I think Lance's bike for Sunday's ceremonial stage into Paris was pretty cool.

The Peloton today went through some lavendar fields before ascending to the Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence. I have been wondering if the sunflowers were in this year's Tour, because I just did not remember seeing an image of the cyclists amid the yellow-and-black flowers. Alas, I found one, courtesy of a British newspaper. Copyright is owned by Getty Images.

In Lance We Trust, 2009: Team of One

Yesterday after the ITT Lance announced the formation of his new ProTour squad, Team RadioShack. Very exciting news. So far, Lance is the only confirmed rider on this team, but speculations abound that his close friend and long-time directeur sportif, Johan Bruyneel, will leave Astana soon to manage this new US-based team. If that is the case, look for teammates like Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, even German Andreas Kloden, to jump ship as well and ride for the new Team RadioShack.

Not to be missed is the fact that Lance has basically indicated that he will return to compete in the 2010 Tour de France. Psych!

One cool aspect about this new partnership with Radio Shack is that Lance's Livestrong will become the exclusive charity of the title sponsor. This will give Livestrong an additional outlet to spread its cancer-fighting message, which is critical.

I also wonder, does this mean Radio Shack will now sell the yellow Livestrong bracelets?

Tour de France Withdrawal....

It is like a migrain that you can see coming. Two stages left in this year's Tour de France, I am going to wake up Monday morning and wonder where is my Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.

I have been negligent in not posting in the past few years. I am a little shocked to see that the last post was when Lance Armstrong got engaged to Sheryl Crow. Man, that was OLD news. Seriously. Of course, Lance has moved on, both in term of his "sweetie pie" and his mode of communication, and I follow him on Twitter these days. This blog thing feels a bit, hmm, outdated.

Back to the problem at hand...I do have this year's Tour de France recorded via TiVo and DirecTV DVR (in HD), and as long as I don't screw up in file transferring and how I unplug & re-plug the external HDD, I should be able to enjoy the recorded Versus broadcast at my convenience. That should at least take me until mid-August, when we leave for Paris. Our annual visit to Paris should do wonders for this TdF hangover. I am so ready for Paris. Seriously.