IS THE TOUR de FRANCE STILL "THE" TOUR? (part 1)

OK, I have to admit, when I first heard Astana was banned from riding this years Tour de France, I swore I would boycott. There was NO way I was going to watch. What would the point be? Yes, there would still be riders to watch and cheer for (George, Popo, Triki, Stijn, Christian, Trent, Egoi........................). But MY TEAM would not be there. Alberto wouldn't be there to defend his title and Levi wouldn't be there to try to move one or two steps up on the podium in what would probably be his last Tour de France. We talked about it on the forum---boycott the Tour, boycott the sponsors. I haven't had a gummy bear in I don't know how long. But, as the Tour got closer, I got a "little"excited. It is the Tour after all.

THE MIGHTY DOLO'S

(Originally written on May 26th during the Giro d'Italia)

I’ve watched Giro’s past but have never been tremendously excited about it. Maybe because OLN/Versus doesn’t cover it like they do the Tour de France and I only last fall discovered cycling.tv, so I usually just wait for the DVD to come out and relive it that way. I didn’t fall in love with cycling until July of 2005 so I missed Savoldelli’s win as it happened. But I have to say, when Astana got that last minute invite to go to the Giro I knew they would fight with everything they had to make it a race to be remembered. Not that they don’t always do that anyway but they had something to prove. They had their future to fight for and they are doing it with class and integrity. Going into the Dolomite stages with 3 riders in the top 15, I knew Astana had pink to look forward to. I’m sure everyone else knew it too. There were some,
who shall remain nameless, that just didn’t want to admit it, some that felt they would “attack”
the Astana boys and they’d completely fall apart. Surely you jest?

I had to work this past weekend. Thanks to my wonderful Giro package from cycling.tv,
though, I was able to watch the stages when I got home. Did I wait until I got home to find out
the stage results? I’ll never tell. But I have to ask, could you? One thing I’ve learned from
watching countless hours of cycling, especially mountain stages, is that it doesn’t matter if you
know the end result, it’s still thrilling to actually watch it all unfold. I knew the outcome of all of
Lance’s first 6 Tour wins before I watched them on DVD, yet it didn’t diminish my experience
of watching them at all.

It was a VERY successful weekend of riding for Astana. Levi and Klodi lost time, yes, but they still rode well. They knew their limits and didn’t destroy themselves to stay with the other contenders. What would the point of that been anyway? It would only have had a detrimental effect on the rest of their race. Maxim did well on Sunday and “mysteriously” appeared in the group with some of the favorites. And Alberto…..he was fantastic. Despite looking as if he was in difficulty at times, he too was taking care of himself. At one point the footage showed Alberto and the commentators thought he’d been dropped. I could tell by the way he was riding that wasn’t the case and that he was trying to pull away.

I have really enjoyed watching Sella ride. He is giving the tifosi a true show and he’s been rewarded with 2 stage wins and the KOM jersey. And I’ve been a fan of Simoni’s since I discovered cycling. I am glad he is riding well and might just end up with yet another podium finish in the Giro.

Levi seems to be ok after that horrific crash coming down on his face. How scary that had to have been for him. He appeared, at first, to be quite stunned and rightly so. Alberto’s elbow, though I’m sure is still quite painful, doesn’t appear to be hampering his performance at all. And Klodi and the rest of the Astana boys are all safe. When Leonardo Piepoli crashed it was the Quick Step Team Car that stopped initially to help him showing true sportsmanship. In the end, that’s what is most important---ensuring the safety and well-being of the riders. Nothing else really matters.

ON THE ROAD TO MILAN

(Originally written on May 19th, 2008 after the first week of the Giro d'Italia)

Looking back on the first week of the Giro I just have to say, WOW! Is it me, or has there been an unusually high number of “ODD” crashes? It’s almost as if the roads have magnets embedded in them and the riders don’t have a fighting chance. Dave Zabriskie crashed out in dramatic fashion by fracturing his L1 vertebra. Then CSC loses 2 riders in one day with the broken collarbones of Bradley McGee and Stuey O’Grady. On Sundays Versus coverage, one rider crashed into the bushes and another crashed into a ditch. Both riders remounted but the “ditch” guy didn’t get very far before being swept up by the Broom Wagon. Even Astana wasn’t immune to the crashes. We lost Steve to not one, not two, but THREE crashes. Poor guy, isn’t once enough? Even a Tour Champion was brought down.

But, despite all the misery the guys have gone through this week I have to say that it’s been a very exciting race so far. What I mean by this is that you can feel the momentum building. I’ve rarely felt that watching a race before, maybe on a particular stage or in one day classic, but never in a Grand Tour. There are 8 riders that seem to be talked about the most as possible overall winners: Contador, Kloden, Leipheimer, DiLuca, Simoni, Ricco, Savoldelli, and Menchov. Some of these guys aren’t the best Time Trialists and so I’m guessing the winner is either going to be Contador, Kloden or Leipheimer. Yes, I’m biased, but I can be. They are 3 of the best riders in the Pro Peloton, and they’re all willing to give up their chances to ride for the strongest man. You know, like The Three Musketeers: “All For One and One For All”.

The Team may have been put under pressure by getting a last minute invite but it has afforded them the opportunity to come into the race with more to prove and, therefore, more motivation to win. I like our chances!!