The 2008 Tour de France starts on Saturday, and this year promises to have lots of drama. Can Floyd Landis avenge his 2006 loss due to doping allegations? Can Alberto Contador defend his title? Will Michael Rasmussen prove that he's not just a climber and can actually win the overall classification? Can Alexander Vinokourov finally make the jump that so many have been predicting for him? Can Johan Bruyneel duplicate his success with US Postal and Discovery at his new team, Astana? Will Levi Leipheimer be the next great American cyclist? Can Tom Boonen defend his Green Jersey?
Unfortunately, we already know that the answer to all of those questions is no. None of those riders will be competing in the tour this year. Some are banned for doping and some are on the Astana team, which wasn't invited to this year's Tour due to doping allegations against the team.
We're ten years down the road from the Festina scandal and two years have passed since Operation Puerto, but no one still seems to have any good ideas for how to deal with doping in cycling. At this point, many of the biggest names in the sport have been left out of its biggest event, but even so the winner is often thought to be the best rider who didn't get caught. Something needs to change, but I'm not sure what.
Even with all its problems, the Tour de France is still one of the greatest annual events in sports. It's an unimaginable test of mental and physical endurance, with the riders pushing themselves to exhaustion almost every day for 3 weeks.
Every year I try to convince people that the Tour de France is actually great television. Pretty much no one listens, but that doesn't stop me from trying. The coverage on VS. is great, featuring an entertaining announcing crew of Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen, Bob Roll, and Craig Hummer. I was disappointed to see that Al Trautwig won't be covering the Tour this year, presumably because he'll do the Olympics for ABC.
So who's going to win? With so many favorites either retired or banned, this shapes up to be the most wide open Tour in recent memory. My money's on Spain's Carlos Sastre. He has a strong team behind him (CSC), and even though he's fallen short in recent Tours, this should be his best chance to win.
Stay tuned for more updates as the Tour de France progresses. I probably won't do daily updates or anything, but I'm going to try for more comprehensive coverage than last year.
Photo Credit: NielsB, Wladyslaw Sojka
July 2, 2008
Tour de France Preview
Summer is here and there's never been a better time to try your hand at online sports betting. Place your bets on your favorite horse with horse racing or even try your luck with your favorite football team. Enjoying sport is just a click away!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 Responses:
I'll be rooting for the Slipstream team (Garmin-Chipotle) because they are doing the most to fight doping and because they have 3 of the 4 American riders in the Tour this year.
Hear hear on the "great TV" tip.
I am with you russell. I will also root for Garmin-Chipotle.
I hear lots is being done to advance clean cycling.
Results are encouraging, and cycling is leading the charge for all other sports, into an age of exciting contests that don't rely on the athletes being juiced.
Please tell us more about it as you report the Tour.
Do you guys know if the tour will be in HD this year? Vs. HD just showed the regular 4:3 feed last summer.
I really enjoyed Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez's debut last year. I hope he can continue to impress.
I don't think there will be HD coverage. The shots are from the back of motorcycles and HD camera equipment in notoriously huge. Not a great combination.
I have found two message board type websites which say that the Tour will be on Versus HD, but will not be in high definition.
I guess it makes sense that Versus is not loudly proclaiming that they are NOT offering it in HD. The French feed of the Tour has apprently been in HD since last year.
And with regard to "the French feed being in HD", it would not surprise me if the footage of the actual racing is in SD and everything else (commentary, standings, splits) are in HD. That seems to be a common trick.
Gotta respect any race that starts at Brest.
Don't they all?
http://www.sportsvideo.org/portal/artman/publish/article_11511.shtml
To save you the time: Versus will air a standard definition feed of this year’s race, as its dedicated HD network is not set to roll out until December.
Where the heck is Al Trautwig - won't be quite the same Tour coverage on Versus without him!
It's borderline humorous to hear people complain about doping in bicycle racing when it is one of the few sports where there are repercussions to it. Competitors are kicked out of races and not asked to participate routinely plus there are routine and rigorous tests. The penalties in the typically American sports are practically nil with testing always being challenged by players unions and such. Can you say Barry Bonds?
Post a Comment