cfforum

Discovery was my team at the beginning and I'm sticking with them. Just have a few observations to throw in the mix, and please keep in mind that I am totally new to cycling but not to drug use in pro sports.........I've been really trying to pay attention every stage and one thing I've noticed is some guys ride the same skill level every day, and some guys ride like crap one day and win the stage the next. Would love to here someone's opinion on this. At first I thought, well, maybe Vino was just resting when he lost 28 minutes so he could slaughter everyone in the next stage. Now I've decided, whatever!! From what I've heard, Vino performed at a very high level in the past and those types of superior athletes never concede a competition, ever!! I think the boy was really hurting and went to the old "back up endurance booster".........And how about Rasmussen? Heard he has always been a terrible Time Trialer and all of a sudden, he's with in a couple minutes of the Mr. Stitches himself!! Simply amazing.......Well, now the big guns are gone and my Disco team as found their way through the fallen timber. So give them a break, huh. Maybe Contador had his issues in the past and maybe he was guilty but Levi has never been accused and no matter who says what, he's sitting in third behind a wiped out Cadel and an over extended Contador with a good chance for an "old guy miracle". If I was a betting man, I'd run to Vegas and bet on the USA to dump some more mud on those European pretenders.

Well...after reading your post I checked out the new time differences. It would be the ride of his life, but Levi could pull it off. Hmmm....now the Tour doesn't seem so much like the 98 Tour...but rather the 89 Tour and the LeMond Miracle on the last day. Levi's got my vote.

I'd love to see Levi win the Tour, Georgie would be my sentimental first choice, but Levi seems to all about what's good for cycling, he's put in the time and paid his dues. His ride up the Col d'Aubsique will be his defining moment in cycling...unless he wins the time trial on Saturday.

If I were Johan - I would stick Popovych in to the break tomorrow and let the break go about 9 minutes ahead. That would get teams to do the work and take the pressure off Disco to set tempo. Popo is 12:50 off the lead and in 8th place. There's NO WAY T-Mobile, Euskatel, CSC or Caisse Depargne would let him vacuum up a 4th place finish.
On the other side - watch out for Pereiro trying the same thing - he is 14 minutes back and it would be easy to let him escape.