First Time "4" Everything!

Mark Cavendish "Cav" (of Team Sky) raises his hand with a four finger salute to congratulate himself, as he finishes 1st for the 4th straight time in Paris. The reigning world champion is the first but possibly not the last if the man to his right in lime green (Peter Sagan) has anything to say about it. Sagan is only 22 and blew the competition away to obtain the Green Jersey.

Another first, Bradley Wiggins (a teammate to Cav, with Team Sky) holds on to the LCL Yellow Jersey, and rides the lead out train for Cav to sprint to victory, and becomes England's first TDF winner! It was a great day for Team Sky, they finished 1 & 2 in the overall (General Classification), and won the final stage of the TDF. In all honesty however, if (yes if) Chris Froome had taken command in the mountains and not been ordered to wait for Wiggins, Froome could have been England's first TDF winner. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, and if, if's and buts, were candies and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas, but... Froome could have won this year.

Last year also produced a ton of possible firsts:

Frank and Andy Schleck would have been the first siblings (also teammates) to finish first and second, had they held on in the final time trial. As it turned out, it would be a first for Australia and Team BMC's Cadel Evans, as he took the final time trial and the TDF Yellow going into Paris. His celebration a bit more elaborate than that of Mr. Wiggins today, but nonetheless, he was victorious.

Not sure if a team has changed names, and won the team overall yellow, in consecutive years, but (there's that big 3 letter word again) I am thinking that is a first as well! So congratulations to Team Radioshack Nissan Trek (RSTN) for pulling off the team win again this year! 

With that said, it is time for me to venture out on my Madone and ride now, myself! It's hot, but the hot needs me! In honor of Team Sky, in my best Norf side accent, "Tootles..."

The Intentions of Management (Cycling)

For those of us that have never been there it's easy to make assumptions, or point fingers, even give our point of view. However, I have to ask the question again, with what intention? Alain Gallopin the sporting director/team manager for cycling team Radioshack/Nissan/Trek (RSNT) former, but somewhat partially still Trek Leopard (because of funding and connection to Luxembourg) was questioned about his decision to add his nephew (Tony Gallopin) to this years Tour de France (TDF). What I question more, is the team using Nissan as a sponsor over working with Mercedes Benz. Although, I'm pretty certain that their reasoning is probably because Specialized (a main competitor) is in cahoots with McLaren (which is a division or closely related to Mercedes Benz). Gallopin the director, chose Gallopin the nephew and rider, because Tony Gallopin the rider, earned his spot, and also gave the injury plagued RSNT team a bit more variety. Tony has already had some impressive U23 victories, is a complete rider, climbs well, sprints well, and is also in second place for the Best Young Rider jersey in his first TDF. So well done director! The link below will take you to the Tours page, and you can click "Classifications" and then go to the "Best Young Rider" category and check Tony's progress. If I pull for anyone else in that category it would have to be BMC's Tejay Van Garderen, a young American rider. Van Garderen's getting plenty of education, one could only imagine, riding under the tutelage of seventeen time TDF contestant George Hincapie, and 2011 Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans. So again not to get off track, yes the Gallopin's are family, but I think it was a sound choice, even if they are family to give RSNT a shot at winning multiple jerseys in this years tour. RSNT is the top team in the field now, and now own yellow as a team. They have had a member in yellow, for all but one stage of the TDF this year, with their three top riders having the lowest time combined after today's Stage 8, they now have yellow again, this time as a team. Therefore, I applaud Alain Gallopin's choice. Tony looked very strong today, and is now less than fifty seconds away from the White - Best Young Rider's jersey, and his team a half a minute up on Britain's Team Sky, although, Sky's Wiggins took the individual (General Classifications) yellow from Trek's Fabian Cancellara in Stage 6. The intentions were to build a stronger team, now, and for the future, and that is being manifested with every stage in this tour. Well done Mr. Gallopin, well done RSNT!

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/classifications.html 

THE World Champion is...

UCI Elite Mens Elite Time Trial World Championship Shed - You'll (Schedule)

First Group starting with the first rider (Azzedine Lagab of Algeria) will start at 12:30pm. The last twenty riders and highest favored riders will start at 2:48pm and work their way out of the gate in a minute and a half increments.

20 HERRADA LOPEZ Jesus ESP
19 TUFT Svein CAN
18 RABON Frantisek CZE
17 FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto POR
16 KIRYIENKA Vasil BLR
15 BRAJKOVIC Janez SLO
14 BOBRIDGE Jack AUS
13 GRABSCH Bert GER
12 LARSSON Gustav SWE
11 WIGGINS Bradley GBR
10 PINOTTI Marco ITA
9  WESTRA Lieuwe NED
8  OLIVEIRA Nélson POR
7  FUGLSANG Jakob DEN
6  PORTE Richie AUS
5  PHINNEY Taylor USA
4  IGNATYEV Mikhail RUS
3  MILLAR David GBR
2  MARTIN Tony GER
1  CANCELLARA Fabian SUI

Tony Martin is heavily favored after dominating in the TT's in both the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) and the Tour de France.

I personally hope to see US rider Taylor "Mini" Phinney do well, and hope the Trek riders do well also. I don't know that Phinney is ready to pull off a World Championship victory just yet, but stranger things have happened. Win, Place, and Show pays bragging rights to your buddies. The exacta pays the big bucks and gets ya some big time pull. So here's my Exacta for the Top 7 finishers, and my Win (Gold), Place (Silver), and Show (Bronze) medalist: 

Some believe the rain will help the bigger more powerful riders, on the rolling streets of Copenhagen. Some say that the technical riders will fair better. Me personally I think the mind games have already begun, and it is now a matter of who handles the nerves best.

10. Canadian - Svein Tuft Canadian National Champion
9. Aussie - Jack Bobridge Australian Champion ***Road Race***
8. Swed - Gustav Larsson Swedish National Champion
7. Portuguese - Nelson Oliveira Portuguese National Champion
6. American - Taylor Phinney US National Champion
5. Australian - Richie Porte
4. German - Tony Martin German National Champion
3. Brit - Tony Millar (Bronze)
2. Brit - Bradley Wiggins (Silver) British National Champion
1. The Big Swiss - Fabian Cancellara (Gold) Swiss National Champion

Mostly National Champions, and winner of some very impressive stages. But that is my Exacta. Fabian is well rested, and has said that he believes that Martin is the winner, but that this is also a one day event, that he believes he can win. I think in the most humble way that he knew how to say it, he was truly saying: I am not 4 time World Champ for nothing...

Martin has ridden strong in TT's this year claiming two of the Grand Tour TT Stages. That is not to be taken lightly, but he also had the luxury of saving himself for just those stages. Wiggins put in a full Tour, and I believe he is still hungry. Their are a couple of experienced riders in this group that are 30 or better (Fabian Cancellara and Gustav Larsson), and you know what they say about age, and treachery versus youth and cockiness right? Well if you don't and my prediction comes to its fruition, then you will after tomorrow... I don't foresee a blowout, in fact I anticipate that this will be one of the closest races in the history of the World Championships. Again we shall see after tomorrow.