Holy cats....TWO, count em, TWO BIG RACES and I'm WATCHING THEM BOTH for a change! How about them apples? Wow...The Vuelta is being shown daily on Universal, and for ONCE I've got it! It was one of the extra channels I got when I upgraded my Dish package for the TDF (and kept it for the Olympics, and now I"m keeping it all thru the Vuelta). And then the Pro Cycling Challenge is on the NBC Sports channel ...Woo-HOO!
It is very strange watching the Vuelta tho....I've never had any other feeds than the OLN/VS/NBC Sports for the Tour and the spring races, so it's always been Phil and Paul and Bobke (or some variation of them). Watching the first two stages of the Vuelta, I still can't get over NOT having Phil or Paul's voice...I even miss Liam! But THEN last night I turned to the Pro Tour Challenge (directly after finishing stage 2 of the Vuelta) and lo and behold, P & P! I was SAVED!
And let me add this...watching stage 2 of the Vuelta, I was actually ROOTING for El Pistolero! Gosh...it was wonderful seeing VICIOUS ATTACKS in a brutal climb! And I was sadly pondering how the Tour would have gone...surely Alberto would have lit up Bradly like a pinball machine in the mountains....Froome was even having a hard time staying with him...he'd let AC go and then slowly reel him in...however I don't think AC is at 100% just yet...if he was I think Froome's chances of reeling those attacks in would disappear over the top of the hill and that would be that. It will be VERY INTERESTING to see just how the race develops over the coming weeks...it's surely a climbers dream.
Sadly, I don't see Cadel doing very well with all these mountain-top finishes...but he could surprise me...he's done that before. And Valverde...he was looking pretty good, and he had said he was there to support his teammate (who dropped off on that final climb and pretty much showed he has no chance for the overall, unless he was having a VERY bad day and that is his last).
And then onto the Pro Challenge...WOW! Tommy D was on FIRE! I can't believe he was reeled in...by Healthnet no less! Good for them though...and in the end it probably turned out better for the team, with Tyler taking the win in a decisive way...maybe it will give him so confidence, of which he seems to have been lacking for a while now. Watching that stage on TV made me wish I was up in Colorado...if only I could arrange one of my Colo Springs trips during THIS race! But no luck...won't be going back there for a while...probably not this year. Oh well...but what a race that is!
OK...I"m off to dinner and then to try to somehow watch about 4 hours of two race coverage in the next hour or so...(which is impossible). Never before have I had this much cycling on after the tour...I'm quite jazzed! (I expected another dead end to the season like I usually have after the Tour...what a pleasant surprise for me!)
And so.....Viva le Vuelta AND le Pro Tour Challenge! (and sadly, it's Big George Hincapies final race...boo HOO!) Maybe he will win a stage and go out in style! GO GEORGE!!
Game ON!
Cadel isn't doing well in the mountains, but it's the Colorado mountains and not the northern Spain climbs....he's racing with his star-packed BMC group in USA Pro Challenge (such a dumb name). The race is playing out much like last year's edition - can't say I found it very intriguing but we'll see!!!
ReplyDeleteDid you see that Jens re-signed with our team? So happy that he did - he is a class act, through and through. He likes to geo-cache and so does my son, so we sent him a coin to the race in Utah to take back to Germany to hide. I received the sweetest email back - very kind. Said he'd be enjoying his geo-caching vacation in USA if it weren't for all these "stupid mountains I have to climb". Too funny!
We had to put our 12 year old lab down a few weeks ago due to kidney failure. It was a sad, sad moment for our family, especially coming on as fast as it did. We had to make the decision for him as he'd stopped eating and was going downhill fast. We miss his gentle spirit. But now we've rescued a puppy from a wonderful shelter here in SB, so we have a ten week bundle of energy in our house. His mom is terrier, his dad is an opportunist, but maybe a rotty. We named him Oliver (Ollie) since he was almost an orphan. A mama and 13 newborn pups were left abandoned at a foreclosed ranch....we love the little dude, but sure am glad my sons are involved in the training. I'm too old to have an infant!
I hear we'll have more signing announcements soon - hope to put together a great team for next year. This year has been tough.
Today's stage at USA Pro Challenge is a nail biter. Watch it TODAY for sure so you don't hear about it!
ReplyDeleteA great stage yesterday, and I am SO excited for Tommy D! He's really been out there fighting the past 2 seasons, glad it is paying off and whatever held him back for so long is over.
ReplyDeleteGarmin, and that Colombian team, have really been lighting up this race! Wish I could be there to see some of it in person.
Janann, there is a site where you can see replays of each Vuelta stage at your leisure, but the commentary is in Spanish--it is funny for me, it will be an unintelligible string of rapid syllables, then every 2 dozen words or so one pops out that I understand! Like, polemica! But of course I pick up the rider's and team's names which what I mostly need anyway. Here is the site: www. rtve.es/alacarta/videos/vuelta-ciclista-a-espana/ Then click on the videos tab to choose the stage that you want to watch. Cyclingnews also has a "live report" that is still available after the stage if you want just a little English version of the action to go along with the video.
I love the Vuelta, and I am loving the US Pro Challenge (and as for its name, at least it isn't another version of "Tour de whatever", so lame! Well, first time I heard Tour de (north county, San Diego) I thought it was cute...no more!)
I am VERY glad that Jens has signed for another year -- it just wouldn't be the same sport without him. There were rumors that he would be switching teams. This bodes well for RadioShack too, in my eyes -- yes, looking forward to a MUCH better year. When Jens is done, though, I would love if he replaced Phil (who's got to be close to retiring) in the commentary box. And George -- really hope something special can happen to mark his last race.
Rae
Here's a great article from the LA Times a friend forwarded me the link to this morning (I already commented it at Rants, but wanted to put it here too)...everybody should read this, ESPECIALLY all the Lance haters who have already convicted him.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120825,0,2080853.column
I really like his line where he addresses whether Lance is a doper or not!
Hmmm...that link didn't come over as a hyper-link....you'll have to copy/paste it into your browser...sorry bout that.
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