Free Republic

Renowned as the voice of cycling, ex-professional and NBC Sports analyst Paul Sherwen died Sunday. He was 62. The cycling community was reeling Sunday at news of Sherwen’s death. One of the most well-known and familiar personalities in cycling, his career as racer and later as broadcaster stretched decades. Officials from NBC Sports, where he covered five Olympic Games as well as 33 editions of the Tour de France as a commentator, sent a message of condolences. “We are saddened to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Paul Sherwen, who passed away this morning at his home...

la Vuelta starts in The Netherlands this year (as do next year's Giro & TdF, interestingly enough):

After breaking his collar-bone as the result of a crash caused by an inadvertent touch of a team-mate's wheel, crocked Tour favourite Alejandro Valverde is now looking ahead to the Vuelta. After having his broken collar-bone fastened in a Maastricht hospital on Tuesday, Alejandro Valverde is set to return to Spain today and is likely to have an operation on the broken bone, which will keep him off the bike for two weeks. Unlike Erik Dekker, Fred Rodriguez and Sandy Casar, who were all crash victims of careless fans yesterday, Valverde went down when his front wheel touched the rear...