Originally Posted by
M2
I've watched every stage. It's been a real treat watching how evenly matched the best riders are in the mountains. It's also nice to see that no one's able to do a superman routine every day. Denis Menchov deserves a ton of credit for fighting his way back after cracking on the lower portion of Alpe D'Huez.
I've become a big fan of the Schlecks. It hope Frank can win a TDF before Andy takes over and makes him the world's best domestique.
I'm thinking CSC needs to try to hit Evans and Menchov tomorrow as well. They'd do well to try to get Frank off the front (maybe try to link him up with Jens Voigt or Fabian Cancellara) and make the other contenders decide whether they want to mark Sastre or chase after Schleck.
And I like that doping violators get caught and sent home in the TDF. IMO, it's a lot better than trying to suspend my disbelief that the mutants in the NFL got that way through working out and exercise. I'm thinking that what we're seeing in the TDF is the emergence of a basically clean sport. It's not that riders won't cheat. It's just that the ones who do will be caught and the teams won't tolerate them.