An exultant Alberto Contador (Astana) stood on top of the final Tour de France podium for the second time in his short cycling career. The 2007 Tour de France champion can now boast of consecutive Tour victories (a team exclusion in 2008 prevented him from defending his Tour crown) and a total of four consecutive Grand Tour championships (winner of the 2008 Giro d'Italia and 2008 Vuelta a Espana).

He is undoubtedly the strongest stage racer currently in the peloton.

Where The Tour Was Won
In looking back on the 96th Tour de France, many pundits will point to Contador's dominating performances on Stage 15, the climb to Verbier, and on Stage 18, winning the Individual Time Trial in Annecy, as keys to his overall victory. But the true foundation of his victory came in two seemingly insignificant gestures, both of which would raise questions of his tactical abilities and also his loyalties as a teammate.

The first was his late attack on Stage 7. Left out of the selection on the windy Stage 3, where he failed to keep the wheel of the rider in front of him, Contador would attack on the slopes of the Andorre Arcalis. His manuever would gain back the time that he lost on Stage 3, and effectively help him leapfrog his teammate, Lance Armstrong, in the overall standings by two seconds. Although neither teammate would claim the yellow jersey on that day, Contador placed himself in the better position to take it if Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) or his team failed to defend it.

The second was his late attack on Stage 17. On the Queen stage of this year's Tour, Contador's decision to attack on the final slope to La Grand Bornand helped elevate Andy and Frank Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) in the overall standings, to second and third, while simultaneously putting time into his teammates, Lance Armstrong and Andreas Kloden, before the final time trial. Although many were focused on how Contador's actions essentially ruined the opportunity for an Astana sweep of the final Tour podium, it presented Contador with the comfortable proposition of having to out duel the Schleck brothers in the Annecy time trial rather than his more accomplished teammates.

Although both of his superlative efforts on Stage 15 and on Stage 18 ruled the above points of argument moot, if neither of these occurred we may be talking about Lance Armstrong's 8th Tour de France championship or Andy Schleck's first.

Cavendish's Half-Dozen
Before relief turned into exultation for Contador, the other matter of the drag race on the Champs-Élysées had to be settled. The other dominant force in this year's race, Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia - HTC), would win easily and lead a Columbia 1-2 on the final stage of the 96th Tour de France. The victory marked his sixth during this year's race, and his tenth Tour win overall.

During the final finishing circuits; however, it looked as if Garmin-Slipstream had finally come up with a plan to diffuse the explosive Columbia - HTC locomotive. But lead-out men George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw would have none of it. When they launched their final assault, none were able to stay in their streamline. The 24-year-old from the Isle of Man cruised to a victory as final lead-out man Renshaw celebrated from behind and claimed second. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) would follow in third.

Stage 21 Results
1. Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia - HTC)
2. Mark Renshaw (Team Columbia - HTC)
3. Tyler Farar (Garmin - Slipstream)

Final General Classification
1. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana - 81:46:17
2. Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank - 0:04:11
3. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana - 0:05:24
4. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream - 0:06:01
5. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank - 0:06:04
6. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana - 0:06:42
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas - 0:07:35
8. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream - 0:12:04
9. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas - 0:14:16
10. Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux - 0:14:25

Final Leaders' Jerseys Classification
Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana


Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team


Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas


Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank


Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas


Astana - Best Team Classification


Highlights & Revelations

• Juergen van de Broeck (Silence-Lotto) - Could he be the next great Belgian stage racer?
• Andy Shcleck (Team Saxo Bank) - Attacks like a fiend, and is improving in the time trial
• Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) - On a team dominated by a sprinter, Martin did it mostly by himself.
• Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) - Lighter and more effective, will he focus solely on the road?
• Brice Feillu (Agritubel) - A French champion in the making?
• Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo Test Team) - An emotional win for a sprinter during a mountain stage
• Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) - At 24-years-old, the sky is the limit.

Graham Watson must have been delighted to see "The Big Blue Train," albeit made up of different pieces and sporting a lighter shade of blue, take full flight once again.

On a short and technical course that demanded teams to ride unrelentingly, Team Astana lived up to its hype and took the Stage 4 Team Time Trial in Montpellier by 18 seconds over a depleted, but game Garmin-Slipstream squad. Bjarne Riis' Team Saxo Bank would slot into third 40 seconds back.

Driven by one of the last remaining threads to those celebrated US Postal Service teams, Lance Armstrong did what he had done so many times before; seize the mantle of leadership. The 37-year old Texan, motivated by the very real possibility of donning his first “Mellow Johnny” in four years, took some massive pulls upfront in an attempt to overcome a 40 second gap to Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank).

To his credit, Cancellara, decked out in yellow, would fight the Astana machine tooth and nail. Heading up his own Saxo Bank team to the line, Cancellara would hold onto the yellow leader’s jersey by virtue of a count back.

Any speculation of some infighting or discord among Astana ‘s leaders should hopefully have been put to rest by its unified, concerted, and precise effort.

Garmin 5 – Easy As 1, 2, 3
Somewhat overshadowed by the monstrous, but predictable effort by Team Astana was the show put on by the Garmin 5: David Zabriskie, Bradley Wiggins, David Millar, Danny Pate, and Christian Vande Velde. Needing the minimum of five riders to cross the line to record a time, the pared down, but streamlined Team Garmin-Slipstream narrowly missed out on taking another grand tour team time trial.

A Bit of Snarkiness
Apparently BBOX Bouygues Telecom is French for Michael Rasmussen...

Results After Stage 4
1. Astana
2. Garmin - Slipstream
3. Team Saxo Bank

General Classification After Stage 4
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank
2. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
3. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
4. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
6. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream
7. Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) Astana
8. Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC
9. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10. David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream

Jersey Leader's After Stage 4
Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank

Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - HTC

Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux

Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC

Next: Stage 5 - Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan (196.5km)
Another possible wind swept day by the coast.

Team Astana has named their nine for the New French Revolution. The roster includes:

Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, Haimar Zubeldia, Yaroslav Popovych, Sergio Paulinho, Gregory Rast, and first-timer, Kazakh rider Dimitriy Muravyey.

The most notable exclusion from the Tour team was 37-year old American Chris Horner, he of In-N-Out Double-Double fame, who fell victim to politics and a numbers game. Watching Horner in his domestique role at this year’s Amgen Tour of California and at some of the pre-Tour tune up races, there was no denying his benefit to his teammates as a tireless worker or his instincts as a big-time racer.

Instead, the financially troubled Kazakhstan sponsor has chosen to sacrifice talent and team chemistry for the sake of having a countryman represent their colors in the biggest race of the season.

You're still angry about Borat, really?

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Levi Leipheimer, who rides for the Astana Pro Cycling Team, displays a T-shirt given to him on behalf of a petition to allow him to ride in the Tour de France on the eve of the Amgen Tour of Californi. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

-- San Francisco Chronicle: Race alterations may put new face on the podium
-- Cycling News on McQuaid: ASO's decision a "monumental folly'
-- AP: Levi Leipheimer angry over team's expulsion from Tour de France

First it was the Giro.
Now it's the Tour de France that has said "not my race" to Astana and Alberto Contador.
For the second-straight year, the Tour has rejected its defending champion.
This seems to be more about Astana than Contador, but judge for yourself:

-- CNN: Contador blasts 'unfair' Tour decision
-- Richard Moore of the Guardian: Contador denied chance to defend Tour title
-- AP: Astana team banned from Tour de France
-- Anthony Hooper of the Telegraph.uk: Tour de France ban Contador's Astana team

In what strikes me as a stunning development in professional cycling, organizers of the Giro d'Italia have left not invited some top cycling teams to this year's race on May 10-June 1.
The Kazakh-backed Astana team of Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, has been left out, as has French team Credit Agricole, which stars Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd.
"Astana weren't exactly flawless last year," said Angelo Zomegnan, head of the Giro. "Okay, they have changed philosophy, and their management but we have to wait and see. You don't just wake up in the morning a changed person."

Other recent headlines:
-- Cycling News: Giro invites ripple through Pro Tour
-- VeloNews: Astana Camp Horner Q&A
-- Cycling News interview with Johan Bruyneel: Always looking forward, not back (hey, isn't that what Mark McGwire said?)
-- AP: New team, '08 goals for U.S. cyclist (Levi Leipheimer)
-- Kathleen Nelson of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Optimism runs high for state's second Tour
-- San Diego Union Tribune: Saul no longer racin', but he's Raisin hope
-- Sal Ruibal of USA Today: American team eyes Tour berth by racing in Qatar
-- VeloNews: Bruyneel on Astana says there is no stronger Tour team

I ride a Trek 5200 and rode the same bike (with my own pedals) in 2003 and '04 when I traveled with Trek Travel during the Tour de France (which is how the Crankset team met in '03).

Trek has had a great presence in the Tour and professional cycling thanks to the U.S. Postal, then the Discovery Channel team. But with the demise of the Discovery team, I wondered whether the bikes would resurface on the '08 pro tour.

Trek bikes have been victorious in eight of the past nine Tours de France (thanks, Lance), including Alberto Contador's 2007 win on a Trek Madone.

However, the Wisconsin-based company has announced that it will be the bike and apparel supplier for Team Astana this coming season.

The (formerly?) scandal-plagued team recently hired Discovery Channel director Johan Bruyneel to turn the squad around. Bruyneel as brought along much of his former Discovery support staff and several of his riders, including Contador and Levi Leipheimer, who finished third in this year's Tour.

So, Astana looks like Discovery in Trek clothing. Call it the Americanization of Astana, which is based in Kazakhstan.

First it was to be Slipstream/Chipotle, or maybe Rock Racing.

But definitely not Predictor-Lotto. Predictor-Lotto? No.

Then Slipstream's roster filled. Now its gotta be Rock Racing, right? Nope.

Today came news that American Chris Horner (formerly of Predictor-Lotto) has signed with Astana. Astana? Yes, Astana. The Kazakhstan sponsored Pro Tour team that shot itself in the proverbially foot [or arm in this case] during this year's Tour de France has done more than a simple "nip & tuck" job in revamping their team. Since the team slid out the Tour's back door in disgrace, Astana's management has essentially bought themselves a whole new team [and image].

The 36 year old from Bend, Oregon was originally thought to be headed to Slipstream to bolster an already strong Tour wildcard bid, and then to Rock Racing to lend credibility to the "rock star" upstarts. Instead, Horner joins American Levi Leipheimer and the rest of Discovery sans George Hincapie (T-Mobile) and Jason McCartney (who recently signed with CSC), among others.

In the same breath [and Velonews story], Astana has also signed long time Postal/Discovery stalwart Chechu Rubiera and recent Discovery sensation Vladimir Gusev. Oh, and on a side note, Astana might also be on Trek bicycles next year.

In July, when Johan Bruyneel diffidently stated that the signing of a new sponsor for his Discovery Channel Pro Cycling team was imminent, we probably should not have so quickly dismissed him. Bruyneel's Discovery makeover of Astana by piecemeal may be his best managing job yet. If the team's Pro Tour licensing issues are abated, then Discovery East...er, Astana will be one of the most formidable teams in 2008.

If you want to know the answer to where the greatest Director Sportif resides? These days, that answer should come easily, Astana.

To say I'm shocked or to say this news hasn't rocked the Tour would be a bit of an understatement. No, make that a huge understatement! But the currently labelled patron of the peloton, Alexandre Vinokourov, has tested positive for homologous blood transfusion from blood taken after his ITT win in Albi.

(Photo: Cyclingnews)

The lab that analyzed the blood, none other than the infamous Châtenay-Malabry laboratory that processed Floyd Landis' blood.

Which brings me to a point that I've been wanting to address since the beginning of this Tour, but never found the appropriate venue, at least until now. With the delay in the announcement of Landis' arbitration hearing, what would be the effect of a positive verdict for Floyd? A positive verdict would mean that the processes of the Châtenay-Malabry lab would have been found to be inadequate and some of their staff relatively incompetent, correct?

So by delaying the verdict in the case as to not disrupt the spectacle of the Tour, [if you recall from earlier this week, the current Tour Director, Christian Prudhomme, questioned the timing of the release of information by the Danish Cycling federation regarding Michael Rasmussen's "administrative errors."] then any findings from the lab could be reasonably called into question.

Either the directors of the Tour have essentially given any rider in this year's Tour who would choose to dope evidence to combat their positive finding in their arbitration hearing [last week Italian Marco Fertonani attempted to blame the same lab for his testosterone positive]; they are attempting to lend credence to the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory by allowing them to be the main lab for the Tour [something the officials of the French Open didn't feel confident in doing as they switched all their athletes' testing to the WADA lab in Montreal], or they know the verdict of Landis' hearing [which isn't good for Floyd].

In regard to Vinkourov, my only question would be why? After a year in which he wasn't allowed to participate [due to Liberty Seguros' involvement in Operacion Puerto] and with the suspension of Tyler Hamilton, who allegedly doped in the same fashion, why do it? Maybe that moniker of "Crazy Kazakh" doesn't really refer to his mad-capped attacking attempts but rather to something more clinical.

MORE:
--Velonews: A doctor explains blood doping

Perhaps we should have all seen this coming, or rather maybe we have already. You know, this is the episode where Tony, recovering from a gunshot wound, orders Silvio, Paulie, and Christopher to hold down the fort until he's fully recovered. And once he's well, they go and whack everybody.

Insert the latest patron of the peloton, in Alexandre Vinokourov, for Tony, and any one of team Astana, like Serguei Ivanov, Andrej Kashechkin, Antonio Colom or Andreas Kloden, for the crew and you have all the makings of a Godfather-like crescendo of revenge killings in the final week of the Tour de France.

Photo: Tim de Waele

First they took care of France's hope for a podium, Christophe Moreau, when they splintered the peloton with a savage attack on Stage 11. Then they followed up that performance with the boss himself turning the screws on the favorites. Today, Vinokourov dominated the Stage 13 54km ITT in Albi, and rode himself back into podium contention. Apparently the rest of the peloton never got the memo because some guys you should just never let off the mat.

Heras, Heras, Heras
Its been said that like Red Bull, the Maillot Jaune, gives people wings. The current Maillot Jaune wearer, Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), definitely engendered those sentiments today as he rode a powerful ITT, even catching his 3 minute man in Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Espagne).

The one prevailing comment I heard after the fact was the lack of recollection of a climbing specialist ever riding such a spirited ITT. How soon we forget?

As I watched Rasmussen finish just outside the top 10, the one thing I kept thinking about was Roberto Heras' (Photo: Graham Watson) effort in the final ITT during the 2005 Vuelta a Espana. The climbing specialist, then with Liberty Seguros, finished in second on that day to preserve what would have been his 4th Vuelta crown. However, test later turned up positive for EPO use.

Perhaps, the jadedness, skepticism, and cynicism have finally settled in [and who could blame me with Rasmussen doping speculation saturating the news media these days]. Ironically, the individual who was most affected by Heras' actions during that grand tour was Denis Menchov, Michael Rasmussen's current team leader.
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