"El Pisolero" Alberto Contador during the 2011 Tour de France (photo, SaxoBank)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Spain’s Alberto Contador has been suspended from cycling for two years after the CAS sports tribunal in Lausanne, TAS, found him guilty on one count of doping. The winner of the 2010 Tour de France loses his crown as a result; it should now go to Andy Schleck of Luxembourg who came in second.
Contador was accused of using clenbuterol. The rider argued that he ate steak from a Basque producer, which accounted for its presence in his system.
Clenbuterol is sometimes used by farmers, although its use is banned in Europe. The hearing was in November but the CAS issued a statement earlier saying the final decision would be delayed because media rumours about the fairness of the hearing had prompted the organization to ensure the parties all agreed to the members of the panel.
The three-member panel’s president, Efraim Barak of Israel, had refused at one point to accept testimony of an expert witness brought in by Contador’s lawyers.
The two other members of the panel are Swiss: Quentin Byrne-Sutton, a Geneva lawyer, and Ulrich Haas, a Zurich professor.
Contador is the second Tour de France winner to lose his title for doping; Floyd Landis, American, lost it in 2006 title after testing positive for testosterone.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Tour de France cycling race will slip over the border into Switzerland in the summer of 2012, reports TSR (Fre) saying the decision will be confirmed in October.
The new route calls for racers to go from Belfort to Porrentruy, with three hours in total in the Jura region.
International sports, cycling
Andy SCHLECK - Cadel EVANS - Frank SCHLECK ©Presse Sports/B.Papon
PARIS, FRANCE – Australian Cadel Evans won the Tour de France, edging out the Schleck brothers in the time trial on the penultimate day.
British rider Mark Cavendish won the final sprint along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées for the third time in a row and also became the first Briton to win the green jersey for the top sprinter.
Evans is the first Australian to win the Tour, and at 34 is the oldest winner since the second world war.
The Luxemburg Schleck brothers took the next two places, with Andy 1 minute 34 seconds back and Frank another minute behind.
French rider Thomas Voeckler, who wore the yellow jersey for much of the race, was fourth and last year’s winner Alberto Contador fifth.
Links to other sites: Le Tour de France, Telegraph, Guardian
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The 9th stage out of 21 in the Tour de France cycling race left Thomas Voeckler wearing the overall leader’s yellow Sunday 10 July, but only after a day marred by accidents that left several riders with serious injuries.
The Tour de France’s summary for the day described the initial damage at 105km of the day’s 208km:
“Alexandre Vinokourov went off the right side the road on a sweeping left bend and into the forest. He was helped back to the road by two Astana teammates but his Tour was over. He was one of four men to abandon the race because of the incident and his injuries included a fractured femur and possible broken hip. Omega Pharma-Lotto also lost its leader Jurgen van den Broeck (with spinal injuries), as well as Frederik Willems (fractured collarbone) and Dave Zabriskie quit with a fractured wrist. It prompted a brief respite from racing for the peloton which allowed the escapees to build their lead to over seven minutes.”
Those who avoided the pileup were not yet in the clear, however, with another accident 35 km later:
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - Spanish rider Alberto Contador won his third Tour de France, 25 July, despite not taking a single stage win in the 2010 race. Andy Schleck, from Luxemburg, was 39 seconds back in second place.
Mark Cavendish confirmed his status as the fastest man on a bike with a devastating sprint finish but it was not enough to take the green jersey.
The Swiss Fabien Cancellara, won the prologue and kept the yellow shirt until the 7th stage. Canellara also won the 19th stage between Bordeux and Pauillac.
Video: How the Tour went down
Links to other sites: Le Tour de France, Telegraph
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Paris, France (GenevaLunch.com) – French rider Christophe Riblon won the 14th stage of the 2010 Tour de France after a long break away. Andy Schleck kept the yellow jersey of the overall leader as he kept pace with challenger Alberto Cantador.
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Epernay, France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish, the sprinter from the Isle of Man, dominated the 2009 finishes but has had a difficult start to this year’s Tour de France, including being responsable for one of the big crashes that have marred the race. He put that behind him to win the sprint coming into Eparneyat the end of the fifth stage of the race, 8 July.
Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara still has a 23 second lead over Welsh rider Geraint Thomas with Australian Cadel Evans third. 2009 winner Alberto Cantador is 1′ 40″ off the pace in ninth place while Lance Armstrong is 2′ 30″ behind. Cancellara is likely to retain the lead in the sixth stage but may not keep it when the mountain stages arrive.
International sports: Tour de France cycling
Reims, France (GenevaLunch.com) - Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi won the fourth stage of the 2010 Tour de France, from Cambrai to Reims. The British rider Mark Cavendish, who dominated the sprints in 2009, could only come in 12th after a weak finish.
Swiss World and Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara keeps the yellow jersey for the overall leader, 23 seconds ahead of British rider Geraint Thomas.
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Brussels, Belgium (GenevaLunch) - Fabian Cancellara kept the leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the first full day’s racing of the 2010 Tour de France. The Swiss world and Olympic champion finished with the pack in a chaotic finish that featured a number of crashes. Because these took place in the final three kilometres the riders keep their times at the time the crashes occur. Italian Alessandro Petacchi won the sprint but Cancellara still has an overall 10-second lead from German rider Thomas Martin and Briton David Millar.
Earlier in the race a golden retriever had caused a pile-up which left a number of riders injured. Several complained about the dangerous conditions caused mainly by the large crowds and narrow roads.
Links to other sites: Tour de France, New York Times
Video, Danish TV2
International sports, Tour de France cycling
Rotterdam, Netherlands (GenevaLunch) - Fabian Cancellara took exactly 10 minutes to gain the first yellow jersey of the 2010 Tour de France when he won the prologue by 10 seconds from German rider Tony Martin. For the Swiss rider, currently world time trial and Olympic road race champion, it was his third Tour prologue victory in the last six years. David Millar was third, with Lance Armstrong a credible fourth, 22 seconds behind the leader.
Alberto Cantador, who won the 2009 Tour, finished 27 seconds back in sixth place. Bradley Wiggins, of the newly formed Team Sky, rode in the rain and finished 56 seconds back in a disappointing 77th place.
Sunday’s race goes from Rotterdam to Brussels, a distance of 223.5 km. The 8th stage passes close by Geneva to finish in Morzine-Avoriaz, Sunday 11 July.
Armstrong will meet Cancellara in Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lance Armstrong will be back in the Tour de Suisse cycling race for the first time since he won it in 2001.
The race promises to be a colourful one, with Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times, gearing up for the big French race after crashing out of the Tour of California in May. His crash there came just hours after former teammate Floyd Landis, who recently admitted to doping, said that Armstrong knew about and participated in the doping – charges Armstrong and several others in the cycling world strongly deny. Landis has said that Armstrong’s doping took place in 2001, when he won the Tour de Suisse race.
But the Tour de Suisse focus will more likely be on Swiss racer Fabian Cancellara, Olympic champion who promises to give a fight in the big French race. The Tour de Suisse serves as a warmup to the Tour de France for many racers.
A disappointment for the organizers of the race is that for the first time in years it will not be carried live by Swiss television stations TSR and RSI. The race dates conflict with the football World Cup, which gets television precedence. The Tour de Suisse will have to be content with an hour of daily highlights from the race, which starts 12 June in Lugano and ends 20 June in Liestal, near the German border.
Links to other sites: Tour de Suisse (Fre) preview, circuit and dates in Switzerland, Telegraph, Le Nouvelliste
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, won his sixth sprint finish in the 2009 Tour de France. It was the most prestigious but in some ways also the easiest as his Columbia teammates, especially Australian Mark Renshaw, gave him a big lead into the final 100 metres.
The final day was a traditional affair, at a leisurely pace for much of the stage before a break by seven riders in search of glory.
Mont Ventoux, France (GenevaLunch) – Alberto Cantador is now almost certain to win the 2009 Tour de France: he need only stay with the pack for the lagely ceremonial ride into Paris. The penultimate stage includes a steep 20-kilometre climb to the finish at the summit of Mont Ventoux, where British cyclist Tom Simpson died of exhaustion in the 1967 Tour.
Aubenas, France (GenevaLunch) – Alberto Cantador maintained his advance in the Tour de France: he leads Andy Schleck by 4 minutes 11 seconds. Lance Armstrong is third another minute back with Bradley Wiggins only 15 seconds further back and fighting to be the first Briton to be on the podium in Paris. Another Brit made history as he sprinted to his fifth stage of the Tour: Mark Cavendish also won four stages last year and now has the record for the most stage wins by a British rider.
Details: Daily Telegraph
Annecy, France (GenevaLunch) - Alberto Cantador, who was already in the Yellow Jersey, underlined his dominance by winning the individual time trial around Lake Annecy, not far from Geneva. His Astana teammate Lance Armstrong could only manage 16th position, losing one minute 30 seconds. Cantador now heads the Tour by four minutes 11 seconds from Andy Schleck followed by Armstrong with Bradley Wiggins another 11 seconds back in fourth.
Le Grand Bornand, France (GenevaLunch) – Younger men are getting ahead of 37-year-old Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, who slipped into fourth place overall Wednesday 22 July as riders took on the challenge of five mountain passes. The two Schleck brothers from Luxembourg, Andy and Frank, who ride for the Saxo bank team are now behind leader Alberto Contador in the overall rankings. Armstrong could not maintain the pace but came back strongly later as he stormed up the final mountain.
Bradley Wiggins, British three time Olympic champion, started the day in third place but slipped back to sixth, although this was not clear to television spectators who were forced to watch an interview with President Sarkozy on the Tour while the riders came in.
Armstrong’s fight to win can be viewed another way, reports Minnpost:
Bourg-St-Maurice, France (GenevaLunch) - The seven-time winner of the Tour de France admitted that he had little chance of overhauling teammate Alberto Cantador as the race enters the final five stages. Tuesday’s stage from Martigny in Switzerland to Bourg-St-Maurice via the Saint Bernard pass into Italy saw a number of attacks and a nasty accident to German rider Jens Voigt who suffered severe wounds when he slid on his face after going over the handlebars.
Verbier, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Alberto Cantador showed that he was not just the leader of his Astana team but also this year’s tour with a storming attack in the last eight kilometres of stage 15 of the Tour de France, leading up to the finish at Verbier.
Besancon, France (GenevaLunch) - The 14th stage of the Tour de France was overshadowed by the death of a 61-year-old woman who was struck by a police motorcyclist as she crossed the road during the passage of the race. It is the first death of a race spectator since 2000. The accident took place near Wittelsheim. Two other spectators, injured when the bike slid into them, were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Mulhouse.
Central France (GenevaLunch) – German rider Heinrich Haussler broke from the pack in only the third kilometre of Friday’s stage in the Tour de France, and he gradually left the other members of the breakaway group to take the stage by more than five minutes, with the pack another two minutes back.
Central France (GenevaLunch) – Isle of Man sprinter Mark Cavendish took his fourth stage win for the Columbia team and regained the sprinters’ Green Jersey. The overall lead was unchanged with Italian Rinaldo Nocentini reaining the Yellow Jersey, six seconds ahead of Astana leader Alberto Contador with teammate and rival Lance Armstrong two seconds further back. The Yellow Jersey is likely to change owner in the next few days.
Details, Le Tour de France
Central France (GenevaLunch) – Mark Cavendish won his third sprint of the 2009 Tour, ably assisted by his Columbia teammates. A group of four riders, including three French, led a break-away group but they were overhauled in the last few kilometres, setting the stage for the final sprint. When it comes to sprinting there is not much doubt about who is fastest, at least according to Cavendish:
Southern France (GenevaLunch) – The end of the first week leaves the tour very open, with two main dramas being played, one between the Astana team and the other teams and a more personal conflict between seven-time winner Lance Armstrongand his teammate, the theoretical leader of the Astana team Alberto Contador.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Olympic Champion Fabian Cancellara won the Tour de Suisse, coming in first in the final day time trial in Bern. Cancellara won gold in the time trial and bronze in the road race in the Beijing Olympics. He is not considered likely to win the Tour de France, which starts 4 July but could well take the yellow jersey in the first stage time trial in Monte Carlo. Details, swissinfo
American cyclist Lance Armstrong returned to competition in the Tour of Gila in New Mexico Wednesday 29 April. Armstrong broke his collarbone last month in a race in Spain. The injury required intricate surgery but Armstrong is back on his feet ahead of schedule. CNN
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – The Tour de France is touring beyond French borders. The race will begin in Monte Carlo, Monaco and head to Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy before its traditional finish in Paris. Among the Swiss cities to receive the peloton are Verbier and Martigny. If you miss the pass of what is considered the best cycling race in the world, do not worry, Annecy in neighbouring France will also host a counter-clock race.
Austria (20 Minutes, Fre) – Bernhard Kohl, who placed third in the Tour de France and was the best climber, has admitted to doping after he took a hard fall in the Dauphiné.
Lance Armstrong announced Tuesday that he is coming out of retirement to ride in the 2009 Tour de France as a professional cyclist, in order to draw attention to cancer, which will take 8 million lives this year. Armstrong, age 37, recovered from cancer and went on to win the Tour a record seven times before he retired in 2005. BBC (Ed. note: thanks to an alert reader, Nancy, who was a little surprised that the man on the moon is taking to a bike! Editor’s apologies to those who saw Neil instead of Lance here.)
See the collection of photos from the Tour de France in Tenterden, in GL’s photo album.
Tenterden, Kent - Sunday was a confusing day in Tenterden, Kent, for those of us who had just crossed the Channel from France after leaving Switzerland.
You might have thought you were in France, given the French flags, cars zooming down the main street with loudspeakers bellowing televsion advertisements in French for soap powder and Haribo sweets.
You blinked and blue-clad men on Gendarmerie motorcycles were flying by. A
Look again and you saw police officers in what were clearly British tall hats, tatooed men and women in floral prints raising pints of beer and ale, white-skinned women and children in sleeveless tops and vinegar-flavoured crisps and sticky cakes and sweets in colours that make the French shudder.
Definitely Britain.
The event was the Tour de France, which kicked off this year in London and ended in Canterbury. Villages in Kent gave themselves up to the race, embracing the Tour and all things French with an enthusiasm that reminded everyone that the Channel
still divides the two nations, despite the tunnel, ferries and EasyJet.
The Tour got in everyone’s way, with roads blocked and police stopping people from crossing main streets for three hours in the middle of the day. The noise level was well above a normal Sunday buzz. The only solution
