TOUR FINAL

well the tour is now over, what a spectacle of racing, struggle, suffering, commitment, discipline, and out right human endurance pushed to its limit, not to mention some great bike racing. so here is the final standings, my 3 picks did very well.

1] michael rasmussen
2] alberto contador
3] cadel evans
4] levi leipheimer
5] carlos sastre

tour tidbits
- one thing of interest that the mass media overlooked was the exceptional tour the euskaltel team had. 2 top 10 finishers and the white jersey, i really think that is the real story of the 2007 tour.

Rasmussen was wel in Mexico [NOS]

Michael Rasmussen was in juni wel in Mexico. De schoonfamilie van de renner heeft dit vrijdag in de Deense krant BT verklaard. "Ja, hij was hier in juni", zegt Jordi Munoz, de zwager van Rasmussen.

De Deense wielrenner, getrouwd met een Mexicaanse, verbleef bij Jordi en zijn vrouw Yasmin in de buurt van de stad Durango. De journalist Jorge Hernandez, die werkt voor de locale krant El Siglo, heeft in BT verklaard dat zijn schoonmoeder Melina Carrete eveneens heeft bevestigd dat Rasmussen in Mexico was. Waar de renner precies verbleef op 13 en 14 juni kunnen zijn schoonmoeder en zwager echter niet nauwkeurig zeggen.

Rasmussen is zelf strijdbaar in een interview met de krant Politiken. "Het is nog geen 24 uur geleden dat ik uit de Tour de France gegooid ben. En ik begrijp nog steeds niet dat dit gebeurd is. Maar ik kan garanderen, dat ik nog niet klaar ben als wielrenner. Ik kan niet zeggen hoe de toekomst eruit zal zien, maar ik ben er zeker van dat ik goed genoeg ben voor dit werk, ook als ik ontslagen blijf door Rabobank."

Rasmussen weet dat hij te laat was met antwoorden over zijn verblijfplaats. "Dus ik verdien een boete en een waarschuwing, maar dat zulke drastische maatregelen genomen worden, is totaal buiten proportie. Ik doe geen uitspraken meer over waar ik was in juni. Dat is nu aan mijn advocaat".

"Het zal geen geheim zijn dat ik razend ben op Rabobank manager Theo de Rooij. Het is enkel en alleen zijn initiatief, dat dit besluit is genomen. Maar ik spreek daarover niet in details, omdat mijn advocaat dat nu bekijkt."

nos.nl report

BEAUTIFUL

todays stage was beautiful, beautiful in so many ways. rasmussen's riding was that of a true Maillot jaune was so beautiful. the accelerations on the Col dAubisque [hors categorie] were beautiful. the way levi leipheimer fought with everything he had, all the way up the dAubisque was beautiful. the way sastre gave it one last shot today to try and move up the rankings was beautiful. the way mauricio soler took the polka dots jersey by the horns and rode like a true climbing champion. cadel evans effort was one of pure grit and so beautiful to watch. but truly the feeling i had this morning while following the stage, the feeling that the tour was again something special, something personal, something i alone was excited about, that feeling of being 14 again and watching the tour on ABC sports, once again the tour is beautiful and no one else knows.

PEOPLE VINO

[great ride vino, we miss you at t-mobile]


calm down people, he is just a bike racer with panache and, well, someone else's blood. i am going to go out on a limb and say why should his team suffer, he did it, it is not like the president of kaskhstan stood there holding the tube while the team doctor injected the 'vitamins and vino laid there getting a massage, all the while at the next hotel dining room table the whole team ate and said only 5ml more vino than you can have a bowl of pasta and some steak. the staff, coaches and other riders deserve a chance to f_ck up on their own or not, just like he did. focus people, the real action is the classic dual between rasmussen and contador, what a spectacle, truly great racing. or how rasmussen's simple black colnago is just a freaking understated statement of cool. or how some young buck on a conti team is turning the polka dot jersey competition, into one. or the simple pleasure of watching the other 160 riders puke their guts out trying for their team.

the jabber on tomorrows guys in black ride will go something like this "i will miss your attacking style vino, now don't whine like a little bitch any more about not being able to ride in the 2006 tour or the rest of this one, you toe head little prick [all the while vino is crushing me up some climb]. NOW GO RIDE.

DO I NEED TOO SAY ANYTHING?

SUNNY

[nice day for yellow]

ok, let me make this short, its late, my arm hurts [PT today] and i am getting over the flu and i should get up at 5am and ride, did i mention my better half is graduating from GIA tomorrow [someone has to support a starving architect / designer / wannabe masters racer].

i perdict an unknown sprinter to win, of course it could be another attack day, but the stage is too flat, so i am going with bunch finish and ether eisel or zabel [not unknown i know, but i am still a believer and i hope he is in green come paris] as the winner. boonen will be close [try], but only to be in front of zabel.

ok, short and sweet, later.

looking forward to saturday and ras still in yellow sunday morning....

QUICK COLD INDUCED MESSAGE

Under the Alpine sunshine



well today is the first rest day for 'day tour. i didn't get a chance to post my fav's for stage 8, as i made the journey down to SD to pick up a bike from masi and to see my mom. unfortunately i was feeling a little too well after a long hot humid 5 hours in the saddle early saturday, and i got to SD late [10:30pm] and proceeded to stay up later than i should have watching versus [i haven't had cable / sat at home for over 3 years now, as i was addicted TV]. or maybe it was the fact that i got up like clockwork at 5:30am [5 hours of sleep after a hard day at the office is not enough for an ol' man] to watch stage 8.

what a great stage, it was worth everything, my boy rasmussen was better than better, he was 'parfait. i know i didn't get my picks in on time, but you can tell by my previous ones that all of my fav's finish in front. i am a believer, i think that rasmussen has been preparing for this and his TT will surprise us all. that is my prediction, and if vino and klöden don't recover, than evans, levi, moreau and valverde will be fighting it out for dominance, along with an effort by sastre, mayo and possibly schleck. oh and mayo, it was so great to see him ride like his potential says he can. but i think contador noses him out for acceleration ride of the day, his climbing acceleration was on fire yesterday.


[mayo is back]



i will go out on a limb, while i can't breath or think straight
final podium
- rasmussen
- evans
- levi [cowboy up levi and ride like levi not lance]

stage 7
well, i knew in my heart that something spectacular would happen and linus [not pronounced like the peanuts character] did not let me down. another great day of racing. and i think my boys all finish in front of masiguy. just saying.

ok, my cold / flu has sent me a text message and it is time for another nap.

FRENCH 'day REVOLUTION

give me freedom or give me death, oops, wrong day....
so it is to be the traditional french french french day at the tour, as in bastille day, as in a frenchman is usually afforded the opportunity to win a stage. it could happen, but my gut tells me otherwise with so many teams hurting and astana not firing on all fronts, it could be a day to take some ground. or christophe moreau could win. now the french teams and or riders do have a good chance to score some points tomorrow, but for some reason i think a GC contender is going to pluck a win, take some yellow and or just earn some time. my humble advise to evans [my perennial underdog] and levi [my perennial american underdog podium hopeful], kick vino while he's down, cause if he recovers, he will be a mad dog on a mission to eat up everything that is not in kazak blue [everyone's thinking it, i'm just saying that on a good day klöden is smarter and thus faster at the end of a tour]. so where does that leave me, in a funk to pick some podium finishers. but i guess i will go with



stage 7 [sorry i missed stage 6, but come on it was only a sprinter stage]

1] christophe moreau [he is wearing the national colors after all and this may be the last day for an actual climbing stage win for him before rasmussen gets kicking]
2] chris 'i copied jim's hairstyle' horner [well, cause i like his style, he dislikes french teams, and this too may be his last chance at a breakaway climbing finish win, before he has to work for evans]
3] jérôme pineau [well, he's french and he kicks my ass up mountains]

reserves: ivan parra, iban mayo [don't laugh, he's still better than you, he's obviously off the 'vitamins'], stefan schumacher [just kidding, he doesn't stand a chance, even if he is wearing blue], so my last reserve is felix cardenas.

crap is paolo savoldelli in this race? it's a decent finish after a steep climb... oh, i was going to mention that i whopping masiguy's picks arse, but he didn't mention me so i am not going to mention him [come on, your a big fat 6'4 sprinter and you don't even pick boonen for the last bunch stage before the alps? just joshing ya bro, love ya, especially when your a huge big wind block in front of me and your always in front of me], but i will mention BK, she's nice.

ok that's it, my arm hurts and i have to get up and get my ass handed to me by the juniors on our team.


[do i look fat in these bibs?]

PISSING MY TIME [updated]

- sorry for the long lag in posts, i have been pissing my blogging time away working. my architecture / media design company has caught on fire and i am busy moving into a new local. [ok, so i spent a good part of my early morning looking for a new espresso machine for the new studio, priority's priority's]

- also a quick sorry to all those that have left comments lately, i apparently or inadvertently switched on 'monitoring of comments.

- i know this blog is to be about my racing and the teams activity, which i will concentrate on with a new vigor, once things cool down a bit. but i also can't help myself from commenting on the farm boys in the PROtour scene too.

- TDF picks for tomorrow [thanks for the request bk]

stage 5 - [living on the the edge] [updated]
it has a few good bumps in it, with a cat2 and a cat 3 right before the finish. so i am going with break-a-way chance day, a good classics day. it would fit well for a frenchman to win, maybe someone on a conti team, but in the end, no, the only hope for a french win, baring any crashes, is the perverible 14 july [bastille day].

my heart says unknown breakaway to win [but since it is a unknown rider i can't pick it, can i?]

so lets go with [the non GC teams are running out of stages]

- [2] oscar freire [barring any butt problems, or i get zabel]
- [23] christophe moreau [could pull of a voeckler and gain some points]
- [168] nick nuyens [what the hell nick? it's not like your saving yourself for a GC contender]

YES YES YES

i know i know, i have been slack in my posts, i will confess latter, but yes yes yes, i was hoping for only one thing this week as i am in transition for next season [duh, i broke my freaking collarbone into 3 peaces, and now have a plate holding it together and my left arm shots lighting bolts on command or not], that hope, that little bit of redemption, as in my friend magnus the freaking swede, winning the the blue and yellow cross of sweden, well......... he did it today. YEA, after a painful season [duh, due to a broken collarbone and bad plate placement, now removed] magnus takes the blue and yellow cross for next season and this years tour. ahhh, after a day of sampling fresh brewed hefeweizen and a recovery ride to the local cafe, i am in seventh heaven, thanks magnus, you rule ok.