Associated Press
WASQUEHAL, France -- Rocker Sheryl Crow admits she still has a bit to learn about cycling.
The singer is attending her first Tour de France since striking up a relationship with Lance Armstrong last year, and plans to be by his side through much of the three-week race.
"This year has been a crash course for me -- learning what cycling's all about," Crow told The Associated Press. "It's an amazing sport. I have a lot of admiration for these riders."
When he gave her a new bike last year, "I didn't even know you clipped into bike pedals. So this is how much I knew about cycling," she said.
Crow said she expects Armstrong to succeed in his bid for an unprecedented sixth Tour victory, and he doesn't seem to need any inspiration from her.
"For me, it has been not only a great adventure, but necessary, I think, to my art," Crow said, adding with a chuckle: "I guess I'm going to write a whole record about bike riding."
Armstrong has said he appreciates Crow's efforts as a cyclist's girlfriend who will "do laundry and cook food, and do all of the things that wives or girlfriends do."
Crow's feeling?
"Lance said it's hard for me to be a cycling girlfriend? I'm sure it is," she said, acknowledging she never would have imagined becoming one.
"No, but life is funny. I've had so many incredible things happen to me and I would say that meeting Lance has definitely been the most incredible."
"It's changed my life," she added. "and I'm happier than I have ever been."
Lance's song
Songwriters apparently are drawn to Lance Armstrong.
"I'm his biggest fan, really," singer Ben Harper said in Waterloo, Belgium, where Tuesday's stage started. But then Harper remembered Sheryl Crow: "OK, I'm his second-biggest fan."
Harper, fresh off a European tour of his own, met Armstrong about three years ago after receiving a jersey the champion once wore in the Tour.
"It's framed in my living room -- it's like the centerpiece to my house," Harper said. "If I could be as good in music as he is on the bike, I'd be getting somewhere."
Harper was on hand with his partner, actress Laura Dern, and 7-year-old son Charles.
Any advice for a fellow celebrity couple?
"Everybody has got to find their own way, and find their own comfort level with that," Harper said.
Cycling and politics
Belgium's prime minister says politicians could learn a thing or two from cyclists.
"In politics, one can learn some things from cycling, such as how to have character and courage," Guy Verhofstadt said. "Sometimes in politics there isn't enough of those things."
Verhofstadt, an amateur rider and 15-year Tour attendee, met with Armstrong and offered words of encouragement and support on his team bus in Namur, Belgium, on Monday.
"He's in good condition, and it's looking promising for him to win a sixth time," Verhofstadt said. "But we know there have been a lot of riders who have tried to win six."
Belgians were treated to four days of Tour racing in their country this year. Verhofstadt, who says cycling is even more the national pastime than soccer, estimated that 250,000 fans turned out for the Tour on Sunday in the city of Liege.
WASQUEHAL, France -- Rocker Sheryl Crow admits she still has a bit to learn about cycling.
The singer is attending her first Tour de France since striking up a relationship with Lance Armstrong last year, and plans to be by his side through much of the three-week race.
"This year has been a crash course for me -- learning what cycling's all about," Crow told The Associated Press. "It's an amazing sport. I have a lot of admiration for these riders."
When he gave her a new bike last year, "I didn't even know you clipped into bike pedals. So this is how much I knew about cycling," she said.
Crow said she expects Armstrong to succeed in his bid for an unprecedented sixth Tour victory, and he doesn't seem to need any inspiration from her.
"For me, it has been not only a great adventure, but necessary, I think, to my art," Crow said, adding with a chuckle: "I guess I'm going to write a whole record about bike riding."
Armstrong has said he appreciates Crow's efforts as a cyclist's girlfriend who will "do laundry and cook food, and do all of the things that wives or girlfriends do."
Crow's feeling?
"Lance said it's hard for me to be a cycling girlfriend? I'm sure it is," she said, acknowledging she never would have imagined becoming one.
"No, but life is funny. I've had so many incredible things happen to me and I would say that meeting Lance has definitely been the most incredible."
"It's changed my life," she added. "and I'm happier than I have ever been."
Lance's song
Songwriters apparently are drawn to Lance Armstrong.
"I'm his biggest fan, really," singer Ben Harper said in Waterloo, Belgium, where Tuesday's stage started. But then Harper remembered Sheryl Crow: "OK, I'm his second-biggest fan."
Harper, fresh off a European tour of his own, met Armstrong about three years ago after receiving a jersey the champion once wore in the Tour.
"It's framed in my living room -- it's like the centerpiece to my house," Harper said. "If I could be as good in music as he is on the bike, I'd be getting somewhere."
Harper was on hand with his partner, actress Laura Dern, and 7-year-old son Charles.
Any advice for a fellow celebrity couple?
"Everybody has got to find their own way, and find their own comfort level with that," Harper said.
Cycling and politics
Belgium's prime minister says politicians could learn a thing or two from cyclists.
"In politics, one can learn some things from cycling, such as how to have character and courage," Guy Verhofstadt said. "Sometimes in politics there isn't enough of those things."
Verhofstadt, an amateur rider and 15-year Tour attendee, met with Armstrong and offered words of encouragement and support on his team bus in Namur, Belgium, on Monday.
"He's in good condition, and it's looking promising for him to win a sixth time," Verhofstadt said. "But we know there have been a lot of riders who have tried to win six."
Belgians were treated to four days of Tour racing in their country this year. Verhofstadt, who says cycling is even more the national pastime than soccer, estimated that 250,000 fans turned out for the Tour on Sunday in the city of Liege.
