News Archive

Words fail me. Today’s stage was such an overwhelming display of novicetry that my lexicon is seriously at a loss to express it. Let’s run in chronological order. 1) Discovery getting dropped faster than sexual harassment charges on The O’Reilly Factor. I guess that’s not really novicetry, just futher evidence that Disco’s Tour squad just…

Honestly, if Chris Horner and Sylvain Chavanel had spent half as much time pedaling as they did looking over their shoulders, one of them would have had a stage win today. Alas, they were both greedy, and Robbie McEwen triumphed via the Mother of All Leadouts from Fred Rodriguez. Or at least that’s how Paul…

David Moncoutie slips out of the breakaway, giving France is first stage win of the 2005 tour, giving France a French victory from a French team on Bastille Day, giving France another cold mug of denial to help kill the pain of having not won their own tour in 20 years. In case you were…

Alex Vino took his second TdF win on his second difficult stage with a downhill finish. Keep that in mind for future picks. It was depressing to see Botero trying to match gears with Vinokourov in the finale, when everyone and their mom knew that if Vino didn’t cramp too badly (he was shaking his…

To the uneducated eye, today might have looked like the Disco boys tapping out the old Postal Two-Step (step 1: go really fast, drop everyone else; step 2: Lance attacks.) But careful analysts will note that Lance was forced to ride on his own in a small group for over 10k on the final climb…

The final list of everyone’s tour game picks is listed here. Many riders some of you were counting on have already quit the race. I should also mention that a certain Jens Voigt wore the maillot jaune in 2001, so everyone who said that no one other than Armstrong and Ullirch could possibly score in…

It’s been a big tour for Rabobank. Back to back stage wins, a couple of guys in the Dots, and one who looks like he might stay there; not too shabby, considering the squad has had nothing to show for itself in the grand boucle since Michael Boogerd’s awe-inspiring victory at Les Deux Alps in…

First off, this is awesome. Remember earlier this week, when Lance was going to win 7 easily, and Boonen was going to walk away with the Green? Man, what a difference a week makes. Lance all alone on the final hill; there were 34 dudes in the group, and only one rode for DC. Ouch….

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…

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…