Headline:  “Cycling has another week riddled with news of doping and not much else”

Well, at least that is what you’d think if all you read is the mainstream press, or even the mainstream cycling press.  We’ve already had racing action this season.  First in Australia with the Tour Down Under, and the Tour of Qatar just started.  Now honestly though – how many folks do you suspect actually know the standings of the early season races?  I’m betting a fair sight less than the number that know that 1) Lance Armstrong is off the hook, and 2) Contador has been stripped of his 2010 wins – including the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

And this season is promising to be a great showdown.  The combination of some of the riders from both Leopard Trek and Radio Shack into one team.  Renshaw free to clash sabers in the sprints without having to focus on delivering Cavendish to the front.  This is real racing drama – happening now.  Armstrong doesn’t race anymore – remember?  And now Contador won’t be racing this year until the Giro either.  So let’s focus our attention on the people out there trying to beat each other on the roads and single tracks – not in the court rooms, press rooms and headlines.

If only we could get as much coverage of our race winners as we do the doping circus…  Just one man’s opinion.

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been fairly silent about this year’s Tour de France.  To be honest the first week was kinda hard to watch – and I was not really motivated to write about it much.  It is unfortunate when the most dramatic moments of the race have been the result of folks surviving through horrible crashes. Sure, I’ve mumbled short quips on Twitter, and we’ve been discussing stages over in the VeloReviews forums, but no real write ups here at JustAnotherCyclist.

Things appear to have turned around today though.

It was a fantastic stage with the drama marked by – get this – folks racing their bikes.  I only saw the final 10Km after I came in from my morning ride, but that 10Km was filled with attack after attack after attack.  Voeckler in the yellow jersey is fantastic.  Not only is the guy a fighter to begin with, he’s got a couple of minutes (at least 2:37 if I recall correctly) over the primary GC contenders, and is therefore highly motivated to pick up precious seconds before getting into the true climbing stages.

This motivation lead to the yellow jersey being out front – on the attack.  This is different from the normal strategy of the whole team working to protect the yellow jersey.

The attack out front was picked up in the end though.  The peloton was driven in the final kilometers predominately part by Jens Voigt, pulling the group along with a grimace on his face to protect the Schlecks.  In addition, it seemed like the entire peloton was hell-bent on destroying HTC Columbia today.  That, combined with the numerous turns going into the finish line, created some difficulties for the Columbia lead out train.  It came down to Cavendish and Greipel in a sprint to the line.

But enough of my analysis.  Check out the final kilometer for yourself.

I unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) missed this when it happened as I was on southbound I5 traveling back from the 2010 Seattle to Portland bicycle classic.  It looks like the mountains in the Tour de France have taken a second swing at Jens Voigt of Team Saxo Bank.  In the 2009 Tour de France Jens was unfortunately taken out of the race in one of the most dramatic crashes in the tour in recent memory.

This year the mountain tried again, but couldn’t knock him out.  Jens hit the tarmac on stage 16 while descending from the Col de Peyresourde.  In Jens own words, his front tire “just exploded” sending him to the ground, his bike rendered unusable.  Unfortunately all of this happened behind both of the Saxo Bank team cars – leaving Jens without a bike.  He was finally able to get a spare from the neutral support teams, but unfortunately the bike didn’t really fit him.  I think this may be one of the most compelling images of this great rider: tattered and bloody, finishing the stage on a borrowed bike that doesn’t actually fit him, refusing to quit.

The post-stage interview shows typical Jens Voigt attitude and humor remained intact after the crash:

There is a saying among cycling fans: “Jens Voigt doesn’t get road rash.  The road gets Jens rash.”  It captures the toughness this rider has shown throughout his career.  I’m sure the Jens mystique will be even further strengthened after this and as he crosses the Champs-Élysées.

Video posted toYouTube shows the immediate aftermath of the crash on Stage 8 of the Tour de France.  In retrospect this may be viewed as the moment that ended Armstrong’s hopes of the Yellow Jersey in what he himself has declared his last Tour de France.

This has been a tough start to the Tour for me. First off I spend the first three days without internet access and spotty-at-best cell coverage.  I mean – how in the hell am I supposed to properly enjoy and communicate about the tour without twitter??  Imagine my horror as I look on suffering alone, in isolation, as my pick for the overall win Andy Schleck cradled his arm, looking as if we wouldn’t be able to get back on the bike.  Or waiting on the edge of my seat for a smallest nugget of information out of Phil Liggett regarding the state of Tyler Farrar.  This tour is already started with precious few sprinters to challenge Mark Cavendish.

Then, I get back to the comfort of home, laptop out, Droid phone at my side and remote control in my right hand.  I switched over to channel 966 – that’s Versus HD on my local Comcast.  What did I find?  Ummm – only a 3 minute recap of the highlights where a 2 hour broadcast was advertised.  And about 5 words about Frank Schleck being down – but no details other than a quick video clip of him laying on the ground.  What???

This isn’t the first time that Versus has allowed a total “dumbass” to make programming decisions.

Seriously, folks.  Not showing the programming at the advertised time sucks.  But showing the end of the race at that beginning of the advertised time – thus blowing the excitement of the entire stage before people can wait for the advertised rebroadcast of the stage later that night.  Well, that’s just messed up.

I’ve got to get back to my uber-commute tomorrow anyhow so I won’t have access to the satanic Versus channel anyhow.  Today I’m going in search of internet outlets to fulfill my racing addiction.