Tour de France 2009

Devolder takes La Panne

Eurosport | La Panne discovers a sting in Devolder

Discovery Channel took its second consecutive win at the Three Days of La Panne Thursday. This year it was Belgium's Stijn Devolder, whose time trial was good enough to overtake Lampre's Alessandro Ballan.

Discovery's ageless wonder Viatcheslav Ekimov took the stage.

Ballan was second overall, with Davitamon's Nico Mattan 3rd.

Also:

ThePaceline.com | Stijn Wins 3 Days! DC Goes Big in Stage 3b

Armstrong's assistant says he saw androgens

MSNBC | Armstrong faces new drug allegation

Mike Anderson, the former personal assistant embroiled in a lawsuit with Lance Armstrong, said in a brief filed in the suit that he found a box labeled "Androstenine, or something very close to this" in Armstrong's Girona apartment in early 2004.

Anderson said he checked the product name on the WADA or USADA website, verifying that it was a banned substance, then put the box back, fearing for his job. Later, after Armstrong left to train in the Canary Islands, Anderson said he looked for the box, but didn't find it.

Anderson's attorney says his client never saw Armstrong take steroids, but the brief says the two discussed drugs in sports, and Armstrong said "Everyone does it."

Anderson went to work for Armstrong in November 2002, and worked on his bikes, shopped for food, and did other odd jobs. He asked for and received a raise in late 2004, but was fired soon after, and offered a severance package totalling about $7,000. Anderson says Armstrong also demanded a confidentiality agreement with $1 million liability.

Armstrong's company filed suit first, claiming that Anderson had demanded $500,000, an autographed jersey, and help setting up a bike shop. Anderson countersued for fraud, breach of contract, and emotional distress. He claims Armstrong had promised the help when he was offered a job via Blackberry.

The MSNBC story above has a poll asking if people think Armstrong has used "banned substances"; it's currently running 76 percent "No".

Armstrong testifies in Simeoni case

Eurosport | Armstrong answers Simeoni charges

Lance Armstrong flew to Italy on Wednesday to meet with an Italian magistrate about the Filippo Simeoni case. Prosecutors are investigating whether Armstrong verbally assaulted or slandered Simeoni after Simeoni testified against Michele Ferrari in his doping trial. Ferrari was convicted last year.

Armstrong had worked closely with Ferrari before the doping case against him was launched, then broke off the relationship.

At last year's Tour, Armstrong chased down a break that included Simeoni, then told the group that he would let it escape only if Simeoni was not involved.

La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that magistrates are investigating whether Armstrong asked Mario Cippollini to pressure his Domina Vacanze management to get teammate Simeoni removed from the team. That accusation apparently comes from Vincenzo Santoni, still managing Simeoni while Cippollini moved on to Liquigas-Bianchi.

Simeoni also has a libel suit pending against Armstrong in France, stemming from Armstrong calling Simeoni "a compulsive liar" and saying Simeoni had been doping before he ever hooked up with Ferrari.

2006 Tour to kick off in Strasbourg

leTour.fr | The Start from Strasbourg

Tour de France organizers announced today that next year's Tour will kick off in Strasbourg, on the border with Germany.

Strasbourg will host the 2006 Tour prologue July 1st, a stage starting and finishing in the city on Sunday, July 2nd, and the start of the 2nd stage Monday, July 3rd.

The prologue and Stage 1 routes are available at the official Tour site, while Stage 2's route is yet to be announced.

What will Armstrong announce April 18?

Eurosport | Armstrong hints he's soon had enough

At a post-race press conference at Paris-Camembert, Lance Armstrong reiterated that he will absolutely ride the 2005 Tour de France, but didn't stop there:

"I'll be there. I swear it... And it will maybe be my last," he said after finishing Tuesday's Paris-Camembert in preparation for the Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

Armstrong turned almost wistful in an interview with Le Figaro, saying victories for him at Paris-Roubaix or the Tour of Lombardy "will never happen."

"And then there's the hour record which is so far removed from what I do normally. It remains a possibility, but I'd have to think about it. This record, it's a fascination, not an obsession."

Last Monday, Velogal mentioned that Armstrong would make "an announcement at the end of the Tour de Georgia that people will be interested in." He made a similar statement (story, in French) to L'Equipe: "If I were you, I'd come to the Tour of Georgia. I've planned an important announcement."

At this stage of Armstrong's career, there are only a few possible announcements I could see him building up: 1) His retirement, 2) He's engaged to Sheryl Crow, 3) He's got a place and a timeline for the hour record, 4) He's actually not riding this year's Tour.

Since he's explicitly said he WILL ride the Tour, and he's backpedaling a little on the hour record, smart money has to be on the retirement, but when? Would he want to do a victory lap with Discovery Channel?

Brochard takes Paris-Camembert

Eurosport | Brochard wins, Armstrong on form

Laurent Brochard took his third career victory at Paris-Camembert today, breaking away 15 km out in a misting rain.

Eurosport is kind enough to call Brochard "pony-tailed," but we all know he's the outstanding example of the Euro-mullet. He's now 37, and had previously won here in 2001 and 2003.

Outkicking the select group of 30 still in the hunt at the line was Australia's Brett Lancaster of Panaria and Sandy Casar of Francaise des Jeux. Thomas Voeckler, Lance Armstrong, and Patrice Halgand were also in the first group.

Discovery Channel's six-time Tour winner Armstrong was active in the race, and finished 24th overall. He's tuning up for Sunday's Tour of Flanders, where George Hincapie and Stijn Devolder are Discovery's best bets.

"I needed to test my legs after ten days of training around Tenerife where I had put in sessions of over six hours over quite difficult terrain."

"I feel better than ever this year," he added.

Armstrong will return to the US on Monday to prepare for the Tour de Georgia, starting April 19th, where he won last year.

Also:

CyclingNews.com | Paris-Camembert photo gallery

GrahamWatson.com | Paris-Camembert photo gallery

Armstrong, Vandevelde, Brochard. Also a shot of Credit Agricole's new American Saul Raisin, who Watson misidentifies as "Paul".

ThePaceline.com | Lance Armstrong Training 2005

Chris Carmichael provides his take on Armstrong's early-season conditioning.

Ullrich's Tour prep firming up

cyclingnews.com | Ullrich plans Tour compaign

Jan Ullrich reports on his website (in German) that he will first race April 5th at Circuit de la Sarthe, then Vuelta Ciclista a Aragon April 13th and the Volta a Catalunya May 16th.

Still up in the air is the Tour of Switzerland June 11th-19th: Ullrich is still considering racing instead at the Dauphiné Libéré June 5th-12th and the ProTour's team time trial at Eindhoven June 19th.

Freire takes Brabantse Pijl; Armstrong back in pack

Eurosport | Freire wins Brabantse Pijl

Oscar Freire continued his strong spring, winning at Brabantse Pijl/Fleche Brabanconne in a breakaway with QuickStep's Marc Lotz and Davitamon's Axel Merckx. Neither Lotz nor Merckx had the finishing kick to sprint with the current world champion after riding away from a group of 15.

Top 10:
1) Oscar Freire, Rabobank, 3:38:56
2) Marc Lotz, QuickStep, same time
3) Axel Merckx Davitamon-Lotto, same time
4) Wim Van Huffel, Davitamon-Lotto, at :37
5) Karsten Kroon, Rabobank, same time
6) George Hincapie, Discovery Channel, same time
7) Nick Nuyens, QuickStep, same time
8) Simon Gerrans, AG2R, same time
9) Vladimir Gusev, CSC, same time
10) Sébastien Joly, Credit Agricole, same time

Lance Armstrong returned to racing, riding in support of George Hincapie, who got into the lead group, and finished 6th on the day. Next up for Armstrong is Paris-Camembert on Tuesday, then the Tour of Flanders Sunday, where Freire must head the list of favorites.

Julich wins CI with TT stage victory

VeloNews | Julich wins Critérium International

CSC's Bobby Julich continued an amazing season, taking the overall crown at the Critérium International.

Julich had expected to ride for teammate Jens Voigt, who won the race in 2004, but found himself the best-placed CSC rider after Sunday morning's mountain stage, won by Thomas ("Don't call me Erik") Dekker, and won the afternoon time trial to take overall victory.

For the stage:
1) Julich, CSC, 10:05
2) Voigt, CSC, at :03
3) Kurt-Asle Arvesen, CSC, at :11
4) Dekker, Rabobank, at :11

Other Americans:
Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner - 10:17
Floyd Landis, Phonak - 10:34

Top 5 overall:
1) Julich, CSC
2) Dekker, Rabobank, at :08
3) Jorg Jaksche, Liberty Seguros, at :23
4) Ivan Basso, CSC, at :50
5) Voigt, CSC, at 1:28

CSC continues to dominate; three riders in the top five, plus Jaksche, who joined Liberty this season from CSC.

Keep an eye on Thomas Dekker: He's only 20, and riding his first pro season.

Jaksche took the overall climber's jersey, leading over 7 of the 8 climbs on Sunday morning's stage.

It's Julich's second overall victory in a stage race this season, after winning Paris-Nice.

Also:

Eurosport | Re-LIVE Criterium International Stage 3 ITT

Yahoo! Sport | Young Dutch star Dekker stuns Jaksche and Julich

Galvez takes CI lead with 1st-stage sprint win

Eurosport | Galvez wins opening stage

Isaac Galvez of Illes Balears outkicked Erik Zabel for the stage win at Criterium International. Gerolsteiner's Robert Forster was third.

A long break by Frederic Finot, Denis Robin, and Igor Anton came to nothing, thanks to a hard chase by Liberty Seguros, riding to place Allan Davis in the final sprint.

Time bonuses put Galvez up by 4 seconds overall, but Jens Voigt, last year's winner, finished 8th, high in the field sprint, and is 10 seconds back.