Tour de France 2011

Dominguez draws first blood in Georgia

Photo by Ken Conley

Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez took a smart victory in the first stage of the 2008 Tour de Georgia Monday.

While Rock Racing (with Freddie Rodriguez), High Road (with Greg Henderson), and Gerolsteiner (with Robert Förster) jockeyed for position at the front of the field, Dominguez found a good wheel, and just flat outsprinted the field.

Jelly Belly's Nicholas Sanderson was 2nd and Förster 3rd, with essentially all riders finishing in the same time.

Stage 1 Top 10:
1) Ivan Dominguez (Cuba), Toyota-United, 2:30:18
2) Nicholas Sanderson (Australia), Jelly Belly, same time, U25
3) Robert Förster (Germany), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
4) Richard England (Australia), Bissell Pro Cycling, s.t.
5) Sergey Kudentsov (Russia), Marco Polo, s.t.
6) Danilo Wyss (Switzerland), BMC, s.t., U25
7) Bradley Mcgee (Australia), CSC, s.t.
8) Greg Henderson (New Zealand), Team High Road, s.t.
9) Aaron Kemps (Australia), Astana, s.t.
10) Karl Menzies (Australia), Health Net-Maxxis, s.t.
U25 - qualifies for young rider leader's jersey.

Looks more like the Tour Down Under standings, with 5 Aussies in the top 10 and Greg Henderson from New Zealand. The best placed US rider was BMC's Taylor Tolleson, 13th, with Chris Horner 18th. It appears neither Freddie Rodriguez nor JJ Haedo were their team's featured sprinters today: Sevilla in 14th was the best placed Rock Racing rider (Rodriguez in 54th), and McGee led CSC in 7th with Haedo back in 75th.

For more details, check out my Tour de Georgia weblog.

Also:

VeloNews | Complete Results

spare cycles | Dominguez takes Stage 1 | photo gallery

VeloNews | Dominguez bike details

Dominguez rides a Fuji TT frame in road stages, which is heavier but stiffer and more aero than their road frame, mated to a road fork.

FdJeux, Bouygues Telecom, Credit Agricole confirm Tour squads

Fox Sports Australia | McGee injury opens Tour door

The French squads are pinning down their final Tour rosters.

At Française des Jeux, Sebastien Joly and Bradley McGee are unavailable, leaving Sandy Casar the team's remote GC hope. Thomas Lovkvist may factor in the young riders' competition, as could Remy Gregorio, a heralded young Frenchman.

Française des Jeux 2007 Tour de France roster:
• Sandy Casar (France)
• Sebastien Chavanel (France)
• Mickael Delage (France)
• Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
• Remy Di Gregorio (France)
• Lilian Jegou (France)
• Matthieu Ladagnous (France)
• Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden)
• Benoit Vaugrenard (France)

Four rookies: Chavanel, Delage, Di Gregorio, and Ladagnous.

At Bouyges Telecom, former world champion Laurent Brochard, the mullet-est man on two wheels, will miss the Tour.

Riding instead will be:

Bouyges Telecom 2007 Tour de France roster:
• Stef Clement (Netherlands)
• Pierrick Fedrigo (France)
• Xavier Florencio (Spain)
• Anthony Geslin (France)
• Laurent Lefevre (France)
• Jerome Pineau (France)
• Matthieu Sprick (France)
• Johann Tschopp (Switzerland)
• Thomas Voeckler (France)

At Credit Agricole, Pietro Caucchioli can't start.

Credit Agricole 2007 Tour de France roster:
• William Bonnet (France)
• Alexandre Botcharov (Russia)
• Anthony Charteau (France)
• Julian Dean (New Zealand)
• Dmitri Fofonov (Kazakhstan)
• Patrice Halgand (France)
• Sebastien Hinault
• Thor Hushovd (Norway)
• Christophe Le Mevel (France)

McGee backs out of 2007 Tour

Fox Sports Australia | McGee out of Tour de France - Breaking News

Française des Jeux's Bradley McGee will miss this year's Tour, as he did last year, because of ongoing back problems.

In a post to his website entitled "Time to face reality", McGee said he has given up on the “band-aid treatment of my sciatica,” and will “now go ahead with a surgeon's skills and hopefully put an end to the rollercoaster.”

McGee says an unsuccessful surgery would end his career, but that a successful procedure should have him back on his bike for late-season races in 2007.

McGee's condition dates back at least to 2004, when he fought through pain before abandoning during Stage 5.

In 2003, McGee won the prologue of the Centenary Tour, and wore the yellow and green jerseys as a result.

Tour starters: English-speaking countries roundup

Since most of my readership comes from English speaking countries, I thought I would post a quick roundup of which (and how many) citizens of the former colonies are scheduled to ride in this year's Tour.

United States (8 riders, 1 reserve)

• George Hincapie, Discovery
• Chris Horner, Davitamon-Lotto
• Bobby Julich, CSC
• Floyd Landis, Phonak
• Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner
• Fred Rodriguez, Davitamon-Lotto
• Christian Vande Velde, CSC
• Dave Zabriskie, CSC
• Reserve: AmerItalian Guido Trenti

Last year, all of these plus Lance Armstrong and Trenti, but minus Vande Velde.

Australia (6 riders):

• Allan Davis, Astaná-Würth
• Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto
• Simon Gerrans, AG2R
• Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto
• Stuart O'Grady, CSC
• Michael Rogers, T-Mobile

Last year, Australia had all these, plus Baden Cooke, Brad McGee, Luke Roberts, and Matthew White.

Great Britain (2 riders):

• David Millar, Saunier Duval-Prodir
• Bradley Wiggins, Cofidis

Great Britain was shut out last year.

South Africa (1 rider):

• Robbie Hunter, Phonak

As last year.

New Zealand (1 rider):

• Julian Dean, Credit Agricole

None last year, although Dean rode in 2004.

Canada (1 alternate):

• Michael Barry, Discovery Channel

Plus permission to root for David Canada. The last Canadian in the Tour was Gord Fraser in 1997, but Ryder Hesjedal or Barry should break that streak soon.

McGee definitely out of Tour

Herald Sun | Probable surgery to sideline McGee from Tour

Française des Jeux's presumptive Tour de France leader, Australia's Bradley McGee, is definitely out of the 2006 Tour.

McGee, who finished last year's Tour, dropped out of the 2004 Tour with back and hip problems similar to those that forced him out of this week's Tour of Switzerland and the Giro d'Italia.

A herniated disc has left McGee unable to ride hard:

"Specialists in Paris confirmed Friday the cause of my sciatica is coming from a small hernia that, under the force of riding, is forcing itself on to the nerve and explaining the grief I have been dealing with these past months," McGee said.

"It seems likely I will undergo surgery in the near future with the hope to be able to return to racing before season's end.

"I feel relieved to have finally located and explained the cause of my difficulties."

McGee doubtful for Tour

BBC SPORT | Injury-hit McGee a doubt for Tour

Française des Jeux's Bradley McGee is doubtful for this year's Tour after withdrawing from the Tour of Switzerland. McGee, who won a stage at last years Tour de Suisse, had to drop out of the 2004 Tour with pain in his back and legs.

Looks like it's an inflamed sciatic nerve this time, but again BBC Sport says the causes are somewhat unclear.

Nuyens takes Suisse Stage 3 and race lead

VeloNews.com | Nuyens moves into Swiss Tour lead

QuickStep's 26-year-old Nick Nuyens kept the freshest legs in a late-stage breakaway Monday to take the 3rd stage of the Tour de Suisse.

As a teammate of Paolo Bettini, also in the selection, Nuyens didn't work as hard to make the break stick, and easily outkicked T-Mobile's Linus Gerdemann, Astaná-Würth's Jorg Jacksche, and Saunier Duval's Koldo Gil.

T-Mobile's Jan Ullrich was near the front for most of the day, and he, Bettini, Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, David Canada, Giampaolo Caruso, and the 4 who would break away formed a superstrong group of 10 with about 20 kilometers to ride.

Michael Rasmussen, Bradley McGee, and Robbie McEwen were shelled by the high tempo, and came in around 4 minutes back.

Also:

cyclingnews.com | Stage 3 Photo Gallery

Tour of Switzerland kicks off today

Cycling4all | Tour de Suisse start list

Cycling4All offers a final Tour de Suisse start list. Of course, Jan Ullrich is the biggest Tour GC threat at the race, starting today, but there are a lot of other Tour players involved.

Top sprinters Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen are here, and are the favorites for the Tour's green jersey this year. Thousand-time (okay, six-time) green jersey Erik Zabel is here, as well, leading Team Milram.

Others in competition: Michael Rasmussen, Paolo Bettini, Cadel Evans, Fabian Cancellara, Michael Rogers, Oscar Freire, and Bradley McGee.

Web streaming coverage is available from Cycling.TV's premium subscription service, where £19.99, or about $37, gets you a full year of racing. Today and tomorrow, subscribers have both the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Suisse to choose from.

McEwen rides Milram train to Giro Stage 2 win

Team Milram's Alessandro Petacchi had made no secret of his desire to take today's Giro d'Italia Stage 2, from Mons to Charleroi.

As the peloton approached the finish line, his Milram team executed the plan to perfection, as his teammates slowly fell off, keeping the pace high enough to discourage opportunistic attacks, and launching Petacchi with 200 meters to go.

But today, the sun didn't rise in the East, the roadrunner didn't escape, and Petacchi couldn't finish out the sprint. Instead, Davitamon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen, following Petacchi's wheel, was able to come around and take the first road victory of the 2006 Giro.

T-Mobile's Olaf Pollack (who took the sprinters' points jersey at the Tour of California) was 2nd, Paolo Bettini of QuickStep was 3rd, and Petacchi was 4th. Leonardo "L." Duque of Cofidis rounds out the top 5.

Maybe there's still some life in the old-timers: McEwen is 33, Pollack, Bettini, and Petacchi are 32.

With the sprint finish, there was no significant change in the overall, where Discovery Channel's Paolo Savoldelli (celebrating his 33rd birthday) still leads Française des Jeux's Bradley McGee by 11 seconds, and José Enrique Gutierrez by 13 seconds.

Top 10:
1) Robbie Mcewen, Davitamon-Lotto, in 4:51:40
2) Olaf Pollack, T-Mobile, same time
3) Paolo Bettini, Quick Step, s.t.
4) Alessandro Petacchi, Team Milram, s.t.
5) Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, s.t.
6) Tomas Vaitkus, AG2R Prevoyance, s.t.
7) Alberto Loddo, Selle Italia, s.t.
8) Koldo Fernandez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
9) Axel Maximiliano, Ceramica Panaria-Navigare, s.t.
10) Graeme Brown, Rabobank, s.t.

As it happened tickers:

cyclingnews.com | VeloNews | Eurosport | Daily Peloton

Savoldelli takes Giro Stage 1

Defending Giro champion Paolo Savoldelli of Discovery Channel took today's short time trial in Belgium.

Savoldelli was the only rider to covered the 6.2 kilometers in less than 8 minutes. His 7:50 was 11 seconds faster than Française des Jeux's Bradley McGee, and 13 seconds ahead of José Enrigue Gutierrez of Phonak.

Among other favorites, Danilo Di Luca was 10th on the day, at 19 seconds, Ivan Basso was at 23 seconds, Cunego was at :25, and Gilberto Simoni was at :26.

Paolo Bettini, who had hoped to wear the race leader's jersey after Stage 3, came in at 8:32, so he'll need to take 42 seconds out of Savoldelli.

Among Americans, Bobby Julich finished in 8:35, Tom Danielson was in at 8:11, Jason McCartney at 8:21, Phonak's Patrick McCarty, starting his first grand tour, was 93rd in 8:44, and Saunier-Duval's Aaron Olson, likewise starting his first GT, finished in 9:07.

Jan Ullrich finished in 8:39 for 80th on the day.

Top 10:
1) Paolo Savoldelli, Discovery Channel, in 7:50
2) Bradley McGee, Française des Jeux, at :11
3) José Enrique Gutierrez, Phonak, at :13
4) Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, same time
5) Serguei Honchar, T-Mobile, at :15
6) Francisco Perez, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, at :16
7 José Ivan Gutierrez, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, same time
8) Michael Rogers, T-Mobile, at :17
9) Davide Rebellin, Gerolsteiner, at :18
10) Danilo Di Luca, Liquigas, at :19

Also:

VeloNews.com | Savoldelli throws down the gauntlet

Eurosport | Back in pink for Savoldelli

cyclingnews.com | Full results | Photo gallery

Tickers: Daily Peloton | VeloNews | cyclingnews.com

Boonen wins Stage 1 sprint, takes Paris-Nice lead

VeloNews.com | Boonen outkicks Davis, snatches lead at Paris-Nice

AP Photo/Patrick Gardin

On the other end of the continent, Northern Europe's fastest man took his 8th win of the season, as Tom Boonen's sprint victory put him in yellow at Paris-Nice. Allan Davis of Liberty Seguros was 2nd, and Saunier Duval's Francisco Ventoso 3rd. Boonen told Eurosport:

"Two weeks ago, when I saw the roadbook, I had [stage one] marked down as one of my main goals," he said after the race. "It was a flat stage which suited me fine even though the conditions made it very hard. "It was cold, it rained and I'm all the happier to have been able to win in such conditions."

Prologue victor Bobby Julich dropped to 2nd overall, as Boonen's time bonus catapulted him into the race lead. CSC's David Zabriskie spent some time in the race lead, as he took an early flyer for almost 25 miles. Discovery's Jason McCartney dropped out, with the Team Disco website reporting he's sick from the intercontinental travel. Top 10 (General Classification): 1) Tom Boonen, QuickStep 2) Bobby Julich, CSC, at :07 3) Andrey Kashechkin, Liberty Seguros, at :08 4) Bradley McGee Francaise des Jeux at :09 5) Alberto Contador, Liberty Seguros, at :10 6) Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at :10 7) Bradley Wiggins, Cofidis, at :12 8) Benoît Vaugrenard, Francaise des Jeux, at :12 9) Gert Steegmans, Davitamon-Lotto, at :14 10) Rik Verbrugghe, Cofidis. at :14 Also: DailyPeloton.com | Paris Nice Stage 1 Photos: GrahamWatson.com | Paris-Nice Stage 1

Julich takes Paris-Nice prologue

CNN.com | Julich starts defense with victory

AP Photo/Jacques Brinon

Bobby Julich kicked off the ProTour calendar with a victory, taking the prologue at Paris-Nice on Sunday. Julich won the overall there in 2005, but says that's not a goal for him this year. Julich slipped ahead of Andrey Kashechkin of Liberty Seguros by 1 second, with FDJeux's Brad McGee at 2 seconds. The course is supposed to be very tactical this year, so look out for world champion Tom Boonen, who came 5th in the prologue, only 3 seconds back.

Julich said he's not defending his title:

"I didn't make Paris-Nice one of my objectives this year but in the warm-up of the prologue I felt good and realized I had a chance of doing something," he said. "At 34 you can't go chasing every race. This year I've agreed with team manager Bjarne Riis that my priorities will be the Giro d'Italia and supporting Ivan Basso at the Tour de France."

It's also CSC's first victory of the season.

Top 5:

1) Bobby Julich, CSC, 6:07
2) Andrey Kashechkin, Liberty Seguros, at :01
3) Bradley McGee, FDJeux, at :02
4) Alberto Contador, Liberty Seguros, at :03
5) Tom Boonen, Quick Step, at :03

Also:

Eurosport | Julich signals intent with prologue win

VeloNews | Julich takes Paris-Nice prologue

cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice: Prologue

Photos:

cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice prologue photo gallery

GrahamWatson.com | Paris-Nice prologue

Vinokourov!

Vino takes Champs victory
AP/ESPN

T-Mobile's Alexandre Vinokourov put on an awesome show of force on Sunday, outriding half the field to take the Tour's final stage in Paris.

Breaking away on the last lap of the day, Vinokourov managed to gap and hold a gap to the teams trying to set up their sprinters: Cofidis, Davitamon-Lotto, Liberty Seguros, and FdJeux.

Joined by Fabian Cancellara, then by Française des Jeux's Bradley McGee, Vinokourov put his head down, and countered an attack by McGee to take the stage.

Lance Armstrong, of course, nails down his 7th overall victory in the Tour, and took the podium flanked by his 3 children. He also spoke to the crowd (and TV audience) from the podium, an unprecedented act for the Tour winner.

After some debate, judges awarded bonus time to Vinokourov for the stage victory, which lifted him into 5th overall on the Tour and dropped Levi Leipheimer down to 6th.

Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd of Norway nailed down the green jersey competition.

Oscar Pereiro was named the most combative rider of the Tour.

T-Mobile took the team competition, along with 3 stage wins.

Stage Top 10:
1) Alexandre Vinokourov, T-Mobile, in 3:40:57
2) Brad McGee, Française des Jeux, same time
3) Fabian Cancellara, Fassa Bortolo, s.t.
4) Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
5) Stuart O’Grady, Cofidis, s.t.
6) Allan Davis, Liberty Seguros, s.t.
7) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole, s.t.
8) Baden Cooke, Française des Jeux, s.t.
9) Bernhard Eisel, Française des Jeux, s.t.
10) Robert Forster, Gerolsteiner, s.t.

Aussies in 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th on the day.

Overall Top 10 ("GC"):
1) Lance Armstrong, Discovery Channel, in 86:15:02
2) Ivan Basso, CSC, at 4:40
3) Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, at 6:21
4) Francisco Mancebo, Illes Balears, at 9:59
5) Alexandre Vinokourov, T-Mobile, at 11:01
6) Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner, at 11:21
7) Michael Rasmussen, Rabobank, at 11:33
8) Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, at 11:55
9) Floyd Landis, Phonak, at 12:44
10) Oscar Pereiro, Phonak, at 16:14

Compared to last year's final GC, Pereiro is 10th again, Leipheimer climbs from 9th to 6th, Mancebo improves from 6th to 4th, Ullrich goes from 4th to 3rd, and Basso improves from 3rd to 2nd. New names in the Top 10 this year are Vinokourov, who will certainly keep things interesting wherever he winds up next year; Rasmussen, who owned the big mountains; Evans, who had an excellent 1st Tour at 8th; and Landis, who I felt rode a very defensive Tour, and was never really able to take the attack to the leaders.

Final Jerseys:

Lance Armstrong

Thor Hushovd

Michael Rasmussen

Yaroslav Popovych

Also:

letour.fr | Stage 21 standings | Overall standings

Stage 11 wrapup

I found myself wanting Discovery Channel to chase Vinokourov down Wednesday: they still had 5 or 6 strong guys on the Galibier, and I think they could have closed a 2 minute gap. Glancing through Bob Martin's Stage 11 summary, though, they clearly did exactly the right thing.

Just four guys made time on Armstong Wednesday: Vinokourov got 1:45, Botero 1:32; Christophe Moreau got 8 seconds; José Azevedo got 2 seconds.

Botero and Vinokourov are potentially dangerous guys, but their damage was contained, and the rest of the field has lost one more day's opportunity to put Lance Armstrong under a hammer. Armstrong's retirement is now 10 stages and 11 days away.

It's clear Iban Mayo, Roberto Heras, or Brad McGee won't be knocking Armstrong off the podium; Heras lost another 17 minutes, Mayo 22:35, and McGee almost 40 minutes. The performances of Heras and Beloki have led Liberty Seguros to reportedly make Jorg Jaksche the team captain for the rest of the Tour.

Today, Discovery will mostly work to keep GC contenders out of any successful break: If Basso tries to go off, they'll chase. On the other hand, there are so many riders facing disappointing Tours, and lowly placed, that it shouldn't be hard to find a quality break and let it go. Especially after Vinokourov's break succeeded Wednesday.

GC update

Your current GC:
1) Lance Armstrong, Discovery Channel, 37:11:04
2) Michael Rasmussen, Rabobank, at :38
3) Ivan Basso, CSC, at 2:40
4) Christophe Moreau, Credit Agricole, at 2:42
5) Alejandro Valverde (Spain) Illes Balears, at 3:16
6) Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner at 3:58
7) Francisco Mancebo (Spain) Illes Balears at 4:00
8) Jan Ullrich (Germany) T-Mobile at 4:02
9) Andreas Klöden (Germany) T-Mobile at 4:16
10) Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 4:16

Looking farther back:

11) Botero, at 5:20
16) Vinokourov, 6:32
17) Julich, 6:32
21) Beloki at 8:31
23) Karpets at 9:03
24) Chris Horner, at 9:05
25) Michael Rogers, at 9:10
30) Georg Totschnig, at 11:43
36) Roberto Heras, at 12:59
45) Denis Menchov, at 16:16
50) Brad McGee, at 18:28
66) Iban Mayo, at 27:31

Basso, Leipheimer, Valverde, and Rasmussen all sit closer to the race lead than they did yesterday. They had the best days for riders not born in Texas. Unfortunately for them, they're not chasing down Jens Voigt from here on out.

Stage 1 updates

Dave Zabriskie @
Tour de Georgia ITT

CSC's Dave Zabriskie is the early leader at Stage 1: His 20:51 has held the top place for more than an hour against some pretty good time trialers. Usually, the early times can't stand up to the big boys still to come, but that's a fast time, and should at least rank highly at day's end.

BBC Sport quotes Zabriskie:

The American tells BBC Sport at the finish: "I spent the whole time not being able to hear crowd because I had team boss Bjarne Riis in the ear telling me to catch the motorbike."

Klöden comes in at 22:52. Vladimir Karpets was one rider some people predicted could take this stage: He finished in 21:56. Michael Rich, another possible stage winner, is in at 22:05.

On OLN, Paul Sherwen just reported that he had talked to somebody at Liberty Seguros, and that Joseba Beloki is 5 kilograms (~11 pounds) overweight for the Tour.

Alexandre Vinokourov comes in at 21:44, still good enough for second so far -- Zabriskie was just flying.

Levi Leipheimer is on the road, as is double world time-trial champion Michael Rogers. Leipheimer is in at 22:04, good for 7th, for now.

ROGERS COMES IN at 22:44! Not good for the Aussie.

Floyd Landis comes in at 21:53 -- that's 4th at the moment (12:45 Eastern).

Hincapie comes in 3rd so far, at 21:48!

Armstrong is off! He's not wearing the yellow jersey, as he could. He says he only wants to wear the jersey if he's earned it. He pulled out of his pedal right at the bottom of the start ramp. He also had pedal problems at the Dauphiné Libéré.

Brad McGee, another consensus pick to challenge for the stage win, comes in placed 15th. Zabriskie has a shot at wearing yellow tonight.

Ullrich is 42 seconds back of Zabriskie at the first time check, while Armstrong comes through 3 seconds back, or 39 seconds up on Ullrich. Armstrong has a big pink rabbit in sight, and he's closing the gap!

At the 2nd time gap, Armstrong is 3 seconds faster than Zabriskie, and he's passed Jan Ullrich on the road!

Also:

BBC Sport | Tour de France opening stage

The BBC offers some photos from today's warm-up and TT: Bodrogi and Zabriskie are already up in the gallery, with more to come.

McGee: Stage 1 “plays into my hands”

BBC SPORT | McGee bids to upstage Armstrong

Bradley McGee thinks he's going to be wearing yellow Saturday night.

"With my track experience, the route plays into my hands better than anyone's," McGee told BBC Sport.

"I'll be backing myself over anyone, Armstrong included, to be on top come the close on Saturday."

Given the course profile over the first few days, it's likely that anyone who gets a gap on the sprinters with the best time-trial skills (Thor Hushovd comes to mind) will hold onto the race lead for a while.

Armstrong, meanwhile, described the time trial as "strange".

And the American, who this year is bidding for a seventh Tour win, added: "Although it's only 19km long, it's straight into a headwind so it feels more like 25-30km in terms of distance.

"It's fairly basic but, sure, we'll be going for it to put a marker down."

Daily Peloton previews GC candidates

Daily Peloton | Tour de France: Jambon Preview

One of the most entertaining web Tour de France reports is The Daily Peloton's Jambon Report, where they award their Golden Hams and Ham-gazers to the riders who ruled and drooled, respectively, during the day's stage.

Today, Locutus has their GC preview up. Some highlights: he thinks Chris Horner "is the team leader, and the team just doesn't know it yet", expects Brad McGee to take the prologue-that's-not-really-a-prologue on Saturday, and thinks Ullrich will lose serious time on the first major mountain stage, as he does every year.

TDU organizer predicts Aussie Tour domination

The Australian | Turtur predicts great Aussie Tour

Mike Turtur, who runs the Australian Tour Down Under, tells The Australian he sees this Tour as likely to feature the best performance ever by Australian riders:

"We could have three riders in the top 20 come Paris, if all goes well."

Turtur calls out Michael Rogers, Cadel Evans, and Brad McGee as the Aussies "capable of high overall placings," and thinks McEwen could pile up some stage wins and compete for the green jersey.

The Tour Down Under will also have a car in the Tour de France race caravan this year, promoting the race and South Australia as a tourist destination.

McGee takes TdS Stage 3; Ullrich holds lead

Yahoo! Sport | McGee wins Tour of Switzerland third stage

McGee, from cyclingnews.com gallery

Australia's Brad McGee is looking well-prepared for the Tour, as he took a sprint win on Stage 3 at the Tour of Switzerland today. Jan Ullrich continued in the race's overall lead, but McGee now sits just 2 seconds back, followed by Michael Rogers at 18 seconds.

Last year, McGee had a disastrous Tour because of back, hip, and leg pain he said were initially caused by planting olive trees at his home.

In 2003, McGee won the Tour prologue, but then abandoned, complaining of metabolic problems; later tests suggested he was making too much insulin, screwing up his blood sugar levels.

At one point, McGee said 2005 was the year when he thought he could win the Tour's overall title; his good form has got to at least make him a favorite in this year's prologue.

Olympic champion Paolo Bettini didn't take the start this morning, blaming stomach problems.

Also:

VeloNews.com | McGee takes third stage of Tour of Switzerland

Quoting McGee:

"For the first time I started training for the Tour de France last October," he said. "I am continuing to make progress and in fact I think I am ahead of schedule."

DailyPeloton.com | Tour de Suisse Stage 3

Picking up the DP commentary as Koldo Gil is trying a late breakaway:

But unfortunately for him, there was a certain German wearing a certain yellow thingy around today. And "wearing" two great legs too, by the way: Jan Ullrich drove the chasing bunch into Sankt Anton, and poor Koldo was brought back with just 500m left. Then it was time for the sprint, and for Brad McGee to get proper reward for the perfect race he rode today.

procycling.com | McGee closes in on Ullrich

There were some notable performances with the Tour de France in mind. Spaniards Iban Mayo and Alejandro Valverde were both prominent in the front group, while Sinkewitz’s Quick Step team-mate Michael Rogers was also up there. Missing, though, was Joseba Beloki, who finished almost six minutes down and is now very short of time in which to rediscover his best form.

cyclingnews.com | Tour de Suisse Stage 3 results

cyclingnews.com TdS TT photo gallery

Rogers, McGee, Ullrich from cyclingnews.com

Ullrich takes Tour de Suisse TT, race lead

Eurosport | Ullrich sounds Tour warning

T-Mobile's Jan Ullrich took a convincing win at the Tour de Suisse today. Ullrich rode the 36-kilometer time trial course in 44:06, 15 seconds faster than Brad McGee, and 18 seconds faster than world TT champ Michael Rogers.

Coupled with Stage 1 winner Bernhard Eisel's weak showing, the ride gives Ullrich the overall race lead; he's defending his title from last year.

CSC's Bobby Julich was 8th on the day.

Top 10:
1) Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile, 44:06
2) Bradley McGee, Française des Jeux, at :15
3) Michael Rogers, Quick Step, at :18
4) Fabian Cancellara, Fassa Bortolo, at :39
5) Serguei Gonchar, Domina Vacanze, at :40
6) Vladimir Gusev, Team CSC, at :46
7) Jens Voigt, Team CSC, at :58
8) Bobby Julich, Team CSC, at 1:02
9) Dario Frigo, Fassa Bortolo, at 1:08
10) Patrik Sinkewitz, Quick Step, at 1:09

Bernhard Eisel takes first stage at Tour de Suisse

Eurosport | Boonen beaten in Eisel coup

Photo: cyclingnews.com

It was a different kind of Aussie taking the sprint for Française Des Jeux today, as Austria's Bernhard Eisel took the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, ahead of Quick Step's Tom Boonen and Gerolsteiner's Peter Wrolich.

Normally, you expect a stage win out of FDJ's Australian sprint specialist, Baden Cooke, or fellow Australian Bradley McGee, but on Saturday, Eisel rode a long, almost Petacchi-like leadout to overcome Paolo Bettini, who tried to launch a winning move from 350 meters out, and Boonen, who had a very successful campaign through the spring classics.

After the stage, Eisel thanked Cooke for the win, saying Cooke had told his teammates with 20 kilometers to ride that he wasn't feeling strong enough to sprint for the win.

Davitamon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen chose to not even contest the final sprint.

Tomorrow is a 36-kilometer individual time trial that should provide a measure of Jan Ullrich's fitness with 3 weeks to go to the start of the Tour de France.

Top 10:

1) Bernhard Eisel, Française Des Jeux, 4:00:07
2) Tom Boonen, Quick Step, same time
3) Peter Wrolich, Gerolsteiner, same time
4) Paolo Bettini, Quick Step, same time
5) Bradley McGee, Française Des Jeux, at :03
6) Baden Cooke, Française Des Jeux, same time
7) Fabian Cancellara, Fassa Bortolo, at 0:06
8) Vladimir Gusev, CSC, same time
9) Aurelien Clerc, Phonak, same time
10) Rene Haselbacher, Gerolsteiner, same time

Also:

cyclingnews.com | That's not Baden!

McGee re-ups with Fdjeux.com

Eurosport.com | McGee prolongs FDJ.com stay

Bradley McGee will stick with Fdjeux.com through 2006. McGee is 28, and won a team pursuit gold in Athens.

Also signing Tuesday was the son of former Tour winner Stephen Roche, 19-year-old Nicolas Roche, who has a two-year deal with Cofidis.

McGee packs it in

Bradley McGee of Fdjeux.com abandoned during today's stage of the Tour de France.

McGee had been having a very good year, and was a favorite to take the prologue, but he's been suffering from back problems since the Tour started, problems he blamed on planting some olive trees at his new home.

He's the second Fdjeux.com rider to abandon, after fellow Aussie Nick Gates.

McGee still suffering

Sportal.com.au | Pain remains for McGee

Bradley McGee of Fdjeux.com is still hurting from the pelvis injury that left him way off the back in Stage 1. Today, his Fdjeux.com team was caught on the road by Liberty Seguros, who started 5 minutes behind them, and finished last, nearly 2 minutes behind the 20th placed team.

"The warm-up and the start of the stage went really good," McGee told AFP.

"But after the first 10 to 15kms I began to suffer. The team's rhythm wasn't too fast in general but it began to be too fast for me."

US Postal takes team time trial; Armstrong in yellow

US Postal took the team time trial. Armstrong is in yellow, and the real leaders will start to emerge on GC.

Phonak finished 2nd on the day, 67 seconds back, but that will be capped at 20 seconds.

Illes Balears-Banesto, at 1:15, are capped at 30 seconds, and so on.

Top 10:
1) US Postal                    1.12.03
2) Phonak                       at 1:07 adjusted - :20
3) Illes Balears                at 1:15 adj - :30
4) T-Mobile                      at 1:19 adj - :40
5) CSC                            at 1:46 adj - :50
6) Rabobank                    at 1:53 adj - 1:00
7) Liberty Seguros            at 2:25 adj - 1:10
8) Euskaltel - Euskadi        at 2:35 adj - 1:20
9) Saeco                         at 2:37 adj - 1:30
10) Alessio - Bianchi            at 2:57 adj - 1:40

Early reports are that this puts US Postal in the Top 5 on the general classification (GC), much as last year:

1. Lance Armstrong (USP)
2. George Hincapie (USP) at 10"
3. Floyd Landis (USP) at 16"
4. Jose Azevedo (USP) at 22"
5. Jose Luis Rubiera (USP) at 24"
6. Jose Enrique Gutierrez (PHO) at 27"
7. Viatcheslav Ekimov (USP) at 30"
8. Tyler Hamilton (PHO) at 36"
9. Santos Gonzalez (PHO) at 37"
10. Bert Grabsch (PHO) at 41"

Looking at the team leaders, and anyone else I'm keeping an eye on, it's:

1) Armstrong (USPS)
2) Hamilton (Phonak) at 36"
3) Jens Voigt (CSC) at 43"
4) Ullrich (T-Mobile) at 55"
5) Bobby Julich (CSC) at 1:00
6) Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) at 1:01
7) Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) at 1:08
8) Ivan Basso (CSC) at 1:17
9) Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Liberty Seguros) at 1:29
10) Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) at 1:45
11) Carlos Sastre (CSC) at 2:02
12) Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) at 2:25
13) Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo) at 2:29
14) Laurent Brochard (AG2R) at 2:30
15) Richard Virenque (Quick Step) at 2:39
16) Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches la Boulangere) at 2:45

Others:
Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) at 3:22
Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 5:27
Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 5:33
Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) at 5:58
Michael Rogers (Quick Step) at 6:16
Magnus Backstedt (Alessio-Bianchi) at 9:09 (and the roads haven't turned up yet!)
Benjamin Noval (US Postal) at 22:37
Bradley McGee (Fdjeux.com) at 22:49

And our new lanterne rouge:
Davide Bramati (Quick Step) at 27:51

Bramati and a few others were dropped by their teams during the TTT, and had to straggle in alone (or in one pair's case, with a teammate). Eddy Seigneur of RAGT was also dropped, but couldn't finish within the time limit, and was eliminated.

McGee update

Reuters.com | McGee Survives to Fight Another Day

Bradley McGee was able to finish the 2nd stage in the field, after a chiropractor was able to straighten out the back problem that kicked McGee off the back yesterday.

"Thanks to the work of the chiropractor I was a lot straighter on the bike, that's the important thing but unfortunately I still haven't got a lot of power and so I couldn't help Baden Cooke in the sprint and I was just another number in the main field ... I'm a lot happier now and should be okay to carry on," he said.

McGee could be the Tyler Hamilton story of this year's Tour, if he can ride back into the conditioning he showed in the Route du Sud.

McGee: "I can't go on suffering like that"

BBC SPORT | Injury worry for McGee

BBC Sport reports that Brad McGee's problem is with his back, but it manifests itself in his hips and legs:

"My back is just cut in half and I can't feel my legs. My feet are numb and I can't get any power out.

"I'm going to get it looked at and try and find out more, but I can't go on suffering like that."

McGee said his hips are "out of place and are falling in and out of where they are supposed to be, and today they were definitely out.

If McGee drops out, the record Aussie contingent, which was slated to be 10, would be down to 7, after Matthew White's accident before the prologue, and Nick Gates finishing outside the control on today's stage.

McGee having medical problems?

Bradley McGee was the consensus pick to win yesterday's prologue, but finished 4th, blaming stomach trouble that kept him from doing a proper warmup.

Today, he's spent a big part of the day off the back, with Mario Cipollini's group of chasers, and race reports have him conferring with his team doctor.

At his website, McGee notes he's 2kg lighter than he's ever been. Just yesterday, McGee predicted his weight loss would make him a factor in the GC this year.

Update: With about 10 miles (16 km) to ride, McGee has been spit off the back like me on a training ride. Could be the return of McGee's mysterious blood sugar ailment.

McGee: I'm targeting the 2005 Tour

BBC SPORT | McGee eyes new era

Australia's Brad McGee of fdjeux.com has had a very strong year, taking the Route du Sud last week and finishing 8th in the Giro, and believes he's developed into a rider who can compete for the GC in the Tour de France.

"Going for overall victory next year is the goal, and a very realistic one at that," he told BBC Sport.

"I don't know about winning five in a row though. That takes a very special rider."

For 2004, he's looking to take the prologue, as he did last year, and is targeting the time trial up Alpe d'Huez.

McGee has made some progress battling the blood sugar problems that plagued him during the 2003 Tour.

After eating while riding, his body has often produced too much sugar, which in turn causes his blood-glucose level to dramatically drop later on.

But he has since hired a dietician and the problem has not once occurred this year.

"It's hard enough going up those mountains without that sort of thing happening," said McGee. "When it happens it causes me to lose up to 15 minutes on a stage. I'm just grateful it's not happening anymore."

Also:

BBC Sport | Profile: Bradley McGee

McGee takes Route du Sud

BBC SPORT | McGee wins Route du Sud

Brad McGee finished in the pack today to take the Route du Sud. McGee took the lead based on a strong time trial, where he beat world TT champion David Millar by 23 seconds.

Keep an eye on both McGee and Millar in the Tour de France prologue July 3rd.

McGee takes Romandie prologue

VeloNews | Tuesday's EuroFile: McGee takes Romandie opener; Euskaltel looks to Tour; Lance fitter than he thought

Brad McGee of FDJeux.com won the opening prologue of the Tour of Romandie on Tuesday. Defending Tour of Romandie champion Tyler Hamilton was 5th, riding conservatively on a tight and technical course.

McGee won the prologue at the 2003 Tour de France, as well.