Alberto, Ockham and Basque Beef

The best grand tour rider of his generation has finally been re-found guilty of being a drug cheat. For those who have (understandably) forgotten what has happened, Alberto was tested in the sleepy town of Pau on the second Rest Day of the 2010 Tour de France.  This was a couple of days after Contador [...]

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Cav & The Winners

The final stage of the 2011 Tour has been run and won, with the expected wins for Mark Cavendish in the sprint, and Cadel Evans in the overall coming to fruition.   A victory on the Champs Elysees is one of the great achievements for a sprint cyclist, and Cav’s ability to produce on the [...]

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Desperate Procession

Today the final stage of the 2011 Tour gets underway, which is devastatingly disappointing for me, but also extremely exciting considering it is Cadel Evans who will cross the line the champion today, calamitous misadventure notwithstanding. (brief pause while author touches wood) I can’t believe it’s nearly over, and conversely can’t believe that Gilbert’s win [...]

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A Grand Victory

Cadel Evans is going to win the Tour de France in 2011. Hahahaha! I’m going to say that again, just because I can. Cadel Evans is going to win the Tour de France in 2011. What a nice sentence to read and write! The time trial last night was expected to be a shootout between the [...]

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Down To Two

Two nights ago there four men still in contention, then Contador was out of the race. Yesterday saw the end of Frank Schleck’s chances, and tonight will see the demise of the final contender for the Tour. Andy Schleck will hope to defend his 57sec lead over Cadel Evans tonight, and will certainly fancy his [...]

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One More

One more time over some incredible hills. One more chance for the Schlecks to take seconds away from Cadel. One more opportunity for them to sap the power from his legs to minimize the damage he does to them in tomorrow’s TT. 100km, three categorized climbs, 2851m vertical ascent. This stage is not as huge [...]

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One For The History Books

If you were lucky enough to watch Stage 18 last night, you saw one of the best days of bike racing  in years.  The Schlecks finally attacked and got it right, using their double-threat to maximum advantage, and as a result achieved another stage win, jumped in the GC to now be in a dominant [...]

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4 Stages, 4 Contenders

We have finally made it to the first of two stages that have loomed large over this whole race, and will play a huge role in determining who is the 2011 Tour de France champion. Today is officially a filthy stage on the bike.  200km, three hors categorie climbs, approximately 470om vertical gain through the [...]

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As You Were

Last night’s bike race was a return to normalcy for the boys on the road: the break was allowed to go relatively early, it stayed away all day, and despite a few attempts to put time into each other, the GC boys all finished on the same time.  And no, despite repeated claims by Paul [...]

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Schlecks Shaken

What a stage last night turned out to be! Prior to the stage, the thoughts were that it was always going to be a breakaway, and there wouldn’t be much movement on the general classification.  Half right!  The high likelihood of the break staying away meant that all of the boys not in with a [...]

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