Le Tour 2010
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Velocipede at 07.24.10 - 6:37 pm
So what did you think of the Tour this year? I thought it was an excellent course this year that thoroughly tested all of the riders. I mean, climbing the Tourmalet twice? I was really hoping for a more epic battle in the mountains where either Andy Schleck or Alberto Contador's head exploded. The fact that the yellow jersey came down to a dropped chain was pretty disappointing. Too bad cycling isn't NASCAR so they could wave a yellow flag and pull out the pace car. I was pulling for Schleck, but I don't blame Contador for doing what he had to do. It's good to know that even the pros sometimes blow shifts and drop their chain at the worst moment. If I were Schleck, my stomach would also be full of anger. It was incredible to see Schleck give everything he had until the very end, he's a true athlete. I'm not mad at Lance Armstrong either. It's too bad that all of his luck ran out at once. If anyone can rest on their laurels, he can. I'm also glad that there was no doping scandals this year (yet).
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Very exciting tour this year, best I've seen since I started following sport, which admittedly isn't that long ago.
I was really rooting for Schleck, was bummed at the mechanical mishap, but I think Contador proved he was the overall stronger rider, but not by very much, and had no stage wins to take home with his yellow. Andy pulled himself inside out the TT and was at one point the virtual leader on the road with the first time check, which is a huge step up from when he lost significant time in the TT last year. I think Andy takes it next year, he was so close this year already and seems be getting stronger.
Every contest was very close all the way into the last week, with yellow in flux, green hoping around, as was mountain points. Only thing that was totally locked up with Andy as best young rider. The points jersey, which I love to follow, could theoretically still change hands in Paris tomorrow. I was rooting for Thor, but he was screwed by missing out on the stage win he was setup for on stage 2 that was neutralized where the pure sprinters had been gapped, and I think his surgery didn't leave him enough time to get his full sprint back, he was fading on a lot of the purely flat sprints.
Armstrong's reign is officialy over, but it was good to see him give one last kick in a breakaway. I really think Bruyneel could have come up with something better on that stage than just have Horner and Armstrong sit in break whole time though, like sending Horner up the road to force Case D'Espana to pull because of team classification fight and then Armstrong could launch a second attack just as they reeled in Horner, and go into TT mode. There was no way Armstrong could take it as a breakaway sprint finish, he doesn't have a sprinting edge.
Also the French may still not have a serious overall contender, but with taking home 6 stage wins, and the KOM, they were pretty much on fire with their best tour in a long time. Love seeing break away threats like Voeckler that manage to exploit the right situation at the right time for a commanding ride in solo finish.
Someday I want to go see the tour in person. I saw Paris Roubaix in person this year, and I love the mad house atmosphere of crazy euro cycling fans.
GarySe7en07.24.10 - 9:11 pm
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