With the Tour de France all but wrapped up for Alberto Contador, I'm going to spend most of this post talking about things not related to the Tour. But a couple of things need to be said before going on to Track & Field and Triathlon news...
1. Alberto Contador is really, really good. He accelerates uphill like no one else, is by far the best time trialer among the GC riders, and has a huge lead going into Mt Ventoux on Saturday. Yes, he is a terrible teammate (costing his teammate Andreas Kloden vital time the other time after squabbling with Lance the previous week) and of course, there are doping rumours, but in what has been a pretty tight Tour, Contador has blown away the field. He has the talent to win 5 Tours in a row, but it will be interesting to see if he can find a team to protect him during Grand Tours.
2. Lance Armstrong is still great. His climbing skills are still there, and although he is still bit rusty when it comes to quick accelerations and steady time trial efforts. And with Lance planning to return to the 2010 Tour as part of a new American team called Team RadioShack. It is widely expected that Johan Bruyneel will join Lance to run this new team but it will be interesting who else will join Lance. Levi Leipheimer? George Hincapie? Dave Zabriskie? Are there going to be some new Canadians on this team?
Also interesting is that this Team RadioShack is going to support Lance as he competes in "as a cyclist, runner and triathlete in events around the world". Will Lance do Kona? I think he will in 2010, despite some people thinking 2009 might be a possibility. I think Lance will train this winter for next year's Tour, and then become a triathlete a year from now.
3. This year's Tour has been memorable for the controversies as much as for the actual riding. From the Lance vs Alberto headlines from the first week, to the Mark Cavendish vs Thor Hushovd verbal war after Cavendish's relegation, then the Team Garmin keeping rival Team Columbia's George Hincapie out of the Yellow Jersey by 5 seconds, and now Fabian Cancellara is blaming the race motorcycles for helping Alberto Contador beat Cancellara by 3 seconds in the time trial. At least no riders have been sent home for doping...yet...
This weekend has two decently important triathlons. The ITU guys and gals are in Hamburg for race #5 in the 8 race ITU World Championship Series. On the men's side, the race is being skipped by Series leaders Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez. Brownlee, who has won all 3 of the Series events he has raced, is taking a little summer break before returning in time for the next Series race in London. Gomez, who has twice finished 2nd and once 3rd in his 3 starts, is also taking a summer siesta. This blows the men's field wide open, and hopefully Simon Whitfield, who is sitting in 30th place in the Men's Series Ranking, will take advantage and win this race. His main competition might come from the hometown Germans Daniel Unger and Jan Frodeno. Whitfield will be joined by fellow Canadians Kyle Jones, Brent McMahon, and Paul Tichelaar. Tichelaar had a great return in the Kitzbuhel race, where he lead the race off the bike before falling back during the run. Here's hoping for a couple of Top Tens for the Canucks!
The women's race is a "Who Can Beat Emma Moffatt" story. Moffatt has won the last two Series races to go with a 2nd place and a win in the Hy-Vee World Cup race. She's been absolutely dominant. The Canadian women have had a great year, with Kathy Tremblay in 6th and Lauren Groves in 1oth in the Series rankings. Paula Findlay from Edmonton, who finished 16th in Kitzbuhel, will also aim for a top result in Hamburg. Good luck Canada!
Speaking of top Canadian women triathletes, Sam McGlone is racing Ironman Lake Placid this weekend. This is her first Ironman since Kona 2007, and it will be interesting to see if McGlone has regained the form that had her beat everyone but Chrissie Wellington in Kona. The rest of the women's field is not real deep, but Caitlin Snow and Hilary Biscay could defeat McGlone if she's not in top form. The men's race does not include any really big names but I'll let you know who wins on Sunday.
Track news...Usain Bolt is running the 100m tonight in London where he might make a serious statement. The undefeated Bolt has recently seen American rival Tyson Gay run a world-leading time of 9.77s in the Golden League race in Rome two weeks ago, beating Asafa Powell handily. Check out the video below.
So now Bolt needs to regain the headlines and the frontrunner status among the 100m group. We will see what happens tonight but I'm guessing Bolt will throw down a great time...9.75?
The Tour de France distracted me from paying too much attention from the IAAF Golden League races in Rome and Paris the last two weekends. With two events to go, only 4 athletes still have a chance to win a share of the 1 million dollar grand prize who win their event in all 6 Golden League races. Here's the current list:
MEN -
3000m/5000m - Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)
WOMEN -
100m - Kerron Stewart (JAM)
400m - Sanya Richards (USA)
Pole Vault - Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)
Lots more track news in August when the World Championships start in Berlin. I'll keep you posted!
Pretty decent size Dopey Monday coming Monday! Check back...
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