Unveiling

by Rant on October 25, 2006 · 9 comments

in Floyd Landis, Tour de France

As I sit here it’s only hours until the official unveiling of the route for the 2007 edition of the Tour de France. And unless some sort of weird, last-minute change of heart by Christian Prudhomme, Amaury Sports Organization and whoever else determines who’s invited to the unveiling, we know one person who definitely won’t be there. Floyd Landis.

[The route has now been announced, according to this article at cyclingnews.com.]

This will make two years in a row that the winner of the Tour has been snubbed by the organizers when unveiling the coming year’s route. Of course, the previous winner, Lance Armstrong, wasn’t exactly a favorite in certain quarters, either. Perhaps they got a bit tired, and more than a bit jealous, of his winning ways. It’s been a long time since a Frenchman won the Tour. Heck, it’s been a long time since a European won the Tour.

The last Euro winner was Marco Pantani, whose career came to an early end following a failed blood test at the 1999 Giro d’Italia. Pantani, himself, came to a tragic end in 2004 when he overdosed on cocaine. The last Euro winner who is still alive is none other than Jan Ullrich, who won the Tour back in 1997. But Ullrich and Ivan Basso, formerly of Team CSC (which is run by Bjarne Riis, who won the Tour back in 1996) and a number of others were barred from riding in this year’s race after the Operation Puerto scandal broke. (Who was the last Frenchman to win the Tour? That would be Bernard Hinault who won the race in 1986. It was his 5th time on top of the podium.)

Will Ullrich, Basso or Alexander Vinokourov (who wasn’t allowed to start because so many riders from his team were barred from racing that the team could not field the minimum number of riders) be there? Not bloody likely.

Rumour has it that Oscar Pereiro may be there, which would add further to the surreal nature of the whole sordid mess that’s become the 2006 Tour. The man Prudhomme has all but declared the winner may be stepping into Floyd’s rightful place, even before a final decision or verdict has been reached about the doping allegations. Landis was and still is the real winner of the race, and he’s the one who should be at the presentation of the 2007 course.

I’d been looking forward to learning the details of the race, as I’ve got family in the UK, and what has been known prior to the unveiling of the route is that the Tour starts in London next year. I haven’t seen my relatives across the pond in 37 years, and it would make for a nice vacation, a chance to catch up with family and an opportunity to see the Tour.

The 1993 Tour went right through the town we lived in back in 1969 (which, incidentally, was the year that Eddy Merckx won his first TdF title) — Lewes, East Sussex. And it went along many of the roads we traveled on as we toured around the countryside. It would have been wonderful to get a chance to go back and have a look at the area. But back then I was too strapped for cash to even consider a trip over. These days, it could at least be in the realm of possibility.

But the way the Tour organizers are behaving towards the current holder of the yellow jersey leaves me wondering if I even want to support them in a peripheral way. This year, during the Tour, I sent in a subscription card to VeloNews because I was so excited by the race that I decided to start getting the magazine again. I let my subscription run out in about 2000, due to general boredom with the articles.

But this year’s Tour piqued my interest again, and subscribing to VeloNews sounded like a good idea at the time. Funny thing happened, though. Seems that my subscription card must’ve gotten lost, because I haven’t seen a single issue up to now, and it’s more than 3 months since I dropped that card in the mail. At this point I’m back to feeling like I’m not missing anything by not getting the mag. What I want to read I can find online for free. So why subscribe and kill the extra trees to get a print version?

The farcical nature of the whole Landis affair has me wondering whether or not I want to watch next year’s (or any future) Tour de France, let alone actually attend any of the races. But if Floyd Landis manages to overcome the hurdles in front of him, and if he manages to come back from hip surgery strong enough to race on a Pro Tour team (assuming the Pro Tour doesn’t fall to pieces), the temptation to go and root for Floyd may be too hard to resist.

What would really be fun would be standing on the ChampsÉlysées while cheering Landis on to his second Tour victory. That would be a real ef-you to the naysayers out there who are all too willing to convict him of doping based on the often incomplete and shoddy reporting on this scandal that the mainstream media have served up to the masses.

pelotonjim October 26, 2006 at 7:17 am

I agree with what you said about the ‘issues’ created by an Anglo winner. Esp one from the US. That’s why I love the tour logo. Take a look at it. It is the Americas, not Europe. I wonder why?

http://pelotonjim.wordpress.com/2006/10/26/who-designed-the-tour-07-logo/

Rant October 26, 2006 at 7:49 am

Too funny! How did that get past the organizers? Somebody wasn’t paying attention, were they?

pelotonjim October 26, 2006 at 9:34 am

Looks like a job for Oliver Stone!

Joyride October 26, 2006 at 1:02 pm

“…wondering whether or not I want to watch next year’s (or any future) Tour de France…”

I had the very same thoughts. Imagine a major golf tournament in which, every year, the winner’s moral and ethical integrity is called into question…

“Tiger, that Birdie on 11 really sparked an unbelievable come-back victory in which you made up 6 strokes on the final 7 holes. To what performance enhancers do you owe your sudden success?”

Give me a break. I weep for the future of competitive sport, where winning will likely ruin your credibility and perhaps your career.

At least I can say that Floyd won the last Tour I ever watched.

Debby October 26, 2006 at 1:03 pm

Glad to see you back ranting! 🙂

First, we had a terrible time with VeloNews this summer, getting the subscription straightened out and getting our free Tour guide.

Second, I read an article in a British cycling magazine examining this question (American vs. French riders/winners in the tour, not Velo News 🙂 ), and they were pretty direct in implying the French are too lazy to train as hard as the rest of the riders from other countries to win! If you’re interested, I’ll get a copy to you. It was pretty surprising.

Last, I’m so torn…my first real road bike is now on order, and it will be my first season (2007) to follow all the races, but if Floyd’s not there…I don’t know if I can do it. I’ll be interested to see what you think.

Debby October 26, 2006 at 6:06 pm

P.S. It’s called “21 Years of Pain: Why the French Can’t Win Their Own Race.” (from Cycling Plus magazine)

Rant October 26, 2006 at 6:09 pm

Debby,

Glad you got the subscription worked out with VeloNews. 😉 I don’t know how much time I’d actually get to read the print version, so I’m not terribly bothered that my subscription hasn’t gone through.

I think I’ve seen the article you mentioned, it certainly sounds like something I’ve read or heard before. As some great sage once said, “Yagottawanna.” The fact that there hasn’t been a French winner of the Tour in the last 20 years makes me wonder how hard their riders are training for France’s biggest athletic event — or how seriously those riders take it.

New road bike on order? Congrats! My road bike is going on 14 years old now (it’s a Litespeed Catalyst from 1993, darn titanium frames never wear out 🙂 ) and it’s still a blast to ride. I’m sure when you get your new bike the excitement will make up for any of the stuff going on with the Landis case or anti-doping scandals in general. There’s certainly plenty of races to watch, including a whole lot of good amateur and pro racing around the States.

I still am not sure whether I’ll bother following the Euro pro scene in the near (or distant) future, except as much as it might take to be able to talk about it with some of our friends and family who live in the UK and Denmark. Watching the Tour? Maybe, if everything works out well for Floyd. If not, I don’t really know if I’ll care to follow it. Anything that reeks of Pat McQuaid, Dick Pound and the sorry lot at Amaury Sports Organization will probably not be high on my list of things to watch next July. (Except, as I originally said, if Floyd comes back to race and then wins his second tour. That’ll get my attention, for sure.)

– Rant

Olyroller October 27, 2006 at 5:41 am

I couldn’t beleive the part where they took the image of Landis and broke it up into a shartting glass fade out. What’s with these guys ?

Rant October 27, 2006 at 11:47 am

Olyroller,

Beats me what’s with the folks at ASO. What they should have done was end with a montage of Pat McQuaid, Dick Pound, Christian Prudhomme and the director of LNDD and then used the cracked glass effect. It’s the whole system that’s cracked, not the 2006 winner of the Tour.

– Rant

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