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Sunday, June 19, 2005
Races today:
Saturday, June 18, 2005 Races this week:
Friday, June 17, 2005 Below you'll find links for Tour of Switzerland live coverage and Route du Sud. Big win for Chris Horner in yesterday's stage of the Tour of Switzerland. The American, who joined the Saunier-Duval team late in 2004, is back for his second stint in Europe after dominating U.S. racing for a couple of years. He's now proved he can race, and win, in top European racing. Good timing too, right before his team selects its line-up for the Tour de France. Aussie Michael Rogers (Quick Step) took over the race lead from Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile). With his improved climbing ability, Rogers, the world time trial champion, could be a factor in next month's Tour de France. The list of contenders seems to be growing daily. Michael Rogers (Quick Step)
2004 Grand Prix des Nations Races this week:
Thursday, June 16, 2005 Below you'll find links for Tour of Switzerland live coverage and Route du Sud. We'll have new photo galleries and wallpaper, including from last week's Dauphiné Libéré race, up in the days ahead. We're so far behind in posting photos from this season that, in racing terminology, we've been "spit out the back" and missed the time cut. Where has the season gone? Can the Tour really be just over two weeks away? Races this week:
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 Races this week:
Lance Armstrong is competing in his penultimate race as a professional cyclist, the Dauphiné Libéré stage race, June 5-12. For a race preview and several photos from the past two editions, see below. June races:
Note: Unfortunately, it does not look like there will be much live coverage of the Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré stage race, despite its ProTour status. Tour broadcasters France 2/3 hold the rights to the Dauphiné Libéré but once again will at best only broadcast the last stage or two of the race nationally in France. According to the race organizers, France 2/3 by contract must show at least one stage of this race live on national TV. One or two stages, most likely the second weekend, is not much in such a prestigious race filled with a great field of riders and featuring two time trials and a stage to Mont Ventoux. Needless to say, cycling fans in France are not happy. It does not appear at this time that France 2/3 or the organizer web sites are offering any kind of live streaming. Cycling fans all over the world will thus be disappointed as well. The lack of live television coverage also means fewer live tickers since few web sites have people at the race and in range of Radio Tour. Eurosport is not broadcasting the race so that means no Eurosport live audio. Regionally, television's France 3 Rhône-Alpes Auvergne is offering what it calls "exceptional race coverage." On close inspection, that "exceptional coverage" amounts to a whopping 10 minutes of daily coverage mid-day from the start town, followed by 4 minutes and 30 seconds of evening highlights. You might be able to catch daily non-live video highlight streams at the France 3 Rhône-Alpes Auvergne web site (the link is in the guide above). The Dauphiné Libéré is France's second most important stage race. It enjoys a strategic spot on the calendar just a few weeks before the Tour de France. Indeed, the Dauphiné Libéré has been Lance Armstrong's favorite pre-Tour race on the road to winning a record six Tours de France. Armstrong is back this year, making the DL his penultimate race before his very last race next month, the Tour, "win or lose". And he's back with most of what is no doubt the most powerful stage race team in cycling. Viatcheslav Ekimov is out this year due to injury but Armstrong will be supported in the DL by Jose "The Ace" Azevedo, Manuel "Triki" Beltran, Stijn Devolder, George "No Chain" Hincapie, Benjamin Noval, Yaroslav Popovych and Jose "Chechu" Rubiera. Recent Giro winner Paolo "The Falcon" Savoldelli is resting and training for the Tour. That is a team that can make a race difficult whenever it wants, setting up Armstrong, or another teammate, for a great chance at victory. Most of Discovery Channel's DL team (and thus upcoming Tour team) raced together this year in Paris-Nice, the very first race in the new ProTour. The team did not have a stellar Paris-Nice, with Armstrong having to drop out, but team director Johan Bruyneel is busy thinking year-round about the composition of the next Tour's team and the Paris-Nice team indeed looked like a Tour team (Hincapie was racing elsewhere). The big question is: How is Armstrong's form now less than a month from the Tour? He has not raced since the Tour de Georgia and by his own admission he had weight to lose. Will he LOOK like he did in the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré? Lance Armstrong on Mont Ventoux, 2004 Dauphiné
Libéré
Clearly Armstrong has been behind in his training this season. Has he caught up? "Catch me if you can" (l'Equipe Magazine cover,
Paris-Nice)
The weekend that the new ProTour was launched, at Paris-Nice, l'Equipe Magazine ran a cover featuring Armstrong front and center with all of his rivals behind him. The cover text: "Catch me if you can" Inside, l'Equipe speculated on the various ways that these rivals might go on the attack in the Tour, perhaps collectively taking Lance Armstrong and Discovery Channel out of their game plan of controlling the race. Thus far it has looked like Armstrong is the one who has had catching up to do, albeit catching up to himself compared to previous years because his main rivals, Ivan Basso aside, have not shown a whole lot yet this year either. We'll get answers to some of the above questions starting this next week. This is a very tough edition of the Dauphiné Libéré and with two time trials (including the prologue), a stage finish on Mont Ventoux and a couple of other demanding stages in the mountains, it is a perfect opportunity for Armstrong to test himself. It is unlikely, however, that Armstrong will go all out for overall victory. He does need to do some serious time trialing here and may use his team to set him up for a long-awaited victory on Mont Ventoux. Perhaps. Certainly if overall victory presented itself without too much trouble, Armstrong would take it. But he won't let the effort compromise the real mission, a 7th Tour victory. The Dauphiné Libéré is a very prestigious race, a very tempting race in which to grab victory and confidence for your team, but like a Venus Flytrap it can await unsuspecting Tour contenders, chew them up and leave them lacking in energy when the Tour rolls around. A scary crash and a race made difficult by an attacking Iban Mayo in 2003 resulted in Armstrong vowing never to return to the Dauphiné Libéré. But return he did in 2004, with more modest goals. The 2004 race saw Iban Mayo himself fall victim to the "trap". He won the race but fell apart in the Tour, perhaps in part due to the pressure and increased expectations. Mayo clearly did not enjoy the spotlight. Like Armstrong the previous year, Mayo said "No more Dauphiné Libéré for me". Unlike Armstrong, Mayo is really staying away. Lance Armstrong had to keep up with an attacking
Iban Mayo on the Col de la Ramaz, in the 2003 Dauphiné Libéré
Lance Armstrong and Francisco Mancebo chase Mayo
on the Col du Galibier, 2003 Dauphiné Libéré (note
the bandage on Armstrong's elbow due to a crash in an earlier stage)
Unlike 2003, where the Col de la Ramaz and Col du Galibier featured
in both the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour, or in
2004 where the mountain time trial to Mont Ventoux was a good test ahead
of the Tour's mountain time trial to l'Alpe d'Huez, this year's Dauphiné
Libéré doesn't offer a preview of a major Tour climb.As a ProTour race, the Dauphiné Libéré will have all 20 ProTeams. AG2R was the lone non-ProTeam invited. So 21 teams (compared to just 12 in 2004), it's a big field with a lot of big names. In addition to Armstrong and his teammates: Alexandre Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden, Oscar Sevilla, Francisco Mancebo, Santiago Botero, Floyd Landis, Oscar Pereiro, Carlos Sastre, Levi Leipheimer, Davide Rebellin, Roberto Heras, Alberto Contador, Jorg Jaksche, Isidro Nozal, Denis Menchov, Michael Boogerd, Erik Dekker, Juan Antonio Flecha, David Moncoutie, Stuart O'Grady, Axel Merckx, Wim Van Huffel. Who will seize the opportunity presented by this challenging race? Who will fall into the "trap"? Who will shine in both the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour? Who needs a strong ride here in order to make his Tour team lineup? Friday, June 3, 2005 Races this week:
Coming up tomorrow: A look at the Dauphine Libere. Thursday, June 2, 2005 Benoit Joachim (pictured upper right) rode the Tour
de Luxembourg in 2003 with the Luxembourg national team (USPS shorts!)
Note: Added direct link to radio euskadi live radio coverage (Euskal Bizikleta). Races this week:
Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Races this week:
Coming up tomorrow: Tour of Luxembourg Sunday, May 29, 2005 Below is a guide to live internet/web coverage of the 2005 Giro d'Italia. The Dauphine Libere stage race begins just one week from today. This is Lance Armstrong's penultimate race and will feature a stage to Mont Ventoux. More about this next event in the ProTour this week right here..... Note: Eurosport is not broadcasting today's final stage of the Giro live. Broadcast time (see below) very likely could change depending on their live coverage of events such as the French Open. Also this week:
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