{"id":150,"date":"2006-08-25T22:37:40","date_gmt":"2006-08-26T06:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wapreview.com\/?p=150"},"modified":"2020-12-14T20:20:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T04:20:57","slug":"61st-vuelta-a-espana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/150\/","title":{"rendered":"61st Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated 8\/26\/2006: Velonews IS offering live reports from the Vuelta on both the full web at www.velonews.com\/live<\/a> and the mobile web at www.velonews.com\/live_mobile<\/a>. The BBC is not doing live coverage.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/a>The cycling Tour of Spain starts tomorrow under the ominous cloud of the back to back doping revelations of <\/a>Operaci\u00f3n Puerto<\/a> followed by l’affaire Landis<\/a>. I don’t know who’s guilty and who isn’t but I do know that professional cycling’s reputation is in the dumps.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m dreaming but I have a feeling that the latest scandals have finally shown riders, team managers, doctors, soigneurs and everyone else in cycling that drugs are not only harmful to the health of the riders but also to the survival of the sport. There are always going to be individuals willing to take a chance but given the number of top cyclists implicated in the last few years you can’t convince me that there hasn’t been “as long as you don’t get caught” attitude at all levels within most, perhaps all of the teams. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying doping in cycling is worse than other sports. But cycling is in the spotlight and the sponsors that make it possible to make a living as a racer, cook or caravan driver are running away from cycling as fast as contracts can be broken. It’s going to take years of hard fought, exciting and most of all clean racing to restore the sport’s good name.<\/p>\n

\"I’m an optimist and think the 2006 Vuelta will be the exciting, clean race that marks the start of the sport’s turnaround. It looks like it will be pretty hard to follow this year’s Vuelta on TV in the US, though. There’s apparently going not going to be any OLNTV coverage this year. At least we still have the web including the mobile web. Cyclingnews.com<\/a> has announced that they will have live text coverage again this year on both the full web and wap. In the past, the BBC<\/a> and Velonews.com<\/a> have had daily live reports of the Vuelta. and I think they will again but so far I haven’t seen a confirmation from their sites.<\/del> The first stage of Vuelta was today and Velonews is indeed covering it live but the BBC is not – although they do have a short article and results.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here in California the stages occur right during prime commute time so if you take public transportation to work like I do, the mobile web is a great way to follow the action.<\/p>\n

Here are my favorite mobile cycling sites:<\/p>\n