Contador to win Stage 18 of the Tour?
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Contador looks to continue winning stages this Thursday.
The 2009 Tour de France continues at crono course in the city of Annecy with stage 18. The course is mostly flat, interrupted by one category 3 climb. And since we all know Lance Armstrong wouldn’t be winning anything this year, I guess the excitement will remain flat as well.
Among the general classification riders, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans have shown especially well against the clock so far this season. Evans and Contador have traded results, with Evans coming out on top at the Criterium Dauphine Libere and Contador placing higher in the Tour’s opening time trial in Monaco.
Contador’s teammate, Levi Leipheimer, meanwhile, came close to beating a flying Denis Menchov at the Cinque Terre time trial during the Giro d’Italia. Leipheimer placed third in the 2006 Tour de France on the strength of his consistent climbing and solid time trialing. Perhaps he has a repeat in mind for this year.
The Garmin-Slipstream riders Christian Vandevelde and Bradley Wiggins also time trial well, and if their form holds through the mountains, they both should do strong rides here. Wiggins has no previous history of riding high in the general classification, because of his long-time focus on riding the Olympics on the track. This season he showed well in the opening mountain stages of the Giro, but fell back under the cumulative effect of multiple climbing efforts. Vandevelde, meanwhile, has returned from serious injury, and it’s impossible to predict how well he will ride in the final week of this Tour.
The category 3 should help the climbers, but…
Alberto Contador has the Yellow Jersey
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Can he keep the Yellow Jersey after Stage 16?
Alberto Contador proved last Sunday that he is the sport’s next big star after winning Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour de France. The win also let Contador seize the yellow jersey, something he and his teammate, Lance Armstrong, have been salivating over ever since we kicked it off in Monaco.
While Alberto Contador had one of the best performances of his career to take the lead in the standings, Lance Armstrong had one of his worst. Armstrong finished in ninth place, finishing a minute and a half behind Contador. And because of his somewhat unimpressive performance, he sees his chances of an eight Tour de France title, fading.
‘’It will be hard. A day like this really shows who’s the best, and I wasn’t on par with what is required to win the Tour,’’ Lance Armstrong said. ‘’That’s the reality; that’s not devastating news or anything.’’
‘’I gave it everything that I had, and I wasn’t the best.’’
Being the best is what Alberto Contador is hoping to be once Armstrong walks away from the sport for good. He finally recovered the celebrated yellow jersey, something he hadn’t worn since his Tour victory two years ago, and now that he has, he’s making it clear that he is the man to beat this year.
And as far as his Astana teammate, Lance Armstrong is concerned, the guy agrees.
With a 1-minute, 37-second gap between him and Contador, Armstrong now sees himself playing the domestique role to help and support Contador win it all this year. Does this mean that Armstrong is quitting on the 2009 title already? Who knows, but at least he tried to sound happy for his teammate last Sunday.
‘’[Contador] is the best in the race, and he…
Stage 12 of 2009 Tour de France is on
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Cavendish will go for his third straight win on Thursday.
The 2009 Tour de France continues its eastward journey across central France with Stage 12 running between Tonnerre and Vittel.
And as far as Mark Cavendish is concerned, he wants to win this one too. You see, he’s been riding on some kind of momentum lately that got him winning the last two races of the Tour. Thanks to Cavendish, the standings remain the same with Rinaldo Nocentini holding on to the yellow jersey, Alberto Contador second and Lance Armstrong remaining third overall.
The win also let Mark Cavendish take the green jersey from Thor Hushovd. ‘’I was able to get the jump on Thor and win, so it was perfect,’’ Cavendish said. ‘’It was just beautiful the way the guys could adapt to the situation and deliver me to the sprint.’’
As big as this win was for Cavendish, don’t expect him to settle because we are entering to the crucial parts of the 2009 Tour de France where anything can happen, including Lance Armstrong catching up to the yellow jersey.
With stage 12 of the 2009 Tour de France running between Tonnerre and Vittel, the advantage now shifts to the breakaways as the race climbs six categorized climbs. None of the climbs on the menu are especially difficult. The constant up and down should enable the attackers to elude capture and contest the stage victory.
It’s a day of wine and water, as Tonnerre is famous for its white wine and Vittel for its mineral water. Tonnerre is a new start town for the Tour, which typically traces the outline of France, rather than cutting straight through the center of the Hexagon. Tonnerre sits astride a canal and retains many of its medieval buildings.
Vittel has hosted the Tour de France…
Tour de France has Lance Armstrong
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Lance Armstrong is on his way to a comeback.
Lance Armstrong, probably the most popular cyclist in the United States, will ride the 2009 Tour de France after a long hiatus from the sport.
The Tour begins on the 4th of July and Lance Armstrong, probably celebrating his own Independence Day after finally ending his relationship with the singer Sheryl Crow, figured getting his ass back on a bicycle is the best way to let the rest of the world know that he’s back running his life. Hee hee.
‘’If you’ve been away for three or four years, it would be silly for anybody to think I could pick up where I left off,’’ Lance Armstrong said in a telephone interview from Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
‘’I can tell you I feel better than ever, I feel stronger than ever on Dec. 1. How that translates to racing, we’ll have to see. Mentally, in terms of motivation, this feels like 1998-1999 to me.’’
Armstrong, who’ll likely join 2007 Tour champion Alberto Contador in the Astana team, will be a part of one of the most star-studded lineups in France. Joining Armstrong and Contador is Germany’s Andreas Kloeden, American veteran Levi Leipheimer and top support rider Yaroslav Popovych.
The Astana cycling team, now considered by far the strongest multistage team EVER, is so ridiculously powerful they might as well get the 2009 Tour De France title handed over to them before July 4.
With Armstrong returning to the sport that made him famous, he will have the opportunity to add another title to…
Who will win the 2008 Tour de France?
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
Will we see a ”winner” in this year’s Tour?.
The 2008 Tour de France is almost ready to conclude despite all these doping scandals that have plagued cycling’s premiere event.
Of course, this year’s Tour is still something Cadel Evans to lose. He already has a firm grasp on that title and if everything works out as planned, I won’t be surprised to see this guy winning it. So who else will win this year’s Tour if Evans finds himself being tested positive for performance enhancing drugs?
First we have Damiano Cunego. He has shown considerable growth as a rider since winning the 2004 Giro d’Italia, the type of results and maturity that is needed to win the world’s biggest cycling race.
The 26-year-old won the young rider classification in his only Tour de France appearance in 2006 but failed to live up to his earlier promise until he won the Giro di Lombardia last fall. Add to the fact that he is a former winner of the Giro d’Italia, the ‘’little prince’’ who rides for Lampre is a huge talent in stage racing, especially in the mountains. Next we have Alejandro Valverde. Known as the ‘Green Bullet’ in some circles, he might just be blasting his way to the top of the Tour de France podium.
The 28 year-old Spaniard from Murcia who was brilliant throughout 2006 has that same spark this year, thanks to big wins like Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Dauphine Libere. The former was a welcome addition to Valverde’s solid palmares, but the latter, coming only three weeks before the Tour de France depart, indicates that his one-day racing legs have developed to handle stages races.
Alejandro Valverde is also a proficient…
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