oops, a bit late for this, but i forgot to post it, not because of all the doping scandals, but just because. the biggest story for me, was cadel evans finishing on the podium (in second). i don't want to look at all the negative points (especially the vino disqualification as he was one of my favourite riders), the tour is a ridiculously tough event, and all the clean riders (however many of them there are) should be congratulated and respected. i'm not going to bother with a big, long wrap up, just to say that i didn't think cadel was a chance to win after awtching him go through the alps.
i didn't think he had the acceleration (which he didn't) or team that could get him there. but he did manage to almost take it, just missing by 23 seconds, he blamed the 55 seconds he lost to contador on stage 16 (the one vino won). the one that i though really cost him, was stage 15, where he kept trying to follow rasmussen and contador on the final climb, and eventually cracked and lost almost two minutes including time bonuses. i think he learnt his lesson, as he minimised his losses on stage 17 and didn't try too hard to stay with them, and only lost thirty-odd seconds. he almost managed to pull it all back in the last time trial, but one minute, fifty seconds was too much, and had to hold on for second in the end.
let's hope, with another year behind him, more experience, and more confidence, next year, will be his year. hopefully next year's event is a lot less controversial, and that the cheats are removed, because in the end, they're only hurting themselves and their sport. no one really cares if there isn't a tour de france (apart from the french), because cycling isn't a big name sport. people that cycle for recreation or exercise will keep cycling even if there was no tour de france. i certainly would care (good one dtra), bu no so much that i'd stop riding or anything like that.
pic taken from the age web site.
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