Tour de France Crapola

Ah, the Tour de France begins again in a couple weeks and we can look forward to...

The new book by David Walsh attacking Lance Armstrong, a new 'tell all' book by Floyd Landis, new 'voluntary' anti doping statements by the racers, and other fun media tricks to attract the public's attention before the race starts.

Oh boy, I'm excited. Hey, I'm not going to buy your book Floyd, and I'm certainly not going to give Walsh a penny for his junk, but what is going on here? The modern Tour my friends!

I'm in France currently and I'm looking forward to images of the peloton cruising through beautiful and awe inspiring countryside. To heroic performances and supportive fans. We can't turn back the clock however, but what a strange event the Tour has become. I've been searching around for some prognosticating on the actual race, and apart from Velonews cover for its Tour mag, showing Levi as a favorite, I don't find much more than the above junk.

Too bad, but I have to believe the public in general and the cycling community is fed up with all this stuff. I'm sure most people would like to see some no-names come to the front of the peloton and fight it out like their lives (livelihoods) depended on it - as they do. Leipheimer is for sure a strong contender, but given the scandals and the really bizarre world of Floyd Landis, I wonder if most people would rather NOT see an American on the podium this year? I like Levi, and hope he does well. If he does arrive on the podium he will have to more than openly squeaky clean, he will have to also distance himself from both Landis and Armstrong to win any favor in the European public mind. The burden on him in this respect seems greater than for anyone else. It might as well be said that for whoever wins the Tour this year there will be doubt about their performance being clean. That is because of what we have in doping scandals and all this silly book crapola that will constantly remind us throughout the race about the dark side of the sport.

L