Who looks good wrapped in a rainbow?

This guy!!
Ok, I've been needing to post for awhile and Thor winning a stage is a great excuse. He looked good, jumped all over my favorite Slovokian rider Peter Sagan at the finish in the 3rd stage of the Tour of Swiss. There's 3 Americans in the top 15, but 6 stage to go.
In the Criterium Du Dauphine that finished on Sunday, Brit Bradley Wiggins won it all. He put a minute in the peloton in the time trial, then wouldn't let anyone get away from him on the climbs. Watch for him in France next month!!
Nadal and Li Na won the French Open. Good for them, except no one in the U.S. paid attention, which should be expected. Seriously, they play on dirt.
-Star

Happy Giro!!

Yes, today is the opening day of the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia!! Only it wasn't in Italy, it was in Amsterdam, that's close to Italy right?
Bradley Wiggins won the stage with a moster ride that barely beat a new American rider on the BMC Team, Brent Bookwalter. I've never heard of him either.
The top rider in argyle was David Millar in 7th, 6 sec back. Gustav Larsson ended up in 8th, 7 sec back, remeber him? He's tall!
Vino was somewhere in the top 10, just to make sure we don't forget about him. Another rider that we'll never forget was there too, to make our eyes happy.

One stage down, 65 more to go!

Okay...I'm not ready to be over it

Here's a picture that (almost) perfectly illustrates one of my dream scenarios - with this slight tweaking - Wiggo on a podium and Dave Z standing by with torch to light Jonathan's sideburns.

Bradley way to double fist them beers - I imagine that after finishing the TdF that is a group of skinny cheap drunks.

Lilly, !Jens! has found a way to beat Astana!! And he's recovering. - Star

Maybe Tour of Missouri!! WWJD?!?! Get back on his bike and say "Shut up body and just pedal!!" - boo

Tour de France - Stage 20

Bradley Wiggins, you have made all of Britain so proud. Phil & Paul could hardly contain themselves.
I kind of thought that the climb would switch things up a little more then just switching 5th & 6th place. It looked like Frank Schleck had a bad day, which kept him from jumping over Wiggo & Lance.
It is good to see Little Al being a good teammate.....it only took 20 stages, but still he learned.
Chill the champagne, it's on to Paris. -Star

Must be that titanium plate blocks the empathy & strategy part of his brain.

Way to go Wiggo - 4 seconds is 4 seconds. - Lil

Tour de France - The Queen Stage

We'll start out with the important happenings of today's stage:
-John Elway is a cycling fan. Check out the VS coverage with 114 K to go.
-Everyones favorite Lanterne Rouge, Robert Kenny van Hummel crashed out of the stage with a cut on his knee. I know he didn't land on his face at 70 kpm, but he also isn't !Jens!.
-Thor the God of Thunder is a rockstar. I would like to see Cav solo in front of the peloton up a couple of cat. 1 climbs. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen.
-Note to any future teammates of Little Al: don't be any good, because if you get close to him in the GC of a major race he will attack and drop you. So don't even offer a raincoat on a climb to him, he may think it has rocks in its pockets and throw it back at you.
-I don't know if it was the fact that VS has a pair of Brits as commentators (I heart Phil & Paul), but they were swearing that Astana and Saxo Bank were very worried about the fact that Bradley Wiggins had been able to hang with the big climbers so far this tour. They believe that Wiggo will be able to kill the ITT tomorrow. I know Phil doesn't always call riders by the correct name, but I believe him.
-Dream scenario: Both of the Schlecks pull a Rassmussen on the ITT. hehehe -Star
I am not sure why I harbor this intense dislike of the Schlecks. They seem like nice enough kids. I think it stems back from Frank making that ridiculous tough face and flexing his non-existent muscles when he won that stage two years ago. Creeped me out, and I can't get past it.
I know Lil is a non-Lance fan, but he really is having a surprising Tour. He is remarkably resilient and I do hope for a podium finish for him. But even if he puts a couple minutes back into the Schlecks, they will take him back out on Mont Ventoux.
And is Nibaldi that tiny, or is LA just that much bigger? He looked like a giant on the run in into the finish. -boo (Is Jock alive?!?!? I'm getting worried...)

Frank Schleck went to "Kobe & Pau's Lamest Faux-Tough Faces School" - he got an A+ - Lil

Oooo yeah, that's the one. *** shudder, skin crawling***

Tour de France - Boom, Boom and out go the lights!

Ok, Alberto is serious about stopping people from asking 'who is the leader of Astana'. Seriously. Do you want him to ride away really fast uphill again? There are 3 more mountain stages left and he's not afraid of riding alone.
Oh, and he got a really cool prize at the finish, a St Bernard! The dog probably weighs as much as him.
Bradley "Bloody" Wiggins, wow, he can ride uphill really well. Right now he's the only thing keeping Astana from having the top 3 spots. -Star
Little Al was pretty defiant on the podium. As if to say... "that all you got, old man??.." And apparently it was. LA looked a little teary in his interview, as it he just got a giant kick in the pants. But he really could hang onto a podium finish. He still climbs pretty good for being away for as long as he was.
And according to Wikipedia, a full grown St. Bernard weighs 160-250#. Way more than Alberto. - boo
I have to give a 'well done' to Kenny Robert van Hemmel who by losing 45 min today solidified himself as the Lanton Rouge (last place rider). The closest rider is over 40 min ahead.
Well done David Millar, we know how hard it is to write a humorous blog.-Star

I'm a little late on this - surprised, but not really, but kinda with how easy Al rode away. Its his tour now. Will be interesting to see Lance ride for him, it will be frustrating & annoying listening to the american press try to figure it out. If Astana gets all the podium places I'm gonna throw up. yuck.

Oh, and Fab Fabian is a stud. again.-Lil

Rest Day?

Frankie Andreu was interviewed on NPR this morning and referred to LA and Little Al as "frienemies".

Very "Gossip Girls". And he also said that as the tour goes on, it will be much lighter on the "friend" side and much heaver on the "enemy" part. He stopped short of calling it, but I had the feeling he was surprised by Lance's form, but thought Contador would take care of things in the Alps. -boo

I know he had a pretty funky haircut earlier in the season, but Bradley Wiggins is quickly rising up my list of favorite Gamin-Slipstream cyclists. Imagine Levi asking Dave Zabriskie if Wiggs crazy. Ironic, but I think Dave can recognize crazy.
-star

Whew, rest day. I needed this.

Great articles on Wiggins, sounds like a very cool guy and looks like he should be in a Guy Richie movie. Definitely agree that crazy recognizes crazy.

Read in the NYT this weekend the Johan said "what happens on the bus, stays on the bus", so the Astana bus is like Vegas? But without the slot machines & showgirls I assume. - Lil