Lance In Third Place – Tour de France 2009

Lance in Third Place 2009 Tour de France

Lance did a great race. His experience with tactics and strategy were evident. A real pro. I’m looking forward to the RadioShack team.

Best wishes to Jens Voight! What a racer! Get well soon!

Erik Zabel Retires from Pro Cycling

Erik Zabel, Oct. 2008

Erik Zabel is retiring from cycling at age 38. He has 12 stage wins in the Tour de France, and has 6 Green Jerseys for winning the sprint competition during the Tour. He has also won the Milan-San Remo race 4 times and Paris-Tours 3 times. The man is a great racer and has excellent sportsmanship. I’m sad to see him go from racing.

Tour de France 2008

Update: As we know, Sastre won. Better luck next year Cadel! Maybe Vandevelde? We’ll see.

American Christian Vandevelde is rising in the overall standings (as of 7-14-08). I was really glad to see Cadel Evans fight every minute un the Tourmalet and Hautacam after his crash the day before. His acceptance of the yellow jersey on the podium was so emotionally charged. I like the High Road – Columbia team, but Kim Kirchen almost seemed bored on the podium.

I really like Oscar Freire, but he didn’t seem to excited to pull on the green jersey on stage either. Maybe he wanted the stage win that Mark Cavendish sped off with. I understand that. I’d love to see Freire win the stage, and one for Eric Zabel. Zabel is strong! He is up there at the finishing line.

I wonder what’s going on with Alejandro Valverde. I thought he’d do better on the slopes of the mountains. He still has more stages to show what he can do. The Col de Agnel in stage 15 looks wicked as does the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond in 16, and of course epic L’Alpe d’Huez. The time trial the day before Paris will be exciting too. I’m glued to the Versus channel!

Tour de France 2007 Reports

I wish the Versus channel would reduce the amount of attention they are giving to the doping scandal. I think they are trying to add “excitement” to their coverage, but it is just coming across as cheap sensationalism. They also had a spot put together that showed past crashes and they set it to music. This is not classy. Crashes are not entertainment. They seriously injure people and can end careers. I hope the station does not continue on this type of coverage. Commentator Al Trautwig prefaced a profile about Jay Ullrich by talking about the doping allegations against Ullrich. While it is true there are investigations, there is a race going on now that all the riders have been tested before entry, so lets focus on today, not harping on doping.

The crash near the end of stage 2 caused some serious injuries. I saw a photo of Erik Zabel taken before the start of stage 3 and the caption said he was the one who caused that crash. It did look like a Milram rider, but I had no idea it was Zabel. He is an honest man to admit it. He said he was avoiding Tom Boonen. These things happen; all riders know that. While no one is happy about it, especially the injured, riders know this can happen. It was not intentional or stupidity. Zabel is experienced and respected.

I’m glad Levi Leipheimer came across the line without injury. One Discovery team rider did have to get his hand operated on and will not start. Freddy Rodriguez look all banged up; he came in without his helmet! But he’s a tough and experienced rider; he won’t be whining.

Phil Liggett has been highlighting a new British rider, Mark Cavendish. But when Cavendish had a problem during stage 1 and was stopped on the side of the road I think to get a flat tire changed, it looked like he was yelling and bitching up a storm. Phil Liggett noted that this was not very mature of Cavendish, and I was glad to hear Liggett say it. It’s not just because Cavendish is young; Jay Ullrich was young when he was in the spotlight and I never saw him acting like a jerk. I hope this Cavendish kid learns his lessons and behaves more professionally.

I’m very disappointed that Bobby Julich is not at the Tour this year. Talk about an athlete who always shows good sportsmanship. He is an admired rider, skilled, accomplished and has been on the podium plenty to prove it.

Paris Roubaix

Congratulations to Stuart O’Grady who won the 2007 Paris Roubaix race. It was a dusty race this year instead of a muddy course, but that did not prevent crashes.

This week begins the Tour de Georgia, where George Hincapie will race after recuperating from an injury in the Tour of California earlier this year. George loves Paris Roubaix but could not race it this year. Hopefully he will have a good race, and the rest of team Discovery will also. Levi looks good this year.