2009 Tour De France Elephant in the room

CEBU, Philippines – I honestly thought that Lance Armstrong was finished in this year’s Tour, the way he responded to the attacks on stage 15 – by not responding. I also felt like a heretic when I thought that he would be dislodged from 2nd place overall and be content with a top 10 finish.

But all that change last today. With 8km to go before the top of the St. Bernard, Frank and Andy Schleck attacked with the hope of putting GC leader Alberto Contador in difficulty, only AC, his teammate Andreas Kloeden, GC 3rd place Bradley Wiggins and Vincenzo Nibali. The missing name was LA, who I thought was dropped for good with contenders like Christian Vande Velde, Carlos Sastre and Cadel Evans.

But when the gap between reached 30”, LA suddenly accelerated and dropped his companions. For a fan like me, it was a nerve-wracking moment. My thought was, “I hope LA won’t embarrass himself”, by not catching the breakaway. But after a 3-minute chase, he caught on. Whew!!!

For those who believed that LA is washed up, the attack was a message to his rivals for in the next stages and 2010 Tour (he will be announcing his new team for next year today) that he’s just going to get better. Rival teams seemed to avoid discussing LA’s impressive move with the media but I’m sure that they couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room with them.

Is there still a chance that LA will win this year? If Contador gets “careless”, then LA has a chance to protect “team interest”. But LA cautioned, “You could paint a picture when it’s possible. But I’m not planning that, I’m not scheming that.”

Now, the room is really getting crowded and hotter.

Tour Diet

Cyclists have the body that Oprah would die for but during the Tour, they are virtual pac-mans – they eat at least seven times a day! While an average male takes in 3000 calories a day, a cyclist needs 8000 calorie just to survive the race.

Breakfast, snack, snack on the way to the race, eat at least twice during the race, after race meal and meal at the hotel – that’s the number of times they eat. But they just don’t gorge haphazardly. For instance, they have to eat within 45 minutes right after the race for better absorption of certain food group.

Word Of The Day: “AUTOBUS” is the group of riders at the back of the race who have grouped together to survive the mountain stages. The bus consists of sprinters and other non-climbers whose aim is simply to finish within the day’s time limit. The time limit is plus-20% of the winning time and if you can’t make the cut, you’re out of Tour. – THE FREEMAN