Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Hornman is my name for the superfan who runs along the peloton with a giant flag and huge antlers attached to a football helmet. He has been a busy guy at the Grand Tours running along side the peloton with his flag and holding the torch for a Lance Armstrong return which is now happening.
During [...]

REUTERS/Felix Ordonez
Look out Lance, Astana has a multiple Grand Tour winner on the roster. Alberto Contador became one of five people to ever win all three Grand Tours. Contador won the Giro and Vuelta this year after missing out on defending his Tour de France title in July due to some odd reasoning by the [...]

Paolo Bettini found his winning ways ahead of Phillipe Gilbert, Alejandro valverde and Oscar Friere in a tough sprint during the Vuelta’s Stage 6 into Toledo. The final kilometers included an attack by the unlucky Damiano Cunego who suffered through crashes two days ago that left him a few minutes behind in GC. Bettini’s win [...]

The battle of multiple stage winning Spaniards got a twist as Levi Leipheimer took over the Vuelta lead after a brilliant time trial performance in the Vuelta’s fifth stage. Alberto Contador is sitting down in fourth place, while Alejandro Valverde is in third.

DIEGO TUSON/AFP/Getty Images
A move to new Russian team Katusha next season did not get in the way of Filippo Pozzato’s teams on the Liquigas cycling team as they help propel him to the first Golden Jersey of the Vuelta. Perhaps the power of the new mustache helped get the win, but the margin as seen [...]

OSE LUIS ROCA/AFP/Getty Images

Team Milram is in a groove at the Vuelta. They have the big train rolling along and some of the pesky train breaking sprinters such as Oscar Friere are gone. So that just leaves new Italian Sprinting Alpha Male Daniele Bennati to contend with. His Lampre team is good, but not Milram [...]

(AFP/Jose Luis Roca)

Oh, AleJet. Your afterburners have not roared in a while. Not since the ban from the Tour de France for Sabutimol has AleJet been able to show the rest of the peloton the backside of his shorts. Not until today. After being involved in a doping issue that combined with Zabel’s EPO admission [...]

REUTERS/Joseba Etxaburu

Ahh, the Vuelta is sometimes the place of redemption. A cyclist having a bad year can go to the last Grand Tour and make a season positive. Denis Menchov is trying to help Rabobank forget about Micheal Rasmussen and Roberto Heras. Menchov looks like he is bulding a healthy lead in the Vuelta and [...]

Alexandre Vinokourov won his first Grand Tour in his own way. The man who is always on the attack was finally able to put it all together and upend the Vuelta just as it looked like an Alejandro Valverde coronation. The Spaniards must be crying in their tapas and wine while the fighting Kazak is [...]

(Pic from Yahoo! News)
Third Grand Tour is a charm for Danilo DiLuca. After much promise for a great performance in the Giro and the Tour de France Danilo DiLuca came up short. Illness and bad form made DiLuca’s attempt to improve on his 2005 magical year impossible. Today “The Killer” took control in the Vuelta’s [...]