These days with all the doping in professional cycling it is best to just look in the mirror and look up to yourself for being "bad" enough to ride a bike!

Well, these days, it's tough to say. Folks have mentioned the doping, and that's an unfortunate reality. But, don't let that stop you from being a fan. The pro peleton is full of great riders who can be an inspiration and great fun to watch and cheer for. In part, it depends on what gets you excited. You could choose to root for a younger, up and coming rider, someone at the top of his (or her) game, someone good at the longer grand tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana), some one who specializes at the one-day classics in the spring, etc.

One suggestion would be to get some DVDs from recent races -- this year's Tour de France, the 2007 Spring Classics, etc. Yes, you'll have to wade through all the riders who won big races and were then found guilty of doping. But, don't let that stop you from seeing the excitement, the incredible feats, etc. in between all that.

Another idea, if you want to root for a team or certain riders, would be to root for Team Slipstream. Led by former US Postal Rider and Lance Armstrong teammate Jonathan Vaughters, this team is all about changing the sport of cycling and eliminating the shadow of doping on the sport. They are implementing state-of the-art internal drug testing. And, they've recruited quite a cadre of big names and up-and-coming riders in the sport. As someone knew to the sport, I think you might find this team a good fit. Check it out.

Picking a young rider to follow is always a bit tricky. Like most sports, there are more riders hyped as the next Armstrong/Indurain/Mercx/etc... But living up to such expectations is, of course, rare. And, again, these days, you risk being disappointed by a doping scandal. But, it's still great to follow the sport and watch new talents emerge.

Two of the three Grand Tours have a classification for honoring the best young rider (under age 25), so that's a good place to start.

For the 2007 Tour de France, the best young rider (white jersey) was also the overall winner of the race (yellow jersey) -- Alberto Contador of Spain, who raced for Discovery Channel Team. His was an impressive performance, marred somewhat by the doping scandals that eliminated a number of other contenders during the race. But, he rode courageously, aggressively, and tenaciously. So, it was fun to watch him.

In the Giro d'Italia, the best young rider was Andy Schleck, who also finished second overall in the race. So, again, another grand tour where young riders placed high overall.

To my knowledge, the Vuelta a Espana does not have a best young rider classification.

Here's a link to the final standings in 2007 for the Best Younger Rider in each Grand Tour:

Tour de France: http://www.letour.com/2007/TDF/LIVE/us/2000/classement/index.html

Giro d'Italia: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/giro07/?id=results/giro0721#gc

Contador and Schleck are hot names to follow these days.

For many years, Tom Danielson was hyped as the "next Lance Armstrong" by some. Now 29, Danielson has won some races for Team Discovery, but has never really placed well in a grand tour. He signed this year to ride next year with Team Slipstream, so we'll see how that works out. American fan favorites Dave Zabrieski and Christian Van de Velde are also racing next year for Slipstream. Zabrieski is also 29, is the reigning US Time Trial Champion, and wore the yellow jersey for eight stages of the 2005 Tour de France, before crashing out.

Plenty of choices, as you can see! Just start watching and so who wins your heart...

You might try http://www.cycling.tv/

I subscribed a couple of years ago to their live Giro d'Italia coverage (for a fee). But, they have some free content also.

The Versus site has some Tour de France video -- small snipets -- but, the site seems confusing to navigate. Start here, though, and you may find something of interest:

http://www.versus.com/tdf/article/category/87/?tf=articlecat_video2.tpl&sm=4&CatLimit=1&cc=1&ArtLimit=100&ac=1&cat=&Offset=1&mt=&CatUserDef=true&ss=video

I haven't viewed any of these yet, but Cycling News has some videos of the 2007 Tour de France:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=videos

Hope that helps...

Maurice

Since I mentioned Team Slipstream before, here's a link to a good article talking about their approach and what they are trying to do to change the sport of cycling in a positive way:

http://boulderreport.bicycling.com/2007/11/the-slipstream.html

In my view, they are well worth supporting and pulling for.

I would guess that a lot depends on the type of riding that you yourself do. Some of my favorites are riders who have excelled in more than one type of racing. As most of us know, Lance is a tour racer and a marathoner. He also did tri's in his teen years and has been known to do some mountain bike races. Another of my favorites is Tinker Juarez. He is in his mid 40s. He has roots in BMX racing, was a champion mountain bike racer, currently does extremely well as a 24 hr solo mountain bike racer and has also finished respectably in the RAAM race in recent years. As a collective group, I would also have to say that the bike messengers that ride in the cities are my heros. I am simply amazed at what these people are capable of.