The antidoping agency drew samples from many riders before the Tour to use as baseline data to compare against during the race, when it also tested riders unexpectedly at odd hours.
Harley-Davidson's electric LiveWire, which attracted media attention last summer, was meant merely to test riders' enthusiasm.
The course for the junior time-trial yesterday was short, at 7 miles, but included the two tough hills which will test riders in all this week's events.
Desgranges's genius was to test riders to the limit, creating new challenges -- and new heroes -- as the Tour evolved year after year.
For more than a decade, the Tour has drug-tested riders and found an abundance of performance-enhancing drugs.
Carl Hester was helping out as a test rider.
The replacement for the injured Ben Spies, Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, who came in second.
With this throttle-happy test rider on board, a 40-mile loop at routine speeds depleted the battery pack completely.
What a child test rider could have confirmed in two seconds, the grown-ups reluctantly concluded after many minutes of discussion: the rocking horse didn't rock right.
Test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi will step in to replace Aoyama for this weekend.
His appointment as test rider for the British Superbike team is also a very interesting development.
