The route for the 2006 Tour de France was been unveiled today. Much of the speculation was proved wrong, there will be no final day time trial. No mountain time trial up Mt. Ventoux.
(The 2006 Tour poster really captures the feeling that the Maillot Jaune is up for grabs.)
Other facts seem to be correct, such as the emphasis on climbing, that will most likely suit riders such as Ivan Basso, Valverde and Cunego. The first week time trial is back after a short absence. More notible is that the Team Time Trial is gone at least for this year. There are two time trials and one prologue for 116K total. 5 Mountain stages and 4 moderate mountain stages. Most of the climbing action is centered in the Alps. The Tour presentation will be on OLN tonight at 6PM EDT.
Le Tour: Map Details
Le Tour: Official site
Cyclingnews.com – Le Tour 2006: One of the hardest in years
Pro Cycling: Tour 2006: TTT out, Alpe back in
VeloNews: 2006 Tour route unveiled
Tour de France eager to move into post-Armstrong era – Cycling – Yahoo! Sports
AleJet Petacchi is doing a bit of homework these days. Instead of going off to a vacation hotspot, he and pal Michele Bartoli are on a recon mission in Belgium. Petacchi made some announcements recently that he would like to win the Tour of Flanders. Michele Bartoli is a former winner of the Tour of Flanders and is giving a helping hand to pal Petacchi. AleJet wants to expand his horizons, perhaps inspired by new teammate Erik Zabel.
I feel the need to look for new challenges. I don’t want to be the guy who only wins stages in the Grand Tours. Next year I will start with the objective of winning San Remo, but Flanders is at the same level. I am also looking at races such as Hamburg, Paris-Tours, and Gent Wevelgem. Michele is someone who can help me with those objectives. We have been friends since when he was on Mapei. Even if we live far apart, we still keep in touch during important times. Michele has raced in Belgium and won almost all of the Belgian races except for Roubaix. His experience will help me understand what it takes to win.
Gazzetta dello Sport – Petacchi studia i Muri con Bartoli
OLN may not be abandoning cycling entirely and “may” show the Giro next year. According to TuttoBici, OLN and Rai have a deal to broadcast Milan San Remo, The Giro D’Italia, and Giro di Lombardia in the USA next year. This may be a standard deal that will allow OLN to have the rights, but does not necessarily mean that they will in fact show the Giro live on a daily basis.
Tutto Bici
The first A.L. (After Lance) Tour de France will be unveiled Thursday in Paris. Among those on hand will include Ivan Basso who is looking to take over the mantle of Tour winner. Basso and Team CSC Director Sportif Bjarne Riis are very serious about the 2006 Tour where they will take an Armstrong-like approach. It looks as though Basso will not race the Giro in 2006 and instead scout out the major climbs that will be revealed Thursday. CSC was trying to sign Gilbert Simoni to take on the GC Giro duties, but he instead went to Saunier Duval. Surprisingly, Jan Ullrich will not be present at the route presentation as he is on vacation.
There is abundant speculation of a mountain TT up Mt. Ventoux and a final day Time Trial in Paris a la 1989. Whatever the route, the race will probably be a bit more exciting since Armstrong won’t be there, and there will be a new winner for the first time in seven years.
Tour de France 2006, The Start : welcome on the official website
Lance Armstrong will be the guest host on Saturday Night Live this week with Sheryl Crow. See how much Robin Williams rubbed off on Lance and how many Uniballer jokes we hear… I wonder if pal Bob Roll will be unleashed unto the main stream?
Another SNL link is that the Discovery Channel Team cartoons are made by the same guy that does
The Ambiguosly Gay Duo and other TV Funhouse cartoons. JJ Sedelmaier
NBC.com > Saturday Night Live
Hmm, so your are 23 and pegged to be the next Jan Ullrich, meaning that you have some talent. Talent is one thing, brains are another. There is no question that T-Mobile does not get the most out of it’s riders. Take a look at the long trail of tattered careers that were once promising. Kevin Livingston, Bobby Julich, Paolo Salvodelli, Santiago Botero, Jan Ullrich etc. They all go to T-Mobile for the money, but lose out in the performance. Does Gadermann really want to be the next Jan Ullrich and constantly come in second place? I guess he does. Anyway, look for linus to be driving the lorry with his friend Cristian Werner once he hits age 26…(thanks to Cyclocosm for the link)
Team CSC
After the botched performance in the Madrid World Championships Road Race, many Italian tifosi were calling for Italian team coach Franco Ballerini’s head. After all, he had the top favorite in Petacchi and the top-in-form rider in Bettini, but failed to get the Gold Medal.
Tom Boonen is no slacker, so you can’t fault Ballerini that much. The former Roubaix winner did get a win during the 2002 Worlds in Zolder with a dream leadout train that featured Petacchi as the final leadout man. Plus, the Azzurri did get Bettini the Gold in Athens in 2004, so he is successful. Italy has loads of top one-day riders and managing them to work to one goal is much like hearding cats. Every year there is at least one disgruntled Italian rider who did not get picked for the Worlds. Some even go so far as to get dual citizenship in time for the Worlds. This is a sign that Ballerini is doing something right. Better to have the disgruntled riders cry before the Worlds than after. Although I do have a great picture of a sad Luca Paolini from the 2003 Worlds in Hamilton.
Ballerini confermato Ct della Nazionale
The 2001 Giro raids resulted in a few convictions, and a few acquittals. The fast moving Italian justuce system acted today by sentencing Dario Frigo, Alberto Elli and Giuseppe DiGrande to six month sentances and fined them $14,332 each. Everyone remembers the 2001 Giro D’Italia raids where policemen decided to check riders hotel rooms in the middle of the night. The resulting scene was carnival-like as riders tried to escape their rooms by the windows, and run away. Since that dark day, there have not been too many midnight raids on riders rooms.
Three Giro cyclists convicted – Cycling – Yahoo! Sports
Mario Cipollini still has a very competative side. He was recently eliminated from RAI’s “Ballando con le Stelle”, which is Italy’s original version of “Dancing with the stars”. Mario Cipollini is teamed with the lovely dancer Aleksejeva Marinia originaly from Lithuania.
Check out a clip of Mario and Aleksejeva during “Ballando con le Stelle”
Intro Clip | Video 1 | Video 2
Rai.it – Ballando con le stelle
In a recent interview on Spanish Radio, Iban Mayo talked about the possibility of riding the Giro in 2006. Mayo says that the main goal would not be to win the race, but to test himself on the Italian climbs. Mayo intends to use the race as preparation for the Tour de France. Mayo needs to shake things up in his program as he failed spectacularly in recent years to even show up at the Tour with good form. He gave Armstrong some problems in the mountains in 2003( but who didn’t?). Since then he has not come anywhere near his 2003 form.
Tuttobici Web
