Tuesday, July 23, 2013

malaise

photo by fdecomite
The Tour is over and I'm emerging from the grips of a twenty day Eurosport live race coverage binge. As dull as I find the Skybot in their US Postal-esque approach to dominance and control of the tour, it was great to see Movistar and Saxo-Tinkoff probing the chinks in their armor. But that was to be too little too late as Froome's initial gap from the first climbing day proved to be insurmountable.

I found myself rooting for Alberto Contador, his alter ego Albuterol Clintador seemingly a thing of the past. Notice the distinct lack of very punchy climbing acceleration attacks by him? Remember how that was the thing he was most known and feared for? It looks like we saw a post-doping Contador in this year's Tour, a man who used tactical nuance to orchestrate the single best flat stage of racing I've ever seen in the Tour. Watching Saxo, Quickstep, and Belkin eviscerate the field in the crosswinds was unbelievably exciting.

Nairo Quintana quickly became our favorite rider here at Casa Moore. His closed mouth, Aztec visage, and legs spinning light, tight circles of death made him the climber to watch. All the better that he was finally able to drop Chris "Big Worm" Froome on the final HC climb of the Tour to ride himself into the maillot a pois (polka dot jersey) and 2nd place overall, after already securing the maillot blanc (white jersey). Chapeau, too, to JJ "Purito" Rodriguez for climbing his way past the duo of Contador and Kreuzinger to take the final podium position on the second to last day.

And finally, a begrudging congratulations to Quint Ervin for winning the Luna Cycles Fantasy Tour de France for the second year in a row. Much like doping in sport, we're not sure what he's doing to win, but we know something ain't right.... As for my fantasy team, well let's just say building a team around Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen was not the most brilliant idea I've ever had. In looking at the worldwide winner of the Velogames.com Fantasy Tour de France, it appears that you have to exhibit some kind of combination of Rainman-like statistical knowledge with the prognostication powers of The Amazing Kreskin to reach the top. Here's the winning team:


I think next year is going to be my year. But, then again, I think that every year. 

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