Tour de France

The Invisible Forces in Pro Cycling

When Christian Prudhomme presented the 2013 Tour de France he started by singing the praise of the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC), a group of teams who have signed up to an ethical charter. It does sound good only nobody knows much about it.

The same goes for other groups in the sport. Did you know there is a union that works for pro cyclists? And that the main pro teams are represented by a group called the AIGCP?

Each of these three organisations represents something important in the sport but at the same time they’re discreet to the point of being invisible.

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The 2013 Tour de France

Tour de France 2013

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it but to enable it.”
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

The sport might be dogged by the past but with new route for the 2013 Tour de France we can begin to pin our hopes on the future.

The 100th edition of the route looks like a classic with a few innovations along the way. It offers a balance of climbing and time trialling that tips towards the climbers. It’s a celebration of France with a route that picks out many of the best roads the country has to offer and visits several of France’s heritage sites, from Piana in Corsica to Mont St Michel in the north. The riders won’t have time enjoy the scenery but TV viewers will be spoilt.

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The Tour de France And The Road Ahead

Christian Prudhomme Tour de France

It should be one of the best jobs in cycling but Tour director Christian Prudhomme keeps finding his efforts to promote the world’s biggest race thwarted by its past. As much as he wants to promote next summer’s route he’ll also have to look back to the Armstrong years. These days no preview seems complete without a moment of retrospective regret.

A former journalist and broadcaster, Prudhomme is skilled with words and presentation so expect a good show – it’ll be streamed live on the web. The 2013 Tour will be unveiled with a message of hope for the future and a nod to the past, especially as the next Tour will be the 100th edition, le Tour du centenaire.

Only perhaps it’s time for the Tour de France to announce more than route planning? It won’t happen tomorrow but the race and its parent company dominate the sport like no other and hold the keys and the purse-strings to help clean up the sport. Nobody else has as much power.

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Monday Shorts

Frank Schleck

Today Jakob Fuglsang said the Radioshack-Leopard team merger had been a “disaster”. That’s true but it’s only a fraction of the team’s problems. Star rider Fabian Cancellera wore yellow in the Tour and Tony Gallopin is impressing me, even if Thibaut Pinot outshone him in July. But of course Cancellara’s spring campaign was ruined by a crash, Andy Schleck has had a year to forget. There’s also the case of Johan Bruyneel and team doctor Pedro Celaya being named by USADA. A team sponsor fled mid-season. And the chief executive of Radioshack has just quit too.

And this is before we get to the case of Frank Schleck. He’s had an uncomfortable start to the year with pressure from team management and a lack of results, even if he briefly shone in the Tour de Suisse. But the doping positive from the Tour de France overshadows all of this. It might seem like a long time away but we’re now one week from the verdict. Unless there’s a miracle he’ll be banned for two years.

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Lance Armstrong Quits

Armstrong Yellow Jersey

Lance Armstrong has said he will not contest the charges brought by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and has issued a statement citing procedural matters and fatigue as the reason why he’s not going to challenge the agency.

Later today USADA is expected to announce a formal lifetime ban from all Olympic sports and to invalidate all his results obtained since 1998.

Here’s a look at the issues of the day, from Armstrong’s bold statement, to what will happen to the results and prizes, what happens next, whether for the others in the case like Radioshack-Nissan manager Johan Bruyneel or the options for the UCI.

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The Spin – Stage 21

The race transfers to Corsica and the opening stage of the 2013 Tour de France is a 200km race from Porto Vecchio to Bastia. There’s a climb with 10km to go but the chances of a bunch sprint are high and many of the sprinters will want a chance to wear the yellow jersey.

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The Moment The Race Was Won: The Tour de France

The Tour de France last three weeks but the build-up begins in October when the route is announced. The road to victory isn’t about the finish line, it’s the journey too and so this time there’s more than one racing winning moment.

And if you think Wiggins won because of the time trials, think twice. Strip away the time trials from the overall results and he would still have the fastest time.

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The Extraordinary Rise of Bradley Wiggins in 21 photos

Atypique. That’s the word most often used to describe Bradley Wiggins by the French media, meaning atypical, unusual and special. It’s a reference to his character, whether his London sarcasm, the fluent French or his taste for things far beyond the bubble of pro cycling. But his whole career has been unusual, making him perhaps the most unique winner of the Tour de France.

Here’s a look at his cycling career via 21 photos and a video clip.

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The Spin – Stage 20

No profile needed for today as this is essentially a victory parade with a criterium added to the end so we have a song instead.

The last time the yellow jersey changed shoulders on the final stage was in 1989 and that was a time trial. But the racing is no formality, the most prestigious sprint finish in the world awaits.

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