Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Disco is back in fashion
Well we probably won't see the return of platform shoes, Bee Gees and Disco ball but "Disco"; The Discovery Channel Cycling team, took it to their rivals in the Tour de France today. Alberto Contador won the stage in a mtn top sprint over Yellow Jersey wearing Michael Rasmussen and then we saw Levi Leipheimer come in 4th just 40 seconds behind.
What impressed me today was the poise and maturity with which Levi rode today. It was obvious to me that following the first 2 big attacks that Levi wasn't intereted in chasing them down IMMEDIATELY but rather just accelerated a bit and then rode back to the group. The desparate chasing of any attack by Cadel Evans eventually spelled his doom as he couldn't hold the pace by Rasmussen or Contador and not only drifted off their wheels but slip backwards past the chase group of Levi, Sastre and Soler. I believe that if Evans had held a more controlled and possibly smarter sense of riding he would have been in with Levi and quite possibly been contending the stage win after helping Sastre bridge back to Rasmussen and Contador.
Levi's tactics were even more savy as he forced Sastre to Chase as Levi wasn't going to chase down his own teamate. There is still about 400 km to race in the giant mountains and yet today we saw riders reacting like it was the last mtn stage of the tour. This will only play into the hands of Levi who appeared to do the least amount of work today of all the favorites, only lose 40 seconds and moved into 4th place overall. Well, he still has to catch Rasmussen.
Levi's tactics were even more savy as he forced Sastre to Chase as Levi wasn't going to chase down his own teamate. There is still about 400 km to race in the giant mountains and yet today we saw riders reacting like it was the last mtn stage of the tour. This will only play into the hands of Levi who appeared to do the least amount of work today of all the favorites, only lose 40 seconds and moved into 4th place overall. Well, he still has to catch Rasmussen.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
2007 Tour de France - First 3rd Review
The first 1/3 of the 2007 Tour de France is now complete and I feel a bit lame for not posting a thing about it. Of course, my hundreds of readers (Mike, Rob and Matt) probably don't really care. Okay, but I like posting big flashy pictures of cycling and making predictions for all to read, so I'll try to get this up to speed for the following 2 weeks.
As expected the peloton this year is suffering from what Discovery Director Johan Bruyneel calls the "Postal virus." What he means is that for the past 7 yrs (not counting last year) postal took control of the race when it hit the mountains and only allowed attacks that it deemed as non-threatening. The evidence of this control was probably the great escape of Floyd in stage 17 of the 2006 tour where it's been documented that the big teams only put on a concerted chase for under 20km allowing Floyd to appear God-like and give credence to his positive test. But I digress. Another factor in making this race so wide open EVEN as we now leave the Alps is that besides the prologue TT, we haven't undergone the proverbial individual TT that shifts around the top 10 in the first week. We still have about 110 km of TT racing still to come along with the monstrous Pyrenees mountains.
Revelations of this Tour:
Alexandre Vinokourov - Vino had a nasty fall that required stitches in both knees and has been suffering ever since to hang on. It looks like the Astana captain might be conceeding his leadership to Andres Kloden who sits in 8th place just 3:50 off the lead
Denis Menchov - Although Menchov was considered for a top 5 in my opinion, I wasn't looking towards the Russian to win this years tour. But I didn't expect him to crack so quickly in this years tour. Much like Astana, the leadership is shifting at Rabobank also from Menchov to Michael Rasmussen. But unlike Astana, I don't think Rasmussen has the TT ability to actually win the tour like Kloden does.
Alberto Contador - The young Discovery rider has the most amazing kick when he attacks up-hill and so far he looks deadly and all others should be worried. But this is only his 2nd tour (finished around 35th in 2005) and he is not sure how his body will react in the 3rd week.
General classification after stage 10
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 49.23.48
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35
3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.08
6 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 3.18
7 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39
8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.53
10 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06
As expected the peloton this year is suffering from what Discovery Director Johan Bruyneel calls the "Postal virus." What he means is that for the past 7 yrs (not counting last year) postal took control of the race when it hit the mountains and only allowed attacks that it deemed as non-threatening. The evidence of this control was probably the great escape of Floyd in stage 17 of the 2006 tour where it's been documented that the big teams only put on a concerted chase for under 20km allowing Floyd to appear God-like and give credence to his positive test. But I digress. Another factor in making this race so wide open EVEN as we now leave the Alps is that besides the prologue TT, we haven't undergone the proverbial individual TT that shifts around the top 10 in the first week. We still have about 110 km of TT racing still to come along with the monstrous Pyrenees mountains.
Revelations of this Tour:
Alexandre Vinokourov - Vino had a nasty fall that required stitches in both knees and has been suffering ever since to hang on. It looks like the Astana captain might be conceeding his leadership to Andres Kloden who sits in 8th place just 3:50 off the lead
Denis Menchov - Although Menchov was considered for a top 5 in my opinion, I wasn't looking towards the Russian to win this years tour. But I didn't expect him to crack so quickly in this years tour. Much like Astana, the leadership is shifting at Rabobank also from Menchov to Michael Rasmussen. But unlike Astana, I don't think Rasmussen has the TT ability to actually win the tour like Kloden does.
Alberto Contador - The young Discovery rider has the most amazing kick when he attacks up-hill and so far he looks deadly and all others should be worried. But this is only his 2nd tour (finished around 35th in 2005) and he is not sure how his body will react in the 3rd week.
General classification after stage 10
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 49.23.48
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35
3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.08
6 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 3.18
7 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39
8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.53
10 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06
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