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.

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.

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 tough moments. Lance Armstrong’s Postal/Discovery teams were generally strong but they were focused on getting only one man to the Yellow and did that with precision. Team CSC on the other hand has several cards to play and deals them evenly. Frank Schleck and Carlos Sastre each took advantage of the work that Jens Voight and Fabian Cancellara laid down with their powerful pace-making. Sastre was finally able to get a good jump and build on a lead. While Frank and Andy Schleck controlled the group of elite contenders with an iron fist. It was a perfect day for CSC and with the time gained by Sastre it could be a perfect Tour for the team which switches over to Team Saxo Bank next year.

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.

Bjarne Riis successfully found a new sponsor to replace the outgoing CSC in Saxo Bank. Effective immediately Saxo Bank will cosponsor the team with the highlight being big exposure at the Tour. In 2009 Team CSC will become Team Saxo Bank marking a smooth transition over to the new sponsor. With the advent of sponsorless teams such as High Road and Slipstream and the loss of Gerolsteiner as a main sponsor it looked like cycling would have a tough time getting new sponsors into the sport. With Riis’ success at attracting Saxo Bank hopefully more sponsors will take another look at cycling.

Team CSC News

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 start with a young American team.

Team Slipstream has been the team to beat in the Team Time Trials. They set an early fast time that teams such as the well oiled CSC and High Road failed to beat. The competition between CSC which was the home of Slipstream racers Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriske must have been intense as the CSC men came down and missed the time of Slipstream by only seconds. The typical hot and sunny Sicilian town presented an overcast day with some ocean breezes helping to slow down the return ride home. Several teams would clock in fast times to the half way point only to lose some time on the way back in.

Slipstream has been preparing for the TTT for over a week and made the first stage one of their main goals. Their win today was not for lack of trying as they already won the Team Time Trial at the Road America course in the Tour de Georgia just a couple of weeks ago. Recently they were training with the Giro team in Spain. So this win was not a big surprise for many who follow the team.

Team High Road had to help nurse their young revelation and Tour de Georgia winner Sistov who was having a hard time staying with the fast pace set by the team. As he dangled back other teammates were seen slowing down and encouragingS istov to stay in contact with the group. Clearly High Road has some bigger ambitions for Sistov during the Giro.

Next few stages go to the sprinters as Daniele Bennati can finally try to take the stage to himself as the next Italian sprint king as Alessandro Petacchi is home serving a one year suspension. Bennati is back into form and with a new team. He won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie. Bennati looks to square off against Mark Cavendish of Team High Road who also had a good result in Romandie with a prologue win. Robbie McEwen has been a regular winner and early abandoner of the Giro in recent years. The Bennati-Canvendish-McEwen battle should be fun to watch.