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5010. wabbit - 7/24/2006 2:01:44 AM  The highs and lows of Floyd Landis' nail-biter of a bike race ended without a hitch Sunday as he won the Tour de France and kept cycling's most prestigious title in American hands for the eighth straight year. The 30-year-old Landis, pedaling with an injured hip, cruised to victory on the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees, a day after regaining the leader's yellow jersey and building an insurmountable lead in the final time trial.
Landis picked up where another American left off last year, when Lance Armstrong completed his seventh and final Tour triumph. With the victory, Landis becomes the third American -- joining Armstrong and three-time winner Greg LeMond -- to win the Tour. Landis, who plans to undergo surgery this fall on an arthritic right hip injured in a 2003 crash, said he hoped he would be able to return next year.
Sunday's champagne and Landis' fifth yellow jersey of the Tour were possible thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime ride Thursday in the Alps that put the Phonak team leader back in contention, one day after a disastrous ride dropped him from first to 11th, more than eight minutes back. Oscar Pereiro of Spain finished second overall at 57 seconds back, and Germany's Andreas Kloeden was third, 1:29 behind Landis. Australia's Robbie McEwen won the green jersey given to the best sprinter for a third time, and Denmark's Mickael Rasmussen earned the polka-dot jersey awarded to the best climber for a second year. Italy's Damiano Cunego, 25, won the white jersey as the best young rider.
Norway's Thor Hushovd won the final stage Sunday of the three-week race. He had also won the Tour prologue on July 1. Russia's Viatceslav Ekimov, 40, led Sunday's peloton -- or rider pack -- as it arrived for the first of eight laps on the famed Paris avenue to honor him as the Tour's oldest rider. It was his 15th Tour -- one shy of Dutch cyclist Joop Zoetemelk's record.
5011. wabbit - 7/24/2006 1:01:51 PM  Gary gait, the star 39-year-old forward from Victoria, playing his last game at the elite level, scored four goals in the last quarter - including the winner - in a 15-10 victory over the United States on Saturday that gave Canada its first world field lacrosse championship since 1978. Canada was clinging to a one-goal lead when Gait slid out from the side of the net and leaned into the crease to bounced the ball in to make it 11-9. He whipped in an underhand rocket three minutes later to make it 12-9, and Canada pulled away to claim the elusive title.
5012. wabbit - 7/24/2006 1:02:36 PM  Zinedine Zidane will perform community service as penance for his infamous head butt on Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final. The French midfielder, voted the best player in the championships, also was fined $6,000 by FIFA on Thursday and agreed to work with children in lieu of a three-game suspension. The penalty is irrelevant because at 34, Zidane has retired from soccer. Materazzi didn't get off unscathed, either. Materazzi, the Italian defender who provoked the head butt by insulting Zidane, was suspended for two games and fined $4,000.
A German soccer club plans to open a cemetery next to its stadium so that die-hard fans can rest in peace alongside their favorite team. Hamburg SV, a Bundesliga side from the northern port city, aims to open the graveyard some 50 feet from the stadium's main entrance, said deputy chairman Christian Reichert. With 42,000 registered supporters at the club and just 500 graves up for grabs, competition for places promises to be fierce. Officials have already begun taking reservations.
Fans get 25 years in the turf and can choose from a range of burials: ashes in an urn from 2,500 euros ($3,150), a single grave at 8,000 euros and a two person plot at 12,500 euros. Plans for the 70,000 euro graveyard, due to be completed in September, include a war memorial from the team's former stadium, as well as commemorative stones honoring former Hamburg players, who include ex-England star Kevin Keegan.
5013. wabbit - 7/24/2006 1:03:39 PM  James Blake was happy to win the RCA Championships and seemed to be just as pleased to see Andy Roddick back on track. Roddick said he played one of his best finals, but Blake won the all-American matchup 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Sunday. Blake replaced Roddick this month as the highest-ranked American man, and lived up to his new status. But he said Roddick is starting to look like the guy who once was No. 1 in the world.
The win capped a stunning turnaround for Blake. He was ranked No. 210 last April. In May 2004, Blake suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck when he slammed head first into a net post during a practice session. Later that summer, he learned he had shingles, a condition which affected his vision and caused temporary paralysis on one side of his face. In July 2004, his father, Thomas, died from stomach cancer.
Roddick came into the match having won 40 consecutive service games. That increased to 45 before Blake broke him on a backhand return winner to take a 2-0 lead in the second set. It was the first time in the tournament, singles or doubles, that Roddick's serve had been broken. Roddick and Bobby Reynolds beat Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas 6-4, 6-4 to win the doubles championship on Sunday.
5014. alistairConnor - 7/26/2006 4:49:30 PM What a great Tour! I saw very little of it, but as iiibbb points out, the inconsistency of the top riders is an excellent indication that sporting physiology rules once more, after a long period (probably 15 years) where the results have been tangibly affected by doping.
All hail Floyd Landis, for winning the most open, and cleanest, tour in the modern era. All the more so because he came back from the dead, and is faced with disabling joint problems (I'm sure you identify with that Wabbit!)
The thing about doping in cycling is that it has always existed, but until the last couple of decades it didn't actually enhance performances over a three-week race. Eddy Mercx certainly took all kinds of dope in his time, but they would have been pain-killers (cocaine, heroin) and amphetamines mostly, which give riders the illusion of greater strength because they pushed back the pain threshold. That may work for a day or two, but inevitably you have a day when the organism doesn't respond any more, you're running on empty.
The blood doping of modern times changes the equation, because it actually works. It can actually save you from that "empty" day, and increase the body's capacity for work over the long haul. So it has materially affected results for many years now.
Mercx was undoubtedly the greatest cyclist of his time, dope or no dope. Probably Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong were the best of their respective eras, too... But we'll never be sure.
One mark of the change this year is that mountain stages were won by attacking riders, often specialist mountaineers : light, wiry riders who have a high power to weight ratio, and who generally have no chance in the overall standings because they are no good in time trials. Whereas for years now, the mountain stages have generally been won by beefy riders who are the overall winners, but wouldn't be competitive in the mountains without the extra oxygen-carrying capacity provided by blood doping.
Well that's what I think. 5015. wonkers2 - 7/27/2006 3:33:03 PM Who broke the color barrier in Baseball? Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey? NFW. Here's the answer. 5016. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 4:10:26 PM Landis doping??
Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site. 5017. wonkers2 - 7/27/2006 4:16:50 PM The Cap'n sez, "Maybe he's just hi-test like the Cap'n!" 5018. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 4:17:46 PM Better source on Landis.
I am to wonder... the human body is a wierd machine. Who knows what an adrenaline dump does to your blood chemistry.
5019. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 4:18:40 PM Another velonews article.
5020. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 4:29:02 PM Only thing that seems fishy is that a front-runner would know they're going to be tested every step of the way... so I don't understand why they would risk it.
We've already seen questionable sample handling by these testing facilities.
Who to trust? 5021. alistairconnor - 7/27/2006 4:55:18 PM Well, let's just say Floyd is a ballsy kind of guy.
He's certainly got 100% more balls than Lance. 5022. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 4:56:48 PM If he's taking testosterone... maybe not the sperm-count. 5023. alistairconnor - 7/27/2006 5:08:45 PM Well, the obvious answer as to why he would risk it is... he had just lost the race in the previous stage, and he's unlikely to ever get a better shot at winning the Tour... hip replacement and all that... and maybe it won't be detected, and maybe they won't dare declare the result if it is...
Back in the dark ages of the 80s, Pedro Delgado tested positive for something or other, while he had the yellow jersey, or possibly with a delay like this time, after he had just won the Tour. They checked his B sample and well gee, turns out he hadn't taken dope after all. No really.
It's hard to see why anyone in the cycling world would be gunning for Floyd in particular, to the extent of falsifying a positive test. Lance had enemies, some zealous officials might have tried to frame him because he was so obviously guilty and so very good at covering his tracks. But the cycling world is in convalescence after the pre-Tour drama, nobody is going to be looking for trouble.
But nobody is going to be let off the hook unduly, this time. 5024. PelleNilsson - 7/27/2006 6:15:35 PM So it seems we boring old cynics may have been right after all. 5025. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 6:24:56 PM Win the battle... lose the war. 5026. iiibbb - 7/27/2006 8:06:40 PM Best response seen on any TDF discussion so far...
"This is bogus. Any level of testosterone would be considered high in France."
lol 5027. alistairConnor - 7/27/2006 8:07:38 PM I think it's the other way round.
This is a painful but necessary stage. For too long, the sporting authorities have closed their eyes to doping.
For years they were in a bind, the characteristic dope being EPO which was not detectable. So all they could do was disqualify riders who had an EPO-induced hematocrite level of over 50 (which is not naturally possible) and rubber-stamp the others who had a level of 49...
Then France cracked down on dope (a courageous stance by the minister of sports at the time). It has taken five years for Spain and Italy to catch up, but they now seem to be serious about it too. It is no longer business as usual, now the riders just have to understand and accept the new rules. The "open" era is over. I hope.
It also appears that detection technology is catching up, and there is less of a lag between new doping methods and the means of detecting it. This is mostly a matter of resources and will on the part of the sporting authorities. 5028. alistairConnor - 7/27/2006 8:11:21 PM "I think it's the other way round"
was in response to
"Win the battle... lose the war"
I'm sure it'll take a while to change the mentalities of the riders.
... but yes, that's a good one iii... what a load of bollocks.
But your Greek chorus of boring old cynics are wrong, Pelle. 5029. alistairConnor - 7/27/2006 8:23:52 PM Going back a couple of weeks :
Sunday 16th. World Cup final is scheduled to start at 8 pm.
1 pm : my team of valiant cyclists gets off the TGV, after a four hour journey from Lyon, in Rennes. That's about 80 km from our hostel for that evening. I hadn't anticipated the additional time constraint when planning the stage -- I was counting on the long summer evenings to get us home OK without stress.
So it turned into an epic. Particularly as it wasn't as simple as just riding up the main road. Oh no, that would be too easy. There had to be forest paths, dirt tracks, preferably a bit of mud. After all, this is a mountain bike expedition.
The irony is that I was the weakest link in the team of eight. The average age is about 10 years older than me, and 10 kilos heavier too; but these guys had been training for months. I just arrived, grinning, with my rusty bike... and discovered that the magic of eternal youth is wearing thin. At 45, I was suffering well before the end of the stage, just short of cramp, and not capable of going any faster...
We got there at 8.05, just in time to see the incident that led to the first penalty.
Such dramatic viewing conditions generally lead to a French win, in my experience. But Materazzi was going to fix that...
I had arranged for a TV to be available at the hostel.
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