cycling world updates

So I had to watch the Grammys last night to learn this gossip, but here it is:

Los Angeles, (AFP) - Seven-time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong and Grammy-winning rocker Sheryl Crow announced they were separating Friday five months after getting engaged.

"After much thought and consideration we have made a very tough decision to split up. We both have a deep love and respect for each other and we ask that everyone respect our privacy during this very difficult time." they said in a joint statement.

Together for more than two years, Armstrong, 34, and Crow, 43, announced their engagement last September two months after the Texas cyclist scored his record seventh triumph in the Tour, road-biking's most famous event.

Singer Crow is the winner of numerous Grammy awards, including record of the year in 1994 for "All I Wanna Do."

She is nominated this year for the best pop vocal album Grammy for her "Wildflower."

Armstrong has three children from an earlier marriage. "Rumors of trouble began surfacing around Christmas, but the couple insisted there was no truth to them and that they were moving forward with wedding plans for this spring," People magazine reported on its website.

The couple, who met at a charity event in October 2003 and began dating a short time later had "shared a ranch in Austin, Texas, and were said to be planning to live there together after their wedding," People added.

And our first taste of the 2007 Tour, found whilst poking around on velonews to get the skinny on Sheryl and Lance:

London landmarks for 2007 prologue
The 2007 Tour de France will start by weaving its way past London's best known landmarks, then travel to the historic city of Canterbury, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

Organizers announced Thursday that after the opening ceremony July 6, the prologue will be held the next day and will feature commemorations to mark the second anniversary of the London bombings, where four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on three subway trains and a bus.

"The 2007 tour will be a modern tale of two cities ... and plans to cement the friendship between our two great capitals," said Christian Prudhomme, the tour's director of cycling.

This will be the first time the Tour has started in England, and the third time it has passed through the country. The Tour had a stage in Plymouth in 1974. In 1994, the race had stages between Dover and Brighton and to and from Portsmouth.

In 1994, the British stages provided the greatest number of spectators than any other stage on that year's tour, Prudhomme said.

Previously, the Tour's "Grand Depart" has been launched from numerous cities and towns outside France, including Liege, Belgium, (2004), Luxembourg (2002, 1989), Dublin, Ireland, (1998), Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, (1996) and Berlin (1987).

London bid unsuccessfully to host the opening of this year's Tour, which will start in Strasbourg in eastern France.

The 5-mile prologue will start at Trafalgar Square and pass the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. It will then go through Hyde Park before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace on The Mall.

The 130-mile first stage will include three bonus sprints and three king of the mountain hills. Starting on The Mall, it will travel past St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London, go across Tower Bridge, through Greenwich then south through the county of Kent to Canterbury.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the event would attract 2 million spectators and raise $122 million. He added that discussions had begun on the best way to remember the July 7, 2005, bombings.

"Having the Grand Depart on July 7 will broadcast to the world that terrorism does not win, it does not change a city, it does not shake our faith," Livingstone said. "There will be no better way of celebrating the unity of humanity than this great sporting event in this city on that day."By The Associated Press

Texted with Nate tonight en route: after fueling up at Sheetz, Nate and his Dad traversed Pennsylvania and Ohio and arrived with the two Schwinns safely in the truck at their hotel outside Indy. They'll finish up the last five hours tomorrow a.m. For my part, I'll be getting out on my bike again tomorrow to enjoy the continuing un-Seattle-like fabulous weather.