2010 Tour unveiled

The 2010 Tour de France route was unveiled yesterday and it wasn’t your normal parcours. The Tour will encompass three countries (Holland, Spain and France) and will tackle more mountains than last year, as this year is the centenary of the first foray into the Pyrenees.

Not content with high mountains, 13km worth of cobbled roads (last visited in 2004) are also on the menu, a recipe that could possibly derail the ambitions of a contender who’s not used to riding the Northern Classics. LA is no stranger to the cobbles as he placed second in the classic Liege-Bastogne Liege early in his career. The team time trial was taken off the list which could mean that contenders with weak teams won’t lose time early on.

Instead of the usual 100+km of individual time trial in the previous years, there will “only” a 51km race against the clock. I think that this will be an advantage to the climbers who normally don’t excel in this discipline. One problem for Contador’s rival, though, the Spaniard is as comfortable in the TT and in the mountains.

Lance Armstrong, for the first time, will be a dark horse to Contador and Andy Schleck, two riders who finished ahead of him this year. At 38yo, can he still will his body to go where he wants it to go? Or will we see a vastly improved rider from this year and win the Yellow Jersey for the 8th time?

The Pave (aka cobblestones)

Remember Ivan Mayo, the little Basque climber who almost beat Lance Armstrong in the 2003 Tour? Mayo was one of the favorites going into the 2004 Tour when he crashed in the cobbles and losing 4 minutes. He would later abandon.

Traditionally, Spaniards and little climbers have avoided the cobbles like plague. Lately, Tour contenders have followed this tradition. Greg Lemond was the last Tour contender to ride Paris-Roubaix. Now, Contador and Schleck will have to stay upright since they’ll have to tackle the meanest stretch of cobbles of the Arenberg Forest. I would consider the cobbles as the place where a favorite can lose the Tour. I’m sure the riders stress level will go up in this stage.

The Tourmalet

Located in the Pyrenees, the 7,000 ft Tourmalet is a monster of a climb and will be tackled twice in two successive stages. It is 19 and 17km long, depending on which side you tackle it. What made this mountain a stuff of legends? In the 1913 Tour, Eugene Cristhophe, the first ever wearer of the yellow jersey in 1911, broke his fork in the Tourmalet. As per Tour rules then, he had to weld the fork by himself or risk disqualification. He went down the mountain by foot for 10km, found a blacksmith, weld his broken fork and continue on with the race. Yet, he was docked 3 minutes by a race judge for letting a boy pump the bellows for him!!!

Congratulations to Phillip Sainz of Team Cycling for winning the 80km Ormoc City Medical Society Road Race and to the organizer, Dr. Jaime Gatchalian for such a wonderful event. Hopefully, I can join this race next year…”My authentic rival (for the 2010 Tour) is Andy Schleck”, says Alberto Contador. Good bulletin board material for LA……I wonder if the newly minted word, basketball terrorism” will find its way in the NBA…… – THE FREEMAN