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Alberto Contador (Astana) is king of the hill in Spain. Spain’s climbing sensation added more fodder to the argument that he’s the best contemporary rider with a thrilling victory atop the most vicious climb in Europe. Contador attacked with 5km to go in Saturday’s 209.5km 13th stage to drive home victory up the feared Angliru climb and grab the overall lead at the Vuelta a España.

Call it situational amnesia, call it intense athletic focus, call it an innate (perhaps genetic) animal instinct for winning bicycle races. Just don't expect a lot of details when you ask Rabobank's 20-year-old Boy Van Poppel how he won Friday's fifth stage of the Tour of Missouri. “People always ask how you do it and ... I forget. I always forget what I am doing because it goes very fast and I don't think. You don't think, you do it. If you think, maybe you don't win.”[nid:83124]

The first mountain bike World Cup titles of 2008 were awarded Friday in Schladming, Austria, with 4-cross world champion Rafael Alvarez de Lara Lucas (Specialized) taking his first title and Anneke Beerten (MS Intense) her second. Romain Saladini (Team Sunn) won the men's final, while Czech rider Romana Labounkova took her first-ever win in the women's race.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana) enters Saturday’s showdown in the Angliru in perfect position. Teammate Alberto Contador has an entire nation – not to mention the whole Vuelta peloton – watching his every move. Poised in second place at 11 seconds back, the veteran American can bide his time and watch the fireworks before making his move. Back to the Vuelta for just the second time since his breakthrough third place in 2001, Leipheimer is in prime position to make a run for his third career grand tour podium and perhaps even more.

"It draws more attention, which is a positive. It also draws attention away from younger up and coming riders, which you could say is negative, but it’s temporary, it’s one year, not ten years. Our team is a long-term proposition, so in terms of what happens next year, and where people’s attention is, in some ways I think Lance coming back is good. Now a guy like Christian Vande Velde has the chance to actually beat, mano a mano, a sports legend, and that could elevate him, and our team, to a place in the public eye we never could have been elevated to if this hadn’t happened. It gives us an opportunity to prove how good Christian Vande Velde and the team actually are. It’s going to force us to up our game. If we can rise to the occasion it’s a good opportunity for us.”

“I am surprised at the news, but I think it is a good thing. If he starts the race, I think it will be exciting for the Tour. When he attacks, the others will have to hold on. He will not be returning to win second place. I have no urge to return. I have other plans in life and I am not missing anything. I am happy with my life. You should never say never, but it is not something I have thought about. We have different stories, he retired after a victory, I retired after a disappointment. I wish him luck.”

“He’d be ready to race the Tour, though I don’t know if he could win it. I know that he hasn’t lost his physical form and if he begins to train in earnest he could be right there. I find it hard to believe… but Astana with Contador and Armstrong would be one hell of a team!”

“It’s going to bring everyone’s game up. If he returns at the Tour of California, there will be more spectators, more eyes to the races. That’s a bonus for everybody.”

“As long as his team, which we don't know for the moment, and he himself abide by the rules concerning doping and anti-doping which have considerably evolved in the last few years, we will accept him.”

"He’s a rider who can put your hair on end just by watching him on TV. After three years of inactivity, it would be difficult to return to the highest level, but he is Lance Armstrong. If he wants to return it’s because he believes he has an opportunity.”

“I hope it’s not about vanity. I hope it’s about doing some good work for the sport, something for cancer survivorship. I’m interested to hear what the whole story is. I would never underestimate the guy. I think he can probably achieve anything he sets his mind to. But I’d like to see the big picture. He’s really put the sport on the front page of the newspaper in the U.S., when it was, always at best, maybe on the sports page. His power to gain public attention is remarkable. I just hope he puts that to good use.”

"Having him back is big news for the older guys on [Columbia]. But, for me, I've never had the opportunity to race with Lance and I have no idea how different it would be to actually race with him. Obviously for some one like me, I was growing up and starting cycling just as he was starting his domination of the Tour de France. So yes, it is quite special. I don’t normally get star struck. But I know that some of the other guys are excited about this, like George Hincapie, who rode seven Tours with him."

“It would revolutionize the world of cycling. He would be a good teammate and it would be a unique experience and it would be something of pride because he’s a rider I really admire a lot. I don’t know what to make of the story, but if it’s true and he does come back, he certainly would be able to do just about anything he wanted.”

“I’m surprised, honestly. The guy spoke with a lot of conviction when he said, ‘That’s it, I’ve done everything I wanted to do, I’m out.’ And why wouldn’t he? Quit while you’re ahead. Seven Tours in a row is never going to be matched, at least not in our lifetime. It seems like a lose-lose situation. Maybe he just really misses the sport, I don’t know. As a newly retired guy, I can tell you that’s the last thing I want to do is start training again and come back and race. And Lance is only five years younger than I am. Things just hurt more when you are in your late 30s and early 40s than they do when you’re 25. Watching on TV it may look like fun, but I don’t miss the suffering a bit. I was out of racing for one year and came back at 37 years old. I was at my heaviest and VO2 numbers were way low, and that was from just five or six months of sporadic training. Three years out of competition… it’s going to be a lot of work. Time will tell. It’s going to create a buzz and get a lot of people watching the Tour. That’s the up side.”

“For the events that we are involved in, and more importantly the sport as a whole, it’s certainly going to provide a lot of excitement. And certainly the platform that he brings, based on his press release with the cancer awareness platform, it continues to be a great connection with the sport of cycling. I think we are all on the edge of our seats, awaiting his plans. We all know the success he had in Georgia in 2004 and 2005. Time will tell if that equation holds true.”

"I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden."

“Considering the relationship that we have, we would not permit him to race with another team. There’s no way. We don’t know how far he can go. Three years without competing at the highest level is a long time. He’s lived a very different life the past three years. Everyone knows what he’s achieved. He’s very motivated, but at the same time, you have to make it a reality. It’s not a question of age, it’s a question of motivation. I think that challenge of coming back is motivating him now. It’s this impossible challenge that will push him. We have to keep our feet on the ground. There’s still plenty of time to discuss things more calmly.”

Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes) grabbed his second stage win of the Tour of Britain in Gateshead, England, on Friday while France's Geoffroy Lequatre retained the leader's yellow jersey. Rob Hayles (British National) just missed out on catching Petacchi on the line after a sprint finish to the sixth stage while stage four and five winner Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Columbia was a place further back. Lequatre, who rides for Agritubel, retained the yellow jersey for the third successive day with home hope Steve Cummings second in the overall standings.

One month after their head-to-head battle at the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens will meet again. Both men are part of three-person squads for Sunday’s 12 Hours of Snowmass mountain bike race in Snowmass, Colorado. Earlier this week the seven-time Tour champ announced his plans to participate in the 12-hour race, which benefits the Aspen Youth Center and Extreme Sports Camps charities. Armstrong will race alongside Colorodans Len Zanni and Max Taam.

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Former world champion Tom Boonen and Philippe Gilbert will spearhead Belgium's bid for the world road race championships' rainbow jersey later this month. Both riders are among a strong nine-man team, announced by the Belgian cycling league (RLVB) Friday, which also includes Vuelta a España stage winner Greg Van Avermaet and Tour of Flanders champion Stijn Devolder. Boonen is one of several top riders hoping to come out top on the road race course at Varese, Italy on September 28 - and will likely have extra motivation.

Dear Readers,
I'm going to take the unusual step of starting with the subject with which I usually close my columns. I would like to invite those of you can attend to visit with me at my next speaking appearance:

Saturday, September 20, 2008
Nashville, Tennessee