Let's say you are mildly interested in the Tour de France, but you aren't glued to the television every morning in July. Nevertheless, you wouldn't mind watching one stage ... but which one?

You could do worse than Stage 10 on Monday. Here is the profile:

Those are two "off-category" climbs at the end, including the legendary Col du Tourmalet. We can expect a shakeup on the leaderboard as Columbia Sportswear's Kim Kirchen yields the yellow to ... Cadel Evans.

Actually, if asked to pick a winner for Monday's stage, I would go with Carlos Sastre, with an assist from Frank and Andy Schleck. Cadel will not be far behind, however, and he will pull on the yellow jersey.

I am very curious to see how three other riders perform on Stage 10: Christian Vandevelde (the top American in this year's Tour ... contender or pretender?), Alejandro Valverde (can he finally reach his Tour potential), and Riccardo Ricco (wow ... can he follow Sunday's triumph with another great ride?).

The mountains are where the Tour is decided, and these stages are by far the funnest stages to watch. Some great stages are set for later in the Tour (Stage 17, for example, features L'Alpe-d'Huez), but Monday's stage promises to be a great sifter.

UPDATE: I finally was able to see the Versus pre-race show and noticed that Paul Sherwin embraced my analysis almost exactly, but Craig Hummer again made the best call, tabbing Frank Schleck as the stage winner. Schleck didn't win the stage, but he came close.

And the stage was a sifter. Valverde and Damiano Cunego may have lost the Tour today. My pick, Carlos Sastre, rode well, but he didn't distinguish himself from the other GC contenders.

Ricco and Vandevelde remain compelling stories. This is the best Tour in years.

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Have you seen the new Versus ad for the Tour de France? "A new stage begins" is an in-your-face rejection of Jan Ulrich, Michael Rasmussen, Floyd Landis, Alexandre Vinokourov, and other past dopers. A clean Tour? I am not so sure, but I think we can safely say that we are all happy to see the end of the "cyclysm" ads.

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That's how TDF Blog describes Versus television coverage this year: "Gone is Al Trautwig, who combined bombast and ignorance in staggering proportions." With at least one exception, that would most certainly be the consensus view. Here is a funny post from La Parisienne:

I love waking up at 6 am on a Sunday morning to watch the race go through the mountains. I love the constant commentary of Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen. I love watching the primetime coverage in the evenings when I've already seen the morning live coverage. I love correcting Bob Roll and Al Trautwig during the primetime coverage when they get the name of a rider or location wrong. I love yelling at the TV before anyone is awake. I love complaining about the riders I hate when they do well, and boasting when my favorites win. I love the dumb look on everyones face when I tell them that I like to watch the Tour de France, and then proceed to not shut up about it for at least an hour. I love that I am the only person I know that I can talk to about this sport at the level that I love and understand it. I love walking into bike shops and asking what race they are showing on their TV in the winter, and then when I proceed to detail what happens throughout the race, who wins, who crashes, who tried hard, who didn't try hard enough, only to have the staff at the bike shop look at me with the sort of admiration I have when I look at Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen.

I love the month of July like you wouldn't believe.

I love the Tour de France.

I love that it starts in less than 12 hours.

And another from Bike Dummy:

I love the Tour de France for the same reason I love lots of sports.

The thrill of victory!  The agony of defeat!  The rivalries, the scandals, the awesome athletic achievement!

But mostly, I love watching the Tour because I love the live commentary.
I think Paul Sherwin, Bob Roll and Phil Liggett make the best team in sports.  (Thank goodness they finally ditched Al Trautwig)

Bobke is the most colorful - "It'll be a virtual schmegelfest of subhumanoids." Sherwin is the set up man - "the peleton is nervous today, trying to avoid the fracas at the rear."

But personally, I love Phil Liggett.

No prologue this year, and that's another bit of good news for Tour watchers. The first stage was more exciting than usual.

As you can see in the following video, Craig Hummer has replaced Trautwig. He made a longshot call on the first day (Riccardo Ricco), and the other announcers were incredulous. But Ricco finished fifth -- higher than any of the other picks! Nice start for Hummer.

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On Saturday one of my favorite summer rituals commences. Le Tour de France is laboring under the weight of recent drug scandals -- Floyd Landis' long challenge may finally be over and Michael Rasmussen just won compensation of $1 million, even as he was being banned for two years -- but the Tour remains a great spectacle. And I love rising in the morning to the sound of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen calling the race. Here's a classic moment that caused me to jump out of my chair when I saw it live ...

I have been in Europe for the race, but unless you are actually at the stage, it's just not as fun as watching at home. For one thing, the race happens during the afternoon over there, but I have come to prefer the Tour over breakfast.

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As longtime readers know, I am a big fan of cycling generally and particularly the Tour de France. The old Gordon would have had a shot at winning the Tour de Donut, just up the road in American Fork, Utah, but the new svelte Gordon is unlikely to be a player. The rules:

It's simple. Race 21 miles and see who is the king donut! In circuit style, ride 7 miles, then eat as many donuts as you would like. No limit. Then, ride 7 more miles, eat more donuts, then ride the last 7 mile lap. Glory and adulation are waiting for you at the Finish Line....

Time Bonuses

Did I forget to tell you? For every donut you eat, subtract three minutes from your time! Ten donuts? 30 minutes right off the top.  Finally your appetite and your pot belly are your greatest assets!

One catch, further down the page: "BTW, puking is not allowed."

I know some of you were wondering about that.

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According to traffic psychologist Ian Walker at the University of Bath, wearing a bike helmet can make you less safe on your bike.  Drivers apparently view a helmeted cyclist as more experienced, and therefore more comfortable having close shaves with cars!  Drivers on average came three inches closer to the helmeted cyclist than to the unhelmeted.  Scientific American has the podcast here.  So an ounce of prevention is worth . . . ?

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Last week we did a poll on Floyd Landis, and our readers were split: 51% believed him, and 49% did not. Did today's test results change opinions? When the topic arose at a dinner party tonight, people were mostly cynical.

The big question has been: why was Landis' testosterone elevated on one stage but not on the stages before or after? One of the guests at the dinner party, a hospital administrator, told us that doctors in his hospital pointed to "Mexican beans." Hmm.

In any event, it looks like the Tour de France will go to Oscar Pereiro. If you were following the race, you might remember that Oscar was almost a half hour behind the leaders before he broke away on Stage 13 and earned the yellow jersey. NYT has a nice retrospective on Pereiro's improbable Tour victory.

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Floyd Landis denies doping: "I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning the Tour de France has been exclusively due to many years of training and my complete devotion to cycling."  He claims that his body naturally produces high levels of testosterone. Which leads us to the poll question ...

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We were all amazed by Floyd Landis' ride in Stage 17 of this year's Tour de France. Now we learn that he tested positive for excessive testosterone in a sample taken immediately after that stage. According to his team, Landis will "ask for the counter analysis to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake in the confirmation." Here is the mother angle from ESPN:

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."

"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she said in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pa. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."

One of our commenters raised this possibility right after the stage. I am sad to see that commenter's suspicions appear to have been justified.

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Even if something horrible happened on Sunday, my offering of congratulations to Floyd Landis would not be premature. His ride on Thursday was historic, and his time trial on Saturday was efficient. I had not been a big Landis booster, but he made a fan out of me during this Tour. Bobby Julich captures the spirit of Landis:

He's not as calculating, but he's just as serious [as Lance Armstrong] about cycling. Anyone that knows him, anyone that's ever trained with him has never doubted Landis' drive. He's a rider you can have a beer with, he's a character. He doesn't have that aura around him that Armstrong does. Landis also won without the overall dominant team we've seen in past Tours, i.e., the "Blue Train" of Armstrong's wins. Landis has a little bit of the maverick in him, he lives on the edge and takes a chance.

After tomorrow, the big question will be whether Landis can defend his title in 2007 after having hip replacement surgery this fall. If Floyd is in France, I will be cheering for him.

UPDATE: I am happy to see that nothing horrible happened, and that Floyd has his Tour de France victory. Chris seeks to put this Tour in perspective at Podium Cafe:

Landis is a transitional figure. Obviously his win will go down as one of the great unforgettable moments in the race's history, and I'm talking way high up on the list. But in all likelihood he's a bridge to the next era, not the subject of it. He'll make medical history if he so much as finishes another Tour, and my guess is that it will take him more than a year to even approach his former level. The muscle trauma of surgery just seems too over the top.

And, of course, speculation about next year has begun already. I am liking Damiano Cunego.

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Wow!

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Paul Sherwin, commenting on the nature of a sprint finish in the Tour de France. Nice.

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Somehow this expression, used often by Paul Sherwin, did not make Phil and Paul Bingo, but Paul pulled it out for the Prologue of the Tour de France today.

Pretty exciting for a Prologue. I was rooting for George Hincapie to win, but he missed by less than a second.

Did you notice how Phil, Paul, and Bob mocked Al for predicting that Thor Hushovd would win the Prologue? Never bet against a determined Norwegian!

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The Tour de France is less than a month away, and Team Discovery still hasn't decided who will replace Lance Armstrong as the lead rider. The cover of the newly released VeloNews Official Guide asks, "Can Hincapie Continue Lance's Legacy?" But George Hincapie is playing it cool. This is from a recent interview with Eurosport:

With you, Yaroslav Popovych, Paolo Savoldelli, and Jose Azevedo, the team has four guys capable of high overall performances. Who will be the leader with no Lance around and how is team unity?

Hincapie: I think in principal we'll have more than one leader this year. We always just had Lance and now we have maybe two or three guys that at the start maybe considered the leaders of our team, and I think during the race that will decide who will be the real leader. But the cohesion is great, we all get along really well, and we all have the same goal.

Some people are wondering whether the Tour will be as exciting without Lance, but I think this could be the most suspenseful Tour in several years. Unless Ivan Basso rides away from the field.

Still, amidst all of the uncertainty about this year's Tour, you can count on one thing: the French won't win.

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Is anyone else as disturbed as I am by the story that Lance Armstrong's urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs? Seriously, six-year-old urine. That's just nasty!

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Today Team Discovery is answering any questions that were raised by their failure on Saturday. The team is scorching the field in an unprecedented display of power pacing, leaving all but a handful of challengers languishing on the side of a Category 1 climb. Including all three of T-Mobile's supposed contenders. This looks like a defining stage.

UPDATE: I missed this part of the story ...

   They covered the 111-mile 10th stage in 4 hours, 50 minutes, 35 seconds. Because of a protest at the start by farmers angry over wolf attacks on their sheep and cows, organizers shortened the race by more than 9 miles, beginning it after the town of Froges, near the city of Grenoble.

From a distance -- which is the only way I have ever seen them -- French farmers seem like teenagers to me. The world revolves around them.

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It doesn't get any closer than that! Pieter Weening (59) was declared the winner over Andreas Klöden (14), but this may have been as close to a tie as I have ever seen. (The Eurosport headline is "Weening Pips Klöden"!)

The real story of the day, however, was Lance Armstrong's Discovery team: where were they? The riders tackled their first mountain today, and Lance's team abandoned him. This team was pumped up as the "greatest cycling team every assembled," but if they are AWOL on a Category 2 climb, what's going to happen when they get to the largest mountains?

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Well, you be the judge. Eurosport will probably post the video soon. Robbie McEwen was disqualified from today's race for leaning on Stuart O'Grady (two Australians), and this effectively eliminates McEwen from the Green Jersey competition.

David Zabriske will wear the yellow for one more day, but that should be the end of it. If the tour goes according to script, Lance will take over tomorrow in the team time trial.

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I didn't expect a lot of excitement from the Tour de France prologue, and for the most part, I was right. But Lance Armstrong's second place finish on the first day was plenty exciting, even over the internet. (Unfortunately, the TDF is not televised on Swedish Television.) David Zabriske (the non-Mormon from Utah, shown above) posted the best time of the day early on, and no one could catch him.

Perhaps the bigger story, however, was that Armstrong caught and passed Jan Ullrich, who started a minute before Armstrong. That was a statement ride, and I suspect Ullrich heard the message clearly. Note to T-Mobile: have you thought about swtiching your loyalties to Alexandre Vinokourov, who finished third in the time trial? Ullrich seems completely unable to cope with Armstrong.

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One of my favorite parts of the summer begins tomorrow with the Tour de France Prologue. This year's Prologue will be relatively boring -- a fairly straight course for 19 kilometers -- but think of that as a warmup for the race.

Everyone is anticipating a big battle between Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich, but there are a lot of other stories that could emerge. I am watching for Ivan Basso of CSC to challenge Armstrong in the mountain stages. And what about Ullrich's T-Mobile teammates, Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden? Both have been on the podium in Paris, so T-Mobile looks strong. I am very happy to see Joseba Beloki back in the race after his devastating crash two years ago. For the first time, three Americans are team leaders. In addition to Armstrong, Floyd Landis leads Phonak and Levi Leipheimer leads Gerolsteiner. Both should do well, but I would be shocked to see either of them challenging Armstrong and Ullrich.

Check the official site or the TDF Blog for more information and news.

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The Paris-Nice began Sunday, and Graham Watson has the photos, as usual.

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While I was swamped with appointments matters, the route for the 2005 Tour de France was released. Jean-Marie Leblanc offers this assessment of the route:

Firstly, the individual time trial (also the prologue and 19 kilometres in length) on the Island of Noirmoutier on the first day of the race is the only one for the next 19 days, until that of Saint-Etienne on the 20th stage, the day before the finish in Paris. Sprinters, you will have to express your talent in a different way!

Secondly, along with the mythical and superb forays into the Alps and the Pyrénées ... there will be a very convincing and pretty stage in the Vosges after only one week into the race.

One likely gap in next year's race will be the Phonak squad of Tyler Hamilton. TDF Blof is a nice single source for ongoing information about the story. The short version is that Tyler looks to be out. Doping. Stinks.

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Tyler has been accused of doping and may be stripped of his Olympic gold medal. The claim is that he had a blood transfusion to increase the amount of oxygen-transporting red blood cells in his system. Tyler's response: "I am 100 percent innocent." I can't sort out these claims, and I'm glad that I don't have to, but I sure get tired of hearing them. No, I am not suggesting that they shouldn't be reported, but that cycling somehow needs to clean up its act.

UPDATE: Tyler is off the hook, though not necessarily clean.

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Faced with the sudden realization that only one of my children had plans today, I proposed a spur-of-the-moment family cycling outing on the Sugar River Trail. This is one of Wisconsin's rail-to-trails projects, and the path is mostly flat, covered with limestone. Somehow I managed to convince three of my children and my wife to go along, and we headed south about 30 miles to New Glarus, a quaint little town that bills itself as "America's Little Switzerland." It is also the trailhead for the Sugar River Trail.

Although overcast, it seemed like a great cycling day. The air was cool, but not cold, and we discussed how far we should ride. Unfortunately, the weather made the decision for us as the rain started falling about two miles into the trip. We made it another three miles out before concluding that the rain was getting heavier, not lighter, then we turned back to New Glarus. When we finished, we were splattered with mud from helmet to shoe, though no one seemed overly upset.

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Congratulations to Tyler Hamilton, who took home a gold in the Olympic time trial today. Bobby Julich earned the bronze. It's nice to see Tyler have some success after having such a disappointing Tour de France.

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Although I left off blogging about the Tour after Stage 13, I didn't stop watching, and the remaining seven stages were the most exciting, particularly Lance's win in Stage 17, where he narrowly eclipsed Andreas Klöden of Germany. Lance was completely dominant and took most of the suspense out of the Tour well before Paris, but he still made the individual stages exciting. Here are some concluding thoughts:

* Lance should retire from the Tour de France. I always liked the image of Jim Brown retiring from football at the top of his game. Michael Jordan did it twice! Lance could probably win more Tours, but this would be a nice time to end.

* Perhaps the best thing about this Tour other than Lance winning was the emergence of Ivan Basso and Andreas Klöden as new faces on the podium. Jan Ullrich still finished fourth, and you can't help but wonder "what if" Ullrich had Armstrong's heart.

* The US Postal team is simply awesome. They did not win the overall team title, but they completely dominated the race. Hincapie and Landis were particularly impressive, as was Azevedo on some of the mountain stages. I wonder how many of these guys Discovery will manage to retain.

* It would be nice to have an American to root for, but I didn't see any rising stars in this Tour. Tyler is older than Lance, and he can't seem to stay on his bike. Levi seems like a great guy, but his upside looks pretty limited. I would root for Landis and Hincapie, but I am not sure that they have what it takes to be a contender on their own.

* Biggest disappointment of the Tour: Roberto Heras and Iban Mayo. Ok, that is two disappointments, but both of them dropped out in the mountains! That was where they were supposed to be strongest and really make their moves. Even before they left the race, they looked horrible.

This was my fourth Tour, and it has become a nice diversion each July. My son and I are already planning a trip to France to follow along, though not for a few years. In the meantime, we continue to ride the rolling hills of southern Wisconsin and imagine ourselves riding like Lance (think PowerBar commercial here, for those who watched the Tour on OLN).

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This story is for all of those who have wondered: How does Lance Armstrong ride for six hours, drink all that water, and never ... you know? They rarely show this part of the Tour on television, but of course, it is part of the race.

Danny Nelissen, Eurosport's Dutch cycling commentator and a former professional cyclist is quoted as saying: "It takes a lot of practice to pee at 70kph. I couldn't do it. I had to stop."

If that was more than you wanted to know, stop reading. If you are still wondering about other potential problems, this is also from Nelissen: "One year on the Tour, four teams staying at the same hotel -- including Laurent Jalabert's ONCE squad -- got hit by food poisoning. The next day you had half the pack disappearing into the woods. You drop back to your team car and ask for one of those casquettes. You know, one of those hats. The cloth ones. What else are you going to use?"

As Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story.

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And then there were two. Hamilton is out of the race completely. Ullrich looks horrible. Leipheimer is simply not in the same class. Heras and Mayo? Forget it! Ivan Basso and Lance Armstrong are the elite, and they left everyone else in the dust on the way up to Plateau de Beille. Armstrong rode a perfect race (despite a flat early on), and it was nice to see him take the stage.

So who ends up on the podium in Paris? The contestants are narrowing. I think it would be great to see Armstrong, Basso, and Thomas Voeckler, who has won a lot of fans since taking the yellow jersey last week.

By the way, OLN's coverage has been great. I thought this statement by Phil Liggett was funny: "You are watching a commercial-free half hour brought to you by PowerPar." It reminded me of my time in law practice, when we used to write "This page left intentionally blank" in a securities prospectus. One of my colleages once added "(except these words)."

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Wow! Talk about separating the wheat from the chaff! Ivan Basso and Lance Armstrong made the other yellow jersey contenders look like pretenders today. It's hard to appreciate how strong Armstrong and Basso rode until you see Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton, Roberto Heras, and others sucking wind several minutes behind. Now the big issue is whether Armstrong pushed too hard today. Despite his impressive showing, Basso predicts a win for Lance.

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French cycling fans are dancing. They have the yellow jersey, and after today's spectacular win by David Moncoutie, they can celebrate two stage wins in a row. This is also a nice boost for Cofidis, the team that lost David Millar when he admitted to having used EPO. This is the second Cofidis stage win in this year's Tour (the other being Stuart O'Grady's win).

From the beginning of the race, Lance has flagged Saturday as the crucial stage, so we may have one more day of posturing before we see real movement in the GC. With regard to the GC, Jan Ullrich sounds confident.

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Richard Virenque took all of the suspense out of Stage 10 with one of the most impressive breakaway rides ever. On the longest stage of this year's Tour -- over six hours of riding -- Virenque made the peloton look positively sluggish. I have been watching the Tour closely for four years, and Virenque never makes an appearance without some mention of doping. Of course, he was at the heart of the huge 1998 Festina doping scandal, and that is an issue he will never shake.

Frankly, I do not know how anyone rides a bicycle up the mountains these guys are climbing. And Stage 10 had nine categorized climbs! Very impressive.

I am happy to see Thomas Voeckler still holding the yellow jersey. No big news about the GC. Lance seems to be in great shape. Virenque moved up into fourth place, but he will fade tomorrow after today's massive effort. Tyler lost a few seconds today, but he is still within striking distance of Lance, as are Jan and Levi and Ivan Basso. Mayo has not been impressive so far, and he probably needs to do something dramatic this weekend.

UPDATE: The voice of OLN's Tour commercials (not the goofy bearded guy who does the awful "Cyclism" spots, but the voice who announces tomorrow's stage) just pronounced Richard Virenque's last name VEER-ANKY. Where is Donald Trump when you need him?

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Thanks for playing, Thor. It was great to see you in green again, Stuart. Eric, you were great once, but it's over. Robbie McEwen is the king of sprints. If you saw the end of Stage 9 today, you know what I am talking about.

"Heartbreaking" would not overstate the result of Stage 9 from the perspective of Filippo Simeoni and Inigo Landaluze, who spent most of the day on a breakaway, only to be caught within sight of the finish line. And once they were caught, the sprinters took flight. McEwen looked jet-propelled as he whirled around the pack and into position.

TDF has the story on Simeoni's feud with Lance. In brief, Simeoni says that Lance defamed him by calling him a liar in connection with doping accusations. On a happier note, George Hincapie is engaged to one of the podium women. With all that kissing that goes on up there, it's a wonder this doesn't happen more often.

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Everyone watching the TDF the past few days seems to feel that the real race is on hold. The crashes have been a constant source of tension, and they have raised Lance's ire. See here and here, for example. But for the most part, these crashes have been the result of young riders attempting to make a name in the early stages, before they are left in the dust on the mountains. Or maybe they are caused by Lance and the other big names trying to stay out of trouble. See here. In any event, the big names seem content to go with the flow for now.

The young riders -- like Filippo Pozzato today, Tom Boonen yesterday, and Thomas Voeckler (left in yellow) and Sandy Casar the day before -- have been fun to watch. Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi were disappointing even before they withdrew. Stuart O'Grady (left in green) battling Robbie McEwen for green looks to be a great storyline for the rest of the race. (Will Eric Zabel show up?) Perhaps the funnest storyline, almost hidden from view, is Gilberto Simoni. Check out the tdfblog posts on Simoni (the latest of which begins: "How badly must things be going when you can't even abandon the Tour de France successfully?").

For more pictures, remember to visit Graham Watson's excellent site.

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Everything seems to be going Lance's way in this year's Tour. The US Postal team was incredible in yesterday's team time trial, putting Lance in yellow and placing almost all of the other team members in the top 10. Even in the rain, they posted the third fastest team time trial ever. Watching a well-drilled team like Postal work the time trial is magnificent, especially when you remind yourself that they are traveling at an average speed of more than 30 mph.

Lance yielded the yellow jersey today, but that was predictable ... and desireable. Let the French team (Brioches la Boulangere) take the yellow into the mountains. As Lance said yesterday, "The race really begins in the Pyrenees."

I felt sorry for Benjamin Noval yesterday. The young Postal rider could not hang with the rest of the team, and reportedly ended the day in tears because he felt that he had let the team down. I noticed that he was pulling his own today, however.

Two other notes: (1) congrats to Stuart O'Grady, who played his cards exactly right at the end of today's stage and pulled out a victory; and (2) adieu to Bradley McGee, who exited with a bad back. As usual, TDF Blog has all the information you need to know.

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When Tyler Hamilton said that his only goal for Stage 3 was to stay safe, I assumed it would be a dull day. Far from it! A crash just before the cobbles seems to have ended Iban Mayo's chances for a place on the podium. People are debating whether U.S. Postal took unfair advantage of Mayo's misfortune, but I agree with Frank at the TDF Blog: Mayo's team has no one to blame but itself.

Things are looking good for the Americans. Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton, Levi Leipheimer, and Bobby Julich are all in great shape after three stages. Jan Ullrich remains a force, but I wouldn't be surprised to see three Americans on the podium is Ullrich falters.

Finally, TDF Blog has Al Trautwig pegged.

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Stage 2 featured an exciting finish, primarily because of a crash involving Jimmy Casper with 300 meters to the finish line. The riders seem pretty jittery, perhaps with memories of last year's massive crash in Stage 1 still playing on their brains. Aussie Robbie McEwen crossed the finish line well in front of second place finisher Thod Hushovd (Go Norway!), who will now wear yellow. Lance and the other GC contenders are all basically unchanged from yesterday, though Roberto Heras had a rough day on the course, twice falling behind the peloton.

UPDATE: Thor Hushovd afterwards: "It's been a dream of mine to wear the yellow jersey for a long time, for the past 15 years. Ever since the prologue I knew I could win the yellow jersey. Yesterday I was close, I was fighting for the bonus sprints but Cancellara managed to hold on. But today I finally did it." Congrats, Thor.

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I am not sure I will feel obliged to write about every stage, but that Stage 1 was exciting. First of all, Lance in the green jersey was just strange. Don't plan an seeing that again anytime soon. He certainly made no effort to defend it, and tomorrow it goes to Thor Hushovd.

Second, I thought for a moment that the breakaway featuring two Belgian riders might succeed, but the peloton caught them near the end. The capacity of the peloton to draw breakaway riders back into the pack is almost magical. Whenever I see a good breakaway, I root for the riders to hold one, though I enjoy watching the power of the group as it envelopes them.

Third, sprint winner, Jaan Kirsipuu, may be on my all-name Tour team. His last name sounds like a sweet nothing you might whisper in a baby's ear. It's just fun to say, over and over. Keer-see-poo ...

Fourth, I would hate to see Bradley McGee drop out, but he looked horrible today. Back pain and the Tour do not mix.

Finally, the crashes are just plain scary. One rider (Nick Gates of Lotto-Domo) is completely out of the race because of a crash, and many others emerged from today's stage with torn uniforms and scaped elbows. Lance is just trying to ride near the front, where he can avoid most of the problems.

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Those of us who are interested in, but not fanatical about, cycling saw a rising star for the first time today: Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (pictured here). The most touching shot of the day on OLN showed Cancellara about to break out in tears when Lance Armstrong, the last rider of the day, crossed the finish line with a time two seconds behind Cancellara's blistering pace.

The Prologue was supposed to be Bradley McGee's time to shine, but when Cancellara crossed the line 11 seconds (!) ahead of the next closest rider, it was pretty clear that his would be a difficult time to beat. McGee ended the day in fourth place.

The big news for Lance fans is that he looks strong and focused. He has got to feel good about placing 15 seconds or more between himself and his biggest rivals in this very short race. Yes, there is a long way to go, but Lance looks great. Moreover, his USPS teammates appear to be in top form, with George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, and Vladimir Ekimov all finishing the day in the top 20.

One other note: if Lance wins his sixth Tour, he will stand alone, but one of the other five-time winners, Eddy Merckx said in a recent interview that the real record is the world hour record. This record was a big deal to Merkx in his day, so he doesn't come late to this party. Whether Lance will pursue it is still an open question. (By the way, Lance has said, "Eddy is like a father to me," so we may read the comments by Merkx as a fatherly challenge.)

For more great shots of the Prologue riders, try VeloNews. Also, here is an interactive photo gallery.

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Get ready. If you are living in the U.S. and don't have Outdoor Life Network, find a way to get it before Saturday. They are promoting this as "The Cyclysm," which just sounds stupid. Let's hope that the marketing team at OLN doesn't ruin what is shaping up to be a great Tour. The TDF Blog is "cautiously optimistic" about OLN, but I am just being cautious. Of course, it's not like there is alternative coverage on another station.

In addition to the usual drama, the fury surrounding doping charges against Lance, the disqualifications of David Millar and Cedric Vasseur, and the potential for bad results from new drug tests.

If you find yourself drawn into this, keep checking the TDF Blog, which also lists a number of other Tour blogs in the sidebar. If you just want occasional snippets, Samuel Abt at the NYT does a great job. Today's column is a nice introduction to Lance's take on the competition if this is your first Tour.

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Allegations are inevitable, but I sure hope that they aren't true. If you want something more positive, read this interview with Lance in anticipation of the Tour de France.

By the way, the interview mentions Lance's troubles with Iban Mayo in the recent Dauphiné Libéré. I can't believe I forgot to mention Mayo in my Tour de France preview. Mayo looked good in last year's Tour, and he seems to be in even better position this year.

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We attended the first stage of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday. That stage ended in the charming little town of Beromünster. When we arrived at about noon, the town was still preparing for the riders, and we found a spot right on the finish line. Of course, the race didn't end until after 5:00 pm, and we didn't last that long. We did manage to partake in the festivities, however, aquiring some sponsor giveaways and some great memories. Since Graham Watson hasn't posted any photos from the Tour of Switzerland, I will post of few of my meager shots.

Unless you are watching one of the mountain stages, cycling is a great in-person spectator sport for only a few seconds. The riders blaze by at such high speeds that most of the time at the event is down time. In Beromünster some of the locals decided to fill the time with traditional Swiss songs.

What possesses these people to dress up like this for a cycling event? In this instance, "Satan" is the obvious answer to that. This fellow walked by, allowed me to snap the shot, then proceeded to "hex" some of the riders. Bizarre.

Oh, yes, there was some cycling, too. This was the first pass through Beromünster. I think that the rider in the middle in pink is Jan Ullrich, who eventually won the stage, but I was snapping photos so fast that I don't remember all of the details.

After watching the first two passes through Beromünster, my kids decided that four hours of the Tour de Suisse was enough, so we left early to beat the crowd. Beromünster is so small, however, that all of the exits were block off for the race. We managed to drive a couple of miles from town before encountering a roadblock, where I snapped this photo. Just as we arrived at the roadblock, we saw the television helicopter hovering nearby, so we jumped out of the car just in time to catch the leading group of four riders. This large group was well behind ... we suspected an accident, but never learned the reason for the delay.

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Later today Damiano Cunego will win the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy). That's a photo from the Tour of Italy from Graham Watson's excellent website. The racing season is in full swing in Europe, and all of the big names are gearing up for the Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong is skipping the Tour of Italy. His next big event will be the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in southern France on June 5-12, which is his final tuneup prior to the Tour de France. By the way, have you seen the new Nike commercial featuring Lance? You can find it here. If that doesn't motivate you to strap on a helmet and go, you are beyond the pull of cycling.

One of the big stories of the season so far is Jan Ullrich (scroll down), who has been rumored to be out of shape and ill-prepared for a run at Lance Armstrong. Ullrich is back with Deutsche Telecom again, and I cannot believe people are counting him out of the Tour de France. He has never finished worse than second; but for Lance Armstrong, Ullrich would be acclaimed as the greatest Tour cyclist of this generation. Next up for Ullrich is the Tour of Germany (Deutchland Tour), which runs next week, followed by the Tour of Switzerland (Tour de Suisse) on June 12-20. In a recent interview (see here if you read German), Ullrich said that he did not expect to win the Tour of Germany because he is still building up for the Tour de France.

Other than Ullrich, Lance's fiercest competition in this year's Tour de France will likely come from Spain. According to Samuel Abt's column in today's New York Times, Joseba Beloki still has not fully recovered from the crash that ended his hopes of victory last year. Beloki will be riding for the French team Brioches la Boulangère, which is being built for Beloki and a run at the yellow jersey, but the results thus far this year are not encouraging.

The most vigorous challenge may come from the Spanish rider Lance knows best: Roberto Heras of Liberty Seguros. Heras was Lance's chief lieutenant in last year's Tour, but it was clear to all who were watching that Heras was one of the top cyclists in the race, and that the only reason he wasn't standing on the podium at the end was his sacrifice for Lance.

Another rider to watch is American favorite, Tyler Hamilton, who distinguished himself by riding last year's Tour with a broken collarbone. This year he is racing with Swiss team Phonak Hearing Systems (with Oscar Sevilla, among others).

Unfortunately, I will be returning from Europe prior to the start of the Tour de France, though I will be around for the Tour de Suisse and the Dauphiné Libéré. Fingers crossed: if we can find the time and the means, we will see some fine racing this summer.

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I am thinking about going into cycling sponsorship: The Venturpreneur Team! U.S. Postal has decided to stop sponsoring a team. Boy, talk about quitting when you are on top! They started sponsoring Lance in 1998, and he has one the last five Tours de France. Apparently, U.S. Postal got into this in an attempt to increase its international business, and they did not give a meaningful explanation for why they are getting out.

Thanks to the Tour de France Blog for the pointer.

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This year's widely anticipated Tour de France is already starting to attract widespread attention. The New York Times is reporting on efforts by Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal team to maintain it technological advantage. Since most of the wind resistance is generated by the biker, advances in clothing technology can make the difference.

The U.S. Postal team lost Roberto Heras in the offseason, so it will need every advantage it can get. Heras was Lance's chief support last year, but will challenge him for the overall title this year as the leader of a new Spanish team. Still, Lance has a great cast coming back, including all of last year's Tour riders other than Heras: Manuel Beltran, Viatcheslav Ekimov, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Pavel Padrnos, Victor Hugo Pena and Jose Luis Rubiera. In addition, U.S. Postal added José Azevedo, formerly of ONCE. This is a good team, and they are dedicated to getting number SIX for Lance, so I expect them to make a good run.

I will have more on the Tour as we get closer, including updates on the summer racing season, which is already underway. If you need more than I can provide, check out the Tour de France Blog (of course) or the official website.

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Nothing official about the beginning of cycling season, but when I arose this morning, the sun was shining and a cool breeze was blowing, so I took three of my children on a 25-mile ride. The youngest of the three, one of my eight-year-old twins, kept up pretty well, but he was dead tired at the end. We are a Trek family, although we haven't quite mastered the seven-person ride.

Trek has manufacturing plants in Waterloo and Whitewater, neither of which is overly far from here. The company has a great story, which you can learn a little bit about here. This is a Wisconsin startup, so rather than tracing it's origins to a garage, Trek goes back to a barn.

One of the most pleasant surprises about Madison has been the popularity of cycling. The topography -- rolling hills -- lends itself to scenic, long-distance rides. And you live out in the country, as I do, it isn't hard to imagine yourself riding in the French countryside. We even have great cheese when you're done!

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