Once again its that time of the summer when I raptly listen to Eurosport online during the day to hear what most people would consider more boring than watching paint dry on the walls. Its Tour time and with all the controversy and drama from past years as well as the return of Lance to Team Astana, it should be a good time if not good cycling. Yesterday’s stage was a flat windy open ride in the heat. The excitement came when a group of riders split the main peleton and chased down a breakaway. Included in the chase group were several of the Astana team, minus Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer, the supposed leader of the squad and one of its key strong men. In the chase group, Lance and several other Astana riders. Ironically, yesterday was the anniversary of the formation of the city Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The Tour is usally good for teaching us geography, and figuring out what sort of business most of the sponsors are in. Think of it as the European version of NASCAR.
The finish was a sprint, where Mark Cavendish took another stage. When the dust settled, Lance wound up 3rd overall with a 19 second lead over Contador. So it seems that Astana still hasn’t figured out which heavy hitter is their leader.
