More than 45,000 people have signed the online petition to “Let Levi Ride” in the 2008 Tour de France.
Leipheimer, third last year to winning Astana teammate Alberto Contador, will be on the sideline in July if Tour owner ASO (pronounce that as you will) continues to say that Astana is not welcome. ASO is punishing the reincarnated team for doping violations committed by riders no longer on Astana and management that is long gone.
Last week’s RBR poll asked if Astana should be allowed into the ‘08 Tour and 89% of 1,200 voters said yes. If you’d like to see Levi and his team in the Tour, it might help to sign the ASO-bound petition at http://www.letleviride.com
The Sonoita Pass road ride is a beautiful out and back ride that takes you to the Sonoita junction. There is a good climb that starts off gradual then gets much steeper for the last 10 miles before getting to the top of the pass.
The starting elevation is about 2,800 feet and when you crest the top of the pass you are at about 5,200 feet.
There is a good shoulder on the road with plenty of room, but be careful because cars are traveling at high speed.
Just get on Hwy 83 and go! If you are looking to do a century ride from Tucson, you can easy add 10 more miles and turn the ride into a 100 mile day.
There is plenty of food and drink at the junction where hwy 83 t-bones with hwy 82. Plus the junction is a great place to take a bathroom stop.
After having several of their riders denied admission to this year’s Amgen Tour of California the Rock Racing team has announced a new “aggressive internal team anti-doping program.”
Of course, they’re not the first team to announce that they were going to take matters into their own hands when it comes to proving that their riders are clean. Team High Road, Slipstream, they’re all doing it now. In fact, today it almost seems as though if you don’t announce that you have an “aggressive internal team anti-doping program” then you must be guilty already.
I don’t know. Of course we have to encourage and support any serious measures undertaken by any of the teams that are really going to help make the sport more fair, but sometimes I wonder about the validity as well as the motivation behind these “aggressive internal team anti-doping programs.”
Do any of the teams ever follow up by making public the progress and results of these “aggressive internal team anti-doping programs?” How motivated are they really to catch their own guys?
Again, I’m a huge fan of anything the teams are doing to help the sport but I’ve worked in the world of PR for a long time and doing a big proactive PR move like announcing an “aggressive internal team anti-doping program” in order to inoculate yourself against potential future scandal is PR 101.
Thanks to all that participated. Check back to the site over the next week. Coach Troy Jacobson of Spinervals is sending me a T-Shirt for the FREE T-Shirt Write Up and will be sending one of his Spinerval videos to give away. You could be the lucky winner of a Spinerval workout so check back to the site.
Cycling’s governing body the UCI has warned teams it will not recognize this year’s Paris-Nice race in a move which could threaten the Tour de France.
UCI chief Pat McQuaid is angry with the organizers’ decision to manage the race only under French law rather than under the governing body’s jurisdiction.
“This measure will have far-reaching consequences,” said McQuaid.
McQuaid sent a letter on Monday to all teams to explain the dispute with Paris-Nice organizers Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), which also organises the Tour de France.
Paris-Nice is the European calendar’s first major race of the season but the rift is a genuine threat to the Tour, cycling’s most famous and prestigious race.
Shimano is ramping up their move into cycling apparel with the purchase of Pearl Izumi, the popular bike clothing and shoe company.
The word is that Pearl Izumi will continue to operate as an independent company and the facilities in Broomfield, CO and Kirchzarten, Germany will remain open. Will this mean lower prices on Pearl Izumi, I doubt it…
The roads were wet and there was more rain in the forecast this morning as riders lined up for the seventh and final stage of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. Jackets and leg warmers were abundant.
The challenging course today would make this final stage far from just ceremonial. Two intermediate sprints meant that the green jersey was still in contention and a final KOM climb, more than 4,800 feet up the Millcreek Summit, would still allow for some shake-up on GC. Six five-mile laps around the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena would end today’s stage and this year’s race.
Only 90 of the original 132 started today as that nasty flu bug continued to make its rounds through the peloton.
Team Astana immediately took control of the pack this morning. They were down one rider today after Vladimir Gusev crashed near the end of yesterday’s stage and broke his collarbone.
Right away there was an attack by Doug Ollerenshaw (Rock Racing). He was chased down and more attacks came and were caught. After some back and forth a group of ten riders got away: George Hincapie (High Road), Jason McCartney (CSC), Yannick Talabardon (Credit Agricole), Oliver Zaugg (Gerolsteiner), Dimitri Champion (Bouygues Telecom), Danny Pate (Slipstream), Taylor Tolleson (BMC), Rory Sutherland (Health Net), Tom Zirbel (Bissell) and Michael Creed (Rock Racing).
Two intermediate sprints and four KOM climbs out on the course today to give the riders a chance to shake up this race a bit and try to unseat Levi Leipheimer as the race leader. Still not sunny California weather as riders were met with a chilly breeze and more clouds over the road today.
As usual there were lots of attacks right out of the gate. During all the vying for position, Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) crashed and abandoned. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The peloton chased down each attack attempt and then a flurry of counterattacks would begin. Astana was working hard at the front. No one was napping in the peloton today as the attacks just kept coming – many of them from Slipstream. With three riders in the top ten the argyle team was doing their best to blow apart the Astana squad and isolate Leipheimer to try to have one of their GC men put some time into him.
Jurgen Vandewalle (Quick Step) got top points over the first KOM climb. The second KOM climb followed just a couple of miles later and Christophe Le Mevel (Credit Agricole) took first spot there.
A break of six finally got away just after the second climb and opened up a gap of about one minute. They included: Christophe Le Mevel (Credit Agricole), Steven Cozza (Slipstream), Karsten Kroon (Team CSC), Rory Sutherland (Health Net), David Canada Gracia (Saunier Duval-Scott) and Alexandre Pichot (Bouygues Telecom).
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The Sonoita Pass road ride is a beautiful out and back ride that takes you to the Sonoita junction. There is a good climb that starts off gradual then gets much steeper for the last 10 miles before getting to the top of the pass.
There is plenty of food and drink at the junction where hwy 83 t-bones with hwy 82. Plus the junction is a great place to take a bathroom stop.
UCI chief Pat McQuaid is angry with the organizers’ decision to manage the race only under French law rather than under the governing body’s jurisdiction.
