Cycling: Freire Too Strong At Milan-Sanremo

The 101st running of monument classic Milan-Sanremo looked set to provide an exciting race. With Cavendish way below his best form, the title was wide open. Gilbert, Pozzato and Boassen Hagen were genuine chances to blow the race to pieces with attacks on the Poggio, while a bunch sprint could go to any of Boonen, Bennati, Petacchi or Freire. Many others were set to try their luck with a rare breakaway win or a devastating attack on the short sharp climbs that are key to the Milan-Sanremo.

A three man breakaway tried their luck with unknown Italian riders Piemontesi (Androni Giacatolli), Ratti (Carmiooro NGC) and Caccia (ISD-Neri) breaking away 3km from the start. In a race of almost 300km, this was a suicidal move with zero chance of success. They gained a maximum of 22 minutes on the peloton before they were slowly reeled in. However, for these riders a little coverage for their sponsors was their only goal for the day.

A crash on the descent of the Turchino lead to a 30 man group splitting from the rest of the peloton but by the 60km to go mark these groups were back together and had caught the breakaway. Caccia, clearly not satisfied with setting the pace for the breakaway over 230km set the pace for the lead of these two groups for another 5 kms after being caught. A roleur to watch?

There were several attacks on the flat before the Cipressa, with Bouet and Grabovskyy the strongest, getting each getting gaps of up to a minute. But no solo attack would work this early, with Liquigas feeling good about their chances and forcing the pace. As they started the ascent of the Cipressa, Katusha started to fancy their chances and set about helping Liquigas with their pacemaking.

Once they neared the top, and Petacchi's had shown he had good climbing legs on the day, Lampre set about dropping the other sprinters, with Cavendish one of the first to go. On the descent, the race situation started to become clear. There was a group of around 30 clear at the front from which the winner would come.

Yoann Offredo (FdJ) launched an audacious attack on the descent, but could only get 20 seconds on the group of the favourites. Once the peloton hit the Poggio, Tirreno-Adriatico winner Stefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone) hit the front and pushed with all his might, making sure no one could launch a race changing attack and helping his teammate Luca Paolini. But Garzelli couldn't maintain the rage all the way up, allowing a brief window of opportunity for attackers near the top of the Poggio.

Surprisingly, the first significant attack came from Columbia's Rogers, who had obviously been given the freedom to ride his own race with Cav out of the picture. Gilbert and Nibali both tried attacks, but neither could pull clear far enough before the descent. Pozzato was ever present, following every attack hoping one would go clear, but today was not to be for the puncheurs. Nibali and Pozzato both tried desperate, Cancellara style attacks in the final two kilometres, but the chasing pack was too strong.

Liquigas rider Oss lead the bunch leadout from 1.5km to 500m from the line, where he eventually had no more to give. Bennati came off his wheel and tried to kick like his life depended on it, but Freire came from behind him to win by more than a bike length.

Boonen tried hard to out-do Freire, but one suggests that he is more desperate for the cobbled classics and he had to settle for second place. Petacchi managed to grab the final spot on the podium and special mention must go to Sacha Modolo (Colnago) who came from a long way back in the sprint to get 4th. Modolo has definately marked himself as one to watch for the future, given he is only 22 and in his first year as a pro.

Congratulations must go first and foremost though to Oscar Freire who wins his 3rd Milan-Sanremo as well as 3 World Championships, marking himself as one of the great riders of this generation. Notably, it has been 11 years since his first World Championship win in 1999 showing exceptional longevity. And it seems he is well liked in the peloton (especially by Andy Schleck after a bet with Baden Cooke).

Fun Facts: The tunnel at the top of the climb near Genova was not lit, meaning riders had to ride in the pitch black. Unsurprisingly there was a crash.

Youtube Highlights (With Italian Commentary):

Part 1:

Part 2:

Cycling: Peter Sagan Wins Again in Paris-Nice, Contador Retains Yellow

Contador blew the field to pieces in stage 4, with Sagan finishing well down in 20th, 58 seconds behind Contador. Only Valverde, Sammy Sanchez and Rodriguez were near the same level as Contador, but Rodriguez pushed himself too hard and dropped 18 seconds, with the other two only dropping ten seconds.

But come stage 5 the stage was set for another Peter Sagan special, with a short sharp climb just before the finish. When Le Mevel attacked, Sagan just followed his wheel presuming that from this attack a collection of contenders would form. To his surprise, when he looked around for the others they were nowhere to be seen.

So Sagan kicked and blasted clear of the lead group. Then came a response from the main contenders who swept up Le Mevel on the descent. Sagan was clearly suffering trying to hold an advantage. He was alternating his time between gritting his teeth looking down suffering and looking backwards to see when he would be swept up. But he somehow managed to hold on before collapsing once he crossed the line.

This is a man who desperately wants to win and won't let his body tell him not to. In the words of Jens Voigt, "I say, Shut up, legs! Do what I tell you to do."

Contador still holds the overall lead by 20 seconds over Alejandro Valverde, with Sagan 8th, 42 seconds behind.

Cycling: Peter Sagan Wins Stage 3 of Paris-Nice

The day after I started the Peter Sagan bandwagon following his 2nd place in yesterday's disrupted sprint, Sagan has gone one better pulling off the biggest win of his career. Sagan followed an attack up a 1km hill 5kms from the finish by Nicholas Roche and was being joined by Rodriguez, Contador, Martin and Voight. He then managed to hold off Rodriguez (2nd) and Roche (3rd) in the sprint and take 2nd overall (6 seconds behind Voight). So much for being a real star in a year or so, Peter Sagan is there already.

Cycling: The Peter Sagan Bandwagon Starts Here

In the admittedly limited cycle racing so far this year, there has been one rider who has stood out. Not Theo Bos although anyone who beats Cavendish in a bunch sprint gets my respect. Not Jose Rujano despite his win in the Tour de Langkawi on the road to energizing the Giro later in the year. Not even Bobbie Traksel who survived brutal conditions in which only 26 of the 198 starters of Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne finished. This man even pipped Arthur Vichot.

This man is the Slovakian 20 year old riding with Liquigas Peter Sagan. A former junior mountain bike world champion who has also won the Slovak junior cyclocross championships, Sagan started his road career with Slovak team Dukla Trencin Merida. In 2010 Sagan has been lighting it up for Liquigas, starting by joining Evans, Valverde and Luis Leon Sanchez in the defining move up Willunga hill in the Tour Down Under. That is pretty elite company, but in a race that early in the season he could have just been in better condition than his contemporaries. Still, it established that he can climb hills and gave him a top 5 finish in the Queen stage to go with his 4th place on the punishing stage into Stirling. He managed this despite being involved in a stage 2 crash which left him with 18 stitches and out of contention for the overall.

Sagan has since been showing off his abilities at Paris-Nice, starting with a 5th place in the prologue time trial. This placed him ahead of time-trialling luminaries such as David Millar, Luis Leon Sanchez and Roman Kreuziger. He then found himself near the front in a disrupted sprint in stage 2 and showed he has quite a kick when necessary, being just touched out on the line by William Bonnet. His Paris-Nice form has shown that the TDU was not a fluke and that he can time-trial as well.

He can do everything already (except genuine mountains, but the later stages of Paris-Nice should clear that up) and he only turned 20 this year. Thats 3 years younger than "so hot right now" prodigy Edvald Boasson Hagen. Remember the name Peter Sagan, because in a year's time he will be a serious player.

Cycling: The Landis Case Gets Even Stranger

It seems that pro cyclists are using the computer skills gained from the ubiquitous twitter profiles and putting them to nefarious deeds in a case that has echoes of the Dale Begg-Smith (who has added a silver in 2010 to his 2006 Moguls gold medal) affair.

An arrest warrant has been put out for disgraced doper Floyd Landis after he allegedly hacked into the computer system of a French drug testing laboratory. Landis tested positive for testosterone in the 2006 Tour De France which was odd in itself, as testosterone is easily detected compared to other methods available at the time (such as EPO). When presenting his defense against these allegations, Landis allegedly used documents which belonged to the French anti doping authorities (obtained through these hacks). An email with a trojan horse virus was allegedly sent from the computer of Landis' coach Arnie Baker, who is also sought by the French authorities. The trojan horse also provided for the removal and change of some documents in an attempt to show incorrect testing procedures.

Landis has fought hard in an attempt to clear his name, appealing to the Court for Arbitration in Sport and spending around $2 million in legal fees. He has had no success, except eating up most of WADA's legal budget. Landis has been unrepentant, and although the ban from his Tour De France doping has expired (in January 2009), he has only been able to get rides with minor teams such as OUCH and Cyclingnzshop.com. This arrest warrant is only valid in France, so with Landis recently only racing minor events, primarily in the US he may choose to simply avoid France and trial. I for one, hope that he faces the judgement, if only for the media circus that would result. For more details, check out cyclingnews or SBS cycling central.

Cycling: Danilo Diluca Imageblog

Cycling: Tour Down Under 2010 Preview

It seems like the World Championships were just a short time ago, but the first ProTour event of the year is almost upon us. The Tour Down Under has traditionally been a Tour De Sprinters, and this year should be no exception.

The Key Contenders:

Allan Davis (Astana): Defending champion and the only rider to have participated in every TDU so far, Davis is a very good sprinter who has the climbing capacity to survive Willunga hill. He

has strong support in the likes of Pereiro and Grivko to shepherd him up the climbs. Will be right up there for the win.

Andre Greipel (Columbia-HTC): Probably the 2nd fastest sprinter in the world at the moment (behind his Columbia team mate Cavendish) but also capable of climbing. Dominated the sprints at the Vuelta Espana last year. Probably not quite as accomplished a climber as Davis, but also a better sprinter. Has a traditionally powerful Columbia lead out train featuring Grabsch and Eisel as well as Rogers for climbing support. Should win the sprinter's jersey and may be able to

fight his way up Willunga Hill to win the overall.

Robbie McEwen (Katusha): A real wild card for the sprinter's jersey, McEwen has struggled with injuries since joining the Russian team Katusha. Is getting on in years, but still packs a punch and has the nous to disrupt the Columbia sprint train. Has no shot of getting up Willunga Hill with the peloton so will not contend for overall.

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse D'Epagne): Valverde will be racing every race as if it is his last with an impending doping hearing threatening to suspend him for 2 years for his role in Operation Puerto. He has a strong climbing team to support him featuring Luis Leon Sanchez and Ivan Gutierrez. Won't contend in the sprints, but may make a move to split from the bunch up Willunga Hill.

Stages:

Stage 1:

Stage 1 will decide who is here for real and who is using it as preseason training. Not tough enough that it will be decided outside the usual TDU sprint finish, but the hills n

ear the end, including Mengler's Hill should be enough to shed those who aren't prepared for this race.

Stage 3:

Stage 3, like Stage 1, will not be serious enough to avoid a sprinter's victory. However, the hilly terrain around the Stirling circuit will cause another cull of the pack, and the uphill finish will favour a climbing sprinter like Davis more than a McEwen.

Stage 5:

The traditional Queen Stage of the TDU will climb Willunga Hill twice, giving the best opportunity for a non-sprinter to breakaway for victory. Willunga Hill is 3kms at around 8% gradient, providing enough of a challenge that non-climbers will fall back. A decent climber, with a strong team around him may be able to hang onto the back and catch up on the descent, much as Davis did last year. However, expect a non-sprinter to win the stage from an elite bunch. This is the stage where Alberto Contador got what he deemed the most important win of his career coming back from cerebral cavernoma in 2005.

After all that, I will tip an Allan Davis win again, with Greipel winning the sprinter's jersey but being dropped up Willunga Hill.

Cadel Evans - World Road Cycling Champion

I never thought I would see the day when Australia's great white cycling hope Cadel Evans actually attacked. After 2 years of wheel-sitting to get himself 2 second places in Le Tour De France in '07 and '08, he completely ballsed up the '09 edition. He suffered from a throat infection and dropped down the leaderboard like a boulder attached to an anchor. However, a podium place (3rd on paper, 2nd once Valv.piti gets suspended for doping in the Operation Puerto affair) in a Vuelta showed signs that Evans was coming back. Then he exploded in the World Championships in Mendrisio.

After some great support from his Aussie teammates (who, unlike those at Silence are not useless) in bringing back the breakaways and keeping him in the right place, a small group of 20 or so (including Evans and Gerrans for AUS) was formed by a Spartacus attack. Several more attacks later and the group was down to 8 odd, with Gerro dropped. There were 3 Spaniards in the group, Valverde, Rodriguez and Sammy Sanchez while no other nation had any more than 1 (Kolobnev, Evans, Cancellara, Kroon, Cunego, Gilbert). Rodriguez blasted off the side through a gap in the road, with Kolobnev following him. This looks like the defining attack. Evans sprints across the gap, closing them down. No-one else can follow Evans across. Cancellara tries in vain to bring the trailing group forwards. They hit the last climb of the day. Evans goes hard, blasting away from the other two. Rodriguez is spent, he went away in an earlier break also. Kolobnev tries desperately to up the pace, but he can't match Evans. Rodriguez keeps following Kolobnevs wheel, but has nothing left to give. Cancellara has no friends in the chase group and they can't catch the duo of Kolobnev and Rodriguez. Meanwhile Evans is time-trialling at the front, even opening up a gap. No-one can catch him, he wins! Kolobnev 2nd, Rodriguez 3rd. Gerro got 10th, continuing his record of top 10 places in classics.

So thats what can happen if Cadel actually attacks and has support from his team. Probably the biggest win in Australian professional road cycling history. Way to end the season on a high. Imagine how long the mechanics will take to change his wheels now that he has the rainbow jersey curse?

Cycling: Astarloza - A Star Loser !

Mikel Astarloza, the Spanish cyclist who won stage 16 of this year's Tour De France and finished 11th overall has tested positive for EPO. It is not yet known what type of EPO (presumably CERA) but SBS has reported that it was during an out of competition test. A disciplinary hearing will be held next month by the UCI to determine his punishment (probably a 2 year suspension) after he tested positive on the 26th of June. The UCI needs to act faster on these cases, the sample was taken before the TDF and yet Astarloza was still able to compete. But at least thats another cheat forcibly removed from the peloton. Astarloza's stage win in the TDF this year was his first professional stage win (he won the 2003 Tour Down Under around South Australia) but he had consistantly finished highly overall in major stage races such as the Dauphine Libre and Le Tour. There was no obvious upspike in his form this year, indicating that he had been doping for several years before this. I have added him and Danilo Di Luca to the shit list for being cheating gits.

In other news, after the flurry of recent postings, I've decided to finally get a related address. So this blog is now at rushedbehind.blogspot.com. Neat hey. If you are reading this, you are on the new site. The whole blog has been moved, so all the archives are still here. Call me a traditionalist, but I reckon a blog should have an address related to its name. So if you still have the old site bookmarked, change it now. And if you don't have this site bookmarked, what a great opportunity to do so. I don't know if the rss feeds were affected, so if you use these, you might want to check it out. But if you are getting this, then you will get all future posts. I do seem to have somehow lost my blogroll, so this will be refilled gradually, as I remember which blogs were worth reading.

Go rain, go! You are Australia's only hope at staving off defeat (and poor fantasy cricket scores from Brad Haddin given his late withdrawal after my kiss of death)!

Cycling: Di Luca Tests Positive

I just found out that Danilo Di Luca, 2nd in the Giro tested positive twice for doping with CERA (the same version of EPO that Ricco used). For more details check here. First of all, what a cunt-face. Second of all, this is a win for the biological passport system recently employed by the UCI. Third of all, a quote from Di Luca after he was found out: "Would I be so stupid as to take CERA at the Tour of Italy one year after (Ricardo) Ricco, (Emanuele) Sella and (Davide) Rebellin were caught." Well, clearly yes, you cheating bastard. Fourth of all, extra congrats to Menchov for beating a drug cheat (despite him falling off about 4 times in Le Tour, maybe hes been taking some happy drugs). Fifth of all, (wow, thats getting a realy tired sentence intro, maybe I should use something else) CNN, learn to quote properly, there needs to be quotes at the start and end of your quotes. Sixth of all, I hope its not 3 months until we find out the cheats from Le Tour (I'm looking at you Wiggo).

Thats almost all for today, just wanted to express my disgust at Di Luca.

Also, respect to George Hincapie, who rode the last 4 stages of Le Tour with a broken collarbone. Now thats tough, and gets him onto the legends list. Not like Nick Riewoldt who just cried when he broke his.

Cycling: 2009 Tour De France Review

So the main event in cycling is over for another year, with Contador reining supreme. This despite Jens Voigt and Saxobank's radical plan to defeat them in the Pyrenees (see interview below, and ignore non-english subtitles).

The Pyrenees in fact were pretty tame, with only Contador's attack on stage 7 proving at all decisive due to long descents between hilltops and finish lines on stages 8 and 9. And there weren't any bears either.

I can now reveal the secret to the Manx Missile (who won 6 stages, including the Champs Elysees finish) . According to wikipedia, many of the roads on the Isle of Man have no speed limit, while they are all paved. As a result, the Isle has become a haven for hoon drivers, with Jeremy Clarkson, Nigel Mansell and James Toseland all moving to the Isle. This explain's Cav's proficiency in tight, bunch sprints as he madly dodged speeding hoons on the roads of his youth. It also explains why he initially took up track cycling. Despite winning 6 stages, Cav failed to win the Sprinter's green jersey which went to the 'God of Thunder' Thor Hushovd. Thor couldn't match Cav's speed on the pure sprints, but he held his own in uphill finishes and critically, broke away from the field and lead alone over the top of 2 mountains to pick up 12 bonus points at intermediate sprints on stage 17. He beat Cav by 10 points.

As the race moved into the alps, the two best climbers were clearly Andy Schleck and Contador, with Frank able to match them when on his good days. Wiggins continued to amaze with his "I can't believe hes not on a cocktail of drugs" performances maintaining his high standing. The top 2 spots were decided from the moment the road tipped upwards. However, the 3rd place was up for grabs until the penultimate stage up Mont Ventoux due to a combination of factors. Firstly Contador's ability, and frankly desire to assasinate his own team members which lead to Kloden getting dropped from the Schlecks and Contador on stage 17 and Armstrong being deliberately left back to watch Wiggins on the same stage. And secondly, Frank Schleck's horrendous (for a GC rider) time trialling ability. This lead to Armstrong just managing to hold onto the 3rd position up Ventoux, despite Andy Schleck sacrificing the possibility of a stage win to try everything humanly possible to get Frank clear of Armstrong. Wiggins just got 4th by 2 seconds after he was dropped by Frank and Armstrong up Ventoux and got lucky to hold on. Contador however, was clearly the best rider in the climbs, and atleast the second best rider on the time trials, finishing 2nd in the prolgoue and 1st in the stage 18 race against the clock, even beating Spartacus. Franco Pellizotti won the KOM, after reassessing his goals during a horrid time in the Pyrenees.

Next year's tour is looking extra spicy, with Lance starting a new team Radioshack (likely to have a lot of his mates), the Schlecks a year older and Contador's team uncertain (any of a weakened Astana, Caise D'Epargne or Fernando Alonso) as well as other contenders (Ivan Basso anyone?). Now, if Contador and Sastre were in the same team that would be great to watch them try to drop each other (Alonso on left, Sastre centre).

But for now, its back to regular sports (Ashes, footy) until the Vuelta (and possibly a couple of classics that SBS might televise). As a footnote, I came about 120th out of 10000 or so in the SBS fantasy TDF competition.

Cricket: As English as Tea and Scones - Cheating

It seems yet another great sporting contest is being ruined by umpiring that is at best horribly inconsistant and at worst actively biased. Australia had been outplayed by the Poms in the first 3 days of the 2nd test of the Ashes. Those blasted convicts decided to launch a fightback after they were set the imposing target of 522 in the last innings of the game. Well, the poms managed to find a great solution to their general bowling inadequacy. Just give the batsmen out regardless of what the rules say.

Simon Katich was given out despite a blatant no-ball from Flintoff.

The umpires refused to refer Strauss's catch, despite TV replays showing it clearly hit the ground, giving out Phil Hughes.

And then, a disbelieving Mike Hussey was given out despite hotspot showing that he clearly hit the ground, not the ball after a Swann spun past his edge.

Ignoring the rules or the spirit of the game is an English tradition, remember last time they won the Ashes with minty fresh breath and specialist fielders. And its not just unknown bloggers like me who reckon the umpiring was atrocious. Check out Cricinfo or Stuey MacGill. Bring in referrals for any contentious decision ASAP.

You can check out video of the dismissals at SBS. Just ignore the ads which come on at the start (and during the middle of last night's hill-climb in the TDF).

Brad Wiggins continued his unbelievable performance staying with, and even attacking Nibali, F.Schleck and Sastre and beating Evans and Armstrong. His past strong anti-doping stance may have melted a bit I reckon. Another cheating Pom?

Contador blew away the rest of the field, putting in what is apparentley the fastest climb in the history of the TDF (in terms of vertical climb rate). Even faster than the previous record by drug cheat Bjarne Riis or anyone else who was doped up the eyeballs in the Tour's wild days. Makes you think...

Cricket: Sending the Poms Into a Spin

England somehow managed to hold Australia to a draw in the 1st test, primarily due to wasting time in the final session. This was aided by Nathan Hauritz taking only 3 wickets from 37 overs on the final day as Australia's only spinner (he did have a good economy rate, which is the important thing in the selectors eyes). Now he's gone and buggered up a catch on the first day of the 2nd test, dislocating his finger so he probably won't be able to bowl for atleast the next few days, leaving Siddle and Hilfy our only real options bowling (Johnno put in a day reminiscent of Bryce McGain's test debut yesterday, I bet he doesn't get thrown out and never given another test...). This (along with Hauritz's general shitness) is why we needed to take 2 spinners on tour (and probably a backup batsman would help too, instead of 2 allrounders and a backup keeper). Send an SOS to that Victorian leg spinner who might be a bit old, but he can still play despite a poor debut. Not Shane Warne, the other one. Or atleast Jason Krejza, he can at least spin the ball.

On the subject of Poms, the first probable drug cheat of the Tour De France has been identified. He hasn't tested positive for anything yet, but I've got a record of getting these guys right (I picked Schumacher after his ITT last year). Bradley Wiggins has gone from a time trial specialist who couldn't climb a ladder to suddenly sticking with the heads of state on the climbs in the Pyrenees. Even when the group thinned down to about 15 riders at the top of the Andorra climb (dropping riders of the quality of Kim Kirchen and Roman Kruiziger), Wiggins was there. This from a rider who finished 71st, 2hrs and 20 minutes behind in the Giro earlier this year, and couldn't drop Fabian Cancellara in the Tour of Switzerland. Just wait until a few stages time, when he gets done, and his Olympic samples are re-tested. There'll be a real shit storm.

Cycling: Lance In Yellow... Almost

So we come to the first of my mid-Tour De France reviews. Fabian Cancellara still has the Maillot Jaune which some observers expected him to take in the first individual time trial and hold until the roads tip upwards, probably giving up the jersey after stage 7. However, The Lance almost managed to take it from him in the team time trial stage 4 last night (Australian time). Astana put in an awesome TTT, to take 40 seconds from Saxo Bank and put The Lance exactly equal with Cancellara (to the second atleast). After the race, the judges decided on a countback (don't you hate countbacks) to give the Jersey to Cancellara again.

Biggest Surprise

Team Columbia-HTC split the peloton on stage 3 around the 30 km mark, and the 28 or so riders in the front of the split (including contenders The Lance, Cancellara, Rogers and Kirchen) picked up 30 seconds on what was a flat stage. The Lance may or may not have the climbing legs to win the Tour, but he can still motor on the flat and pick the right move.

You Idiots!

Bbox Bouygues Telecom had a mass crash in the Team Time Trial after someone forgot to tell them that they weren't riding mountain bikes.

Sprinters

The Cav has dominated the 2 sprints so far, with wins on stage 2 and 3. He was helped by a crash which limited his opposition in stage 2. On stage 3, The "God of Thunder" Thor Hushovd (best nickname in all of world sport) was the only other sprinter in the front section of the split and couldn't pass the Cav. He should be a certainty for the Green Jersey if he can be bothered to climb the mountains. Or maybe he'll decide to quit half way and give the Poms a hand figuring out when to declare in the Ashes (after Haurtiz has sent down about 60 wicketless overs probably).

The Heads of State (GC)

Fabian Cancellara (1st, +0 s)

Has held the Yellow since the 1st stage, but wont be able to cut it in the mountains.

Lance Armstrong (2nd, +0 and a tiny little bit s)

Looks very strong, putting in extended shifts in the TTT. Mountain legs still uncertain.

Alberto Contador (3rd, +19 s)

Hasn't done anything to dispute his pre-tour favouritism yet. Missed the Columbia split but put in the 2nd best ITT. May be the Sastre to Armstrong's Schleck in a repeat of CSCs strategy last year.

Andreas Kloden (4th, +23 s)

Forgotten man of Astana, should just oplay a role for Armstrong and Contador, but may make an ambitious attack at some stage to try to take the team leadership.

Christian Van De Velde (12th, +1:16)

Has been coming back from injury, so his mountain legs are uncertain. Team Garmin put in a great 5 man TTT for him. Still paying $80 for the win and $14 for a podium (paying better money than Cancellara!?) , get on him now.

Roman Kreuziger (15th, +1:31)

Liquigas put in a better than expected TTT to give him a real shot at a podium in the finish.

Michael Rogers (16th, +1:32)

Had mechanical issues in the ITT which has him below where he could be. Won't have the mountain legs to catch Contador.

Andy Schleck (20th, +1:41)

Has improved his ITT abilities, but Saxo Bank were a bit disappointing in the TTT for him. Still a genuine contender.

Kim Kirchen (24th, +2:16)

Isn't up with the contenders on the ITT, but could still surprise on the mountains.

Carlos Sastre (29th, +2:44)

Has atleast got the TTT out of the way without race ruining damage, but will need to attack, and hard to beat Contador and Asrmstrong from nearly 3 minutes back.

Cadel Evans (35th, +2:59)

He would have been spitting chips when he heard there would be a TTT in this year's Tour, Silence-Lotto aren't nearly good enough to contend with the big guns in this discipline. Like Sastre, will need to attack to have any chance. Unlike Sastre, attacking is not Evans' strong suit.

Denis Menchov (72nd, +3:52)

Had a poor ITT, then fell during the TTT, costing him and his team time. Surely has no chance from here.

My tip is still Contador, but The Lance may be able to foul him up if he gets the team working for him.

Tour De France Dream Team Cycling

I've started up a Tour De France DT League in the SBS competition for this blog's readers too. A bit late notice obviously (the Tour starts in a couple of days) but SBS= obscure, cycling=obscure and yet theres about $15,000 in prizes.

Crowmaniac.blogspot.com :
Pos.	Team	Manager	Mn.	Pts.
Last Updated: 01/07/2009 08:33:33
http://fantasytdf.sbs.com.au/
99999	Rushed Behind		0	0

Split Averted... But Can Formula 1 Convert The Spare With The Tour Fast Approaching?

Almost as soon as any real consequences of the potential F1 series breakaway were considered, the split is now off. Max Mosley has agreed to resign from his presidency of the FIA and now the teams are placated. Read more here... if you think that this situation will hold together for any more than a few days before someone decides to play some more politics of doom. It is exactly this kind of politics which continues to dog Formula 1. Where there is money, prestige and power, some people will seek to control it for their own ends, regardless of the impact on other parties. Witness drug cheats like Alejandro Valverde as another example. Valverde has been banned from the Tour De France this year by Italian authorities (wait, France isnt part of Italy is it?) because of his involvement in infamous Operation Puerto. The Italian Olympic Committee banned Valverde from racing in Italy for 2 years and this year's Tour passes through Italy briefly (well that explains why Italian authorities are involved). Valverde reckons that the Italian Olympic Committee have no power over him because he is Spanish, but its only a matter of time until the UCI act on the same findings that the Italians have used. And anyway, the ASO which runs the Tour has a record of being probably the harshest sporting body in the world on drugs (and rightly so). Tom Boonen has been banned because he has twice tested positive for cocaine in the past year. And last year the whole Astana team was banned because of the team's history of doping in the 2007 Tour, robbing Alberto Contador of the right to defend his title (even though he was with Discovery Channel when the doping occurred at Astana). Cycling may have drug cheast, but atleast they are trying to fix the problem. No-one in F1 seems to want to throttle back the backroom scheming. Now, I'm not saying that this is anywhere near as bad as drug cheating, just that they are both similar types of problems.

Cycling: Menchov Crashes in Last Stage - Still Wins Giro

The 2009 Giro D' Italia was decided today, with Denis Menchov and Danilo Di Luca pushing to the limit on wet, cobblestoned roads in Rome. Denis started with only a 20 second lead over the final 14 odd kilometer time trial, with Di Luca Menchov crashed in the final kilometer, and showed great guts (and top class a mechanic) to get straight back on a new bike and get home in time. I tried to cut together a video of this from my tv tuner, but windows movie maker does rather suck, so you'll have to do with the youtube version, with the Pommy comentator who sucks so much that SBS put a pair of local commentators on after the first couple of stages. Seriously, he sounds like he's trying to be monotonous, like he's describing a historical parade, not a bike race. And the Youtube video spells Menchov wrong on the title (even when it's displayed during almost the whole video) and has an odd pause around the crash. All credit to Denis, he deserved to win. Di Luca threw everything he had at him up Vesuvius and couldn't shake him from his back wheel.

Next stop Paris for the Tour (which SBS shows close to full stages of) and then the Vuelta (which I hope SBS will do the same thing as the Giro and show daily highlights). Armstrong started to show some good form towards the end of the Giro and should be strong enough for a top 10 in the Tour, but I don't reckon he has the legs to match Contador and will be stuck in a supporting role to him. Be interesting to see how Astana handle their riders in the Tour, with definately Armstrong and Contador and possibly Leipheimer contenders. They might get stuck like Liquigas did in the Giro, supporting too many riders and getting 3rd and 4th instead of 1st and 10th. CSC Saxobank showed how 2 leaders can work with Schleck and Sastre last year though.

Finally, Mick Doughty has done enough in his recent tagging roles to get off the Shit list, and Denis Menchov gets on the legends list for his effort as shown above.

Cycling: Giro D'Italia - Mark Cavendish - Typical Pom

What is the typical English trait?

I reckon its smashing the easybeats and quitting when you have to take on the tough challenges. Look at the English cricket team. They have smashed the West Indies who barely deserve to be called a test team, but will get beaten by the Aussies when it really matters. England's football team has a history of not winning a major title since the 1966 World Cup despite inventing the game and having probably the strongest domestic competition. They always get partway there before quitting when they face some real opposition. This brings us to England's great quitter: Mark Cavendish.

Cav quit the 2007 Tour De France in the 8th stage. That's not even half way. He then quit the 2008 version of the race after 13 stages, citing a need to rest up for the Olympics. He was the only British track cycist not to win a medal at those Olympics (alteast according to wikipedia), so obviously he didn't quit early enough. Cavendish has just recently quit the Giro D'Italia after the 13th stage. He apparantly needed to rest up for the Tour. How does he need to rest for an event in which he will probably manage half the stages? No wonder a former team mate, Roger Hammond said early in 2007 "To be honest, he started the season so catastrophically that the staff were wondering what they could enter Mark for so that he could finish the race."

Now onto some better riders in this year's Giro. The contenders should be down to 3, unless someone like Basso does a Oscar Pereiro. Denis Menchov holds the pink jersey by 39 seconds from Danilo "The Killer" Di Luca. Carlos Sastre looked strong yesterday, and won stage 16 to move to 2 minutes 19 seconds behind Menchov. The Blockhaus stage tomorrow should decide the winner. I expect Sastre to attack hard for the mountaintop finish. Di Luca and Menchov have to react and stick with him after yesterday. Di Luca should be capable of doing it, but Menchov might be dropped. I tip Di Luca to be wearing pink after tomorrow.

There is only one more stage that might affect the general classification after that, stage 19 finishing on Vesuvius. Expect lots of attempted attacks without much success as the shorter climb will not allow much in the way of time gaps.

One big disappointment for this year's Giro, from an Aussie perspective has been Mick Rogers. he has done as expected in the climbs, not quite having the weaponary of a Sastre or Di Luca, but for a former 3-time world time trial champion to lose 2:46 on stage winner Menchov and even 28 seconds on Sastre, who is not a noted time-triallist is very disappointing. Atleast Simon Gerrans flew the Aussie flag by winning stage 14.