“Take Back The Tour”

I think that’s a very cool ad. I can’t wait for the tour to start. I can’t get enough of the coverage. When I was a teenager I can remember taping it when CBS used to do the coverage. I would then watch it before my rides for inspiration. I hope that this year will be a clean tour, and we won’t have to wonder if the leader is doped up, or if he could be caught at anytime and kicked off of the tour.

Jeff– Right there with you. I want it to be close… exciting and scandal free! I still wonder about the whole Astana thing though. Will the ASO really go through with it? It would still be crappy if they said at the last minute… OK Astana you can come… knowing it’s a jab because of logistics, team training, strategy, planning, etc.

Great Ad. I can’t wait for the Tour. Yes, all the doping is beyond depressing. But the Tour in the mountains ….. amazing.

PS - German Television pulled the tour off the air - despite huge ratings - mid-Tour last year when the t-Mobile guy tested positive.

People are sick of the scandals

I am totally inspired! Oooh, goosebumps watching that rider climb. That’s what I want to be when I grow up

Is that you in that ad? Long live Tour de France…!

Will– I read about the German Television puling the Tour… sad. Let’s hope it’s just amazing this year as you say. I know you’ll be there sporting your polka dot jersey.

Arlyn– Me too.. or I just want to be one of the crazy fans on the side of the road witnessing this great spectacle firsthand.

jwilliams– You weren’t supposed to know. I guess it’s hard not to notice the sheer strength in those legs.:)

I hope that the tour goes back to the times in which the commentary is focused on the stages and the riders ability and agility.
This past year I have found I don’t read the same magazines as previous years due to every second article bringing up doping and allegations. I’m excited about the tour this year but not to the same extent as other years. The coverage in Canada was exceptional last year and I hope this year is no different.

I think Versus are poseurs. From what I can see, they get all of their footage from EuroSport which does full coverage of EVERY race.

Ian– I understand that… I’m looking forward to the same feeling. Unfortunately, thanks to all those magazine articles I hope we don’t go into the next day after watching a great stage wondering if we’ll see some dubious headline.

Chris– I would also love to see full coverage of every race. But at least there’s one network here that covers the races in some form even if it is a “wrap up” with the final stage on Sundays.

Interesting ad, I suppose they needed something to signify that “this year will be different”… but who knows. Last year was suppose to be different too. I was actually at the stage in Montpellier when the announced that Rasmussen lied about his whereabouts… since I wasn’t watching TV, I was thinking “why are all the photographers pushing and shoving each other just to get a shot of the yellow jersey!”
Found out later when I got home…

Hi John– Thanks for visiting. I’ll be checking out your blog. Funny… I just finished reading Johan Bruyneel’s new book, “We Might As Well Win,” and toward the end he talks about the ‘07 Tour when he found out about Rasmussen. It’s a pretty cool behind the scenes look on that and a lot of other races/stages and his career. Good read!

I just saw these ads for the first time this evening. I applaud the spirit of them, but not quite sure f the message is quite consistent or fair. In one of the spots there is a string of images of Vino, Pantani, Basso, Ulrich, Rasmussen, Landis, and Millar. Granted these are the faces most identify with the cycling’s problem, especially come tour time. Vino- tested +, denied, Pantani- deceased, tested + in the Giro in ‘99, denied, Landis- tested +, denied, Ulrich- Puerto, denied, Rasmussen- lied about whereabouts, team complicit, however; Millar, tested +, owned up to it, served suspension and has returned to top level racing with the purpose of showing what can be done clean. His story is different than those he is lumped with. I believe this is unfair to David and his owning up to his mistakes.

There’s another matter of guys who tested + and those that didn’t, yet are lumped together. Are riders included in this list because of casting a shadow of a doubt due to circumstantial evidence linking them to doping without a + test result? Not all dopers test +. That’s another story, because there are some very identifiable faces not shown that have done the same, yet to include David Millar is unfair. No, I am not in love with David, but I do appreciate how he handled it and it is augmented by my disdain for every denial, ‘twin brother’, ‘whiskey’, tainted blood conspiracy defense that riders have been spewing for at east 20 years. Nice effort, but please, be fair to Mr. Millar, he chose a different path.

Also, they were spot on when choosing to show T. Voeckler in one of the spots.

John K.
http://www.twojohnspodcast.com

Hi John K. –
Thanks for visiting and commenting. You have a valid point and one I believe many people would agree with. I look forward to seeing how Millar and Team Garmin-Chipotle performs in the Tour. I’m hoping they do well!
Cheers,
Donald

I am not at all impressed by the Versus ad campaign. This is just another demonstration of how sad the world has become. Yes doping in this amazing sport is a sad, sad affair. But how does public “finger-wagging” move this sport forward.

It’s day one of the tour and VS. repeated “we’re so above it” ad does nothing but bring me back to moments of sure disappointment I’ve suffered over the past couple of years.

I love the tour, I love the sport of cycling, and I admit I loved to watch Jan Ulrich. I’ll never become one of the hypocrites who turned on a dime because the esoteric thing to do was to proclaim my disdain for doping and the athletes caught doing it.

Yes, let’s hold the athletes accountable for the choices they make. But let’s also support them when they need to make the mature decision, much like Millar, to move forward in a different more positive direction. “Finger-wagging” serves only the finger-wagger, no good can come of that.
-Cw

CHRISTINA– Thanks for visiting… I think you have some great points and very well said!
I agree there should have been a different campaign… Millar especially… should have not been included as he admitted and has moved on.

Doping has been so universal that its hard to believe anyone when they say they are (were) clean. I suppose its unfair to accuse the French authorities (promoters and labs) of being dishonest, but their attitude makes it hard to feel any trust in them. Was Armstrong dirty in ‘99? Riis, Ulrich, Pantani, Verenque…to name some giants that were. Those that were caught have a price to pay. Those that weren’t…well, I say lets move forward and quit trying to prove Armstrong was dirty. Let’s have no more confessions from those that weren’t caught. Lets live in the present and the future. No one benefits from revelations of past cheating. Stop it now and in the future and lets get on with the world’s greatest sport and the world’s greatest race.
And maybe, in this new, more perfect world, the ASO will become fair and honest in their dealing with others - riders, teams, organizations.

JOHN– True… move forward and make it great again. I especially agree with your ASO point… hopefully fair, honest and respectable as a governing body of such a “Grand” event should be.