The ageless wonder

He’s back! Erik Zabel wins today’s stage of La Vuelta.

“There is a special feeling about this victory because after a difficult season with ten second positions and many third places, to win here is very special. It is also important because this is a new team for me.”

Erik who came to help Milram teammate Alessandro Petacchi regain his racing legs prior to the Worlds, turned out to be the stronger man.

“When I went to the team I had the mentality to help Petacchi for the season, but after his crash in the Giro I had to change my focus and try to win again,” he said. “I finally have a victory so it is perfect.”

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Your source for Floyd Landis news

Through our comments section, I became aware of a blog dedicated to provided daily updates of the Floyd Landis situation. It is pretty straight up and comprehensive. I’ve added a link to the site in the Blogroll section to the right.

The blog is called Trust But Verify. Thanks David. Keep it up.

Best team, worst team for the Vuelta

If you were a domestique in this year’s Vuelta, who would you want to work for? Given the extreme heat, I think I am not the only one wondering.

Best team – Gerolsteiner. Why? with riders averaging more than 30 bottles a day, why not ride for a water company? Plus those light blue jerseys help reflect the sunlight.

Worst team – Caisse d’Epargne. Look at those jerseys? Who picked black? Those guys must be dying out there! It actually makes me long for those multi-color jerseys of last year. Ugly yes but at least they were not in the “Cruel and unusual punishment” category! Now I know why Alejandro Valverde wants that White ProTour jersey so much!

What is the state of affairs of US cycling?

Lance Retires, The Floyd Landis affair, The Tour of Georgia loses its title sponsor in Ford. Sounds bleak dosen’t it? It seems that all is not that bad. The recently completed Tour of Utah is lookiing for UCI classification as the Third stage race on US soil. It has a lot going for it. The entire race is at altitude and just a few short weeks from the World Championships. This is perfect for those pros who want to use a big stage race like the Vuelta for training. Since it is not a full three weeks long, it may be more attractive tho those who traditionally drop out midway through the Vuelta.

There are still some orginizational issues being worked out since this is just the third year of the Tour of Utah. The race started in 2004 as the four-day Thanksgiving Point Stage Race and Cycling Festival.