Thanks for the OLN link and TV channel. I was searching this morning to schedule it on the DVR (which right now is on its final hours, recording the World Cup). What a sad day for cycling, and to see the 5 top finishers from last year eliminated makes you wonder how good this year's winner will be made to feel about his accomplishment.

My question is, did Lance ever admit to the drug use he was accused of multiple times? If so, is his "8-time Winner" title toast? I stopped listening to the accusations after awhile but my husband says the Danish finally "convicted" him.

Gwynne, Armstrong has steadfastly denied any involvement in doping, and has been cleared by every official investigation into such allegations, including one last month by an independent team of Dutch investigators. Not only did they clear him, but they also recommended that a tribunal be convened to discuss possible legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the group that brought the latest round of accusations against him. Many in the sport think he's a target because of his high profile and the fact that he's an American. (Oh, surely not!)

As many have written before, Armstrong is a freak of nature, the perfect storm of the cycling world. Not only does he have mutant-like physiological cycling-specific characteristics, but no one in the history of the Tour de France has ever prepared for that race with such single-minded focus and practically unlimited resources.

Lance is not the greatest cyclist in history; he's the greatest Tour de France rider in history. One might argue that the latter makes him the former, but I don't think so. He's got an unimpressive record in non-TDF races...not that he ever competed in very many of them. It's sort of like if Tiger Woods didn't prepare for any golf tournament but the Masters, and in doing so, won seven of them in a row. That would be an incredible feat, but it would be hard to argue that it made him the best golfer in history. (Of course, the TDF is far and away harder and more prestigious than any other cycling stage race, so that analogy might not hold up under close scrutiny.)

But my point is that the combination of factors I describe above means that Armstrong never needed to take drugs to beat his competition. And the fact that apparently no one else could perform at his level without that kind of help was just too difficult for some of his competitors and their advocates to accept. I expect that these accusations will dog him until his dying day, and probably follow him into the grave. And the fact that a new round of similar allegations has just knocked most of his old competitors out of the TDF will just reignite the fire.

That's what I'm thinking (that this latest round involving his closest competitors will fuel the arguments). It's a shame that it has come to this. But I'm looking forward to watching this years' race with all the new faces.

Thanks for clearing that up...and it's probably the Dutch my husband was referring to, not the Danes. I'll be sure and set him straight. ;-)

The shakeup in the participants does introduce a refreshing uncertainty to the race. ;-)

" The winning team gets to split prize money totaling 50,000€ (the overall individual winner gets a cool 450,000€). " How much is that in real money?

As far as Armstrong using any illegal substances, I have to agree with our respected host Eric. Lance Armstrong is without a doubt the most tested athlete in the world. Yet he's never failed a drug test.

Based on the latest exchange rate -- euros to dollars -- that works out to about $575,000.

Of course, the sponsorship deals that accrue to the winner will dwarf that sum, assuming the winner is the least bit charismatic. (Which isn't always a good assumption, however. Some past winners have been big heroes in their home countries, but pretty much ignored elsewhere.)

Thanks Eric! This is helpful. I will try to give it a shot - it'd actually be kind of fun to have a sport that I'm marginally interested in watching on TV and if it's one thing once a year, so much the better (less committment to spending time in front of the tube.) :)

A couple of extra comments for what it's worth re the TDF:

1) On the team vs. the individual component, the question is a very good one, and Eric's answer is spot on. Lance Armstrong is an interesting (read psychotic :-) study, but as an example of how much he valued his team -- and to reinforce the whole "if I win we all win" mindset -- he took none of his Tour winnings each year, instead splitting them amongst his teammates, or "domestiques" as they are called in Tourdefranceland. So for three weeks of riding in the Alps, a guy could pull down around a bonus of around $50K-75K. (The glass half full crowd would probably change the activity to "...three weeks of excruciating physical trauma...")

2) The official TDF site does a great job of reporting the race in fine detail. I've learned a lot from its coverage. They basically blog each stage as it's happening, with progress reports ranging in frequency from seconds apart during key portions of the stage to a few minutes between during the calmer phases.

http://www.letour.com/

As to Lance being a freak of nature, a big part of that was the fact that his body was torn apart by cancer. He admits as much in his books. Before he had his bout with cancer, he was a good rider, but not one who was expected to win the number of TdFs he won.

Also, Eric's analogy to Tiger Woods competing only in the Masters is a little short. If Tiger Woods were to only compete in the four Majors, that might be a better analogy. Armstrong's every action during his Tour-winning years was geared toward being in peak performance mode for the Tour, unlike the other top riders, who were competing all over the place. He was also a nut for preparation, which was not the case with some of his greatest rivals.

On the team/individual matter, there are also other individual "winners" in the event, who get other jerseys like the green and (my favorite) the polka-dot. Perhaps Eric will explain those at some point. But the way that a team sacrifices for the one rider's glory is something that I can't find in any other sport. Perhaps someone else can think of another.

All that being said, I miss seeing Armstrong in the hunt this year, and watching his team demolish the rest of the field.