Tour de France – More than Just a Cycle in the Park
The Tour De France is not only the most famous cycle race in the world, but one of the best known and most gruelling races of any kind. This year marked the 93rd race, running for 23 days across 20 different stages making a total race distance of 3,657 kilometres across France before finally finishing in Paris at the Champs-Elysees on Sunday 23rd July.
Starting in Strasbourg the race managed to cross most of France, with 9 flat, 4 medium mountain, 5 mountain and 2 individual time trial stages, before reaching its climactic conclusion in Paris: the Tour De France is a truly punishing event.
This year British sports fans who took a flight to France in order to see the race were met with one of the most exciting events for many years including plenty of controversy, an unforgettable race, and a free three hour long 10,000 seat concert in Landes.
Even before the race started there was excitement and controversy with a series of pre-tour doping scandals which lead to the withdrawal of the two favourites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso of the T-Mobile and CSC teams. The retirement of Armstrong meant another leading player was out of the running. While many worried that this would lead to a lack lustre event, the reality was one of the most enthralling, unpredictable and closely fought Tours in recent memory.
The eventual winner, Floyd Landis, produced an amazing performance especially in light of being in pain the entire time and needing to undergo hip replacement surgery due to advanced osteoarthritis. Despite walking with a limp and being unable to cross his right leg over his left, causing him to have to get on his bike by putting his right leg over first, Landis managed to keep his condition secret from fellow riders until a week into the start of the Tour. Whether he will be able to cycle professionally again in the future will be determined by the results of this operation.
The announcement that following his win, was that Landis has now tested positive for elevated levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, has lead to his suspension pending the results of his B sample analysis.
A statement by The Phonak team read that they where, “notified on Wednesday by the UCI of an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in the test made on Floyd Landis after stage 17 of the Tour de France”. They also stated that, “The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result.”
Phonak have already announced that if the second sample confirms the positive test, Landis will be sacked. Race authorities have since tried to contact Floyd directly as well as through his agent and the team, however there has so far been no response and the rider has subsequently disappeared.
The Tour De France – What Do the Different Jersey Colors Mean?
In the Tour de France, there are several races within the big race. A different colored jersey distinguishes the leader of each of these competitions within the three week tour.
Yellow Jersey: The yellow jersey is worn by the rider who has the fastest time up to that point in the race. This is the ultimate prize for a tour rider. Only the team captains who can ride well in the time trials and in the mountains can compete for the yellow jersey. These riders are called GC, or general classification riders. They lead each of their respective teams, and a team with a man in contention for yellow will go to great lengths to help their man get in yellow.
Green Jersey: The green jersey is given to the best sprinter. Riders competing for the green jersey are the super fast sprinters who are usually a bit larger and more muscular than the GC riders. There are points given to the final sprint finish and to intermediate sprints along each day’s route. The man with the most points wears the green jersey.
King of the Mountains: The polka dot King of the Mountains jersey is given to the best mountain climber. These guys are the opposite of the sprinters. They are wiry and thin with great lungs, able to zoom up the mountains and leave the larger sprinters behind. Much like the green jersey competition, the polka dot competition gives points for the first few riders to reach the top of difficult mountain passes.
White Jersey: The white jersey is given to the best young rider under 26.
Each team would love to win the yellow jersey, but is a team doesn’t have a high placed GC rider, then the team could very well ride in support of a teammate in contention for one of the other jerseys.
Top Pop Concerts of 2011
JLS will kick off a tour at the top of 2011, which is actually a UK tour they will continue from December 2010. They are performing at many of the UK’s top venues, including the O2 Arena in London, the Manchester Evening News Arena, the Trent FM Arena, AECC in Aberdeen, the Motorpoint Arena, and many more.
JLS came to prominence as the runner up in the fifth season of the X Factor, and have released two commercially and critically acclaimed multiplatinum albums to the UK and US, the eponymously titled “JLS” and “Outta This World.” Music tickets for JLS are sure to go quickly.
Katy Perry has recently announced a full UK 2011 tour. Though her tour is not scheduled to begin until October, the first leg of the twelve dates has already sold out. Get your concert tickets quickly for this one, ladies and gentlemen. Katy will hit all of the top spots in the UK, starting off at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield and ending at the O2.
Katy Perry is recently betrothed to comedian Russell Brand and continues her worldwide success, with her current album recently number one in Australia.
Rihanna has eschewed the United States in favor of the UK for her most recent tour, entitled “Loud.” Perhaps she has tired of the fickle nature of her fans across the sea, and will perform in the UK around the same time as Katy Perry, and will hit most of the large arenas, including the O2, Liverpool Echo, NECC, SEC, and Metro Radio to finish. Though her tour is relatively short, Rihanna is known for incredible live shows.
Rihanna has recently bounced back professionally from the relatively disappointing sales of her previous album “Rated R” and continues her dominance of the pop and fashion worlds.
N-Dubz will fill your spring flings with music with an extensive UK tour beginning in April. Venues to be played include Winter Gardens in Margate, the Dome in Doncaster, and Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
The pop group has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons, but seem to be getting back to the music.
Other single shows and short tours will be held by Elton John, Paul McCartney, Manic Street Preachers, Soulwax, Deadmau5, Shakira, Ian Brown, and Saint Etienne.