ToCA rosters released . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

http://www.velonews.com/article/87172/tour-of-california-releases-full-rosters-for-the-race

DAY-um! some pretty heavy duty firepower in there.

Cavendish vs. Boonen.

Lance & Levi

The Schlecks, Cancellara

Vandevelde, Zabriskie

Freire, Basso, Sastre, Landis . . .

The list seems to go on and on and on . . . :eek:

Mancebo, Sevilla, and Tyler in there for Rock. Now let's see if they are allowed to race this time.

BBD

[Lifelover]

Should be allot of fun.

Does anyone know if Vs is covering it?

[Viper]

Should be allot of fun.

Does anyone know if Vs is covering it?

http://www.versus.com/cyclysm

http://www.versus.com/lancearmstrong

Feb 14 @ 5PM ET, Feb 15 @ 6PM ET

Feb 16 LIVE @ 12:30PM ET, Feb 17 LIVE @ 5PM ET

Feb 18-20 LIVE @ 4PM ET and Feb 21-22 @ 5PM ET

The AMGEN Tour of California will bring the drama and excitement of a professional bicycle stage race to the California coast. The world's top professional teams will compete over an eight-day, 650-mile race on a route that includes the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast.

2/7/2009 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm LANCE ARMSTRONG: THE RETURN

2/7/2009 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA PREVIEW SHOW

2/14/2009 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/14/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/15/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/15/2009 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/15/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/16/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/16/2009 12:30 pm - 3:30 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/16/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/17/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/17/2009 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/17/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/18/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/18/2009 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/18/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/19/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/19/2009 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/19/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/20/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/20/2009 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/20/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/21/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/21/2009 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/21/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/22/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/22/2009 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/22/2009 11:00 pm - 12:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

2/23/2009 2:00 am - 3:00 am TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

"Fine Whines

When did the fearless daredevils of bike racing, the sprinters, become the brittle town criers of our sport? In my day the sprinters never said much and never hesitated to slice you up like sausages at the butchers. Their world was ruled by stoic killers wailing through tunnels of asphyxiation and speed, where fear wasn’t acknowledged and the brakes were left untouched.

The pugilistic speedsters of cycling, not so long ago, spent more time intimidating each other than whinging about the safety of the races. Because a field sprint at the end of a long stage is such a brutal ballet of nerves, power, teamwork and timing, any complaining by one of the practitioners of this sweet science was taken as weakness by the others and was swiftly punished.

I don’t think Mario Cipollini ever thought it was a good idea for Eric Zabel or Djamoledine Abdujaparov or Guido Bontempi or Jelle Nijdam or Sean Kelly or Urs Fuehler, etc. to believe him to be anything but a sociopathic madman who would eat their children if given the chance.

Sprinters today seem more prone to blame their losses on crowd control or dangerous courses or bad lead-outs, then get down to the spectacular business of murdering each other.

The races are just as fast, just as dangerous, and just as difficult to win than ever. The historical requirements have not changed since the hard men of the field sprints refused to yield in order to win. It is just that it seems to me that they did it with more gusto and joioe de vivre than the most recent contemporaries.

While it is true that today there are many more venues for grievances, and every word is disseminated across cycling blogs, I still believe the level of negative discourse is far greater than in the past. We need some more silent but lethal killers thundering towards the finish line, razor-sharp elbows at the ready and with focused determination to reach the line first.

2009 has so far shaped up to be a fine whine. Let’s hope the real racing will be restored before too long."

~Bobke

[DfCas]

Versus is changing their name back to OLN. The Only Lance Network. Well also get the Giro this year.