Strasbourg, France – The narrow streets of this gorgeous city snake around white chateau-style buildings with chocolate-brown trim and a 600-year-old cathedral standing 465 feet high. During medieval times, when this neighborhood looked pretty much as it does today, signs hung over the streets signifying the locals’ trades.
Fishermen. Tanners. Millers. One other occupation was more famous.
It was in Strasbourg that printer Johann Gutenberg invented a method for using movable type in the 15th century. How appropriate considering one of the major questions on the eve of the Tour de France, which begins Saturday in Strasbourg without the participation of retired seven-time champion Lance Armstrong, is whether fewer newspapers will be sold.
aps of Armstrong run the gamut from hero to cheat, but regardless, the Texan was the Tour’s most compelling figure and helped propel the 21-day cycling race into the top tier of world sporting events. He is gone, his record seven yellow jerseys hanging in Austin somewhere.
Armstrong’s sport-transcendent star power is gone. The race is wide open, new personalities are emerging, and there are American riders with podium potential.
But the race is battling for popularity in France with that country’s national soccer team, which plays Brazil on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Also engulfing the new- look Tour comes another major doping scandal, which always knocks cycling back two steps every time it takes a step forward. The two top favorites this year, Jan Ullrich of Germany and Ivan Basso of Italy, were among at least 58 riders linked to the scandal, according to a Spanish radio station Thursday.
Bad timing? No question. Will the Tour disappear from the public’s consciousness? Not so fast.
“At the end of the day, and I’m sure Armstrong would be the first to say, the Tour de France is still the Tour de France,” said Justin Davis, a Paris-based reporter for the French news service AFP. “Of course, people will be missing Lance Armstrong in one way, but a lot of people will be glad to see the back of him.”
True. As many fans as Armstrong attracted to his domination, he also drove away many because of the monotony of his winning streak.
“Interest is up because it’s open,” Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said. “We don’t know what will happen. People were tired of the same guy. Same with Indurain. Same with Merckx.” (Miguel Indurian and Eddy Merckx were five- time winners.)
Still, Armstrong’s departure comes at a bad time for other reasons. The stench of another drug scandal has returned. El Pais, Spain’s most powerful daily newspaper, last week printed the results of an exhaustive investigation that encompassed 58 riders suspected of doping.
The Spanish team Astana- Wurth, whose cyclists were the main targets of the investigation, were asked to leave the Tour. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, ruled Thursday that they should be allowed to ride.
Also Thursday, Madrid radio station Cadena Ser included Basso and Ullrich in a list Spanish police allegedly have. The interior ministers of France and Spain reportedly will meet today.
Basso and his team director, Bjarne Riis, said they know nothing about it. It’s getting ugly, and it could explode all over France.
In the U.S., the Outdoor Life Network is curious to see how much carry over remains from the upsurge of cycling interest during Armstrong’s reign. If it’s any indication, only 14 American newspapers are credentialed, a drop from a year ago, but more indicative, only two U.S.-based reporters are expected to cover the entire three-week Tour.
OLN is not lessening its coverage. Saturday begins with a special at 6:30 a.m. Mountain time, with the prologue at 9:30.
But how many will watch?
“I think we might have a dip,” said commentator Phil Liggett, who will do his 34th Tour. “But nothing like where everyone will forget Lance’s legacy. He introduced a huge public to the Tour de France. This year, when I’ve been in the States, taxi drivers ask, ‘Who will win with Lance gone?”‘
The 93rd Tour is chock full of story angles.
Ullrich, the 1997 winner, is a former partying diesel engine who’s newly married. Basso, the family man, has improved every year. Can a settled-down Ullrich return to the top after nine years? Can Basso, with the help of Glenwood Springs’ Bobby Ju lich at first lieutenant, become only the third rider in 57 years to win the Tour de France and Tour of Italy in the same year?
The course is 2,194 miles and goes counterclockwise around France. The relatively easy climbs could hurt Basso, but the absence of a team time trial will affect Ullrich.
Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team did not designate a new leader, meaning the likes of Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine, George Hincapie of South Carolina or Paolo Savoldelli of Italy could make the podium.
Americans Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis will also have a shot at the podium.
“There will be three Americans fighting for a top-six finish,” Liggett said.
It all adds up to some intriguing programming, but the drug scandal may hang over the sport for three weeks – similar to 1998, when the Italian team Festina was raided and banned.
“It must stay a nice sport,” Prudhomme said. “The only way is to fight against doping.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
