Stage 21- The End

The Stage 20 race to the top of the bald mountain didn't turn out to be as exciting as the race organizers had planned. Their intention was to turn the race upside down and really shake up the standings but it didn't quite happen that way. Don't get me wrong, it was an exciting Stage with plenty of breakaways, attacks and the kind of drama that makes the tdf such a great race, but there just wasn't the shake up the organizers were looking for. The first three riders to finish were the top three in the General Classification; Contador, Andy and Lance and that was that.

The Final Stage of the Tour is more for show than anything else as far as the GC is concerned, but can still be an important Stage for the sprinters. Mark Cavendish who had already won 5 Stages was looking for his 6 Stage win of the Tour and the opportunity to take the Green Sprint Jersey away from Thor Hushovd. And Thor just needed to finish in the top 16 to maintain the Green.

As the riders approached the finish, Team Garmin Slipstream made a push for their guy Tyler Farrar to win the Stage, but then who showed up to spoil the party? You guessed it, Big George Hincapie and he was riding for revenge. Extremely pissed about Garmin Slipstream's having taken away his opportunity to wear Yellow, George started the lead out for his teammate Cavendish, and rode like a man possessed. His attack was so powerful, it pushed Garmin back into the peloton where Farrar was only able to claim a 3rd place finish. Mark Cavendish won the Stage by a wide margin thanks to Hincapie's big push and Thor finished safely in 6th place keeping the Green Jersey.

The final standings for the GC looked like this...

1 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA
2 - Andy Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 4' 11"
3 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 5' 25"
4 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 6' 01"
5 - Frank Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 6' 04"
6 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 6' 42"

Now that the Tour is over, how did Lance do?



Watching Lance speak, I got the impression that he was relieved for the podium finish but not really happy with his personal performance. It's obvious from the tdf, Marathons, Triathlons and women that Lance is a competitor. And competitors are rarely 100% satisfied with their performances. The good news is, that's what drives them, and Lance will use surely use this as fuel for his return to the Tour again next year.



In my opinion, Lance did a phenomenal job. From his age, to his return to the Tour after a 4 yr retirement, to the fact that he broke his collar bone just 12 weeks prior to the Tour. He has done a lot for the sport of bicycle racing and much more for cancer research. The guy is an indomitable force and just his presence made this year's tdf something special. I don't think we should expect anything less for next year so let the count down begin.





Flash Countdown

Stage 18 - Thursday - Time Trial

The Time Trial is over and once again there has been a big shuffle in the leader board. Contador put forth an amazing effort and won the stage over the fastest man alive, Fabian Cancellara. Lance, Andy, Kloden and Wiggins all rode great as well, but it is Lance who has advanced himself into 3rd place overall. With only one real stage left on Saturday, Lance is looking good for a podium finish in Paris.

Here's the standings...

1 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA
2 - Andy Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 4' 11"
3 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 5' 25"
4 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 5' 36"
5 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 5' 38"
6 - Frank Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 5' 59"

Breaking News

Lance Armstrong will race the 2010 Tour de France!

Stage 16 & 17 - Tues/Wed - The Alps

The 96th running of the Tour de France has been impressive on many fronts, but none as impressive as Lance Armstrong. Lance has used the Alps to put on a clinic for the rest of the riders, which is amazing considering his departure from the sport for four years. I can't think of a single athlete who left their sport at the top of their game and then returned to compete almost exactly where they left off, especially after a three year hiatus. It's simply amazing.

I know what you're thinking...Lance couldn't hang on Stage 15...lost more time on Stage 16...and was dropped on Stage 17...what's so great about that?

Lance has admitted that he isn't as young as he used to be and can't match the explosive sprints of the younger mountain climbers. But he hasn't given up, when the attacks come, Lance lowers his head and works at his own pace to slowly but surely drag himself back into the leaders group. Granted, he had a bad day on Stage 15, but he was back in true form for Stage 16. When the big attack came on the second climb of the day, the leader group was blown apart and Lance was dropped as well. It looked like the 7 time TDF winner had had enough, but not so. He kept on his own pace while leading the remains of the peloton up the mountain. He was just bidding his time waiting for the moment to attack the small group in order to pull himself back into the Yellow Jersey group. Lance waited for a steep section of the climb prior to launching his attack. By doing so, it would be much more difficult for the others to follow. The tactic worked and Lance was able to leave the others in his wake, and bridged the 30 second gap on his own. Unheard of! As he joined the Yellow Jersey group Andy Schleck looked over at him and you could just see the look of "Jeez, where the heck did you come from?" across his face. Priceless!

And then came Stage 17, brilliant racing by the ultimate domestique! Contador has a substantial time lead over the other Astana riders which makes him the natural team leader. In order for the team to win, they must protect him and that's exactly what Lance did. The biggest threat to Contador is Garmin Slipsteam's Bradley Wiggins. After Stage 16, he was sitting comfortably in 3rd place, but being an excellent Time Trialist, Bradley was the biggest threat to the GC. When the explosive attack came on the final climb, Lance amongst others was dropped. But here's where it got tactical. Lance had the power to pull himself back up, albeit at a slower rate, but with Wiggins on his tail, doing so would favor Wiggins. And believe me, once you drop the Wiggins, you never want to see him again. So Lance was forced to sit on Wiggins tail and let him do the work. Unfortunately, this created a pretty big time gap between Lance and the Yellow Jersey group, but there was nothing Lance could do to stop it without jeopardizing Contador's lead. So Lance continued to look for the right opportunity to attack Wiggins and then the moment came. Lance attacked with a vengeance. Wiggins didn't stand a chance. The attack was so strong that Lance was able to bridge a minute and 20 second gap up to his teammate Andreas Kloden prior to the end of the stage.

Lance may not finish in Yellow this year but Wow!, what an athlete. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Time Trial.

The leader board is much different after Stage 17:

1 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA
2 - Andy Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 2' 26"
3 - Frank Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 3' 25"
4 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 3' 55"
5 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 4' 44"
6 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 4' 53"
13 - Carlos Sastre - TEAM CERVELO - 11' 39" (last year's tdf winner)
22 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 25' 38"
32 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 37' 06" (GOODBYE)

Stage 16 - Tuesday - into the Alps

No racing yesterday as the riders enjoyed the final rest day of the tour. But today is a different story. We've finally made it to the Alps! Two massive climbs today, an HC followed by a category 1, and two fast and technical descents. No one descends like Lance, so if he's not called to help protect Contador and the lead, I'm looking for Lance to be aggressive today.

Tomorrow's stage should be just as exciting with four category 1 climbs and a cat 2 mixed in. The climbs won't be as high as Stage 16's but will definitely allow for plenty of attacks.

Following Thursday's Stage 17, will be the individual Time Trial over a relatively flat 40km course. Another discipline that favors Lance's powerful engine.

Friday's Stage 19 may turn out to be a race for the Sprinters, but Saturday is the MacDaddy climb of the Tour, Mont Ventoux. The riders legs will be dead after 100 miles of racing before the Mont Ventoux climb even starts. The finish will be a long 15 mile uphill battle to the top of Mont Ventoux (6273 feet). No rider has ever won this stage twice and Lance gifted the win to Pantani in 2000. Will it be Lance's turn this year? Will this be the climb that ices the Tour for Lance or will Contador still be on top?

The excitement will lead us right into the Champs-Elysees for the final stage of the Tour de France on Sunday. Let the drama begin!

Stage 15 - Is Lance done?

Has Lance conceded the Tour de France to Contador? From his comments after the steep climb to the finish on Stage 15, that may be the case. Once again, on the way to the top, Alberto Contador sprouted wings and left the others in his wake. Not even the young Andy Schleck, a mountain specialist, could catch Contador.

At 37, Lance may not have the legs he used to have. He couldn't answer Contador's attack and then couldn't answer the attacks that occurred after Contador flew the coup. However, during the end of race interview, Lance didn't seem to upset by the realization that Contador would be the Team leader. Lance said he would be happy to assist Contador in any way that he could and was also happy that Astana was sitting in first place. I didn't see any animosity or bitterness from Lance in the least.

Even with Levi's departure, Astana still sits in an excellent position overall. And with a distinct Team leader, they may be unstoppable. Should anything happen to Contador...a stick in the spokes, suffocates in his sleep, slips off a mountain, etc, Armstrong will be right there and ready to take over.

On a serious note, you never know when the strange can happen. During Stage 14, members of Team Garmin reported being hit by BB gun fire. And being a fan isn't any safer. A woman watching the Tour was run over by a police motorcycle and killed. Someone should have told her that it's safer to watch the Tour from the side of the road.

Here's the new leader board:

1 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA
2 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 1' 37"
3 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 1' 46"
4 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 2' 17"
5 - Andy Schleck - TEAM SAXO BANK - 2' 26"
6 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo - TEAM AG2R - 2' 30"
13 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 4' 05"
14 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 4' 27"

Stage 14 - Saturday - I'm Firey Hot with Anger

Stage 14 was billed as a race for the sprinters but turned out to be so much more. An early breakaway developed which contained one man of interest, big George Hincapie. George was 5 minutes and 25 seconds out of first place before the start of the stage but not really considered a GC threat so was allowed to escape with the breakaway.

The breakaway succeeded and big George ended up gaining 5 minutes and 20 seconds on the rest of the leader board. This translates to George missing the Yellow Jersey by 5 seconds! Five measly seconds separates George from what could have been only his second ever Yellow Jersey...an achievement of a lifetime...something you gear your whole career towards...the list goes on, this was important.

If it was just 5 seconds, I think George would have been OK with that, but there's more. George's time advantage was run down by the other American Team, Garmin Slipstream, who had nothing to gain and nothing to lose by doing so. With 10km to the finish, Garmin moved to the front of the peloton and closed down a 6+ minute advantage held by the breakaway. Garmin essentially said that they didn't want George Hincapie in Yellow.

George was crushed. You could tell by the end of race interview, that this upset was a devastating blow to him. And 12 hours later, today's pre-race interview showed no real difference.

An American Team Garmin has cheated another American out of the opportunity to wear Yellow.

In my opinion, this was a poor decision by Team Garmin. At no cost to them, they could have assisted one of the Tour's most endearing riders for a day in Yellow. This is George Hincapie's 14th Tour de France. He assisted Lance Armstrong in every single one of his Tour victory's and assisted Contador in his Tour victory after Lance's retirement. George's dedication to the sport is unparalleled, and if you ever have the opportunity to give someone like this a "Thank you" for the years of service dedicated to the good name of the Tour, you should do so. Especially if it's no skin off your back.

Team Garmin chose poorly or more properly Team Garmin's Race Director Matt White chose poorly, and I plan on letting their sponsors (Garmin, Felt, Slipstream) hear about it. Matt White needs to go and if Team Garmin's sponsors aren't happy then Team Manager Jonathan Vaughters won't be happy.


More about George Hincapie if you are so inclined.

So the leader board changes just a bit and here we are...

1 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo - TEAM AG2R
2 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 5"
3 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA - 06"
4 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 08"
6 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 46"
7 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 54"
18 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 3' 07"

Leipheimer Out

Breaking news. Levi Leipheimer is out of the Tour due to a broken wrist. The break occurred during yesterday's stage within 2 km of the finish. Levi didn't realize it was broken until after the stage. It hurt throughout the night and he abandoned the Tour this morning.

Will Levi's departure leave Lance without an ally when it comes to the internal power struggle between him and Contador? Time will tell.

Stage 12 - Thursday

Oh, excuse me Mr. UCI (International Cycling Union), O Wise one who banned race radios in Stage 10. Was there an accident in Stage 11 which necessitated that the race be neutralized for a couple of minutes until everyone could regroup? Oh my goodness, however will you be able to relay that information to all the teams and all the riders??? Race radios maybe?

Ha! One of the inflatable race banners which mark things of significance throughout the tour deflated and caused 20 riders to crash. Included in the melee were big names like Cadel Evans and Christian Vande Velde. The Tour organization immediately used race radios to neutralize the race, informing all of the riders that the accident had occurred and that racing would be suspended until the men in the wreckage could catch back up with the peloton.

Imagine that, race radios useful for something other than intra-team communication. I don't know whether it was the realization that race radios do make the Tour safer or whether the Stage 10 protest proved the point that the riders don't want to part with them, but the UCI agreed to allow radios back in the Tour for Stage 13 which had been the scheduled 2nd non-radio stage. Yea, race radios!

Don't know if any of you have been watching every minute of the Tour but I just heard Paul Sherwin completely plagiarize my road side bingo comment. If you recorded the morning coverage of today's stage, listen carefully about 43 minutes into the coverage and listen to Paul go. I think he's reading my blog.

Hey Paul, if you're reading, tell Phil Liggett that I died laughing when he pronounced the town of Waco, TX as "Wacko". Us Aggies do the same thing. Silly Baylor kids.

Well up until now I've talked primarily about the Yellow Jersey (GC) contenders and haven't spent much time covering another important aspect of the Tour, the Sprinters.

The Sprinters help make the flat stages of the Tour super exciting. It's a whole race within a race. Sprint Points dot the Tour throughout each stage and are marked by inflatable "Sprint Banners" (yea, exactly). Each sprint marker, yields "sprint points" with the finish of each stage yielding the most points. Whoever has the most "sprint points" throughout the Tour wears the Green Jersey.

As far as Sprinters are concerned, I'm a big fan of Robbie McEwen, but he's out this year due to a broken leg and he's left the door wide open for British sprint phenomenon Mark Cavendish. This is Cavendish's third Tour and he's really learned a lot since last year. He's on fire and has won 4 stages so far this Tour. If he wins one more, he'll break the Brit record for most stage wins in one Tour.

And thanks to Tyler Farrar, we finally have an American who can sprint! He hasn't been able to beat Cavendish yet, but this Tour rookie gets closer each time.

Unfortunately, today didn't turn out to be a sprint finish due to the breakaway succeeding in the stage win. So we'll have to wait another race to see if Cavendish can win his 5th stage. Overall GC standings remain the same so instead of listing those, here's your Green Jersey standings...

1- Mark Cavendish - 200 points

2- Thor Hushovd - 190 points

3 - Jose Rojas - 116 points

4- Tyler Ferrar - 110 points

Tuesday - Stage 10- without race radios

With the first Tour rest day out of the way, everyone was excited about getting back to racing. Well, almost everyone...The riders decided that they would take another day off so that's pretty much what they did.

Stage 10 turned out to be more of a bicycle parade versus race as the riders protested the Tour de France organization's decision to ban race radios for this stage of the Tour. Prior to the beginning of the Tour, the Tour de France organization thought it would be fun to try racing without race radios like they used to do in days of yore. I guess they thought that the radios give the riders too much advantage, so banning them for Stage 10 and 13 would bring some excitement back to the race.

Many of the teams felt that racing without the use of radios would be much too dangerous so they signed petitions, threatened to boycott, and voiced their concerns to the media all in hopes of getting the Tour organizers to change their minds.

The Tour organization wouldn't budge so the racers protested by taking a leisurely stroll through the French country side. People lining the streets expecting to see the peloton rush by were greeted with a much longer look as the peloton crept by in slow motion.

At one point, I think I saw a couple of the teams playing this:



I wonder if this will be enough to convince the Tour organization to allow the radios back in for Stage 13?

Sunday - Stage 9

Stage 9, the final day in the Pyrenees, turned out to be an uneventful stage. It contained a long and difficult HC climb but ended with a 70 km downhill ride to the finish. Such a long ride to the finish is a pretty big deterrent to attacks because it's so easy for the peloton to make up the time lost on the downhill run. The only big attack occurred at the very beginning of the race when a large group of riders made the break. Lance didn't like the numbers of riders allowed to leave and AG2R, the team defending the GC, didn't seem to be doing anything about it. So Lance took matters into his own hands and went after the breakaway single handedly. With Lance's attack, the peloton was instantly put in motion to stay on his tail, and they quickly brought the breakaway back into the pack.

This is where Lance shows his true leadership. Contador would have never thought about the size of the breakaway and how that might cause a bigger time gap than could be accomplished by a smaller group of riders. The more racers in a group, the more people there are to share the work load and the faster the breakaway can go. Lance's Tour experience has taught him that this can be a real danger and he wasn't going to allow it to happen. I think Contador still has a lot to learn about the Tour if he wants to become one of the all time repeat winners, and Lance is the one he should be learning it from. Respect the Tour, Contador!

No GC changes on the stage and tomorrow is the first Tour rest day.


1 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo - TEAM AG2R
2 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA - 06" seconds behind
3 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 08"
4 - Levi Leipheimer - TEAM ASTANA - 39"
5 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 46"
6 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 54"
18 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 3' 07"
36 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 5' 25"
39 - Fabian Cancellara - TEAM SAXO BANK - 5' 37"

Saturday - Stage 8

Another day in the Pyrenees, but no successful attacks or leader board changes to speak of. There was one moment of excitement as Cadel Evans launched an attack along with Cancellara and several others. Since Cadel is a GC threat, Astana quickly come to the front of the peloton and set a healthy pace to run them down. At some point during the breakaway, Cancellara started yelling and gesturing at Cadel because his presence was sabotaging the breakaway. Cancellara knew that if Cadel would drop off the back and let the peloton swallow him up, the remainder of the breakaway would be "allowed" to continue. Since Cadel wouldn't leave, Cancellara and a couple of the others attacked the small group and were able to get away from Cadel. Shortly after that, the peloton caught Cadel and then slowed to their normal easy going pace. Cancellara's group was eventually caught as well but the lead breakaway group was able to hold the peloton off and Luis "dirty" Sanchez from the Spanish TEAM CAISSE D'EPARGNE won the stage.

On a side note, there's been quite a bit of media hype about Contador's attack in Stage 7 but still no clear team leader. When asked about it, Lance commented with a "no comment". Johan Bruyneel said that the event was discussed at this mornings' team meeting but said nothing more. We're still in the dark.

Friday - Stage 7

Stage 7 was the first day into the Pyrenees mountains with two massive climbs, a category 1 and an HC (above category). The mountain climbs are categorized from 1 to 4, with 4 being the easiest and 1 the hardest, and then there is the "Hors Categorie" (HC). I always think Hors d'oeuvres when I see HC, serve that junk up!

The finish line of Stage 7 was at the top of the HC ascent and this is where the action took place. The peloton had been splintered by the uphill pace and all the big names were present. All but Cancellara, the yellow jersey, who was dropped and ended up losing quite a bit of time on the stage overall. There was a small breakaway up head of the big guys but it didn't appear as if they were trying too hard to reel them back. And then Cadel Evans attacked! Cadel is the Australian riding for team Silence-Lotto who finished 2nd place in both the 2007 and 2008 Tour. He badly wants a Tour win, but didn't count on Lance coming back to bike racing. Cadel is already close to 3 minutes behind Lance which is a monumental time gap, so Cadel will have to do something special to get back into contention. This attack was his first attempt at doing so, but was quickly stymied by Lance and Team Astana. Cadel tried again, but to no avail. Lance, Contador and Leipheimer were just too strong and didn't look even close to breaking. And then the surprise of the day, Contador attacked and no one answered. He just flew away. The interesting part was that neither Lance nor Leipheimer made even the slightest attempt to hop on their teammates back wheel.

Why is this interesting?

If you haven't been following the Tour or Team Astana over the past couple of weeks, Team Astana has refused to announce who their team leader is. The part that's unknown is whether this is some kind of strategy or trickery by team director Johan Bruyneel or if there is some real tension within the team of who the leader should be. The leader of each team is the one guy that has the opportunity to win the Tour. No man can win the Tour on his own, it just requires too much work. That's the reason for teams. The teams consist of riders who specialize in the mountains, riders who specialize in time trials and riders who are good at everything. But the guy who will win the Tour has to be great at everything and has to have help from the rest of his team. They help him by protecting him from other riders, by protecting him from the wind, by getting him water bottles from the team car, to holding him steady as he relieves his bladder at 20 mph. Whatever the task, the team is there to help the leader win the Tour.

The problem with Team Astana is that they have too many great riders; Lance Armstrong - 7 time Tour champion, Alberto Contador - 2007 Tour champion, Levi Leipheimer - 3rd place 2007 Tour, Andreas Kloden - 2nd place 2004 and 2006 Tour. The other problem is that Contador was the assumed team leader until Lance announced his return to cycling. Contador was also the presumed leader of Astana for the 2008 Tour in which team Astana was suspended due to doping issues. Because of this, Contador wasn't allowed to enter the 2008 Tour. Contador's career involves the 2007 Tour victory, being denied the opportunity to race the 2008 tour, and the probability that he will be riding for Lance here in the 2009 Tour. Yea, that could cause some animosity.

Astana team director, Johan Bruyneel, is known for his racing prowess and leadership. On more than one occasion he has tricked the other teams with one ruse or another. Is Astana's unannounced leadership a strategy to keep the other teams off guard or do they have an internal power struggle? The ultimate goal is for the team to win the Tour. If the other teams don't know who they are riding against does this give some advantage to Astana? Does Astana really need that advantage? Did Lance come back to the Tour to lose? There are a lot of ways to look at it but it comes down to this, Contador attacked and Lance didn't answer even though he looked completely fit to do so. My personal feeling is that there's some trickery going on in team Astana but only they know for sure.

The net result was that Contador finished 21" seconds ahead of Lance which launched him into second place overall. It would have been first place had it not been for one of the riders in the breakaway who gained enough time to take over first place and the yellow.

The new leader board reads like this...

1 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo - TEAM AG2R
2 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA - 06" seconds behind
3 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - 08"
4 - Levi Leipheimer - TEAM ASTANA - 39"
5 - Bradley Wiggins - TEAM GARMIN - 46"
6 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 54"
18 - Cadel Evans - TEAM SILENCE-LOTTO - 3' 07"
36 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 5' 25"
39 - Fabian Cancellara - TEAM SAXO BANK - 5' 37"

Attack the Peloton

Stage 6 was another relatively flat stage with a couple of climbs mixed in and a steep run up to the finish. Once again a small breakaway was allowed to escape from the peloton and led most of the race. I say "allowed", because that's pretty much how it works. A couple of riders will attack the peloton and as long as no one who is in contention for an overall Tour victory aka the General Classification - GC is in the breakaway, the peloton will usually let them get away.

This behavior accomplishes several things...
It allows riders who have no hope of an overall Tour victory, the opportunity to go for a stage win. Helping their careers and promoting their sponsors.

It adds a little more excitement for people watching the Tour.

But most importantly, it helps temper the pace of the peloton. Even small attacks can make the peloton nervous. They have to pay attention to who is attacking, they have to know what the attackers overall status is (are they a threat?), and then they have to decide what to do about it. Once a rider or group of riders is allowed to successfully attack, there usually aren't too many more attacks after that. i.e. By allowing a small group to get a couple of minutes ahead, it takes some incentive away from other riders who may have considered attacking, thereby allowing the peloton to drop their guard and relax to an extent. Ex. Why would I attack if I knew there was another group of riders that I'd have to get passed a couple of minutes up the road? It just seems like too much work. It's a great psychological deterrent and it usually works.

The peloton will then monitor the advantage of the breakaway and then in uncanny fashion usually overtake the breakaway within sight of the finish line. But every once in a while, something happens and the peloton gets it wrong, and on those days the win goes to the rider who took the risk.

The peloton, while it may seem kind of boring, is an amazing part of bike racing. Understanding what goes on within the peloton actually makes watching bike racing much more entertaining. I recall a stage a couple of Tours ago where a rider who was not a threat to the GC made an early breakaway. Unfortunately for him, he had pissed Lance off and Lance didn't want to give him the opportunity to win a stage, so Lance attacked with him. With Lance by his side, the attack was doomed, because the peloton wouldn't even consider letting Lance (a GC threat) get away. Too funny!

Back to Stage 6, the breakaway wasn't able to maintain the advantage and the peloton caught and passed them within one kilometer of the finish. At least they got to show off their skills and sponsors for a little while.

Once again, there were no changes in the overall GC standings.

1 - Fabian Cancellara - TEAM SAXO BANK (not really a threat once we get into the mountains)
2 - Lance Armstrong - TEAM ASTANA - .22" seconds behind
3 - Alberto Contador - TEAM ASTANA - 19" seconds
4 - Andreas Kloden - TEAM ASTANA - 23"
5 - Levi Leipheimer - TEAM ASTANA - 31"
12 - Big George Hincapie - TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC - 1' 36"

Wed - Stage 5

Wednesday's stage 5 had a lot of similarities to Monday's stage 3; strong winds, a good breakaway, and the opportunity to escape from the peloton during a wind shift. The 120 mile stage started with an early breakaway of 6 riders, Thomas Voeckler included. Voeckler, pronounced Vo-claire and you say it with a heavy French accent because this clown is French, won quite a few stages and wore the Yellow Jersey back in 2004. As a matter of fact the breakaway which put him in yellow occurred in Stage 5 of that Tour. Could he do it again in Stage 5 this year?

Things got pretty exciting with about 40 miles to go, when the peloton was riding with a stiff tail wind and a looming right hand turn. The right hand 90 degree turn would switch the strong tail wind to a difficult cross wind and the whole peloton knows what can happen on a wind shift after Stage 3. Knowing this, everyone was jockeying for lead position of the peloton. That combined with the strong tail wind and these guys were absolutely flying down the road. Once again Lance and company were near the front into the turn and sure enough the peloton was split into 3 sections. However, with some 40 miles to the finish, the amount of effort required to maintain the split just wasn't worth it, so the pace returned to normal and the three sections merged back into one peloton. These guys will be racing for the next 18 days so every ounce of output is carefully scrutinized against return. Is it worth it to output maximum effort for an hour and 20 minutes to gain 20 seconds on the guys behind you? Probably not, save it for the mountains and gain minutes instead of seconds.

Now back to Voeckler and the breakaway. The 6 riders were approaching the finish and the race computers were predicting that the breakaway would succeed. At the same time, the peloton led by Mark Cavendish's team Columbia HTC were gaining quickly. Cavendish was looking for another sprint stage win and didn't want any breakaways to ruin it for him. Panic ensued amongst the 6 and they felt that Voeckler wasn't pulling his load (not taking his turn on the front breaking the wind). They bickered a while and Voeckler simply appeared exhausted and not able to lead. One guy finally had enough of the bickering and attacked (sprinted away from the other 6). Voeckler instantly launched a counter attack and quickly caught the man. The 6 regrouped, but with Voeckler's ruse discovered, he decided it was time to launch his own attack. He was off and no one was gonna catch him. Due to his refusal to lead during the past couple of kilometers, his legs were a bit stronger than the others and that's what allowed him to breakaway. His strategy worked and it looked like he would win the stage but hot on his tail was the peloton closing fast. Once again, Columbia led a picture perfect lead out for Cavendish and he was gunning for Voeckler. Unfortunately for Cavendish, the peloton mis-timed the finish and Voeckler won the stage by 5 seconds. Cavendish placed 2nd missing the opportunity to add another stage win to his resume.
Way to go Voeckler, you own stage 5 of the Tour de France!

Tues - Stage 4 - The Time Trial

Tuesday was the team time trial (Stage 4). No surprises here, team Astana led by Lance won the day hands down.

They just have too much power and skill to contend with.
Enough so that Lance gained 40 seconds on the Yellow Jersey leader and now only trails 1st place by 20 one hundredths of a second.
This is the closest time gap in Tour history.

Only because stop watches are new to the French.

They used to measure time by bottles of wine consumed.

And from the looks of some of the French riders during the time trial, they consumed quite a bit. One French man got dropped by his team, and then followed this guy around town for the next day and a half.



Good work fellas!

Wind

Yesterday's Stage 3 - Marseille to La Grande-Motte, wasn't billed to be anything special. A relatively flat 120 mile ride in which riders were expected to "take the day off" relatively speaking. But they forgot about the X-Factor, the one thing that no one can see, the Wind.

To give us some perspective on the importance of wind we've brought in the wind racing expert, Dennis Conner...what?...we couldn't get Dennis?...[papers shuffling]...Oh, we have Inigo Montoya, from Princess Bride.



Texasdan - Inigo, what did you think about Lance's breakaway?



Inigo - "Wonder if he is using the same wind we are using?"



Texasdan - Appreciate the technical explanation Inigo. Guess we're on our own.



I'm sure that quote ran through the minds of several riders as a gust of wind cut the peloton in half and 27 riders at the head of the peloton were allowed to pull away as if the rest of the riders were riding through molasses. It was an amazing sight, but what made it all the more spectacular was the fact that Lance was in the breakaway leaving many of the tour leaders reeling in the wind. My adrenalin was pumping as I wondered if Lance and the others would be able to maintain the breakaway to the finish of the stage. It was Tour racing at its finest!



The breakaway group was able to maintain the gap and Lance finished the day with a net gain of 41 seconds over many of the top riders which launched him into 3rd place overall! So what happened? How did the wind affect the pack of tightly bunched riders differently? In typical bike racing style, the racers ride in a moderately paced group called the Peloton. They do this for many reasons but one is to conserve energy by spreading the wind resistance out over the group versus taking the wind on their own. By drafting, the riders utilize about 30% less energy so it makes a lot of sense to stick together. The safest place to be in the peloton is at or near the front, but it's also the toughest because that's where the pace is set. Today's stage was windy which adds another factor especially when the wind shifts from a strong headwind to a crosswind. The breakaway occurred as the peloton was fighting a strong head wind up to a 90 degree right hand turn. They went from a head wind where the peloton shares the wind load like ducks flying in a V to a crosswind where each is almost on his own. The 90 degree turn also caused the riders to slow down and thin out in order to make the corner. This gave a distinct advantage to the riders who rounded the turn first and were able to sprint out of the turn and that's where Lance was able to position himself. Team Columbia planned the breakaway and led the peloton into the turn. The rest of the riders literally fought for position behind Columbia coming into the turn and the lucky few who were there were able to match Columbia's sprint and the breakaway was formed. Once formed, the breakaway succeeded because the whole of Team Columbia were all present and able to work together keeping the pace extremely high. Their goal was to deliver their top sprinter, Mark Cavendish, to the finish line in first place and that's exactly what they did, along with Lance who was just there for the ride.



So Lance can thank the wind today for an amazing 41 second time advantage on what in most situations would have been an ordinary lack luster stage.



Get ready for more excitement as today's Stage 4 team time trial will be ridden through these same type of winds. Will Lance's power house team Astana allow him to finish the day in Yellow?

The Tour Begins

Wow, a year has come and gone. Wait, four years have come and gone. Can you believe it's been four years since Lance Armstrong rode in a Tour de France??? No? Me either.

Tour de France winners since Lance:

2006 - Oscar Pereiro - don't remember him? That's because this was the year that Floyd Landis won the Tour. I think his excuse was, "a beer and a shot of whiskey" and since when was that a crime?

2007 - Alberto Contador - coached by Lance and riding for Lance's Discovery Team at the time. Also riding for Lance again this year on team Astana.

2008 - Carlos Sastre - the Spaniard; but win marred by the fact that all the big names were disqualified.

2009 - ???

The 2009 Tour de France started on July 4th, which puts us 3 days into the biggest bicycle race of the year. And yes, Lance Armstrong has come back to win his record setting 8th Tour de France. If you've been watching the HD coverage on Versus (Channel 603 on DirecTV) then you've heard the Versus theme music which for me is akin to the theme music to Monday Night Football. I hear that music and I'm entranced. I've been meaning to start this blog since day 1, but I hear the music and all I can do is just watch. Now that I've had a chance to settle in a bit, just like the riders in the Tour, I can finally take a breath and put a pen to paper.

So here we are on the precipice of Michael Jordan's big come back. I mean Brett Favre's big come back. Oh who are we kidding, can a 38 year old retired bike racer come back and win the biggest bike race in the world? Do you know Lance Armstrong?

No one comes back to lose, but there's something different about Lance. I believe him. On top of that, this is the first time in four years that people have asked if I'll do Tour updates again. That must mean you probably come from one of two sides. You want to see Lance win it again and keep the Yellow Jersey away from the French or you want to see the arrogant Texan fall flat on his face. Whatever your wish, people are again interested in a bike race through France and that's pretty intriguing. Let the games begin!