custom kicks complete with a bull's eye...

(If only we could all have custom shoes and lettering like the pro’s do.) But what matters most in these shoes is the Boa S1 lacing system that will be available from Specialized in 2010.

Already Tour de France racers wearing shoes with the Boa Lacing System have sported 6 days in yellow, won 3 stage victories, and added 33 top 20 stage finishes to their resumes.

Millar doesn’t have any stage victories yet this year but the British cycling star took time from his rest and recovery to debut the upcoming technology and its ease of on-the-fly adjustment to the rest of the world. Watch the special Versus TV coverage below now. It’s worth checking out just for Millar’s daily choice in kicks.

Boa S1 Featured on Live Tour de France Coverage by Versus from dax kelm on Vimeo.

That was 2003, now as the 2009 Tour de France welcomes Lance Armstrong back into the peloton let’s take a quick look back and remember a past pedal mishap in racing history.
Shoes seldom play a role in mechanical problems so memorable but Lance Armstrong nearly lost the Tour due to his following a scary crash with a spectator.

July 21, 2003 was a day Lance Armstrong needed to attack to put the seal of victory over his rivals in the Pyrenees. The foggy weather shrouded the Col du Tourmalet in Stage 15 of an already stressful Tour for Armstrong. He was clinging to a lead and going head-to-head with Iban Mayo and Jan Ullrich on the penultimate climb of the day when strange things started happening.

As Armstrong gapped Ullrich with Mayo right on his wheel, a spectator’s bag caught the Maillot Jaune’s right handlebar and Armstrong shot over the bars. Mayo went down as well, over the top of Armstrong, while Ullrich swerved left to avoid the dumped duo.

A teammate helped pace Armstrong back into the fold. Ullrich wasn’t attacking, but a few switchbacks later Armstrong was shaken by another surprise when his right shoe slipped off his pedal slamming him into his top tube. He had never fully clipped back into his pedals after remounting from the initial wreck. In the video you can see how he was shocked by the disturbance – but the moment was mostly overlooked by some news reports on the stage.

It’s unclear what shoes Armstrong was wearing that day, but from the video they appear to be Shimano. The point is trivial though because Armstrong replaced his orthopedist the following off-season.

Either way, Armstrong overcame the brief moment of chaos and used his adrenaline to power up the climb and overcome the unlikely series of inconveniences.

Watch the video here, the pedal incident happens just after the 1:20 minute mark.