Tornado Tom and the Argyle Armada

Surprising to no one paying attention, Quickstep once again dominated the Tour of Qatar and Boonen took the overall for the second time in three years.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the ToC later this month.


On the other hand Big props have to go out to Slipstream and CJ Sutton for his fourth place, that very easily could have been a podium spot if not for the crash in stage 5 that left Backstedt with a broken collarbone (hopefully it doesn't thro him too far off track in his classics training).

Even bigger props to Ryder Hesjedal for his third place in the GP La Marseillaise to open up the French calendar.

One dimensional director

Just got done listening to the latest Bicycling Mag podcast, an interview with Johan Bruynee at the Astana camp in NM, and I was interested in a comment he made towards the end.

When asked about races other than the Tour that they are focused on he mentioned that they are not that strong of a team for the classics and that is one thing missing from his palmares. It got me thinking that despite having a strong classics rider in Hincapie at US Postal/Disco, the focus was so strong on the Tour that the one day races really got short shrift.

Now that he is with Astana, I think it is even worse because they really don't have a leader for the classics. Even more than Disco they are built to win races like the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, and the Dauphine. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Update: Beofre I could even post this, the news came out that Astana Will not be going to the Giro this year. Apparently the fact that Contador has said he couldn't care less about anything other than the Tour and that Levi has only used it for a tune-up himself is behind the decision. Too bad for Kloden, this might have been his only chance to win a grand tour this year.

Desert winds a blowin'

As I said in my previous post, I was looking forward to some racing in Qatar and this is not what I was talking about:


I had in mind something more along the lines of this:


And once again Tornado Tom and the boy in blue er white take it to the rest of the peloton with some massive speed to put all who would challenge the golden child in a world of hurt.

Major props go out to Chris Sutton from Slipstream on staying with the leaders and getting fourth on the stage to put himself in a nice position to maybe grab a podium spot.

General classification after stage 2
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step 2.34.59
2 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step 0.09
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto 0.14
4 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream p/b Chipotle 0.15
5 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick Step 0.20
6 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence - Lotto
7 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre 0.21
8 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.26
9 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Silence - Lotto 0.27
10 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step 0.32

They ride in a land down under

I have to admit that while I have been following the Tour Down Under, it just doesn't excite me very much.

YOu would think that after obsessing over cycling all summer and then scavenging for the smallest shred of news or "news" over the fall and winter that I would be ecstatic about the 2008 season getting under way.

Vvicious headbutts aside, I just kind of feel apathetic about it though.

I am looking forward to the Tour of Qatar however.

Overheard - Hennepin & 9th St

"So I was pretty much screwed out of my power.

I had the ability to add to my ice spells, but now I'm not in control of the ice domain anymore so it's pretty much useless."