This Week in Road Cycling: Sept 15 to Sept 21

So I didn't bother to write a TWIRC last week, because I thought the world was supposed to end on Wednesday. Not only that, but the thought of having to write about a world were Bobby Julich wasn't racing his bike, is almost too much to bear. We're still here though, and I think I've managed to pull myself together...

Welcome to This Week in Road Cycling.

Local Racing:

Races in September:
-Buckeye Crit: Buckeye, AZ- Sept 20; http://www.wmrc.org/buckeye/index.htm
-Sonoita TT: Sonoita, AZ- Sept 21; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infosonoita.htm
-AZ Hill Climb Championships: Mt. Graham, AZ- Sept 28; http://presteza.com/MtGrahamIndex.html
-AZ Cyclocross Race #1: Payson, AZ- Sept 28; http://www.azcross.com/content/races/september_28th2c_2008.aspx

*Cyclocross Practice: Thursday 5:30pm @ Kiwanis Park

Pro Racing:

Vuelta Espana: Last time I we looked at the Vuelta together, there had only been two stages completed, and two different race leaders (Pozzato, and Valverde). If you've been relying on my updates you've missed a lot, but it's been awhile so I'll be brief.

Stage 3: Tom Boonen (Quick Step) took the stage, and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) took the lead on time bonuses.

Stage 4: Bennati took the stage win, still in Gold.

Stage 5 (TT): Levi Leipheimer (Astana) took both.

Stage 6: World Champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) took the stage win and Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) picked up time bonuses on the road to get into the lead.

Stage 7: Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) spent the day alone, in the rain and got a stage win and the lead.

Stage 8: Stage; David Moncoutie (Cofidis) Lead; Levi Leipheimer

Stage 9: Greg Van Avermat (Silence Lotto) won from a breakaway and Egoi Martinez (Euskatel Euskadi) moved into the race lead.

Stages 10, 11, 12: Martinez spends the most days on the lead so far, and the stage winners were Sebastian Hinault (Credit Agricole), Oscar Freire (Rabobank), an angry Paolo Bettini (Quickstep).

Stage 13: Stage 13 was the day the race finished at the Alto d'Angliru. It's not the highest mountain in Europe, but many believe it to be the toughest (at some places the road ramps up to 24%). In any case, Alberto Contador (Astana) took control of the race and made a strong case for why he's the best Grand Tour rider in the game. He did that stupid finger gun thing though.

Stage 14: Apparently Contador really likes his victory salute. He won another stage today and padded his overall lead.

Tour of Missouri: The tour of Missouri was a week long stage race that showcased the power of the two top American teams in the world. Christian VandeVelde (Garmin-Chipotle) won the overall, and Mark Cavendish (Columbia) took 3 stage wins.

Tour of Britain: The return of Alessandro Petacchi (LPR) the asthmatic is back from his suspension and took three stage wins for his new team. The overall race was won by Geoffroy Lequatre (Agritubel). I would try and say something witty about him, but I've never even heard of him before.

Oh, so it turns out Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement. The media went wild over this for a couple days, and next year is going to be an interesting one. The prevailing logic is that he will likely join his former team director Johan Bruyneel over at Astana. Bruyneel directed the Postal/Discovery team for all of Armstrong's tour victories. The problem though, is that Astana is the definitely the strongest Grand Tour team in the world right now. Is there room for Armstrong in an Astana roster that has Contador, Leipheimer, and Kloden? What do you think?

Till next time,

Anthony