Chaingate and Tomorrow’s Tourmageddon on the Tourmalet
Rather than reiterate an argument that’s been raging for a couple of days,read this excellent article by Neal Rogers, which pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing.
Beyond the “should he or shouldn’t he have attacked” argument, this whole thing has made tomorrow’s Queen stage up the Tourmalet even more exciting. Sure, we’ve got Andy’s “stomach full of anger” and Alberto’s desire to erase any potential doubt should he go ahead and win the Tour, but even without those two guys there are going to be some serious fireworks on the slopes of the Pyrenean giant.
For one thing, the trackstanding shenanigans on Sunday and the “chain of events” on Monday have given the quiet Russian Denis Menchov (and to a lesser degree Samuel Sanchez) a shot at leapfrogging up to 2nd or even 1st at the end of the race. Denis can time trial as well or better than Contador when he’s on and he’s clearly climbing well, so anything can happen at this point. He probably won’t win, or even finish second, but he’s got a chance to move up and that will seriously animate the race. And that’s ignoring his more likely battle with the aforementioned Sanchez for 3rd. Add in all the competition for the top 10-20 places and it looks like the Tour organizers have timed this race to perfection with all the drama happening in the final week.
Sylvain Chavanel
Chavanel has been a joy to watch in this year’s Tour. So aggressive and so successful. Every grand tour needs someone to stir things up and Chavanel has played the role to perfection this year, saving Quick Step’s Tour in the process.
THOMAS VOECKLER!
Lost in the “chaingate” hullabaloo was the magical run through the Pyrenees by the popular French champion, Thomas Voeckler. Voeckler is one of my favorite riders in the whole pro peloton. He’s always testing the waters, looking for stage wins and when he does make it, as he did Monday, it’s usually for a classy win, chock full of style points (See his solo win in the GP Ouest-France a couple of years ago for another example.)
Allez VOECKLER!
Alexandre Vinokourov
Speaking of exciting riders who win in dramatic, classy ways, Vino’s return to the Tour has been basically perfect. Winning a stage in his inimitable attacking style and serving as a surprisingly loyal lieutenant to Contador, the disgraced Kazakh has gone a long way towards rehabilitating his image (at least with me.)
The Course
This course was actually pretty good. The weakness of the Alpine stages has more than been made up for by the Pyrenees. The one thing that I’m disappointed in is the long run-in on yesterday’s stage. Eighty billion feet of climbing and the group comes in 30-40 strong? Lame. Other than that, it’s been an interesting Tour throughout. The nod to Roubaix early on was especially nice. Not as dramatic as the strade bianche (or really, strade marone because of all the rain) in this year’s Giro, one of the greatest single days I’ve ever seen in a grand tour, but still a lot of fun.
Armstrong
One Tour too many? I think so. You can blame his luck, but even without luck, I’m not sure he really had the legs to do much in this race. Yesterday’s tour through the Pyrenees was fun, but it also showed how little pop he has in the mountains right now. He was really revving himself up to cross the gaps as they happened.
Still, I’ll be sad to see him go.
Team Radio Shack
And this is why I hate the intense focus on the Tour that the Armstrong/Bruyneel teams have. The fear was always- if the Tour campaign is a failure (which this one clearly is,) then what do they have to show for a year? Nothing. And that’s really what they have to show for 2010, nothing. Okay, okay… they won the Dauphine. Great race, but… not exactly the kind of results they’re used to. It’ll be interesting if they race like a regular team next year or continue to focus on France and California.
Here’s hoping they expand their horizons.
The Patron
If I were a pro bike racer, I’d want to be Fabian Cancellara. That is all.
SPARTACUS!
Mark Cavendish
The Fastest Sprinter in the World.
I was choked up along with him when he broke down in tears on the podium. He’s an emotional rider who makes mistakes and seeing him master his emotions and deliver in a most emphatic way on the biggest stage in cycling was an indication to me of just how great he’s going to be. Winning when it’s easy, is one thing. Winning when it’s hard is another and as he’s shown in this year’s Tour he can bounce back from adversity.
Garma’s a Bitch
I used to like the Garmin team. Then came their petty decision to chase down George Hincapie last year to block him from getting a Yellow Jersey and they immediately went on my shit list. Especially, since they won’t even man up and admit what they did, feigning ignorance in interviews and pretending to be shocked that anyone would suspect them of chasing George down. Sorry buys, we’re not idiots. HTC Columbia, eats your lunch. You can’t beat them on the line, so you took the only revenge you can muster…
So… it’s with a great amount of joy that I watch their Tour campaign fail so miserably. I feel bad for the individual riders, especially the guys who went down with injury, but I’m happy to see the failure of a program that ruined what would have been a special day in the career of one of America’s great cycling heroes.
Maybe next year, now that the cycling karma has evened out?
Is it Thursday yet?
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