Hi All,
A huge week ahead...lots to preview...
The Tour de France starts this weekend (Saturday) and will feature a pretty wide open field. With the exclusion of Team Astana (Leipheimer, Contador, and Kolden), the Yellow Jersey should come down to Cadel Evans or Alejandro Valverde (at least right now). We probably won't know much until the big mountains next weekend, but it should keep us watching in the meantime just the same...the previews from Velonews.com and Cyclingnews.com are here.
Just in time for the TDF, Team Garmin-Slipstream has a new uniform! And don't worry, they kept the argyle! You can see some pictures here...and remember to watch for Canada's Ryder Hesjedal starting on Saturday.
And of course the ugly part of cycling must make an appearance...just this week, Michael Rasmussen has been suspended for 2 years for missing all those doping tests before last year's Tour (he said he was in Mexico but was really in Mexico with a suspect doctor). However, his team (Rabobank) still owes him €700,000 in contract fees. Wow...cycling pays better than i thought. No wonder they can all afford EPO!
Quite possibly the most competitive Ironman race before Kona will take place this Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany. The men's field includes the last 3 men's Kona champs (McCormack, Stadler, and Al-Sultan) along with Cameron Brown and last year'a winner Timo Bracht. The women's race will be interesting to see if Chrissie Wellington can go 4-for-4 in her Ironman career. She is joined by the two women who ran side-by-side last year for most of the run course - Nicole Leder and Andrea Brede. Should be a good race on both sides!
Speaking of Mr Stadler, he is going to be riding a new bike this week. He is no longer going to be riding a Kuota and instead will be riding a Scott Plasma 2. Too bad for Kuota, since Normann basically put them on the map with his 2 wins in Kona. Scott has also added running shoes to their lineup to try and become a total triathlon line.
Moving back to the US, the Olympic Track Trials are ongoing. So far, the marquee event was the men's 800m (click here to watch 2 minutes of the best race footage ever!). Here's a quick recap of the first half of the Trials, with plenty more to come this weekend.
Canada's Olympic Track Trials start today as well in Windsor. Canadian athletes have to attain both the Canadian Olympic standards as well as win (or in some cases finish in Top 4) to go to Beijing. It is entirely too complicated to go into here, but suffice to say, I will post the entire Canadian Team when they figure out who is actually going. The results of the meet are to be posted here.
The US Swimming trials continue to prove that no one is safe in the pool. Despite having held the world record in the 200m breaststroke until 4 weeks ago (broken by a swimmer wearing the Speedo LZR), Brendan Hansen finished 4th at the Olympic Trials and thus will not be heading to Beijing in his best event. As the folks at Tracktown might say, he's just toast!
See you next week!
2 comments:
Nice re-cap but I believe you left out another strong contender at Germany. Little unknown canuck T. Durie who after just missing qualifying for Bejieng by about 45 minutes is hoping to rebound this weekend at Ironman Germany. Sporting new flat proof tires, a higher seat position and now running in Zoots, Durie is hoping to improve upon his time significantly.He is also sporting a more aero hairstyle and the Hooper high-socks. In a rather unusual move, he is foregoing sports drinks on the latter half of the ride in favor of Peptol Bismol in order to cut down on his propensity to view the inside of every portapotty along the run course.We wish him and Kimdamordte all the best this weekend.
Congrats Trev and Kim on the awesome results in Frankfurt this weekend!
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