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 [...]

(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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Originally I was going to title this post Riiis is “bringing Saxo Bank” into cycling. Apologies to Justin Timberlake for the bad reference to his song. But I decided to keep it basic.
Bjarne Riis successfully found a new sponsor to replace the outgoing CSC in Saxo Bank. Effective immediately Saxo Bank will cosponsor the [...]

Photo (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
The Giro is upon us once again. The funnest Grand Tour started today in Palermo, Sicily with a Team Time Trial. Twenty years after Andy Hampsten last wore the Maglia Rosa in Milan to win the 1988 Giro D’Italia witha young American 7-Eleven team Christian Vande Velde wears the Maglia at the [...]