Official SJ.com Tour de France running thread

I think if an American can stay in the running -- so to speak -- interest in the Tour will remain somewhat high in this country.

 

I watched the recaps of the Tour of Switzerland a couple of weeks ago on OLN and decided if I had to move to another country, it would be Switzerland. Stunning geography in every shot.

Ullrich kicked some major arse in the final stage time trial to win it and I figured he'd the man this year if his legs recovered.

Now? I'm not sure. But having a handful of Americans still in the race and as team leaders will keep a few people watching. Lots of people want to know who the next Lance is.

 

Tuesday, July 18 .... l'Alpe d'Huez.

Nuff said.

 

http://www.velonews.com/tour2006/news/articles/10131.0.html
Holy crap. 700-meter elevation in just 14 kilometers. And that's after two other significant climbs and 170kilometers already pedaled. That'll separate the men from the boys

 

Internet odds makers quickly reacted to Friday's news that top riders Ivan Basso (CSC), Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Francisco Mancebo (Ag2r) have been excluded from the Tour de France by their respective teams after being named as suspects in the ongoing Spanish doping investigation, known as Operación Puerto.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner, Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Épargne-Illes Balears) and Astaná-Würth's Alexandre Vinokourov emerged as the two favorites, given odds of seven-to-two to wear the yellow jersey into Paris on July 23, while Amercans Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and Floyd Landis (Phonak) follow at seven-to-one.

Internet Bookmakers' odds for Tour de France
(As of 5:00 p.m. Friday)

Alejandro Valverde (ILL) -7/2
Alexandre Vinokourov (Wur) -7/2
Levi Leipheimer (Ger) -7/1
Floyd Landis (Pho) -7/1
Cadel Evans (Dav) -10/1
Yaroslav Popovych (Dis) -12/1
Paolo Savoldelli (Dis) -20/1
Andreas Kloden (T-M) -20/1
Michael Rasmussen (Rab) -25/1
Denis Menchov (Rab) -25/1
George Hincapie (Dis) -25/1
Iban Mayo (Eus) -25/1
Jose Azevedo (Dis) -25/1
Christophe Moreau (Ag2) -33/1

 

I'd putmy money on one of those Discovery guys because I think they might still have the strongest team. The problem is, who's the team leader and the guy the others are going to protect and help? Is it Hincapie?

 

Geesh, Idaho, I throw you a bone and this is the thanks I get? You butcher the headline so now my original post makes no sense AND you leave out my neighbor, Floyd Landis, as an American we'll be rooting for???



Floyd had a great Spring AND he has a great story (as noted in the new SI).

Plus, there's a big omen: His hometown, Temecula, is now in flames as of this afternoon! So it's smokin' hot, just like Landis!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-063006wildfire,0,2138468.story?coll=la-home-headlines

 

Levi's a Montana boy. I know who I'm rooting for this year. Woo hoo!

 

Sorry, sir. :-[

Landis should do well. For some reason his name was the one I forgot.

S-chick, Levi's a Bozeman boy (as well as a Salt Lake City boy), is he a thug, too?

 

Not Bozeman, Butte . . . although he doesn't claim it anymore. I'd never root for anybody from Bozeman.

 

For some reason I thought he was living and training in the Gallitan Valley.

But, according to his bio, he's a Butte man.