You Tell 'Em...

Do it, Contador!

BIG WINNER!

Apparently this is Alberto Contador's new signature move... he's done it about every day of the Vuelta this year, but I need to investigate if this move was a part of his winning Tour de France or Giro d'Italia...


But, needless to say - HE WON!! 3 Grand Tours in 15 months... Congrats! (Now move teams and smoke Lance next year!)

Contador still...

He's still in the lead. Blah Blah Blah. Someone needs to do something radical. Like Levi. HAHA

That's all I have to say about the last few days.

Stage 16 > Ponferrada - Zamora

Not much changed today over all in La Vuelta - but my boy Tommeke won!!




Oh - and Contador is still in the lead.

Contador Dominates

In Stage 13 (San Vicente de la B. - Alto de L´Angliru) of the Vuelta, Alberto Contador asserted some dominance and won the stage, and took over the general classification and put the Golden Fleece on his back.

Stage 14 (Oviedo [you've heard of it if you've seen Vicky Christina Barcelona] - E. E. Fuentes de Invierno) was more of the same with Contador winning in fine form again, not to mention looking pretty sure of himself...


Stage 15 (Cudillero - Ponferrada) went to David Garcia Dapena of Spain, and Contador held onto his lead...

Let us not forget that there is still about a week left to this race, and ol' Levi Leipheimer is a little over a minute behind Contador. But, he's his teammate - so be assured that Levi will be discouraged from acting against Contador - so expect a podium similar to the 2007 Tour de France. Levi making way for Contador.

If he keeps it up, he'll join the elite club of the few who have won all 3 tours... eat it, Lance. Lance Armstrong was too good to do something like that...

Stefan Schumacher

In more trading around news, Stefan Schumacher is leaving his now defunct Gerolsteiner team and is moving to Quickstep. Apparently Bettini was none too happy about it.

But I don't like Schumacher, and I like Quickstep, so I'm not really either.


I hope their helmets can contain his abnormally huge skull.

Thor Hushovd

So this may not be breaking news (the article I read it from was dated two days ago) - but it's new to me.

Thor Hushovd has joined the Cervelo TestTeam, as well as Carlos Sastre. But Thor was the surprise... wow. That should be fairly interesting next year. Hopefully the team won't have any problems getting into big races - I would miss Thor too much.

Vuelta Update, So Far

So - we've all missed half of the last, but not least Grand Tour - so here's a Vuelta update:

Stage 1 > Granada - Granada (TTT)
Winner: Liquigas
Overall: Filippo Pozzato
For the record: The Tour needs the Team Time Trial back... due to its pure awesomeness.

Stage 2 > Granada - Jaen
Winner: Alejandro Valverde
Overall: Alejandro Valverde

Count how many times this happens (won't be much - leading a Grand Tour that is)

Stage 3 > Jaen - Cordoba
Winner: [My Man] Tom Boonen
Overall: Daniele BennatiTom Boonen with a little Tour redemption

Stage 4 > Cordoba - Puertollano
Winner: Daniele Bennati
Overall: Daniele Bennati

Stage 5 > Ciudad Real - Ciudad Real (TT)
Winner: Levi Leipheimer
Overall: Levi Leipheimer

Stage 6 > Ciudad Real - Toledo
Winner: Paolo Bettini
Overall: Sylvain Chavanel

Stage 7 >Barbastro - Andorra (Naturlandia - La Rabassa)
Winner: Alessandro Ballan
Overall: Alessandro Ballan

Stage 8 > Andorra (Escaldes - Engordany) - Salardu Naut Aran/Pla de Beret
Winner: David Moncoutie
Overall: Levi Leipheimer

Stage 9 > Vielha/Mijaran - Sabinanigo
Winner: Greg Van Avermaet
Overall: Egoi Martinez

Let us note that Damiano Cunego finished 5th. Nice try, Little Prince.

Stage 10 > Sabinanigo - Zaragoza
Winner: Sebastien Hinault (It's that famous name)
Overall: Egoi Martinez

Stage 11 > Calahorra - Burgos
Winner: Oscar Freire
Overall: Egoi MartinezStage 12 > Burgos - Suances
Winner: Paolo Bettini
Overall: Egoi Martinez

VUELTA, BABY!

Okay, so for all my friends who don't know anything about cycling - the Vuelta a Espana is currently happening... The Vuelta is the 3rd and final Grand Tour of the year (which also includes the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France). It's three weeks, all around Spain, and it's a little more than halfway through.

My sisters and I have done our predictions, as we do every year for the Tour, for the Vuelta for the first time. It's a points competition, and somehow I am smoking them both with 569 points, to their 467 and 442.

I picked for the Overall:
Alberto Contador
Carlos Sastre
Damiano Cunego (who is a letdown like usual)
Alejandro Valverde
Syvain Chavenel

I also had some good picks for KOM and Sprinters, so that's most likely where my points are coming from.

Currently the race just finished up Stage 12 and is heading into a rest day tomorrow, and Egoi Martinez (One of my KOM picks) is sitting pretty in the Golden Fleece.

Lance Armstrong's Return

Well, to begin... this is my first post since the Tour, and I had enjoyed writing on here, but I had all but given up simply because the only people reading this who understood were my sisters. But I have recently had an encouraging message sent to me, commanding me to update. So - I will try to keep up, because I do actually enjoy it.

So here's the Lance Armstrong rant I've been wanting to make for a long time:

Lance Armstrong should not return to cycling. The peloton was dominated for many, many years by US Postal Service/Discovery Channel, under the system of an entire team sacrificing itself for one rider. While this method works, it leaves little to the imagination while watching, and the winning outcome of Lance on top was usually assumed. It was boring.

Since the end of the Discovery era, several teams have not only grown in strength, but also in leaders. My favorite example/favorite team is Team CSC Saxo Bank. With the absence of Discovery power, CSC has become free to take over in their own right. However, the significant change, most especially in the Tour de France is that the team doesn't have just one leader - but they are a team of leaders. This past year, Carlos Sastre, Andy Schleck and Frank Schelck all had legitimate claims to the Yellow Jersey (especially the Schlecks, but oh well), and let's not forget Fabian Cancellara and the hard work that Jens Voigt puts in day after day.

Now, let's address the "American" aspect of this. All over US news media is the hearalding of Lance's glorious return - finally, the American public can get behind cycling again because they know the rider. That is absolutely pathetic. There are so many other good Americans who ride, and get little to no recognition because they aren't Lance. The demise of Discovery Channel has paved the way for teams like Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia to break through and dominate American races, and on those teams are great American riders, in addition to the European riders. Americans need to get behind Christian Vande Velde, Danny Pate, and my favorite Dave Zabriskie. (Not to mention Levi is on Astana, but I don't like Levi) These American teams are going to suffer among the American public, because a return of Lance Armstrong will overshadow them greatly. And these are teams who prove that they race clean, when Discovery simply avoided the subject.

And speaking of riding clean. I have always believed Lance rode clean (but I thought other riders did too - and was proved wrong), and a lot of this is about Lance trying to prove that he can do it clean, and has offered to post his blood results online (I believe). So does that mean that this "new" attention to riding clean mean that his previous races were possibly not?

And last but not least, Lance Armstrong is claiming that he is doing this for cancer. Bull. This is a typical Lance Armstrong ego trip. Disgusting.

And I'm not even a Lance hater... but just quit already. And I hope he gets eaten alive by the Schlecks next year.

Work Week Recap (In Case You Missed It)

So due to work and life, I am a little behind... so here's a recap of what's happened in the last few stages:

Stage 5: Cholet > Chateauroux
Mark Cavendish dominated the sprint, after the peloton hunted down the breakaway... Mark Cavendish, at only 23, is quite a force to be reckoned with.

Stage 6: Aigurande > Super-Besse
Young Ricardo Ricco won the stage today, and has officially been pegged as a big contender in the future. His first stage win in the Tour (he's won 3 stages in the Giro) - was a major one on top of Super-Besse.

Stage 7: Brioude > Aurillac
Today was a day where the peloton greatly misjudged their assault on the breakaway, and the breakaway had a winner - something they always try to achieve. Luis-Leon Sanchez won the day, and it was a good win for Caisse D'Epargne - mostly because Alejandro Valverde isn't quite performing the way he should if he really expects to win the Tour.

Stage 8: Figeac > Toulouse
Mark Cavendish hauled himself up the big mountains of the day to get another stage victory, matching his 2 stage wins in the Giro. Great job Mark! Where are all the other sprinters?

Stage 9: Toulouse > Bagnères-de-Bigorre
And it's another one for Ricardo Ricco! On a breakaway, Ricco managed to stay in front and gained 1:17 on many of the big GC men... There were some shake ups in the overall classification, but more to come in Stage 10.

Damiano Cunego Rant

I need to have a bit of a rant about professional cyclists. Yes, you may be physically fit, have great bodies (generally), and are very famous in your home countries/Europe... but I'm not sure how big your ego can seriously be. You are rolling around in too tight pants that highlight your junk in all the wrong ways... not unlike swimmers. Some cyclists find more fame than others (Tom Boonen - so much so he thought he could do cocaine and get away with it) - but for the most part, they're just hometown heroes.

That takes us to Damiano Cunego. Now - this guy won the Giro d'Italia a few years back when he was the tender age of 22 - which is great... but let's face it - he hasn't really done much since - let alone cowboy up and win the Tour de France like everyone thought he could. But this guy thinks he's AWESOME.

First - let's look at his hair. It's bleached blond. Let's take a look at where he's from - ITALY. Bleached blond hair is just absurd. Maybe brownish blond - but bleached?! Come on. You don't live in California... or anywhere else where this would be acceptable. It's just a ploy to get you to stand out more.


Let's look now at his website home page. If this doesn't say cocky son of a bitch - what does? "Look into my eyes! I am good looking!"


Now for his "Identity Card."

Let's break this down one by one. Height: 169 cm. That seems like he's pretty tall right... well convert that and he's only 5'5"... I think he's compensating for something. Okay, next - hair color - blond. We discussed this already. Eye color: CLEAR BLUE?! WHAT?! Just say blue, asshole.

And for the big one: "Distinguishing features: A WINNER!!!!" With 4 exclamation marks. Wow. This guy is a major douche bag.

And I thought he could win this Tour, or at least go top 5... what was I thinking.

And finally - yeah, good job - you won the stage. Don't rub it in. He's aware he lost. I love you Frank Schleck.

Stage 4: Cholet > Cholet

Ahh. The individual time trial - The Race of Truth. This is the race where it's just you, your bike and the open road. The big favorite for the day was Fabian Cancellara, who is the current (and 2-time) world champion of the ITT. However, he had a bit of a disappointing ride, and finished in 5th - which isn't bad, except that he lost by 33 seconds, which is quite a bit. So the big winner was Stefan Schumacher - who blew everyone away with his 12 second victory over 2nd place, who was none other than Kim Kirchen who is having a bang up Tour.

Alejandro Valverde was a hug disappointment. No one ever accused him of being good at time trialling, but he was simply horrible. As a man who is favored for the overall win, you must be disciplined at all types of stages, especially the ITT (which will make or break an overall win, seeing as how the last stage is one). He now sits in 17th, with a LOT to prove.

This also happened

Stage 3 saw some protest action (as the Tour does usually for various reasons - and it's a huge platform to get some TV time for protesters) - but this guy took it a little far, and 5-time Tour champ Bernard Hinault had to take matters into his own hands:

Stage 3: Saint-Malo > Nantes

What a day this was. The race started off not unlike any other flat stage. There was a breakaway that gained the advantage of huge time gaps, and the peloton began to reel them back in. However, the teams of the sprinters severely misjudged the time gaps, and didn't catch up - leaving it up to the 4 man breakaway to determine the race leader. I was rooting for Will Frishkorn because he's on an American team, and the others were French (they don't need my cheering)... But Samuel Dumoulin won, giving Romain Feillu the Yellow Jersey - wrenching it from the hands of Alejandro Valverde. Will Frishkorn was reasonable disappointed by his lack of a win, but his team is doing great for their first time in the Tour.

Stage 2: Auray > Saint-Brieuc

Stage 2 was a fantastic day of racing. Because this happened already, I'm not going to go into it, but there was a breakaway that was caught in the very last kilometers, and numerous people started attacking - none of them sprinters. You know, the sprinters whose teams hunted down the breakaway for a chance at a stage win.

So Fabian Cancellara attacked, and he's quick, but he started too early. Then some others began attacking, and finally (from the aerial view) - Thor Hushovd snuck up the line of riders, began to pass, and powered through to the finish with the stage win. But it wasn't enough to get the sprinter's jersey -- none other than Kim Kirchen won that - which is a big surprise. But overall - great day of racing.

The Schleck's...

I've been sick, so today there will be an update so far of Stages 2, 3, and 4.

But here's a complaint... On Versus, the commentators keep making a huge deal about where Andy Schleck is in the overall classification - but what about Frank? He's older, faster, and a more proven winner (aka winning on L'Alpe-d'Huez). Andy is only 23, give Frank his due!

Pretty Cool...

This is pretty darn neat.

Tour De France 2008: The Route

Okay, so again, let's pretend this was posted earlier and not after the Tour was underway... Here's a breakdown for all you people who get this on Google Reader... You know who you are.

1 Brest > Plumelec (flat, Already over)
2 Auray > Saint-Brieuc (flat, big day for sprinters, will be new Yellow Jersey)
3 Saint-Malo > Nantes (flat, Yellow Jersey will switch hands again)
4 Cholet > Cholet (time trial - Cancellara should win, he has something to prove here)
5 Cholet > Chateauroux (flat, new Yellow Jersey)
6 Aigurande > Super-Besse (start of the mountains, the eventual KOM will flex his legs)
7 Brioude > Aurillac (some more mountains - should be a level playing field, sprinter will win)
8 Figeac > Toulouse (last flat day for a few days - a break away will win)
9 Toulouse > Bagneres-de-Bigorre (Pyrenees, baby - here come the big guns)
10 Pau > Hautacam (big mountain finish - this will be good)
11 Lannemezan > Foix (smaller mountains - right off a rest day, could go any way)
12 Lavelanet > Narbonne (flat - sprinters are back)
13 Narbonne > Nimes (flat - breakaway will win, just before being caught by Yellow's team)
14 Nimes > Digne-les-Bains (flat - must protect the Yellow Jersey before the mountains)
15 Ebrun > Prato Nevoso (welcome to the Alps - the KOM race is on)
16 Cuneo > Jausiers (rest day yesterday - GC men will fight hard)
17 Embrun > L'Alpe-d'Huez (biggest day of the Tour... Yellow will assert himself)
18 Bourg-d'Oisans > Saint-Etienne (medium mountains - KOM race to finish)
19 Roanne > Montlucon (flat - sprinters are fighting for Green Jersey points)
20 Cerilly > Saint-Amand-Montrond (time trial - Cancellara wins, race winner is determined)
21 Etampes > Paris, Champs-Elysees (lazy ride to Paris, champange toasts and a wicked sprint to the finish for bragging rights)

Stage 1: Brest > Plumelec

Alright - so who knows cycling... Alejandro Valverde had a huge win today in the first stage of the Tour de France. Today was an actual road race rather than the usual prologue (usually time trial format). Generally the first stage is short and is set up to create a pretty acurate line up for the first real stage the following day. Making it a time trial really weeds out the really good cyclists in top form. Today, because it was an actual road race left the field wide open. A stage like today would normally be suited for the sprinters because they have few chances to slip on a Yellow Jersey. Sprinters are quick and can usually beat the climbers and the all arounders because they have no reason to preserve energy --- it's just win, win, win (stages that is - they have no hope of winning the Tour).

But because this Tour started without a winner from the previous year (they generally have special priviledges at the start of the next year's Tour) -- the stakes were high to have someone step out and assert dominance. That man was Alejandro Valverde - a man who is widely believed to be a major contender for the podium in Paris - if not someone who could finish in Yellow as number one. Valverde had a huge finish, out in front all by himself without a slew of sprinters crashing down on him... Good on ya Valverde...

Let's Pretend

That I posted this yesterday... I now present my sisters' and I's top picks for the Tour... Obviously we have some similarities - that's because we know what's going down.

My picks:
General Classification
1. Alejandro Valverde
2. Damiano Cunego
3. Cadel Evans
4. Carlos Sastre
5. Fabian Cancellara

Green Jersey (Sprinter)
1. Gert Steegmans
2. Robbie McEwen
3. Hushovd

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains)
1. Mauricio Soler
2. Frank Schleck
3. Jens Voigt

Lanterne Rouge (Last Place Overall)
Thor Husovd

Amanda's Picks
General Classification
1. Fabian Cancellara
2. Andy Schleck
3. Alejandro Valverde
4. Cadel Evans
5. Stijn Devolder

Green Jersey
1. Thor Husovd
2. Robbie McEwen
3. Erik Zabel

Polka Dot Jersey
1. Frank Schleck
2. Denis Menchov
3. Mauricio Soler

Lanterne Rouge
Steven De Jongh

Sarah's Picks:
General Classification
1. Denis Menchov
2. Fabian Cancellara
3. Cadel Evans
4. George Hincapie
5. Alejandro Valverde

Green Jersey
1. Robbie McEwen
2. Thor Hushovd
3. Robbie Hunter

Polka Dot Jersey
1. Mauricio Soler
2. Yaroslav Popovych
3. Laurent Lefevre

Lanterne Rouge
Tadej Valjavec

Get ready...

Countdown: 2 days until the Tour gets underway in Brest, France.

Tomorrow I will have all the picks up for the Tour - the projected winners/contenders for all the jerseys...

Yeah!

Tom Boonen Cocaine, Cont.

So this just in - Tom Boonen has been banned from the Tour de France. WTF.

I mean, I guess I understand, but it seems that the UCI, as I said previously, loves to ban, throw out of competition, and strip riders of Yellow Jerseys for doing very litte - Floyd Landis is a completely different subject.

Now - what are we really talking about here? In a world where everyone judges cycling by dopers and cheaters - this guy just has some traces of cocaine in his pee. How bad is that?

There's two ways of looking at this - the first:
Tom Boonen is Belgium's favorite son, and a hero to many budding cyclists the world over. He's a great looking guy with everything to live for - but this is pretty bad. He seems to have fallen into the typical young "celebrity" (if you live in Europe) behavior that isn't so foreign to us in America experiencing "Young Hollywood"... Watch E! if you're not sure. This accusation/reality is an embarrassment to Boonen's team (I'm sure), mostly because I would've bet a ton of money on him taking the Green Jersey again this year. Poor form, favorite cyclist.

The second way: It's only a little blow, at least it's not EPO or steroids. Could be worse.

Tom Boonen Cocaine Bust

I promise there will be more of these in the future, especially when the Tour is closer to happening.

Major news for today - yesterday I read that my favorite cyclist Tom Boonen tested positive for cocaine in an out of competition drug test. He only admitted that he was "not perfect" (according to Eurosport). This is pretty disappointing to say the least. The guy is only 27, he's a fantastic athlete, and now everything could be wrecked for him. Apparently he may face jail time if convicted (Belgium's star athlete - I don't think so), but he will not face any repercussions from the UCI. Seems to me like the nature of the UCI is to go after anyone for merely taking a Tylenol during a race - so it's odd that they wouldn't try.

Also - someone on a reply post to an article about this and compared it to performance enhancing drugs - HA! This is ridiculous.

Giro - Contador Crazy

So... Alberto Contador is in the Pink Jersey, or maglia rosa. I find this odd, especially concerning his questionable victory at the Tour de France last year. I only say "questionable" because there were so many questionable things that happened at last year's tour.

Now I realize that not many people follow the Tour as much as I do, so let me give you a wrap up... I was cheering for Kazak Alexander Vinokourov, who was doing great - he had some wrecks but then he seemed to be doing better. Then he was thrown out for a positive dope test. Lets not discuss Floyd Landis from the previous year... that's another post. Anyway, Michael Rasmussen was doing pretty well... this is a crazy guy. First of all they don't call him "Chicken" for nothing... he is super skinny, and I've read that he even peels the stickers off his bike to save weight for the mountains - he's nuts. So he's doing pretty well, and Alberto Contador is competing with him pretty well, but he isn't really doing better than Rasmussen. Then *SNAP* Rasmussen is kicked out of the Tour for skipping a drug test (and later tested positive for doping)... So then Contador basically steps up, right into the Yellow Jersey on the Champs-Elysees - without doing what I would consider actual work... And then he joined Vinokourov's disgraced (and under new management) team, and was let into the Giro at the very last minute.

So - needless to say, I'm not a huge fan of Alberto Contador, and it is odd to me to find him in the lead of the first Grand Tour of the year. Maybe he's trying to do what Ivan Basso was incapable of (due to doping, of course) - and that is to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year, back to back. That is if the ASO let in Astana (which they shouldn't - Johan Bruyneel should've known better - yet another post).