The Tour Begins

Wow, a year has come and gone. Wait, four years have come and gone. Can you believe it's been four years since Lance Armstrong rode in a Tour de France??? No? Me either.

Tour de France winners since Lance:

2006 - Oscar Pereiro - don't remember him? That's because this was the year that Floyd Landis won the Tour. I think his excuse was, "a beer and a shot of whiskey" and since when was that a crime?

2007 - Alberto Contador - coached by Lance and riding for Lance's Discovery Team at the time. Also riding for Lance again this year on team Astana.

2008 - Carlos Sastre - the Spaniard; but win marred by the fact that all the big names were disqualified.

2009 - ???

The 2009 Tour de France started on July 4th, which puts us 3 days into the biggest bicycle race of the year. And yes, Lance Armstrong has come back to win his record setting 8th Tour de France. If you've been watching the HD coverage on Versus (Channel 603 on DirecTV) then you've heard the Versus theme music which for me is akin to the theme music to Monday Night Football. I hear that music and I'm entranced. I've been meaning to start this blog since day 1, but I hear the music and all I can do is just watch. Now that I've had a chance to settle in a bit, just like the riders in the Tour, I can finally take a breath and put a pen to paper.

So here we are on the precipice of Michael Jordan's big come back. I mean Brett Favre's big come back. Oh who are we kidding, can a 38 year old retired bike racer come back and win the biggest bike race in the world? Do you know Lance Armstrong?

No one comes back to lose, but there's something different about Lance. I believe him. On top of that, this is the first time in four years that people have asked if I'll do Tour updates again. That must mean you probably come from one of two sides. You want to see Lance win it again and keep the Yellow Jersey away from the French or you want to see the arrogant Texan fall flat on his face. Whatever your wish, people are again interested in a bike race through France and that's pretty intriguing. Let the games begin!