Friday update

The strange contradictions of having Amgen sponsor a race.

Sam Abt finds better things to write about than pro cycling. I don't blame him.

TDWSport has a sequence of photos showing Armstrong shoving and knocking over a fan (dressed as a yellow devil) who was wearing a cape with the slogan "Live Clean" on it, and who was carrying a pitchfork fashioned of syringes. Read the first comment on this blog entry to get the Yellow Devil's own point of view.

How comforting to know that our current reigning Olympic gold medalist is fully supportive of dopers. First Bettini, now Sanchez....some things never change. Those Olympic rings sure are strangely tarnished.

The yellow chalk is getting a little annoying at the ToC, as riders and spectators might prefer to actually be able to see and breathe in the finishing straight, rather then be choked and squinting through a giant cloud of yellow dust. As Team Type 1 rider Chris Jones said, "You couldn’t see and you couldn’t breathe the last three kilometers. It was like riding in a yellow fog....I heard the guys from the city complaining about the chalk on the road and how it’s going to take a lot of time to clean it all up."

Scott Nydam, in his own words. Lots of crashes at the ToC, it was like attack of the killer rain capes, with Nydam, Freire, and Kirchen all taken out by very unfortunate mishaps involving jackets. There is a truly terrible photo of Nydam's accident at Graham Watson's site. Makes me shudder. Glad to hear he is more or less alright.

ToC blog by CW's Simon Richardson, providing a rather funny alternate viewpoint on the race.

Blog from Jelly Belly's Phil Gaimon, providing a good-humored and welcome dose of refreshing humility and reality on surviving in the back end of the peloton.

Liquigas's Brian Vandborg calls his days in ToC "brutal" and faces asthma problems.

Nice tatoo.

Astana's Chris Horner has been blogging on the ToC for the Oregonian.

Basso surprised everyone by DNSing the ToC time trial due to hitting his knee on his handlebars earlier in the day. Seems that he had some sort of problem with his chain that caused him to unclip suddenly, and his knee was injured enough to make him abandon.

What passes for "journalism" at Gazzetta. If you are going to interview Di Luca, there are real questions to be asked.

Something is truly askew in the universe when even the Village Voice is writing about Armstrong.

"To cover with accuracy and honesty Armstrong’s comeback to professional cycling this year is one of the hardest stories in sport. There are many who simply do not try. Kimmage can never be accused of that."

Daniel Martin interview.

The sad tale of Scarponi.

Dr. Evil, still finding clueless new recruits to his army of darkness.

The Science of Sport blog writers dare to express an opinion on the Kimmage vs His Royal Highness incident, and find themselves besieged by apoplectic commenters. I can sympathize, as I just had to close all comments on my previous Kimmage post, exhausted as I was by the legions of Livestrong fans showering me with their hatred and bile for having expressed my support for Kimmage's anti-doping stance. Really, god forbid that I oppose doping in cycling!? My views on this topic are perfectly summed up by the eloquent letter sent to VeloNews by Charles Howe. Bravo Mr. Howe. And you better believe more than a few people are waiting with great anticipation for Kimmage's next upcoming article, where it seems likely that he will have a lot to say. Keep an eye out at the London Times come Sunday.

Graham Watson is a loyal company man, and it is unheard of for him to criticize anything to do with Astana, so it was with surprise that I read his criticism of the motorcycle crash incident involving none other than Liz Kreutz, official photographer of the Second Coming.

Sean Yates blogging from ToC.

I am trying to go easy on the Versus ToC coverage, because I know that it is not the best idea to bite the hand that feeds you, so to speak, but I can't keep quiet any longer. I HATE CRAIG HUMMER!! Dear god, please spare me one more second of his inanity, his total cluelessness, his intolerable ponderous intonation, his incredibly irritating booming pep-rally tone of voice that sounds like a cross between a loud used car salesman and Zeus pronouncing judgement on the pitiful mortals from the mountaintop of the gods. I can't take it. I just can't. Has anyone ever suggested to him that he just try talking in a normal, calm tone of voice, that he not try to make his every dumb comment sound like a holy oracle gifting his followers with momentous morsels of perfect wisdom on the meaning of life? I think Paul and Phil must just sit there silently moaning and wincing under the Hummer onslaught, wishing they had giant earplugs to drown out the infernal stream of nonsense that pours out of his mouth. And then today...today I wanted to reach into the TV and strangle Mr. Hummer, when he made totally uncalled for and totally uninformed derogatory comments about Svein Tuft. That was too much. And then, you really don't want to get me started on those bizarre segments with the comedian lady....whoever thought up that idea must have been high or something. Has it ever occurred to Versus that cycling fans tune in to see the race? THE RACE! Not stupid segments with comedians, or eons-long gag-worthy worship-fests on His Royal Highness's saintliness, not features on Specialized's latest damn cycling shoes, but THE RACE! Please Versus, more race, no Hummer, and all will be well. (And just thank god for the Tour Tracker, where it is all race all the time, and Frankie commentates without talking down to the fans.)

Great to see Peterson doing so well for Garmin (some confidence he's got, eh? check out his blog), and to see Z back riding well after his injury last season. Of course, I really wanted Z to win the time trial, but he still did a great ride to get second. I just hope that in the final two stages all the teams throw absolutely everything they have at Astana, and don't let them walk off with the victory without a hard fight. Gesink for one needs to try something big on Palomar. Also, I have a question...why exactly did Cavendish point at his crotch when he won the stage into Paso Robles? Is this some sort of new-fangled victory salute specially designed to annoy those of us who already have a serious aversion to the "too-much-information" aspect of the dreaded white cycling shorts? Or what? You've got poor Stapleton doing the interview rounds on Versus trying to talk down the idea that Cavendish is arrogant and full of himself, then Cavendish wins and proceeds to frame his crotch proudly for the world's camera? Someone has suggested that his new nickname should be Isle of Manhood...

In rumor-mill news, it seems that many people think the whole stolen TT bike episode was actually a manufactured publicity stunt organized by Trek to gain media attention for their bikes. If so, it sure as hell worked, considering the insane number of column inches that have been wasted on this story so far.

Pretty strange to see that spat between Cunego and Basso over the idea of transparency. Cunego seems to forget that he rides for Lampre, a team which produces positive tests with such plodding regularity that I bet their press officer must keep a re-usable template for the usual "shocked and surprised" press release always at hand. But Cunego wears a doping-free temporary tatoo, so really, he must be clean and therefore has every right to chastise (ex?)dopers on other teams, even if he conveniently forgets about the dopers right under his nose on his own team.

As for Valverde and Schumacher, their lies are so obvious and pointless, I cannot imagine how they can even delude themselves into thinking that anyone believes them. Torri isn't giving up, and Valverde will hopefully get his due, along with the other Puerto dopers whose cases may come next (the Saxo Bank fans tremble...). It is a very sad commentary on the Spanish justice system that they keep right on blatantly trying to protect Valverde and obstruct justice. Serrano doesn't seem to care that he is making himself a total laughing-stock, and neither does Valv.Piti himself.

Anyone heard from Anne Gripper? Bio-passport? Hello? Anyone out there, or should we just expect to wait until the next Ice Age is over for any sanctions? Has a black hole swallowed the data? A freak storm cut power for the UCI press service? An empty echo chamber replaced the UCI headquarters?