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You would think that after three weeks of racing, everyone in the Tour de France peloton would just go home and sleep for a few days. In reality, the cycling season is still in full swing and almost everyone will race again this year, some of them as soon as next week.
This year’s very suspenseful Tour de France finally has a virtually-guaranteed winner! With a technically perfect time trial performance this afternoon, Floyd Landis more than overcame the 30 seconds that separated him from the yellow jersey and, barring any unforeseen tragedies in the Tour’s final stage on Sunday, will become…
After three weeks of drama, the winner of the 2006 Tour de France will be decided by the Stage 19 individual time trial. Floyd Landis is the clear favorite to take the stage and the yellow jersey, but there's a lot more to this time trial than meets the eye.
You know, maybe Floyd Landis and Oscar Pereiro are on to something here. The men currently sitting in first and third places overall both overcame seemingly insurmountable deficits to rise back to the top of the leaderboard, and the massive amounts of time they lost may actually have helped them get back into the race.
Oh, how quickly things change at the Tour de France. Yesterday, even by Lance Armstrong's estimation, Floyd Landis was the odds-on favorite to ride into Paris in yellow. Tonight he's more than eight minutes behind after cracking on the final climb of Stage 16 to La Toussuire. And a week ago, Oscar Pereiro started Stage 13 more than 28 minutes behind in the overall classification and finished with the yellow jersey. Now, after losing it for a day, he's back in it again!
If everything goes your way, riding conservatively can be a great way for a super-strong rider to win the Tour de France. Considering that Floyd Landis appears to be much stronger than any other overall contender in this year's race, this strategy might very well work for him. The risk with being conservative, however, is that you may not have enough of a time buffer to absorb the consequences of a bad day, a crash, or a mechanical problem.
The rest days during the Tour de France are a chance for riders to gather their thoughts, replenish their energy, and look forward to the racing yet to come. For the most part, riders stick to routines they have developed over years of racing. There is a rhythm to stage racing, and it's best not to disturb it.
It's normal to see dirt and grease on the underside of a bicycle after a long ride or stage in the Tour de France, but after today's stage there was there was road tar stuck to the paint jobs, and that's a bad sign because it means the roads are melting in the heat.
You have to be a little crazy to break away from the peloton more than 125 miles from the finish line on a day when the temperature’s in the mid- to high-90s Fahrenheit, but today Jens Voigt and Oscar Pereiro were handsomely rewarded for their efforts. Surviving a long-range breakaway…
Even though today's Stage 12 didn't cross any major mountain passes, finished at a lower elevation than it started, and raced most of the stage in a ripping tailwind, the stage was anything but easy. The heat has made the 2006 Tour de France much harder than it may otherwise have been, and the strain of staying hydrated is showing on many riders.
The yellow jersey is being tossed around like a hot potato this year, and though Floyd Landis showed the patience and power necessary to win the Tour de France today, the best thing that could happen to him right now is for Cyril Dessel to win a time bonus sprint and reclaim the jersey tomorrow afternoon. Landis might actually want to encourage him, maybe even give him a lead-out.
The first day in the mountains is always an important turning point for the Tour de France, but unlike previous years, the first major climbs in this year's race didn't provide much opportunity for any of the favorites to take control of the race. While the breakaway group rolled to a large lead and relieved T-Mobile of the yellow jersey, the overall contenders rode conservatively and saved their strength for what's certain to be an aggressively contested stage tomorrow.
While Oscar Freire, Robbie McEwen, Erik Zabel, and Tom Boonen went hunting for the last sprint stage victory we'll see for a while, the major contenders for overall victory in the 2006 Tour de France played it cool today because their first major mountain test is on tap for tomorrow.
The peloton has been looking forward to the first rest day of the 2006 Tour de France. The first week of the race has been fast and hard, and many men hit the ground at least once this week. This rest day gives them a short period to recuperate from…
In Stage 8 of the 2006 Tour de France, we saw the beginning of a strategy that is likely to be prevalent throughout the second week of racing. Today’s breakaway group contained Dave Zabriskie (CSC) and Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile), both of whom are sitting in the top 11 overall after…
After the short prologue time trial and the chaos of the first week, the first long individual time trial of the 2006 Tour de France was supposed to sort out the leaderboard and clear up any questions about the identities of the real yellow jersey contenders. And while the leaderboard…
Great performances against the clock are essential to any rider's hopes of winning the Tour de France, and when you have to ride 32.3 miles (52 kilometers) as fast as you can, all by yourself, it pays to look for even the smallest ways to save energy, deliver more power, and slip through the air faster.
Stage 5 of the 2006 Tour de France played out according to the typical plan: A small breakaway group sat out front all day, only to be reeled in and passed a few miles before the finish. While this is a normal occurrence, what's unusual is that not a single one of these breakaway attempts has been successful so far. Typically, fortune shines on the front group at least once in the first week of the Tour, but the nature of the race this year has changed all that.
For yellow jersey contenders, the first week of the Tour de France is a contest to see who can use the least energy. Currently, it seems that Floyd Landis of the Phonak team and Levi Leipheimer from Gerolsteiner are winning this competition, and Iban Mayo of the Euskaltel Euskadi team is losing it.
Matthias Kessler got his revenge on the sprinters this afternoon. After getting swarmed by the pack just 50 meters from the finish line yesterday, he struck out on his own again today, and this time those 50 meters worked to his favor. His attacks over the past two days were…
Depending on how you look at it, Thor Hushovd is either the luckiest man in cycling or he’s cursed. Ever since powering his way into the yellow jersey in Saturday’s prologue time trial, he’s been dancing with disaster. But that’s the life of a field sprinter, and at the end…
The first stage of the 2006 Tour de France provided a great example of a scenario you can expect to see repeated several times throughout the next week. Well, at least in part… let’s hope we don’t see a repeat of the bizarre injury Thor Hushovd suffered during the final…
So, how important can an eight-minute effort be in the grand scheme of an event that lasts 23 days? With all the challenges ahead of the riders in this year’s Tour de France, it may seem like they wouldn’t pay much attention to an event as short as a seven-kilometer…
Check back on July 1 for Chris Carmichael’s analysis of Stage 1 of the 2006 Tour de France.
You may never have what it takes to race up steep alpine passes like the best cyclists in the world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from their training secrets. You’re using the same muscles, pedaling up the same inclines, and maybe even riding the same bike. So the…
Train right with tips and tricks and of the trade from Chris Carmichael and Carmichael Training Systems.
YOU KNOW HOW SOME STARS get all the attention, when it’s really the supporting characters who carry the show? In the quest for better health, strength, and vitality, calcium is one nutrient that’s been hogging the spotlight, but the fact is, vitamin D does most of calcium’s heavy lifting. Vitamin…
Because every second you’re not living life to the fullest is an opportunity missed—and the clock is ticking. To get you going, we’ve handpicked a no-regrets, full-throttle, see-the-world list of 50 things to do before you die—from climbing an 8,000-meter peak to making the perfect martini. Pro surfer Kelly Slater…
TECHNOLOGY HAS MEANT GREAT THINGS for the fitness industry, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get real results from “old school” workouts. When I coached the U.S. National Cycling Team, from 1990 to ’97, I used the mountains behind my Colorado Springs cabin as a training ground for young racers,…
WHEN I WAS RACING BIKES in the 1980s, we still had no idea what we were doing when it came to sports drinks for endurance. We knew we needed more than simple water to replace the calories and minerals we were burning up and sweating out during training. But beyond…
Can you hear the silence? We’re in a lull between diet fads. Enjoy it while it lasts, because the next hot diet will probably appear within months, killing off the previous rage and, unfortunately, any sound nutritional advice it might have contained. Ask and You Will Receive Got a fitness…
Riding through a storm to finish in the sunlight was a fitting way for Lance Armstrong to end his cycling career. He's already weathered a lot of storms during his life, and today not only marked the end of his cycling career, but hopefully also the end of struggle.
Over the past seven years, Lance Armstrong has won 58 percent of the time trials in the Tour de France. He’s competed in 19 (including prologues) and won 11. His record for the final time trial is even better. Lance Armstrong believes it’s important for the yellow jersey to win…
When you’re a professional cyclist, you often race over the same course several times in your career. There aren’t that many roads in the mountains, so riders get very well acquainted with passes like the Col du Galibier and the Col d’Aubisque. They race over them in the Tour de…
There are a few common aspects to the Tour de France every year. You know the race is going to be reasonably flat for the first week to ten days, that you'll go through the Alps and Pyrenees, and then you'll ride toward Paris after that. The region the Tour goes through after the second mountain is one of the variables that can make the Tour de France harder or easier, and in 2005, the final route to Paris is difficult.
For the first time since Stage 3, the team classification in the Tour de France became an issue today. With two riders in a breakaway group more than 20 minutes ahead of the peloton, Discovery Channel forced T-Mobile to consider whether it was worth chasing to defend their team classification lead.
The day after a rest day is always unpredictable, but for Lance Armstrong it was unpredictably good. He felt really good all day today, saying after the stage that it was one of those days when it feels like there’s no chain on the bike. Every rider looks forward…
I've been thinking a lot about Fabio Casartelli over the past few days. I didn't actually know the young man while he was alive, but his life and untimely death ten years ago during the 1995 Tour de France had such an impact on the people close to me that he's left an indelible mark on my life as well.
It’s not normal to see a six-foot, three-inch, 180-pound cyclist win the hardest mountain stage in the Tour de France. But then, George Hincapie isn’t a normal cyclist. He started his career as a road sprinter. He and Freddy Rodriguez used to duke it out for city-limit signs and USPRO…
On the first of two critical and difficult days in the Pyrenees, Lance Armstrong’s rivals threw down the gauntlet and provided fans with the most exciting racing we’ve seen in years. Tomorrow is even harder than today, and Armstrong will again come under serious attack. Today he had the firepower…
Chris Horner is making the most of his first appearance in the Tour de France. Some riders use their first Tour experience as a learning process because they are young and hoping to develop into yellow jersey contenders. At 33 years old, Horner’s arrival at the Tour came a little…
The Discovery Team was dealt a bit of bad luck early in Stage 12 when Manuel “Triki” Beltran crashed and was later forced to abandon the race. It is the first time since 2001 that the team has lost a single rider to abandonment, and while they are strong enough…
Containment and conservation were the names of the game today for Lance Armstrong, as he rode within himself and marshaled his teammates to another successful day in the Alps. True, Alexandre Vinokourov won the stage but he has quite a way to go to erase the entire 6:32 deficit he had at the beginning of Stage 11.
Sometimes opportunities present themselves where you least expect them to. Lance Armstrong and the Discovery Channel team expected Stage 10 of the Tour de France to be hard, but not decisive. However, when that lead group started to splinter, Lance seized the opportunity and gained more than a minute over his chief rivals.
A rest day at the Tour de France provides a brief opportunity to catch your breath, but the riders and the team staffs really only experience a modest reduction in activity. There is still food to be prepared, three hours spent on the bikes, massages, laundry, and a long list…
The yellow jersey is a hard garment to let go of, but sometimes it is best to let someone else carry it for a while. Lance Armstrong handed the yellow jersey to Jens Voigt (CSC) this afternoon after the German spent most of the day riding a few minutes behind…
Over the past six years, one of Lance Armstrong's greatest assets has been the collective strength of his team. About half way up the first substantial climb of the 2005 Tour de France, the Discovery Channel team struggled to support their leader, leaving him isolated to fight off attacks from rival teams all by himself.
You can always tell when the Tour de France nears the German border. The number of fans lining the roads, and the amount of noise they generate, increases with every kilometer. Once you actually cross the border, it’s complete pandemonium at the roadside. Fortunately, the German fans were treated to…
There are no rain delays in bike racing. This isn’t baseball, golf, or NASCAR. In cycling, you have to be prepared to race in all kinds of weather conditions, and accept all of the associated risks. You also have to be willing to take certain risks, like the ones Alexandre…
Respect is the cornerstone of professional cycling, and it was out of respect to Dave Zabriskie that Lance Armstrong initially refused to wear the yellow jersey at the start of Stage 5. Although Lance eventually relented to the demands of the race organization and donned the jersey, the peloton and…
Think about what two seconds means over a distance of 42 miles. It’s a tap of the brakes in one corner, a moment’s hesitation, one missed shift, or the difference between riding in the middle of the road and hugging the curb going around a bend. It’s nothing, and yet…
The Tour de France has something for everyone. There are competitions for the best sprinter, climber, young rider, and of course, overall leader. It’s the sprinters who get most of the glory in the first week, as evidenced by today’s high-speed battle on the streets of Tours. Tom Boonen (Quick-Step)…
It’s good to have the first road stage of the Tour de France in the bag. These opening days are always chaotic, and the risk of crashing is much greater than the chance of seizing an opportunity to gain time. For Lance Armstrong and the other primary yellow jersey contenders,…
The first stage of the 2005 Tour de France could not have gone any better. Lance Armstrong has always liked to use the opening time trial to send a message to his rivals, and there was no mistaking the message this year. He’s strong, possibly stronger than he’s ever been,…
AS LANCE’S FIVE-HOUR training ride stretches into six and a half, I start getting itchy. I’ve been following in a car, handing up food, drinks, and clothes; it’s for a good cause, but I want to get some exercise, too. It’s nearing sunset as we finish, and I have 45…
With all but one of the jersey competitions already decided, Stage 20 proceeded as the customary ceremonial procession to Paris this afternoon. The U.S. Postal Service led Lance Armstrong and rest of the peloton onto the Champs Élysées, and then turned the sprinters loose to fight for the honor of…
The final individual time trial of the Tour de France is always an exciting day. The men who excelled in the mountains risk losing positions to men who are better against the clock. The overall contenders sometimes have their last chance to challenge for the yellow jersey as well, but…
Time trials are never easy, and they only get worse as they get longer. At 55 kilometers, winning tomorrow’s Stage 19 individual time trial will require about 61-65 minutes of intense effort. At the other end of the spectrum, some very exhausted riders may be at risk of missing the…
Gifts are for birthdays and anniversaries, not bike races. This was the sentiment expressed by five-time Tour de France champion Bernard Hinault as Lance Armstrong walked to the podium Thursday after winning his third stage in as many days. The issue of “giving” stage victories to other riders has…
The longer you prepare for an event, the sweeter it is to succeed when the time finally comes. Lance Armstrong has been preparing for the Alpe d’Huez individual time trial ever since he learned it was included in the 2004 Tour de France route. This afternoon’s performance in Stage 16…
I hate to tell you, “I told you so,” but it came as little surprise that Jan Ullrich found his legs during the rest day and had the power and motivation to attack Lance Armstrong during Stage 15. Besides Armstrong, Ullrich is the only other man in…
The Pyrenees did a lot of damage to the Tour de France peloton and to several riders’ chances of challenging for the yellow jersey. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of very strong men left in the race, and the next major challenge before them is the Stage 16 individual…
With two weeks of hard racing in their legs already, most of the riders in the 2004 Tour de France were content to take it relatively easy today. To help further reduce the work they had to do during Stage 14, riders chose different equipment than they used yesterday in…
Stage 13 proved to be a very hard day in the saddle, and several riders found it too difficult to finish. Denis Menchov, winner of the Best Young Rider competition last year, withdrew from the race with knee pain. Haimar Zubeldia, half of the Spanish duo that caused Armstrong so…
The Tour de France offered up a few surprises during Stage 12, during which we saw the emergence of some new potential challengers for the yellow jersey, and some signs of weakness that may cost a few pre-race favorites their chance to win the Tour this year. Italian Ivan…
While it’s still cold and gray in northern France, the sun is shining brightly as the Tour reaches the foothills of the Pyrenees. The rising temperatures will increase the difficulty of the next two stages and may have a significant impact on the outcome of the entire Tour. Temperatures…
With five USPS teammates present in the lead peloton at the end of today’s Stage 10, Postal was one of only three teams to have six total riders at the front of the race. A strong team is going to be an important key to winning the 2004 Tour, and…
The stage following a rest day in the Tour de France can be a very difficult day in the saddle for some riders. Try as they might to keep their minds and bodies in the rhythm of the race, the rest day disrupts riders’ routines just enough to leave them…
The first week of the 2004 Tour de France was difficult and nervous, and by the time the peloton crossed the finish line yesterday, most of the riders were exhausted. Tom Boonen put it nicely when he told a journalist, “Everyone sits like a corpse on the bike.” It’s difficult…
In 2003, the heat caused problems for many riders at the Tour de France. In 2004, it’s the cold and rain that has everyone wishing for a change in the weather. The forecast calls for cool and possibly rainy conditions for another few days, but as the Tour heads south…
There’s a reason riders and team directors pore over stage profiles prior to each day of racing. It’s the same reason Lance Armstrong previews portions of the Tour de France route months in advance: the better you know the course, the more you can exploit its features for your benefit.
Unfortunately, the demand for bandages has been high over the first seven days of racing at the Tour de France. There has been at least one crash every day of the Tour, though many are never seen on television coverage. This year it seems there have been more falls than…
With more than two weeks remaining in the 2004 Tour de France, and knowing how difficult the final week will be, the US Postal Service was more than willing to let a five-man breakaway escape today and take the stage as well as the yellow jersey. While it might…
The team time trial is a tremendously difficult and technical event, and winning one takes a lot of horsepower, a good plan, and discipline. U.S. Postal Service wanted to win the Stage 4 team time trial of the Tour de France for a few reasons. Most importantly, they wanted…
It doesn’t take long for a brilliant Tour de France to take a turn for the worse, as Euskaltel-Euskadi leader Iban Mayo learned this afternoon in Stage 3. His high hopes of challenging for the yellow jersey were seriously damaged after he was involved in a crash immediately prior to…
Thor Hushovd learned a lot from the top-ten sprint finishes he recorded during the 2003 Tour de France; he learned so much that this year he’s finished in the top three positions during the first two road stages, and taken the yellow jersey for his efforts. Things are going his…
It was heartbreaking to see the breakaway of Jakob Piil and Mark Wauters swallowed up so close to the finish line, right? Were you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering how the peloton timed their surge so perfectly? If you’re relatively new to the Tour de France, I…
Now that’s what I wanted to see: Lance Armstrong powering out of the start house to the roar of the crowd, and then returning less than seven minutes later to a top-three finish in the prologue. His preparations for the Tour were nearly flawless, and his performance this afternoon showed…
The conditions change for many major sporting competitions each year, but very few events get the kind of radical yearly makeover the Tour de France gets. The weather might be different from year to year in Kona, Hawaii, but the Ironman Triathlon route has barely changed in twenty years. Marathons…