STORYLINE:

Defending champion Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavendish spoke about the route for the 2019 Tour de France after it was announced in Paris on Thursday (25th October).

SCRIPTING INFORMATION:

Next year's Tour de France will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the showcase race's iconic yellow jersey.

With France emerging from the carnage of World War I, the Tour offered its beacon of hope to the war-ravaged nation.

In 1919, the race leader's yellow jersey — which has become cycling's most iconic symbol — was introduced.

"It came straight out of the trenches, born from the rubble of a wounded France," Tour race director Christian Prudhomme said Thursday, unveiling the route for the July 6-28 race.

Joining Prudhomme on stage were five-time Tour winners Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Only four riders, including Jacques Anquetil, have won five Tours; Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles for doping.

British rider Chris Froome will try to win his fifth title next year, but will have to depose his Team Sky teammate Geraint Thomas over the 3,460-kilometre (2,145-mile) race.

It features seven flat stages for sprinters, five hilly ones for all-rounders, seven mountain stages — five with summit finishes — one team time trial and one individual time trial.

The big climbs start in the Pyrenees before hitting the Alps.

The Tour has less of the Hors Categorie (Beyond Classification) climbs than before - those HC climbs are the most gruelling.

Instead, the race has more of the Category Two climbs — which are noticeably less difficult and favour attacking strategies.

Sky has won six of the past seven races, often controlling them in the mountains by easily repelling attacks.

This has given the team an aura of invincibility and the race a predictable tone.

With closer racing needed, the two time trials combine for a relatively low 54 kilometres, meaning specialists such as Froome have less chance to gain significant time advantages.

The race begins with a flat stage for sprinters around the city of Brussels and stays there the next day for the 27 kilometre team time trial.

After leaving Belgium, the Tour snakes through the Champagne and Lorraine regions.

Stage 4 for sprinters starts in Reims — the Champagne-producing city where 25 French kings were crowned in its cathedral.

With the race leaving the Alsace region, Stage 7 is the longest at 230 kilometres and made for sprinters.

The next day's stage is a hilly one, with several short but sharp climbs from Macon to Saint-Etienne.

The first rest day is July 16 in Albi in southern France, followed by a sprint stage before the Tour enters the high Pyrenees.

Stage 14 on July 20 features finishes with a climb up the Tourmalet pass, one of the most famed in Tour history.

Riders tackle three days of Alpine climbing on stages 18-20, featuring an ascent up the famed Galibier and imposing Iseran — standing 2,770 metres — and culminating with a relentless 33.4 kilometre trek up to the ski resort of Val Thorens.

After the weary peloton is flown towards Paris, the race ends the next day with its processional showcase stage on the Champs-Elysees.

Palais des Congres, Paris, France. 25th October 2018.

1. 00:00 Wide of cyclists walking on stage

2. 00:04 Mark Cavendish on stage

3. 00:10 Christopher Froome on stage

4. 00:19 Geraint Thomas on stage

5. 00:30 Froome and Thomas going back to their seats

6. 00:40 Geraint Thomas

7. 00:43 Christopher Froome

8. 00:47 Julian Alaphilippe

9. 00:51 Mark Cavendish

10. 00:57 Primoz Roglic

11. 01:01 Five-time Tour de France winners Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Miguel Indurain, Raymond Poulidor, French former professional bicycle racer known as "The Eternal Second", and Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme

(UPSOUND Raymond Poulidor "Between us four we have won 15 Tour de France")

12. 01:09 Pan of Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Raymond Poulidor on stage

13. 01:21 Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme arriving on stage with map of Tour de France 2019 on large screen

14. 01:26 SOUNDBITE (English): Geraint Thomas, 2018 Tour de France winner:

"It's solid, it's tough as ever, but it's hard to take in it all when it's so quick but there are some big stages, obviously a lot of climbs finishing over 2,000 metres, medium mountain days, you know, look hard as well so yes it's going to be a tough race."

15. 01:42 Close up Thomas' eyes

16. 01:47 SOUNDBITE (English) Geraint Thomas, 2018 Tour de France winner:

"Yeah I think that will be really nice, I've raced in Belgium quite a lot before in the past, so yeah it will be nice to go back and obviously team time trial which we are normally pretty good at. It will be nice to try and try and win that for a change, rather than second and third, which we always seem to be."

17. 02:03 Geraint Thomas talking to journalists

18. 02:07 SOUNDBITE (English): Mark Cavendish, British sprinter who has won 30 Tour de France stages:

"It's flat enough for me, it's 21 flat dates isn't it, but yes, when you've got six or seven spin opportunities that's good, that's fair and there is that, you know. We've got the climbs. I think although there's more climbing, probably more altitude metres, it's still probably (doesn't finish sentence).... 2018 was near-on impossible to reach Paris for most of the sprinters - just the position of the climbs and the layout of the stages whereas here, though there's more climbing there's actually a better opportunity for us. If we work hard, we get to Paris. This year, it didn't matter how hard you worked physiologically, we'd never get to Paris. I was sick in the end, but I don't think even if I was well I wouldn't have reached it. It's quite nice next year - I'm looking forward to it."

19. 02:54 Tour de France presentation on large screen

20. 02:59 Cavendish watching presentation

21. 02:17 SOUNDBITE (English): Mark Cavendish, British sprinter who won 30 Tour de France stages:

"Yeah I hope so. Just back on my bike now. Yeah, there's enough time to get health... to get fit, as long as I'm healthy so I'm monitoring my health at the minute and we'll see where I'm at."

(Journalist: What does the Tour de France mean?)

It's everything for me. It's everything for every bike rider. Even guys who don't ride the road, professional track riders always dreamt of one point or another riding the Tour de France. For me it's everything, it's my career, it's what I've built everything on. It's what I'll continue to do. It's the only reason I still ride a bike now."

22. 03:30 Cavendish leaving

23. 03:35 Wide pan from audience clapping to stage

23. 03:42 Audience listening

SOURCE: SNTV

DURATION: 03:47

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SHOTLIST: Sisteron, France. 21st July, 2015.

++PLEASE NOTE, SHOTS 1 AND 4 WERE USED IN PREVIOUS PIECE - CYCLING TEAM SKY (STORY NO. 1037558)++

1. 00:00 Pan to Team Sky news conference - left to right: head of performance Tim Kerrison, rider Chris Froome, team principal Sir Dave Brailsford and rider Geraint Thomas.

2. 00:08 SOUNDBITE: (English) Tim Kerrison, Team Sky head of performance:

(Revealing riding data for Chris Froome on final climb in Tour de France Stage 10).

"That 41 and a half minutes climb had an average power of 414 watts for Chris, which was 1602 VAM. What we do know about Chris's power with the osymetric rings is that power meters over-report power by about by about six per cent - when using the osymetric rings - which is why interpretation of Chris's power has to be... you know, that has to be considered when interpreting Chris's power. But with his weight hovering around 67 and a half kilos, that gives a corrected power to weight for the whole climb of 5.78 watts per kilo. However, to go from that value to making some sort of estimates of Chris's physiology, for example his VO2 Max requires a lot of assumptions."

3. 01:04 SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky principal:

(On decision to release Froome's riding data).

"I just think that the... in particular I think what France 2 (television station) did, you know putting out that big headline: 'seven watts per kilo' (with) - a picture of (doping cheats) Lance Armstrong and a picture of (Jan) Ullrich, I think it was... that was so wildly wrong on so many levels that actually we just thought 'actually, we should just correct that and give the concrete facts, and give the evidence, so hopefully that people can judge for themselves, you know, why would you do that.' So that was really what drove my decision on that one."

4. 01:36 Wide of news conference.

5. 01:43 SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky principal:

(Suggestion that cycling's world governing body the UCI might get all teams to provide riders' power data to an expert panel for assessment).

"Over a period of time you could build the data set required to give everybody really a better understanding and a better picture of the overall situation. And I think anybody looking at this sensibly would think that is the obvious way to go. So I think it's up to the UCI to get their act together. You know, all the teams have experts, all the teams have guys working like Tim (Kerrison, Team Sky's head of performance) who are analysing all of this data. So you know there are people out there who could do this job very quickly, it wouldn't be that... (difficult). People say it would take a long time to put in place, I'm not sure it would to be honest. I just think it takes the will and a bit of investment. We invest in anti-doping already, all the teams, and I'm sure we'll be willing to invest a little bit more to resolve these kind of situations, you know."

6. 02:32 Mid of news conference.

SOURCE: SNTV.

DURATION: 02:38.

STORYLINE:

On the second rest day of the 2015 Tour de France on Tuesday (21 July), Team Sky released data to illustrate the riding power of race leader Chris Froome.

SCRIPTING INFORMATION:

Chris Froome's team has released data about his riding power in an effort to quell new speculation about doping at the Tour de France.

At a news conference on Tuesday on the Tour's second rest day, Sky team performance analyst Tim Kerrison read figures including Froome's power output, cadence and heart rate on a final climb in Stage 10, which he won, in the Pyrenees.

Sky manager Dave Brailsford said the team decided to release the figures after an expert on France's state broadcaster covering the race had aired what he called "wildly wrong" data about Froome's performances.

Brailsford added that he hoped the release of the data would "put to bed ... some of the numbers that they came up with."

STORYLINE:

UCI President Pat McQuaid told SNTV on Monday (22nd October) that he believes the Lance Armstrong scandal will "become history very quickly" as he insists the sport is much cleaner now.

SCRIPTING INFORMATION:

International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid took part in a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping controversy.

McQuaid confirmed that Armstrong is to be stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.

McQuaid also announced that the federation accepted the USADA's report on Armstrong and would not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The decision clears the way for Tour de France organisers to officially remove Armstrong's name from the record books, erasing his consecutive victories from 1999-2005.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said his organisation would go along with whatever cycling's governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.

The USADA had said that Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams. He also loses all race results achieved since August 1998.

The USADA report said Armstrong and his teams used steroids, the blood booster EPO and blood transfusions. The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong, including that he pressured them to take banned drugs.

Armstrong denies doping, saying he passed hundreds of drug tests. But he chose not to fight USADA in one of the agency's arbitration hearings, arguing the process was biased against him. USADA's report, released earlier this month, was aimed at showing why the agency ordered the sanctions against him.

Former Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel is also facing doping charges, but he is challenging the USADA case in arbitration.

While drug use allegations have followed the 41-year-old Armstrong throughout much of his career, the USADA report has badly damaged his reputation. Longtime sponsors Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch have dropped him, as have other companies, and Armstrong also stepped down last week as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer awareness charity he founded 15 years ago after surviving testicular cancer which spread to his lungs and brain.

Armstrong's astonishing return from life-threatening illness to the summit of cycling offered an inspirational story that transcended the sport.

However, his downfall has ended "one of the most sordid chapters in sports history," USADA said in its report published two weeks ago.

If Armstrong's Tour victories are not reassigned there would be a hole in the record books, marking a shift from how organisers treated similar cases in the past.

When Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour victory for a doping violation, organisers awarded the title to Andy Schleck. In 2006, Oscar Pereiro was awarded the victory after the doping disqualification of American rider Floyd Landis.

The USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong's era.

The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been "directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations" or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists "similarly tainted by doping."

The world's most famous cyclist could still face further sports sanctions and legal challenges. Armstrong could lose his 2000 Olympic time-trial bronze medal and may be targeted with civil lawsuits from ex-sponsors or even the U.S. government.

McQuaid said the UCI's board will meet on Friday (October 26) to discuss the OIympic issue and whether to update other race results taking account of Armstrong's disqualifications.

SHOTLIST:

Aigle, Switzerland - 22nd October 2012

1. 00:00 - Various cutaways of news conference

2. 00:05 - SOUNDBITE: (English), Pat McQuaid, UCI President:

"This is not the first time that cycling has reached the crossroads - or that it has had to begin anew and engage in the painful process of confronting its past. So again, with renewed vigour and purpose and its stakeholders and fans can be assured that it will find a new path forward. The UCI wishes to begin that journey on that path forward today by confirming that it will not appeal to the court of arbitration for sport and that it will recognise the sanction that USADA has imposed. The UCI will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling and the UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France titles. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling."

3. 00:56 - Cutaways

4. 01:13 - SOUNDBITE: (English), Pat McQuaid:

"For Lance Armstrong, make no mistake it is a catastrophe for him - he has to face up to that, that is his problem. What we have to do is deal with the evidence that was in the USADA file. We saw the evidence, we read the evidence and we really had no option but to make the decision we made. For the sport, I think the sport can look upon this as another - and I won't say a turning point - because it is another turning point where the sport has got to move forward and the sport has got to take what it can from this and bring it into the sport of today and tomorrow. That's what my intention is - to try and take from this and use it as a means to convince athletes that there is no future in doping."

5. 02:00 - SOUNDBITE: (English), Pat McQuaid:

"We haven't tried to defend an icon in our sport, we haven't tried to find a way to defend an icon in our sport. We've accepted reality, we've accepted the facts and the facts are there. We will continue to do that - I'm a pragmatic person and I believe that no matter how bad a situation may be, you take the decision you have to take and you move forward from there."

6. 02:22 - SOUNDBITE: (English), Pat McQuaid:

"I think the teams of today and the pro-teams and the pro-continental teams of today and the young athletes coming into the sport, the new generation of athletes - the Richie Portes, the Geraint Thomas' - and they are a little behind the Mark Cavendish and the Bradley Wiggins' and the Nibalis of this world and the TJ van Garderen or whatever and so forth. These are the sort of riders that are sitting and looking at what's going on, looking at what's happening and they are saying to themselves, 'I never want to be involved in anything like this, I never want to be near anything like this' and they are the riders that are the future of our sport and they are the riders that will bring our sport forward."

7. 03:03 - SOUNDBITE: (English), Pat McQuaid (on probe launched by Padua investigators in Italy into alleged doping):

"We may do. We are waiting for the results of that case. I've only read some speculative stuff about it at the moment. We are waiting for it and let's see what happens. Whatever is in there we will deal with it within the rules, within the body of evidence we are given. You are right, it's another element but it's another element from a period of time that the anti doping fight is a lot weaker than it is today. Although having said that there maybe evidence in the Padua affair of doping activities in recent years, again trying to beat the system. We'll deal with it and we will move forward and hopefully the sport - I have no doubt the sport will survive. You only have to look at the popularity of the sport and the sport will remain popular even after this affair today. Once this affair is over it's done with, this will become history very quickly."

SOURCE: SNTV