Does the Tour de France Matter Anymore?
By Jim Freeman

Does anyone really care? This most elegant and awe-inspiring contest of individual will and physical endurance has so sullied itself in drug abuse, both proven and accused, that it’s falling apart under its own deficiencies.

Lance Armstrong may end up holding three records

* Only man to win seven (consecutive) times

* Most accused of drug abuse without proof

* Titleholder at the collapse of the event.

Oscarpereiro Okay, maybe the last isn’t likely, although he may well be the last definitive winner. If Floyd Landis is put down for drug use, as is probable, Spaniard Oscar Pereiro will get the kissing-your-sister elevation to winner. A dreary way to tack up the prize in your trophy-room, as a default by drug-test.

No victory laps, no champagne, no kiss on the cheek by a French babe as the world cheers—just a win.

Pereiro seems, as does everyone who checked in early on this issue, to have a high degree of regard and personal admiration for Landis.

“While I don’t receive a fax confirming a win, I’m not going to celebrate anything. I have too much respect for Landis to do otherwise.”

But cycling is as self-serving a sport as any other, a big-money draw in Europe, where Landis’s team spotted him $2.5 million for the win. Endorsements by brands (not already committed to Lance Armstrong) were likely to add more millions.

Tsunami is the metaphor of choice.

Floydlandis2 As quickly as fame, money and his fascinating life story rolled across the sports pages of world media, so much faster have they sucked his name and reputation back out to sea. Landis was fired by the team who no doubt had a hand in slipping him the mickey that cost him the title.

Standing firmly behind him until they suddenly disappeared, Phonak's was as cynical a move as pretending womanhood to escape the Titanic. Anything for a buck in the world of sponsorship.

Phonak, is the Swiss sponsor of Landis’ team and they ostensibly replaced the team management in 2005 because they were gaining an untenable reputation as dopers. According to the AP,