Let the GAMES begin!

And so...the start of the 2020 Summer Olympics are upon us! Only a year and change late...but better than we had any right to expect as of this time last year. We shall see how things go with Covid...already athletes who qualified and arrived are being disqualified and sent home for testing positive...how many more of the worlds best athletes will be denied their chance at these Games? It's hard to say, but we can be assured that not all of the best will get their chance. I'm especially looking forward to the cycling events...both the ITT and the road....oh, and also the MTB (wasn't it just 5 years ago that Peter Sagan raced in the MTB race, where the reigning top few scoffed at his chances as he was starting dead last, and by the end of the first lap he had passed all but the top few and were on their wheel? That was pretty priceless...and then he flatted, and then again, killing any chance of a top finish. Ahh well...I know the US as always has a pretty fantastic crop of athletes...we always do quite well in the Summer Games (not so much the winter). Susie, I'll be counting on you for analysis and play by play...I doubt I'll get to see very much, and I know you will be light-years-ahead of me in viewing time. So the Opening Ceremony happens tonight, and then officially the games begin (tho they have already started the Soccer if I recall from the news...the US womens team was beat by Sweden if I recall correctly in their first game?) Game(s) ON!

2021 Tour de AWESOME! Stages 15 thru 21 and final thoughts, banter, gossip and whatever else that comes to mind!

Monday night, still in Vegas (last night, tomorrow Jeannie flies home and my brothers both show up and we are driving up to Zion to hike for 2 days). So...le Tour...Stage 15...WOW!! I think that was one of the most exciting finishing 20 miles or so that I can remember! The entire top 10 riding together on the final climb, attacking each other over and over and over..just mind blowing fantastic racing by all of them!! OK..I do have to toss out one negative comment here, then will not say another word about it. So...I think we learned (or should have) back in the LA era that when things seem too good to be true, they probably are. And my point...Valverde. 41 years old...just destroyed the ENTIRE TOP 10 of this years Tour on that final climb, beating them all at the line by over 4 and one half minutes. Does that seem pretty unlikely to anybody else?? I mean, if that was uhm, er, honest...then well done Valverde!! But another thing we learned during the LA era was that not testing positie doesnt really mean that it wasnt happening. And thats all I have to say about that. Now, we go positive and discuss the Durango Kid...22 year old SEPP KUSS WINNING the stage!! Its been 10 YEARS since an American has won (Tyler Farrar) and he is ONLY the TENTH Aerican to win a stage...EVER! Gosh, I pray this kid isnt a flash in the pan...becasue it seems his future is so freaking bright that WE need to wear shades just to watch him! I surely truly honestly hope that is the case. (ok, and one more negative bit...that Valverde was ONLY 23 seconds BEHIND Kuss at the finish, and LESS THAN 20 at the top of the climb? Seriously??) And while Im sad that Roglic is out, IF he wasnt, maybe todays finish would have been very different. We will never know...it is what it is. And America rejoices! (and lets not forget Neilsson Powless on EF who finished THIRTEENTH today out of the breakaway!!! WOO-HOO!!) Ok..NOW Im done with that...promise. Now we can talk about the rest of the top GC guys...what a great fun crop we have this year! Whats his face (who leapfrogged into 2nd on Stage 14 fell apart as everybody expected against the best of the best, droppig off the charts as expected). So...Pogacar shows he was equal to the task, defending his Yellow by himself and stamping his dominance and shouting to the world that this race is about 2nd thru 10th. And speaking of that...we have Riggo, Vingegaard, Carapaz, OConnor, Kelderman, Lutsenko, Mas, Martin (who doesnt really belong here, can he hold it?), And now...the KOM jersey fight...and WHAT a fight! For a while there it LOOKED like Quintana was back...and then hes gone. But the OTHER top 3 contenders, HELLO!!! And THREE MORE Pyrnees stages to go! Good for us!! Wout Poels taking the Polka dot jersey! And nipping at his heels, Woods (who Im rooting for), Q still in the hunt, Van Aert all withing 10 points of Poels... and then Molema much further back. So we truly have a FOUR WAY FIGHT for the Polka dots...how fun is THAT!!! OK...I need to get some sleep, finish packing and get out of here in the morning. Zion is next on my radar...not sure how much of ANY Tour I will get to see over this next few days...will be home late Thurs night/early Friday morning...so will have MORE catching up to do. But I cant deny this has been just a FANTASTIC RACE and I am SO GLAD I didnt miss it like I thought was going to happen! TOUR ON!!

Tour de Madness, er France...stages 8 thru 14, with the always open-season to rehash 1 thru 7

I wasn't able to watch the first few stages this year due to the brainiacs at NBCSN NOT allowing Peacock subscribers to have access to the NBCSN replay feed of the A-team crew broadcast...but apparently enough of us complained (on their Facebook page of all places...thanks for that tip Rae!) that they changed it and starting on Stage 5 we suddenly DID! For whatever reason we still can't go back and get one thru 4...so I have no idea what the crash Roglic had in Stage 3 looked like, but he's not doing well...yesterday in Stage 7 he dropped out of the peleton on a minor climb and lost a few more minutes to the current Yellow. Also Gerrant Thomas dropped back and lost any chance HE may have had yesterday (tho it sounds like he wasn't even the team leader, that would be Carapaz who attacked yesterday but was mostly pulled back). From what I've seen, there's no clear leadership thus far by any team/rider. Now that Pogacar is the heir-apparent everybody has him marked...last year he was able to slide thru with his team doing none of the management, and snatch it away from Roglic/Jumbo-Vismo in the final day...no pressure there! It made for awesome TV, unless you were on team JV that is. This year with no other team stepping up to control the race it's more wild-west...and I don't know if Pogacar can afford to wait. Stage 8 is underway as I type, and we will know more after today and tomorrow (in the Alps). Right now Wout Pouls is making a bid for yellow and it's looking good...but we all know how fast things can change out on the road. It's been a MAD stage thus far, over 10 inutes ahead of the fastest projected time...and after yesterdays brutal LONG day I'm surprised they are riding this fast this long into the stage. OK..enough on this...I'll post this and then we go to the comments. Woo-HOO! Game ON!