All is right with the world
July 7th, 2009 by AriI apparently blog about the Tour De France once during every even numbered year. (2004, 2006, and 2008), so this is actually breaking the pattern as it is currently 2009. (I would blog about it a lot more, but I know no one else cares about it and I try to limit the amount of boredom my blog causes). While I may remember hearing about Greg Lemond in my youth, Lance Armstrong is the man who really got me into the tour. The last few years have been great to watch as well, even if they were a little trickier to figure out who to root for. This year I was divided again – do I root for Lance? Do I want the new and upcoming Americans racing for American teams like Levi Leipheimer to get their turn? Do I want Contador to repeat for Astana? Do I want George “always a bridesmaid never a bride” Hincapie to finally get his well deserved turn to make a run for it? Well a few minutes ago team Astana (of which Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and COntador are all members), crossed the finish line for the team time trial 40 seconds ahead of team Saxo Bank. That essentially put Armstrong in a dead heat with Fabian Cancellara for the yellow jersey. While waiting for the judges to decide which one of them would have the yellow jersey and frantically hitting the refresh button I realized something: it’s all Lance. I don’t care if George Hincapie has never had a chance to prove himself, I don’t care if Leipheimer is the next generation, and I don’t care if Contador deserves the support of his whole team. I fell for Lance and he is still number one in my book. How often do you get a chance to see your sporting heroes make successfull comebacks years after retiring? I’m rooting for Lance all the way.
As an addendum, the judges decided that Cancellara is ahead by a few fractions of a second. It doesn’t matter though – everyone knows Cancellara won’t hold his lead in the mountains. (He’s a road racer, not a climber). Armstrong is clearly the leader amongst the real contenders right now, and most importantly, he has shown people that he’s not washed up. (This is actually a huge problem for Contador, who is still technically the leader of team Astana and the supporting cast now has divided loyalties). If he can pull of another Armstrong-like performance in the mountains (where the tour is really decided – all this is just prelude), then he could complete the comeback.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
You forgot about Andreas Kloden, formerly one of Jan Ullrich’s lieutenants at T-Mobile until he got better than Ullrich and darn near won the TdF … yet another member of that Astana team. Astana’s TdF lineup includes no fewer than four guys that could, legitimately, be considered threats for the Maillot Jaune: Lance (7-Time Tour Champion), Kloden, Contador (won TdF after Lance) and Leipheimer, who led the team at the Giro d’Italia. That doesn’t even mention Popovych, who rode as part of Armstrong’s “Blue Train” with the U.S. Postal Service team. Incidentally, after the Tour de France, Astana is supposed to get Alexander Vinokourov back after a suspension for blood doping.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Our household is interested. I don’t think you were around while the Pearlmans were in DC (as opposed to Silver Spring, where they are now), but we actually went over to their apartment one Motzei Shabbat to watch the re-broadcast of that day’s stage.
I do find this year’s race to be very interesting for Astana. Do you support your leader (Contador) or do you support the one more likely to win the whole thing. Both Armstrong and Contador could challenge for the yellow jersey, and it could come down to them challenging each other. Just adds to the interest.