Jacob Christensen

Politiken’s Stéphanie Surrugue (and yes, she is Danish) has the evidence.

For the record: I’ve given the TdF the miss this year. So this is all that will be written about the event here.

To be honest, I seem to be skipping the transmissions from the Tour de France this year. In any event, the newspapers cover the doping stories as they appear.

But for those who remember the 1990s when Danish TV2 provided commentaries by the duo Jørn Mader and Jørgen Leth, I point you to BT where Leth writes about a partnership made in a cycling garage.

Question: If it is revealed that a professional cyclist has lied, is it news?

Holy cows: I’ll have to admit that this year’s Tour de France is as fascinating on track as well as off-track.

Okay, following Floyd Landis’s resurrection last year, the latest piece of news was hardly surprising. But still…

(And the answer to the obvious question is: No, I wouldn’t be surprised if…)

The Chemical Express – that was funny. Maybe we should start calling the cyclists “The Chemical Brothers”? It’s really annoying that the Tour de France is so exciting both on and outside of the track this year.

And just as you thought that July was safe, that guy Rasmussen had to destroy everything!

Ploegleider Erik Breukink was dolblij. ,,De dag begon voor ons niet zo goed. We zaten met niets mee voorin. Dit is een sterk staaltje. De concurrentie is wat laat in actie gekomen. Rasmussen had zes minuten voorsprong aan de voet van de laatste klim. Dat is veel.”

Politiken, NRC Handelsblad (see quote), even the BBC has the details.

Now all of Denmark will be in agony until he loses the yellow jersey or reaches Paris, whatever happens first.

Geoffrey Wheatcroft tells us that the Tour de France may be rotten, but football, rugby and cricket stink as well. As a political scientist, I especially liked Wheatcroft’s comparison of Milan and Scooter Libby.

In case you’re not from Denmark and wonder what the biggest story this week was, it’s this:

Bjarne Riis: I used EPO

That Riis dates his use of doping to the years 1993-1998 unfortunately also indicates that his dramatic rise to the front ranks in the Tour de France which made him a national icon during the early and mid-1990s had a chemical, rather than a psychological explanation.

Yesterday Floyd Landis exploded, had un jour sans, died, lost any – any! – chance of winning this year’s Tour de France. In terms of the TdF ‘06, Landis was a has-been.

And today he tore the race apart and won the stage. Emphatically.

Is it because of the doping raids which eliminated all of the favourites that this year’s Tour de France is the most exciting since 1996?