The movie

"Hero or Villain" is anappropriate title for the 2006 Tour de France, with its intense dramaboth during and after the race. There's no middle ground: eitherFloyd Landis is an incredibly inspiring example of determination,courage, and talent, or he's a cheat, a devastating blow to thecredibility of the sport of cycle racing. Which is it? He vehementlyinsists that he's innocent, despite failing a drug test. Meanwhile,the official title of winner bounced from Landis to the second-placefinisher, and then tentatively back to Landis while he appeals. TheDVD coverage of the 2006 Tour de France gives viewers the chance tosee the action of the race firsthand and draw their own conclusionsabout Landis. It's also a thrilling race on other counts: one of thebenefits of sitting back to watch the Tour again after the fact isbeing able to savor the excitement deliv...Read the entire review

The movie

"Hero or Villain" is anappropriate title for the 2006 Tour de France, with its intense dramaboth during and after the race. There's no middle ground: eitherFloyd Landis is an incredibly inspiring example of determination,courage, and talent, or he's a cheat, a devastating blow to thecredibility of the sport of cycle racing. Which is it? He vehementlyinsists that he's innocent, despite two failed drug tests. Meanwhile,the official title of winner bounced from Landis to the second-placefinisher, and then tentatively back to Landis while he appeals. TheDVD coverage of the 2006 Tour de France gives viewers the chance tosee the action of the race firsthand and draw their own conclusionsabout Landis. It's also a thrilling race on other counts: one of thebenefits of sitting back to watch the Tour again after the fact isbeing able to savor the excitement del...Read the entire review

The movie

Paris-Roubaix is known as the "Queenof the Classics" and also as the "Hell of the North,"perfectly capturing both sides of the cycling race that captures thehearts of the riders themselves as well as the fans. The race runsover 26 separate sections of pave (cobbled roads) take the ridersthrough a grueling physical challenge. Sometimes there's mud andrain; other times there are choking clouds of dust thrown up by thewheels of the bicycles and the support cars; sometimes the weather isbright and sunny, making this brutal course through the Frenchcountryside deceptively beautiful, like a Sunday club ride. But nomatter what the surface conditions are, all the riders know that itwill take strength, skill, tactics, and a generous helping of luck tobe the first rider to pass the finish line in the velodrome atRoubaix.

The...Read the entire review

The movie

The Spring Classics season is alwaysan exciting one in the professional bicycle racing calendar, withApril in particular often showcasing the "best of the best."That's what we get in this double feature of Liege-Bastogne-Liege andthe Fleche Wallonne: two races and a lot of excitement.

The Belgian classics are oftendominated by the big Belgian teams, who are eager to win on hometurf. The Italians are also usually a force to be reckoned with, asthey've produced many talented single-day racers. Spain, on the otherhand, typically produces riders who excel in stage races, themulti-day or multi-week races like the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia,and Vuelta a España.(Think Miguel Indurain and Pedro Delgado.) The Spanish teams tend tokeep their riders away from the Classics, makin...Read the entire review

The movie

The Tour of Flanders (the Ronde vanVlaanderen) is pretty much the big race of the season for Belgianbicycle racers... and there are a lot of strong Belgian teams andriders in the pro peloton, making Flanders into a great viewingexperience for racing fans. Taking place on April 2, the Tour ofFlanders fits between Het Volk and Ghent-Wevelgem.

The reigning World Champion, TomBoonen, is of course the star of the show and the favorite right fromthe beginning, riding as he does for the strong QuickStep-Innergeticteam. QuickStep offers Boonen remarkable depth of support, but evenso, there are still serious challengers to Boonen at the start line.Leif Hoste, coming off a win in the Three Days of De Panne, takes upthe challenge, as does US rider George Hincapie, whose determinationand talent have been demonstrated many tim...Read the entire review

The movie

World Cycling Productions' 2006Spring Classics series of professional bicycle racing kicks off withthe two-race set of Ghent-Wevelgem and Het Volk. These early-seasonraces are interesting not just for their own sake, but also as aglimpse of what the field looks like after the winter season oftrades, training, and team reorganization. The 2006 edition of theseraces turns out to be quite interesting, with some surprises in storefor riders and viewers alike.

While Ghent-Wevelgem gets topbilling in the set, it makes more sense to watch the Het Volk discfirst, as Het Volk is the earliest of the races on the calendar. This"semi-classic" race gets started in the chilly Belgianweather on February 25, with all the riders eyeing each other to seewho looks strongest. It's not the first race of the year, but it'sthe first big ...Read the entire review

The movie

Lance Armstrong's seventhconsecutive Tour de France win in 2005 was historic andunprecedented, so for that reason alone the 2005 Tour certainly has aplace in the annals of bicycle racing. But was it as exciting as itwas historic? Well... not really. The most exciting races are theones that are hotly contested down to the wire, like the 1989Tour with LeMond vs. Fignon or the 2003Tour with Armstrong vs. a very strong Ullrich. In 2005, Armstrongstamped his domination on the race from the very first stage of therace - quite literally - so there was much less to be excited aboutas the race unfolded over its full three weeks.

The following comments are about therace itself; for information on how t...Read the entire review

The Movie

Professional road cycling is anexciting sport, but one that's sometimes hard to explain to non-fans.The drama plays out over the course of hours, days, or weeks, ratherthan in just an hour or so, like other sports. There's a lot oftactical maneuvering and strategy involved, as well as mentaldiscipline and pure physical strength and endurance, but the nuancessometimes take a while to see. It's tough to capture the essence ofbike racing on film, but it's a worthwhile challenge, since once youget hooked on watching racing, it's a uniquely entertaining sport tofollow. Among the films that do attempt to convey the world of cycleracing, ASunday in Hell has legendary status for capturing the essenceof the Paris-Roubaix race, while the recent Read the entire review

The movie

Though the Giro d'Italia is usuallyovershadowed by the Tour de France, it's nonetheless one of the threeGrand Tours (along with the Vuelta a España) and it's oftenmore exciting than the Tour. 2005 is no exception, as the Girodemonstrates more of what a stage race should be like: a race withseveral serious contenders for the overall victory, and aninteresting mix of stages that delivers important action day in andday out.

From the beginning, the Girobenefits from having several credible contenders for the maglia rosa:Discovery's Paulo Savoldelli (the winner in 2002), CSC's Ivan Basso,and Lampre's fearsome pair of Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego(also both previous Giro winners). This is crucial, because the worstthing that can befall a stage race - meaning a race that's contestedover multiple days, or stages - i...Read the entire review

The movie

Lance Armstrong's seventhconsecutive Tour de France win in 2005 was historic andunprecedented, so for that reason alone the 2005 Tour certainly has aplace in the annals of bicycle racing. But was it as exciting as itwas historic? Well... not really. The most exciting races are theones that are hotly contested down to the wire, like the 1989Tour with LeMond vs. Fignon or the 2003Tour with Armstrong vs. a very strong Ullrich. In 2005, Armstrongstamped his domination on the race from the very first stage of therace - quite literally - so there was much less to be excited aboutas the race unfolded over its full three weeks. Fortunately forviewers, though, World Cycling Productions has done a reallyoutstanding job of presenting the r...Read the entire review

The movie

The 2005 Spring Classics of probicycle racing wrap up with Flèche Wallonne andLiège-Bastogne-Liège, known as the "ArdennesWeekend" for the region of Belgium that the routes wind through,and the fact that in years past, the two races were on the sameweekend. They have a few days in between them now, but the two racesare still felt to be connected, with a prize given to the bestcombined finisher.

In the race calendar, FlècheWallonne comes first, though oddly World Cycling Productions persistsin packaging the set with Liège-Bastogne-Liège first.The races are really much more enjoyable when watched in order, soafter you finish watching Paris-Roubaix,I recommend that you hop ahead to Fleche Wallonne and then return toLiège-Bastogne-Liège. That way ...Read the entire review

The movie

Paris-Roubaix exerts a strangefascination over the professional cyclists who compete in it and overthe fans who watch it every year. Its peculiar nature is captured inthe two nicknames for the race: the "Queen of the Classics"and the "Hell of the North." The race course winds throughthe French countryside, incorporating 26 stretches of cobbled roadsthat are used only for farm vehicles during the rest of the year.Even under the best circumstances, Paris-Roubaix is tough: thebone-shaking pavé (cobbles) is uneven and difficult to ride,with dust and grime coating the riders as they push on relentlessly.Add even a touch of bad weather, and Paris-Roubaix takes on its truecharacter as "l'enfer du Nord": the cobbles grow slick andtreacherous, sending riders crashing with the slightest misplacing ofa wheel, and many of the roads become expanses of mud. And y...Read the entire review

The movie

The Tour of Flanders has become oneof my favorite Spring Classics, giving bicycle racing fans anexciting course whose prestige attracts the best one-day racers tofight it out for the win. The Tour of Flanders (or Ronde vanVlaanderen) is also Belgium's biggest race: for Belgian racers, whohave a strong place in the pro peloton, the Tour of Flanders isbasically their "World Championship." Winding its way overthe back roads of the Belgian countryside, the Tour of Flanders isknown for its difficult climbs over short, steep cobbled hills. Thenames roll off the tongue and are delightfully well known to any fanof the Classics, hills like the Molenberg, the Oude Kwaremont, thePaterberg, the Koppenberg (with a brutal grade of 22% at one point),the Berendries, the feared Muur, and the final Bosberg.

The 2005 edition, which ...Read the entire review

The movie

Paris-Nice and Milan-San Remo aretwo important early-season bicycle races that don't always make itonto DVD, so it's nice to see the 2005 edition of both races for ourviewing enjoyment. Both races are part of the new "Pro Tour"which has replaced the traditional World Cup series of races, butit's too early to tell how much influence the Pro Tour will have onthe season as a whole.

Paris-Nice is an eight-day stagerace, traditionally known as the "Race to the Sun" from itsstart in chilly March weather in Paris leading to its finish insunny, warm Nice. Bad weather often interferes with the early days ofthe race, and 2005 was no exception, as severe weather conditionsforced the race organizers to shorten Stage 2 to a mere 46kilometers. Apart from that, though, Paris-Nice went off without asnag.

Read the entire review

The movie

The "Grand Tours" (theTour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España) seem tofill the largest space in the public's attention when it comes toprofessional bicycle racing, but as time has gone by, I've becomemuch more a fan of the Spring Classics. These one-day races pack moreexcitement and action into a few hours than the Tour de France doesin a double handful of stages (or, often, the whole race). There's nositting back and letting somebody else win the stage because theleader has such a large time advantage in the bag; no, in a Classic,the only thing that counts is who crosses the finish line first.Whether it's a veteran pro or a new guy with not a single win in hispalmares yet, every rider who pulls away from the peloton could be athreat.

The 2005 Het Volk and Ghent-Wevelgemraces a...Read the entire review

The movie

For a perfect bicycle racing DVD,you need two ingredients: a top-notch, exciting race, and equallytop-notch coverage of the event. That's exactly what we get in the2004 Vuelta a España: from start to finish, this Vueltadelivers a powerful package of racing excitement.

Let's start with the race itself.One of the three Grand Tours in the cycling calendar, the Vuelta aEspaña is traditionally a nail-biter of a race, somehowmanaging to produce tight finishes year in and year out. As a result,it's always a very exciting race for viewers, since it ends up beinga very aggressive race with a delightfully uncertain outcome until,literally, the very last day of the race. What makes the Vuelta sucha great race? Chalk it up to the good sense of the race organizers.They asked themselves "what are the most exciting parts of aT...Read the entire review

Themovie

If you're a fan of professional bicycle racing, you can always counton the Giro d'Italia to serve up a generous helping of great racingexcitement. While the Tour de France is often dominated by a singlestrong team or rider, making it somewhat of a one-horse race, somehowthe Giro always has a more competitive feel. Many years have seenfantastic duels between evenly-matched rivals, like Tonkov and Gotti,but even when there's a strong favorite, the challenging yetinterestingly varied course of the three-week-long race always seemsto bring some fresh contenders to the fore. Such is the case in2004's Giro: lastyear's winner Gilberto Simoni may be looking for a repeat win,but it turns out to be anything but smooth sailing for him... oranyone else ...Read the entire review

Themovie

2004 went down in the annals of professional bicycle racing as theyear that the sport's most hallowed record was finally broken. Untilthis year, no rider had ever won six Tours de France, though fiveriders – Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, and Armstrong –had racked up five wins apiece. But in 2004, a new record was setwhen Armstrong entered Paris as the winner of six consecutive Toursde France.

Viewers who are interested in watching this historic race on DVD havethe choice of two versions: a shorter four-hour edition, or this set,which offers 12 hours of footage. If you already know about the raceand just want to compare the four-hour and 12-hour...Read the entire review

Themovie

2004 went down in the annals of professional bicycle racing as theyear that the sport's most hallowed record was finally broken. Untilthis year, no rider had ever won six Tours de France, though fiveriders – Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, and Armstrong –had racked up five wins apiece. But in 2004, a new record was setwhen Armstrong entered Paris as the winner of six consecutive Toursde France.

With a different and distinctive new route, the 2004 Tour wasintended to shake things up a bit. The first week started in Belgium,with one stage even including a section of the famous pavé(the cobbled roads that are at the heart of Classics likeParis-Roubaix). The team time trial was re-vamped with a new set ofrules ...Read the entire review

Themovie

Afterhis first victory in 1999, Lance Armstrong was hungry to prove itwasn't a fluke, and in the 2000 Tour de France marks the start of hisdominance in the three-week Grand Tour. This Tour showspromise from the beginning of being a more exciting and highlycontested race than the 1999 edition. Former Tour winners Jan Ullrich(riding for Telekom) and Marco Pantani are back in the race, alongwith French legend Laurent Jalabert, riding for ONCE. And this time,no nasty crash in the early stages opens up any killer time gapsamong the leaders, so returning champion Armstrong is pitted againsthis competitors on a more level playing field.

The 2000 Tour route includes only one individual time trial, apartfro...Read the entire review

Themovie

With Lance Armstrong's historic sixth Tour de France win now on therecord books, many fans will now find themselves looking back at howit all began: the 1999 Tour de France. This was the Tour that putArmstrong in the spotlight, showing that the aggressive,self-confident Texan had what it took to join the elite club of Tourde France winners.

This DVD edition of the 1999 Tour de France is a two-disc set thatprovides a three-hour cut of the race footage; an eight-hourextended edition is also available. I'll give an overview of therace itself and then discuss the differences between the twoeditions.

Read the entire review

Themovie

Pro cycling's spring Classics season wraps up with two of theseone-day races just a few days apart, both taking place on the windingroads of Belgium: the Fleche Wallonne on April 21 andLiege-Bastogne-Liege on April 25. Liege-Bastogne-Liege, known as the"Queen of the Classics" and widely regarded as the mostprestigious of them all, gets first billing on this DVD, but it'smore enjoyable to watch the races in chronological order, so viewerswill want to check out Fleche Wallonne first.

Before I talk about the individual races, I'll start off with somegeneral comments that hold true for both. Each race is givenapproximately an hour and 45 minutes of coverage, and in both cases,we jump immediately into the race footage, wi...Read the entire review

Themovie

Paris-Roubaix is probably the best-known of all the one-day Classicraces, and for good reason: the "Hell of the North" takesriders over 26 brutally difficult sections of pavé,or cobbles, along its 260-kilometer (161-mile) route. The cycliststhemselves typically either love it or hate it: Tour de France legendBernard Hinault famously hated it so much that he avoided it like theplague, only to finally give in and race it a single time – andwin, thereby giving him the pleasure of saying he'd faced downParis-Roubaix and come off the victor. For today's elite Classicsriders, though, the predominant attitude toward Paris-Roubaix is oneof reverence and anticipation. It's in many ways the hardest race onthe spring calendar, one that always has some nasty surprises instore, and it's one that riders come back...Read the entire review

Themovie

Ghent-Wevelgem falls in the middle of the week, sandwiched betweenthe opposing weekend races of the Tourof Flanders on April 4 and Paris-Roubaix on April 11. As such,this one-day Classic race is always in a bit of an odd situation.While some of the leading riders choose to skip it in order to savetheir legs for the more prestigious Paris-Roubaix, Ghent-Wevelgemstill usually features a nicely star-studded start list... but untilthe race actually unfolds, it's impossible to tell which riders aretreating it as basically a training race, and which are there withvictory in mind.

2004's edition of Ghent-Wevelgem offers a solid example of what thisrace is all ab...Read the entire review

Themovie

Taking place as it does early in March, Paris-Nice is the firstreally important race on the professional cycling calendar. Thisweek-long stage race has been the showcase for many champions in thepast, with its list of winners including the Irish legend Sean Kelly(with a mind-boggling seven consecutive victories), Tour de Francechampion Miguel Indurain (with two wins), and popular favoriteLaurent Jalabert (with three wins). Known as "The Race to theSun," Paris-Nice starts out in chilly northern France and wendsits way through mountain passes that often threaten the riders withsnow (and in fact 2004's Stage 4 ends up being canceleddue to inclement weather), finishing up on the sunny Mediterraneancoast of Nice. It's a prestigious race in its own right, but it'salso a great snapsh...Read the entire review

Themovie

I love the Tour of Flanders. This one-day Classic race, the second inthe prestigious World Cup series, always attracts some of the biggestnames in racing, and the challenging course with its cobbled climbsalways tests the riders to the limit. As with the other Classics, theTour of Flanders follows almost exactly the same course each year,which means that we can look forward to the roster ofmelodious-sounding hills: the Koppenberg, the Bosberg, the Molenberg,the Tenbosse, the Muur de Grammond...

2004's edition promises a showdown of titans, as the "Lion ofFlanders," three-time winner Johann Museeuw, attempts to add anunprecedented fourth win to his palmares. It's Museeuw's very lastchance, as the celebrated rider is s...Read the entire review

Theprogram

The 1998 Tour de France was the zenith of Marco Pantani's career: thelittle Italian climber had just won the Giro d'Italia in grand style,and to win "the double," the Giro-Tour combination, was anamazing feat. Pantani's career had already followed a rocky road,with both severe injury (a crash had left him uncertain whether he'deven walk again, let alone ride professionally) and a suspension fromthe sport behind him. 1998 was the year in which all those thingsfell to the sidelines, as "Il Pirata," sporting histrademark piratical bandanna, soared on the mountain climbs of thePyrenees and the Alps to take victory in front of the adoring tifosi(cycling fans).

Sadly, there was to be no higher point than this. After more...Read the entire review

Theprogram

The Tour de France may be the most famous of the three "GrandTours," but the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) is often even moreexciting. 1998's edition of the Giro showcases the captivatingcharacter of this race, with the "maglia rosa" (the pinkjersey of the leader) hotly contested among a group of highlytalented riders. World Cycling Productions presents this excellentrace as part of its "Remastered Grand Tour Series,"highlighting the fact that a great race is like a great wine, holdingup to the test of time.

Readers will know, of course, that the star of the show in 1998 endsup being Marco Pantani, the Italian rider for the Mercatone Unosquad, known as "Il Pirata" (The Pirate). But when the 1998Giro opens, it's not...Read the entire review

Theprogram

The 1999 Tour de France was the beginning of a winning streak forLance Armstrong, who would go on to take not only this edition of theTour, but also the next four. But in July 1999, no one knew that theU.S. Postal rider would take on such a dominant role. He was acontender, but only one of many in a race that was, at the beginning,wide open.

1999was exceptional at the beginning because there were no former Tourwinners in the race, as the '96, '97 and '98 winners Bjarne Riis, JanUllrich, and Marco Pantani were non-starters. That left quite a feweager contenders, however, most notably Alex Zülle,riding for Banesto, and Abraham Olano, riding for ONCE. Nor wasArmst...Read the entire review

Theprogram

In 1999, Lance Armstrong proved that he could win the Tour de France.The question in 2000's edition of the Tour was "Could he do itagain?" The returning champion was the strong favorite, butthere were two other past winners in the field this year to mixthings up: Telekom's Jan Ullrich and Mercatone Uno's Marco Pantani.Kelme's combination of Roberto Heras and Fernando Escartín, makes thisteam a serious contender in the mountains, and Banesto's Alex Zülleis no slouch either. While Abraham Olano gave ONCE a disappointingperformance in the 1999Tour, he's back in this edition with the talented and alwaysclassy Laurent Jalabert alongside him.

What's the cour...Read the entire review

The program

A great bicycle race is trulytimeless, and the one-day Classics even more so. Each new edition of the racebrings new contenders and old favorites together to test their strength, skill,and wits against each other and against the challenge of the race itself.Paris-Roubaix, known as the "Queen of the Classics" for its long andstar-studded history, and as the "Hell of the North" for its brutallydifficult cobbled course through northern France, is one of the most famous ofthe Classics, and justly so.

With its new "RemasteredClassics" series, World Cycling Productions brings to DVD some of the bestof these Classics. The first release is the 1992 and 1993 editions ofParis-Roubaix: two great races that are a must-have for any fan of the Classics,and worth a serious look as well for any vie...Read the entire review

Theprogram

TheVuelta a España isthe third Grand Tour on the cycling calendar, with 2003's editionrunning from September 6-28, and though it tends to attract lessattention than the Tour de France, it hasconsistently been a very exciting race. In fact, from a cycling fan'spoint of view, the organizers of the Vuelta have exactly the rightgoals: to make the race exciting to watch from the first stage to thevery last. The 2003 Vuelta is a perfect example of an outstandingrace design, with the result being a hotly contested race in whichthe overall winner wasn't determined until the last moment.

If we ask the question, "What makes a stage race exciting?"the answer will likely be this: mountain-top finishes and ...Read the entire review

Theprogram

Here'sa question for bicycle racing fans: why do you watch races? Is itbecause you're looking forward to seeing the riders crash? Or is itbecause you enjoy the excitement of the racing action as the riderstry to win? Speaking for myself, it's certainly the latter: whileanyone who follows cycle racing knows that crashes are an inevitableoccurrence in races, they're something regrettable, not something toenjoy. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I poppedCrash! into my DVD player. Could it be as terrible as Ifeared?

Unfortunately,yes. Crash! caters to the worst instincts in its viewers,making us rubber-necking spectators to 93 minutes' worth of variouscrashes...Read the entire review

The program

The Giro d'Italia (Tour ofItaly) is one of the three "Grand Tours" of professional bicycleracing: three-week stage races combining flat stages, tough mountain climbs,and time trials pitting the riders against the clock, to determine an overallwinner. But while there are major elements in common among the Giro, the Tourde France, and the Vuelta a España, each race has its own distinctivecharacter. The 2003 Giro d'Italia showcases the unique flavor of Italy's GrandTour, with a course that encourages aggressive tactics from the contenders forthe overall lead, while also offering a generous helping of outstanding sprintstages.

I don't say this lightly, butWCP's coverage of the 2003 Giro d'Italia is perfect, with each and every stageof the three-week race given exactly enough time, no mo...Read the entire review

The program

After lavishing much-deservedpraise on World Cycling Production's outstanding 12-hour coverage ofthe 2003 Tour de France, I had the opportunity to take a look at the shorter 4-hourcoverage of the same race. As a devoted cycling fan, the 12-hour edition hitthe sweet spot for me, offering both breadth and depth of coverage. But what ifyou are interested in seeing the Tour, but you're not sure about committing to12 hours' worth? That's where the 4-hour version comes in: this DVD is idealfor you.

Let's start out by taking alook at the race itself. How exciting was the 2003 edition of the Tour deFrance? In a word: extremely. In fact, it's the most thrilling installment ofthe race in more than a decade, measuring up well to Read the entire review