Last Days of the Tour

Well I'm excited.  Yep this years tour has got me interested. Finally!  I've got to confess I'm not a huge fan of watching the tour hour after hour.  I know some of you could quite happily sit and watch five hours of the stage from the comfort of your sofa, but I can think of better things to do with those hours.  I'm more than happy to watch the last hour of the race when all the action happens.  Does that make me a cycling heathen?  I tend to watch more of the stage as it hits the mountains, where the climbs really make a difference to the race leaders, and the descents test bike handling skills to the max.

However, things look set to be a real battle over the last two stages of the Alpes.  Today's finish is the highest of the tour.  Its a summit finish but there are two big climbs before this so the guys legs are going to be really tested.  I'm hoping for a good race, so I'm tuning in early to catch all the action.  Think the summit of the last climb is covered in deep snow so its going to be a very interesting scene!

So who do you want to win?  I really want to see Thomas Voeckler win but even he is not confident of his climbing up these big hills and with only a minute over the GC contenders its not going to be enough.  I've gone off the Schlecks after they have winged endlessly about the dangerous descents.  Nobody likes a moaning champion and they seem to have lost credibility.  I don't want Contador to win, purely because if he is found guilty from last years fiasco then really he shouldn't be in this race at all, and a win of this tour would just be messy.  Ivan Basso is a dark horse in this race and capable of winning.  I used to be a fan, but after being caught taking drugs I'm probably I can trust him.  I don't maybe I feel he let me down. So that leaves Cadel Evans.  I know hes not many people favourite racer.  Hes not often aggressive in tour races so is a bit boring to watch but I've followed his career from when he was demolishing the field on the mountain bike world cup courses.  I think an ex-mountain biker winning the tour would be excellent.  So that's it.  Cadel Evans for me.  What about you?

So if you get the opportunity to watch todays and tomorrows stages all I have to say is.....enjoy!

Posted in: Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso, Thomas Voeckler