Tour De France: Armstrong Ready To Ride

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DAVID GREENE, host:

The world's most prestigious and grueling bike race, the Tour De France, begins tomorrow. After years of doping scandals, Tour organizers are trying to make sure the race is clean this year. French anti-doping authorities have an array of new weapons against cheaters, and there's some added excitement as seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is back in the saddle - or bike seat - four years after retiring.

We'll have two reports. In a moment, we're going to hear from U.S. bikers who are keeping close tabs on the Tour from afar. But first, Eleanor Beardsley has our preview from Paris.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY: For the French, the Tour De France is more than a bike race. It's a part of national heritage, like the Eiffel Tower or French cuisine. For the last century, the Tour has defined summertime.

Unidentified Man: (French spoken)

BEARDSLEY: For three weeks ever July, sounds of the Tour De France loft out into the streets from houses and cafes where people gather around TVs and radios to watch and listen. But in the last few years, the race has become associated with cheating. Last year's Tour was marred by doping scandals, as rider after rider was expelled from the race.

Gilles Simon(ph), editor-in-chief of L'Equipe newspaper's cycling coverage, says this year, Tour organizers are determined to revive the good old days of the race.

Mr. GILLES SIMON (Editor-in-chief, L'Equipe Newspaper Cycling Coverage): (Through Translator) We all have nostalgia for a Tour De France when doping didn't exist and there was fair competition between riders and Romanesque gestures of sportsmanship. Those are the memories of our youth.

BEARDSLEY: One way to inject a since of yesteryear into the race is to take away high-tech communication. So organizers have banned the use of earpiece radios in the strategic 10th and 13th stages. And in an effort to keep up the old fashioned sporting suspense all the way to the Champs-Elysees finish, the Tour this year includes an unprecedented mountain climb the day before.

French anti-doping officials will also be cracking down. For the first time, each rider will have what is known as a blood passport from samples taken throughout the year. That blueprint will allow officials to detect fluctuations from the norm. Michel Rieu is a scientific advisor to the French anti-doping agency. He says another main concern has been that doping techniques are always ahead of detection efforts.

Professor MICHEL RIEU (Scientific Advisor, French Anti-Doping Agency): (Through Translator) So for the first time this year, we will be able to conserve blood and urine samples for eight years and test them retrospectively. That way, we'll be able to take away cheater's titles years later.

BEARDSLEY: There is a great deal of excitement this year over the return of Lance Armstrong, even though some now view his seven wins suspiciously. Nevertheless, says L'Equipe cycling writer Pierre Callewaert, the French are glad to see him back, and despite his age, think he has a real chance to win again.

Mr. PIERRE CALLEWAERT (Cycling Writer, L'Equipe): He's got the strongest mental will to win. The story of his comeback illustrates that very deeply, when he fall in Spain, broke his collarbone, and then he came back.

(Soundbite of clanking sound)

BEARDSLEY: At the Cafe de l'Esplanade in Paris' 7th Arrondissement, the Tour will soon be blaring from a small TV that sits in the corner. Waiter Michel Bausjeau(ph) says he can't wait to see Armstrong ride again.

Mr. MICHEL BAUSJEAU (Waiter, Cafe de l'Esplanade): (Through Translator) I like his style. He's beautiful to watch in action, whether it's in time trials or up the mountains. He's something different.

BEARDSLEY: The French doping agency says Armstrong will not be targeted anymore than any other rider, and in an interview with a Parisian newspaper, Armstrong said that thousands of French people had cheered him on as he practiced this week in the south of France. He told newspaper Le Parisien that winning was no longer the only thing. He said he was just excited to be back.

For NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

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