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 [...]

Here are some more great Tour de France photos including some very cool tilt shift effects from Boston.com. This is just the solution to your Tour de France withdrawal.

Frank Schleck of Luxemburg, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, center, Sylvester Szmyd of Poland, rear, and Carlos Sastre of Spain, front, speed down Bonette_Restefond pass [...]

(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 [...]

The long breakaway worked and Marcus Burghardt won another stage for Columbia which is having an awesome Tour de France. Burghardt’s fortune is better than last year when he hit a dog.

The crazy descent of the Cole de la Bonnette featured the spectacular looking crash of John lee Augustyn who took the corner a little too fast. Thankfully Augustyn was not injured and was able to get back on with a new bike. The team did recover the bike, so there is no souvenir waiting for [...]

(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 [...]

Cadel Evans is 1:34 from reclaiming the Yellow Jersey during Saturday’s TT. Right now, Evans can chill for two days without the pressure of the Yellow Jersey. The Aussie rider is finding things tough with the throngs of press always clamoring for interviews. Two videos show just how prickly Evans is at the moment. Can’t [...]

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 [...]