Archives
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Saturday, August 5, 2006
History's most talked-about "B"
sample confirms "A" sample analysis
The French anti-doping lab:
Laboratoire National de Dépistage
du Dopage (LNDD) at Chatenay-Malabry, southwest of Paris,
France
Photo Copyright
© 2006
Pete Geyer
As expected by most observers,
according to the UCI
the analysis of Floyd Landis'
"B" sample has confirmed the "A" sample finding. This
means that according to anti-doping rules, Floyd Landis
is officially considered to have tested positive for doping
in the 2006 Tour de France. The matter will now be turned
over to
USA Cycling
for disciplinary proceedings.
USA Cycling is expected to present the matter to
the
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)
. Landis faces a two-year
suspension from the sport (four years from the ProTour,
though the future of the ProTour itself is in doubt) and
the loss of his Tour de France title. As Landis maintains
his innocence, he likely will appeal to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
(TAS-CAS) once the expected
sanctions have been handed down.
An editorial in today's L'Equipe
Magazine (the magazine is printed on Thursdays) states:
"The parents of Floyd Landis today probably regret that the
wheel was ever invented. Welcome to the 21st century, mennonites!"
Levi Leipheimer, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Ciolek takes Stage 3
Gerald Ciolek (GER) of Wiesenhof won yesterday's stage 3 of the Deutschland
Tour in a bunch sprint ahead of Erik Zabel and Andre Greipel. It
was a great result for the 19 year old Ciolek, a promising young sprinter
who recently finished a strong 5th at the Vattenfall Cyclassics.
Rumored to be on the way to T-Mobile (source: Cyclingnews), Ciolek is showing
that he's a strong rider for the future.
For Zabel, it was yet another 2nd place finish as he started his sprint
too early and was passed by Ciolek in the last 50 meters. He can console
himself, though, with 2nd place overall and, more importantly, having the
same overall time as race leader Vladimir Gusev. Gusev will keep
his jersey, however, as the rules allow the person who has already been
in a jersey to keep the jersey if the standings are tied. Zabel is
also the current leader in the points competition.
Today's stage 4 is another flat stage, setting up for a bunch sprint.
This is the last chance for the sprinters to claim glory before the major
mountains begin on Stage 5. Look for Zabel to pick up a time bonus
along today's stage 4 and be in yellow by the end of the day. But
who will win the stage? -Chris
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2006 Tour of Germany
August 1-9
(Deutschland Tour)
(Tour d'Allemagne)
Official Site
Start list
(.pdf)
Live video:
(--)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Official site ticker
News and photos:
(cycling news)
Yahoo photo gallery
(AP/AFP)
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Friday, August 4, 2006
Levi Leipheimer, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Voigt Wins Stage 2
Popular German rider Jens Voigt of Team CSC won yesterday's stage
2 of the Deutschland Tour ahead of fellow breakaway companions Davide
Rebellin and Andrey Kashechkin. Voigt and Kashechkin were both part
of a previous breakaway that got away on the first of two category 2 climbs
in the last 40 km. However, they were eventually pulled back by a
determined peloton at the base of the final climb, 20km from the finish.
Several attacks then went off, including a move by pre-race favorite Alexandre
Vinokourov, but nothing came of them. At the top of the climb, Rebellin
made his move, with Voigt and Kashechkin the only riders able to follow
him.
In the finale, the breakaway managed to just hold onto its gap as
the peloton worked hard to bring them back, lead by T-Mobile and Lampre.
Yellow jersey wearer Vladimir Gusev also contributed to the chase, having
no Discovery Channel teammates left in the group to share the workload.
In the end, though, it was Voigt outsprinting Rebellin for the win, finishing
5 seconds ahead of the fast-charging peloton. Rebellin, in fact,
slipped and nearly crashed coming out of a corner with 200 meters to, costing
him the stage win. Kashechkin managed to hang on for 3rd.
Gusev's efforts to pull the break didn't go unrewarded, though, as
he held onto his lead by 7 seconds over Rebellin, ensuring another day in
yellow. Perhaps the unluckiest rider on the day was Erik Zabel.
Beaten in a sprint in Stage 1, he was the only sprinter to make it over
the mountains with the main group. Should the breakaway have been
pulled back, he surely would have won the stage. However, it was
not to be, as he had to settle for best of the main pack and 4th place,
agonizingly close yet again.
Today's stage has a couple of little hills towards the end, but should
be for the sprinters. Can Zabel redeem himself and finally overcome
his bad luck to win a stage on home soil? -Chris
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2006 Tour of Germany
August 1-9
(Deutschland Tour)
(Tour d'Allemagne)
Official Site
Start list
(.pdf)
Live video:
(--)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Official site ticker
News and photos:
(cycling news)
Yahoo photo gallery
(AP/AFP)
Jens Voigt (Team CSC)
2006 Giro d'Italia
(Copyright ©
2006 Pete Geyer)
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Thursday, August 3, 2006
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Tour de France Director
Jean-Marie Leblanc Kidnapped by Martians Wearing Jack Daniels Podium Caps!
(Sorry, just a pathetic attempt at humor before things are about
to get very serious.)
(If you get the joke, on multiple levels, then great. If not,
we actually envy you!)
(All the doping and allegations are enough to drive one to drink
(You're fired. -Ed.)....lemonade! (Okay, you can stay. -Ed.))
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Levi Leipheimer, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Bazayev Wins Stage
Assan Bazayev (Astana), 25, of Kazakhstan won yesterday's Stage 1
of the Deutschland Tour in a bunch sprint. Bazayev, a surprise winner,
passed Danilo Napolitano of Lampre in the final 20 meters to win by half
a wheel. Napolitano had looked good to win after opening up a gap
of several lengths during the sprint, but faded towards the end.
Hometown favorite Erik Zabel finished in 3rd.
The day was animated by a category 3 climb near the end. Nick
Nuyens of Quick Step was the first to attack, bringing Stefan Schumacher
and Evgueni Petrov with him, who then counterattacked and created a gap.
However, it would all be pulled back together for a sprint. Sebastian
Lang, only 1 second down on the overall, tried a late attack with 2km to
go but was also brought back inside the final kilometer. As a result
of the bunch sprint, there was no change in the overall standings, so Discovery
Channel's Vladimir Gusev remains in yellow for another day.
Today's Stage 2 of the Deutschland Tour features two category 2 mountains
in the final 40km before a downhill finish into Goslar. It is the
first major test for anyone with GC ambitions and should sort out which
riders are in form and which are not. -Chris
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2006 Tour of Germany
August 1-9
(Deutschland Tour)
(Tour d'Allemagne)
Official Site
Start list
(.pdf)
Live video:
(--)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Official site ticker
News and photos:
(cycling news)
Yahoo photo gallery
(AP/AFP)
Assan Bazayev (Astana), 2003 Tour de l'Avenir
(Copyright
© 2006 Pete Geyer)
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Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Friday, August 4, 2006
New photo gallery: Vattenfall
Cyclassics (Hamburg)
Stuart O'Grady, Team CSC
Photo Copyright © 2006
Christine Grein
Contributing photographer Christine Grein just
sent in some new photos of Sunday's Vattenfall Cyclassics race in Hamburg.
Check out our
Photo
galleries
for her latest pics. You'll find more, including one of the
best cycling image databases on the internet at her own site:
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Levi Leipheimer, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Gusev Wins Deutschland Prologue
Yesterday's Deutschland Tour kicked off with a 5.5 km prologue
in Dusseldorf. The surprise winner on the day was Discovery Channel's
Vladimir Gusev from Russia. He finished with a time of 6:42.62,
.09 seconds ahead of rising German talent Linus Gerdemann. Sebastian
Lang of Gerolsteiner completed the podium by finishing 3rd, a further 1
second behind. It was another victory for Gusev, who continutes his
good run of form after winning the overall at the Sachsen Tour-International
in mid July. Gusev's result will be well received by the Discovery
Channel Team, who are looking to rebound from a subpar Tour de France.
The conditions for the stage were far from ideal, with rain coming
down off and on all day, along with huge gusts of wind. By the
time the last riders started, it was absolutely pouring. As a result,
the last 4 riders, Jens Voigt, Marzio Bruseghin, Patrik Sinkewitz, and
Levi Leipheimer, could not take any risks over several very slippery corners
and lost time. All four would finish with a time of over 7 minutes.
Alexandre Vinokourov, meanwhile, finished with a solid 6:52 for 9th place.
Today's stage 1 is a flat stage for the sprinters. Watch
out for Erik Zabel, who lives close by, to go for the win. After
finishing with a solid top 20 in the prologue, Zabel is showing that
he has the form to do it. Can he win on home soil? -Chris
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2006 Tour of Germany
August 1-9
(Deutschland Tour)
(Tour d'Allemagne)
Official Site
Start list
(.pdf)
Live video:
(--)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Official site ticker
Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel), 2006 Paris-Nice Prologue
(Copyright
© 2006 Pete Geyer)
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Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Levi Leipheimer, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Levi Leipheimer, on his way to Discovery
Channel next season, is back to defend his 2005 win in the Tour of Germany.
Leipheimer also won the 2006 Dauphiné Libéré
and finished 13th overall in the 2006 Tour de France.
Alexandre Vinokourov, who once again may be looking for a new
team, will also race the Deutschland Tour.
Also among those expected at the start line: Erik Zabel,
David Zabriskie, Bobby Julich, Jens Voigt, Thomas Dekker, Tomas Vaitkus.
Vaitkus will be riding for Discovery Channel next season.
Tyler Farrar (Cofidis), a young rider from the U.S., is also entered
in this race.
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2006 Tour of Germany
August 1-9
(Deutschland Tour)
(Tour d'Allemagne)
Official Site
Start list
(.pdf)
Live video:
(--)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Official site ticker
|
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Sunday, July 30, 2006
NOTE:
We've got a lot coming up in the days and weeks ahead, including
articles, photos, more wallpaper, a book giveaway with HarperCollins
, interviews and of course more live race coverage!
|
On today: Sunday, July 30, 2006
Vattenfall Cyclassics, Germany, 243.2km
(GP Hamburg)
(Grand Prix de Hambourg)
Official Site:
German
Live video:
ndr.de
(The RealVideo, External Player streams work
for us)
Live SRM Telemetry:
Live tickers:
Note: Alexandre Vinokourov is back in
action.
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Saturday, July 29, 2006
Editorial
Floyd Landis should not have to pay for everyone
Call it a parade of Who's Who Among Hypocrites in Cycling.
All those big heads floating down a virtual Avenue des Champs-Elysées
demanding the head of 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. How
dare he tarnish the image of their sport, even threaten their livelihoods!
Eight years after the Festina Affair, many in France, including
cycling fans, race organizers, journalists and Richard Virenque himself
of course, continue to believe that Virenque and his Festina teammates
in 1998 "paid for the faults of everyone." That argument once
had some merit. But after seeing the continued public support
for Virenque in the final years of his career, witnessing race organizer
Amaury Sport Organization (A.S.O.), at the 2005 Tour route presentation
in October 2004, present Virenque with a special award commemorating his
record seven King of the Mountains jerseys, and seeing the French newspaper
and magazine covers glorifying the French climber (and doper) upon his
retirement, not to mention Virenque's subsequent employment as a race
consultant on French television, we can no longer buy the "Virenque paid
for everyone" argument.
A.S.O. gives Richard Virenque an award commemorating
his record 7 King of the Mountains jerseys
October, 2004
But with a non-negative "A" doping control sample given by
Landis last week after his comeback stage, to Morzine, in the Tour,
Union Cycliste International (UCI) president Pat McQuaid is angry. Longtime
A.S.O./Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc is angry. New Tour director
Christian Prudhomme is angry. Veteran team managers whose former
star riders are implicated in veterinarian doping scandals are angry.
Everyone is angry. And when you have a chance to be angry
at the winner of the yellow jersey, the brightest symbol in cycling,
that is not an opportunity to be missed! Nothing better than a
disgraced yellow jersey to make everyone forget the other scandals or your
own shortcomings. They will try to make an example of Landis. But
the hypocrisy becomes ever more clear.
Jean-Marie Leblanc
2005 Tour de France route presentation
October, 2004
Once again a cyclist is being tried in the media over a non-negative
"A" doping control sample that we shouldn't even know about. Floyd
Landis has asked us all not to judge him before all the facts have been
revealed. Some have already refused to accord him that and yet
why is there a rush to judge anyone before the testing process has been
completed and before all the facts are known?
For many cycling fans, it must be hard not to want to rush
to judgment. We have, after all, been down this road before with
other cyclists who continued to deny doping even as more evidence mounted
after their suspensions from the sport. But Landis shouldn't have
to pay for these other cases any more than he should have to pay for
the hypocrisy of those who run the sport.
A.S.O. and L'Equipe are in a hurry, editorially and commercially,
because the 2006 Tour de France official book is due to be printed
soon. Ditto for the official race videos. They might wait
no later than the release of Landis' "B" sample results, possibly as
early as Monday, before going to print with either Landis or Pereiro as
the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. Or perhaps they'll have an
ambiguous cover, or even use a photo of Frenchman Cyril Dessel in his yellow
jersey. If the "B" sample confirms the "A," then Andreas Kloden
and Carlos Sastre, teammates respectively of Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso
who were barred from riding this year's Tour due largely to pressure from
A.S.O. and the French government in the wake of the "Operacion Puerto"
scandal in Spain, likely will round out the print podium just in time for
the precious "Tour yearbook" to go to print, perhaps complete with commentary
from Virenque. Phew!
The general French public, ever pragmatic, likely doesn't
care much either way. Those that followed along got a great show
in July with the suspense, Floyd's comeback, a French rider briefly
in yellow and a few French stage wins to boot. Besides, it's summer.
The Tour came through town last week, this week it's the circus
(some might argue there isn't much difference).
Not even a week has passed since Floyd Landis stood victorious
on the podium on the Champs-Elysées. He must be a lonely
man right now. There isn't really any solidarity in the sport
of cycling, not even among the riders, save a teammate here or there.
Everyone defends their own selfish interests, none more so than
A.S.O., the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Floyd has asked us to be patient. Patient we will be,
even beyond the release of the "B" sample results which rarely contradict
the "A" sample. Patient we will be because there may be valid non-doping
explanations for Floyd's positive test. Patient we will be because
we're not ready to toss out such a magnificent race.
Patient we will be because even if when all is said and done
he is found guilty, Floyd shouldn't have to pay for everyone.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Tour de France: Stage
20 photos in Paris
(in the Photo galleries section)
NOTE:
We've got a lot coming up in the days and weeks ahead, including
articles, photos, more wallpaper, a book giveaway with HarperCollins
, interviews and of course more live race coverage!
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Photographer Mobile Communications
Interested in reading how AP/AFP photographers get their
cycling photos online so quickly from the road? Check out our
Tour de France Stage 20 photo gallery, in the Photo galleries section.
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Damiano Cunego and Markus Fothen
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Damiano Cunego and Markus
Fothen
After three weeks of riding, it took a brilliant time trial
by Damiano Cunego to secure the young rider's jersey. He'd predicted
that Markus Fothen, the better time trialist, would bridge the gap
and take the jersey back. Of course, what really happened is that Cunego
rode the time trial of his life and took the white jersey to Paris.
Read more
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Monday, July 24, 2006
New Wallpaper: Floyd Landis
and the peloton arrive in Paris
(in the Wallpaper section)
Axel Merckx stayed with
Floyd Landis the entire stage
Right photo: The Phonak train, with
a seat reserved for Discovery Channel's Viatcheslav Ekimov, leads
Landis into Paris; Russian Ekimov, who is retiring in September, was
allowed to ride onto the Avenue des Champs-Elysées ahead of
the pack, a great tribute for a great rider.
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Floyd Wins Le Tour
American Floyd Landis completed his victory in the Tour
de France yesterday in the race's 20th and final stage into Paris.
Finishing in the main pack, he secured his final winning margin of
57 seconds over Oscar Pereiro. The day was a ceremonial affair,
with Floyd and his Phonak teammates sipping champagne and celebrating
at the beginning of the stage, then leading the peloton onto to the Avenue
des Champs-Elysées in what has become a traditional honor for
the team of the winner. Phonak then slid back a couple of positions
in the group to allow the other teams to battle out the stage.
As the peloton crossed the line, Landis and co. were seen hugging and
congratulating each other on an amazing victory.
The only available prize on the day was the prestigious
stage victory itself, which was won in a sprint by Thor Hushovd of
Norway. Outsprinting favorite Robbie McEwen, who started his
sprint too early, Hushovd collected his second stage victory of this
year's Tour. His other was the opening stage prologue that saw
him briefly in the maillot jaune. It was disappointing for McEwen,
whose team did a lot of work in disrupting and pulling back a dangerous
14 man breakaway in the final kilometers. He can console himself
though with his third green jersey victory in the sprinters competition,
finishing a massive 89 points ahead of 6 time green jersey winner Erik
Zabel.
Read more
- Chris
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Sunday, July 23, 2006
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Landis, from California to Georgia
to Paris
Barring incident today...well, you know the rest.
At the Dauphiné Libéré race last
month, I asked two-time Tour winner Bernard Thévenet who his
favorites were for this year's Tour. He told me: "Basso, Ullrich
and Landis....though I'm no longer sure about Landis after what we
saw on Mont Ventoux!"
Read more
- Pete
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Floyd Completes Comeback
Floyd Landis took back the overall lead for good in
yesterday's Stage 19 57km individual time trial of the Tour de
France to Montceau-les-Mines. Behind 30 seconds to leader
Oscar Pereiro at the start, Landis steadily took back time throughout
the entire stage to finish 3rd on the day behind stage winner T-Mobile's
Serguei Gonchar. More importantly, though, was his time gain
of 1:29 over Pereiro to ensure him a buffer of 59 seconds heading
into the final day in Paris. Barring any injuries or mechanical
incidents, today should see him crowned the new champion of the Tour
de France.
Read more
- Chris
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Note: What's the quickest
way to see photos of today's stage? Click on the "Yahoo
photo gallery" link in our live coverage programme. AP and
AFP photographers are equipped to transmit photos from the road.
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