Go Slipstream! That is awesome!

Ricco (ITA) Wins.
Christian Vande Velde (USA) 2nd in GC.
Pellizotti (ITA) in Pink
Zabriskie (USA) out with a L1 fracture!
http://www.velonews.com/article/76091/2008-giro-d-italia-pellizotti-in-p...

Today's stage was the Hardest individual TT...in ANY grand tour...ever.
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5928&status=True

It was so steep that they were using MTB cranks on their road bikes!

Stage 18 of the Giro...
WWJD? What would Jens do? Ride away from the field....
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=5943&status=True

For those unfamiliar...Jens Voigt is THE cyclists' cyclist and probably the most popular pro rider in Europe.

i'm trying not to look...i'm waiting for VS coverage tomorrow!

Well, since Astana isn't invited to the tour, I highly doubt he'll be winning it. I'm honestly bummed that he (and Levi Leipheimer) won't be racing in the tour this year. It's pretty cool that they're loyal to their team though. Astana actually said that Contador could race with another team if he wanted, but he said no way.

I give it about a 0.001% chance of Astana racing. The French have already said they can't race, and I won't say anything about French pride. Let's just say they probably won't let up. It's really sad, but I just can't see them letting Astana in. And, Contador's already said that he's not going to race on another team. I would love to see it, but I don't think it's going to happen. But here's hoping that you're right.

Anton ~ I beg to differ....if the French continue to exclude teams the way they have Astana, sooner or later they'll be left only with teams with French riders and voila'....a Frenchman would have to win the Tour since they'd be the only competitors.

freedom fries, anyone???

:-)

Contadors win is big...I didn't realize how big.
It's the first time in 15 years that someone has won back to back grand tours.
Big Mig, Miguel Indurain, won the TDF in 92 and the Giro in 93.
Bertie Contadors' star is looking very bright.

I don't know what you mean by back-to-back. The Vuelta is in August/September, so it's not really back to back.

But, I agree that it's a huge accomplishment. Lance's streak was amazing, but it was one race per year. To win multiple grand tours like that in the space of a year is just astounding. I hope they let him race. That would be so great. I bet he and Leipheimer would both be on the podium in Paris.

Indurain actually won the Giro in 92 as well, so that might be what they were talking about since he did win back-to-back in 92. But I guess that isn't really what Contador did. At any rate, it's cool to see such an elite cyclist take the other grand tours seriously like Contador, and, I can't help but think that he'll take the Vuelta very seriously, as most Spanish riders usually do. No one's ever won all 3 grand tours in the same year (thanks [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_(cycling)]Wikipedia[/url]), but you have to think he'd have a legitimate shot if they'd let him race the TdF. I know it's pretty early to say stuff like that, but we might have to always wonder what could have been.

Here's a cool article about his win. It mentions how Indurain was the only other Spaniard to ever win the Giro, and he won in 92 and 93.