salivating here! But… Contador looks like he is way above everyone else, he has improved his time trial skills lately and he’s pretty much unstoppable. Also, he is three years older than Andy.

We’re also going to see if Gesink can join the party for 2009 in this year’s Vuelta.

I think Roman, if he doesn’t go all out in the Swiss Tour again, will also be in the think of it.

Gesink, also, could be a major player, once he gets his gangly legs under him to chrono- and descend.

But here’s the thing: Imagine Sastre winning this year’s Tour. Andy will again share his protected leader status with sastre and his brother- and this time CSC won’t be the Big Boys on the block what with Astana being around. Bert will have Kloden and Levi also protected but anyone here think either of those two could beat Bert? Same with Gesink and Menchov and whatever Dekker is doing.

But I have to agree with KoD- Contador is another level beyond what we are seeing this year- which as it turns out means that his absence is making this race more exciting than it would have been, one of the best.

was not a tactic to fool anyone, or at least that is my take. He was stoking the fires of the pain train baby! Whooo wooooo!

But seriously, Evans rode at his max limit the entire time. Regardless of what the Schlecks did or what Sastre did, Evans could not have gotten up the Alpe any faster. And the CSC attacks didn’t speed him up, or slow him down, or really do much of anything to him that he cannot recover from by the TT. CSC are strong like ox, but Cadel rode his own race today, and he rode it by himself. Watching Andy all smiling and enjoying the scenery was heartwarming and all, but I’m puzzled why he didn’t go up the road any earlier? What was he holding back for? Regardless, the tour is won on the Alpe, and I am about 95% confident that it was won today by Cadel. I would love to see someone win it with panache, with his hair on fire driving across the desert with the top down at 100 miles per hour with bats swooping and screeching all around, but seeing it won by a guy using nothing but pure guts, suffering like a dog, all by himself, is fucking wonderful too.

I can’t get rid of the feeling of “what if”.

Had Boonen been there, or Ale-Jet or Benna, would Cav still won all the sprints?
Had Astana been there with Contador, Levi, Klöden and Horner?

anyway I’ve enjoyed this Tour very much, and hopefully we’ll see next year all the best riders, sprinters, climbers and GC riders on the line, sad that we missed that this year, but the racing has still been great!

Very impressed with the Schlecks. I didn’t think Andy was this far along. I didn’t think Frank could be this consistent in the high mountains.

Teams CSC’s for just making these stages so hard. Stuey, I did know you had that in you.

Kohl and CVV for exceeding expectations.

Cadel for taking everything CSC had to dish out and still being in the position he’s in to win it.

This Tour has been fun to watch.

the CSC trio has been riding I have to wonder at how long the three of them can be on the same team. Obviously Andy is going to win one some day, Frank has shown a lot of improvement to his consistency and Cadel will most likely have several strong years left in him. Anyone know when their Contracts are up?

1. Balance. I still wouldn’t say we’re looking at a dead heat. 1.34 could be taken from Sastre in less than 20K, easily. Unless you’re on something, a yellow jersey won’t make up for an inherent lack of any TT ability. I myself am a fan of the TT, have been since my first one. But slanting the Tour completely towards climbers won’t bring about a winner that is really complete. This has been a great Tour that IMO was slanted towards climbers and still might be lost to a more all around rider.

2. Drama. Again, the 1989 Tour will still be the Gold standard by which suspenseful Tours are measured. I think if anything, the TT result is more than likely going to be what we all expect: a total shelacking(sp?) of Sastre unless Cadel crashes out. To think otherwise is just wishful and unrealistic thinking. I’ve never been one to romanticize the exploits of riders like Pantani, etc. so I won’t get all teary eyed over Sastre’s ride today either. If Evans loses, he loses because he wasn’t good enough, same thing with Sastre.

3. Plans. I would like to be more impressed with CSC, but I can’t. The fact is, if this were US Postal/Discovery, Evans would be MANY minutes in arrears, not just 1.34 . CSC had a good plan, but in my opinion, they didn’t finish it off. Time to promote Andy. Individually I really like CSC’s riders. I love the riding styles of Jens!, Cance, Arvesen, and Andy. But for all their hard work, Sastre may not be able to finish this thing off, which is sad

I bagged that clean air rant thing. I smell comment spam. Not sure yet; if the author wants to respond, please do and I’ll consider reinstating you.

with ‘im indoors, included a challenge from him to me to name the riders on CSC, ok that’s easy, Schleck x2, Sastre, Arveson, Jens!, Cancellara, without even thinking. Then he asked, “who rides for Cadel”, and I said, Popo, uh…uh…uh…Mario Aerts? uh…

first week. Really amaizing. Many uphill sprints, breakaways suceed, slip groups, very entertaining