Toujours le Tour

While waiting for the damn alarm technician to call back (so I can leave work) I had a coulpe of additional reflections on this year's Tour de France:

1. OK. Versus. While I realize that you are the go-to network of the choosy turkey hunter and all-in cagefighter,

I have to tell you. I will never, never, pull-my-nails-out-with-pliers never, put a gun to my head and I will still spit in your face never, ever buy anything from Vonage, Saab, Bacardi (and I if I was dying of thirst in a burning desert I would refuse a fucking Bacardi mojito!) or any of the other advertisers whose craptacular pitches I spent more time watching than actual bike racing. Floyd talked about how cool it was to watch the Tour on Eurosport and I'm ready to spring for a Eurocable package in July because your incessant commercials suck such immense pipe!!!I've noticed that since the end of the Armstrong years that Versus coverage is getting poorer and poorer. First the end of the "commercial-free-last-hour" of racing. Then more and more commercials. And MORE commercials. The dumbing down of the coverage, and the loss of the time gap information and position of the GC riders that would have helped us make sense of the mountain stages.

2. Best bit of commentary of the Tour:

Paul Sherwin (observing a field of snow in the helicopter camera picture from the Col de la Bonette/Restaford): And a reminder that the summer is passing and the snow will soon return to the high Alps...
Phil Liggett: Actually, Paul, that's a glacier. The snow stays up here all year long.
Paul: Oh.

3. I forgot to mehtion several riders who had terrific tours (and a few who didn't):

Stefan Schumacher - the Mad Prussian was everywhere this Tour: attacking in the mountains, attacking in the flats, attacking in the damn time trial! If it had been my vote, I'd have voted him the "most combative" rider over Sylvain Chavanel. No disrespect, Sylvain.

Christian Vande Velde: a great finish for the Garmin-Chipotle rider.

Fun to interview, too. I hope we'll see more of him.

Bernard Kohl, Marc Cavendish: both young, both exciting, both surprising. Both part of the overall newness and freshness I felt watching this Tour

And then there were the not-so-new and the sad...

Robbie McEwen? Denis Menchov? The whole Euskaltel-Euskadi team? And what was with the mysterious departures of Stijn Devolder and Christophe Moreau?

Again: overall, it was a great Tour, fun to watch, and I hope we'll enjoy another as exciting next year. Adieu!