Biking Bis - Bicycle Touring and More

Lance Armstrong: "Vive Le Tour, forever"

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 22:50:00 -0700

"Vive Le Tour, forever."

So ends the Tour de France 2005 and the professional cycling career of Lance Armstrong, taking the microphone on the podium and giving kudos to his rivals, Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich.

The rest went as most of us expected -- Armstrong entering the Champs-Elysees in his yellow jersey at the head of the peloton. ...

Biking Bis poll: The next Lance?

Gene Bisbee — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 08:42:51 -0700

(Updated)Eighty-nine readers voted in the poll that asked: "Who among the cyclists in the TDF 2005 could fill Armstrong's cleats in 2006?"
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team member George Hincapie, left, is your choice, with 26% of the vote. Hincapie has been a member of Armstrong's teams ...

Armstrong wins TT; Ullrich gets into 3rd in GC

Gene Bisbee — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 09:01:09 -0700

Lance Armstrong earned his Tour de France stage win on Saturday, beating his nearest rival in the individual time trial by 23 seconds.

The victory in Saint Etienne means he'll go to Paris in yellow on Sunday without the stigma of being the first Tour de France winner without a stage win since Greg Lemond in 1990.

Family photos from Tour de France

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:26:11 -0700

Some members of my family stationed themselves at the finish lines in Mende and Le Puy the past couple of days while on a trip to visit relatives in France. Here are some pictures they've taken. ...

Pereiro moves up while peloton dozes on way to Le Puy

Gene Bisbee — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:37:45 -0700

I have to feel sorry for Christophe Moreau. His Credit Agricole teammates, and team manager, must have been out to lunch when Oscar Pereiro, right, charged up the road in a 4-man breakaway in Friday's 95-mile stage from Issoire to Le Puy.

How else could you explain their inattention, which allowed the Spanish rider from Phonak to gain 4 minutes and 19 seconds, moving from 13th to 10th place and overtaking Moreau. ...

German cyclist Ullrich gains in Tour podium battle

Gene Bisbee — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 10:54:36 -0700

This Tour de France seems to be all about Lance Armstrong's final ride and his quest for a seventh championship, but the story lately has been on cyclist Jan Ullrich.

The big German scrambled to stay with the overall leaders -- Armstrong and Ivan Basso -- on Thursday's final 10%-grade climb into Mende. When it looked like he'd been dropped for good, the T-Mobile ...

Discovery's Savoldelli wins stage; Armstrong in yellow but winless

Gene Bisbee — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:52:52 -0700

(Updated) The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team can put another notch in its collective handlebars with Paolo Savoldelli's win on Wednesday.
The Italian, fresh from his victory in the 3-week Giro d'Italia in May, beat Team CSC's Kurt-Asle Arveson in what looked like a slow-motion "sprint" to the finish in Revel. The two had attacked their eight-man breakaway in the run-in ...

Evans jumps 4 places; teams react

Gene Bisbee — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:08:06 -0700

When you're battling for a third-place podium position in the Tour de France like Jan Ullrich and Mickael Rasmussen, you've got to watch your back too.

Australian cyclist Cadel Evans stood in 11th place overall Tuesday morning before the 112-mile stage between Mourenx and Pau, the last in the Pyrenees. But before the day was over, he had teams from Rabobank (Rasmussen), T-Mobile (Ullrich), and Gerolsteiner (Levi Leipheimer in 6th) in an all out effort to chase him down. ...

Ullrich aiming for third place

Gene Bisbee — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 23:28:55 -0700

Six days to go in the Tour de France and it's winding down to an epic battle between two cyclists-- for third place.

They're a study in contrasts. One, Mickael Rasmussen, looks thin and wiry. The other, Jan Ullrich, looks heavy for a cyclist.

In his online diary posted for Monday's rest day, Ullrich says, "We certainly haven't given up ...

3-D maps online for several upcoming Tour de France stages

Gene Bisbee — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 22:05:01 -0700

Google has released updates to its Google Earth 3-D mapping tool that at least one developer is using to create maps of Tour de France stages.
Google Earth software uses satellite imagery for its base maps. This cycling enthusiast at the Google Earth Hacks website has entered data that creates a 3-D map of a Tour de France stage.
I downloaded the ...