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Tour de France Race Reports
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Tour de Pez: Looking Back At A Tour Gone By
Friday, July 31, 2009 5:32:12 AM PT
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Roadside Recap: As we make our merry way through the rounds of the PEZ Looks Back, Ed is up for his retrospective on the Tour that was. As the ever discerning journalist, Ed's recollections aren't all of the positive sort, but worry not, the positives (not those positives) heavily outweigh any low points. Ready? Let's go.
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Tour de Pez: ASO’s Marilyn Urtubia
Friday, July 31, 2009 4:49:37 AM PT
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Roadside Look Back: For the press core, one of the more familiar sights behind the scenes at this year’s Tour de France was the welcoming smile of Marilyn Urtubia. Employed by the Amaury Sport Organisation, she’s the person who helps sort out the media’s problems, liaises with the Tour’s Press Chief and translates for Alberto Contador. That’s a pretty important set of responsibilities right there!
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Tour de Pez: PGTSD
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 6:00:38 AM PT
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Roadside Wrap: That's Post Grand Tour Stress Disorder. The Champs Elysées stage of le Tour is the climax, the culmination of a near month long adventure around Europe. The riders and staff have a huge party in the plush Meridien Hotel; whilst the journos slip into the lift down to underground car park and realise that they can't put off gutting out the hire car any longer.
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Tour de Pez: Gord Looks Back
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 6:25:33 AM PT
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Roadside Wrap: My second big adventure on the Tour, my second year behind the scenes riding the maddest, scariest, most thrilling rollercoaster in the sports world. With a brief to go and speak to the people beside, inside and chasing the race, to hunt out the weird and the wonderful, here are a few of the things that struck me along the way...
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TDF 09 Final: That Was Fun
Monday, July 27, 2009 4:03:34 PM PT
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PEZ Sez: On the surface, 2009 was maybe not the best TDF ever, but peel away a couple layers and the stories and complexity of the last three weeks make it one of the most fun to watch.
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Tour de Pez: One Last Hurrah!
Sunday, July 26, 2009 4:19:30 PM PT
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Roadside St.21: Ed and Martin have been hard at work for over a week now. They've logged thousands of kilometers behind the wheel, spent countless hours working, and finally, on the last day, they have but one wish: to be fans. That’s what we’re going to be today, we’ve been hacks for nine stages – time for a change.
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Tour Coach: It's All About The Green
Sunday, July 26, 2009 2:01:25 PM PT
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Insight St.21:I forget exactly which year it was, but one of the six years that German sprinter Erik Zabel won the green jersey points competition he didn’t win a single stage. This year, Columbia HTC’s Mark Cavendish won SIX stages and DIDN’T win the green jersey. There’s little doubt that Cavendish is the fastest sprinter on two wheels, so it’s a testament to Thor Hushovd’s savvy as a competitor that the Norwegian captured the second green jersey of his career.
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TdF’09 St.21: Contador Safe On Tour Throne!
Sunday, July 26, 2009 11:26:32 AM PT
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Race Report: The biggest show in bike racing rolls to a multi-colored, sweating, exhausted halt on the Champs Élysées and with the classification battles pretty much fought out over the last 3500kms, only one crown remains to be claimed … who gets the glory of winning the stage on the most beautiful avenue in the world?
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Tour Coach: Climbing, Climbing, Climbing
Saturday, July 25, 2009 2:35:38 PM PT
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Insight St.20: Looking at the route of the 2009 Tour de France when it was released last fall, everyone involved in Lance Armstrong’s comeback knew that Mont Ventoux would be one of the race’s main battlegrounds. The Tour de France is always won by the strongest rider in the race, but with the configuration of the final week this year, it was clear that gaining climbing power was a top priority for Lance’s Tour preparation.
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Tour de Pez: Un Jour Géant
Saturday, July 25, 2009 1:24:20 PM PT
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Roadside St.20: "Venus" by Shocking Blue blasts from the car hi-fi; the fountains in chilled Montelimar look wonderful under a perfect blue sky, it's not too hot at 22 degrees, there's a cool breeze - a perfect day for a bike race. But today isn't just any bike race; it's stage 20 of the 2009 Tour de France.
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TdF’09 St.20: Garate: The Little Giant of Ventoux
Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:50:30 AM PT
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Race Report: The Battle of Mont Ventoux is how you could describe the action of today on the “Giant of Provence”. Another classic mountain stage with all the action we had been waiting for since Monaco. The podium placings were at stake and everyone had to fight for their lives, top action!
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Tour de Pez: Cav Spoils It For The Baroudeurs
Friday, July 24, 2009 3:33:47 PM PT
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Roadside St.19: "Baroudeur" according to my Collins French dictionary (in colour), there's no such word. The Baroudeur stages are those which are too tough to be called 'sprinter' stages but not tough enough to be called 'mountain' stages. They suit the hard men; riders who will plug away for hours under a baking sun or through the rain, with half a dozen kindred spirits for the chance of a stage win.
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Tour Coach: And Now Entering the Ring...
Friday, July 24, 2009 1:36:28 PM PT
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Insight St.19: Nineteen down, two to go. And of the two stages remaining in the 2009 Tour de France, it’s tomorrow’s race to the top of Mont Ventoux that is likely to decide the composition of the final podium in Paris. Alberto Contador’s position in the yellow jersey is secure – barring incident or injury – but the second and third steps of the final podium are very much in play.
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TdF'09 St.19: Cavendish Unstoppable
Friday, July 24, 2009 8:52:46 AM PT
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Race Report: With a little climb near the end anything was possible, but once the Columbia train brought their man into the final 5 k, it was never in doubt as Mark Cavendish delivered another convincing sprint win on this Stage 19, 178km jaunt. But it wasn’t all piano until then, read on!
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Tour de Pez: A Day At The Races
Friday, July 24, 2009 4:10:33 AM PT
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Roadside St.18: One lap of beautiful Lac Annecy on a bicycle; a great couple of hours fun - or 50 minutes of pain? Today it's the latter: stage 18 of the 2009 Tour de France and a chance for Wiggins to claw back lost time; or will Alberto morph from Prince to King, today? Within the next few hours we'll know.
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Tour de Pez: On Tyler's Wheel
Thursday, July 23, 2009 4:00:38 PM PT
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Roadside St.18: There are more than seven hours until Bert rolls down that ramp; it's 09:33 and first starter, Yauheni Hutarovich doesn't start 'til 11:10 but the fans are out in their thousands already. Lac d'Annecy - a near 20 kilometre long blue jewel ringed by jagged, grey mountains and the venue for the stage 18 time trial of the 2009 Tour.
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Tour Coach: The Unique Case Of The Time Trial
Thursday, July 23, 2009 3:32:18 PM PT
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Insight St.18: I had an interesting training partner this morning for a little jaunt around Annecy, none other than Lance Armstrong. I joined him on the bike as he pre-rode the Stage 18 time trial course and made some last-minute adjustments to his Yoshitomo Nara-painted time trial bike. It was good to see that he was relaxed and in a good mood; I take it as a good sign when he’s in the mood to give me grief about this or that.
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TdF’09 St.18: Contador: El Rey De Tour!
Thursday, July 23, 2009 10:45:37 AM PT
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Race Report: There was a lot at stake today in the time trial round the Lake of Annecy. Questions needed to be answered, positions needed to be consolidated or lost! It was all to play for and Alberto Contador wanted to show who was BOSS, well he did it without doubt.
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Tour de Pez: 1 x 2 + 4 x 1 = Hurt
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 4:22:31 PM PT
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Roadside St.17: If you're from Scotland, you believe in the Loch Ness monster - and if you believe in her, you have to believe in the Yeti. We were lucky enough to bump into one at Bourg-Saint-Maurice before stage 17; and a friendly fellow he was, too! But that's as about as light hearted as we can get, today.
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Tour Coach: The Many Daily Subplots
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:11:22 PM PT
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Insight St.17: One of the important – and sometimes overlooked – aspects of stage racing is the fact that you have to be constantly aware of both the people ahead and behind you in the standings. We all tend to focus on the riders right behind the yellow jersey, and their obvious motivation to overtake the rider or riders ahead of them...
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TdF'09 St.17: One Final Hurrah In The Alps
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 9:16:09 AM PT
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Race Report: Team managers and riders alike have been nodding their heads in respect to today's Stage 17 for months now. The massive five ascent stage does not finish on top of one of the climbs, but who needs a mountaintop finish when you have umpteen thousand vertical meters to deal with? Read on!
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Tour de Pez: On The Road With Ed & Martin
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 4:00:24 PM PT
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Roadside St.16: "You know what, Martin? It must be great, just sitting there, with a picnic, watching the race." "Why don't we do that, tomorrow, Ed?" "Why not, indeed!"
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Tour Coach: Look Out Below!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 2:56:53 PM PT
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Insight St.16: Summit finishes get all the glory, but it take a lot of power and a ton of courage to win races that finish at the bottom of steep and technical descents. To win at the bottom a descent, you not only have to have the climbing legs to cross the summit in the lead group, but then you also need the skills and steely nerves necessary to get to go downhill like an avalanche.
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TdF'09 St.16: Astarloza Rules The St. Bernards
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:05:14 AM PT
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Race Report: As the Alps settle in, the temperature in the Tour de France is going haywire. Today’s tough mountain stage softened up the legs for tomorrow’s legbreaker, and fireworks were again on tap. Mikel Astarloza took the day’s honors, but behind the big dogs went toe to toe. Read on!
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Tour Coach: What Now For Lance?
Monday, July 20, 2009 5:05:31 PM PT
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Insight Rest day 2: Am I disappointed he’s not leading the race? Not even a little bit. I’m amazed at the improvement he made in 12 months, thrilled he’s riding high in the overall standings at the Tour de France, and I’m looking forward to the rest of this week and the progress he can make in the next 12 months.
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Tour de Pez: This Year's Cinderella Story Team
Monday, July 20, 2009 2:34:03 PM PT
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The rest day and there are press conferences aplenty to attend. Trouble is, you're not 'one on one,' it's easy to get ignored and the same quotes will go down in every one else's notebook. Always trying to be that little bit different, Pez headed up to Sion in Switzerland to attend the less formal get together that Skil-Shimano had organised. Minnows in a shark pool; they might not have won a stage, but they've won plenty of hearts - and media interest.
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Tour de Pez: Words From Silence
Monday, July 20, 2009 2:31:40 PM PT
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Cadel’s bad day; straight from the horse’s mouth. Verbier wasn’t a good stage for Cadel Evans; as well as losing time to Contador - just like the entire field did – he lost time to podium rivals, Sastre, the Schlecks, and Wiggins. We spoke to Silence-Lotto’s manager, former Belgian pro champion, Marc Sargeant and DS, former Paris – Tours winner, Hendrik Redant, to get the low down.
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Tour De Pez: The Road To Verbier
Sunday, July 19, 2009 4:34:51 PM PT
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Roadside St.15: Pontarlier, the start town is famed for being a centre of absinthe production - but Martin says I can't try any; I'm bad enough without hallucinogenic spirits. The climbing starts within minutes of quitting town; the Cat 3, 3.7k Rafour climb.
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Tour Coach: An Exercise in Power
Sunday, July 19, 2009 3:49:58 PM PT
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Insight St. 15 When the attacks start flying on the slopes of big mountain climbs, the performance gap between leading and falling off the pace is razor-thin. As expected, the summit finish to Verbier led to a showdown between the major yellow jersey contenders in the 2009 Tour de France, but after all was said and done, there was only one surprising performance: Bradley Wiggins.
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TdF’09 St.15: Contador Answers!
Sunday, July 19, 2009 11:08:27 AM PT
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Race Report: In the end it only took Alberto Contador a little over five kilometres to answer the question of just which Astana rider was going to head into the second rest day as the true favourite for victory in this year’s Tour de France.
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TdF'09 St.15 Preview: Up, Up, Up To Verbier
Sunday, July 19, 2009 3:52:00 AM PT
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St.15 Preview: Fourteen stages down, and we're still longing desperately for some real bike racing. Today's 15th Stage to the Swiss ski town of Verbier will be the first in what is hopefully a fairly long series of 'racing' days. PEZ recently took a trip to Switzerland to take a closer look at the climb we hope will leave a mark on the favorites.
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Tour de Pez: Le Caravan!
Saturday, July 18, 2009 4:54:44 PM PT
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Roadside St.14: It's hard to explain to folks who have never seen the Tour caravan just how crazy it is. Credit crunch, recession, whatever, the sponsors still spend those big bucks to get their products on the roads of France for a big chunk of July. Unlike TV, newspaper or movie advertising; this is interactive.
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Tour de Pez: What Do The Riders Say?
Saturday, July 18, 2009 4:30:50 PM PT
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Roadside St.14: Week two of the Tour; as far as action goes, it has been a bit tame - or has it? We thought we'd talk to some guys who don't just watch it on TV. PEZ caught up with Vandenbergh, Wegelius, Van summeren, Pineau, Beppu, Rogers, Van Hummel, Ten Dam, Arrieta, and whew, finally, Danny Pate. Read on!
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Tour Coach: The 'Right' Decision
Saturday, July 18, 2009 3:14:46 PM PT
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Insight St. 14: Strategically, Team Katusha had one big advantage today: they were only working toward one goal of winning the stage. In contrast, the Columbia HTC team had to balance two goals: get George Hincapie into the yellow jersey and support Mark Cavendish’s long-range goal to win the green jersey. Such dilemmas lead to difficult days for team managers, and it’s rare that a team is able to achieve both.
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TdF’09 St.14: Ivanov Scores, Hincapie So Close!
Saturday, July 18, 2009 9:59:23 AM PT
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Race Report: Today could have been a bit of a bore, but when you have a rider of the quality of George Hincapie close to taking the yellow jersey by the slimmest of margins it’s enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Team Columbia was looking to have the yellow and the green jerseys, so close, but…
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Tour de Pez: A Damp Journey To Vittel
Friday, July 17, 2009 4:25:28 PM PT
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Roadside St.13: Haussler looks composed, in the saddle, then out, he slices across the wet tar towards us, just missing our toes. His immaculate white Cervélo kit is now more "drowned rat" than hi-tech Castelli. Yesterday at the Vittel finish it was 31 degrees; today, on the summits, it's seven. We're high on a wet Col du Firstplan - last climb of the day.
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Tour Coach: The Not So Simple Rainy Days
Friday, July 17, 2009 4:18:00 PM PT
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Insight St.13: Regardless of the fact that the yellow jersey group finished almost seven minutes behind stage winner Heinrich Haussler (and that was a tremendous ride from a young man who looks to be developing from a classics specialist into a great all-around rider), today was a difficult race. The mountains weren’t huge, but the riders were drenched by a cold rain all day.
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Inside Le Tour: Catching Up With Tyler Farrar
Friday, July 17, 2009 2:16:53 PM PT
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Garmin man, Tyler Farrar has been inching ever closer to Cavendish; we caught up with the man from Washington State in Vittel at the start of a wet and hilly stage 13. Ever the pro, he grabbed Martijn Maaskant's Felt to park his chamois on and save those leg muscles.
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Tour de Pez: Talking With The Heads
Friday, July 17, 2009 2:10:28 PM PT
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Roadside St.13: Stage 13 and the mechanics have to fit those 23's and 25's again. There's a first, two second and two third category climbs today. It ain't a sprinter's day! It could be another straightforward breakaway day, or it just might be the day that the Tour lights up. We put it to the some of the men who make the big tactical decisions; "does le Tour start today?"
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TdF'09 St.13: Haussler Continues Dream Season
Friday, July 17, 2009 10:57:47 AM PT
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Race Report: Rainy skies and wet roads greeted the riders for this lumpy 200km parcours from Vittel to Colmar and Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo Test Team) proved to be the best attacking his breakaway mates to take a fine win, but there’s a lot more to today’s story...read on!
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Tour Coach: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Thursday, July 16, 2009 2:28:48 PM PT
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Insight St.12: You would have thought that one of the final stages of the Tour de France that’s suitable to a sprint finish would have ended up that way, but instead the win went to a very deserving Nicki Sorensen from Saxo Bank. There are a few good reasons why today was a good day for a breakaway to succeed.
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TdF’09 St.12: Great Dane Takes The Vittel!
Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:55:01 AM PT
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Race Report: Today could have been another day for a sprint kick, but seven riders thought it might be nice to finish 6 minutes in front of the others in the bunch and the sprint teams let them! Strong-man Nicki Sörensen wanted the stage and made sure of it with a solo 5 kilometre ride into the spa town of Vittel.
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Tour de Pez: En Route To Le Grand Boucle
Thursday, July 16, 2009 6:48:22 AM PT
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Almost Roadside PEZ: France - 547,000 square kilometres; population 60 million and the world's most popular tourist destination - 75 million people visit each year. Ed Hood and Martin Williamson are on the road to their first day following Le Tour. As always, Ed takes a look at the land he is set to explore.
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Tour Coach: Anatomy of an Uphill Sprint
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 5:00:35 PM PT
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Insight St.11 Though it’s not much of a surprise that Mark Cavendish won Stage 11, the uphill finish made it one of the narrowest wins of the four stages he’s won this year. It takes slightly different tactics to successfully win an uphill sprint, and Cavendish’s victory today shows that he’s versatile as well as exceedingly fast.
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TdF'09 St.11: You Will Never Guess
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 9:25:52 AM PT
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Race Report: The Tour takes a second consecutive day to rest on its laurels and let the sprinters have their fun. The nearly 200 kilometer stage isn't flat, but with two Category 4 climbs and no real wind to speak of, you can be sure there's a bunch sprint that needs sprinting.
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Inside Le Tour With Ozcycling.com's Scott McGrory
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7:15:07 AM PT
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The Aussies have been quiet this Tour; or have they? We decided we’d check in with Fox TV Australia and OzCycling.com presenter – not to mention former Olympic Madison champion and six day Blue Train passenger – Scott McGrory, to get the Tour view from the opposite side of the world.
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Tour Coach: Rolling Stages Aren’t All That Easy
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 3:35:56 PM PT
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Insight St.10: You know how frustrating it is to drive in heavy highway traffic when people are constantly tapping their brakes, then accelerating and tapping their brakes again? Imagine doing that for hours on end, but that instead of hitting the gas pedal, it’s your own engine you have to rev for each acceleration. That’s what it can be like to ride in the peloton through rolling hills like they encountered during Stage 10 of the 2009 Tour de France.
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TDF'09 St.10: Can You Say Cavendish?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:45:08 AM PT
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Race Report: Bastille Day, no radios, green jersey battle heating back up now that we’re out of the mountains – yep, today was a good one in the Tour.
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Inside Le Tour: Rest Day Recap With Charly
Monday, July 13, 2009 4:08:13 PM PT
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The first rest day celebrated the exit from the Pyrenees and the start of a flat middle week. It was a well deserved rest after the ardors of the first week. Silence-Lotto man, Charly Wegelius took time to give us his take on the Tour’s first excursion into the clouds.
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Tour Coach: Aiming For Week Three
Monday, July 13, 2009 12:39:59 PM PT
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Rest Day Insight: When the course of the 2009 Tour de France was revealed last fall, it was immediately clear to riders, coaches, and directors familiar with the race that the biggest challenges were lumped into the final week of the event. And while the route obviously influences the tactics applied by the race favorites, it also has an impact on the way riders prepare for the race.
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Inside Le Tour: PEZ Chats With Brian Smith
Monday, July 13, 2009 4:23:31 AM PT
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After the first two stages in the mountains, and a not so thrilling third day, we decided that we needed an expert’s view. Who better to have a chat with than Lance’s former teammate, Andy Hampsten's lieutenant, and now Eurosport pundit, Brian Smith?
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Tour Coach: Long Range Survival
Sunday, July 12, 2009 4:26:50 PM PT
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Insight St. 9: Surviving a long-range breakaway and still having the power to attack or sprint for the stage win takes training, experience, and intelligence, and today Pierrick Fedrigo of BBox Bouygues Telecom used all of them to grab his team’s second stage win of this year’s Tour de France.
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Tour de Pez: Everyone Smiles
Sunday, July 12, 2009 11:58:58 AM PT
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Roadside St.9: “Troisieme etape pour Le France... bonne annee!” laughs our hotelier in Pau as we arrive just in time to see Pierrick Fedrigo's aquiline profile spear across the line. It's the closest Sunday to Bastille Day, and the roads are lined with fans of every shape, size and age ... and everyone's happy.
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TdF'09 St.9: France Wins Again!
Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:37:58 AM PT
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Race Report: The last day in the Pyrenees saw Lance launch an unexpected attack, but it was a Frenchman who stole the glory as BBox Bouygues Telecom celebrated their 2nd stage win of the Tour with Pierrick Fédrigo.
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Tour Coach: Managing Those Precious Matches
Saturday, July 11, 2009 3:40:46 PM PT
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Insight St.8: Today we saw examples of how you should and should not use your limited energy in a bike race. On the positive side, yellow jersey Rinaldo Nocentini held the Tour lead even though he was dropped on the day’s final climb. On the other side of the energy spectrum, pre-Tour favorite Cadel Evans launched an attack on the first mountain climb of the day...
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Tour de Pez: Hello Moto!
Saturday, July 11, 2009 1:40:51 PM PT
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Roadside St.8: So, the mobile phone bleeps twice ... a text message appears from the ether, sent by Marylin, the press relations assistant at ASO. “Remember to come to the interview space in the start village at 10.15am to meet your moto pilot.” I hadn't remembered, and now it was real.
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TdF’09 St.8: Luis Leon: The Lion Of St. Girons
Saturday, July 11, 2009 10:19:00 AM PT
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Race Report: Today was said to be not very important, but Cadel Evans had other ideas and set-up an early break on the first climb of the day out of Andorra. Astana kept their cool and Evans didn’t achieve anything, but did catapult Paris-Nice winner Sanchez away with three others to fight out the finish.
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Tour Coach: Lance's Day Of Reckoning
Friday, July 10, 2009 3:38:55 PM PT
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Insight St.7 Twelve months ago, when Lance Armstrong first started talking about his return to professional cycling – and particularly the Tour de France – climbing power wasn’t my biggest concern. It was Lance’s weight that had me worried. And when I first looked at the parcours of the 2009 Tour de France it was Stage 7 that I considered the “day of reckoning”.
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Tour de Pez: Arcalis...Finally!
Friday, July 10, 2009 12:42:47 PM PT
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Roadside St.7: Mama Cass is plaintively asking us to dream a little dream for her as we recover our car from the underground parking facility, burrowed deep below Andorra La Vella. We didn't get to Arcalis yesterday, as we'd planned, but by God we're going to get there today.
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TdF’09 St.7: Arcalis Delivers First Shakedown
Friday, July 10, 2009 11:36:34 AM PT
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Race Report: No more time for idle chit chat, and no more room for shadow boxing. Today’s 224km slog from Barcelona to Arcalis lived up to the billing in levels of excitement, and by the top the GC had its first look at the real contenders. Read on!
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Inside Le Tour: Catching Up With Charly
Friday, July 10, 2009 4:21:21 AM PT
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‘Charly, can you be bothered talking to me after all that rain, today?’ ‘45 minutes’ comes the reply; I really will have to buy that man a wedding present! Charly Wegelius once again took a few minutes to talk with Ed Hood to give us a look inside the peloton.
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Tour de Pez: Thwarted Plans And New Pals
Thursday, July 09, 2009 6:20:02 PM PT
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Roadside St.6: We've spent the best part of a week roasting beside the Med, but now we're landlocked at 1400m in the highest capital city in Europe. The plan for the day had been to skip the trip to Barcelona, and go check out tomorrow's closing climb to Arcalis ... but it just didn't pan out that way.
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Tour Coach: Rainy Day Driving
Thursday, July 09, 2009 5:09:56 PM PT
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Insight St.6: The oppressive heat of the first few days of racing, left today, and in its wake: rain. Racing in the rain opens an entirely different dynamic to a bike race, and at the most basic level, changes how you ride and drive your bike. Chris Carmichael looks a bit closer at the unique requirements of rainy day bike racing.
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TdF’09 St.6: So Near For Millar, Win For Thor!
Thursday, July 09, 2009 10:32:08 AM PT
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Race Report: Today’s stage was for the brave and the wet, the weather played a big part in the action, but so did the strength of David Millar from Garmin, he went with an early break and then attacked for a solo win! It nearly worked, but he got to 1.7 km’s of the line to see the remnants of the peloton pass him to fight out the up-hill sprint.
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Inside Le Tour: Catching Up With Tyler Farrar
Thursday, July 09, 2009 6:55:58 AM PT
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Tyler Farrar has been at it again – jousting with Cavendish, but French Darling ‘Tommy’ Voeckler beat them both to the punch; Ignatiev held on from the break too and Tyler was fourth, just behind Cav. We caught up with the Garmin man after dinner on Wednesday.
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Inside Le Tour: PEZ Talks TTT With Ryder Hesjedal
Thursday, July 09, 2009 1:11:35 AM PT
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Here at PEZ, we love the team time trial; it encompasses the very best aspects of professional bike riding; spectacle, colour, speed, skill, selflessness and the ‘techie-est’ of bicycles. After Garmin’s heroics on stage 4 we thought we should talk to one of Garmin’s ‘fab five’ who were second only to the mighty Astana.
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Tour de Pez: Elegance, Boredom, Aggression
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:27:57 PM PT
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Roadside St.5: A day without a plan gave us, in the end, the visceral, up-close Tour experience. All of our senses were fully engaged as we swept round the Gulf of Lions from the seaside leisure of Le Cap d'Agde to the chaos of a stage finish in Perpignan. We saw Lance at the start, laughing and joking, and we saw him at the end, with the public in pursuit as the excitement bubbled over.
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Tour Coach: Crosswinds 101
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:54:15 PM PT
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Insight St.5: I miss a lot of things about being a professional cyclist, but fighting for position in ripping crosswinds is not one of them. Watching the peloton fracture into several echelons in the final hour or so of Stage 5 brought back painful memories of hours spent flirting with disaster in the gutters of European roads.
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TdF'09 St.5: France's Tour Darling Is Back!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:47:51 AM PT
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Race Report: After the drama of the last two stages, who's to know what to expect today. The stage is a flat one heading down the Mediterranean Coast to Perpignan: the gates to France's Rousillon in one direction, and Spain in the other. There's the possibility for wind and fun again today, or maybe, just maybe we can get a simple bunch sprint to finish off the day.
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Tour Coach: Solid Organization Delivers a Big Win
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 5:12:40 PM PT
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Insight St. 4: Thank goodness the Tour de France did away with the silly rule that imposed a limit on the maximum time a team could gain or lose in the team time trial. Today’s TTT, the first since 2005, was run by the old rules where real time was what counted, and as a result, the Astana team opened up big time gaps on all their rivals.
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Tour de Pez: Montpellier People
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 4:31:28 PM PT
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Roadside St.4: Montpellier is a pretty scenic place to host a Tour stage start, all open, sunny plazas, leafy streets and gorgeous architecture. And giving the Tour a home for 24 hours, the mix of people who came out to see what was going on, and those who were working on it, made for some interesting chatter.
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TDF'09 St.4: Astana Dominant, Fab Still Yellow
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 11:30:50 AM PT
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Race Report: 39 kilometers were to serve as the grounds on which to first parse out the contenders from the pretenders in earnest in today’s Stage 4 to Montpellier. There were crashes, spills, thrills, and when all was said and done, the leader board had a new paint job. Read on, if you dare.
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Tour Coach: There's Never A Typical Day
Monday, July 06, 2009 3:20:01 PM PT
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Insight St.3: If you learn anything from Stage 3 of this Tour, please let it be that maintaining optimal position and staying focused can lead to grand opportunities. In just 30 kilometers, during what was “supposed” to be another run-of-the-mill sprinters’ stage, one team laid waste to the entire peloton and caused some unexpected shifts in the general classification leading into tomorrow’s team time trial.
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Tour de Pez: In The Village Depart
Monday, July 06, 2009 12:43:34 PM PT
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Roadside St. 3: So, what's a Tour de France rider to do when there's an hour to go before the race kicks off, and it's too hot and sunny to sit on the bus? He heads to the start village to drink coffee, hang out with friends and family, sign autographs for fans and flirt with pretty girls. After all, with a long, hot day ahead, who can blame him?
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TdF’09 St.3: Cav Again, Lance In The Frame!
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:10:57 AM PT
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Race Report: What was looking like a boring flat stage was shaken up by the all powerful Columbia team, they split the bunch with 30 kilometres to the finish and the crafty old fox, Lance Armstrong, was there and his “team leader” Contador had missed the bus! Stage for Cav, thanks from Lance!
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Tour Coach: Comfort In A Hostile Environment
Sunday, July 05, 2009 2:20:05 PM PT
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Insight St.2: Riding the Tour de France is unlike anything else, but there are some parts of the first road stage that amateur riders and racers can easily relate to. Those of you who have gone to a local group ride or a race have probably noticed that there’s an initial flurry of activity in the group right at the start of the event, and then...
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TdF'09 St.2: Who Else But Cavendish
Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:06:48 AM PT
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Race Report: The first road stage of this year's Tour took the riders inland from the magnificent shores of the Mediterranean to the sprinting battleground of Brignoles. A sacrificial break provided a wholesome appetizer, but a wild bunch sprint was the main course on today's menu.
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Tour de Pez: The First Sprint!
Sunday, July 05, 2009 9:29:34 AM PT
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Roadside St.2: The riders were just getting started but we opted for a more relaxed day after the frenzied opening salvo in Monaco. Our hotel, rebooked after our original choice had fallen through, turned out to be just a couple of hundred yards from the very first PMU sprint of the race! Pretty obvious where to position ourselves today...
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Tour Coach: The Perfect Position
Saturday, July 04, 2009 3:51:00 PM PT
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Analysis St. 1: It’s hard to believe this is really happening. I’ve been Lance Armstrong’s coach for 20 years and I’ve been writing about the Tour de France for 10 years, but I thought my days of referring to Lance as a Tour de France rider were long gone.
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Tour de Pez: Notes From A Time Trial
Saturday, July 04, 2009 3:11:46 PM PT
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Roadside St. 1: It was pretty obvious to everyone sitting at the roadside on the hill up from the Monaco Casino who had won this opener ... Fabian Cancellara was waaaay, waaay faster than anyone else hurtling past us.
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TdF'09 St.1: Cancellara Obliterates The World's Best
Saturday, July 04, 2009 11:26:24 AM PT
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Race Report: At long last, the big day is here. The tough, technical, demanding time trial in and around the world's second smallest country, Monaco, was always supposed to be a fantastic show. The racing was entertaining all day, and then it turned into a jaw-dropping frenzy as Fabian Cancellara showed why he's the world's best on a time trial bike.
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Tour De Pez: Another Day In Paradise
Saturday, July 04, 2009 9:43:17 AM PT
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Roadside St. 1: Living it up as a Tour follower in Monaco wasn't quite what the singing drummer Phil Collins had in mind when he wrote his rather ham-fisted social commentary song, but it fits for day three of Pez's sojourn to the principality. Another early start lead us from the Promenade des Anglais to the Gare SNCF which is our gateway to the world of the wealthy.
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Tour De Pez: Seeing The Future
Friday, July 03, 2009 11:18:37 AM PT
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TDF Preview T Minus 1: Friday is the day before the Tour storm begins, and it's so humid in Monaco, it feels like we need a downpour to clear the air. There's a big comeback that everyone's talking about, but it's not just those who've made history that are important in cycling. There's the future, too, and new ways to think about.
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Tour De France Through The Decades: The 80's!
Friday, July 03, 2009 7:00:12 AM PT
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Ed Hood moves us on into the 80s today with his Tour de France through the decades series. Let's take a look back at the riders that defined the decade at the Tour de France and wonder for a moment: Who did shoot JR Ewing; Cliff Barnes? Nah! Kristin Shepard. Don't worry if you had to Google that.
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Tour de Pez: In The Land Of Money!
Thursday, July 02, 2009 5:21:32 PM PT
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TDF Teams Presentation: Monaco means money, lots of money, and when you ask people for an adjective to describe the place they'll say wealthy ... or expensive! I won't speculate how far the Pez budget will stretch if I get mysteriously misdirected back from the Tour de France launch via the famous Casino... but why would I when there's a bike race launch to cover?!
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Tour de Pez: Saxo Waxes TDF
Thursday, July 02, 2009 11:37:24 AM PT
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It's always fun and games when Bjarne Riis hits the stage for a pre-Tour press conference, but most of today's belly laughs came courtesy of good ol' Jens Voigt with a couple of cracking one-liners and no messing put-downs. PEZ is live at the Tour, and here's report 'numéro un'.
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TdF'09: PEZ Picks The Contenders!
Thursday, July 02, 2009 7:50:48 AM PT
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As the clock winds down to the Tour start, the favorites are quietly readying themselves for their respective Yellow Jersey runs. And for our part, no pre-Tour frenzy would be complete without a closer look at the riders that should animate the general classification for the next three weeks. Let's take a gander at the possibilities.
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Tour de France Through The Decades: The 70's!
Thursday, July 02, 2009 7:39:08 AM PT
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Sunday July 20th 1969; that’s 40 years ago now but I remember it clearly as the day that I first became aware of professional bicycle racing – I was 14 years-old. I walked in to the living room of our little flat in Kirkcaldy, Scotland and glanced at the black and white TV in the corner; the evening news had just begun and the picture was of a cycling track with the stands crammed to capacity.
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Meet the PEZ Crew: Gordan Cameron
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 6:14:49 AM PT
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This is Gordan’s second year “Roadside” on the Tour for PEZ, so it was time we found out what's behind his words and let me tell you, there is a lot more to this guy than watching bike races! From live radio reports to growing his own food and like all of us at Pez, riding his bike...
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TDF'09: What's Cool About Le Tour
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 9:32:00 AM PT
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The Grand Depart is only three days distant. Let's go back and take a look at our original thoughts on the route - before the exact details were laid before us, before many things had happened. It’s the biggest thing in cycling, but before we get all pontificant on predictions, let’s just step back and consider what makes the 2009 race cool…
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PezCycling News 2009 |
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PEZ Reviews: CRUD Fenders
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The dust has yet to settle from the storm of Interbike, but the rains have started here at PEZ HQ, and that means time to strap on that piece of rain ...
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Interbike 2009: Hidden Treasure, Good Deal, New Stuff
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From the show that just keeps on giving - another round of bit's... C-4 explodes, AX swings, EE in your BB, San Marco and Topolino...
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Interbike '09: The Hits Just Keep On Comin!
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Yes – it’s been a couple weeks since our last post, but we’re back and rollin' with more Interbike goodies, and the wait is worth it – Here’s what’s ...
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Interbike 2009: More to Score
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More from the shores of Treasure Island, this round brings a look at the latest from Look Cycles, chunks of hunks from Bonk Breaker, a ...
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Interbike 2009: Here We Go!
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So we're back from Interbike 2009. The hangover is very nearly gone, the feet are not close to normal, the back is still sore, but nothing itches ...
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Giro 2010 Up Close: The Hellacious Final Week
Friday, November 06, 2009 8:34:07 AM PT
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The first fourteen stages of the 2010 Giro d'Italia are going to be the standard, delicious Giro fare. The final final seven days are going to be the ...
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Grenoble'09: Marvellous Marvulli Tallies #5!
Thursday, November 05, 2009 11:51:37 AM PT
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Four nights down, two to go. The racing was hot in Grenoble, the sideshows, arguably, just as hot. Edmond Hood was on the scene, working hard, making ...
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California 2010: PEZ Takes A Closer Look
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:00:45 AM PT
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Let’s say you run a nice little bike race in that draws world champions and millions of fans. Conventional wisdom says, “don’t change a thing.” But ...
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