Today is the first day of the Tour de France. Even though this event may be partially overshadowed by the World Cup, it's still a fairly signficant athletic event of world interest. Or so I've been led to believe.
As I've spent part of my time this year learning French and continue to do so, it's exciting to read about this race in French. There are number of web sites that provide varying degrees of information.
Much of the information today is about the "dopage" of some high profile contestants. Without trial, conviction, and anything much more than circumstantial evidence, nine racers where evicted from the race. Some type of investigation in Spain led to this conclusion -- one operation "puerco."
I'm left wondering if the investigation is somehow politically motivated. Is it at all possible that doping is so abhorrent in the context of bicycle racing that it leads to such intense efforts to week out people who take more than aspirin? To me, the integrity of the sport is not impugned by the racers' personal chemistry.
What bothers me is that I can't get any type of live coverage of the race. All the web sites are very happy to flash the six-digit access codes for long-distance dialing in France. The TV shows, which are predominantly loops of talking heads spewing endless dribble with commercials showing how jets turn into cars. Any links to live cameras don't connect. No live radio to hear the race. Everything I seem to have touched led to companies trying to sell me something.
If I were a newbie to the Internet, and I had just bought my first computer yesterday it would be fair to laugh at me (with me). But I have actually found the computer to be a useful tool and generally get useful information by finding and connecting to sites with quality content. Not so for the le Tour this year.
I'm led to believe that somewhere in the world today, in Strassbourg, there are men riding bicycles. I have nothing but circumstantial evidence (posted times) to convince me that this is really happening. I'd really like to see these guys riding on bikes, or at least hear someone describing this as it happens. No such luck today.
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