News

Italian Vincenzo Di Falco, who rides for the Mercatone Uno team, has been banned from competing for a year by the Italian cycling federation's disciplinary commission, the panel announced on Friday. The 22-year-old Di Falco, a teammate of former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia winner Marco Pantani, tested positive for Nesp, a banned endurance-enhancer similar to EPO (erythropoetin) during a stage of the Lombardy International week race on May 10. His compatriot Giampaolo Caruso, a 22-year-old with the Spanish ONCE-Eroski team, was handed a six-month ban for testing positive for nandrolone

Chris Carmichael says Lance Armstrong has prepared more intensely for this Tour than for any other.

LUCIEN BUYSSE (Belgium) 1926

J. ANQUETIL (France) 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964

STEPHEN ROCHE (Ireland) 1987

With each passing year, winning the Tour de France gets more and more difficult for Lance Armstrong. To win, Lance has to be prepared to handle every racing strategy devised to defeat him. One of my jobs as his coach is to work with him in collecting and analyzing data each year. Some of our most useful information came two years ago during Lance’s victory in stage 10. Before the Tour that year, Lance selected the Alpe d’Huez stage as one he really wanted to win. As someone with a true appreciation for cycling history, Lance saw winning on the Alpe as a way to honor the race and the great

Lyne Bessette didn't expect to win ...

NICOLAS FRANTZ (Luxembourg) 1927, 1928

CHARLY GAUL (Luxembourg) 1958

PEDRO DELGADO (Spain) 1988

If you’re reading this, you’d probably give anything to be in France this July. For most of us, however, jobs, family and budgets don’t allow for a month of tromping around the Alps and the Pyrénées, sleeping on the sides of mountains or snapping a photograph of the peloton as it speeds through fields of sunflowers. But if you can’t make it to the Tour, at least keep track of it on VeloNews.com. This year, VeloNews.com continues its tradition of providing live up-to-the-minute coverage of each stage throughout the Tour. Keeping track of events will be even easier this year, with clear

... but Eric Wohlberg surely couldn't have been surprised by his eighth maple-leaf jersey.

M. DEWAELE (Belgium) 1929

F. BAHAMONTÉS (Spain) 1959

M. INDURAIN (Spain) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers51 - 53

MAURICE GARIN(France)1903

ANDRÉ LEDUCQ (France) 1930, 1932

GASTONE NENCINI (Italy) 1960

BJARNE RIIS (Denmark) 1996

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers51 - 53

HENRI CORNET(France)1904

ANTONIN MAGNE (France) 1931, 1934

FELICE GIMONDI (Italy) 1965

Jan Ullrich (Germany) 1997

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers51 - 53

L. TROUSSELIER (France) 1905

G. SPEICHER (France) 1933

LUCIEN AIMAR (France) 1966

Marco Pantani (Italy) 1998

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers51 - 53

RENÉ POTTIER (France) 1906

ROMAIN MAES (Belgium) 1935

ROGER PINGEON (France) 1967

Lance Armstrong (USA) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers51 - 53

L. PETIT-BRETON (France) 1907, 1908

SYLVÈRE MAES (Belgium) 1936, 1939

JAN JANSSEN (Netherlands) 1968

Numbers 1 - 10Numbers11 - 20Numbers21 - 30Numbers31 - 40Numbers41 - 50Numbers 51 - 53

FRANÇOIS FABER (Luxembourg) 1909

ROGER LAPÉBIE (France) 1937

EDDY MERCKX (Belgium) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974

OCTAVE LAPIZE (France) 1910

GINO BARTALI (Italy) 1938, 1948

LUIS OCAÑA (Spain) 1973

G. GARRIGOU (France) 1911

JEAN ROBIC (France) 1947

B. THÉVENET (France) 1975, 1977

ODILE DEFRAYE (Belgium) 1912

FAUSTO COPPI (Italy) 1949, 1952

L. VAN IMPE (Belgium) 1976

Italy's Federal Court of Appeal on Friday rejected Gianluca Bortolami's appeal against a six-month ban for failing a drug test earlier this year. The Vini Caldirola rider was suspended by the Italian Cycling Federation after anti-doping officials found traces of cortisone in his urine sample. The test was carried out during the Three Days of La Panne stage race in Belgium in which Bortolami won the first stage. The 34-year-old Italian cyclist wore the leader's jersey until the final time-trial when he was pushed into second place by Latvian Raivis Belohvosciks. Bortolami is a very

Cannondale: Custom is customary

PHILIPPE THYS (Belgium) 1913, 1914, 1920

FERDI KUBLER (Switzerland) 1950

B. HINAULT (France) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985

In its 100 years, the Tour has created countless pages of sports history. Some are astonishing (the first ascent of the Pyrénées in 1910) and some banal (first TV coverage, 1952). Here are some significant firsts of the Tour.1903 (July 1) – The first stageof the inaugural Tour de France, sponsored by the sports newspaper L’Auto,leaves Montgeron, just outside the Paris city limits, at precisely 3:16p.m. with Maurice Garin taking the monumental 467km opening stage to Lyonin 17:45:44. Note that this is an estimate, as Garin crossed the line beforeGéo Lefèvre, the race director, and the time

Cannondale: Custom is customary

FIRMIN LAMBOT (Belgium) 1919, 1922

HUGO KOBLET (Switzerland) 1951

J. ZOETEMELK (Netherlands) 1980

Last week’s column about the USPRO Championship drew a flood of e-mails. Sorry I couldn’t respond to everyone, but here’s a dip into the mailbag for some of the best, along with my take. It feels very unfulfilling to me to award the USPRO champ jersey to a guy who doesn't win the race. I am in favor of an all-U.S.-citizen race -- perhaps somewhere else than Philly, or just on another day. Your point about attracting riders like Fred Rodriguez is a good one. How do they do it in Europe? Surely there are similar cases. What about talented riders like Allan Davis or Jorg Jaksche, who are the

LÉON SCIEUR (Belgium) 1921

LOUISON BOBET (France) 1953, 1954, 1955

L. FIGNON (France) 1983, 1984

YELLOW JERSEYThe yellow jersey — or maillot jaune — is worn by the overall race leader, the rider who has covered the overall distance in the least amount of cumulative time. Time bonuses (12 seconds for winning a road stage, six seconds for winning an intermediate sprint) are deducted, and time penalties (for infractions like dangerous riding or accepting pushes from spectators on the climbs) are added to riders’ stage times before calculating their GC (general classification) times. 2002 winner: Lance Armstrong, U.S. Postal Service   POINTS LEADERThe green points-leader’s jersey is awarded

WINNING AND LEARNING Armstrong won on Alpe d’Huez, but still needed to adjust his strategy and training

HENRI PÉLISSIER (France) 1922

Bob;What are the most common types of bicycle accidents?Mike APhoenixDear Mike;For many years, there was vehement debate over this question. Virtuallyall statistics relating to bicycle accidents came from police accidentreports, and critics maintained that this database systematically under-reportedbicycle wrecks that did not involve a motor vehicle. Finally, in 1999,a team of researchers at the Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) of theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill performed a large-scale studyof bike wrecks based on emergency room admissions. Their findings largelysupported

Anniversaries are big in France. Take the year 1989, which was the bicentennial of the French Revolution. The bicentennial’s big celebration came on the Fourteenth of July, and the Tour de France organizers just happened to schedule that day’s stage finish in Marseille, the city after which the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, is named. The race saw plenty of attacks by French riders that day, and the stage was won in a late solo attack by the blond rider from Normandy, Vincent Barteau. Acelebration followed on a hot, steamy night, as huge crowds watched a mammoth fireworks display

Improving on last year, that’s the goal for American Levi Leipheimeras he heads into his second Tour de France. In an impressive debut in 2002,the Rabobank rider fought his way to eighth place after a spectacular finalweek in the Alps. And despite emergency surgery for blocked intestineslast August, the 29-yearold says he is back in winning shape and wantsto inch closer to the Tour podium. “I want to improve on last year, for the sponsors and everyone else,”Leipheimer said. “The expectations are higher. I want to keep doing mybest and put into effect everything I’ve learned.” EXCITING

It's been a long time coming but the Aussie presence at this year's Tour de France is going to reach record levels. A potential seven Australian professionals, riding for four teams, are being lined up for this year's centenary race and although that's no mean feat, just wait till the race itself gets underway next Saturday, July 5. No-nonsense Queenslander Robbie McEwen, who rides for the Belgian Lotto outfit, pulled off a coup of sorts when he ended Erik Zabel's bid to win a seventh straight green points jersey. However McEwen, who goes into the race a little less primed than at this

Clifford visits Cannondale

FIVE THE HARD WAY Merckx (left) struggled against Poulidor in the mountains in 1974, but still managed to win his fifth and final Tour.

THE ONE TO CHASE: Armstrong will attempt to match Indurain's five consecutive wins.