Tour De France Preview

Now that the NBA draft is over (has ANY team ever had 4 guys in the lottery?). I am hoping some of the faithful sports fan will switch their energy from football and basketball to THE global event of July, the Tour de France.

Naturally, this event has gotten much bigger since an American (is there anyone alive in America who has not at least heard of Lance Armstrong) has been dominating the event for the past six years.

However, I have been watching this event since BEFORE Greg LeMond (the only other American to ever win the event) won the event for the first time. It is a ridiculously difficult test of fitness, toughness, strategy, guile and guts. The winner will negotiate 2300+ miles of riding over mountains, through crowded city streets, over rough pavement etc while avoiding fatigue, dehydration, shattering crashes and just simply not having enough energy on a critical day to win.

Until someone proves otherwise Lance is the man to beat so an American has a builtin rooting interest even they are not a big cycling fan. Here is a quick guide to watching the event. You can catch a summary on the Outdoor Life Network each night or if you really aren't very busy and are a true fanatic you can watch the race live in the early to mid-morning, also on OLN. Naturally you can track results over the web on various sites.

Like any sporting event there is some unpredictabilty. Tours tend to play out a certain way but there is always the possibility for a crash or some other unexpected event upsetting the natural order of things. However, barring the unexpected only 3-5 days out of the 22 days of racing will have dramatic impact on the overall standings or General Classification which is the area Lance is interested in winning. The other days of the Tour allow for excitement through various tactical battles. The other days allow strong riders who have no shot at Lance to have their day in the sun. Finally the other days also are exciting for those that follow the other competitions embedded in the TDF. There are Tour champions crowned for best sprinter, best climber, best young rider etc. While not nearly as prestigious, these awards are a fairly big deal to real cycling fans and can be a ticket to big pay days for the riders that prevail in these areas.

In General Classification the battle is won during the Individual time trial, possibly during the team time trial and most notably during the exceptionally long stages that involve alot of climbing. So here are the days to follow Lance.

Tuesday July 5- Team Time Trial. Nine man team rides as a group. Everyone on the team awarded the time of the fifth place rider. Lance's team should do well here. His team has 4-5 guys that could be the Alpha Male on another team. The only worry here is a crash or less than five guys having a really good day.

Fri-Sun July 14-16- Three monster mountain stages back to back to back.

Fri 136 miles with two tough climbs in the last 20 miles. I could probably ride this in about 10-11 hours and could barely walk the next day. The winner will do this in less than half that and consider it a mere appetizer for the weekend.

Sat- 127 miles with SIX climbs of varying difficulty with the last six miles up hill on a 7.6% grade. And then....

Sun- 110 miles with three fairly tough cliimbs but the last climb comes with more than 30 miles to go. The long run out will give riders a chance to close some off the distance gained by the riders that bested them on the climbs.

I would guess the most blood will be spilled on the Saturday. That day will separate the merely great from the genuine freaks like Lance. The trick will be laying it out on Saturday but holding enough in reserve the day before and the day after to not give back any hard fought advantage.

Whoever is leading the race at the end of the day on Sunday would be pretty tough to beat. However, there will be one more chance.....

The TDF technically ends on Sunday the 24th but the last day of racing is closer to a high speed parade. The last day to move up in the standings will be the 23rd in an INDIVIDUAL Time Trial. In this case, it is the rider on his own against the clock. On normal days riders can get great psychological and physical advantage from riding in groups. In the IT it is man and machine. This trial is 33 miles. enough distance to make some time separation. So if the race is tight going into the last weekend this could be an exciting day.

Lance's chances: As I said, until someone shows otherwise he is the favorite. However, Lance's last two wins have been fairly tight. He has won a 2300+ mile race by 1 and 3 minutes the last two years. So, clearly there is little room for error. One slightly off day, a crash and he could be done. But, Lance has overcome these sorts of things before. Lance will retire after this race. I wonder if MAYBE he has lost just enough of his competitive edge as he eases into retirement for a challenger to make a move.

There is a guy named Jan Ullrich who may be the SECOND best bike racer in history. He had the misfortune of coming along in the Lance era. He has won the TDF once and been second FIVE teams, all to Lance. So he is clearly a threat.

There is also a guy named Ivan Basso. Lance dueled with him up a couple of climbs last year and Basso actually bested Lance on both. Lance later DESTROYED the poor boy on Alp D'Huez but Basso is now a year older and smarter and this year's Tour does not go up Alp D'Huez.

Then, ofcourse there is always the unexpected threat from an emerging rider that uncorks a huge day somewhere along the way and manages to hold on somehow. Still, its Lance's to lose and it should be fun to watch him try to go out on top.


For more on TDF go here

www.answers.com/topic/tour-de-france