Tour de France 2023

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme is convinced this year's race can take place without the numerous drug-tainted scandals that have left the event fighting for its credibility. The 95th edition of the world's biggest bike race begins Saturday. Ahead of a tough three-week race, devoid of the traditional prologue and with plenty of action promised in an innovative first week, there remain plenty of detractors following the 2007 edition which was blackened by the unceremonious exit of race leader Michael Rasmussen, among others, over suspicions of doping.

Alejandro Valverde has been a busy man since winning the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré last month.

Pat McQuaid has expressed his wish for a trouble-free Tour de France but says that it was a mistake for the event to have broken away from the International Cycling Union (UCI). "I am saddened by this, but it is the decision of the organizers,” the international cycling chief said. “It is sad but it has to be accepted. In terms of world cycling it is not a good decision." Speaking to AFP four days before the Tour starts on Saturday in the Britanny port of Brest, McQuaid said he would not be attending the race, which finishes on July 27 in Paris.

Damiano Cunego will be brandishing a new look for the Tour de France and it won’t just be a fresh dye-job on his curly locks. The 2004 Giro d’Italia champ and Lampre team leader is supporting a new anti-doping campaign and has had its slogan tattooed on his left arm. It reads: “I’m doping free.”

It's almost July and the Tour de France season has begun. And this year, you can follow every move of the world's largest bike race, no matter where you are, on VeloNews.com. Say you are in line at your bank, or by the side of the road in St. André-de-la-Marche, with your cell phone handy: you can find out who is ahead with live text updates at mobile.velonews.com

Bouygues Telecom will start the Tour de France with a squad loaded with stage-hunters and almost no one for the overall classification. The French team will be headlined by Thomas Voeckler, remembered for his heroic defense of the maillot jaune in the 2004 Tour, and Pierrick Fédrigo, winner of a stage in the 2006 Tour. The team is betting on winning a stage rather than wasting energy in a futile fight for the overall.

Heading into this week's Tour de France, the French Ag2r-La Mondiale team will be looking to fill the void left by the departure of consistent Christophe Moreau with Cyril Dessel and Tadej Valjavec. Moreau, who has consistently been the best French performer in the Tour the past few years, is now racing in Agritubel colors. Ag2r will instead be hoping Dessel can win a stage and Valjavec can pop into the top 10.

Française des Jeux on Sunday announced that Philippe Gilbert and Sandy Casar would lead its team, which includes three Tour novices, at the Tour de France. "The choice was not easy because three-quarters of the guys were on the same level," team boss Marc Madiot told AFP. Three newcomers, Arnaud Gerard, Yoann Le Boulanger and Jeremy Roy, will make their debuts when the Tour kicks off on Saturday in Brest. Belgian Gilbert won the Het Volk in Belgium earlier this year, while Casar won the 18th stage at last year's Tour.

Samuel Sánchez will be back at the Tour de France only for the third time in his career, so he’s looking to make up for lost time. His two previous Tour starts, in 2002 and 2003, both ended early when he missed time cuts. Since then, Sánchez has grown in stature both as a rider and as a team leader. Despite riding into third overall at last year’s Vuelta a España, “Samu” has no pretensions about riding for GC in the Tour. He’ll leave that task to Euskaltel-Euskadi teammates Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, who finished fifth and ninth last year, respectively.

Belgian superstar Tom Boonen is the major absence from the Quick Step team's Tour de France roster, announced Thursday, due to a recent positive test for cocaine. The news of Boonen's career setback — which will not lead to sporting sanctions — left Tour de France officials to quickly decide he was not welcome at the July 5-27 race. The Belgian outfit had hoped for some clemency for the race's reigning green jersey champion, underlining the fact he tested positive for a recreational drug. But Quick Step has accepted the Tour owners' (ASO) decision.

Liquigas will lineup without green-jersey candidate Daniele Bennati for next week’s Tour de France. The Italian sprinter has been forced out of the Tour after problems with his Achilles tendon that flared up during Giro d’Italia, where he won three stages and the points jersey.

George Hincapie will be heading to France for the 13th time of his career as part of the Team Columbia-High Road roster revealed Wednesday. Hincapie, 35 on Sunday, said the team brings a diverse squad with strong options for stage victories and a shot at the top 10. “I’d love to win another stage,” Hincapie told VeloNews. “We have a good team. We’ll have a great team for the sprinters. We have Tommy (Lovkvist) for the young rider’s jersey and we’ll have Kim (Kirchen) for the overall, so hopefully we can meet all those goals.”

High Road Sports has announced the riders that will start the 2008 Tour de France. The roster consists of nine riders from eight different countries, and five aged 25 and under. “We plan to be competitive in every stage without losing the focus on the support for Kirchen in the General Classification” explains Team Director Rolf Aldag. “This team is able to exploit and dictate the tactics on some stages”.

Russian Denis Menchov, one of the pre-race favorites, has been named as team leader for the nine-man Rabobank squad for the July 5-27 Tour de France, the Dutch team announced in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Menchov is a double winner of the Vuelta a España who finished fifth in the 2006 Tour de France. The team will also be in the hunt for stage wins, and perhaps the Tour’s points jersey, with the addition of Oscar Freire, the Spaniard who is a triple world road race champion (1999, 2001 and 2004). Freire won the Gent-Wevelgem ProTour one-day classic in April and is

The newly renamed Garmin-Chipotle team unveiled its Tour de France roster, which features three of only four Americans in the entire Tour peloton. The team, formerly known as Slipstream-Chipotle, is making its debut in the world’s biggest bicycle race, but the roster, released on Tuesday, includes several Tour de France veterans.

This year’s Tour de France should be a little more interesting following news Tuesday that outspoken Italian rider Riccardo Riccò will take the July 5 start in Brest. Riccò ? whose verbal outbursts are almost as lethal as his accelerations in the mountains ? will take aim at the best young rider’s white jersey during his second Tour appearance. The 24-year-old Riccò, seen by many in Italy as the heir to deceased Giro and Tour winner Marco Pantani, is considered a longshot for the Tour's yellow jersey.

Germany’s Gerolsteiner hopes it can crack the top 10 and win a stage in the upcoming Tour de France. The team brings Markus Fothen and Bernhard Kohl as GC hopes with Stefan Schumacher leading the charge in the hunt for an elusive stage victory. “Fothen and Kohl can challenge for the overall race, while we are looking for stage victories in the last week,” said team sporting director Christian Henn.

The Basque climbers at Euskaltel-Euskadi will be angling toward the podium this year. Haimar Zubeldia and Mikel Astarloza, fifth and ninth in last year’s Tour, headline the orange-clad Basques in its collective effort to improve on the team’s steady 2007 performance.

Bobby Julich won’t be heading back to the Tour de France for another crack at the maillot jaune. The 36-year-old veteran ? third overall in 1998 ? was left off the nine-man, Tour-bound squad revealed Monday by Team CSC-Saxo Bank. “I think we could have taken two teams to the Tour de France, with so many good riders to choose from,” said team manager Bjarne Riis on the team’s Web page. “We have taken the nine sharpest riders and we hope we can meet our ambitions with them.”

Barloworld is hoping this year’s Tour de France is as good as last year’s. In 2007, the wild-card team was one of the Tour’s biggest surprises, winning a sprint stage with Robbie Hunter and a mountain stage and the King of the Mountains jersey with breakout Colombian Mauricio Soler. For this year, the team is heading into its second Tour with quiet ambitions that things will be just as good.

American Floyd Landis has been formally stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after an arbitration panel ruled against his challenge of a positive doping test result from that year’s edition of the race.

Floyd Landis might be able to keep his Tour de France crown if he wins his doping case in arbitration, but his Phonak team won’t be around next season even if he does. Team owner Andy Rihs announced Tuesday that Phonak will fold at the end of the 2006 season after its new title sponsor pulled out of the deal in the wake of Landis doping scandal.

The following riders were named in the ongoing Opera?ion Puerto doping case by Spanish investigators on Thursday: Astaná-WürthMichele Scarponi (I)Marcos Antonio Serrano (Sp)David Etxebarria (Sp)Joseba Beloki (Sp)Angel Vicioso (Sp)Isidro Nozal (Sp)Unai Osa (Sp)Jörg Jaksche (G)Giampaolo Caruso (I) CSCIvan Basso (I) Caisse D'Epargne-Iles BalearesConstantino Zaballa (Sp) Saunier Duval Carlos Zarate (Sp)Ag2r Francisco Mancebo (Sp)

Last week, I left you with a thought from Greg LeMond after Frenchman Laurent Fignon won the 1983 Tour de France: “We all thought it was kind of a fluke.” Had LeMond, then 22, started that Tour, he might well have won it. He was two months older than Fignon, who was his teammate, and LeMond would have gone into the race with much better results, including victories at the 1982 Tour de l’Avenir and 1983 Dauphiné Libéré. Backing up that theory was the manner in which LeMond continued the 1983 season, winning the world championship and then the Super Prestige Pernod title (see “Inside Cycling,”

Lance Armstrong has vigorously denied allegations outlined in Tuesday’s edition of the French sports daily L’Equipe charging that the seven-time Tour de France champion used the performance-enhancing drug EPO to help him achieve his first Tour victory in 1999. "Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs," Armstrong said in a statement on www.lancearmstrong.com.

Dutchman Pieter Weening (Rabobank) gave a glimpse of his potential and ended a frustrating streak of runner-up places with a well-taken win on the eighth stage of the Tour de France Saturday in Gerardmer. Weening had to wait an agonizing few minutes before finding out for sure if he had really won a two-man sprint with Germany's Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) - and when the result came he could still not quite believe it. "In a two-man sprint nothing's decided until it's over so I just tried to hold on for as long as possible," said Weening, who is the first Dutchman to win a stage

Lance Armstrong looked around near the summit of the rather anonymous Cat. 2 Col de la Schlucht in the chilly Vosges Mountains and couldn’t find many friendly faces. In the big front group he was with, there were no other Discovery Channel riders. No Chechu, no Triki, no Popo. Not even his 2005 favorite mountain goat, José Azevedo. What the six-time Tour champion did see were lots of riders licking their chops. For the first time in years at the Tour de France, Armstrong was isolated. “It was not a great day. I didn’t feel very good and the other teams did feel good,” said Armstrong, who

Roll call of past Tour de France winners:    1903  Maurice Garin (Fra)   1904  Henri Cornet (Fra)   1905  Louis Trousselier (Fra)   1906  Rene Pottier (Fra)   1907  Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra)   1908  Lucien Petit-Breton (Fra)   1909  Francois Faber (Lux)   1910  Octave Lapize (Fra)   1911  Gustave Garrigou (Fra)   1912  Odile Defraye (Bel)   1913  Philippe Thys (Bel)   1914  Philippe Thys (Bel)Stopped due  war     1919  Firmin Lambot (Bel)   1920  Philippe Thys (Bel)   1921  Leon Scieur (Bel)   1922  Firmin Lambot (Bel)   1923  Henri Pelissier (Fra)   1924  Ottavio Bottechia (Ita)   1925 

There were no major surprises as the U.S. Postal Service team announced its line-up for the upcoming Tour de France. Joining two-time defending champion Lance Armstrong will be three Americans — Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde; Spaniards Roberto Heras and Jose Luis Rubiera; Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov; Norwegian Steffen Kjaergaard; and Colombian Victor Hugo Pena. The full text of the team’s announcement follows: U.S. POSTAL SERVICE PRO CYCLING TEAM TOUR DE FRANCE TEAM ANNOUNCED Choosing from what he called were 10 valid candidates, the United States Postal Service

When Lance Armstrong enters the start house at the prologue of this year’s Tour de France, he’ll not only be the two-time defending champion, but for the first time in his career he will be the UCI’s world No. 1 ranked rider. The UCI issued its latest rankings on Monday, with Armstrong moving into the top spot, ahead of Liquigas’s Davide Rebellin, thanks to Armstrong’s win at the recent Tour of Switzerland. Telekom’s Erik Zabel is third, with Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni fourth. UCI road rankings(at July 2)1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 2098pts 2. Davide Rebellin

With 1998 winner Marco Pantani uninvited, this 88th Tour de France has the look of a two-horse race, at best. Other than '97 winner and three-time runner-up Jan Ullrich, the rest of defending champion Lance Armstrong's potential rivals look to be too inexperienced, too old - or they're on Armstrong's team! Upsets do happen. But not this year. So here is our assessment of each contender's strengths and weaknesses: 1. Lance Armstrong (USA), 29, U.S. Postal Service plus: The two-time defending champion says: Catch me if you can! His team is stronger than last year, particularly in the

There will be only one American team at the Tour de France this year, Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service formation. The expected debut by Mercury-Viatel was thwarted in May by the Tour organizers’ jingoistic wild-card choice of two extra Division II French teams, as opposed to a second Division I team from the U.S. Despite that, there could still be as many as nine Americans on the start line in Dunkirk. Here is a quick look at each of them, with a review of their 2001 preparation and prospects. Lance ArmstrongAge: 29Height: 5 ft. 11 in. Weight: 165 lbs.Hometown: Austin, TXTeam: U.S.

One prologue. Twenty stages. Two rest days. 3454 kilometers. The joy of finishing in Paris: Priceless.

At an awards ceremony in Madrid on Saturday, five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain criticized race organizers for not keeping Italian climber Marco Pantani in the 2001 race. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc a week ago named five wild-card teams, but did not include Pantani's Italian outfit, Mercatone Uno. "As a supporter, it upsets me that such great riders as Pantani are not going to the Tour de France," Indurain said. "The organizers have followed the rules, taking the top 15 teams and invitations are their affair. It all depends on their sponsors. (The organizers)

Italian cyclist Michele Bartoli confirmed on Thursday that he would be taking part in July's Tour de France despite pulling out of the Giro d’Italia, which gets underway May 19. The 30-year-old leader of the Mapei team, who won the Het Volk Classic in March, pulled out of the Giro complaining that he was exhausted and did not want to run the risk of competing before the Tour de France. He also announced that he would be racing in the Tour of Germany from May 29 to June 4, the Tour of Switzerland from June 19-28 and the Italian road race championship on July 1. Copyright AFP 2001

Union Cycliste International president Hein Verbruggen said Friday that Tour de France organizers have placed parochial interests ahead of the sport in their decision to issue wildcard invites to two Division II French teams and not to the teams of Italy's 1998 champion Marco Pantani and sprint ace Mario Cipollini. Verbruggen, in an interview with the Dutch news agency ANP, said that in the future different measures will be in place as to who was invited to the major Tours if they did not qualify automatically through the world rankings. "The Tour organizers placed chauvinistic and

Tour de France race director Jean-Marie Leblanc ruled out any chance of reversing Wednesday’s decision not to invite Mercatone Uno and their team leader Marco Pantani, Italy’s1998 Tour champion, to this year’s race. Leblanc admitted the choice hadn't been easy, but in the end was unanimous among the electors. "However, we mustn't go back on the decision because that would be admitting we were wrong," LeBlanc said on Thursday. "Anyway, if we made an exception of Mercatone-Uno [Pantani's team] why not then Saeco [the team of ace sprinter Mario Cipollini]?" he added. Defending

The Société du Tour de France on Wednesday surprised many by announcing the names of five wild-card teams that will be invited to compete in the 2001 Tour. The announcement brings the total number of participants to 189 riders, representing 21 teams. As expected, the Belgian Lotto-Adecco team topped a list that also includes Denmark’s CSC-World Online, the Basque country team of Euskaltel-Euskadi and two additional French teams, BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux. Notably absent from the list are the Mercatone Uno team of 1998 Tour winner Marco Pantani, the Saeco squad of super

In selecting two more French teams and excluding Mercatone Uno and Mercury-Viatel, Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has devalued this year’s 88th Tour. Wednesday morning in Paris, Leblanc announced five wild-card selections — not four as originally scheduled — to create a field of 21, nine-man teams that will contest the race, July 7-29. The “new” teams are BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux of France; CSC-World Online of Denmark; Euskaltel-Euskadi of Spain; and Lotto-Adecco of Belgium. “To invite 21 teams is a circumstantial measure,” said Leblanc, in explaining that French

A Danish newspaper claims to have the inside line on which teams will be given the four remaining Tour de France spots and Marco Pantani's Mercatone Uno team and the American Mercury squad aren't among them. Copenhagen’s daily Berlingske Tidende reported on Monday that CSC-WorldOnline, the team of France's former world number one Laurent Jalabert, is going to get one of the four wildcard entries to this year's Tour de France. Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc will reveal the names of the four teams on May 2, but the newspaper reported that sources within the Tour

Tour de France organizers unveiled their version of cycling's Ten Commandments in Paris Thursday — a plan of action aimed at stamping out doping in the peloton this year and setting a precedent for the future. The 10-point plan, costing over 10 million francs ($1.4 million) over the next three years, focuses on banning riders who are caught doping from the start of the race, maintaining vigilance throughout the three-week event, and promoting "clean" sports practices in the future. The measures are aimed at assuring the skeptical, and preventing a fiasco similar to that which nearly

France's Tour VTT -- the granddaddy of mountain bike stage races -- may be reincarnated next season. The race, which first ran in 1994 and folded after the 1997 event, is organized by the Société du Tour de France; the company is looking at reviving the event in August of 2002, according to comments made on March 8. "There has been a kind of frustration on behalf of mountain bike enthusiasts," declared Jean-François Pescheux, sporting director of the Société. One option being studied is to open the event to the general public, rather than restricting it to elite riders, as was done in

Citing notification from the sport's international governing body, officials with the U.S. Postal Service team have given their approval for testing of all riders' blood samples that were gathered during last year's Tour de France. According to a team press release on January 31, the request was made on January 30 by the Union Cycliste Internationale after that organization was contacted by French authorities with a request to turn over the samples. The team has given its approval, and also requested that "an independent expert of our own choosing" be allowed to assist in the

Team Telekom announced that it is throwing its biggest-ever budget at an assault on the Tour de France, won four years ago by its rider Jan Ullrich. Ullrich told journalists at the team's 2001 season launch, held in Bonn on January 29, that he was hungry for another yellow jersey, and said he was in the sort of shape to challenge reigning champion Lance Armstrong. "Every year that I don't win the Tour is a lost year," said the 27-year-old from Rostock in the former East Germany. "It's been a long time since I've been in such good shape and whatever happens I want to

The U.S. Postal Service is one of 16 teams that now have an official slot in the 2001 Tour de France, according to an announcement from the Société du Tour de France at a press conference in Paris, on January 23. Look for additional information later today on VeloNews.com. The teams announced today include: Germany: Telekom Belgium: Domo-Farm Frites Spain: IBanesto.com, Kelme, ONCE United States: US Postal France: AG2R, Bonjour, Cofidis, Crédit Agricole, Festina, Jean Delatour Italy: Fassa Bortolo, Lampre, Mapei Netherlands: Rabobank Four additional teams will be included for the

The line-up for this year's Tour might be a little thin when it kicks off in Dunkirk on July 7. By favoring three French Division 2 squads in its 16 pre-selections for the 2001 Tour de France on Tuesday, the race organizers left out the teams of Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno-Albacom), Alex Zülle and Fernando Escartin (Team Coast), Laurent Jalabert (CSC-World Online), Pavel Tonkov and Chann McRae (Mercury-Viatel), Mario Cipollini and Laurent Dufaux (Saeco), Jeroen Blijlevens (Lotto-Adecco), David Etxebarria and Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Christophe Mengin (La Française des

The French bank Crédit Lyonnais, a sponsor of the Tour de France for 20 years, will have the option of not renewing it's contract with the Tour after the 2003 race, although the bank won't make a decision until after the 2001 Tour according to Nicolas Chaine, the bank's director of communications. In 1994 Jean Peyrelevade took over as head of the struggling bank and decided to renew the contract with the Tour for another eight years, despite an annual cost of 35 million francs, in order to keep the company from appearing "truly moribund." The company has stuck with the Tour,