Tueday was a rest day for the 2008 Tour de France. So far it has been an exciting Tour. None of the over powering teams that we have seen in the past but CSC-Saxo Bank is looking stong and may make a big move in the Alps.
Christian Vande Velde is still riding strong. Last year Christian Vande Velde was a rider for CSC and he posted a daily diary to Velonews similar to the ones that Christian's Garmin-Chipolte teammate Will Frischkorn (Titled: Fresh Korn) is writing this year. I thought Mr. Vande Velde's writings were insightful and funny. I felt like I got to know Christian. One of the last postings was about his decision to leave CSC and join the new American Team Slipstream (now Garmin-Chipolte).
Who would have thought that Mr. Vande Velde would be in 3rd place after the first moutain stage. Christian had no teammates with him on the final climbs on Monday's stage and was able to stay with Cadel Evans. He looked strong and in his post race comments he regretted not taking off with one of the other chase groups. I wonder how much help he is getting from his former CSC teammates.
I was planning on rooting for Cadel Evans to win this year's Tour (I know that it is not much of a stretch to root for the front runner) but it looks like I am going to be pulling Christian Vande Velde. I hope he can stay in contention all the way to Paris. So far he looks like he is having fun and keeping the right attitude.
After a good first week it looks like Team Columbia is back to working for stage wins rather than a Tour win.
The great thing about this year's tour is that it is taking my mind off of the US Economy. I am not sure what I will do after the Tour is over.
No comments:
Post a Comment