And now for a little soccer fun...

I just can't get enough of the Icelandic Soccer celebrations.

Post Tour

I was going to do a post on all my thoughts of the Tour, blah, blah, blah, then I stumbled on a little more info on the Jens crash, which explains this. And then there was more Jens videos. Oh Jens.
My only regret for this tour, besides not enough Jens, was that I didn't get to mention Lars "here comes the" Boom.

Oh Alberto,

you were suppose to put minutes into Andy on the time trial. Will this now be known as the Unchained Tour?
Ryder did really well, moving up to 7th, but that won't be without some questions as well.
File this under another unusual Dave Z interview. There's a lot in that file.
-Star

Col du Tourmalet

Andy and Al made the rest of the peloton look like they had tassels at the end of their handle bars and a basket in front. They are so the top 2 riders in this years Tour. And given a chance the sheep could have totally taken them down. Why do the sheep in France look a lot like goats?

Carlos Sastre did a hell of a impression of Jens Voigt today. And I do have to agree with him, the Tour is a bike race, not a bike ride.

Riders that impressed me today (besides the A's):
Sammy Sanchez - I totally thought he was having a heart attack, but he just crashed and had the wind knocked out of him, and then finishes in the 5.
Chris Horner - Jumped all the way into the top 10 in the GC.

Chris is a happy dude. Last year's Tour of California. Just hangin' in the parking lot.

The winner doesn't always have the best salute across the line.
Jens, Jens, Jens, I had to watch this a couple of times. Good stuff.
-Star

Move on Andy, Al and fans,

the French press said so. Because they want to talk about all their riders winning stages, as they did again today. It's like they feel at home.
Some teams have tension when riders don't see eye to eye, and some teams are AG2R. ** clenched teeth** Don't ...... pissoff .... the .... Irish.
Have I mentioned that Thor is a rock star? He's back in green!!
Ivan Basso's not feeling good. I think he needs a hug.
-Star

Little Thomas Voeckler..

has it been that long since we last saw your odd, painful peddling style up a large mountain in France? I swear it was just yesterday we saw him swerving up a mountain singing to himself.
The big controversy is Alberto Contandor attacking Andy Schleck when he lost his chain. I don't think it constituted booing at the yellow jersey presentation. They are both kind of showoffs. But now Andy have a belly full of anger and he will take his revenge. I prefer my belly full of BLTs, less indigestion.
The pride of Canada is in 10th!!!! Rock on Ryder, just don't get too excited.
I will miss Robbie Hunter, who else is going to find out what riders do on their rest day?
Has anyone else missed George this year?
-Star

Aww... why did you have to do that...

C'mon, Andy, why'd you have to go and cut all your hair off?? You have to get to about 40 sec into this video.

Another rule....

no headbutting. Add that to the no crying and not motors in cycling. I'm sure no punching is also a rule. It's hard to keep up with all of them.
To the stage: Tyler was robbed. He could have given Cav a run for his money if he wouldn't have been slowed by Renshaw and Ali-Jet. Renshaw acctually looked behind him and saw Tyler coming up and pushed him into the barriers. Not cool.
It's acctually kind of nice to have a rider kicked out of the tour for aggressive rideing rather then doping, with I guess is a form of aggressive riding.
And for something completely different, humor.
-Star

Happy Bastille Day!

Usually the stage is tailor made of a French rider...but they've already won 3 stages and have had the yellow jersey, they can get over it. Instead a Portuguese won.
Cyclists are crazy, some are more crazy then others.
Have I mentioned how awesome Jens Voigt is? On Tuesdays stage Jens burned 6000 calories and when Robbie Ventura asked how he did it...Jens just told his legs to shut up and prayed that they'd listen to him.
Way to pay attention Boo, Tyler Farrar is only 12 minutes out of the lanton rouge.
-Star

In other news...

I thought on rest day we would hear about Mardy winning his tournament. Had to beat Olivier Rochus (5' 6") in the final. Would like to see him play Dr. Ivo (6'10").

Also, Lil, have kind of lost touch with the NBA Free Agency market. From what I hear on ESPN, only like 2 guys have done anything. Some dude formerly (and never to return to) from Cleveland and some other tall guy.

But I want to know what my boy Lou is up to. He's a small fry, (not you Channing, I said fry, not Frye) and they don't get any love.

-boo

Happy Birthday, Big Guy. I know you don't read this, but just in case....

What's the price of your soul?

I haven't found the right price for mine, yet. But the price of Lance Armstong's is 7 Tours de France, fame and fortune. Last year the Devil just chuckled at Lance and gave him a taste, and today the Devil just got sick of him asking.
Andy Schleck got to show off his guns in victory salute today.
So what's up with Alberto? I don't know for sure, but I always have an opinion. I don't think he quite had the legs, they said it was slightly flat right at the finish and that's not AC's strong suit. As well as AC covered a lot of moves in the last few k's that Andy Schleck did not have to. I do know that AC does not want the yellow jersey yet, even though his team looked very impressive in the mountains today. Andy does have a strong team that could defend a yellow jersey, but Cadel doesn't have the team to defend it, especially for 2 weeks.
Why Dave Z has been minutes behind the peloton on every stage.
Folks on the side of final mountain: a knight, a fan waving a German flag while wearing American flag hot pants (had to check replay on my DVR for that one), a dinosaur, lots of other drunk Europeans.
-Star

Ali-Jet won again

Was a boring stage and I wasn't going to post, but then found this video of Dave Z, and that led me to a bunch of behind the Argyle scenes by Robbie Hunter (my favorite South African cyclist).
Enjoy.
-Star

Thor is the God of Thunder

And when you go and piss him off and neutralize a stage he could win, he'll just go out and win the next stage. I don't think Cav has a prayer trying to get the green jersey from Thor. Cav's a bit of a pansy.
Ryder is a rockstar.
The cobbles broke one of the Schlecks. And Jens is not happy about that.
Garmin-Transitions would like a do-over on this Tour. After today, so would Lance.
Chris Horner likes to talk, but isn't that good at predictions.
-Star

Bloody Hell...

More crashes, one really bad one, left some in tears, others pissed and sent some to the hospital. We were left with 1 rider actually racing to the finish and everyone else protesting.
Just wait until they reach the pave tomorrow.
-Star

There was a crash caused by a dog,

then in the last 3 k there was another crash around a corner, then another crash, and another crash. I think I'm getting road rash just writing about it.
Ali-Jet won the stage, but that isn't the story.

-Star

SPARTICUS!

Fabian Cancellarra put his stamp on the Tour prologue, soundly beating the field. Fab's quote at the finish "After the race, they scanned my bike, and I said to them 'You better scan me, because I am the motor.'"
Surprises:
Tyler Farrar - that he did so well.
Bradley Wiggins - that he did so poorly.
Dave Zabriskie - lost 40 sec in less then 9 k.
And the really big losers where these boys.

In other sports news, congrats to Serena Williams for taking it to that poor little Russian girl. And a "what the what?" to Brazil and Argentina. Now they're going to take it out on some rain forest and plant some soybeans.

-Star

It's coming....

With le Tour just days away everyone is narrowing down their list of riders to watch. Requirements to make those lists probably aren't the same as mine. I doubt dimples, eyes and nice grills are taken into much account by them.
In no particular order the rider, nationality, team and what not:
Gregory Rast - Swiss - RadioShack. Look at the jawline. You'll see him in the front during the flat stages if RadioShack is in yellow.
Yaroslav Popovich - Ukranian - RadioShack. He just puts a smile on my face. When the road turns up he'll be helping the big shots his team, but after awhile he'll drop back.
Ivan Basso - Italian - Liquigas. He actually is really good, winning the Giro in May, but that's not how he made the list. Watch for him near the podium.
Gerald Ciolek - German - Milram. His nickname is Mr. Adorable and these kind of names aren't just given out willy-nilly. He's a sprinter, so he'll be around at the end of flat stages.
George Hincapie - American - BMC. He's Cap't America, the only super power he doesn't have is the ability to avoid crashes...dang, that's the only one he really needs. Look for him to ride in the front for kilometer after kilometer after kilometer.
Thor Hushovd - Norway - Cervelo. He's the God of Thunder. He'll be battling the other spinters on the flat stages, or making crazy breakaways on mountain stages to win the green jersey.
Fabian Cancellara - Swiss - Saxo Bank. He's Fabulous, really that's his name, he usually just goes by his middle name, Fabian. I can guarantee he'll be in the front over the pave in stage 3, and will win the time trials.
Tyler Farrar - American - Garmin-Transitions. Get over the freckles and red hair. When he crosses the line ahead of Cavendish in a sprint everyone smiles.
Mick Rogers - Australian - Columbia. He's cute and Australian...need I say more. He could make a run at the podium.

On a sad note: my boy Chechu Rubiera will not be in the peloton at le Tour and I'm not sure how I'm going to tell my eyes that this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCK!!!!
-Star