Rest Day Roundup

In much the same way as the TV channels have to fill a day with no racing with clips from the race so far, I'm going to have a roundup of what's been going on.

We've been going for just over a week now, and we're starting to see who the main players will be, in both the real and the fantasy Tours. I've been playing with the spreadsheet and it now has team scores for each stage, rider scores for each stage, and a fancy chart.

If there is one person who was talking big and is now well and truly out of the race, it's Lance Armstrong. I have been criticised for not gloating enough at Lance's downfall  (I wouldn't really call myself a "hater", check out some of the comments on the cyclingnews forums to see some real hating). He has had more than his fair share of bad luck this year, I'll have to admit........ But I might as well get stuck in.

This is my first year following the Tour in the USofA and the Lancemania here is astounding. You can't get away from the guy. In the US, the home of the Tour is the Versus channel. If you watch the race live you get the same Phil&Paul commentary as on ITV4 in the UK.... Which is bad enough for constant Lance references. If you watch the highlights, you get commentary from Lance's mate Bob Roll and some other dude who also loves Lance.... There's even more Lance references.

Then there's the commercials. In a typical ad-break you get to see Lance advertising Radioshack.



Lance advertising Nike



Lance advertising beer.



And Lance advertising cars.



As on many a sports channel, on Versus there's some post-stage analysis from from some pundits. So, after the prologue, along with the commentators, which great American cyclist did we have sitting behind the desk? Greg Lemond? Andy Hampsten? No, we had Ben fucking Stiller talking about what a great guy Lance is.



It's enough to make you hate Lance I tell you!

Anyway, despite what the US media might have you believe, there are other riders in the Tour this year. And most of them are doing better than Lance. Here's a look at the top 25 on the GC.

The time gaps at the top are still pretty tight, and there's plenty of racing to come. But chances are the overall winner of the race is in the top 20 by now. Cadel Evans is in yellow and looking strong. Andy Schleck is climbing well with plenty of mountains to come. Contador is still up there, along with potential dark horses Samuel Sanchez and  Dennis Menchov. Not to mention Liquigas pair Basso and Kreuziger. Wiggins was a bit off the pace yesterday after some dodgy tactics on the first climb. He'll need to do better if he wants a podium spot.

On the rest day today, the riders will be taking it easy and tending to the wounds most of them picked up during the first week. A tough day tomorrow, and the GC contenders will need to be in top condition if they don't want to lose time on the nasty climb of the Col De Madeleine. It's not a mountain-top finish though, so we might see the favourites stay together up the climb, rather than try to attack and get reeled-in over the flat run-in to the finish. Watch out for Sammy Sanchez though, he goes downhill like shit-off-a-shovel, so might try and get away on the descent.