Who are you backing?

I am backing Michael Rogers (AUS). I don't think he is definately going to win. He would have won 2 years ago if it was not for that crash. He has a a good team. This was shown in the break away 2 days ago.
I will not be surprised if Lance Armstrong (USA) wins. Armstrong has still got it, as seen two days ago with the crosswinds breakaway. He has also got a very strong team. Astana has 6 in the top 11! Contador (ESP) is in the same team. It really depends on who is the captain.
Cadal Evans won't win. He has got a poor team.

If he wins he'll try with a unicycle next

If you want to send the riders a good wish message then check out the Tour de France chalkbot:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07......bot.html

Armstrong seems to be playing it pretty cool at the moment. I am certain he is placing himself for a strong second-half performance. I will be surprised if he doesn't win.

Doesn't Cadel Evans always whine that he has a poor team. Maybe his team(s) would be better if he would stop whining about his teammates all the time. If he's the captain, then he should take the blame for not being a better leader. Can you tell I'm not crazy about Cadel

I would love to see Lance win, but I think it's going to Alberto Contador's turn. I do agree that Lance has been playing it pretty cool and I can't wait to see him in the second half. I'm expecting to see him in the yellow jersey soon. I must admit, I thought Lance was all hype this year, but he is proving me wrong and I would love to see him win.

I have always been a fan of Lance. I mean, he should be a superspy with that name. "Armstrong, Lance Armstrong." I wonder if he has a brother named Stretch?

I hope Lance doesn't win!! Being retired then coming back a few years later and proving that you are the best in a sport, I just hate the idea.
I think Contador is a bit stronger than Lance. He is brillant in the mountains! He just broke away from everyone in stage 7 (I believe that is the right stage).
I felt sorry for Cadel on stage 8. He was the one who lead the break away and the ones, including Cancellara, told him to **** off. Cancella lost over 5 minutes in the Andorra Arcalis, the first mountain stage. How could Cancellara expect to pass the other mountains?!
Andy Shleck is a powerful rider, especially mountains. He did well in stage 8 trying to drop the yellow jersey from the peloton.
The other teams need to work together to put the yellow jesery into Astana's hands to put pressure on them. Then they need to work together in a break away.

Schwarzenegger did it in the 1980 Mr. Olympia. Led to probably the single most controversial finish in the history of bodybuilding.

The other rider I am looking out for is Mark Cavendish as he is our local boy. Being a sprinter he is not in for the overall win but may take the points win. I think that points race is going to be tight and may go down to the last stage.

I just found out that Cavendish won the stage today. Well done to him, his 3rd stage win so far this tour.

I'm backing Justin Style.

I'm with you Jeff

Cavendish is a super-fast sprinter on flats. He is very cocky though. Go Hushov!! Tony Martin is coming 7th. I think Columbia should concentrate more energy of trying to get him to number 1 in the GC.
Mountain stages are my favourite. There is more action, unless there are gale crosswinds. Time trails are fun to watch as well.
The final climb on stage 20 is going to definately sought out the winner.
I still can't believe Davis was kicked out of Quickstep for Boonen. -.- I saw Davis at the Tour Down Under. He was awesome. Davis is even ranked 5th in the world rankings.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0......,00.html
Above is article on Allan Davis.
http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFR......LangId=1
Above is the World Rankings.

Congrats, Alberto Contador.

They finally found a way to beat Armstrong, let him age!

This has nothing to do with the Tour-DF, but it is cycling related. Hopefully the cycling junkies will appreciate this.

Yesterday I was out for a 40 km or so (not much for you hard core cyclists, but plenty for me) bike ride along the bike paths in the local river valley. On the way to one of the river valley entrances, I bumped into a guy on the road looking for the route to the bike path that goes downtown. I gave him directions and cycled with him a bit, to show him the way. He's this guy:

http://les3ameriques.canalblog.com/

"Trip around the 3 Americas wtih bicycle and 38'000 miles about 5 years"

I think he is an great example of someone who is making the most of life, doing what he loves / loving what he does. And apparently some people LOVE to cycle.

Fun stuff, Balducci. But you can't fool me. Most of cycle paths around the Bow are not in a valley.

Come north 300km, and I'll show you a river with a real valley.

John

You're right about 'most' in the overall bike path system sense but a lot of my route is in the Varsity area which is sort of valley like.

Cool Balducci.

I really wanted to see Frank Shleck get into third position. He missed fourth position by 3 seconds to Wiggins. :/
*** Contador is good.

You doper, you.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/mo......1733784/

Tour de France winner tests positive

A spokesman for three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador says the cyclist tested positive for a banned steroid during this year's race.

Contador's publicist released a statement Wednesday saying the substance, identified as clenbuterol, was found in a test taken on July 21. Contador has blamed food contamination as the only possible explanation for the positive test.

Contador will hold a news conference on Thursday in Pinto, Spain.

Seems the level found was at only 1/400th of the level that is considered doping by the authorities and that nothing was found either the day before or after.

If he is guilty then he deserves to lose everything, but I do think due process should be given if there is any doubt whatsoever, before bringing it to the attention of the media. Really it doesn't matter now if he is innocent, there will always be a cloud over his achievements.