There are several great things about this year’s Tour de France, one of which is the sport is collecting new fans. Some fans are not cyclists at all, but true sports fans. Others are primarily recreational cyclists, but now they are fired up about the game of racing.

I received several good e-mails after Stage 7 from some Tour de France newbies that all boiled down to these this question:

•     Why is everyone so down on Contador, isn’t the point of any race to try to win the race?

This is a reasonable question for a casual observer to ask. Let me try to boil a very complicated situation down to a few key points:

1.     Bike racing at this level is a job. Each racer on each of the teams was hired for a particular job or role on the team. It is similar to you being hired to a job because of your skill and talents.

2.     The directeur sportiff (Johan Bruyneel in the case of Team Astana) is the boss. The DS of each team is essentially responsible for the performance of the team and they must manage strategy and team tactics. These issues are often discussed more than once per day and can change as the race unfolds. If you work for someone else, you know who the boss is. If you are the boss, well, you expect certain behaviors from your employees.

3.     When the boss lays out a plan, it should be followed – unless there are extenuating circumstances. If there is something unusual or unexpected, riders will often make a decision or a move on the race course that does not follow the plan. It is generally expected that this move is for the benefit of the team. Using the workplace analogy, if an employee makes a decision to not follow the boss’s instructions there are typically consequences from the boss as well as other employees – assuming the boss and other employees do not see the benefit of the singular employee’s behavior.

4.     Each job (and family) situation has certain codes of conduct that must be followed in order for it to function optimally. In the case of Stage 7, Lance was ahead of Contador in terms of time. Going up the hill, I think it was Popovych (Astana), Armstrong (Astana), Evans (Lotto) and Contador (Astana). Lance said that Contador did not ride to the team plan for that day (see point #3) by leapfrogging past Evans, Armstrong and Popovych to get ahead of the group (he attacked the group) and give himself valuable time against Armstrong. Contador claimed that he saw weakness in his competitors (Evans?) and decided to make a move. This kind of decision is normally acceptable, unless he: a) was given specific instructions to hold his current time gap and ride tempo for the day, b) he attacked his own team mates. The rumor mill says that he was given instructions to ride tempo for the day, hence the Armstrong statement that Contador did not ride to plan.

5.     To win the Tour de France, said rider must have the support of his team. In any workplace or family situation, the boss can certainly reprimand the behavior of people that do not follow instructions. In some cases, worse than the boss’s reprimand, is the punishment that other team members (employees) deliver. If Contador has alienated team members by attacking his own team, life will not be easy for him in the upcoming stages. Just as Contador basically stepped in front of Lance and pushed him out of the way, so he could gain personal benefit  – or make a personal statement – that behavior is very, very risky. It is particularly risky if Armstrong has been designated team leader behind closed doors or they have been truly assigned the role of dual team leaders. 

It is possible that Contador sees this as a situation of him against the world (or at least Astana world) and he is willing to strike out. Rumors had him searching for another team (despite Astana public statements to the contrary) in the few weeks prior to the Tour, one where he could be the designated team leader rather than the “maybe, we’ll see” team leader. I can understand why he would take this chance.

That written, I think it is a big risk to defy your manager, publically attack team mates and defy some of the codes of cycling conduct. Even if you give the best explanation of, “Gee, I was only trying to help.” Whether the risk he took was worth any reward will be seen in about 11 days.

PS… I posted this link on Twitter where Bradley Wiggens says, "There could come a point when they get off the bike and start fighting each other - it could get as messy as that. They both look as strong as each other: Lance looks superb. And Contador looks brilliant as well."

PSS…Found some cool photos here and here.

Last fall when I saw the potential American line-up for Tour de France riders, I decided 2009 would be the year to check off that item on the Life List (Bucket List, whatever you want to call it). I was able to convince a few of my Sunday riding buddies that they should see the Tour in 2009 too, and the planning wheels were set into motion.

While I wanted to see a part of the Tour, I also wanted to ride my bike in France. (What cycling fanatic

wouldn’t?) I was not interested in just being a spectator at the Tour and luckily my buddies felt the same. Our preference was to ride one or more of the classic climbs.

Julie Gildred at Ride Strong Bike Tours put together a custom design for us. In less than two weeks, I’ll be dropping you notes from France.

Here are the trip highlights:

Day 1: Arrival day and possible 25-30 mile ride in the afternoon, time permitting.

Day 2: Warm-up on a beautiful local's loop over the Col d'Ornon and La Morte (90 km/ 5,130 feet climbing)

This ride is ideal for the first day starting in the cool shade of the mountains and saving the easier

climb, the Col d’Ornon (14.4km at 3.9% average grade) for last.  The descent drops us back down above Bourg with cross valley views of L’Alpe d’Huez. The first climb Col de la Morte is 14km at 6.5% average.

Day 3: Ride L'Alpe d'Huez (Life List item) and Col de Sarenne (86 km/5,200+ feet climbing). There's a short warm-up ride in the valley below before climbing the 13.8 km, 21 hairpin legend, L’Alpe d’Huez.

Day 4: July 22, Ride Col du Marais and Col de la Croix Fry to the Stage 17 Finish in Grand Bornand (85 km; 4089 feet climbing with options for more). Race fans can spend the morning climbing and descending through the pretty Swiss-like villages to La Grand Bornand for the Stage 20 finish festivities.  Others can continue up the Col de la Columbiere to watch the pro peloton as they ascend the final col of the day.  Any where you are is guaranteed to be a good spot.  This is one of the climbs made famous by Floyd when he made his miraculous 'come back'!

Day 5: Ride the Col de la Forclaz (2,100 feet gain in 10.2 km) in the morning and descend to Lake Annecy to watch the Stage 18 TT around the lake.

Day 6: Ride Stage 20 without the crowds to near Mt. Ventoux (75 km with many options for more).

Day 7: Ride the Col de Notre-Dame des Abeilles and Mt Ventoux before the pros (80-140 km/ 6,000 - 8,000 feet climbing). This is a stage not to be missed.  Strong riders will depart early to ride the stage

and see the finish on Mt. Ventoux.  Slower riders have several 'short-cuts' to get to Bedoin and start the classic ascent of Mt. Ventoux.  Riders can wait at the top and enjoy the party or descend before the pros and watch the action on TV.

Those of you that have following my regular blog and Twitter have seen some of the preparation I’ve done for this week of riding.

Watching the Tour on TV, it seems surreal that I'll be there in just a few days. I can hardly wait.