Some of you may have noticed slippage in my coverage of the Tour de France, as compared to previous years. I had much greater interest in the race when Lance Armstrong participated. It wouldn't even have bothered me that he wasn't in this year's race, but I hated to see Alberto Contador racing when a cloud of suspicion hangs over his head. His doping case is to be resolved imminently. Why could they not resolve it before the Tour started? I shake my head in wonder at this idiocy.
I'm also disappointed in the absence of a great cyclist: someone with superhuman ability, personality, and fearsomeness. Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour between 1999 and 2005 (inclusive), just as Miguel Indurain did before him (1991 to 1995). This year, there were four or five people who could have won, and none of them, in my opinion, is a great cyclist. The Schleck brothers are incomplete. They can climb like mountain goats, but they are mediocre time trialists. A Tour winner should not be a one-trick pony. Cadel Evans, for all his ability, has no personality. Contador, as mentioned, is suspicious. If it weren't for Thomas Voeckler, the Great Animator, this year's Tour would have been boring.
I watched only a handful of stages live. I watched most of the others on tape replay. In the evening, I visited a website for details. Here, if you're interested, are images from this year's Tour.
