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 as innovative and very interesting,” Armstrong said.

“From its start in Monte Carlo with a 15k time trial, to the reinstatement of the team time trial, to stages in my old hometown of Girona all the way to another visit to my old friend the Ventoux, I could not have hoped for a different Tour.”

That is well and good, but what about the red meat? Will Lance ride in the 2009 Tour and if so will he support Contador or will he demand to be numero uno?

“As to the leadership of the Astana team in 2009, it’s illogical to pre-select a leader for any race in October of the previous year,” Armstrong said.

“I have been around long enough to know that cycling is a team sport and I am fully committed to supporting the strongest rider in any race, whether that’s me, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, or Andreas Kloden.

Hmm, he is not saying he will ride in support of Contador, but he is not saying he won’t. But this statement clearly leaves the reigns of leadership wide open. Lance Armstrong has been around in cycling log enough to know that his Tour teams basically revolved around supporting Lance Armstrong’s road to victory. The USPS/Discovery Channel team had a clear number one rider and there really was no number two option. Look at the 2006 Tour when Discovery rode like a headless chicken.

There is not much doubt that Contador is the best stage racer in the world at this moment. But, Astana could be playing coy and trying to use its strength to “protect” Contador. Team CSC looked like they were supporting Frank Schleck for overall victory until Sastre attacked in the mountains with the help of the Schleck brothers constant marking of their rivals.

So, this will be an interesting development to watch. Is Astana being coy about Contador? Will Contador wish to spread his wings and go to another team where he is a clear leader? Or will Contador end up playing super domestique to an 8th Armstrong Tour win? This will be a fun year.

Stefan Schumacher’s blistering Time Trial performances at the Tour were certainly a surprise to many. Apparently when someone like Schumacher or Riccardo Ricco performs above and beyond expectations they are most likely doping. Meanwhile Leonardo Piepoli was positive for CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator) which is not a shock since he was implicated as an accessory to Riccardo Ricco. Just when you think cycling is moving on, there are more revelations. We have not heard the finale of Frank Schleck’s involvement with Dr. Fuentes of Operation Puerto fame either.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Ugh, hope this turns out to be nothing. The car of Johnny Schleck the father of Andy and former Yellow Jersey Frank Schleck was searched by customs agents.

So far news reports are simply that the car was searched for 30 minutes. Schleck’s car was then seen following the French customs police vehicle during the Tour stage. Nothing is concrete, but there is a sick feeling in the gut of all cycling fans at the moment.

Yahoo Sports News: Customs search car driven by Schlecks’ father

Update – from velonews.com

Sources say that officials found “no doping products or banned substances” in the car belonging to Andy and Frank Schleck’s father, according to Agence France Presse.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Frank Schleck has a bunch of contenders breathing down his neck for the Tour title. Austrian Bernhard Kohl is a surprise revelation that is only seven seconds off pace and could swipe the Yellow Jersey off Schleck’s shoulders by Wednesday night. Team CSC is definitely the strongest team in the race with Jens Voight and Fabian Cancellara doing massive amounts of work at the front of the group. Add Andy Schleck who just jumped into the Best Young Riders jersey and Carlos Sastre and other contenders should worry.

Denis Menchov lost some time today, but could still gain it back. Menchov lost a good deal of time in the scary descent into Jausiers coming down from 9,000 ft. of elevation. Vande Velde also lost time after trying to chase back from getting dropped and trailing by 35 seconds. Vande Velde crashed on the descent and came in 2:30 back losing major chunks of time. Not all hope is lost since tomorrow’s queen stage to L’Alpe D’Huexz could break things open.

Schleck so far seems to be in the driver’s seat. He won on L’Alpe D’Huez before, he has the strongest team that can work over the competition in the climbs leading up to the final. Other teammates are contenders so he could have Sastre attack and force others to follow. It is Schleck’s Tour to lose.

Bernhard Kohl has nothing to lose. He looks like he is barely hanging on sometimes but still seem to be there at the end. He could stick to Schleck’s wheel like glue and maybe even grab the Yellow tomorrow. Evans can simply ride Schleck’s wheel too and wait until the TT to overhaul him and take the lead. This is not exciting racing, and Evans has shown weakness at Prato Nevoso when the pace picked up. Schleck would need some time over Evans to be safe in the Yellow.

Menchov could gain the time lost tomorrow. The Russian has had bad luck wiping out at Prato Nevoso as he launched an attack then losing time today going into Jausiers. Things have not gone the way Menchov would like. But he can attack on the climbs and gain time and then gain more time on Schleck in the TT. So Menchov is the top threat to Schleck over all others.

Don’t overlook the desparation of Vande Velde who now has a little time to make up. He could try something to gain back time or simply wait and see who gets dropped and slide into a podium spot.

Anyway it is anyone’s guess who of the top six guys will be in Yellow by Sunday Night in Paris. This is the most open Tour in recent memory and is fun to watch.

PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Image

The first major mountain stage of the Tour de France dealt Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego a cold dose of Pyrennean reality. Jens Voight and the CSC power zombies crushed the field up the Col de Tourmalet climb. Voight is not a climber, just a power zombie bent on feeling pain. His twisting face was seen powering a select group of Tour contenders up the highest climb of the entire Tour de France while shatter riders lay behind on the switchbacks. CSC had declared a three pronged attack of Carlos Sastre, Frank and Andy Schleck. Sastre has been the eternal Tour contender who lacks the full all around ability of a winner. Sastre could not really capitalize on the work done by Voight to nail down a win or a solid punch to the rivals other than Cunego and Valverde. Sastre’s attacks were quickly pounced upon while Franck Schleck was able to take advantage of this and fly away with two Saunier Duval riders to get within a second of Yellow.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo set a pace Schleck could not keep up. It was Piepoli’s turn to cross the finish in first on one of the toughest days of climbing so far in the Tour. Cobo seemed unable to keep up with Piepoli’s pace after the duo dropped Schleck, but Piepoli would shepard the Spaniard along so they could cross the finish one-two.

Meanwhile teammate Riccardo Ricco tended to the top Tour favorites. While Ricco launched a few attacks, Evans, Menchov, Vande Velde and Sastre did not give him much daylight. The top contenders were trading attacks with menchov usually coming to the front to keep the pace respectable so he does not blow, while others attacks. Vande Velde showed great form while setting the pace in the final few kilometers up the Hautcam Vande Velde kept in third place, but he looked very fresh compared to the others. Perhaps his form is coming in just in time for the tough parts of the Tour.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Behind, Valverde may be on the backside of his peak or could be suffering from the effects of a crash two days ago. He could also be suffering from the first day in the mountains. Whatever the problem could be, his Tour is close to being over. His chances are not completely gone as he could recover enough with better performances later. But there are so many favorites that he may still be a marked man. Valverde and Cunego suffered badly on the Col de Tourmalet losing several minutes to the main favorites. The two riders now sit about six minutes back with some serious planning to do for getting back into top contention for the Tour.

Vincenzo Nibali is riding into a top placing. The Sicilian rider stayed mostly with the main group and now finds himself in 9th. Perhaps driven by his rivalry with Ricco, Nibali was seen launching attacks but also getting dropped a bit. So far the Pyrennes have been very friendly to Italian hopes with back to back wins by Saunier Duval Italian riders. Soon the Tour will pay a visit to Italy and stop in Cuneo.

Back to Schleck who must now be kicking himself for not grabbing an extra second. Or maybe not. He is one second away from Yellow, but does not have to do the extra work a Yellow Jersey wearer is required to do such as extensive interviews and such. Schleck can take it easy on the rest day while Evans will be interviewed like crazy. Look for CSC to try to get time bonuses or some other crazy moves with the CSC power zombies who live on pain. This Tour is far from over.

Cyclist Rolls Off Side Of Bridge – Watch more free videos

The video has been everywhere. This is a crazy crash and fortunately Frank Schleck made it out alright. Seems the racers who careen off of mountain roads usually make it OK. Oscar Pereiro crashed on the Col D’aubisque in the Tour in 2005 while busy with his musette and made it out OK. Jan Ulrich crashed on the Col de Peyresourde in 2001 in a very dramatic fashion, bike and all, but seemed to recover OK too.

Here is a link to an extended version of the incident

And here is another crash that is not as dramatic, but the cyclist goes into a creek off a corner during a descent in the 2007 Deutschland Tour 2007.

Alejandro Valverde now has two Liege-Bastonge-Liege wins in his pocket. The Spanish climbing-sprinting sensation looks to be on track to be a contender in the Tour once again. Though he admitted that his form was not as good as in 2006 when he took his last win at Liege, he was able to use his sprinting ability and smarts to beat Frank Schleck and David Rebellin.

The Schleck brothers seemed to have the race to themselves. When the decisive breaks happened on the new climb of Falcon’s Rock 20kms from the finish the number favored the brothers from Luxembourg. The group of five that formed contained two the CSC brothers, David Rebellin and two Caisse D’Epargne’s (Valverde and Rodriguez). Rebellin was odd man out until Rodriguez could no longer keep pace. Andy Schleck launched an attack that everyone knew was a setup for brother Frank. Trouble is that once Andy was caught by a very attentive Rebellin, Brother Frank could not shake off two tough sprinters Valverde and Rebellin. As the break of three cruised to the end it was only a matter of ceremony for Valverde to take the top spot.

Too bad for Schleck, he came so close to wins and was beat out by little guys who can sprint. Last week in Amstel, Cunego came out from behind to beat Schleck in somewhat of a surprise. While this time he could not use his numbers to shake off Valverde before the sprint.

Meanwhile it looks like Valverde wasn’t even going to try for the win.

“I knew if I could make it to the sprint, I’d have my best chance against these two,” Valverde said. “This win means a lot because the spring classics weren’t even a goal this year. I came here with a lot of motivation to race because my goals come later in the season with the Tour and the Olympics.” — velonews.com

So Valverde was not intending to win? But won anyway? This guys must be on drugs… queue the Operation Puerto questions…

Inevitably, Valverde was questioned about his alleged links to Operación Puerto, but he said he’s racing with a clear conscience. Some believe Valverde is linked to the Spanish doping scandal, but he’s never been officially implicated.

“My link to Puerto only comes from the media. No judge or evidence has ever suggested that I had anything to do with it,” said Valverde. “I’m not worried about the Italian authorities. If they want to question me when the Tour goes to Italy, let them. No problem.”
–velonews.com

BTW, did you hear that Basso signed with Liquigas? WTF?

The more things change the more they stay the same. I thought we were moving on from the Operation Puerto stories and in one quick swipe we get two OP related stories in the headlines. Cycling cannot catch a break. Even as the exciting Liege-Bastongne-Liege race wraps up a drug scandal free spring season it all comes back just in time for the start of a major Grand Tour.

Damiano Cunego surprisingly beat Franck Schleck up the final Cauberg climb to win Amstel Gold. The revenge must be sweet after losing to Schleck at L’Alpe D’Huez in 2006. Cunego now looks to be the favorite going into Liege-Bastonge-Liege since it is better suited to his abilities. Lampre has also announced the Tour de France lineup backing up Damiano Cunego which in all likelyhood is a bid to win the race.

Lampre will also line up their sprinter Danilo Napolitano, Marco Marzano, Daniele Righi, Paolo Tiralongo and ‘Patxi’ Vila. “We clearly aim at winning the overall classification of the Tour de France with Cunego this year,” directeur sportif Bruno Vicino said on the start line of the 7th stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Antalya. Two other Lampre riders have yet to be chosen.

cyclingnews.com

Cunego has been slowly getting his ducks lined up to tackle the Tour as a GC contender. Since his foray into France in 2006 where he impressed with a Best Young Rider jersey win and 11th place overall. The key factor in his BYR jersey win was his much improved Time Trialing ability. This is a skill that is key to winning in France. Now that it looks like Damiano and Lampre are putting in a serious bid for the yellow it will be interesting to see how he lines up against other favorites such as Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans.

“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 good year and I am convinced that Frank Schleck is the man of the future.

Bjarne Riis will be counting on a four pronged approach next year with Sastre, Schleck, Cancellara and Voight being leaders for various races throughout the year.

Frank Schleck had a very good 2006 winning the Amstel Gold Race and the L’Alpe D’Huez stage in the Tour de France. Fabian Cancellara won Paris Roubaix and the World Time Trial Championship. Carlos Sastre found himself in the unexpected role of leader for the Toru de France and finished fourth. He followed that up with another fourth in the Vuelta while riding all three Grand Tours. Jens Voight looked unstoppable for a stretch winning just about every race in site. So this core of riders are probably balanced enough to keep CSC near the front of the peloton.

CSC seemed to be a team in serious trouble this early season as several riders were injured so early in the season. Despite riders such as Stuart O”grady and Christian Vande Velde being out and Bobby Julich delaying his form, the CSC men have been producing better results than previous years. This year CSC won some major Classics with Cancellara taking Paris-Roubaix and now Frank Schleck taking Amstel Gold.

Nice work for a team that has much larger ambitions later in the year, but Ivan Basso already looks to be in great form just in time for the Giro next month.

Eurosport: Schleck’s golden gift