Captain Americas

George Hincapie looks good in Stars and Stripes, or not, but he got pipped on the line by Matthew Busche of RadioShack. Busche just came off a Tour of California ride that put his teammates on the top 2 steps of the podium. He's young (only 26) and from Wisconsin AND he got 3rd in the Time Trial two days before. You may not know him know, but someday you will....when I get my picture taken with him.
Now, Dave "crazy legs" Zabriskie, everybody knows him and he's back as Cap't America...for the SIXTH TIME. He's a crazy maniac. Emphasis on the crazy.
-Star

Yesterday was a really good sports day...

...for me at least. It would have been great except that the Royals lost in extra innings, stinkin' Orioles.
It all started in Italy, thanks to Tyler Farrar taking his second stage in the Giro. Garmin so dominated that his leadout Julian "Kiwi Guy" Dean ended up getting 3rd. And looks who's pretty in pink. And look who's just pretty.
Today, on the other hand, was fruit basket upset. Long story short: a huge break got a bunch of time and was never caught. The contenders that had lost a bunch of time earlier (Wiggins and Sastre) are now back in it with Vino, Cadel and Ivan. Seriously? These guys are professionals?
Second, the Tour of California had a pivotal stage that was won by Dave Zabriskie in a break ahead of Levi Leipheimer (3 time winner on TOC) and Mick Rogers (a cutie pie). Oh the joy on Dave's face. And oh, the joy on my face to see Chechu again. Steven Cozza is musta-tastic again!!
Today's stage was won by Chicchi over Cav, that's unusual.
I would have posted all this last night, except I was watching the Huskers take the bats to Creighton (sorry Jock, they're even too obscure for you).

Tour of Missouri - in the beginning

Tour of Missouri: we came, we stalked & then we left. I thought I'd give ourselves a day to make sure we don't get any restraining orders, but where do I start. I have to say that next time boo will not let me drive her car as we get close to the stage, I was so excited to see Team Saxo Bank out warming up that I kept starting out in 3rd (but I only killed it once!).

The first stage we went to was the individual time trial in Sedalia, MO. We got there early, which is important. We saw the whole Team Cervelo show up, so they were our first victims. Thor was there having coffee (surprise) and I got my pic with Heinrich Hausler. He's the cutie that leads out Thor on all the sprints. It looked like he just woke up, which I think he did.



There was slight confusion when I was going for a pic with Steve Cozza. He arrived in a car with Dave Z, & there was a miscommunication between boo & I. She followed Dave and I talked Steve into a pic, so when we turned around and smiled boo was gone. We were a little out of practice. But that is why Steve doesn't look very thrilled.




There was fire sale on Astana merchandise that we were going to buy them out and send it all to Lilly. hehehe

Cycling...it was a good weekend!

For those not keeping track at home it was a good cycling weekend. In the first 2 stages of the Vuelta we had some good-looking winners. The fabulous Fabian Cancellara won stage 1 and Mr Adorable (and yes he does have cow spots on his jersey) was an upset winner of the stage 2 sprint.
In the US Championship we had Dave Zabriskie 4-peat as the champion of the time trial. He is Captain America of the time trial and put all others to shame, the second place was +40 sec back.
And the big, sexy George Hincapie is back as the champion of the road race. He looks great in a cape!!

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

Tour de France - Stage 1

I don't think anyone is really surprised that the fabulous Fabian Cancellara won the stage. Seriously he's a rocket on the time trial bike!
I think Christian Vande Velde is a little disappointed that his 57 sec. back on the stage, but he's 3 sec. in front of Andy Schleck, who is Saxo Banks leader.
Who's the leader of Astana? Right now it's Alberto Contador, but their 4 main riders are within 22 sec. of each other.
Who can pass up a Dave Zabriskie interview? Not me!
Here's good article on Tyler Farrar. I really hope he can win a stage this year.

Lil here - Astana looks good, but also looks destined to implode. How Johan is gonna juggle those egos? Fabian was fabulous, even with the scruffy stache. Also, they really went crazy with the podium girls outfits. Did you see those bows on the KoM? wha?

'staches: tell me why again?

Dback's not-a-rookie reliever Clay Zavada has been getting alot of publicity lately for his mustache. It's very old school. He has a great life story (read this article from the NY Times). 

But in the best of obscure sporting mustache gallery there must be room for Dave Z. Lots of room. Also for his teammate Steve Cozza (thanks star)

Of course there is one cyclist that could totally pull it off.

¡Jens!

Giro Update (stage 16) by star

Update to the update:
OK, now I've actually watched the stage, so:
Carlos Sastre (I didn't know cowboys were cycling fans) is a monster and pulled out a can of 'look at me ride really fast uphill like I did last July".
Menchov might be the real deal, he kept on Deluca's wheel the whole way up, then took a second on the line. And kudos to Rabobank for replacing the orange with pink on the shorts to match the jersey.
Popo, poor Popo, I think he was trying to coast the last 2 k of the climb after getting caught by Carlos. I have that same feeling the second I walk though the door at work sometimes.

OMG, Denis smiled. It's a good thing they have cameras over there in Italy or I wouldn't believe it!
Poor Levi, I think he just pissed any chance of winning the Giro. Maybe he can get on the podium with an attack on one of the remaining stages and a phenomenal TT.
Here's the video of Levi, Lance and Jens. It's pretty good, but I don't understand about 25% of what Jens is saying and I watched it twice. But I did understand him back when he called me crazy! Pot calling kettle black!
The video from earlier with DZ mentioned him singing, sometimes I'm glad pictures don't have audio.
Chechu was solid today, he's now sitting 47th, 1:15:51 back.

Giro Update (stage 15) by star

Ivan Basso tried to make up some time to the leaders. But all was for not.
Come on Denis, I know this is your job, but seriously, crack a smile. Maybe if the winner's jersey was dark brown and he was given a bottle of vodka instead of champagne he'd smile. Or he's probably disappointed on how the pink clashes with the blue and orange of the kit. He's just going to have to suck it up.
Tyler Farrar is not going to win a stage at this years Giro. Because he's gone home and taken David Millar and Cameron Meyer with him. That leaves the only riders left for Garmin are Danny Pate (the pride and joy of Co Springs (& cute)), Dave Z (he's crazy), Julian Dean (he's a kiwi), Bradley Wiggins (thank you for getting a hair cut), and Tommy Danielson (he's a pocket rider). They better do something this last week.
Here's a good video with Dave Z, Lance and Levi. Just slightly awkward, but then again DZ is involved.
Chechu is not doing well. He ended up finishing with the sprinters 22 min back. He's now 57th, 1:03:11 back. He must be sick. Or he misses me.

Happy Birthday to Frankie!!!

Giro Update (stage 12) by star

Danilo de Luca was dressed like a pink nightmare. Ok, so he didn't have footie pajamas or floppy ears, but he was rather pink.

Levi (he looks so small) did very well, just not good enough to win the stage or be in the top 2 of the GC. But we've got 4 mountain top finishes in the last week. That's right, I didn't stutter, 4 mountain top finishes. This race is far from done.

Ivan Basso was on a bike today. He makes my eyes smile.

Janez 'The Fencepost' Brajkovic got 4th on the stage. (5'10", 127 lb) I think he's gained some weight!

Dave Z didn't really do anything today. But I thought this was a cool pic. At the Tour of CA he had the red, white and blue argyle skin suit, now his helmet is red, white & blue. Maybe by the Tour de France, he'll get the matching booties!!

Oh ya, Rabobank's Denis Menchov won the stage and the maglia rosa. I couldn't find any good pictures of him....but at least he's is better looking then 'The Chicken'.

Oh Chechu, my Chechu is sitting 44th at 32:14 back. And he had a bad day yesterday, that's why he lost so much time.