Cycling Commentary

Contador Hangs On! Leipheimer Wins

What an incredible time trial! Leipheimer put in the best time and almost edged Cadel out of 2nd place overall on general classification. He won the stage, but he almost won the Tour de France with an amazing time trial performance where he averaged 51.3kph or 32.92 miles per hour - the 3rd fastest Tour time trial.

Meanwhile, Contador hung on by 20 seconds to his lead, losing 1:30 to the Aussie, Cadel Evans.

Now only 30 second separates the first, second and third place on the GC. Amazing!

What lies in store tomorrow?

Contador vs. Evans, The Final Showdown

Alberto Contador of Discovery Channel and Cadel Evans of Predictor Lotto will battle it out for the honor of wearing the Tour de France yellow jersey in the penultimate stage of the Tour, the individual time trial from Cognac to Angoulême. Covering 55.5km (34.46 miles), the individual time trial will be one of the most exciting time trials since Lemond beat Fignon in 1989 or when Lance beat Ullrich in 2003.

Presently, Contador has a 1:50 minute advantage over evans. Evans was savvy enough to pick up three seconds at the finish in today's race, when a small gap occured in the peloton. That three seconds could prove vital in Contador's battle to keep the maillot jaune.

Cycling Commentary looked back at the last two times Contador and Evans went head to head in an individual time trial. In the Tour of Romandie this past April, Evans beat Contador by 51 seconds over a 20.4km course. At that rate, Evans could expect to take a total of 2:18 out of Contador, and he would win the Tour by 28 seconds!

However, the recent Tour de France individual time trial in Albi is probably more instructive. Over 54Kkm, Evans beat Contator by a total of 1:04. At that rate, Contador could expect retain his yellow jersy and win the Tour de France by 44 to 45 seconds. Contador will have the added benefit of wearing the maillot jaune, which always seems to give it's wearer the more power than he would otherwise have.

In any event, the final time trial is sure to be a nail biter!

Lemond Fingers Contador

Greg Lemond is out of line - way out of line.

In an interview featured on cyclingnews.com, Lemond "insisted that the riders know very well who dopes and who doesn't, suggesting that 'it's obvious there are still dopers in the peloton.' He explained that Contador weighs the same as Rasmussen, and both climbed at the same speed as Pantani. 'That's sufficient for the red flag to come up.' He also reminded us that Contador's name came up in connection with Operación Puerto, but was cleared after the 2006 Tour. 'I am not pointing the finger at him [Contador]. I am simply saying if Rasmussen got caught then we also need to have a very close look at his competitors.'"

What about Cadel Evans? He went up the mountains almost as fast as the others and he weighs 10 kilograms more than Contador and Rasmussen? So, Cadel's power to weight ratio is likely the same or higher than Contador's and Rasmussen's. Yet, "everyone knows" that Cadel is clean. So what gives?

How can this guy impunge the yellow jersey with impunity and get away with it? Likely a doper himself, Lemond appears to be after anyone and everyone who is a better athlete that he was. He should be slapped with a slander suit and told to shut-up forever.

Contador in Yellow!

Alberto Contador pulled on his first yellow jersey of the Tour de France after completing today's long stage from Pau to Castelsarrasin, a stage which saw no yellow jersey have Rasmussen was sacked by his team and ousted by the Tour.

The young Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team rider deserves to be in yellow. He rode strong in the Alps and the Pyrenees giving Rasmussen a run for his money. His performance has something to behold as he repeatedly animated this Tour de France. A strong time trial on Saturday should yield an amazing Tour de France win for the young Contador.

Tour de France General Classification after Stage 17:
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 80.42.08
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 1.53
3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.49
4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 6.02
5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6.29
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10.18
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 11.36
8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.50
9 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 13.31

King of the Mountains Classification after Stage 17:
1 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 206 pts
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 128
3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 104
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 92

Sprint Classification after Stage 17:
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 212 pts
2 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 190
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 187

Team Classification after Stage 17:
1 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 242.20.41
2 Team CSC 15.22
3 Caisse D'Epargne 16.48
4 Rabobank 35.00
5 Euskaltel-Euskadi 39.04

Tour de France General Classification Analysis, Second Rest Day

The rest day at the Tour de France does not usually produce a change in the General Classification. But with the revelation that Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for a homoglbous blood transfusion, Team Astana pulled out of the Tour and the General Classification changed.

With Kloden and Kashechkin now out of the Tour, the Top 10 of the Tour de France General Classification now looks like this:

1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 69.52.14
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.23
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 4.00
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 5.25
5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 6.46
6 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7.27
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 8.24
8 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 9.21
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10.41
10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.29

Discovery Channel now has three riders in the Top 10, and they now lead the team competition.

The burden will be on Discovery tomorrow to attack Michael Rasmussen throughout the final stage in the Pyrenees. If Levi Leipheimer wants to get on the podium, then he will need to attack Cadel Evans early and often. In fact, Leipheimer would be wise to see if Rabobank will let him go early in the race. If they let him go, then he has an opportunity to pick up considerable time on GC. If they don't let him go, Discovery should repeatedly attack Rasmussen and Evans to see if they can cause them to crack.

Vino aside, the last day in the Pyrenees should be an exciting one to behold.

Rasmussen Dropped from Tour de France, Sacked by Rabobank

Cycling Commentary was about to post an entry about how Michael Rasmussen deserved to win the Tour de France after his amazing victory atop the Col D'Aubisque. Rasmussen showed himself to be the strongest man, surviving repeated attacks from Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador.

And then, Cyclingnews.com announed that Michael Rasmussen had been dropped from the Tour de France and sacked from his Rabobank team. To quote Phil Liggett, the English voice of cycling around the world from 2003, "What is this Tour de France?"

Apparently, this Tour de France is scandal-ridden as the UCI and race organizer ASO bump up their all out war on doping. First, T-Mobile's Sinkewitz was sacked for an out of competition positive test for exogenous testosterone. Then, yesterday, Vinokourov was booted for a positive test result for homologous blood transfusions. The entire Astana team was booted from the Tour along with Vino. Today, Moreni and his Cofidis team packed their bags as the result of Moreni's positive test for testosterone usage.

And now, Rasmussen has been sacked by his team for lying to them about his whereabouts during the month of June. Apparently, he was in Italy. He told them Mexico. Good-bye Michael Rasmussen. Good-bye yellow jersey.

What a shame! Cycling Commentary was just starting to warm-up to the guy, or at least respect him for his courage and strength in the mountains.

For a complete news report visit Velonews.com

Vinokourov Out of Tour

Alexander Vinokourov of Team Astana amazed us with his victory in the Albi time trial on Saturday. He amazed us again yesterday with his victory in Loudenvielle.

Bandaged and bloody, Vino apparently had a little help in the form of an autoglobous blood transfusion. Team Astana has pulled out of the Tour, and the Tour is in an uproar with yet another protaganist testing positive for doping.

Links to the tragic news can be found here at CyclingNews.com and VeloNews.

Cycling Commentary shares David Millar's sentiments:
"What timing, huh? This is just fucking great."

He continued:
"I'm gutted. I really feel like crying right now."

From Phil Liggett:
"Paul, Bob and I are, for once, speechless. We are all very upset and such a stupid action at a time the sport looked to be putting its own house in order. It is incomprehensible that Vinokourov could do such a thing when he must have known he was under suspicion because of his dealing with disgraced doctor Michele Ferrari in Italy. He must have known he would be tested at every opportunity and the time trial was the perfect occasion."

Cycling cannot take much more of this nonsense.

Classic Vino

Alexander Vinokourov just completed a classic win on Stage 15 of the Tour de France, going out front with an escape group, then attacking forcefully and repeatedly on the final climb up the Peyresourde to drop his counterparts, before descending rapidly Loudenvielle for his second stage win. His win is similar to his victory in Gap in 2003 and Briancon in 2005. Classic Vino!

Meanwhile, Contador is teaching Rasmussen what it means to have the yellow jersey by attacking him viciously on the climb of the Peyresourde and on the decent to Loudenvielle. Great racing!

Contador and Discovery Animate Plateau-de-Beille

Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team did Lance Armstrong proud today. Popovych lead an elite group of top GC contenders up the Plateau-de-Beille, dropping Kloden and then Kasheiken before Leipheimer and Contador put the hammer down to drop all but the race leader, Michael Rasmussen, and King of the Mountains wannabe, Maurice Soler.

Contador's attacking style was impressive, so impressive that he put over 2 minutes into Cadel Evans. Contador won the stage and took over Evans second place on GC.

In the process, Discovery won the team competition for the day. Discovery now leads the overall team competition, and they have three men in the top 10 - Contador in 2nd, Leipheimer in 3rd and Popovych in 10th. Impressive, to say the least.

Tomorrow's massive mountain stage finishing in Loudenvielle presents an opportunity for Discovery to gain more time. However, given Vino's on again, off again performance, we may see the Kazak animate the stage as well.

Tour de France Stage 14: Mazamet to Plateau-de-Beille

The categoy 2 Côte de Saint-Sarraille taking place in the early part of Stage 14 from Mazamet to Plateau-de-Beillethe is perfect spring board for king of the mountains' contenders to go off the front in the early part of today's stage. Popovych will likely go and Soler is probable to follow. Valverde and Mayo, both of whom lost considerable time in yesterday's time trial in Albi, will also try to go. The peloton may let them.

The real fireworks will take place on the final climb up the 7.9% Plateau-de-Beillethe. Look for Vino, Contador, Kloden, Leipheimer, Valverde and Mayo to light it up.