As alluded to in an earlier post I am a huge fan of the Tour De France. Tonight I caught the last 15 km of Stage 7. This was the first of 3 successive mountain stage in the Pyrenees and it was not short on drama. If you don't follow the Tour much you should know that the biggest drama so far this year has been the leadership of Team Astana which has Alberto Contador as the designated team leader. In a Tour team the other riders are supposed to be unselfish and do all they can to ensure their leader either wins or gets a spot on the podium. The problem with Astana is that Lance Armstrong, a former 7 time winner and the ONLY 7 time winner, joined the team and thus it raises questions about who is really leading the team. Prior to entering today's stage Armstrong held a 19 second lead over Contador after Armstrong selfishly broke away on a previous flat stage. The big question was could he hold that lead after the arduous mountain stages?
In Stage 7 Contador stamped his authority on the race as he easily sprinted away from the field during the final ascent. He let it be known that he is the team leader and Armstrong's days in the sun are over. I'm not selling Armstrong short because he rode phenomenally after a 3 year absence and at 37 years of age which is geriatric in cycling years. Although Armstrong only finished 22 seconds back of Contador he had no answer for Contador's breakaway sprint and now finds himself in 3rd place in the overall general classification. Tomorrow is another Pyrenees stage .. stay tuned.
I don't have stage 7 highlights on video so how about another Kraftwerk TDF song? This one written in 1983 and featured in the movie "Breakin'"
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