The Tour, that is. Contador won, Schleck the Younger took second, and Lance Armstrong took third. Thor Hushovd took the points jersey, despite Mark Cavendish winning six (!) stages. Hushovd’s bold move to scoop up maximum points between categorized climbs showed that it’s not just the best sprinter who wins–even Cavendish had to concede that the Norwegian deserved the green after that day. I must admit that I was less interested as the Tour went on, though I did watch the finish up Mount Ventoux yesterday. The Astana soap opera was interesting, sure, but with Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, and Denis Menchov all riding terribly, it was up to the Schleck brothers and Bradley Wiggins (!) to make the race more interesting. The Schlecks did everything in their power to break up the Astana juggernaut, and in the end, given Frank’s poor ability against the clock, he couldn’t nudge Armstrong from the podium.

Of course, even before this race was over, the story lines for 2010 were being written. Armstrong (and likely, Johan Bruyneel) will be backed by Radio Shack. Contador will be on another team, thanks to the return of Alexendre Vinokourov to Astana (gee, the Vuelta should be interesting, if Bruyneel doesn’t leave before that). There have been rumors of Contador to Garmin, and Jonathan Vaughters has been vague about contact with the Spaniard, but if Contador doesn’t land with Garmin, I suspect that either Contador wouldn’t submit to Garmin’s deep medical checks, or Garmin found something suspicious in Contador’s medical history. Evans and Silence-Lotto have also grown tired of one another (which only makes sense), but where the mercurial Australian will land is anyone’s guess. Garmin or Armstrong’s new team wouldn’t suit him, as he needs to be the leader. And, of course, there’s the rest of Astana–Kloden will likely stay, as he has ridden in support of Vino before (at T-Mobile), but Leipheimer may not wish to stick around. Perhaps Garmin, with a shot at winning in Italy or Spain? We’ll see.

Posted on 26 July 2009