Let's Make A Deal...

Montee Ball, said, "Lets Make A Thrill!" Badgers beat up on UNLV, and the Heels look to start off on a positive note against James Madison University Saturday at 3:30pm.

Trek still owns 40% of the Top Ten in the Tour of Spain, and Team Radio Shack holds onto the Top Team honors. It's Stage 13 on Friday! Can that be a new bicycling superstition?

Team Standings in the Vuelta:

			1 The Shack  RSH 140h10'17'' 2 RobABank RAB a 1:58 3 Leopard LEO a 2:18 4 Geox GEO a 5:41 5 Astana AST a 11:50
			Individual Standings: No changes in the Overall. Wiggins is the man to beat on yet another stage. Friday the 13th Stage13!!!

More Vuelta... Etapa Once

Photo Courtesy of Steephill

Too late to carry on, so another short jont for the night... Wiggins made a nice move, I can't take that away from him. However, the British commentator needs to step down and let Kelly have the mic! We went from, "NOT WIGGINS, surely not Wiggins!" To, "WIGGINS is making a move, he sees that they are suffering, and he's making his break!" Oh the drama! That's why they get paid! To fire up home growns, and tick off the rest of the world. (Said with a smile) I love all of the announcers, but Kelly being a former racer, and with the smooth Irish accent, and heavy "R's" is the man! To conclude:

Strong showing from Trek as a company, the boys and girls (engineers, riders, and company in general) from Waterloo, still own 40% of the Top Ten, in the GC, in it Fuglsang slipped from second to fifth. Catch y'all later today since it's already Thursday!

Stage 11 results
1  David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne  4:38:00   
2  Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar            + 1:18   
3  Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank     
4  Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing                      + 1:36   
5  Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) RadioShack     + 1:43   
6  Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale             + 2:29   
7  Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi      
8  Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Lampre - ISD              + 2:55   
9  Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha              + 3:01   
10 Vicente David Bernabeu Armengol (Spa) Andalucia     + 3:08

General Classification after Stage 11
1  Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky                         42:50:41   
2  Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky                        + 0:07   
3  Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale           + 0:11   
4  Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana                     + 0:14   
5  Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek                   + 0:19   
6  Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank                        + 0:47   
7  Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek                   + 1:06   
8  Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC                 + 1:27   
9  Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack             + 1:53   
10 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) RadioShack                    + 2:00

And On The Seventh Day...

God for our sakes rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath, and called it Holy. The Vuelta for the riders sake took a day off too, and called it, "pre-Etapa Once" (On say)... or "Stage Eleven."

Trek Strong in Etapa (Stage) 10 Individual TT's

Janez Brajkovic

Maxime Monfort

Fabian Cancellara

Jakob Fuglsang

Tiago Machado

What company holds 50% of the Vuelta's Top 10 in the Individual Time Trials of Etapa (Stage) 10?
4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th for the guys from Waterloo! Nuff said!

Stage 10 results
1  Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad         0:55:54   
2  Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky            + 0:59   
3  Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky               + 1:22   
4  Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek    + 1:27   
5  Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing         + 1:33   
6  Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek       + 1:37   
7  Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack          + 1:54   
8  Janez Brajkovic (Slo) RadioShack        + 1:56   
9  Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank    + 2:02   
10 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek       + 2:06

2nd, 6th, 9th, and 10th in the overall!!! 40% of the Top 10 
in the GC!!! On Wisconsin! Did I mention the fact that the 
guys from Wisconsin, make a pretty mean bicycle? 
40% of the Top 10... ok again, nuff said!

General Classification after Stage 10
1  Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky             38:09:13   
2  Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek          + 0:12   
3  Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky                  + 0:20   
4  Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale  + 0:31   
5  Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana            + 0:34   
6  Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek          + 0:59   
7  Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank               + 1:07   
8  Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC        + 1:47   
9  Janez Brajkovic (Slo) RadioShack           + 2:04   
10 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack    + 2:13

Photos Courtesy of Velo News

The Expected & Unexpected Sports For This Weekend...

The EXPECTED:

UFC:
The Big Brazilian Blockbuster UFC Rio, saw the home favorites taking care of business. Silva amazes me still. He is the most humble fighter that I have ever seen. He's calm, going into training, he is calm going into the fights, he is calm during the fight, and he is calm at post fight. Anderson "Spider" Silva treats every fight like it's no big deal. He trains hard, and care free, and he fights the same way! He set his opponent down twice in the second round with a jab, and finished him off with the ground and pound. In the locker room he hugged his boys and shook the oldest son's hand and loved on them like any good father would want to after a days work. Silva is the first fighter in UFC History to win in ten title bouts, and first to 10 consecutive title bout victories.

Cycling:

Levi stayed out front, and finished among the leaders in the peleton, and claimed the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Levi won the individual honors as the Trek teams flip flopped in the overall team standings with Leopard Trek finishing in fourth, and Team Radio Shack finishing in fifth. Most of his fellow riders pictured with him won their respected jersey's and the race was a success. I believe this will be a great challenge that other riders will also embrace and participate in, in the years to come. Great job city of Denver, and USA Cycling.

Pictured are the winner of each competition... overall race winner Levi Leipheimer, mountains winner Rafael Montiel, points winner (and most awesome sprinter award!) Elia Viviani, best young rider Tejay Van Garderen and most aggressive rider Timmy Duggan.


The UNEXPECTED:

NASCAR:

I didn't expect one car to come out of his pit stall, and pass another car that was already up to speed and exiting the pits... Bad thing was it didn't happen once, but on a couple of occasions. I didn't expect the 18 car to remain drivable after squeezing between two other cars, and ticking off a few more drivers either. That, "Not So Happy w/ Busch" list probably grew by two more drivers Saturday night.

Track & Field World Championships:

Usain Bolt beat by the worlds fastest man! "HIMSELF!" Only allotted one false start, the reigning champion and world record holder in the 100 & 200 meter events jumped early, and about 10 meters out realized it, and in disgust, hastily pulled off his sprinters jersey, and walked off the track. He had cruised into the finals and then was eliminated by a false start!

That ladies and gentlemen was my weekend in sports Expected & Unexpected.

Again note that the reproduction for sales purposes of any images are forbidden. Photo's used strictly for viewing only and appear as a courtesy and not intended on my behalf for the use of any ad(s). Thank you.

I am not getting any funding for the use of the pictures, they come courtesy of Steephill, and are not meant for reproduction or redistribution for any monetary gain... thank you. Now that, that is out of the way let's talk cycling shall we...

La Vuelta A Espana

Jakob Fuglsang is now third, and Monfort holds on to Top 10 spot, resting in tenth, in the Vuelta. So a very condensed update today... Go Trek Go! Joaquim Rodriguez is now the overall leader in the CG. The Shack owns the top team spot, and Leopard is third.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge

Levi still maintains his eleven second lead over Vandevelde, with other riders not much farther back than that. This could be a sprinters dream if they can get an early jump on Levi... So where is Hincapie again? Tomorrow starts with a big climb, and ends with a bit more level and somewhat downhill ride into Denver, and closes with a circuit in Downtown. I have a feeling it's going to be a dog fight!!! Again let me finish with the condensed update, and say: Go Trek Go!

P.S. Levi, we'd sure like to see an American on home soil, on the worlds finest machine bring home the main prize! Git it did brother. Oh yeah Team Standings :
Team Shack is fourth in the team standings, and Leopard is fifth. OK, I am spent! Goodnight.

Blazing (Bicycle) Saddles

Photo Courtesy of Steephill

Michal Golas received some rear burns from the crash in the sprint to the finish. I know this is bad, butt (punn intended) are you ready to take a psychiatric test? Step back from your computer, put your hand up to block the white portion of Michal's legs, squint, and take another look at the picture above. What do you see? Looked like a guy with his eyes rolled back in his head wearing a mask to me upon first glance. All jokes aside it was a pretty wicked crash, you can see part of the pile up in the picture below. Michal Golas had to have medical attention after the race. Reports say that Golas had dental and facial injuries. It was a fabulous sprint, just a shame that it was closed out with the crash.

Photo Courtesy of Steephill

Of course, no bike blog is complete without a Trek picture. That is Fabian Cancellara just behind J Rod (Joaquin Rodriguez). J Rod appeared to have damage to his left wrist or elbow. This could affect the standings if he has to drop and is unable to start tomorrow morning. I am not certain if Fabian was involved in the crash or not, but I needed a Trek pic so there you have it.

Overall Individual Standings:

5. Jakob Fuglsang LEO
7. Maxime Monfort LEO
14. Haimar Zubeldia RSH
18. Janez Brajkovic RSH
23. Tiago Machado RSH
46. Oliver Zaugg LEO

Team Standings:

1. Team Radio Shack
4. Leopard Trek

Photo Courtesy of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge

The Challenge had a fairly tame finish compared to the Vuelta. No sprint to the finish crashes, just a sprint that produced a battle of the sprinters that was superbly controlled by Team Liquigas Cannondale. Italian rider Elia Viviani of Team Liquigas won the 4th Stage, but no changes were made in the CG, and Leipheimer is the first to hold the Yellow Jersey for consecutive days, and the first repeat Yellow Jersey holder in the Challenge. If he holds onto the Yellow through tomorrow, he will be the first and only rider in the inaugural race to hold the Yellow for consecutive days. If he wins, he will be the only rider, to this point, to win consecutive and multiple Yellow Jerseys.

Trailing American, Levi Leipheimer the leader of The Shack and overall race leader, is another American and Team Garmin Cervelo, rider Christian Vandevelde, whom trails Leipheimer by 11 seconds. Team Garmin Cervelo has Vandevelde in second place overall, but holds the top spot in the Team Standings. Sunday closes out the Great American race, but Saturday promises to be a showdown for the ages. It is the last of the mountain stages, and the stage that could very well determine the race, or set up the final stage to be one of the most promising finishes in American cycling history! It would be a sprint, and a dog fight if something major happens on the mountain tomorrow afternoon! See you then!