Wikipedia on the race so far, with loads of other links...
This month is all about the greatest race on earth: 2200 gruelling miles, 180 hard-as-nails riders, 20 dedicated teams fighting for a share of the €3.5 million prize money. There's a huge amount of stuff on the net this year so we've picked out the best of it for you and linked to it on the left. Even if you've got Eurosport, it's still worth checking out the excellent Versus coverage. If you don't you can watch it live courtesy of some bloke called Justin. If his host takes it down again, there's always ITV 4, or the pub...
[Update: the live video feed looks to be permanently down: there's a low bitrate feed if you must have pictures, or there's good quality live audio from Eurosport. Better than nowt!]
Saturday, 26th July, 2008 It's hard not to be disappointed that the Battle of Alpe d'Huez turned out to be more an exercise in team domination. It's even harder to like the way Evans could still win the tour without winning a single stage and barely turing a wheel in anger. He could at least have won the opening time trial... hero status goes to the real winners, like Schumacher. He struck out yet again for another stage-win attempt on the Alpe, even if he was too tired after Tuesday's breakaway bid. CSC team hero Andy Schleck once again proved he's their strongest climber, all over anything that moved up the hill ahead, looking every bit the future champion. We've been wowed by the likes of Cavendish and Kohl for their amazing skill and power; these are the real supermen of this year's tour. Ok, CSC have stamped on all opposition and predictably nothing has changed during the last two stages. A two-man breakaway on each stage provided a bit of excitement, but the rest was business as usual, a holding exercise designed to protect Sastre's 1:34 lead over Evans. Apart from his sheep-like ability to follow a group up a mountain, the time trial is Evans' only weapon and the only reason he is still in with a chance. Sastre left the wooly ozzie standing on the Alpe and finally forced him to go off the front of the flock. Still, his uncharacteristic attack and Sastre's simultaneous over-done win celebrations could be decisive in today's individual time trial. There's still a good chance that Evans has been ground way down by CSCs dominance of the Alpine stages and an even better chance that Sastre's first-ever yellow jersey will boost him on to greater things today. The Maillot Jaune isn't just won by being the most consistent rider, you have to pull something exceptional out of the bag, somewhere along the line. Evans didn't do enough of that to keep it all the way to Paris, and unless he shows that there's a well-rested wolf in that sheep's clothing today, he won't win it back either. The greatest race on earth is won by heroism, not stubborn mediocrity. Venga Carlos!
Wednesday, 23rd July, 2008 This is a hard mans race. The founder of the Tour, Henri Desgrange, famously described the ideal race as one where the winner was the only one left riding. He invented stage racing, and early races sent riders on impossibly long stages, over unmade roads, even starting in the middle of the night, just to sort the men from the boys. Yesterday's stage was in that fine tradition, but it was so steep that no-one had the legs to attack when it really mattered, with downhills so intimidating that only the super-confident Sanchez turned a pedal in anger.
At the start of the second climb, Sastre apparently told his CSC team not to chase the breakaways, calculating (exactly right) that no-one was going to be able to take anything from them over France's highest mountain pass. The team rode the Col de la Bonette so hard they dropped one of the iron men of the tour – Menchov – and took the legs of everyone who attacked. As CSC's Bjarn Riis sagely pointed out afterwards, those who dug deep yesterday will pay dearly for it today. Because today is the Alpe d'Huez, and the gloves will be off. Everything hinges on the main contenders taking time off Evans, who's proved hard to shake but also very reluctant to take risks; he's a superb downhiller but bottled it yesterday when he saw young Augustyn ride off the barrier-less descent and go face-first 30m down a scree slope. Maybe he was sensible; or maybe he's banking way too much on having something left for his crucial time trial, after three more days of flat-out solo mountain climbing...
The ins and outs: Sastre and Schleck have it all to do, and will go like a train. Kohl looks in top form and might well stay with them. Evans will crack before the day is out, unless he actually stops whining and starts racing... while Vandelvede, Schumacher and Vaverde were among the deep-diggers yesterday. But we can't write off Menchov, even though he's now over a minute back, cos he can climb and time trial better than any of them. CSC will push so hard now it'll be like a 3-day time trial, and this might suit Denis better than anyone.
As they crest the Col de Galibier today they'll pass a monument to Desgrange, where the hardmen he created can pay homage, we can salute him and Evans can curse him for not making it just a little bit easier for wimps...
So who do we fancy for the GC win? The favourite is Cadel Evans, but what do the bookies know... The Pyrenees might still hold some surprises in the form of CSC's Carlos Sastre and even his team mate Fränk Schleck, who's only 1 second behind Evans at the mo. Plus CSC ride Cervelo which is a big advantage... then there's the Alps. With all this hilly stuff (there seems to be more than usual this year) you have to keep an eye on Riccò, who's in top form and already comfortably holding both the white and polka-dot jerseys. He's even in the top ten in the sprint classification. Just 2'30" behind overall, only 24 years old, even though he claims otherwise, he could easily be another wild-card winner, like Contador was last year.
[update: now that the idiot has been turfed out for doping, things are different... Sastre has to make a move in the Alps, otherwise it'll be a time-trialler's tour: a fight between Evans, Menchov and Vandevelde. The only one of these capable of top ranking in both the Alps and the TT is probaby Menchov. Carlos needs to get Voigt and the CSC boys to the front, make a big move in the mountains and grab some time while he can. If he doesn't go into the TT with a couple of minutes margin over Evans, it's gonna be all over.]
Watch this space for more spin...
Video: The stage 8, second victory for Mark Cavendish was taken down from YouTube for copyright reasons :( Here's Stage five instead, equally impressive in many ways. He might be back for another go on Thursday in Narbonne when they come down out of the Pyrenees, but his sights have got to be on the Champs Elysee final sprint. Go Cav!
Past classics
Video: a lesson from the master, seven-times unbeaten TDF champion Lance Armstrong, on his ascent of Alpe D'huez in 2001. That's team mate Roberto Heras leading him out at the start, grinding down the opposition – see the way Lance has a good, long look at the flagging Ulrich before riding off his wheel and time-trialling the last 2k like it was downhill... unbelievable.
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