Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Lance Armstrong was not at the Tour presentation, but he did give his reactions to the 2009 Tour route today.
First off, Lance likes the innovative route of the 2009 course that starts in Monaco with a 15km hilly TT and visits Barcelona and Girona, Spain.

“The route of the 2009 Tour de France strikes me [...]

The 2009 Tour de France route was unveiled today in Paris. Notibly absent was Lance Armstrong who is Twittering from Austin and developing a radical new TT position. The Tour contenders in Paris including Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans liked the course.
The first stage is a 15km hilly TT in Monaco. The Team Time Trial [...]

(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Team CSC’s strength could not help Carlos during the finak TT. So Carlos Sastre pulled out the TT of his life to hold off Cadel Evans and win the Tour de France by 58 seconds. Sastre was said to have covered the final 15km in the same time as World Champion [...]

PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images
Carlos Sastre benefited from an ungodly strong CSC team that helped him also leap into the Yellow Jersey lead. The strength of CSC is almost unprecedented. Not since the days of La Vie Claire has there been a collection of riders who were generally equally matched and able to all content in the [...]

REUTERS/Joseba Etxaburu

Ahh, the Vuelta is sometimes the place of redemption. A cyclist having a bad year can go to the last Grand Tour and make a season positive. Denis Menchov is trying to help Rabobank forget about Micheal Rasmussen and Roberto Heras. Menchov looks like he is bulding a healthy lead in the Vuelta and [...]

“We are not looking for another leader, we are already strong” explains Bjarne Riis manager of Team CSC. After the departure of Ivan Basso due to the fallout of Operation Puerto Team CSC was left without a main man for the Grand Tours. Bjarne is not really looking for Ivan’s replacement.
Carlos Sastre had a very [...]

(pic from Eurosport)
The Deustchland Tour or Tour of Germany or the D Tour looked to be a chance at redemption for the flayling performance in the Tour for Levi Leipheimer. After a victory in stage 5 Leipheimer looked to be paving the way for another win to honor his German sponsor Gerolsteiner. Jens Voigt [...]

(pic from Yahoo!)
Floyd Landis secured the Tour de France win with a very good Time Trial performance that vaulted him over Oscar Periero. Landis looked to smoke the course early onas he beat the first split time set by Serhiy Honchar, but as the TT progressed Landis’ times slowed down a bit to where he [...]

Legendary, Gutsy, Superb, Awesome, Possessed, Man on a Mission, Crazy, Spiteful, Revenege Seeking, Man on a Mission, Mr. Excitement, choose you moniker, adjective, whatever. This is the gutsiest move by any Tour contender in the modern era. Bernard Hinault was known for similar type moves, but nothing like this. From a complete crack yesterday to [...]

Ivan Basso is taking a page out of the Lance Armstrong’s playbook of media relations. Just a few days before the Giro starts, Ivan “the Terrible” is saying he is not the man to beat for the Giro. True, there is defending champ Paolo Salvodelli who looked good at Romandie before he got sick. Damiano [...]