I stopped by to see Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen at the Versus mobile studio this morning. We have worked together a bit over the years, most recently on the official Tour of California DVD--Phil and Paul doing the race call with me doing the rider interviews before and after each stage.

Phil and Paul have to be some of the hardest working guys in the business. The Tour is a huge effort for this pair. First, there is the pre-stage show with Al and Bobke which is filmed in the morning. Next, they spend the late morning, afternoon and early evening calling the stage. Sometime around 8 p.m. or so, the crowds (and their cars) at the finish have thinned out enough for them to drive to the town hosting the next day's finish. That trek normally takes four-plus hours which usually means a quick pre-made ham-and-cheese sandwich at an autoroute cafe and then arrival at the hotel sometime around 1 a.m. Whoa! And you though the riders had it tough!

Over the years, Phil has come up with some great one-liners affectionately known as Liggettisms. One of my favorites goes all the way back to 1986 when Bernard Hinault had his sixth Tour victory all but wrapped up when he betrayed Lemond in the Pyrenees. Sitting on a five-minute lead, Hinault was unable to control his bravado and attacked solo with three huge Pyrenean climbs remaining. Phil's words were prophetic as he exclaimed, "is he a superman or a fool?" Bernie blew up and Greg beat him by five minutes setting the match all square.

Anybody else have a favorite Liggettism?

Ever Upward,

Bruce

In just two days we should have a good idea of who are the contenders and who are the pretenders in this year's Tour as the Alps loom larger and larger.

The stage over the Columbier finishing in Le Gran Bornand may still contain a few pretenders, but as Levi Leipheimer pointed out in the Discovery Channel pre-Tour press conference, the climb to the ski station at Tignes is a long one and there will be no hiding.

Who will have it in the big mountains? Good question and one that even the favorites can't answer for themselves. With all the pre-Tour hoopla the week before the start, and the fact that, traditionally, the first week of the race is devoid of any "real" climbs, it will have been almost two weeks since any of the contenders have ridden up a climb when they finally hit the mountains. Just imagine training for your big hilly ride and not doing any big climbs for two weeks before the event. Hard to imagine, huh?

So, when the Tour hits the first big climb, most of the favorites take it easy and try to figure out if their form is still there or if it has taken the last train for the coast. Bernard Hinault, five-time winner of the Tour in the late '70s and early '80syou know, the guy who is there every day on the podium greeting the winner of the stagehad a strategy that obviously worked for him.

While all his competitors were tentatively pedaling up the first climb, the Badger, as Hinault was called, would go to the front and pound up the mountain in a huge gear. His opposition could never tell if he was bluffing or he was about to crush everyone. Of course, bluffing away your weaknesses is key to wining a three-week race, but on a 6,000-plus-foot climb like the Col du Galibier, which comes next Tuesday, you better be in the World Series of Poker-class or you will be left behind.

Ever Upward,

Bruce

When 2007 Paris-Roubaix winnner, Stuart O'Grady, crashed into a barrier during the Tour prologue on Saturday, he quickly got back on the bike and continued like nothing happened.  Here's hoping that he is 100 percent, but that is only something "Stuey" knows for sure.

Crashing is a part of bike racing, but in a three week race it takes on a greater importance.  In a race like the Tour, a rider needs to feel good on the bike every day.  Sure, there are times when you can hide out in the pack, but at the current speeds of the peloton, those times are few and far between.  And when the Tour enters the mountains, there is no place to hide.

This makes rest and recovery vitally important and if you aren't able to sleep at night you just cannot recover.  Road rash means sticky sheets.  Bumps and bruises means a potentially compromised sleeping position.  General aches and pains can easily cause insomnia.

Then there is the fact that while the body attempts to heal itself it is robbing energy, the same energy a rider needs to pedal his bike.  Former Discovery Channel and current T-Mobile rider Michael Barry crashed so heavily in the 2002 Tour of Spain that he had road rash over half of his body.  Though he wanted to continue he had to aboandon the race.  Michael slept 14 hours a day for the next three weeks as his body made the necessary repairs!

So, whether you are a rider like O'Grady who is counted on to support his team leaders and possibly win from a small breakaway on a flatter stage or one of the favorites, crashing at the Tour can never be viewed as a minor inconvenience.  A friend of mine rode eight Tours and only one of those Tours was crash-free.  Safe travels for the peloton!

Ever Upward,

Bruce

Several days ago, the Tour de France organizers announced that for the first time in the history of the Tour, the race number 1 will not be issued. The number 1 is usually reserved for last year's winner, but if that rider is not competing the number goes to the winner's team (Discovery Channel had it in 2006 as Lance won in 2005). Second-place finisher, Oscar Periero's Casse d'Epargne team will get numbers 11-19, but no team will ride numbers 1-9.

Of course, this is due to the fact that the actual winner of the 2006 Tour is still not determined since Floyd Landis returned a positive result for testosterone. Yes, doping continues to grab the headlines in pro cycling and with each new positive result or rider admission, it seems more and more like pro cycling is WWF on bicycles.

I have been covering professional cycling for 20 years, including my first Tour de France way back in 1988 and I am not going to abandon the sport I both love to participate in and love to report about. Eddy Mercxk once said, "on the bike, there is always suffering." But, cycling is more complex than that. I think back to all the great duels over the years, Coppi and Bartali whose struggles united a post-war Italy; Anquetil and Poulidor, who proved to us all that you didn't have to be a winner (Poulidor was known as the "Eternal Second") to be adored by the fans; Merckx and Ocana demonstrating that even the seemingly invincible could be beaten; Lemond and Fignon showing the true character of the first American to win the Tour and Armstrong and Ullrich proving that even rivals can be friends.

Me, I am looking past the doping for this year's Tour. Can Vinokourov keep his enthusiasm in his shorts and ride a tactically superior race or will he take off like a banshee on the first mountain stage, blow like a top and ruin his chances? Will Levi finally ride a consistently good Tour and climb onto the podium continuing the American dominance? Will Valverde finally live up to all the expectations? Frankly, I don't know what's going to happen and that's what makes it so interesting to watch it all unfold.

Cool!

Ever upward,

Bruce