This is a growing scandal involving both illegal products and procedures (namely transfusions of one's own blood) that doesn't look to be limited to Spain or to Spanish riders. Apparently files containing 200 names of riders have been seized (source: AFP/El Pais). Depending on who all is involved, this scandal could have a major impact on the remainder of the 2006 pro cycling season... Sam Abt reports (link below) that according to Cadena Ser radio, some of the seized bags of blood were destined for riders in the Giro d'Italia... Giro: Quick glance at the top 10 and others:
Photos Copyright © 2006 Pete Geyer
On through May 28: Tour of Belgium LIVE: Stage 2 ticker
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Below is a guide to live online coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Basso Crushes Rivals on Monte Bondone
Simoni asks for mercy, looks for stage win today on brutal Plan de Corones 
Briefly:
Manol Saiz, Liberty Seguros (photo Pete Geyer) - Liberty Seguros team director Manolo Saiz is among several individuals being held by authorities in Spain investigating doping. The investigation, involving telephone wiretaps, has been ongoing for several months. Though illegal products have been seized, the investigation appears to focus on blood transfusions whereby riders bank their own blood, which is then treated, before re-injecting it later for performance gains. - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc refuses to comment on the possibility of excluding Liberty Seguros (the team of Alexandre Vinokourov) from this year's Tour, saying there is no need to rush to judgment at this time. (source: Marca ) On today through May 28: Tour of Belgium LIVE: Stage 1 ticker
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Below is a guide to live online coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Let the Fireworks Begin
On tomorrow through May 28: Tour of Belgium (Boonen, Hoste, etc.)
Monday, May 22, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Quote of the day:
Sunday, May 21, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy 
Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Phonak) on Mont Ventoux 2004 Dauphine Libere (photo Pete Geyer) Phonak's Jose Gutierrez is currently a surprise second overall at 3:27 behind Ivan Basso. Gutierrez is a solid rider who in the past has ridden in support of Roberto Heras and Alejandro Valverde at Kelme and Santiago Botero and former teammate Tyler Hamilton at Phonak. He doesn't have a lot of wins but does have stage wins in the Dauphine Libere (2002 and 2004) and in the Vuelta a Espana (2004). He was a member of the Phonak team which finished second (to USPS) in the Team Time Trial at the Tour de France in 2004, as well as the second-place finishing TTT team at the inaugural Eindhoven ProTour event in 2005. He finished 3rd overall at the Classique des Alpes race in 2004. And of course he has finished 3rd in the 1st, 8th and 13th stages of the current Giro d'Italia. When Gutierrez won stage 2 of the 2004 Dauphine Libere, it put him into the yellow jersey which he held until stage 4. He lost the jersey in the Mont Ventoux time trial (photo above) which was dominated by Iban Mayo of Euskaltel-Euskadi and Gutierrez's teammate Hamilton. Mayo that day shattered the previous record up Mont Ventoux, held by American Jonathan Vaughters for five years, by nearly a minute. (Mayo hasn't done much since and Hamilton is currently serving a suspension for doping, which he has always denied.) Gutierrez finished 7th in that mountain time trial, 2:44 behind Mayo, and finished 6th overall at race's end. Can Gutierrez challenge Ivan Basso in this Giro d'Italia? Can anyone? At the moment that seems unlikely because Basso continues to gain time on his rivals who likely will look to fight for the second and third spots on the podium. This means that CSC will have help on the road to the extent that Phonak and Discovery Channel look to defend their current second and third spots, respectively. So if Basso isn't going to crack, then the outsiders have to deal not only with CSC but with Phonak and Discovery Channel. Fuhgettaboutit. And Jose Rujano dropped out of the race yesterday. Let's hope that Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego do some attacking early in mountain stages to liven things up a bit. Discovery Channel should continue to send guys into breakaways. Tom Danielson has targeted this final week in the mountains. Will the team let him go off the front for a possible stage win or will he have to stay with Savoldelli to try and help him preserve that third spot? How will the team react if someone like Wladimir Belli attacks and Savoldelli cracks? Lots of questions and there should still be some exciting racing ahead this week even if Basso doesn't crack. Dauphine Libere starts in two weeks
Speaking of the Dauphine Libere , it begins just two weeks from today and once again features a stage to Mont Ventoux. Unlike last year, there will be live video streaming this year. We'll have a full Dauphine Libere preview in a little over a week. Giro d'Italia: No Eurosport live audio today
With auto racing and tennis on Eurosport this afternoon, unfortunately the Giro d'Italia coverage will not be live. (It is live on Eurosport 2 but they currently do not provide audio streams for Eurosport 2.) On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
Saturday, May 20, 2006 Below is a guide to live internet coverage of the 2006 Tour of Italy Quote of the day:
On through May 21: Volta a Catalunya - Teams/riders
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2003 Tour de France