Right…so I took on a third job last week. Questionable judgment on my part, I know, but it appears to be a short-term kinda thing. At any rate, some of my predictions in last week’s post have already begun to come true. Astana – not invited to the ’08 Tour. No Kloeden, no Levi, no Condator. Sylvain Chavanel just got that much closer to his first TdF win.
And don’t bet on another High Road-style change of heart. Not only does High Road have a different sponsor, but its “clean” new management also didn’t spend the past 8 years winning the Tour de France under an ever-thickening cloud of suspicion. That’s not to say that the cleaner-looking members of Astana aren’t giving it the old college try in hopes of a TdF ride, but folks, it’s just not happening.
I don’t know why you’d want to start up a new race in cycling’s current environment, especially at this time of year, but the people of Grosseto thought they’d give it a whirl anyway. Didn’t work out so well. Just down the coast, the more established Tour Med concluded with another two French successes to add to the tally – Cofidis’ Chavanel with the final stage, and CA’s Botcharov with the overall.
And yeah, fine. I’ll mention the Tour of Cali. But it’s a bitter thing to me, this California; so close, and yet so far away. Also, I don’t have cable (yet). But it’s worth mentioning, as after the Puerto reopening in Spain, the ToC organizers managed to both exclude a bunch of Puerto escapados, and STFU Michael Ball in one sweet swoop. I wish that windbag a perpetual case of laryngitis.
have the french won a stage of the tour of california? i think not.
Botcharov’s win at the Tour Med made my day. I’m not sure how I first became aware of him; I think I wikipedia’d him after Basso beat him at the Criterium International two years back. The guy is _really_ good, he lands top-10 finishes in races from Liege to the Dauphine to the Worlds, but he’s actually never won a pro race until now. So I say, woo.