Tour de France 2010: Rest Day Recap 1

It looks like the 2010 Tour de France won't exactly live up to it's Lance vs. Cantador bidding, but it may end up being even better. 

Pre-Race Build-Up
When Lance Armstrong retired from cycling in 2006 after winning seven straight Tours de France, it was Spain's Alberto Cantador that took up the mantle of the world's greatest road cyclist, and he did it for Armstrong's old team and manager, Discovery and Johan Bruyneel.  Catador won the 2007 Tour and looked primed to start his own streak.  Discovery dropped their sponsorship of the team however, and Bruyneel took his team to Astana, rebuilding the team after it had been decimated by doping violations. 

The sins of the prior team management and athletes haunted Astana in 2008 as they were banned from the Tour de France, despite that no one on the team or running the team had been around when the doping had occurred.  So Cantador was prevented from defending his title, and a somewhat lackluster 2008 Tour was won by Carlos Sastre. 

Armstrong came back out of retirement for the 2009 season and joined Bruyneel with Astana, but he openly said at the time that the team's leader was Cantador, who had developed into the world's greatest climber, an exceptional time trialist, and a master tactician.  He was simply the best rider in the world and Armstrong wanted to support him and help raise the profile of his own cancer-fighting efforts.  However Armstrong's fame and the surprisingly high level at which he was riding after three years off were clear problems for the team and a rivalry developed between the two champions. 

After six stages of the 2009 Tour, Armstrong was placed above Cantador in the overall standings, though he still insisted he was riding in support of Cantador.  After all, what happens in the first week is generally only a footnote to how things finish up.  That said, when Cantador attacked on a climb in stage 7, carrying two rival riders away and pushing his own teammates (Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Andreas Kloden) down in the standings, it was considered against protocol, especially since the team had been specifically directed by their manager to not make such a move.  So Cantador bolted away, Saxobank's Frank and Andy Schleck went with him, and Armstrong stayed back to prevent other rivals from bridging the gap along with him, and a serious schism was formed within the team.

For the remainder of the 2009 Tour, Armstrong dutifully played the role of support rider, and those on the team in his camp did the same. Cantador went on to a sizeable win in the 2009 Tour.  Afterwards, he cut the last tenuous ties to Armstrong by badmouthing him in post-race interviews and that spelled the end of that generation of Team Astana.  Armstrong and Bruyneel went on to form Team RadioShack for 2010 and took eight of the nine riders from Astana with them (Cantador being the lone hold-out, of course).

Much of the pre-2010 Tour press billed this race as a final showdown between the retiring Lance Armstrong and the reigning Alberto Cantador.  And as great as that story might have been, it was not to be.  But it's probably not even the most intriguing of plots. 

• Would Cantador's reformed Astana team be strong enough to support him?
• Could Astana stay clean with the management and primary rider (Alexander Vinokourov) just coming off of two-year bans for doping?
• Is Cantador so strong that he doesn't need support anyway?
• Can two loose cannons like Vinokourov and Cantador co-exist or will Vino try to hijack the team like he did from Jan Ullrich on T-Mobile?
• Is Armstrong still strong enough to truly compete?
• Isn't Cantador's true rival Andy Schleck?
• Can Cadel Evans get over the hump and win it all on a new team with George Hincapie at his side?
• Aside from Cantador's dominance, this appears to be one of the deepest talent pools perhaps of all time, with no less than 11 reasonable picks to win (Cantador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, Christian Vandevelde, Schleck, Evans, Frank Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Ivan Basso, Denis Menchov, and Michael Rogers).
• How many stages can Mark Cavendish win, and will Tyler Farrar finally get one?
• Cavendish vs. Thor Hushovd in the Green jersey competition.
• Who is the next great American to emerge (Leipheimer, Vandevelde, Chris Horner, Farrar, David Zabriskie)?
• Three American teams for the first time ever.
• Will Fabian Cancellara really have a motor on his bike during the Prologue and time trial?
• How long will Cancellara hang onto the Yellow jersey after his certain win in the Prologue?

Now a week later, many of these questions have been answered, but the biggest ones have not been, and perhaps the most interesting storyline that no one thought of has emerged: what if Armstrong falls out of contention in week one and then just starts attacking like a mad-man and blows the whole race apart later?

Week 1 Highlights
Prologue: Cancellara wins (predictably).  Armstrong finishes ahead of Cantador.  Andy Schleck stumbles out of the gate and loses 32 seconds to Cantador (worst start among all general classification favorites). 

Stage 1: Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar are among dozens caught in crashes including a massive one right near the end.  Both miss out on the final sprint (won by Alessandro Petacchi).  Cancellara retains the Yellow jersey.

Stage 2: France's Sylvain Chavanel escapes the peloton, wins the stage by nearly three minutes and takes over the Yellow jersey.  The stage is filled with crashes once again.  Vandevelde is out with broken ribs. Farrar breaks his wrist but will continue.  Armstrong, both Schlecks, Cantador, Kloden, Hincapie, Wiggins and other favorites all crash as well.  Cancellara "neutralizes" the field, asking other riders not to attack with so many being caught in crashes (essentially preventing his own chances of keeping the Yellow jersey and keeping Evans from gaining huge time on his rivals since he remained unscathed).

Stage 3: A brutal cobblestone-filled stage takes its toll as Chavanel pops a tire three times, abruptly ending his reign in Yellow.  Armstrong loses time to Cantador after a flat tire of his own.  Thor Hushovd survives the cobbles to win the final sprint and take a commanding lead in the Green jersey competition as most of his rivals are content to just survive this stage.  Evans and Andy Schleck beat Cantador by nearly a minute.  Vinokourov dutifully plays the role of "domestique," supporting Cantador for nearly the entire stage...before suddenly leaving him in the dust near the end, allowing Wiggins to gain 20 seconds on Catador.  Frank Schleck is out with broken ribs.

Stage 4: The sprinters have their day on a flat stage.  Petacchi wins again, surging past Cavendish with Hushovd sitting on Cavendish's wheel, but Hushovd retains a commanding Green jersey lead.  Cancellara retains Yellow.  With Farrar unable to sprint yet, his two leadout men get the chance to open up and go for the win.  Julian Dean places 2nd and Robbie Hunter is 5th.

Stage 5: Another flat stage, but Cavendish is able to put it all together finally and blows everyone away in the sprint.  Surprisingly, Dean and Hunter set up Farrar this time, but he only finishes 10th.  Hushovd and Cancellara keep their jerseys, with Jerome Pineau still the only rider to wear the Polka-dot climbers jersey this year.

Stage 6: Cavendish puts his stamp on this flat stage as well, winning his second straight stage and establishing himself as the fastest man in the field again.  Farrar takes second.  Four Astana riders seemingly take the day off (combined they lost around 27:00 to the field), perhaps preparing for the mountains coming in Stage 7.  Cancellara, Hushovd, and Pineau retain their jerseys.

Stage 7: The riders see their first serious climbs of the 2010 Tour, though this is only considered a low-mountain stage going over six categorized climbs: 3, 4, 3, 2, 2, and 2 (1 being the hardest). Cancellara was dropped from the peloton on the first serious climb-attack, but recovered later.  He was never expected to survive the mountains in the lead.  Pineau defends his climbers jersey admirably, joining an early breakaway group to capture huge amounts of points on each of the first five climbs. 

On the final climb, Astana tkes over the pace-making and blows the peloton apart (that rest in Stage 6 came in handy!).  Chavanel is able to breakaway from the peloton, reclaiming the Yellow jersey and the over all lead (though he was allowed to go because he is not considered a great threat in the lond run).  None of the general classification contenders really push hard or are pushed hard, and all finish together. 

Stage 8: Finally tested against the high Alps, the field is blown apart.  Armstrong crashes three times, once just as the peloton begins powering up the massive category 1 climb up Col de la Ramaz.  Four teammates stay back to guide him back into the peloton, but by the time they do, the leaders have already broken away and Amrstrong has used far too much energy just trying to get back in the race.  In the end, he loses nearly 12 minutes on the leaders. 

This stage features four categorized climbs, including two Cat-1's (4, 4, 1, 3, 1).  Cadel Evans is caught in one of the crashes that also catches Armstrong, but Evans is actually thrown from the bike, taking some cuts to his knee, hip and elbow.  Evans' fall (4 miles into the race) is far earlier than Armstrong's bad fall, so he recovers nicely.

Besides Armstrong, all of the other major contenders stay together throughout the stage, with Astana establishing themselves as the Tour's strongest team by far.  Vinokourov and Daniel Navarro carry Cantador and the rest of the contenders nearly all the way to the finish before any of them is able to make any serious attacks. 

Cantador runs down the first few attacks in the final miles, but he is unable to stay with Andy Schleck, who escapes the pack to win the stage and pick up 10 seconds on Cantador and the rest.  But more importantly, he shows he is able to handle a serious mountain stage without teammates helping, specifically his brother, Frank. 

In the end, Evans moves up into the over all lead and the Yellow jersey.  Schleck slides into 2nd, 20 second back.  Cantador is third, 1:10 back.  And the rest of the major contenders (sans Armstrong) all sit in the top 15, all within about three minutes of the lead. 

Stage 9 and Beyond
With Armstrong all but out of the running for the win, he said after Stage 8 that he would now just have fun, enjoy his last Tour, support new RadioShack leader Levi Leipheimer, and try to win some stages.  This brings up an interesting problem for the rest of the field: if Lance Armstrong (now nearly 13 minutes off the pace) makes a bold move on a climb, don't the leaders have to go with him?  Typically a rider who is that far back is not a threat and his moves wouldn't be countered, but this is Lance Armstrong.  You can't let him go, but you also don't know if you can stay with him...so is it worth it to get totally burned out tracking him down, when you may not be able to recover well in later stages as a result?

Regardless of whether Armstrong or another American wins over all, isn't this exactly the type of role we would want our heroes to be in?  Complete wild cards.  Armstrong won't hinder Leipheimer's chances to win; he is the consumate teammate.  But don't you think he would love to stick it to Cantador somehow?  I can see him attacking constantly over the next two weeks, forcing Cantador to be on the defensive all the time, and wearing him out. 

And besides this and all those unanswered questions from above, we have these interesting storylines to follow now as well...

• Can Andy thrive without Frank?
• Can Farrar overcome broken wrist to finally win a stage?
• Can anyone touch Cavendish now that he's back?
• Will Vinokourov be the good teammate to Cantador or will he be his old reckless self?
• Will Evans, who has a history of struggling to race in the lead, crack in Yellow again?
• Can Leipheimer get over the hump now that he is the unquestioned leader of Bruyneel's team?
• Now that the top three realistic pre-race favorites are 1-2-3, how will their teams' tactics change?

Looking Ahead
Stage 9: 5 categorized climbs (4, 1, 2, 1, HC) including Col de la Colombiere (1) and Col de la Madeleine (HC).  Finishes with a long descent, but the climbs are so tough that this could break the field apart, especially if Armstrong or another contender gets aggressive.  How will they do the day after a rest day?

Stage 10: 3 categorized climbs (1, 3, 2) but a long descent into the finish that may allow dropped riders to recover, which could prevent major attacks by contenders.  It's a good race profile for a breakway to survive all the way to the finish.  July 14 is Bastille Day in France, so watch out for patriotic Frenchmen in the breakaways (I'm looking at you, Sylvain Chavanel, Christophe Moreau, and Thomas Voekler). 

Stage 11: Flat stage that will favor the sprinters. 

Stage 12 and 13: 5 categorized climbs each, but none greater that a Cat-2, so these could both end up being bunch sprints unless a breakway gets clear.  The contenders will likely use these stages as "recovery" days before the coming attacks in the Pyranees. 

Stage 14: After a long, flat run-up, this stage finishes with two brutal climbs, an HC and a summit finish on a Cat-1.  Contenders will definately use this stage to separate out the weaker riders, but there may not be much aggressive attacking this early on.  Look for the true Yellow jersey hopefuls to show themselves after this stage and Cantador and Schleck to hammer away at one another all day.

Stage 15: 4 categorized climbs culminating in an HC climb up Port de Bales before a nasty descent into the finish.  Probably another stage to distance the leaders from the pack, but not from one another unless Schleck or Cantador get especially aggressive. 

Stage 16: 2 Cat-1's and 2 HC's (including Col d'Aspin, Col du Tourmalet, and Col d'Aubisque) make this a terrifying stage, but the last climb is nearly 30 miles from the finish, so the field may have time to get back together.  There is a rest day the following day, which could play into how aggressive the general classification riders get. 

Stage 17-21: Come back next week for more.

2009 Tour de France For Dummies

The 2009 Tour de France starts Saturday, July 4 in Monaco and in anticipation of this spectacular event, here is a two part explanation of the race, the riders, and the storylines to watch for over the next three-and-a-half weeks.

-Storylines to Watch-
Lance is Back American Lance Armstrong retired from professional cycling in 2005 after winning an unprecedented seven Tours de France in-a-row. In order to bolster his Livestrong campaign against cancer, last year he decided to come out of retirement and raise the profile of both his crusade, and of the sports of cycling...and possibly take home some hardware in the process. Armstrong joined powerhouse Team Astana which already boasted the world's best current stage racer (Alberto Cantador) and America's best rider (Levi Leipheimer) as well. After recovering from a broken collarbone suffered in a crash earlier this year, Armstrong is back in good form and it a contender for the overall title as long as he shows he is the strongest of his teammates and can win their support.

Former Greats Fall Short of Redemption Once upon a time, Ivan Basso was the chief rival to Armstrong and Jan Ulrich. After receiving a two-year ban for admitting that he had been planning to blood dope (did you read that Bud Selig?), he returned this year and joined Liquigas but was not chosen as one of their Tour de France riders this year. American Floyd Landis was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for allegedly doping. Landis had a hip replaced, served out his two-year ban, and returned early this season as well. But he was unable to land a spot on a premier team and his California-based Ouch! Racing failed to be selected for this Tour. Former American national champ and Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton decided to retire when caught using steroids and was then hit with an eight-year ban since he'd already served a two-year ban for blood doping (which he denies). Sprinter Tom Boonen was booted from this Tour after a third positive cocaine test outside of the racing season. (Update: Boonen was reinstated the day before the Tour started and is riding for Quickstep). Another former Armstrong-rival, Alexander Vinokourov, retired when he got a one-year ban when caught blood doping at the 2007 Tour de France. After deciding to unretire, his case was reopened and he was ordered to serve out the standard two-year ban, so he will also miss the 2009 Tour. Vino's doping in 2007 was a key reason for Team Astana not being invited to the 2008 Tour, keeping returning champ Cantador out of the race at no fault of his own.

Course Favors Climbers Armstrong stated that this year's course offers a great advantage to climbers which makes for wonderful theater as the racers turn themselves inside out trying to summit Alpine and Pyranean peaks in the quest for their sports' greatest glory.

As Long As They Don't All Kill Eachother... Team Astana features three of the races top names, and top contenders for the overall title. Their loyalty to their teammates and their respect for the sport's traditions will be tested as two of them will be forced to swallow their pride to carry their teammate to victory. But which one?

More Reasons For The French To Hate Us As if having the all-time greatest Tour de France rider being an ugly American wasn't bad enough, now he's back and they just can't seem to pin any cheating on him! And now there are as many of five Americans with decent chances to win it all - Armstrong, Leipheimer, David Zabriskie, Christian Vandevelde, and Danny Pate. For the second straight year, there are also two American teams as well - Garmin-Slipstream, and Columbia-High Road.

Radio Silence For the first time in decades, riders will compete in two stages (10 and 13) without the benefit of radio communication with team managers in chase cars with GPS information, time gaps, etc. Look for veteran riders to try and take advantage, particularly on the hilly stage 13, where small pockets of riders or indivuduals could easily slip away from the peleton if their don't have their head count right. The wiley Jens Voigt is a common favorite to make a bold move under these circumstances, which may be exactly why he doesn't bother.

What's With The Polka Dots? Six awards are given out at the Tour de France: The Yellow jersey is awarded daily to the overall leader (based on total time) - also known as the General Classification or GC. The Green jersey is awarded daily to the overall leader in sprint points (each stage has a few checkpoints where points are awarded to the first three riders to cross, as well as at the finish line) - also known as the Points Classification. The Polka Dot jersey is awarded daily to the overall top climber (points are awarded at the summits of each climb - the higher the climb and the later in a stage it occurs, the more points are awarded) - also known as the King of the Mountains Classification. The White jersey is awarded daily to the overall leader who is 25-years-old or younger - also known as the Best Young Rider Classification. The team with the fastest overall time at the end of the Tour wins the Team Time title - times are counted by adding up the times of the three fastest team members each day. And a Most Aggressive Rider jersey is awarded daily based on the previous day's stage (signified by white numbers on red, as opposed to black numbers on white like all other riders).

The Rundown This 96th Tour has 21 stages and covers approximately 2200 miles of road through six countries (Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland, and Italy), with two rest days. It runs from July 4th to July 26th. There are 10 flat stages, eight mountain stages, two individual time trials, and a team time trial. Three stages finish on the summits of climbs. There are 20 Highest Category ("HC"), Category 1, or 2 climbs, with the highest point reached being the summit of Col de Grand-Saint Bernard at 8113 feet during Stage 16. Climbs are categorized based on difficulty, as determined by the steepness (grade) and length of a climb.

-Riders To Watch-
Alberto Cantador (Spain) - Team Astana Generally considered the best stage race cyclist in the world, Cantador is the odds-on favorite. He has won every Grand Tour (like golf's Majors and tennis' Grand Slams) he has entered since winning the '07 Tour de France, and is riding very well right now. He will need to show his dominance early on to prove that he is the man to support for his Astana teammates and management. Cycling teams are designed to have a leader that gets protected by the other eight riders. Generally, they know going in who they will support and while Cantador is considered the strongest rider, the team almost has to be a little split considering who else is in the Astana stable.

Lance Armstrong (USA) - Team Astana While not a prohibitive favorite like he was the last few times he was in the Tour, Armstrong is on the short list of riders with a very good chance to win it all. If Cantador falters, crashes, or Armstrong comes out in completely dominating fashion early on, he could wrest control of the team away from Cantador. This could end in an unprecedented eighth Tour win, or it could shatter the team into pieces, costing them more than just the general classification title as well as shots at the other titles (and huge pay-days). Armstrong is a fan favorite and is a close friend and ally of team manager Johan Bruyneel, but this is Cantador's team (and Tour) to lose.

Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) - Team Saxo Bank Last year's Young Rider champion, the younger Schleck brother is still only 24 but is a serious threat for the GC title this year if he can keep himself from having that one bad day that knocks him out of it. Like Cantador and Armstrong, he is an exceptional climber and time trialist, and he has a deep team that can help protect him (particularly with older brother Frank, Voigt, and Fabian Cancellara).

Carlos Sastre (Spain) - Cervelo Test Team The 2008 Tour was considered a weaker field due to some doping suspensions and the organizers holding Astana out, and Sastre's win is considered a bit flukey due to his perhaps lucky timing on the ride up Alpe d' Huez. But a Tour de France champion he is, and he will be wearing #1 on his hip no matter what the critics might say. Sastre jumped ship from CSC-Saxo Bank to take the helm at the new Cervelo team and while that eliminates the competition at the top of the team, it also eliminates the protection he felt at the helm of such a deep squad.

Cadel Evans (Australia) - Silence-Lotto Evans has clearly been the most consistent rider in the Tour de France in Armstrong's absense, but doesn't have any hardware to show for it. Since his first Tour in 2005 when he finished 8th, he improved in 2006 to 5th, and was the runner up in 2007 and 2008 by under a minute each time. Evans' team is not as strong as Astana or Saxo Bank but he does have Sebastian Lang and Johan Van Summeren to support him (if Van Summeren isn't the leader).

Denis Menchov (Russia) - Rabobank Menchov is often considered not an overall favorite at the Tour because he is unspectacular...he isn't the best in any one discipline. But he just dominated the Giro d'Italia against most of the same field using his steady, solid style. He may not dominate, but he can certainly hang around long enough to win.

Levi Leipheimer (USA) - Team Astana The forgotten star on the three headed monster that is Astana, Leipheimer has taken a backseat to the dominance of Cantador and the notoriety of Armstrong, but this team could just as easily be his depending perhaps on how things go in stage 1 and stage 7. Leipheimer is also an exceptional time trialist and can hang with many of the best climbers, though isn't considered an elite climber himself.

Mark Cavendish (UK) - Columbia-High Road With his absoluletly dominant sprint speed, his expectation of finishing the Tour (somewhat unusual for sprinters), and the absense of Boonen, Cavendish has a very good chance of topping his 2008 Tour performance where he won 4 stages. Cavendish's sprinting is so dominant and his climbing is so adequate that he is even a distant contender for GC (very, very distant). He'd likely be happier wearing Green in Paris anyway, and seeing teammates Michael Rogers or Kim Kirchen in Yellow anyway.

Alejandro Valverde (Spain) - Caisse d-Epargne Banned. The Italian Olympic committee banned this team leader and GC favorite from competing in Italy and since the Tour goes onto Italian soil in stage 16, Valverde is out. He placed in the top 10 in GC for the last two Tours.

Christian Vandevelde (USA) - Garmin-Slipstream 2008 Yellow jersey 5th place
Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg) - Columbia-High Road 2008 Yellow jersey 8th place
David Zabriskie (USA) - Garmin-Slipstream 2009 US National Champion
David Moncoutie (France) - Confidis Le Credit En Ligne Great climber, top French hope
Oscar Freire (Spain) - Rabobank 2008 Green jersey winner
Thor Hushovd (Norway) - Cervelo Test Team 2008 Green jersey runner up
Danny Pate (USA) - Garmin-Slipstream Distant GC hopeful
Tyler Farrar (USA) - Garmin-Slipstream Top American sprinter, one of Cavendish's biggest threats
George Hincapie (USA) - Columbia-High Road Top support for Rogers/Kirchen, an all-time great American cyclist
Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) - Team Saxo Bank A master time trialist, he will likely go for the yellow jersey in stage 1 and try and hold it until teammates Andy or Frank Schleck take it from him in the mountains

-Stages To Watch-
July 4 - Stage 1 An unusually difficult 9.6 mile time trial through the streets of Monaco. Typically the overall contenders do not stick their necks out early in the Tour, but they won't be allowed to play this course too conservatively. General classification riders and time trialists to watch: Armstrong, Menchov, Cantador, Leipheimer, Cancellara, Bradly Wiggins.

July 7 - Stage 4 Team time trials are not seen each year in the Tour de France and offer a huge advantage to the deeper teams (like Astana, Silence-Lotto, and Saxobank). This 24.2 mile team time trial could easily push one of the big teams' GC contenders into Yellow early on in the Tour.

July 10 - Stage 7 At 139.2 miles, this is the longest stage in the 2009 Tour and features a mountaintop finish. This course layout could very likely force the contenders to come out of the protection of their teammates and battle it out, which is unusual in the Tour's first week. Look for teams with undetermined leadership (Astana) to fall in line behind the strongest man after this one.

July 12 - Stage 9 This stage is seemingly built for a breakaway, which is music to Saxo Bank's Voigt's ears. At 99.7 miles, the bruising mountain stage takes the riders over the famous Col d'Aspin and the Tourmalet, which Armstrong has called the Tour's toughest climb. Given that the first rest day is the next day, this is the perfect time for non-GC contenders (particularly a Frenchman who would then be in Yellow for Bastille Day) to make a run at a huge breakaway to steal a few minutes and possibly the Yellow jersey for a few days.

July 14 - Stage 10 Bastille Day at the Tour de France is always a day when the French riders go for national glory, and with this being the first of two stages where riders will not have radio communications with their managers in team cars, this could be a wild stage. The 120.8 mile course is flat though, and the GC men will likely not make any bold moves.

July 21 - Stage 16 Two massive climbs makes this alpine stage a possible back-breaker for those in the overall competition. It is likely too early for anyone to win the Tour, but it is just in time for a someone to lose it with a bad ride. The course is 99.4 miles and goes over the longest and highest climb of this Tour, the HC Col de Grand Saint-Bernard, and then deceptively named Cat 1 "Petit" Saint Bernard.

July 22 - Stage 17 After yesterday's monster climbs, this one will truly punish anyone who doesn't like climbing. 105 miles over 5 categorized climbs and a heartstopping downhill finish will likely end a few sprinters' Tours, as well as the hopes of many GC men. As the peleton is whittled down, the strongest teams will come to the forefront now. The leaders on teams that are still in tact will have a huge advantage down the stretch.

July 23 - Stage 18 With no time to rest after surviving some killer climbs in the Alps, the riders head to the second individual time trial. If the overall title is close, this time trial could go a long way to opening gaps on riders who don't time trial well. It could also further gum up the works if any teams are still in a fight for leadership.

July 25 - Stage 20 Typically the second-to-last stage is an individual time trial, but this year's Tour has held a special treat for that all-important penultimate day. Never before has the Tour held a mountain stage on the final stage before Paris and this is no ordinary mountain! A 103.8 mile epic over five categorized climbs, culminating in the crushing 13.1 mile assent of the HC moonscape of Mont Ventoux, one of the toughest climbs in the world. For one 9-mile stretch, the grade is 9%.



One of Armstrong's most famous Tour de France moments came in 2000 when he made a stunning attack on Mont Ventoux, destroying the field before eventually giving the stage win to Marco Pantani as a tribute for Pantani's comeback. When Pantani later said he was offended that Armstrong gave him the stage win, Armstrong said, "I learned a lesson that day. No more gifts."

July 26 - Stage 21 This 101.9 mile coronation almost never plays a role in determining the Yellow jersey winner, but can help determine who winds up in Green (depending on which sprinters have survived the mountains). Cavendish, Hushovd, and Freire will likely still be battling it out. The final laps through the streets of Paris serve more as a parade than a race in most years and the climb of Mont Ventoux will likely have separated the field enough that whomever is in Yellow when they start the day will be sipping champagne on the Champs Elysees as they finish it.

-Predictions-
No surprises here: Cantador in Yellow with Menchov and Andy Schleck on the podium with him, Cavendish in Green, Andy Schleck in White (and as King of the Mountains), Astana wins the Team Time battle

The race is aired live on Versus each day starting in the early morning hours, and they also do shorter recap shows throughout the day. The afternoon recap show is the easiest to swallow but the play-by-play is re-voiced later and sometimes feels a little distant from the actual action. The live broadcast features by far the best broadcast team in Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett.

So Many Stories, So Little Time To Write

A week's worth of headlines rolled into one brilliant compilation:

Alex Rodriguez Is A Liar, And Not A Very Creative One!
So pretty much everyone has said that the "I didn't know what I was taking" line is a load of crap despite that every athlete caught doping seems to use it. But not only that, apparently the drug that Aroid claims to have taken without his own knowledge would not have tested positive for the two drugs that he tested positive for. And it is also not for sale in the Dominican Republic - he claimed his cousin bought it for him there. But at least his Valentine's Day-week fall-guy was his cousin and not his wife like Roger Clemens. Next excuse?

Mets Dominate Fantasy Drafts
The Mets have two players (Jose Reyes and David Wright) ranked 4th and 5th in Yahoo!'s fantasy pre-rankings and another two (Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran) ranked 17th and 19th. So with four of the most productive or valuable players in the game, and Daniel Murphy being everyone's late-round sleeper (I hope no one in my league is reading this), how have they not won a playoff game in three years?

Dodgers Fans Actually Listen To Tommy Lasorda
Last week before heading to Spring Training in Arizona, thus officially and finally driving a stake into the hearts of old-time Dodger fans everywhere, Tommy Lasorda actually said that he is not worried about the team signing Manny Ramirez and that they'd be fine without him. Apparently he did not watch the first 100 games last season. Staggeringly, 15% of Dodger fans are exactly as dumb as Lasorda takes them for and apparently agree with the fat bastard, based on a poll I posted on CBS2.com and KCAL9.com last week.

Tour Of California Races Down The Coast
Americans are dominating the nations largest cycling race, with Levi Leipheimer, David Zabriskie, Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner in 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively. Thus far most riders have been content to stay in the peloton (aka pack) and just wind up with the same time as the leader, but Friday is the individual time trial where each rider takes off on the 15 mile sprint course on his own and races only the clock. There could potentially be a massive change in the standings, which have been basically unchanged since the first day of the Tour last weekend. Thus far, Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton have been inconsequential in the overall standings, but neither has nearly the support that those other four Americans have, and Landis was a phenomenal time trialist before his fall from grace and hip replacement. The Tour comes to L.A. Saturday, and should pass my parents' house between 1-2 p.m. on its way to the Rose Bowl. How pissed are the French going to be if Americans get 2 or more podium places in the Tour de France?

David Beckham May Return To Save American Soccer After All
Beckham was going to make soccer relevant in American when he signed with the Galaxy two years ago. After one injury plagued season and one season with the worst record in the league, the sport had vaulted up into the top 10 sports in the U.S. trailing only football, baseball, basketball, car racing*, hockey, Guitar Hero, Mariokart, basket weaving* and soap carving*. Last week it looked like an Italian team and Beckham had arrogantly decided that his contract here was irrelevant and he should just leave. To their credit, the Galaxy told the Italian team to screw themselves and wouldn't let their star go. Supposedly the Italians are planning to sweeten the deal to get Beckham out, but for now he is still back to save soccer once more.

*-not a sport

The Clippers Are Bad, I Mean Really Bad
On paper, this is clearly a playoff team: Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman and Ricky Davis are a solid first seven and they have some decent backups well. Injuries and the fact that their jerseys say "Clippers" on them have cursed them however. How bad are they? Over their last 15 games, they have allowed 113 points per game. and only kept opponents under 100 seven times in the last two months. And Mike Dunleavy has two jobs and I don't.

Suns Didn't Trade Stoudamire But Lost Him Anyway
Amare Stoudamire, rumored to be traded to every team in the NBA, 11 NFL teams, 5 MLB teams, and bridge club, didn't get traded as the NBA trade deadline passed. In fact Rafer Alston was the biggest name to move. Now one day later, the Sun found out they have lost Stoudamire for 8 weeks due to a detached retina. As bad as I feel for the Suns and for Stoudamire himself of course, I cannot help but think about Kenny from Out of Sight and how he had to retire from boxing because he had his retina detached two times. Then I think of Kenny tussling with Toughy and Moselle telling Karen Cisco that if she sees Snoopy Miller to tell him that she needs grocery money and the dog got run over. I love that movie.

NFL Combine Starts
All of the NFL Mock-Drafts that have been published to this point are hereby rendered irrelevant, begging the question of why those writers ever put their names to those admittedly inaccurate rankings in the first place. So who will go #1? Not Andre Smith who decided not to come to the combine apparently because he has not been working out and didn't want to show off all of his new rolls (he's 330+ when in shape). He admitted that he hasn't worked out in three or four weeks and wants to get his "numbers down" before running his 6.8 40. Mark Sanchez improved his stock by signing up to do all the throwing drills, which most quarterbacks apparently don't do. Why do they have this combine if no one goes to it? Anyway, Sanchez's decision to go through all the drills shows he is willing to put out effort and be coached. The trouble is, the drills will likely show he is not a very good quarterback. Pick your poison - spoiled reputation but a top 10 pick, or nice guy reputation and a 2nd round pick.

NBA Dunk Contest Won On A Dunk You've Seen 100 Times
Nate Robinson won the NBA Dunk Contest by jumping over a guy and dunking. In other news, the set set in the west that evening. But I suppose it is better than Dwight Howard winning last year's dunk contest by successfully completing a layup, but not a dunk.

Aikman Award: Color Commentary Of The Week
"Every time UCLA gets up by 7, or 8, or 9, Washington makes a big basket to get it back to a one possession game."--UCLA Basketball announcer Don MacLean, who has to be checked every 3-4 minutes for a pulse. Apparently University of Washington players have figured out how to make a six-point basket, which could really catch on.

From Lingerie-Clad Football Players To Topless Figure Skaters

The sports world took a bitter blow on Monday. I imagine I don't really need to go into it further and you already know what I am referring to. The Lingerie Bowl was cancelled. Apparently one of the main roadblocks that wound up shutting down the event was that these highly principled, modest, proud young women were unwilling to degrade themselves by having to play the game at a nudist colony...I mean what are they, prostitutes?

As it turns out, this is the third consecutive year that this game has been cancelled. At what point is an event cancelled for the year and what point is it just an historical footnote? And does the fact that no one ever watched it when it (allegedly) was played make a difference?

The Cardinals and Steelers have arrived in Tampa for the other football game that was scheduled for Sunday (apparently still on, as of Tuesday morning). I have heard a lot of talk on sports radio and ESPN about how the Cardinals are built just like the Steelers are, so this success is not a fluke - they drafted well and are now reaping the benefits. So basically, the question is whether this season's success is repeatable.

I have heard a lot of interesting arguments that indeed, it is repeatable, but of course these arguments are all stupid. Kurt Warner is a fantastic story, but he is likely going to retire and even if he doesn't, it is far more likely he will look like the Kurt Warner of the previous five years, and not the one of last year. And besides his phenomenal year, this would have been the same team as last year: no running game, no running defense, great receivers, Matt Leinart.

When you are wondering if the "story of the year" team can repeat the next year, the answer is always no. If it is a miracle that they got this far, is it really fair to expect them to perform another miracle? Not only can they likely not pull it off, but everyone will be gunning for them from day 1. Ask the Rockies what it was likely coming back after that ridiculous 2007 season?

Are you hearing this Tampa Bay Rays?

The 2008 Dodgers are another such team, but their "magical run" was fueled exclusively by Manny Ramirez, there was no synergy, no draft picks that worked out, no coach pulling all the right strings. There was a dude hitting .400 that made all the other crappy players look they belonged in the major leagues.

I saw an interview with Dodgers first baseman James Loney recently where he said he was excited for the upcoming season, especially with the way everyone came together and really hit their strides towards the end of 2008. Does it count as your stride when someone is carrying you?

So then that means they just need Manny back and they'll win 120 games right? Not so much. With every swing, Manny was screaming "F you!" at Theo Epstein. That fire won't be there this year. If he is anywhere but L.A., he'll still hit .300 with 25 homers and 100 RBI, but he won't hit .400 with 50 homers and 150 RBI. If he is in L.A., he will sandbag the whole year and prove Boston was right to dump him.

Does anyone think that a guy with a history of loafing when he feels disrespected is going to hustle and smile and shine if he rejoins the Dodgers after they low-balled him for five months? He just came out Monday are repeated again that he wants 4-5 years at $25 million a year. So all this waiting and posing that the Dodgers have done has not knocked a dime off of his asking price. So in the next month, will he really knock 550,000,000 dimes off and then come to camp happy?

But the McCourts have done what they do best: they've made it look like they tied to fix things but that it was out of their hands. They made their crappy, low-ball offer and then made sure the media knew they did it. Now they can put all the blame on the player when he inevitably bolts for a better deal. I hope Manny relents (not likely with Scott Boras as his agent), takes a 3 year deal for $70 million and then just tanks for the next three years, making the Dodgers wish they still had Andruw Jones.

The last two stories of note: Floyd Landis' two year ban from supposedly doping during the 2006 Tour de France is up this weekend and Landis is training for the Tour of California and ideally the Tour de France, assuming that he can get onto a team that is in it. This means that this year's Tour de France could add Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Alberto Cantador, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer to the field after last year's superstar-devoid race. I personally thought the parity in 2008 was very entertaining and that Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, Christian Vandevelde, Bernhard Kohl, and Denis Menchov put together a great Tour. But the absence of the sports' stars was palpable throughout and it will be great to watch the French swallow having five Americans as potential favorites.

And finally, last week the strap of a pairs figure skater snapped and her breast was exposed during their routine. The pair amazingly didn't stop and actually finished the routine. They finished 12th, so apparently the judges didn't like what they saw.