Zabriskie's out with a broken something-or-other...he fell in one of the tune up races and hurt his back I think. you might be waiting a while

I'm looking for Cancellara to do well in the TT (or Millar, just because I think the GarminChipotle team is super cool)

I'll be watching Millar, Garmin/Chipotle has caught on with me. They're based just up the road from me so I guess they're the home town team. Plus I like the what they are trying to do with testing, I'm new to the sport and its been hard to take it seriously at times with all the doping.

Jonathan Vaughters stated that the new Felt AR saved on average 20 watts at 50 KPH in their tests.

Did anyone else catch that F-bomb from the driver of the Garmin car. The reporter looked like he pooped his pants when that guy said it.

Just one of the bonuses you get for watching it live.

does jonathan vaughters always wear the turtleneck sweater and jacket? or did VS only do one interview with him this year that they've been milking for months?

nice efforts by vandevelde and hincapie, good to see them getting up there...danny pate too

how badly would the AVERAGE TdF rider beat an elite Ironman or Half-Ironman in a mid-distance time trial? I figure the best bikers would whop up the triathletes, but would someone like Macca at least finish in the 20%?

I think what Gator is getting at here, and I think what it all boils down to is a matter of specific training. Any Triathlete is going to be slightly weaker than a pure cyclist on the bike. That being said, in a longer distance TT situation, a distance triathlete may be able to hold his own against a TdF rider based strictly on training. Essentially, these are all athletes at the "top of their game", but that just means different things to different sports. Just like an elite triathlete wouldn't be able to beat an elite cyclist at a TT, an elite cyclist wouldn't be able to beat an elite triathlete on a run...

or something like that...

Yeah. I also think that a triathlete wouldn't do nearly as well in a TT (short or long) if said TT is preceded by 4 or 5 or 20 days of intense bike racing. But, if we're just talking a one day thing, I think triathletes might do better because that's what they train for. On the other hand, a triathlete would have to fight the instinct to save his legs for the run.

IMO, if you stick a long distance triathlete in a time trial of at least 40 or 50 miles, they'll at least hold their own against TdF riders. But, if you ask a triathlete to do the TT after having ridden 20 days on the TdF, they'll probably get blown away.

I always freakin' amazes me how the peloton - being such a big group - can pace itself to catch the break away just at the finish. Not too early so there would be another attack and rarely too late that they can't get them in the end. Amazing stuff!

Cavendish is a beast. I think he will start taking a few more from Thor and the Rocket.

also from the RBR newsletter today...it looks like Levi's racing in Tribro's hometown this week:

"---Oregon's Cascade Cycling Classic is underway with 150 stage racers, including several big names. Astana's Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner are in the field because their team was excluded from the Tour de France. They'll compete for podium places with Tom Danielson (Garmin-Chipotle) and Santiago Botero (Rock Racing). The 5-stage race started yesterday and will conclude Sunday. Tomorrow's 15-mile (24-km) time trial shapes up as a key stage."

check out yesterday's stage results
http://www.mbsef.org/CascadeCyclingClassic/Results/2008/promen/Stg01r00R...

how'd you like to be one of the 120 or so riders that beat Chris Horner?

Bump!

It's been a few days since the stage, but in the first TT, did anyone notice how "wiggly" Cancellara seemed on the bike during the time trial? It seemed that his upper body moved around a bunch. I'm curious about that - I'm working really hard to try to stay as still as possible over the bike - but am I trying to do something not so necessary?

Certainly understand that the pros are different, but in general, how still do you try to stay?

Anxious to see if Ricco can hang today or if yesterday's effort will take its toll. If he can go again today, I hope the contenders go with him.

Will be interesting to see how Cadel Evans does today... had quite a wreck yesterday, broke his helmet and everything! Hope he can hang in there.

Today is already weird... a 24-man escape group! Going to be a long stage if they keep this up before they even get to the two big climbs!

I'm sure they'll be caught, but they've already made an impact on this stage... the peleton was really flying! They'll be paying for that all the way up the mountain. :)

Down to 7 riders in the break-away, but they're over a minute ahead again as they start the first big climb. This is really setting up to be a great stage.

Valverde is having a really bad day... out of contention, just like that.

Can't wait to watch this one tonight! Some big attacks sounds like.

Schleck or Evans!!! What a battle, the yellow jersey is going to be down to seconds today...

Guess Ricco won't be competing for the yellow jersey in 2009. :(

http://tinyurl.com/55pav6

Ricco tests positive for EPO. :(

The "clean" Tour looks a lot like the dirty one.

I thought yesterday's stage was surprisingly exciting for supposedly being an "easy" day. I thought it fitting that Ballan didn't take the stage in the final sprint after Phil called him out as someone who wasn't helping that chase group catch the leader down the stretch.

Today's stage is getting good now as the teams fight for sprinting position and Schleck and Evans try to mark each other.

Yeah...the sprint was pretty awesome. Cavendish has just dominated the mass sprints this tour, it didn't even seem like a struggle today. impressive

jonovision_man wrote:
"Ricco is going to be some fierce competition for the yellow jersey in 2009... amazing ride. The way he just accelerated away from some of the best climbers in the world - WOW."

To climb like Rasmussen you have to cheat like Rasmussen..

When you blow away the field like that, you are just waving a red flag that says, "Look at me I have the best drugs money can buy!"

PoC

Is that really the way we have to think of it? I mean, is it possible that somehow, some way there will ever be an athlete is just amazing, and better than anyone else, and isn't on PED's?

I guess we will never REALLY know anymore, and that's the sad state of athletics today.

Cycling is completely a team sport. If you go back and watch the tours that he won, it was obvious that he had the strongest team by far. I still totally believe that he was clean, even though much of his team was not. This can account for some of his success.

But, there are 2 things you're forgetting. First of all, Lance's physical makeup is unreal. He was basically made to be a cyclist. And, not only that, but he trained more than anyone else for the Tour. It was his only race, and he trained all year, and he was more disciplined than almost any other rider (especially Jan).

Basically, if you look at the facts, I think he has a better case for not doping than many other pro cyclists.