Wow, I simple loop around the house and I am on the air. I’m only putting out a 100 watts, but it works great on 20, 40, 80, 160 meters. I can get the SWR down to 0 in must cases and 1.1 to 1 with little effort. Only 40 meters will shut of the UPS on the PC. Need to filter the AC line.

OH happy day!

Hincapie Takes Bonus… And The Yellow Jersey!
George Hincapie, who lost Saturday's prologue by .73 seconds
to Thor Hushovd, claimed the overall lead on Sunday.


Beneteau held onto a slender lead until the 3rd intermediate sprint. He claimed 1st place points in Kehl and was caught soon after thanks largely to an attack from Hincapie (DSC) who raced ahead to claim time bonuses. The American was beaten by Hushovd’s team-mate Hinault (C.A) for second place but claimed third and two seconds for his effort. It would be enough for him to inherit the yellow jersey… even though he only finished 23rd in the stage.

This is what a good prolog and a good sprint will do for you.

There were 171 out of a 176 people in the main peloton. They all finished with the same time of 4 hours and 10 minutes.

Top 3 were
1. Jimmy CASPER
2. Robbie MC EWEN
3. Erik ZABEL

I love the Tour de France. I watch it every year and drive my family nuts. Now on the edge of the tour a scandal has brought down 9 riders, 3 of the top names in the sport. Guilty or not they are out of the tour. I like these riders and I was hoping to see what Jan Ullrich would do this year now that lance Armstrong has retired. Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo have always been fun to watch in the tour. It will be sad not to have them racing this year.

There are still a large number of great racers in this years tour. Some great American and Australian riders come to mind. Like George Hincapie of Team Discovery, Bobby Julich and David Zabriskie of Team CSC, Levi Leipheimer of Team Gerolsteiner, and Floyd Landis of Phonak Hearing Systems all US riders and few Australian Riders of love to see ride are Robbie McEwen and Cadel Evans riding for Davitamon-Lotto and Stuart O'Grady of Team CSC.

To top of the list of European, American and Australian riders, a few other countries have riders in this years tour. Some of the more distant countries would be Robert Hunter from South Africa riding for Phonak Hearing Systems, Maxim Iglinsky from Kazakhstan riding for Team Milram, Ivan Parra from Columbia riding for Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone, and José Rujano from Venezuela and team Quick-Step.

Good luck to all the riders. Please have an exciting, safe and scandal free race
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Tour de France Preview 2
By Phil Liggett OLN

Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Francisco Mancebo, the three outstanding favorites to win the Tour de France when it gets underway in Strasbourg today, were sent home yesterday after their names were linked to a drugs syndicate in Spain.

Guilty by implication rather than any solid proof, the three riders have all denied any association with the drugs bust five weeks ago which was known to Spanish police as Operacion Puerto. Their names appear on an official list sent to the Tour organizers late on Wednesday.

Spanish police investigating doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who is accused of trafficking in all types of performance enhancing drugs including growth hormones and the blood booster EPO released the list which contained up to 58 names of riders who are accused of visiting his premises in Madrid.

More names are expected to be announced before the race begins this afternoon after team managers have sifted through a 500 page court report that was sent to France by the Spanish judiciary.

Tour de France organizers called a meeting yesterday morning with all 21 teams taking part and as a result earned a unanimous decision from the team managers that any name on the list would be withdrawn from the team without a replacement possible.

T-Mobile immediately withdrew Ullrich, the winner of the race in 1997 and who finished three times second to American Lance Armstrong during his run of seven wins, and the Spaniard Oscar Sevilla who has always denied going to see Fuentes, yet has been photographed near his premises.

Ullrich, 32 and the recent winner of the Tour of Switzerland, has continually denied being linked to Dr Fuente’s surgery and has offered his blood for a DNA test to prove that blood being held in Spain is not his. Even if events prove Ullrich’s innocence later this year, at his age his career is virtually over.

Basso, the odds-on favourite to win the race after finishing second last year and only last month, being an emphatic winner of the Tour of Italy by the biggest margin for 42 years, was out training when his Danish CSC team agreed he would not be allowed to start either.

His manager, Bjarne Riis said:” I know nothing about what has happened in Spain, but we have taken the decision to take Ivan out based on evidence we have. However, he is not necessarily guilty of anything at this stage.”

Francisco Mancebo, who won the best Tour newcomer award in 2000 and has since finished fourth (last year) and sixth, was also withdrawn by his French AG2r team, leaving them with no likely winner of the race overall when it ends in Paris on July 23.

It is thought that the list, which has taken more than five weeks to be released because of the complicated and coded many entries in Dr Fuentes books, include other sports’ stars. Those athletes involved are said to have used the names of their pet dogs to avoid being identified. American Tyler Hamilton, already serving a two-year suspension for blood doping, is also among those named.

Christian Prudhomme, the deputy Tour director, said:” We will fight doping all the way. Cycling is a wonderful sport, but doping is our enemey.” Rather than being depressed at yet another drugs controversy yesterday, the Tour organizers are elated at the progress they feel has been made towards a cleaner sport.

The Tour organizers were upset at losing their appeal to the Court of Arbitration to sport yesterday, allowing the Astana-Wurth team to ride. Known formerly as Liberty-Seguros, team manager Manolo Seiz is also accused of buying drugs from Fuentes. He has since distanced himself from the knew team although he owns more than half of the company that owns the team itself.

Prudhomme continued: “This team is not welcome as there are names on the list although these riders are not here for the Tour de France. We would like this team, not to start.”

Astana-Wurth’s star rider is Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov and he is determined to ride the race having finished third in 2003 and fifth last year. He has already claimed that he believes Manolo Saiz when he says he is not involved in the biggest sporting scandal ever to hit Spain.

Originally 198 riders on 22 teams were entered for the 2300 miles race, but after Ignacio Labarto, the manager of the Communidad Valenciana team was also named as being under investigation, the Tour organizers immediately withdrew their invitation.

Now, with as many as 22 riders thought to be linked with Dr Fuentes’ list, the prologue this afternoon may see only 170 riders take the start in the Place de Bordeaux.

The opening seven kilometers time trial will be the hors d’oeuvre to the most open Tour for years in the absence of such star names and Americans, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde along with Australian Cadel Evans will find their favourite tag now more than deserved.

Britain’s David Millar, himself re-entering the sport today after serving a two-year suspension for using EPO in June 2003 when he won the World time trial title, could be the winner of this short time test.

Millar said yesterday: “I’m a little bit apprehensive and I feel ashamed, but I lied and cheated and now I want everyone to know that I am riding this race clean.”