Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

(AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)
This year was going relatively well in terms of cycling related drug scandals. Sure there is the Alessandro Petacchi overreaction due to one too many puffs of the inhaler, but most of the big names were relatively free from drug related scandals. Now that most cyclists stay away from the performance enhancing [...]

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The Tour de France is about battles large and small. The biggest battle is for the Yellow Jersey. Then there are stage wins, then battles for other jerseys. Each of these plays out in front of the TV everyday and provides for some drama in it s own way. Today Bradley Wiggins the [...]

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

Tom Boonen was the name on everyone’s lips of potential winners as the Tour hit Belgium. Boonen managed to escape a crash and had most of his team still in tact driving a sprint train to the finish. The timing was all set except for the last leadout man Geert Steegmans who was [...]

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Tom Boonen looks to be ready for the upcoming Classics. Boonen is always in contention for winning no matter what time of year it is, but his money is made in early April. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are Boonen’s bread and butter races, so he needs to be on form and [...]

(Alessandro Petacchi of Fassa Bortolo wins in 2005)
Scroll to the end for the full start list for Milan-San Remo from tuttobiciweb.com
Filippo Pozzato gets the number one for being defending champ. Danilo DiLuca will not be lining up at the start due to the flu. Liquigas have a strong lineup featureing Enrico Gasparotto and Franco Pellizotti.
Tom [...]

Filippo Pozzato’s switch from the talent laden Quick-Step team to the Liquigas team for 2007 was a sign that the 25 year old Italian was ready to be his own man in the Classics. The winner of Milan San-Remo in 2006 was a new talent in a talent rich team twhose goals all seemed to [...]

Tom Boonen is clearly a step ahead in the first face-off of the season winning four stages in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the bunch sprint over Petacchi three times and was able to get into a break and avoid cross winds for a fourth stage win. Boonen missed the podium only once when [...]

(pic from letour.fr)
The sprinters battle is leaning heavily to Tom Boonen as he took his second consecutive stage win ahead of arch-rival super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. The sprint was almost an exact repeat of yesterday’s stage win minus the brutal crash by Tom Steels which resulted in a broken collarbone.
The two wins so early [...]

Boonen Congratulates Team: pic from letour.fr
The “battle of sprinters” is taking shape as Tom Boonen took the first round in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the overall lead after winning the stage beating Alessandro Petacchi in a mass gallup to the line.

The Tour of Qatar is the first showdown between Alessandro Petacchi and Tom Boonen. Last year the two had some head to head battles leading up to the first big classic of the year. Milan San-Remo was supposed to be a showdown of the two sprinters, but Boonen’s Quick-Step teammate spoiled the battle with a [...]