Now Contador Is Out of Le Tour

((HT: NBCSN/TdF))

After defending champ Chris Froome crashed out of the Tour de France in Stage 5, it seemed that it was wide open as to who could take the yellow jersey.

Now, it's even more so as 2-time champ Alberto Contador has crashed out of Stage 10


Anyone...???
Anyone...???

Defending Champ Froome Crashes Out Of Tour

((HT: TdF/NBCSN))

Chris Froome should have just been called "Schleprock" for everything that went down in the last two stages of the Tour de France. He crashed in the sunshine in Stage 4 and crashed himself out of the race this year with two wrecks in Stage 5.

NBCSN recaps his quick tour of the Tour...


Today's Stage 5 was the first time in ten years or so that the race got the cobblestone streets in muddy conditions that resemble the Paris-Roubaix section from older times. Cobblestones are one thing, but the muddy, slippery cobbles are an entirely different animal entirely.

But to have it happen this early is huge...

The favorite for the remainder of the race is anyone's guess...

OSG Tour: Ted King Eliminated By 7 Seconds

((HT: NBCSN))

The Tour de France is an evil beast...

It doesn't allow for any excuses and Cannondale's Ted King found out just how the Tour can come up and toss you aside...

King was injured in Stage One of this year's tour, but stayed with his Cannondale team as long as he could. Turns out, that he couldn't make it through the team time trial and missed the maximum time allotted to stay in the race by...

Seven seconds...

Todd Harris and Bobke start the coverage...

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

So, yes, this does suck...
Big time...

Your Tour de France Daily Almost Disaster

((HT: NBCSN/Tour de France))

Yesterday, it was the saga of the team bus that was wedged under the finish line banner that almost didn't get out of the way in time for the Stage to finish...

Today, it was a dog that got lost along the way that almost turned into bike fodder... and cause a huge wreck...

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

The HQ thinks that the Tour needs to get off the island of Corsica and never return...

Cycling Team Bus Takes Out Tour de France Finish Line

Whoops!

Somebody apparently forgot to read the little label on the dashboard that is supposed to tell you the clearance height so you don't crash into low things...like say, finish lines.

Yet, that's exactly what happened this morning in Porto Vecchio, Corsica when the Orica TeamEdge team bus was just a bit to big to make it under the finish line in advance of the riders.

And it appears the only way the bus eventually escaped--officials had to deflate the tires.

Oh, we forgot to mention, this was only stage one of the Tour de France. Plenty of time for more adventure still ahead.

Here's your video:

Lance Admits Some Stuff, People Still Pissed

((HT: OWN/youtube))

Shocking no one, Lance Armstrong's attempts at saving his own hide started on tape-delay Thursday evening with his interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Armstrong admitted he wasn't afraid of being caught. He claimed it wasn't "that sophisticated" a doping operation- not as bad as the East Germans of the 1970s in the five-ringed circus and their competitions.

Armstrong admitted to EPO "cocktails" and that while he was a part of the doping culture, he made no effort to stop the culture. He admitted that the seven Tours de France that he won were on doping episodes, but the 2009 and 2010 tours were non-doping tours.

Betsy Andreu, wife of former teammate and Armstrong friend Frankie Andreu, immediately went on the attack against the interview and what wasn't said as much as what was said. She appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and went after the entire interview and its content.

"It's hard to know what to believe now," Andreu said as part of the discussion group on set with Cooper.

More when we know more... and when CNN turns the Andreu segments- which are must-watch TV...

Here's Betsy Andreu...
((HT: CNN))

The Reinvention Of Lance Begins

((HT: KXAN-TV Austin))

He sat down with Oprah for 2-and-a-half hours for an interview where he got emotional and, apparently, didn't go into any great detail...

But the larger impact of his Livestrong Foundation and legacy needed to be saved immediately if not sooner. All the good that idea had created was on the verge of getting flushed down the toilet forever if a tremendous amount of damage control didn't start right effing now...

And so it goes... the first steps are in Austin, Texas in front of Livestrong HQ

Report: Lance apologizes to Livestrong staff

"I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly," Lance told the Associated Press over the weekend. Apparently, he got away with a jog and being a normal person until he got stalked by the media. Here's Lance saying that he never doped seven times in 75 seconds

Report: Armstrong Apology Tour Official: Will Admit to Doping

((ht: usatoday.com))

So, you are surprised about what you are reading in the headline of this story?

Nah, you shouldn't be.

USA Today reports that disgraced bicycling champ Lance Armstrong plans to fess up to Oprah about doping during his run to Tour De France glory.

He supposedly won't do much other than say he did it and spare us the details of how.

And after being exposed by the US Anti-Doping Agency a couple of months ago, the admission is just a formality.

Read the USA Today Story RIGHT HERE

No, we aren't surprised that Armstrong is going to give a blanket apology to Oprah Winfrey. After all, he has some good P.R people and we are quite sure they have told him to do this.

Having seen athletes go through this before, we are quite sure what this is. There are already rumors that he may be doing a book, which may explain, in more detail exactly how he got away with it for so long, but don't expect to see it for awhile. At least not until potential legal proceedings are taken care of.

Tacky Way To End Stage 14 Of The Tour

((HT: NBC/NBCSN/Tour de France))

There are ways to make political statements during sporting events...

This was one of the more cowardly and, possibly, hazardous things that could have ever gone down.

Defending champ Cadel Evans was one of the 30 or so riders that had to change tires on the fly. But there was a moment of sportsmanship in the Stage when the holder of the yellow jersey, Brit Bradley Wiggins, called the peloton (the main group) to a stop until Evans and other contenders could get back on two sound wheels to finish the run.

Here's the recap...

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

The riders hit the Pyrenees tomorrow as the tour has another week or so left...

The HQ wonders just how many more of these incidents will happen before the end of the race...

Lance Armstrong facing new doping charges (UPDATED with repsonse)

Lance Armstrong

((ht: washingtonpost.com))

We aren't saying that the man is guilty, but we really are wondering if he is not, why so many charges continue being filed against him saying that he is?

Former Tour de France champ and current triathlete Lance Armstrong is facing formal doping charges by the US Anti-Doping Agency. The charges have led to his ban from triathlons, at least until they are resolved.

They allege that blood samples taken from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 were consistent with "blood doping". Though Armstrong has never tested positive.

They also go after old Armstrong charges, alleging in a letter that he and other cycling team associates engaged in a "massive doping conspiracty from 1998-2011 and they have multiple witnesses to back it up.

And they want to take away his Tour de France titles.

Oh boy.

Read the full story in the Washington Post RIGHT HERE

Armstrong's attorney called the allegations "Malice and Spite", but apparently didn't not elaborate any further.

We wonder if this will actually be enough to get Armstrong in trouble.

As you know, there have been multiple attempts at doing so. And quite a few cyclists have also either accused him or say they witnessed him doing illicit things to his blood.

Without getting into innocence...or guilt, we just, like so many others, question how many times can it be "People with an Agenda" and people trying to "Make Lance look bad"?

The same thing keeps coming up...over and over and over again.

You just have to wonder if eventually there are some truth to the allegations...

Here's Lance Armstrong's official response...

I have been notified that USADA, an organization largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned. These are the very same charges and the same witnesses that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year investigation. These charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity. Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has chosen to charge. USADA’s malice, its methods, its star-chamber practices, and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.

I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence.

Here's TJ Quinn discussing...
((HT: ESPN))


And here's analysis on AC360
((HT: CNN))

Contador Banned For 2 Years

And he also had his 2000 Tour de France title stripped from his dossier for doping by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Contador blamed contaminated steak for his clenbuterol finding, and to avoid a doping ban, he needed to prove how the anabolic drug entered his body and convince the panel that it wasn't his fault that it got there.

"The Panel found that there were no established facts that would elevate the possibility of meat contamination to an event that could have occurred on a balance of probabilities," CAS said in their finding. "Unlike certain other countries, notably outside Europe, Spain is not known to have a contamination problem with clenbuterol in meat. Furthermore, no other cases of athletes having tested positive to clenbuterol allegedly in connection with the consumption of Spanish meat are known."

Here's part of the race that Contador won, but now hasn't...
((HT: Tour de France/worldcyclingarchives))


And here's reaction from Fabian Cancellara on the ban...
((HT: cyclingnews))


The ban carries through the five-ringed circus...

Americans Losing Pace At TdF Stage 7

((HT: Tour de France/TV2/youtube))

RadioShack rider Chris Horner lost consciousness after a crash 36 kilometers into today's 7th Stage, and American teammate Levi Leipheimer lost more than three minutes during the run that seemed to have more crashes than excitement.

Team manager Johan Bruyneel says Horner will go to a hospital for tests and is unlikely to continue the tour.

Leipheimer now says that he will work for teammate Andreas Kloeden, who is fifth in the overall- 10 seconds behind leader Thor Hushovd.

Here's the Bradley Wiggins crash that took out Horner...


Oh...

Mark Cavendish won the stage- for those of you who picked against him in the STFC

Tyler Farrar Takers Stage 3 of Tour de France

((HT: EuroSport/youtube))

How's this for Independence Day...???

American Tyler Farrar takes the third stage of that Tour de France thing...


It was the first Tour stage victory ever for Farrar, one of the world's best sprinters, and showcased the dominance of the Garmin-Cervelo team.

The 123-mile flat route from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon favored sprinters like Farrar and a handful of others who were in it all the way to the end in a mass finish that included Tour leader and Garmin teammate Thor Hushovd.

"I certainly would have taken it on any day," Farrar said. "But as an American, winning on the Fourth of July, it's the icing on the cake. ... Lucky me."