Americans attempting to compete at the highest level of professional cycling face a Herculean but underappreciated challenge. Bicycle racing is based in Europe, controlled by Europeans and, not surprisingly, dominated by athletes with expansive lungs, far-flung ancestries and non-English vocabularies.
The racing in Europe is hard and unforgiving, and has left many an American longing for home and life on the familiar but greatly inferior domestic circuit.
The
|
|
| Bjarne Riis, last year's Tour de France winner, is a favored again this year. (Allsport) |
Along the way, a quickly diminishing field of 198 (22 teams of nine riders) will encounter the annual assortment of horrific ascents into the Alps and Pyrenees, treacherous descents at 60 mph and a complex array of team strategies.
The winner will possess superior time-trialing (individual racing against the clock) and climbing skills and the lowest cumulative time. Strong and savvy teammates usually help, too.
THE RACE IS SO DEMANDING, a 60 percent finishing field is considered good and an American finish is noteworthy.
In fact, Greg LeMond, who was victorious in 1986, '89 and '90 is the only American winner.
Retired since 1994, LeMond used revolutionary equipment and outfoxed the Europeans at their own game. LeMond's dominance followed the path set by former teammate Jonathan Boyer, who in 1981 finished 32nd overall as the first American to compete in the Tour.
But beyond LeMond, no other American has ever finished higher than fourth in the sport's pinnacle race.
Miguel Indurain, the also now-retired Spaniard, won five consecutive Tour titles before he was dethroned last year by Bjarne Riis of Denmark, who's again among the favorites.
Nonetheless, numerous other Americans, competing for U.S.-based and European teams, have had various Tour successes and failures. This year, six U.S. athletes are competing, on two teams.
After his second victory, which came after a remarkable recovery from a near-fatal gunshot wound in 1987, LeMond was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year and gave U.S. cycling its greatest global exposure.
But LeMond, a several-time world titlist, still belongs to a fraternity of only five Americans who have won individual Tour stages. The others include: Andy Hampsten and Davis Phinney, both of Boulder, Colo., and Jeff Pierce of La Mesa, Calif., (all retired) and Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas, (recovering from cancer).
AT SOME POINT IN THEIR RESPECTIVE careers, all of the American Tour stage winners, except LeMond, competed for Motorola or its predecessor 7-Eleven.
And until this year, the 7-Eleven/Motorola contingent was the only U.S. team to compete in the Tour. Its roster had a diverse group of Americans over the years, including Bob Roll, Ron Kiefel, Norm Alvis, Doug Shapiro, Chris Carmichael and even five-time Olympic speedskating gold medalist Eric Heiden.
But this year, U.S. Postal Service, an international squad headquartered in San Francisco, has been selected as a wild card team. Its roster will include Tour de France veterans Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia and Italian Adriano Baffi and three Americans -- Marty Jemison of Salt Lake City, Utah; Tyler Hamilton of Marblehead, Mass.; and George Hincapie of Framingham, N.Y. Hincapie competed last year, but withdrew following a crash. Hamilton and Jemison are racing veterans, but Tour newcomers.
Since LeMond's departure, American hopes have rested with Armstrong, the 1993 world road titlist and a two-time Tour stage winner.
Last season, Armstrong signed with the French squad Cofidis when Motorola disbanded. He brought along teammates Frankie Andreu of Dearborn, Mich., Kevin Livingston of Glencoe, Mo., and Bobby Julich of Glenwood Springs, Colo. Andreu, a five-time Tour finisher, was the only U.S. finisher last year, placing 111th among 129 finishers.
And so how will the Americans fare this year?
"Now that we have received an invitation to the Tour, our next goal is to win a stage and place as high as we can in the general (overall) classification," said Tom Weisel, U.S. Postal Service team president. "We are not going to France just to participate -- we will be a player throughout the race."
THE FRENCH, ITALIANS AND THE OTHERS know better. Few first-time teams (and surely not an American squad) fare well in their debuts.
Andreu, who has one career second-place stage victory at the Tour, could finally claim a stage win, while his compatriots will hang on to the rear of the pack.
The postal service team could claim a U.S. stage victory with Hincapie, a strong sprinter. But the field won't have much sympathy for the novice U.S.-based squad.
Although cycling isn't a country vs. country sport (except in the Olympics and World Championships), one might even expect the hosting French to relish in the boastful ways of an American team, particularly as it fails.
But in a country where cycling is a way of life, not since Bernard Hinault's final of five titles in 1985 has a Frenchman won cycling's grandest affair.
In other words, while the Americans will do their best in a sport when they're not the best, the French will have their own concerns. James Raia is a journalist in Sacramento, Calif., who has been covering cycling since 1980. He will be covering the Tour de France for CBS SportsLine.
Return to the Wiseguys Corner