San Sebastian Approaches

The good news is, come the weekend, you can stop pretending to care who wins the Tour of Denmark stage each day. Why? Because San Sebastian is coming up. You know, the one-day race with a lot of climbing and the funny hat? If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, it might be because last year’s winner was something of a fluke. Hopefully, that’ll prompt this year’s favorites to ride a bit more aggressively, in hopes of avoiding another 50-man sprint.

One team definitely not joining the finish group, no matter how large it is this year, is Astana, still on self-imposed suspension for all those dope offenses. Too bad, too, as Kashechkin was the first loser at last year’s San Seb. Despite – or perhaps because of – this self-imposed suspension, the race organizers’ Cybill has apparently spoken in the team’s favor, and Unipublic confirmed they would still extend the squad a Vuelta invite. However, who the team will be riding for, or even what kind of bike they’ll be on still remain very much up in the air.

Regardless of who else shows up, Tommy D will be back in action for the big Spanish races (The Vuelta and San Sebastian – have you forgotten about this weekend already?), following a protracted battle with Beaver Fever. Danielson’s twice been Top 10 in the Vuelta GC, and could be a favorite for the overall if Alejandro Valverde suffers a meltdown similar to last month’s. Of course, Discovery might also find themselves unceremoniously dumped from the ProTour if Alberto Contador doesn’t stop simply brushing aside allegations against him, while expressing effusive sympathy for the plight of certain non-persons. Just ask Danilo DiLuca – 2007 is not the year to mess with Big Brother.