Well, that was interesting, eh? ‘Berto Contador croaks Fabian Cancellara and everybody else on a longish, mostly flat time trial. It sent Spartacus straight to the pub to slam a cold one and wonder aloud whether the gendarmes’ motorcycles might have given AC a bit of a tow.
I had wondered about that myself, frankly. But when you’re watching the race on a 13.3-inch MacBook on a cup and a half of coffee after a second sleepless night you miss a lot of subtleties. It was tough for me to tell just how close the coppers were to Contador, but hey — every little bit helps, que no?
Super Spaniard apparently skipped the tongue-loosening, post-stage cerveza because he turned into an Easter Island statue when a journo’ asked whether he might have done some training on The Island of Doctor Moreau in preparation for this Tour. “Otra pregunta,” he replied a couple or three times, clearly meaning, “A la chingada con tu y tus amigos en las prensa.”
Radio Shackstrong admitted to suffering, rather than sucking, on the stage. He finished 16th, 90 seconds behind Contador, and 28 seconds behind national ITT champ Dave Zabriskie (DzNuts-PantsShit), and hopes to defend his third place overall during the Ventoux stage on Saturday.
If Texus Maximus had beaten DzNuts I’d recommend him for a Tandy leather stars-and-stripes jersey with matching moccasins and assless chaps, but that will have to wait for ’10.
Meanwhile, I got out for my own short ride today, down to Fountain and back on whatever the hell they’re calling that trail these days. Chapeau to the county for detouring around that old washout, which required a little cyclo-crossing. The newer washout by Highway 85 still does, but that will be a job of work to repair. I suggest borrowing a transporter from the USS Enterprise.
Mad Blog Media 
Hell has frozen over if Ol’ What’s His Name is lining up on his “own” team in the near future. Sadly I didn’t even know that Radio Shack was around anymore, let alone solvent enough to through $$$ at some late 30’s wannabe racer/dreamer.
Geez, when will the wheel stop spinning? I want off!
Hopefully the cross season won’t see any Constructo-Radio-Electronic-Thingys racing this year, otherwise I think I might have a few bikes to sell.
Patrick, are you going to be putting up some more cross stuff in the near future? Pictures, toons, rants, stories from yesteryear??
Well, with this new sponsor providing rechargable batteries, I guess like the Eveready Bunny, Old Tex will keep riding…and riding…and riding…
Now where are my Fountain of Youth pills???
Hmm… Cheek chillers. I suspect that the fringes won’t be very “aero”. But on the other hand it might draw so attention off of Lycra.
I’m not sure AC passes the smell test. (For that matter, I’m not too sure about the Schlecks, either.)
I don’t think BruyStrong will throw AC under the bus. A yellow jersey in Paris is still another notch on Bruyneel’s DS gun. But I don’t think the rider who shant be named or capitalized will show up next season cruising on the banana and water diet.
I guess we’ll know more when the tests are in sometime in August.
LA is poised to become the Vince Lombardi of cycling. He knows how to orchestrate a team for the TDF, and is probably the most bankable athlete on the planet. Will he stick with it for the long haul? Who knows, let him gopher it.
I don’t share other people’s grudge against Tex, but never thought of him in the category of a Vince Lombardi. For one thing, he’s not Italian…
As an alternative to the Radio Shackstrong Village People look (not that there’s anything wrong with that)…
JD Bilodeau suggested that the new team should emulate Jay Maynard… The Tron Guy… Priceless…
I’d post a link, but I think your comment section eats links… You can Google him.
So, it would be the Radio Shack / livesTRONg team?