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Are You Watching the Tour?

07.10.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

I wasn’t going to. All the doping cases have me fed up with the world of pro cycling. For the past three years, I’ve done posts about the different teams in the Tour, and who their sponsors are, and what they do. This year, I didn’t. I just don’t care anymore.

But now the Tour is underway…and every day, I find myself tuned in a little longer, absorbing a little more detail about the race…

Saturday, I was at a friend’s birthday party, and lots of other cyclists were there. Sure enough, one of the most commonly-asked questions was, “Are you watching the Tour?”

Not one person I talked to hadn’t seen at least some of it. One fellow said he’d missed the day’s action, and asked me what happened.

“Oh, Vinokurov decided to go for it,” I said. “He tried to catch the breakaway. Almost did it, too. It was really something to watch him attack.”

I caught myself. I knew as much or more about what was going on as my friends did, even after vowing that I was through with pro cycling.

“But I was yelling, ‘Doper! doper!’ all during his run,” I quickly added.

How did I get sucked into the Tour again this year?

It was innocent enough. My summer school teaching duties ended last week, and I now have some time on my hands. I didn’t try to tune in. In fact, I missed the first two days.

Then I started sneaking peeks. You know, the fabulous aerial shots of the French countryside — the castles — the chateaus. Then when they were passing through farm country the farmers created a large bicycle mockup with those huge round hay bales. And the wheels of the bike went round and round. And the wheels were formed by tractors driving in circles. Big tractors. It was terrific. I called my wife to come see.

So then we sat and watched. And watched until the end.

“That’s Mark Cavendish,” I told her. “He’s the best sprinter in the world. He’s British, but he rides for the American team HTC Highroad, so we can root for him.”

“So who do you want to win?” she asked.

I caught myself again. Don’t forget, I’m anti-pro cycling.

“Uh…I don’t know,” I replied. “I guess I don’t have a favorite. Any of the American teams would be fine with me.”

“Who are the American teams?” she asked.

“Well, there’s BMC…”

“Oh, from Houston. I’ve been by their place lots of times.”

“No, we went over this last year,” I said. “It’s not BMC Software. BMC is a Swiss bicycle company. But the team is based in Santa Rosa, California.”

Then I went through the other American teams: Radio Shack (she knew about them, from last year’s Tour), HTC Highroad, and Garmin-Cervelo. I ticked off the top riders on each team.

“Who are you rooting against?” she asked.

Team Sky's Xabier Zandio

“Team Sky,” I said. “They’re sponsored by BSkyB, the British satellite TV company. Rupert Murdoch owns 39 percent of BSkyB, and wants to buy the rest, but that phone hacking scandal is holding him up. I’ll root against anything with Murdoch’s name attached to it.”

“Anyone else?”

“I’m not crazy about Alberto Contador,” I said. “I’d like to see Andy Schleck get his revenge this year.”

“Is he American?”

Andy Schleck

“No, Luxembourger. He and his brother Frank started Team Leopard-Trek this year. It’s based in Luxembourg, and is kind of an all-star team. My favorite rider, Fabian Cancellara, is on that team.”

“So you’re really for a foreign team.”

“No, like I said, I’m for any of the American teams.”

“Who’s going to win?”

“I think it might be Cadel Evans this time.”

“Is he American?”

Cadel Evans

“He rides for BMC, but he’s Australian.”

“Good grief,” she said.

“What can I say? It’s an international sport,” I answered.

During Sunday’s melee, Vinokurov wound up with a broken pelvis after a horrific crash that kn0cked several big names out of the Tour.

Monday will be a rest day. So I can get out and ride my bike, and maybe go a little longer than usual, coming off a weekend. Then I can get as much yard work done as possible, so there’s free time during the rest of the week to watch the race.

“Hey, did you read on Velo News what they said about…” called out one of my friends at that birthday party.

“Nah,” I told him. “I’m not that into the Tour this year. I haven’t read anything about it online.”

Then I reminded myself that Velo News’s coverage is pretty good. I’ll have to check it out — and even bookmark it.

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Categories // Racing Tags // Tour de France

Contador and My Interest in Cycling

02.15.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

My interest in pro bike racing is pretty much confined to the Tour de France. I’ve been watching the Tour for the last four years, attracted mainly by the scenic shots of France – the chateaus, the medieval walled towns, the modern and old  parts of the cities. I’ve even posted brief descriptions of the team jerseys for the Tour, to explain who those sponsors are that no one’s ever heard of.

But I’ve never been able to psych myself up to watch the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a Espana.  Or the one-day classics at the beginning of the season. Or the lesser stage races in other countries. So take my opinions here for what they’re worth, coming from an uninformed cyclist.

The news that Alberto Contador has been exculpated in his doping case isn’t all that surprising. The Spanish Cycling Federation ruled that the trace amount of clenbuterol found in his system during a rest day at the 2010 Tour de France was ingested unintentionally.

Both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ban the use of clenbuterol by athletes; it increases muscle mass and reduces fat. The Drug Enforcement Administration says athletes typically take 60-120 micrograms per day. Contador is accused of having 50 picograms of the drug in his system. A picogram is about half the size of a microgram.

Now, you might dislike Contador, going back to his feud with Lance when they were both on the Astana team. But to me, his story is plausible. Although the European Union prohibits the use of clenbuterol in food-producing animals, it is known to be illicitly used to increase the leanness of meat in livestock. The US Dept. of Agriculture says people in Spain, France, Italy and elsewhere have become sick after eating meat tainted with clenbuterol.

You might also demand that a zero-tolerance drug policy be rigorously enforced by the powers that be in cycling – that if anyone is found with any concentration of illicit drugs in their system, they’re out. But hot on the heels of the Contador decision comes the news that the British Sky cycling team is backing off from its zero-tolerance drug policy. It seems that all the best coaches in the sport have some involvement with illegal doping in their past. Sky is apparently hoping these folks will be clean when they come to work for Sky, but that cloud will always hang over their heads.

Oh, and if Contador is not going to be penalized for clenbuterol, what about Chinese rider Li Fuyu, who rides for Radioshack? He is also under suspension for testing positive for “clen” in a race.

It’s just too hard to keep up with it all. And keeping up with it isn’t very rewarding. My conclusion: The whole system is corrupt. And as such, it does not deserve my support, or my interest. I won’t be watching the Tour this summer, or any other bike race. One of the reasons I ride is to be healthy. When cycling tolerates the use of banned substances, it is undermining the health benefits, and sending a disturbing message to fans and non-fans all over the world.

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Categories // Racing Tags // doping

Those Bike Team Names – 2010 Version – Part I

06.29.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

Hey, the Tour de France is just around the corner! It starts Sunday Saturday. Each year, I like to introduce Bike Noob readers to the teams in the Tour, because their European corporate sponsor names are probably unfamiliar to most Americans. This year is interesting, because of several new teams in the Tour, and four U.S.-based teams. Lance Armstrong rides in his last Tour, and just might contend.

Twenty-two teams are riding this year. Today, we’ll profile half of them, by alphabetical order. The remaining teams will go up Thursday.

AG2R-La Mondiale: France. Ag2r Group is a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group, and the La Mondiale Group is a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance. Rinaldo Nocentini led last year’s Tour for eight days.

Top riders: Dimitri Champion, Nocentini, Nicolas Roche.

Bike: Kuota

Astana: Kazakhstan. Sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Last year, the team had trouble making its payroll, until the Kazakh government stepped in. The Tour’s defending champion, Alberto Contador, rides for Astana, but half last year’s team bolted for the new Radio Shack squad.

Top riders: Contador, Alexander Vinokourov.

Bike: Specialized

Bbox Bouyges Telecom: France. Bouygues is a mobile telephone company. Bbox is the bundled Internet, TV, and telephone package offered to Bouygues customers. Last year, Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fédrigo won stages of the Tour.

Top riders: Voeckler, Fédrigo, Pierre Rolland.

Bike: Colnago

BMC Racing Team: USA. BMC is a Swiss bike company. The team is brand new, having competed in some domestic races last year, but won a wild card berth to the TdF this year. They’ve made their presence known in some of the earlier races this season, and have a strong stable of riders.

Top riders: US Champion George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, World Champion Cadel Evans.

Bike: BMC

Caisse d’Epargne: Spain. The team is registered to Spain, but the sponsor is the fourth-largest French banking company. Their top rider, Alejandro Valverde, is suspended for ties to doping. Still, Caisse is always one of the strongest teams in the Tour.

Top riders: Luis Leon Sanchez, Juan Mauricio Soler, Juan Jose Cobo.

Bike: Pinarello.

Cervelo Test Team: Switzerland. Cervelo is the Canadian bike company. The team made quite an impact last year, when it debuted in the tour.

Top riders: Carlos Sastre (2008 TdF winner), Thor Hushovd.

Bike: Cervelo

Cofidis: France. Consumer Credit. Le Credit En Ligne (online). Offers customized consumer loans either by phone or over the Internet. The company had planned this to be its last year, but now will be around through 2012. They are probably the weakest of the French teams.

Top riders: David Moncoutie, Samuel Dumoulin, Amaël Moinard.

Bike: Look.

Euskaltel-Euskadi: Basque. Basque telephone company. Euskadi is the Basque word for Basque. The Basque Country is an autonomous region in the north of Spain. Basques are ethnically different from Spaniards, and there’s been some separation sentiment for years. Euskaltel is the unofficial national team of the Basques. The team is known for its strong mountain riding. Team leader Mikel Astarloza is under a two-year doping suspension.

Top riders: Samuel Sanchez, Amets Txurruka, Egoi Martinez.

Bike: Orbea.

Footon-Servetto: Spain. Footon makes insoles to correct bad posture.  Servetto is an Italian wardrobe company. The team was formerly Saunier-Duval, which got caught up in a doping scandal. They claim the jersey is gold – most observers regard it as nude.

Top riders: Martin Pedersen, Michele Merlo and Manuel Cardoso.

Bike: Fuji

Francaise de Jeux: France. The French national lottery. This team has been around since 1997. The team had a good year in 2009, but couldn’t win the big one, and are under some pressure to win their own country’s big race.

Top riders: Christophe Le Mevel, Sandy Casar, Thibault Pinot.

Bike: Lapierre.

Garmin-Transitions: USA. Garmin is the top maker of GPS gear, Transitions makes eyeglasses that shade with the sun. The team won 29 races last year.

Top riders: Tyler Farrar, Christian VandeVelde, Robbie Hunter.

Bike: Felt

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