2005 Tour de France round up

Discovery Channel was disappointed to learn that current 2nd overall Ivan Basso has re-signed with CSC. They were hoping to lure him to replace Lance Armstrong next year. Basso, whose mom died of cancer last year, almost rode with US Postal in 2004, is Lance's good friend. . . . .

With Basso out of reach for now, I expect Discovery to pick up Alejandro Valverde. They really have plenty of money to burn next year. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to buy out Ivan Basso from CSC. This would really make an interesting story. . . .

Computer Science Corporation (CSC) is an American company whose cycling arm is owned by Bjarne Riis, a Dane. Based in El Segundo, California, CSC had a $14.1 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year. CSC employs 88,000 people in 88 countries around the world. It is strange to see an American company doing business in Europe using non-Americans personnel when the best employee in the past 7 years in the cycling business has been an American. . . .

Oscar Pereiro Sio finally won a stage after losing bitterly to George Hicapie two days ago. Pereiro complained that Hincapie sucked wheel and never worked with him and then left him for dead in the last 300 meters. He said he was the moral winner. Today, he did a Hincapie to Cadel Evans in the last kilometers to win. Well, in case you want to know, Evans never said a word about Pereiro's wheel-sucking. . . . .

Jan Ullrich, finally conceding the yellow jersey to Lance Armstrong in spite of the fact that he was never even that near to take a glimpse of it, has 3rd overall Michael Rasmussen on his sights. He is waiting for the penultimate 55.5km time trial this Saturday to overtake "Chiken", Rasmussens' nickname and his 2.51-minute lead. But Rasmussen just wouldn't hand 3rd place to the disappointing German for free. In all of the time trails he had done in the major tours, Rusmussen has ridden it without any real objectives so his previous TT can not be used as a guide. But with 3rd spot on the line, he can either do a magical ride or experience a meltdown. . . .

Michael Rasmussen has been in the road scene for three years but he is a former World Champion in XC MTB. That's why you can see a rainbow band on his sleeves signifying the feat. Another MTB WC is Australian Cadel Evans who is current 7th overall in the tour and is riding with LOTTO. Still another MTB WC who crossed over to road racing was Spaniard Miguel Martinez but quit two years ago. Floyd Landis is also another MTB star who is now making it big on the road. But the original MTB turned roadie was John Tomac. One of MTB's pioneer, he rode for 7-11 but when he found it difficult to have both an MTB/RR calendar, he went back to his roots and became the second American to win the WC after Ned Overend.