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Riders get glory; mechanics get greasy
The riders in the Tour de France work as hard as any athletes in any sport. The press documents their efforts extensively, all the way down to a given rider’s heart rate and power output. The mechanics who support them work equally hard but with less fanfare. Indeed, while a stage win or yellow jersey is cause for celebration within the team, it can sometimes mean additional work for the mechanics, in the form of a specially painted tribute bicycle.
Contador claims yellow atop Verbier
Astana’s Alberto Contador won the day and the maillot jaune on Sunday, riding away from a small group of favorites on the final climb in stage 15 of the Tour de France. Contador used the Category 1 climb to Verbier to settle accounts with teammate Lance Armstrong and the rest of his rivals for the overall victory, rocketing away to win by more than 40 seconds over Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck, who collected the white jersey for the best young rider in the process. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) finished third.
Boonen drops out of Tour
Belgian rider Tom Boonen has withdrawn from the Tour de France ahead of the 15th stage because of sickness,his Quick Step team said on Sunday. The Paris-Roubaix champion vomited during the night and had a fever, according to the team. The 28-year-old Belgian sprint specialist was controversially re-admitted to the Tour at the last minute after being initially sidelined by organizers because of a second positive test for cocaine. After Saturday's 14th stage, he was sitting in 148th place in the overall standings, 1:38:42 behind yellow jersey holder Rinaldo Nocentini.
Now It Begins
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Hinault, Anderson detail final stages
The 2009 Tour de France turns vertical Sunday with the second of three summit finishes that will go a long way toward deciding who wears the yellow jersey in Paris. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what’s going to happen next, but no one will really know until the final climb up Mont Ventoux next weekend. That uncertainty has built huge anticipation ahead of the final week of racing. The GC is still wound up tight and, despite Astana’s stranglehold on the leader board, the race could still be won by the daring.
Husband and wife teammates Heather Irmiger and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski win matching XC titles at SolVista
The Subaru-Gary Fisher team must now silkscreen “His” and “Hers” national championship jerseys for Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger. The husband-and-wife teammates, together since their dorm days at the University of Colorado and married in 2005, escaped with cross-country wins at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships at SolVista resort in Granby, Colorado. At the line, Horgan-Kobelski called the win, his fifth national cross-country title, “unreal.”
Inside the Tour – Verbier: the mini Alpe d’Huez
Although Sunday’s stage 15 from Pontarlier in France to Verbier in Switzerland is 207.5km long, the first 200km is almost irrelevant in the context of who will wear the yellow jersey into Monday’s rest day — unless something totally unexpected happens before the leaders reach the climb to the finish.
A tale of five seconds – The Besançon-Hincapie polemic, in their own words
Five seconds separated George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC) from the yellow jersey in Saturday’s hilly stage across eastern France. How those five seconds are dissected will be the source for debate throughout the remainder of the 2009 Tour de France. At the finish line Besancon, Hincapie seemed poised to move into the maillot jauneafter riding into the day’s winning 12-man breakaway on the hilly 199km 14th stage from Colmar to Besancon. The American started the stage 28th at 5:25 back and was the best-placed rider in the move.
A Casey Gibson Gallery – A wild day at Le Tour
It was another wild day at the Tour de France. Photographer Casey Gibson was there from start to finish.
Cavendish relegated for dangerous sprint
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) might seem like a polite gentleman off the bike, but they don’t call him the “Bear from Grimstad” for nothing. For the second day in a row, Hushovd’s emotions got the most of him at the finish line and he was screaming just moments after coming across the line in the intense battle for the green jersey. Yesterday, after battling through the cold and snow to Colmar to regain the green jersey, Hushovd roared at Peter Velits (Milram) for pipping him at the line.