Well, I did technically predict that today’s stage would be won from a break, but the way things unfolded on Stage 5 was definitely not what I had in mind. I was thinking something along the lines of break gets clear, gets 10 minutes, pack calls it a day and rests the legs, and one…
News Archive
I really shouldn’t need to spell this one out for you
More Proof the ProTour is Bunk
Yeah, BBox Bouygues Telecom—now there’s a top tier bunch. Light years beyond LPR, that’s for sure. (via @alexfeel)
One Other Possibility…
I hadn’t initially considered this article to be of much merit. After all, the Texan has been quoted as saying “I’m here to win”. And even then, “ambiguity” isn’t really an asset if two of your riders split the team’s limited support resources attacking each other in the final week. But then I caught this…
The First Sprint Stage
Where’s Tom Boonen? He certainly didn’t get much TV time yesterday. He’ll be much easier to pick out in his new Belgian champions kit, should he be in the mix for the sprint today. But I doubt he’ll take the win. TDF 2009 – IN SEARCH OF TOM BOONEN from CYCLEFILM on Vimeo. It’s not…
Cancellara Makes It Look Easy; Astana Makes It Look Hard
“I took it easy on the climb because I didn’t want to have problems with lactic acid building up in my legs” – Fabian Cancellara Excuse me? Fabian Cancellara buries the entire field by 18 seconds, in a TT that went over a Category 4 climb and he took it easy? Man, forget holding the…
Not What I Expected to See…
Does anyone else find this extremely disconcerting? Maybe I just sit too close to the screen… (click for full-size terror)
WADA's 8-Year-Snitch
If you had been unceremoniously dumped from your team for “abnormal blood values”, and knew that any samples you had given any dope tester over the past 8 years could be rescrutinized ad infinitum, why on Earth would you ever stop doping? Thomas Dekker’s lousy performances this season might just indicate that the cessation of…
The Four Impossibilities of Radio-Free Racing
It’s not like I haven’t covered this before, but I feel I ought to touch again on the radio issue. With two stages of this year’s Tour de France to be run radio-free, there’s a significant groundswell of support for the out-and-out prohibition of radios in professional cycling. I’ve characterized this group—largely for comic effect—as…
A Different Kind of Retrospective
Velonews has started posting video retrospectives in recognition of the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s first Tour win. They’ve still got some work to do on page layout, and the voiceover isn’t quite synced, nor up to How The Race Was Won standards, but it’s good to see they’ve taken my advice and begun embedding…
Astana's Tour Selection is a Ticking Bomb
I like Johan Bruyneel. I think he’s a savvy, solid DS, knows how to play out a good hand as well as anyone, and can handle the occasional a curveball. He even has a book, and apparently, it’s a decent read. But I think, some years down the road, if anyone ever writes book about…