le Tour de France, week 1...

The Tour this year started off with a bang, and not a good one. The people reading this that are in "the know" know exactly what I'm talking about. Operacion Puerto came up with a large list of folks who may or may not have been doping through a Spanish doctor in Madrid, and get this, he is an OB-GYN, which makes this whole thing a little bit funny in my opinion. A list with about 200 names of sportsmen, and possibly sportswomen is being tossed around, and on that list of names, there are about 60 cyclists on it. Anyone who was on that list and who happened to be at the Tour start in Strasbourg was immediately asked to leave, and to not participate in this year's Tour de France. Among the folks tossed from the Tour this year were the 2 tip top favorites. One Jan Ullrich and one Ivan Basso. Both, gone before the prologue riders even rolled down the ramp at the start. Also gone, not due to his name being on the list, but due to most of his team being on the list was one Alexandre Vinokourov. So many of his teammates were on the list, that he couldn't start. His team would have been too small, in other words, it would have just been himself and one other guy out there plying the roads of France looking for a win. I'm sure that he is pissed, as this could have been his year. Same for Basso and Ullrich, although, if they are guilty of what Spanish authorities said they did, they only have themselves to blame for this whole mess. And if they are innocent, well, I'm sure for Ullrich, this could have been his year again. Lance is gone, and there is nobody to oppose him, especially with a couple of long time trials in this year's Tour (one going on as we speak), and not too many really hard mountain passes. Basso, he blew his chance to get the double. The Giro and then the Tour. He could have been the first since Pantani, who won the Giro in 1998, and then won a doping tainted 1998 Tour de France (Festina scandal anyone?). Again, if guilty, he deserves to not be there. In innocent, well... 'Dems the breaks right?

I have to say, with the favorites being out of the race, and with a lot of uncertainty surrounding the race, it has been an exciting first week. No team is out there showing dominance and control, and the first week is generally the realm of the sprinters and the prologue specialists, which is what we've seen thus far.

The prologue winner was not a huge surprise, but it was someone who wasn't picked to win it. Thor Hushovd of Norway took the prologue, and had the distinction of wearing this year's first yellow jersey. George Hincapie of the good old US of A took 2nd on the prologue stage, and it was a just barely second place. He finished something like 73/100ths of a second behind Thor. Essentially, they were on the same time, but they had to break it down that far so that they could award someone the yellow jersey. Hincapie was understandably disappointed. Mr. Dave Zabriskie, winner of last year's prologue in le Tour rolled in a couple seconds in arrears of Hincapie and Hushovd, and had to settle for 3rd place this year. The following days, Sunday through this Friday all pretty much ended in sprint finishes, except for one day that saw Matthias Kessler from T-Mobile make a late race attack near the finish, and saw him take the win solo across the line with the field charging hard behind him. This was made all that much better of a win because the day before, same guy was in a breakaway, and ALMOST made it to the line solo, but was run down by the peloton about 200 meters from the finish. Disappointing for him no doubt, but at least, he did make up for it the following day by taking that win.

Then, we have the sprinters. Jimmy Caspar took stage 1 for le Francais de Jeux, which was nice because it is a French team, and a French guy taking the first stage in a mass sprint with some of the best sprinters in the world (Caspar included in that of course). But he beat Tom Boonen the world champion to the line, and Robbie McEwen, and of course that day's yellow jersey Hushovd. Hincapie took an intermediate sprint somewhere in the race, and collected some bonus seconds, which landed him in the yellow jersey. Hincapie being only the 3rd US Postal/Discovery team member who has been able to wear yellow during the Tour de France. Of course we had Lance Armstrong, and they also had the first Columbian ever to wear the jersey, one Victor Hugo Pena. Hincapie may just end up being team leader for Disco before this race is over. If he does a good time trial today, and can hang in the mountains, he might just have a really good chance to win this race overall when it rolls into Paris. I wasn't sure if he could before, but again, with Basso and Ullrich out, he has a much better chance. Also, another favorite crashed out of the race this week, Alejandro Valverde crashed in the middle of a stage, and busted his collarbone, out. He had a good shot at winning as well. Going back to the sprinters though, now we have Robbie McEwen winning 3 stages before the first time trial of the le Tour. I hate this. Why you might ask? Because I hate Robbie McEwen, I don't know why, I think it might be because of his little weasel looking mouth, or just his attitude, or a combination of the 2, but I hate that guy. And hate, might actually be too nice of a word to use when describing how I feel about McEwen. And honestly, as much as myself, and just about everyone else that I know, hate Robbie McEwen, we love Oscar Freire, who also took a sprint win this week rolling in Caen France. As Darden says, have you ever seen anyone so happy to win a race in your life? I'd have to say that no, indeed not. He appears to be the happiest guy ever when he wins, and a 3 time world champion to boot, he can ride the bike that's for sure.

As I write this, the time trial is going on in France. The big guns are getting ready to roll, and from what I just read, Bobby Julich has just crashed out, and got loaded into an ambulance and taken away. Seems as though his race is over now, and that's too bad because he would have probably been the team leader for CSC as he probably had the best chance to do something now that Basso is gone. He did finish on the Tour podium once before, and he was riding well during the 1999 Tour, but then he crashed in the time trial and couldn't continue. Are we seeing a pattern develop here maybe? He also crashed last year, although I don't believe it was during the time trial, but crashed nonetheless.

There should be a general shakeup of the general classification after today's stage, so we will have to wait and see where everyone lands, and who comes out on top for this time trial. I'm going to have to go with Americans possibly occupying the top spaces for today. Leipheimer, Landis, Hincapie, Zabriskie, and even Julich (he's out now though) are all very good time trialers, and have the ability to win this race against the clock. Of course we also have Mick Rodgers who is the reigning world time trial champion who sits very near the top of the GC right now, and should have a good race of course. Also, Cadel Evans who is a decent guy against the clock. Ekimov. Popovych. Thor. And there are a bunch of others who are good against the clock. Time to see who can win the race of truth today. Looking forward to watching the race later on this afternoon. First, have to get rid of this headache...

The race is wide open. Can't wait to see what shakes loose today, and then in the mountains.