2009 Tour De France post-race wrap-up.

Well another year and another tour has passed through Paris and been written into the history books. I am sure though that this will be one that many will consider one of the most memorable of all time, namely due to the epic return of cycling's greatest legend to the top of the sport. It was a sunny day as the riders took the 154km jaunt to Paris. It was all smiles for Alberto Contador, who won his 2nd Tour in 3 years. A brilliant ride for Andy Schleck to claim second place on the podium, and of course kudos to Lance for finishing an astounding 3rd after 4 years away from the sport, being 37 years old, and breaking his collarbone in 4 places just one month before the start of the TDF. His return solidifies his greatness in cycling and proves to the world he is an amazing athlete. Also congratulations to Contador and Armstrong's team, Team Astana, for capturing the team championship, which was never really a contest honestly. Also congrats are deserved for Thor Hushovd winning the green jersey, Franco Pellizotti for earning the polka dot mtns AND most combative, and Andy Schleck for winning the white jersey for best young rider U-25. Another impressive feat this year was Mark Cavendish capturing six stages, including the coveted Champs-Elysees sprint, which essentially was a one man show. It is somewhat surprising that after claiming 6 stages in the tour that Cav didnt walk away with the green jersey. The green jersey, even though it is labeled a sprinters jersey, is awarded to the most CONSISTENT rider in the peloton over 3 weeks. Thor Hushovd went for sprint points in the mtns to get points to keep the jersey, which he successfully did. He earned the jersey the hard way. Well this tour had many ups and downs, like they all do inevitably. When Lance Armstrong announced his comeback last October, nobody knew what to expect. Will he succeed? Will he falter? The only thing for sure was that he would give his all and never, ever quit. While many are disappointed he didnt win, Lance puts it in perspective, saying he is proud of his 3rd place after all the adversity he has been through to come back. He came to win, but did the best he could. As for next year? Lance has formed a new team with title sponsor Radio Shack and will race for them next season. He has already recruited team manager Johan Bruyneel to be the DS, and rumors are flying about possible contract signings of other riders, including young and up and comer Brice Feillu of Agritubel and 2nd place finisher this year Andy Schleck. Contador and Armstrong have both publically come forth and chastized each other, making no bones about their lack of a personal friendship of any kind. Next year Alberto Contador may or may not be with Astana, but one thing is for certain: whatever team he is on, it won't be the same on as Armstrong. TDF '10 will be Contador vs. Schleck vs. Armstrong. The only question that remains is can anyone beat Contador? I have a hard time saying yes, just because when I watch Contador, I see Lance Armstrong. A man that can time trial, climb, attack, accelerate, and win. He looks exactly like Lance did in his prime, so he will be extremely hard to beat. Lance has committed to coming back next year and competing in the TDF and says his form will be better, he will be better, and he will be there to win. While he may not be physically as dominant as Contador, he has publically stated he is more intelligent on the road, which he says is Conti's weakness, which can be exploited. Add that to better physical condition and a new team that is 100% dedicated to him unlike this year, and he very well could pull it off. I don't think Andy Schleck will ever win the Tour while Contador or Armstrong is racing in it, those 2 are just too strong. The best thing though about this Tour though wasn't the fast sprints or the high mountain passes, but the ZERO positive drug tests that were had. Not one test of the hundreds, thousands take during the 3 week race came back positive, which is the best news of all. Hopefully most of the doping is behind the sport now and it can move ahead in a new, clean direction. The 2009 Tour De France was epic, just as predicted. Already I can't wait for next year. Lance said he will be back, he will be better, and he will win. For now though, he will bask in his success of a 3rd place on cycling's grandest stage. Not bad for an old guy from Texas. Until July 2010, goodbye.

Stage 13: Vittel-Colmar; 200km

Well its been a while since my last blog and in some ways alot has happened; in others, not so much. Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R is the new yellow jersey, ahead of Alberto Contador by 6 secs and Lance by 8 secs. Today's Alsace mountains proved more treacherous than expected thanks to a hefty dosage of torrential rains throughout the stage. 5 average climbs turned into a struggle for most of the field as only 55 riders crossed the line as a peloton. An early breakaway proved successful thanks to the rain and in the end Heinrich Haussler of Cervelo was able to pull away from the other 3 breakaway riders to claim the stage. Amets Txurreka of Euskaltel-Euskadi claimed a well-deserved 2nd. Brice Feillu and Sylvain Chavanel rounded out the 4 breakaway riders to cross the line. Today's stage also saw 2 of the 4 jerseys change hands as Franco Pellozotti took the polka-dot from Egoi Martinez, who struggled over the climbs. Also, Thor Hushovd reclaimed the green jersey from Cavendish as he was able to use his Tour experience to finish with the peloton over the climbs, finish 6th on the stage, and gain some points in the classification. The story of the day though is Levi Leipheimer has abandoned the Tour, not starting stage 13 after crashing at the end of stage 12 and breaking his wrist. Levi had successful surgery on it today and will fly home to the States tomorrow. A sad situation for Levi and Astana, who have suffered a big blow heading into the Alps. Speaking of the Alps, Sunday is the kickoff for them, as tomorrow's stage is the last chance for sprinters' glory before the Champs-Elysees in Paris. It is clear now that an Astana rider will win the TDF this year, as Nocentini will most certainly not be able to hold on in the high mountains. The question that remains though, is which Astana rider will it be? Contador or Lance? The Alps will decide it all. Until then.

Stage 4: Montpellier-Montpellier; TTT; 39km

Lance Armstrong is back. With today's expected crushing of the TTT, Armstrong moved up into a virtual tie for the overall lead as Astana powered their way through the course and knocked many of the overall contenders out of contention. With no minimum time loss being imposed by director Christian Prudhomme, many of Astana's rivals lost massive time and are now 3 minutes in arrears of Armstrong and Contador. The last 5km was all Armstrong as he pulled for the yellow jersey, only to fall 22/100 of a second short. I believe it is clear now that, even if he not the strongest man in this year's tour or even on Astana, he is here to win if he can. Fabian Cancellara has held on to his virtual zero second lead, but the mountains loom on Friday and he certainly will not be in yellow after that day. For team Astana, Friday may separate the men from the boys in the pecking order of the team. Team Astana now holds 2nd-5th in the GC, all but assuring that one of their riders will win this year's TDF. Tomorrow's stage 5 and Thursday's stage 6 are for the sprinters again. I am now convinced Cavendish may win every flat stage this year as no one has been able to touch him in the first 2 flat stages, which ultimately resulted in 2 Cavendish wins. The next 2 days will be good recovery days for Lance and team Astana, if u can call 200km recovery. The real test of the Pyrenees is on the horizon. Who will pass? Until then.

Stage 3: Marseille-La Grande-Motte; 196.5km

Today started out very similar to any other flat stage in the TDF. A small breakaway of 4 riders gained a double digit time gap on the peloton and were expected to be swept up with 15km or so to go. But unfortunately for the riders they are on the southern coast of France: Brittany. With this territory comes massive cross winds and they proved vicious today. With 40 km to go, the riders got hit with a massive head-cross and were immediately split up into two groups. The lead group of four got swept up but stayed with the first split group. Only 25 riders could power through the winds to be in the front group, and one of them was an 'ol texan. Armstrong and teammates Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia made the split while the rest of the field was caught chasing, inevitably never catching the lead group. All 9 riders from Columbia-HTC made the first split which meant another sprint victory for Mark Cavendish, who took stage 3 ahead of Thor Hushovd for his 2nd win in this year's tour. Popovych finished 11th on the stage; Lance took 19th. The big news though was that their group of 25 finished 40 seconds ahead of the main peloton, which included big names such as teammates Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer, and other main rivals such as Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre, and Denis Menchov. With his front split finish, Lance has shot up to 3rd in the overall standings, only behind 2nd place Tony Martin of Columbia-HTC and leader Fabian Cancellara, who was attentive enough to make the break when the cross winds kicked in with 40k to go. Lance is now the highest place Astana rider. With teammates Contador, Leipheimer and Kloden not making the split today, is Lance now proving he is the best of breed? We shall see. It is my opinion that Lance has carte blanche within the team. On paper and within the media, Contador is the team leader and the other 8 riders, including Armstrong, support his efforts to win. But privately, if Lance feels he can take something into his own hands to get ahead, I think they let him do it. How could you not? He's only won 7 TDFs.....Tomorrow's stage 4 TTT will prove crucial as a sorting out of the pecking order of this year's contenders. Within no maximum time loss like in previous years, and the technical nature of this year's route, there may be huge gaps among the leaders at the end of the day, and if Astana takes the TTT, Lance will be in yellow. Incredible. Until then.

Stage 2: Monaco-Brignoles; 187km

The first flat stage with a surprising 4 climbs of a cat 3 and 3 cat 4s for the sprinters proved an exciting one with an atypical result however. The first week nerves showed as 3 crashes today were interspersed with several breakaways and high speeds. In the end however, the experienced Columbia-HTM team riders provided the perfect leadout for sprint phenom Mark Cavendish, who took stage 2 with ease. A late crash within 3km hindered the opportunity of some, including big guns Danilo Napolitano and Tom Boonen. Tyler Farrar, Roman Feillu, and Thor Hushovd took 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively but were inevitably no match for Cavendish's raw power and speed. Many expect Cavendish to win 5 stages, a definite possibility in my opinion. Lance and team Astana finished towards the front-middle of the pack, right where an experienced team of riders should be. Their first test will be Tuesday's stage 4 TTT. Tomorrow's stage 3 only has 2 cat 4 bumps in the road so another chance for Cavendish to show off the legs. Maybe Boonen will have his day. We shall see. Until then, au revoir.

Stage 1: Monaco-Monaco; ITT; 15.5km

Lance's return to the tdf peloton was a success, depending on who you talk to. While Lance posted a great individual time for his age and after a 3 year absence from the main event, he slotted in at a somewhat disappointing 10th, behind main rivals Cadel Evans and teammates Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer AND Andreas Kloden. With 4 Astana riders in the top 10, they are most definitely the team to beat in this year's tour and most likely the winner in 3 weeks will come from this team; they are just too big of a powerhouse to compete with in the mountains. Lance looked powerful but struggled over the 2nd half of the course after leading the first time split for some time. The small cat 4 climb halfway through proved more challenging I feel than many of the riders had originally anticipated. 10th isn't exciting, but considering what he has been through with the collarbone and all, it is an excellent posting. 20 stages to go. Tuesday, Stage 4, is the TTT. Look for Astana to demolish that and for Lance to slide up in the overall.