As I am pretty sure I am one of the few people in America actually still watching professional bike races, there are regrettably few people with whom I can chat about the tour with on a day to day basis. This makes me sad because it really is a thrilling sport to watch. The doping scandals have pretty much obliterated the interest of those Americans who DID still watch after Lance retired and I wonder if any kids at all stare at their huffys and dream of winning grand tours.

The last few races I attended actually had a pretty good turnout, so perhaps all is not lost...
As far as watching the Tour de France, however, I think Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin might not be around much longer. And where the hell is Bob Roll this year?!?!

One week in and I have been enjoying the race so far. There are no huge standouts (with the exception of the teams Caisse d’Epargne, Columbia and CSC-Saxo Bank) but as far as riders go, the race is still very much wide open. My predictions lie with Cadel Evans or Stefan Schumacher but secretly I am rooting for Christian Vandevelde.

Oh and Manuel Beltran got the boot for testing positive for EPO. sigh.