The world’s most popular sports event not involving a ball begins Saturday. No, the Indy 500 was in May. The Olympics’ track and field competition isn’t until next summer. OK, you’re excused if you’ve pushed the Tour de France in the back attic of your mind, next to the Triple-A All-Star Game and the Dubuque Open.
Cycling’s stars haven’t done much to help the sport the past couple of years, and names of this year’s contenders aren’t known much outside of cafes in the French Alps and bike shops.
Nevertheless, this little bike race will begin Saturday, and you folks who have lost interest apparently won’t be missed. Evidence shows that worldwide – and in-state – interest is as high as ever and the competition, despite the lack of A-list celebs, is the most wide-open in years.
An unprecedented start in London. An anti-drug charter. A savage last week in the Pyrenees. And – get this – another possible American winner, this one from our Mountain time zone.
“This Tour de France will be much different than any we’ve seen,” said Versus network’s Phil Liggett, who will broadcast his 35th Tour.
The cynic would say, if it’s different, then it must be clean. The cynic may be right. Furious over the disqualification of four of last year’s top five contenders and the positive drug test of winner Floyd Landis, plus the ongoing investigation into the Spanish drug scandal, Operacion Puerto, cycling’s governing body had enough.
In June, UCI made all 600 ProTour cyclists sign an anti-doping charter pledging they are not involved in drugs and would submit DNA samples to Spanish authorities investigating Puerto. Any rider who refuses will not enter the Tour de France; any rider who tests positive loses a year’s salary.
“These are Draconian measures,” Liggett said from London during a conference call.”Tests can be conducted at any time. You’re going to see a Tour, dare I say, where riders appear human. They will have bad days. No matter how good they are, the body will say, enough is enough.”
Many fans have said that, too. However, there are plenty left. So many fans are pouring into England that British newspapers report the economic impact on the city this weekend will reach $240 million.
Take Liggett’s neighborhood pub, not far from the start of Saturday’s prologue between Trafalgar Square and the prime minister’s home on Downing Street. The patrons are hardcore soccer and Formula One fans. This week, however, the pub is putting up a big screen and showing every stage of the Tour.
“They’re all asking who will win because they’re going to bookies to place bets,” Liggett said. “They’re all giving me names. I nearly fell off my bar stool.”
Locally, VeloNews, the Boulder-based cycling magazine and website, has seen the hits on go up every year, including an 18 percent jump this year. And its up-to- the-minute Tour coverage hasn’t even begun. VeloNews’ Tour preview is an all time-high 226 pages.
“There’s more people riding bikes, more people buying top-end bikes,” said John Wilcockson, VeloNews’ editorial director who will cover his 39th Tour. “And they’re fascinated by the Tour de France.”
Maybe the grand specter can overcome the loss of Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton and Landis, among the others who either have tested positive or became wrapped up in Puerto. Versus’ TV ratings dropped 50 percent last year merely with the retirement of Lance Armstrong after his seventh straight Tour win in 2005.
But the usual million spectators are expected to line the streets each day, and Tour officials are hoping the wide-open competition and drug-free atmosphere – well, so far – will keep people in front of TVs from Brisbane to Boston.
The course is flat the first week but hits three Category 1 climbs July 16 in the Alps and two HC (too high to categorize) peaks the next day. The Pyrenees will be brutal, with a 131-mile stage July 25, ending at the top of 5,639-foot Col d’Aubisque.
Two men have emerged as slight favorites. Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan took third in 2003, has won three stages and last fall’s Tour of Spain. Riding with a Tour newcomer, Astana, he is the favorite in the minds of Liggett and Paul Sherwen, his longtime broadcasting partner.
“Vinokourov is more quarter horse than thoroughbred,” said former Tour cyclist Jonathan Vaughters, team director of Denver-based Slipstream- Chipotle. “He’s very powerful. His acceleration is immense. His down point is he has anaerobic power rather than aerobic power. Anaerobic power is short bursting power as opposed to aerobic power. Things are going to have to swing right for him.”
But Astana lost five riders in the Puerto dragnet and couldn’t race in last year’s Tour. Vinokourov, 33, had last July off. The lack of team experience won’t help; neither will the loss of German Matthias Kessler, who tested positive in April, and Italian Eddy Mazzoleni, implicated in the 2004 Italian drug scandal.
If you’re looking for an experienced team, put a few quid on Levi Leipheimer. The Butte, Mont., native has joined Team Discovery Channel. Leip- heimer, 33, never has finished higher than sixth, nor even won a stage. He also is battling a rap of cracking under Tour pressure.
“I know a lot of people think that, but he hasn’t been on a team at the Tour that fully supported or had the ability to support him,” Wilcockson said. “He’s had top-10 finishes three times in the Tour despite that.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
TOUR DE FRANCE | THE CONTENDERS
Alexander Vinokourov
Kazakhstan
Team: Astana. Third in 2003 and an underrated climber.
Levi Leipheimer
United States
Team: Discovery Channel. Has been great everywhere but the Tour. It’s his time.
Andreas Kloden
Germany
Team: Astana. Two-time podium finisher and could contend if teammate can’t.
Alejandro Valverde
Spain
Team: Caisse d’Epargne. He’s just 27, and he beat Lance Armstrong in the mountains in 2005.
Carlos Sastre
Spain
Team: CSC. Ivan Basso’s lieutenant moves up with the banished Basso moving out.
