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.

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.

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).