Twitter Round-up

Who needs Twitter? Cycling fans! Updates straight from the pros revolutionized our ability to follow the sport, as we can now hear directly from the cyclists, during competition and from all over the world, despite the limited coverage by traditional media. This is especially useful when new controversies hit the fan or following a great win, as well as understanding how frequent and invasive the anti-doping tests are from the riders' perspective. The tweets will surely be flying throughout the Tour de France.

Now that dozens of riders are on Twitter, it would be a full-time job to follow them all. To hit the highlights, a good place to start is with the cyclists best known for smack talk—the sprinters.

Mark Cavendish: http://twitter.com/#%21/MarkCavendish

By far, the most entertaining cyclist on Twitter is Mark Cavendish of HTC-Highroad, who introduces himself as “Professional cyclist from the Isle of Man. Fast sprinter, faster talker. Disclaimer: May cause offence.” It’s definitely not P.C. Cavendish praises teammates and countrymen and makes cracks at nearly every situation he encounters on the road, from pig races to hat hair. The only downside is the amount of time he spends talking about the beauty of his girlfriend.

Robbie McEwen: http://twitter.com/#%21/mcewenrobbie

This is the first place to look when controversy hits the headlines. The Australian veteran on Team Radioshack tells you how he sees it, nothing less, plus he brings some wisdom to his zingers. Even though it was just announced he will not ride the Tour de France, McEwen can still be counted on for colorful commentary.

Other sprinters are infrequent on Twitter, such as Thor Hushovd (thorhushovd), or apparently absent, as with Tyler Farrar. (If I’m wrong on this one, please let me know.)

The team leaders and general classification riders are usually more restrained than the sprinters, though fans enjoy hearing the stage by stage progress to the overall win (or loss). Language is an issue in following cyclists such as Ivan Basso (ivanbasso), who writes mostly in Italian, and Alberto Contador (albertocontador), who tweets in Spanish.

Levi Leipheimer: http://twitter.com/#%21/levileipheimer

Levi plays it pretty straight, in line with his kind, focused vibe. He keeps it to cycling and a bit of humor here and there, such as “Send me all your bald guys on Mt Baldy jokes.” The Californian rides for Radioshack.

Christian Vande Velde

Christian Vande Velde: http://twitter.com/#%21/ChristianVDV

His tweets sound like him—relaxed, positive, non-pretentious. It’s like hearing from your buddy. “Signed one of my old bikes for a speed skier here in Swiss. He races over 150mph! Insanity....ok, we went 65 down the Nuffenpass yesterday.” Originally from Illinois, Vande Velde races for Garmin-Cervelo.

Bradley Wiggins: http://twitter.com/#%21/bradwiggins

Nice, sarcastic British humor is what we can count on from Wiggins of Team Sky. For example: “Got caught with me pants down today, fortunately my Team rocks and nothing was inserted into the hole of death.”

Frank Schleck: http://twitter.com/#%21/schleckfrank

Andy Schleck: http://twitter.com/#%21/andy_schleck

Sweet, positive, occasional messages from the Brothers Schleck. Lots of congratulatory messages and thanks to the team. Nice Luxembourg boys riding for Leopard-Trek. Very nice.

Cadel Evans: http://twitter.com/#%21/CadelOfficial

The Australian leading team BMC mostly sends re-Tweets and directs fans to his web site, which features an interesting diary (http://www.cadelevans.com.au/cadelsdiary.aspx). He posts a few paragraphs on nearly every stage of important races, including opinions on competitors, relationships with his teammates, and his charity work.

Chris Horner: http://twitter.com/#!/hornerakg

Like Evans, Horner supplements his tweets with an excellent blog, now posted at http://www.cascadegranfondo.com/blog. His lengthy and detailed descriptions of last year’s Tour stages were a real insider’s view of the pain and the glory. The Oregonian rides with Levi for Radioshack.

Check out a few other wild card Tweeters.

George Hincapie: http://twitter.com/#%21/ghincapie

A man of few words, the American veteran on BMC is soft-spoken in life and Twitter. But when he speaks, it means something. Example: When he lost the US Road Race Championship to youngin’ Matthew Busche by the width of a tire, he posted: “Very tough loss today. Gave it all I had. Bike racing. Got to love it.. Congrats to Mathew.” We love Big George!

David Zabriskie: http://twitter.com/#%21/dzabriskie

From another planet. Just how we like the wild man on Garmin-Cervelo. For example: “Feels good to get the win today...podium girls are onto my antics...they handed me champagne and ran like hell.” Another day: “Delayed in atlanta...now looking for yin yang twins.  Thor wants his hammer...I want my ax...here's Johnny!”

Fabian Cancellara: http://twitter.com/#%21/f_cancellara

Check this out just to see Fabulous Cancellara’s headshot. The Swiss time trial specialist is a bad speller with mediocre Twitter English, but his updates are concise and descriptive. He was made for Twitter. Rides for Leopard-Trek.

Ted King: http://twitter.com/#%21/iamtedking

Funny frat-boy humor from the 28-year-old American on Liquigas.

These few Twitter recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg, not including teams, managers, photographers, and all sorts of cycling-focused tweeters. An interesting way to explore is to check out who your favorite rider is following. In the meantime, my home page will remain with the sport’s Twitter pioneer: Lance Armstrong.