Posts for 'Tour' Category

Floyd Landis, former teammate of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, has filed a federal "whistle-blower" lawsuit, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Citing anonymous sources, the newspaper reported that Landis filed a suit under the US federal False Claims Act, which allows Americans to sue on behalf of the government alleging the government has been defrauded.

According to the Journal, the lawsuit is currently sealed so its exact contents are not known. But in the article posted on its website the newspaper noted that Landis and Armstrong were teammates on the squad sponsored by the US Postal Service, a government entity. Landis has alleged that some of the team's riders, including himself and Armstrong, used performance enhancing drugs - a charge Armstrong has strenuously denied.

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American bicycle manufacturer Trek will sponsor the new pro cycling team led by two-time Tour de France runner-up Andy Schleck. Schleck and his brother Frank announced earlier this season that they would leave the Saxo Bank team to start their own team based in their native Luxembourg beginning in 2011. The deal with Trek was announced Thursday.

Trek has provided bikes for Lance Armstrong's teams for years, including his Radio Shack team that competed in this year's Tour de France. Trek will continue to provide bikes for Radio Shack next season, even though Armstrong has announced he is retiring. The new Luxembourg-based team has yet to announce its full roster and title sponsor.

Tyler Farrar Win Tour Of Spain: American Tyler Farrar won the fifth stage of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday in a sprint finish, while Belgium's Philippe Gilbert retained the overall leader's red jersey. The Garmin-Transitions rider beat Spain's Koldo Fernandez to the line at the end of the 198.8-kilometre course from Guadix to Lorca in southeastern Spain.

Third was Britain's Mark Cavendish. It was the American's fourth stage win in one of the three major Tours, after two stage victories in the Giro d'Italia this year and one in the Tour of Spain in 2009. He was forced to drop out of the Tour de France in July as pain from a fractured wrist early in the event eventually took its toll in the 12th stage.

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Mark Cavendish Win Tour Of Spain: Britain's Mark Cavendish retained the leader's red jersey after the second stage of the Tour of Spain despite being pipped in a sprint finish by Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus  here on Sunday. Hutarovich, of the Francaise des Jeux team, pulled off a surprise victory over the British sprint king at the end of the 173.7-kilometre course from Alcala de Guadaira to Marbella in southern Spain. Third was American Tyler Farrar, ahead of Italy's Alessandro Petacchi.
 
It was the first stage win in any of the three Grands Tours for the 26-year-old Hutarovich. "It might seem like a surprise but it wasn't, it's my fifth victory this season," said the Belarusian, who turned professional in 2007. "I came with the intention of winning a stage, I've therefore achieved that."But he admitted that "when I saw that I had won, I couldn't believe it. But I saw Cavendish, the leader, had some problems and I knew I had a chance.

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Armstrong To Be Graduation Speaker At High Point: High Point University says seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will serve as its commencement speaker in the spring. Armstrong will speak on May 7 during the campus graduation ceremony. The school has attracted some high-profile commencement speakers, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2005, comedian Bill Cosby in 2007 and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in 2008.

Armstrong also has been dealing with renewed questions about drug use, which Armstrong denies, since ex-teammate Floyd Landis made allegations against him and other riders this spring. Federal investigators have been looking at lawsuits containing old accusations against Armstrong and have reached out to question his sponsors.

French rider Stephane Poulhies edged a bunch sprint finish to win the second stage of the Tour de l’Ain on Wednesday. It marked the first professional stage win for the 25-year-old Saur Sojasun rider who completed the 144.4km stage between Lagnieu and Saint-Vulbas in 3hr 22min 9sec, nosing across the line just ahead of compatriot Romain Feillu of the Vacansoleil team.

Feillu takes over the yellow jersey with a four second advantage over prologue winner Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia of the RadioShack team. Thursday’s third stage sees the riders travelling the 134.7km from Villars-les-Dombes to Trevoux.

Alberto Contador stood atop the podium at the Tour de France on Sunday for the third time in four years, struggling to rein in his emotions as Spain's national anthem echoed across the wide boulevard of the Champs-Elysees. Off to one side, Lance Armstrong applauded and then, without much fanfare, headed toward the exit.

"I need a cold beer," he said when asked his thoughts at the finish line. Rarely has the emergence of a sport's newest superstar dovetailed so neatly with the departure of the last one. Contador held off a next-to-last day challenge from Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, his runner-up for a second consecutive year, draining much of the drama from the 20th and final stage. Denis Menchov of Russia was third overall.

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Lance Armstrong's attorney sent a letter to the federal prosecutor investigating the seven-time Tour de France winner and his associates for possible fraud and doping violations, complaining about leaks to the media.

Monday's letter from Tim Herman to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller in Los Angeles says it's "especially unfair to subject Mr. Armstrong to this continuing media blitz when he is in the middle of his final Tour de France."

A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

The letter also said Armstrong's attorneys talked to Miller about the leaks less than two weeks ago and are "extremely frustrated that these leaks have intensified."

An e-mail message left for Miller was not immediately returned Monday. Armstrong has denied allegations of doping.

The investigation was spurred by accusations from Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates on the US Postal team, in a series of e-mails sent to cycling and doping officials this spring.

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TEAM Sky leader Bradley Wiggins re-evaluated his Tour de France goal after a second day of toiling in the Alps yesterday. Wiggins finished four minutes 55 seconds behind Sandy Casar, the winner of yesterday’s 204.5-km ninth stage from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, as Andy Schleck seized the race leader’s yellow jersey for the first time in his career.

Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) holds a 21-second advantage over defending champion Alberto Contador (Astana) in what now appears to be a duel for the maillot jaune. The duo hold a two minute 45-second lead over the remainder of the field following a second eventful Alpine stage.

Wiggins fell from 14th to 16th, now 7mins 18secs adrift overall, suffering on the 25.5km Col de la Madeleine, the 97th Tour’s first hors categorie (beyond category) climb. The triple Olympic champion is now targeting a top-10 finish in Paris on July 25, believing his bid to be the first Briton on the Tour podium to now be over.

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The Tour de France is hot and folks are doing their best to catch coverage from every possible location. If you haven’t managed to figure it out yet, you can use Versus Cycling on Comcast. You can get live coverage for about 14 hours straight on on the television and via online and mobile coverage. This particular Tour is especially special for many reasons.

The number one reason for folks tuning in to the Tour this year when they have never before is pure and simple, Lance Armstrong says this is it. Indeed, Lance made his announcement to retire prior to0 this running. He has indicated that 2010 will be his last year on the bike. Moreover, Versus Cycling gives you a chance to watch him make it through his final big event of his career.

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