This day is off to a decidedly weird start.
- First, a little housekeeping. After spending the last week proving to Mr. Van P that Seattle does indeed have hills, I'm back for the final last gasp of the endless cycling season and hope to ramp up the coverage for Lombardia. After that, we'll try to cover plenty of 'cross, though I'm counting on people who actually know something about 'cross to help make it work. And then comes the offseason, that time when we can sit by the trainer and contemplate who did what this year and begin another round of baseless speculation, about 2008.
- So Paris-Tours is still boring, regardless of what Jered says. Maybe I'd be nicer to the race if the bitrate on my screen ever topped 34kbps. Still, you have to take it for what it is, right? It's the sprinters' classic, and however uninspiring I find that skillset to be ("could you please tow me to the last 200 meters?"), it's their day. I'm cool with it.
- Some people think Pez is at its apex when the babeshots feature travels to Interbike. But I think they're at their best with history lessons, and Alessandro has an entertaining Lombardia retro today. Did I just pick history over babes? Moving right along...
- Handicapping for next week? Fränk Schleck served notice that he'll be ready (along with another dozen or so CSC riders) by pipping Davide Rebellin on the line at the Giro Dell'Emilia. Chris Horner, Damiano Cunego and Riccardo Riccò all made the top 5, for what it's worth.
- VN catches up with Tom Danielson this past weekend for a look ahead.