7/6/05
Full picks are in (almost). The list is here.

Lots of empty spaces. I get the idea, people. Next year, fewer categories. And I’ve been arguing with Sam to lower the points on the Young Rider competition for months.

Anyway, feel free to haggle any picks you feel I may have screwed up on (just leave a comment). Or if you sent me an email and I somehow missed it.

Current leader is Ryan van Hoff with 8 points. Smack talk goes under “Comments.” Enjoy.

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The heated rivalry between Belgian ProTour squads Davitamon-Lotto and Quick-Step-Innergetic is no secret, and after Innergetic (a mattress company) used Boonen’s Stage 3 victory over McEwen for an ad in the French daily L’Equipe, the Aussie Champ and his Davitamon teammates were eager for revenge. Following a long break, which motivated mainly by Fassa’s Antonio Flecha was reeled in with 8k to go, the stage was set for another sprinter’s duel. Boonen had a good lead out and jumped confidently with 200 to go, but bogged down toward the line, allowing a resurgent Robbie Mac to blast by for an easy win, topped with arm flailing “who’s the man?” victory salute that would have made Steve Stiffler (you know, from American Pie?) blush.

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So the weekend’s action started on Wednesday, for some reason, as the organizers saw fit not to schedule any races on the national holiday on Monday. That’s a little less cash in my pockets, but whatever. Sign-in went according to plan, except that my psuedo-teammates, Rudy Awerbuch and Steve Weller were planning to use disk wheels for the TT?

Excuse me? Disk wheels for a Cat 4 TT? Am I the only man left alive with some sense of shame?

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Today’s TTT into Blois shaped up exactly as expected, with powerhouse squads Discovery Channel, T-Mobile, and CSC throwing down in hopes of building and early advantage. But CSC, starting last and fighting a vicious chrono duel against The Disco Boys, threw down a little bit too hard; On a right hand bend mere kilos from the line, maillot jaune Dave “Friskie” Zabriskie lost control and went down. CSC regrouped quickly, but the stumble proved two seconds too costly, and it was Discovery for the stage win. Their 57kph rumble put Armstrong back in the fleece, with Gorgeous George 55 seconds back, and Jens Voigt in 3rd.

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Boonen came through again today, putting a bike length between his rear tire and the madness behind it. Though McEwen was the third man across the line, his head-butt on fellow Aussie Stuart O’Grady was judge “irregular sprinting” by the race jury, who relegated the Australian champ and two-time Green Jersey winner to 186th place. Even McEwen admits that this puts him all but out of contention for the points competition, but Robbie was quick to add that he “doesn’t really care.”

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Quick-Step did what Fassa seemed unable to do today, leading Tom Boonen pretty much unobstructed to the line. Robbie McEwen applied a little pressure, but by his own admission, jumped to soon and had some gearing troubles. Thor Hushovd was second, but no one interviewed him so it’d difficult to tell what he thought of whole situation.

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Zabriskie certainly was a suprise, especially satisfying as he broke Lemond’s Tour TT speed record. That’s three wins in three consecutive Grand Tours for the 26-year old, and continues CSC unbeaten streak in Grand Tour TTs this season. So maybe this year will be a Tour of suprises.? But, despite unusually loud talk from der Kaiser in the run up to this year’s event, everyone saw Armstrong catching Ullrich from a mile away. So maybe this year won’t be so interesting after all. I guess the only thing that’s clear with three weeks to go is left in the event is uncertainty. (Damn, that was profound. Velonews desk job, here I come!)

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I have recieved many of your Tour picks. I’m at Fitchburg, doing the 2005 Longsjo Classic now, however, so I’ll be delayed in setting everything up until the 4th. Fear not. You had also better believe there are some race reports forthcoming from this exciting American stage race as well.

Only one bit of news to report: Jan Ullrich, in his continuing quest to make 2005 “the year I did everything exactly the same as Lance, including hopefully winning the Tour” has crashed, just days before the TdF. Ullrich chose a riskier crash than Armstrong’s low speed endo, electing instead to smash his face through the rear window of his team car (each rider suffered only minor injuries). This may have been to compensate for only breaking up with a girlfriend (rather than wife), and then dating a teammate’s sister (instead of a high-profile adult-contemporary singer).

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