Vino!

Well a lot has happened since my last post. Vino showed some serious dominance in the Vuelta, Valverde showed some serious class in accepting defeat and 'the cricket' got his dream.

It seems that except for stage 17 of the Tour, which is now tainted due to Landis' doping allegations, it was seriously shown up by the Vuelta. The duels between Vino and Valverde with Sastre always in the shadows ready to strike were what biking is all about. Vino did have some heavy fire power for team mates but he still was the guy who brought the guns when the fighting started. It is sad that he got left out of the Tour as he clearly would have been a very serious contender, one could even be bold and say he would have walked away with it. That might be a little much to say, as I am not sure the longer stages of the Tour matched Vino's riding style. With Basso and Ullrich out of the picture, Vino is clearly the strongest stage racer out there. He might even be the strongest rider out there as he does extremely well in the classics (a skill needed to be a true champion).

Bettini wins the Worlds. He wanted it so much you have to say congratulations, however I do wish Zabel had been able to take it. What a way to go out and Zabel is a great person to experience that. It is hard to take Bettini seriously after he ran Cooke into the barrier and refused to acknowledge what he did in the fourth stage of the Giro 2005.