Thursday Wheelings and Dealings

We still may not know who really won the 2006 Tour de France, but it's time to start thinking about the 2007 Tour.
During the annual Tour presentation in Paris Thursday, the traditional eight-minute film of the preceding Tour ended with Bad Boy Floyd Landis on the winner's podium. The screen then switched to become a cracked mirror.
"The deception we felt was capital," Tour director Christian Prudhomme said.
The Crankset weeps for the French.
Oscar Pereiro still considers Landis to be the Tour de France champion, if his English is to be understood.
"I don't consider myself the winner of the Tour de France," the Spanish rider said. "The statutes show that Floyd is still the winner."
Statutes?
Statues?
Whatever.
Writes Samuel Abt in the International Herald Tribune:
The '07 Tour includes "shortening the usual first 10 flat stages to seven and pushing both long time trials into the final nine days. The Tour will start in London, as has been known for a year, on July 7 and end in Paris on July 29 after covering 3,547 kilometers, or 2,120 miles.
"There will be six daily stages in the high mountains, three first in the Alps and then three in the Pyrenees, comprising 21 major climbs, as the race travels clockwise around France. One stage in the Alps and two in the Pyrenees will finish at the summit of mountains, allowing no opportunity for riders to make up lost time on descents.
"In addition to two days in England, one stage is scheduled in Belgium, with a flypast in Spain on a stage in the Pyrenees. The Tour will include two rest days.
"There will be no team time trial but three individual races against the clock are scheduled: 8 kilometers in the prologue in London, 54 kilometers on July 21 and 55 kilometers on July 28."
Jonathan Vaughters, the American director of the TIAA-CREF team and another former Tour rider, said he thought it would be "an unpredictable Tour."
"There's no one decisive stage," he said. "It seems they're promoting an aggressive race because things will be left open till very late."
Some other stories:
-- procycling: 2007 Tour route announced
-- PEZ Insider: 2007 Tour de France Presentation
-- CyclingNews: 2007 Tour offers a modern yet classic parcours
-- VeloNews: '07 Tour route unveiled