This year’s Tour de France has been pretty exciting so far. For one, there haven’t been any doping positives(yet) – which is a plus – And there have already been several breakaway victories – most notably by Thomas Voeckler, who has been a personal favorite since he held the yellow jersey for 10 days in the 2004 race.

I guess the main story of the tour this year is this Lance Armstrong character.  When he announced his return late last year, he said he was coming back to participate in races that he hadn’t done in the past, such as the Giro d’Italia. And while he did race and race well in Italy, I think it was pretty obvious that he had no intention of trying to win there. To me, it seemed pretty clear that he was aiming for the Tour de France in spite of his statements otherwise.  Did anyone really believe he preferred Italy or Spain over “The Tour?”

After 9 stages, he sits 3rd  overall behind his teammate, 2007 winner, and(I think) rightful team leader Alberto Contador after being in a virtual tie for the lead on days 4, 5, and 6.  In fact, he appeared pretty unhappy when Contador attacked near the end of stage 7 and leapfrogged him in the standings by two seconds.
I’m pretty anxious to see how things will unfold from this point being that there seems to be a rift developing between himself and Contador. It’s very reminiscent of the 1985 battle between teammates Greg Lemond and Bernard Hinault, where Lemond was the younger and clearly stronger of the two, but was ultimately forced to wait for Hinault and allow him to take the overall victory in Paris. The following year after promising to repay Lemond’s loyalty by working for him, Hinault reneged and tried unsuccessfully to steal the race from Lemond.

I wonder if Alberto Contador expected to have to replay this drama  when he agreed to stay with Team Astana after the signing of Armstrong. I wonder if the only reason Johan Bruyneel asked(begged) Contador to stay was to avoid having to race against him.  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?