French President Jacques Chirac, whose recent comments on British and Finnish cooking provoked a minor diplomatic incident, claimed on Thursday that French cuisine is part of the reason for the longevity of his compatriots. Listing in a television interview France’s strengths, Chirac lauded the merits of the national cuisine.
The Alps are gone forever — now the Pyrenees beckon Lance Armstrong again as he edges closer to retiring with a seventh straight Tour de France win. Armstrong finished comfortably in 41st place on Thursday’s 12th stage and preserved his overall lead. Although it was his last day in the Alps, Armstrong had little time for sentimentality.
While Harry Potter has cast a spell over children worldwide, to the delight of local English teachers many young readers in France seem willing to cross the language barrier on their magical journey with the young wizard.
At mid-point in the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is in a familiar position, firmly in the lead. But there’s a key difference this year — he knows that his remarkable career is drawing to a close. ”Every day I get on the bike it is a countdown,” he said on Wednesday after preserving his race lead in the hardest Alpine stage.
A French judge began legal action against Italian cyclist Dario Frigo and his wife on Wednesday after police discovered doping products in her car during the Tour de France, officials said. Frigo and his wife were arrested after officials and police found about 10 doses of the banned endurance-boosting hormone EPO in her car.
Wine-growers in southern France, eager to alert holidaymakers to the crisis hitting the industry, will hand out 400 000 bottles later this month at toll booths and along rural roads in the region. Producers also will distribute leaflets explaining the current overproduction crisis in France’s wine industry.
Italian rider Dario Frigo was detained by police on Wednesday before the start of the 11th stage of the Tour de France after banned drugs were found in his wife’s car, his Fassa Bortolo team said. Frigo was forced to pull out of the 2001 Giro d’Italia when Italian police found drugs in his hotel room.
Two faces. One was Lance Armstrong’s, steely but almost serene as he pedalled furiously in the thin mountain air. The other was a mask of pain worn by Jan Ullrich, his German rival trailing farther and farther behind. Armstrong took a giant step toward a seventh Tour de France victory with a dominant ride on Tuesday.
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe, still to come to terms with last week’s stunning defeat to London for the right to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, has accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair and London bid leader Sebastian Coe of breaking the rules. ”I don’t say they flirted [with the yellow line], they crossed right over,” he told his first Paris council meeting on Monday.
The day after his teammates crumbled, Lance Armstrong surrendered. But it was a calculated move designed to make the coming days easier to manage. Armstrong relinquished the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday’s ninth stage, allowing Team CSC rider Jens Voigt to ride away in pursuit of stage winner Mickael Rasmussen.
During the running of Saturday’s eighth stage of the 2005 Tour de France, six-time champion Lance Armstrong smiled warmly at a France 2 television camera and said, ”Bonjour, France.” It was a telling moment, for the camera lingered on Armstrong and Armstrong continued to smile, a mutual declaration of love between the rider and his French spectators.
Lance Armstrong survived his first big challenge on the Tour de France but admitted he suffered on the first climbing stage of the race after countering an attack from one of his main rivals, Alexandre Vinokourov. However, the 33-year-old American admitted he did not expect to suffer so much.
Italian Lorenzo Bernucci of the Fassa Bortolo team won the dramatic sixth stage of the Tour de France held over 199km between Troyes and Nancy, which almost ended in carnage in Nancy on Thursday. American Lance Armstrong retained the race leader’s yellow jersey, which he is bidding to win for a seventh consecutive time.
Twenty years after two of its secret agents blew up the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand, France is still haunted by the bombing of the Greenpeace vessel. The sinking of the vessel in Auckland harbour on the night of July 10, 1985 still ranks as one of the biggest political and diplomatic scandals of the reign of the late president Francois Mitterrand.
Lance Armstrong could afford to show his charitable side after the fifth stage of the Tour de France in Montargis on Wednesday, where Australian Robbie McEwen finally got to show his sprinting prowess ahead of Belgian Tom Boonen. However, he will be hard pushed to be as calm when the race goes over some tricky terrain this weekend.
Parisians gathered on artificial turf resembling an Olympic running track outside City Hall on on Wednesday, cheering ”Pa-ris! Par-is!” as the French capital and rival London emerged as finalists for the 2012 Summer Games. Cheers went up as the International Olympic Committee eliminated Moscow, Madrid, Spain and New York.
Aside from the pursuit of gold medals, competitors at the World Dwarf Games being held in France this week want to be treated as serious athletes, and not pitied because of their height. The fourth edition of the championships at Rambouillet, south of Paris, has drawn together 135 dwarves, with the largest delegation coming from Britain.
Australian Robbie McEwen has hit out at what he called an unfair disqualification from the third stage of the Tour de France, held over 212,5km from La Chataigneraie to Tours on Monday. McEwen, of the Davitamon team, finished third in the sprint but was soon disqualified to the back of the peloton.
Belgian Tom Boonen of the Quick Step team unleashed another powerful sprint to win the third stage of the Tour de France held over 212,5km between La Chataigneraie and Tours on Monday. American David Zabriskie, of the CSC team, retained the race leader’s yellow jersey with a two-second lead on Lance Armstrong.
The decision on the host city for the 2012 Olympic Games took a distinctly political turn when French President Jacques Chirac decided to travel to Singapore to defend Paris’s candidacy ahead of the International Olympic Committee vote. There, he will be going head to head against British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Fernando Alonso wanted to savour the moment. The Renault driver had time to slow down in front of the stands filled with blue-and-yellow Renault supporters and hold up five fingers — indicating his number of victories this season. Alonso has now won five of the season’s 10 races and has six career wins.
Africa will take centre stage at this week’s G8 summit in Scotland where debate is likely to reflect differing notions of who is primarily responsible for eradicating poverty — those who have or those who have not. The outcome of that debate could well determine the success or failure of the gathering and of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spirited campaign to prick the world’s conscience.
Donkey-riding protesters seeking to banish the French Grand Prix from central France overshadowed Friday’s opening practice session for Sunday’s race. The protesters, waving banners, blocked a road about 15km from the Magny-Cours circuit. If their protest continued, it could seriously disrupt traffic for Sunday’s race.
Jan Ullrich is confident he can add to his single Tour de France win achieved in 1997, before six-time winner Lance Armstrong dominated the sport like no cyclist before him, when the 2005 edition starts on Saturday in Fromentine. ”For everyone, and especially for me, it’s a big motivation to beat the great Lance,” said Ullrich.
An extraordinary United States mission to whack a passing comet may indirectly provide a windfall for guardians monitoring any space rocks that could hit Earth. The Nasa probe Deep Impact is to eject a 372kg projectile that on Monday is scheduled to smack into Comet Tempel 1 as the heavenly wanderer flies past Earth at a great distance.
Taittinger, the French luxury goods group which owns one of the great champagne houses and renowned hotels, is effectively up for sale with a price tag of more than â,¬2-billion, it emerged on Monday. The group said it had asked BNP Paribas and Rothschild to examine offers for its assets.
Lance Armstrong has shaken off a crash in his preparation for this Saturday’s Tour de France first stage, a 19km time trial, and appears ready for his bid to win a seventh consecutive yellow jersey on what will be his retirement race. The 33-year-old American escaped with only a cut to his face after crashing on his time-trial bike in training on Sunday.
Japan and France have agreed to develop the technology for a new supersonic commercial aircraft that could cut the flying time between Tokyo and New York by almost half to six hours. Japan’s trade and industry ministry said the countries would each invest about 100m yen ( 000) a year over three years on research for the plane.
A spam e-mail that claims Michael Jackson has made a suicide attempt masks a ”Trojan horse” virus that infects computers, a British-headquartered software security firm said on Friday. The e-mail says Jackson made a ”suicidal aattempt” (sic) and invites the recipient to click on a link to see a supposed suicide note.
Lance Armstrong completed what he considered his first real test for the upcoming Tour de France by finishing third in the 47km time trial of the Dauphine Libere’s third stage in France on Wednesday. The race lead went to Levi Leipheimer, who took over from Samuel Dumoulin but lost out on winning to Santiago Botero.
A website that specialises in storm forecasts warned on Wednesday that the Atlantic may face a major hurricane season this year. Tropical Storm Risk predicted that, on the basis of current and projected climate data, the hurricane season would be 160% above average in terms of numbers.
Doubts over Lance Armstrong’s form could either be put to rest or escalate further after Wednesday’s time trial at the Dauphine Libere. Armstrong will attempt a seventh straight Tour de France win next month, and he is using the Dauphine Libere as a final tune-up following some below-par performances earlier in the season.