Provided courtesy of Saris Cycling Group
My older brother and his wife are going to have a baby in three weeks. It will be their first child — the first of our family’s next generation. Between baby showers and trips to ‘Babies R Us,’ I’ve been taking every opportunity to make fun of him, razing […]

Through the lush climbs of the Pyrénées and the barren peaks of the Alps, Christian Vande Velde has proved his talents as one of the world’s best by sticking with Tour favorites like Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, and Bernhard Kohl. On the final mountain stage 17, Christian remained with the race leaders over […]

The rest day is a day when you have a chance to sleep in an hour later. Then afterwards…
* Clean the truck interior, shelf by shelf.
* Coolers have to be washed and bottles prepared for the next day.
* Riders train around 11 am, so we put bottles on their bikes. When they return, […]

Today was a little better again as I ran 4th in the sprint. My best result so far. It helped that a few of the sprinters were dropped on the last climb with 10k to go. It was a tough moment in the race and I had to bust it to get over it. I […]

Passing through some of the world’s finest vineyards, Jonathan Vaughters couldn’t pass up the opportunity make a quick stop in Chateauneuf-du-Pape for a few libations. Here he and Will Frischkorn - both wine aficionados - are clearly thrilled to have in their possession a jerobaum of 2004 Domaine du Pegau, one of the region’s best. […]

Lucas Euser is doing a Q&A column for the Napa Valley Register and he needs brilliant, thought-provoking questions about the Tour de France. Please send him your emails at napasports@napanews.com and put “A conversation with Lucas” in the subject line. And don’t forget to include your name!

I’ve been amazed at how busy we are here in France. With one of the biggest differences from just “any other bike race” being the constant media attention. So first and foremost, there always some time devoted to the press. Many quality hours have been spent with the space legs on, effectively immobilizing you […]

We are almost there. Almost…. Almost to a time when everyone understands that the testing is as advanced as the doping. That the best answer to all this is: just race.
I know all that seems difficult to believe, today, with the race in turmoil. But I’m just hoping that everyone can just grit their […]