Lance Armstrong formally announced his plans for returning to the pro peloton today. In a news conference given while he was attending the Clinton Global Initiative, Armstrong filled in some of the blanks that were left after he shocked the world in announcing his comeback on September 9th.

Lance confirmed that he will ride with the Astana team of his former director and friend Johan Bruyneel and that his 2009 campaign will begin in the southern hemisphere at the Tour Down Under. The only other confirmation of a race he will ride is the Tour de France. Lance mentioned nothing about the Tour of California nor the Tour de Georgia. Armstrong did mention that his number one goal is to help the cancer community and that mission will probably take him to many places he may not have raced in the past. Lance left open a question about riding the Giro, saying that it would be interesting to race there because it will be the 100th anniversary of the Giro, a race he's never ridden, and that it will give him an opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Berlusconi about cancer awareness in Italy.

Lance did address the issue about Alberto Contador. He acknowledged reading about Contador's recent remarks, saying it would be difficult having Armstrong on the same team, by answering he would like to see Contador stay but that if he decided to leave, it is his right. The Armstrong/Contador issue is the next big drama to come out of this and there is surely more gossip to be produced. Besides Contador, Levi Leipheimer is in a tough situation too. Before Armstrong's return, Leipheimer was second fiddle. Now he will be third fiddle. Will Levi look for a new team now too?

Armstrong did a good job answering some tough questions about the foundation, his comeback and the formation of an under-23 "Livestrong" team to be lead by Axel Merkx (of which the first big signing is young Taylor Phinney). If anyone does question his ability to return to the top of the sport while campaigning for cancer awareness, please listen to what he has to say. He gives a very compelling reason to follow the 2009 season.

Click here for the entire news conference. It's about 40 minutes long so grab a cold one.

No doubt you know by now that the 2008 Vuelta a España ended on Sunday with it's native son, Alberto Contador (Astana), becoming only the 5th rider to win all three grand Tours. Contador came into this race as the heavy favorite, carrying all of the baggage that comes with being the marked man. Having sat out this year's Tour de France, he was fresh, feisty and ready to stamp his authority on the rest of the peloton. His team came packed with their big guns, ready to help their young team captain make even more history. The team included 2 other previous Tour de France podium finishers in German Andreas Klöden and American Levi Leipheimer. By far, they were the strongest team.

But Contador's win did not come easy. He narrowly beat his own teammate, Leipheimer, by less than one minute. It was thanks to the time bonuses (and probably some team tactics) that shifted the balance of power towards the Spaniard. If the Vuelta followed the route of this year's Tour de France and not have given out the bonuses, Contador and Leipheimer would have been tied. (Since they time to the decimal, Contador had a slight edge and would have won anyways.)

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Week 2 of the Vuelta ended the very same way as the first week. Italian Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) won the stage before the rest day while the GC favorites held out for a huge showdown on Saturday. Too bad none of this week's stages or results were the biggest news. Lance Armstrong's recent announcement that he will come out of retirement easily overshadowed anything the Vuelta could have produced. But as this week ends, the attention will return to the mountain goats as they tackle the final stretch of the last 3 week race of the 2008 season.

Stage 7 was the first big mountain stage of the the Tour. I wish I could comment on it but the entire broadcast was rained out. CyclingTV's coverage (and others as well since it was a problem with the feed) consisted of a recap of the early part of the stage and the final 1km run into the finish line. From what I've read, the stage was dominated by a day long break of which the winner, Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), broke away from to win the stage. The classics rider showed he can climb the big mountains as well. Behind him, the GC contenders revved it up in the final kilometer. Big favorite, Alberto Contador (Astana) attacked his challengers but was only able to gain 5 seconds for his hard work. Ballan ended up taking over the gold jersey as the new leader of the Tour.

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Week 1 of the 2008 Vuelta closed with a lot of action, many changes in leadership and a fine butt whipping by Astana. Mirroring the Giro, this year's Tour of Spain started out with a short team time trial. These exist purely for show as minimal time can be gained between the GC contenders. Nevertheless, it did produce a lot of suffering as most teams finished with well less than the 9 riders each team started with. Surprise winner, Liquigas finished 8 seconds ahead of Euskaltel - Euskadi and put leader Filippo Pozzato in the first gold leader's jersey.

The second stage was very similar to this year's stage 1 of the Tour de France and consisted of a sharp uphill just before the finish. And just like the Tour, Spanish champ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), triumphed and ended the day with the leader's jersey. Proving to everyone that his form is good, Valverde still insisted he is here to win stages and not for a high placing on GC.

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American Levi Leipheimer (Astana) won today's 42.5km time trial stage at the Vuelta! He becomes only the 5th American to win a stage in the Spanish tour and only the 2nd American ever to wear the leader's golden jersey (Floyd Landis was the other).

Leipheimer gained a good chunk of time off of his other GC rivals, including teammate Alberto Contador. He sits at least 30 seconds ahead of any other favorite. Tonight's team meeting should be interesting in determining the next course of action for Team Astana. Astana comes into this race with their full support for Contador but this amazing ride changes the dynamic a bit. I think Astana will likely hedge their bets by supporting both riders and may the best cyclist win!

See the results of this stage here.

Link: http://www.lavuelta.com

Note: This post was written on Friday but because of server problems, this didn't get posted until Sunday.

It's almost September, a full month after an exciting Tour de France and big time cycling is back! Yes, the 63rd running of the Vuelta a España, or the Tour of Spain, will commence this Saturday, August 30th and finish 3 weeks later on September 21st. The final grand tour of this season will see some big guns battling it out in a war that wasn't allowed to take place in July.

Spain's Alberto Contador and his Astana team are back with a vengeance to prove once again that they are both the best stage racing team in the world and that Contador is the best stage racer in the world. Joining Contador at the top of the favorites list are this year's Tour champ Carlos Sastre (Team CSC-Saxo Bank), Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Igor Antón (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Contador's teammates Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden.

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The 72nd Tour de Suisse ended today and completed the last of the major warm ups for the upcoming Tour de France in July. While the racing was certainly exciting, it was the eventual winner that was the biggest surprise of the tour. 22 year old Czech rider Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) defeated German Andreas Klöden (Astana) and Spain's Igor Anton (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and won one stage in the process.

The race started with Spain's sure thing, Oscar Freire (Rabobank), winning the stage 1 sprint and the first leader's yellow jersey. The mountains began immediately on stage 2 with the first mountain top finish up the Flumserberg. Igor Anton won over Luxembourger Kim Kirchen (High Road) while major contenders Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Andreas Klöden all lost some time. Anton also became the leader of the race from here forward. The next 2 stages saw Aussie Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) reclaim his winning ways by taking the field sprints in stages 3 and 4.

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Now that the race is over, you might be thinking to yourself, what have we learned from this year's Giro? Well, let's see!

Here's a list, but in no particular order.

1. ASO sucks.
2. The Giro is harder, at least on paper, than the Tour de France.
3. The mountain stages in the Giro = WOW!!!
4. Astana confirms they are the best stage racing team in the world.
5. Johan Bruyneel and his director sportifs are geniuses.
6. Alberto Contador is good.
7. Contador can beat the best the Giro has to offer at 80% (okay, maybe 90%).
8. Levi Leipheimer was the biggest disappointment here, but he'll win the Dauphiné.
9. Danilo Di Luca is angry like a "killer". But maybe that's not such a revelation.
10. Di Luca hates ear pieces.
11. Di Luca likes yo-yoing in the peloton.
12. Riccardo Riccò is immature and a whiner.
13. Riccò and Di Luca enjoy showing off for the camera.
14. Gilberto Simoni is old.
15. But Simoni can still ride (mountain bikes).
16. Emanuele Sella!
17. What else?

Giro organizer's RCS should be applauding themselves today for making the correct decision to invite Astana. It would not have been as exciting of a race without them. Though it's almost sad to say, even right now, we can probably assume that Contador will not return next year to defend his title as he sets his sights towards a run at a second Tour de France title. But something tells me RCS will not be upset about that. This year, they have brought the Giro to another level and single handedly shown ASO what racing fair means. We know that ASO will not change their minds but we do hope that they have started to hear whispers behind their backs and begin to wonder whether they did the best thing for the sport. So with all due respect to Cadel, Alejandro and Damiano, it won't be until July 2009 before we know who the best cyclist in the world is.

Alberto Contador (Astana) sealed the deal by winning the 2008 Giro d'Italia, finishing 11th on today's final time trial stage into Milan. Confirming that the best man won, he was by far the fastest of the top GC contenders in today's stage and increased his overall lead over Italian prima donna Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) to 1 minute 57 seconds. Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) held onto his 3rd place by a scant 2 seconds over fellow Italian Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), who is clearly setting a tone before Ivan Basso joins the team after his suspension.

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Alberto Contador (Astana) successfully defended his maglia rosa on the last mountain stage of this year's Giro. In what was a brilliant display of tactics by Johan Bruyneel and Sean Yates in the team car, Astana was able to manipulate the outcome of the stage so that Contador could have an arm chair ride to the finish.

Two massive climbs including the Passo Gavia and the Mortirolo weren't enough for public enemy number one, Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott), to take 4 seconds from Contador. Although the fireworks didn't start on the Gavia, the climb still lived up to expectations as it was still littered with snow at the top and, coupled with the unexpected rain, it was almost 1988 again. In it's first genius move, Astana was able to insert Antonio Colom into a break on the Gavia effectively giving them the edge over the other contenders. This then forced Danilo Di Luca's team (Team LPR Brakes) and Gilberto Simoni's team (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni)) to chase on the descent and in the valley so that Colom wouldn't have such a huge advantage over the Mortirolo. If he went over the climb ahead, Contador would have a teammate ready to help if he was in trouble. This is what the other teams did not want to happen.

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Italian Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) finally put his legs where his mouth was by setting off on a dramatic escape 50 km from the finish during the descent of the 3rd to last climb. With the help of his teammate, Il Falco Paolo Savoldelli, the two quickly built a lead of over 2 minutes. There was no panic back in the chase group containing leader Alberto Contador (Astana) and all of the other favorites. Most, including me, thought Di Luca's attack was suicide and too far from the finish.

Contador's teammates Antonio Colom and Andreas Klöden bravely brought him to the final climb before the rest of the action commenced. Contador accelerated but couldn't distance anyone. Finally, Italy's Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Scott) put in a full forced effort that no one could respond to. Remember, he was only 41 seconds behind at the start of this stage. Di Luca powered on to finish 2nd on this stage after Belarussian Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems), who was the lone survivor of an earlier breakaway. Riccò followed shortly after gasping for each breath. Then the countdown began.

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German tank Jens Voigt (Team CSC) won today's stage after leaving his breakaway companions with about 36 km to go. Stage 18 traversed over this year's world road race championships course and was dominated by a big breakaway that included both Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) as well as Voigt. None of his companions were able to catch Voigt as he cruised to his first ever stage win in the Giro d'Italia.

It was once again piano for the peloton as conserving energy for tomorrow's stage was crucial. Once again, the fireworks will reappear for the final push through the Alps. The Italians will have a hard time defeating a team like Astana who are so experienced at delivering a win in a grand tour. They might be more interested in consolidating their positions considering none of them can time trial better than Alberto Contador (Astana). Don't forget, this race ends with a final individual test to Milan on Sunday. We look forward to seeing Levi Leipheimer cap this Giro for Astana with a stage win of his own.

Top 10 Results for Stage 18
1 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC..............................................3.22.46
2 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step........................................1.07
3 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Gabriele Bosisio (Ita) LPR Brakes
5 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas..............................................2.04
6 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
7 Félix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld
8 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
9 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Rabobank
10 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne............................2.06

See the complete results here.

Team High Road dominated today's mass sprint to take the top 2 spots in the standings. Brit Mark Cavendish, in a very charitable way, gifted the win to his German teammate André Greipel by not overtaking his final lead out man. As a result, both Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Erik Zabel (Milram) missed out by following the wheel of the guy that actually slowed down in the last 50 meters. Genius!

It was piano, as they say in Italian, for the GC contenders as they took today off while looking forward to the final push in the Alps starting on Friday. Danilo Di Luca (Team LPR Brakes) did go back to his team car a few times though. Apparently, he wants to spend even more energy before the Alps. He's just too strong! Look for him to slip even further down the standings by Sunday.

Top 10 Results for Stage 17
1 André Greipel (Ger) Team High Road..................................3.27.05
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road
3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Barloworld
8 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
9 Alexander Serov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
10 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems

See the complete results here.

Italian Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) pulled a coup by taking the win on one of the hardest time trials any cyclist will ever face. Pellizotti won by 6 seconds over, who seems to be the Italian hero of this year's Giro, Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) and moved up to 5th overall. Spanish Tour champ Alberto Contador (Astana) consolidated his lead by finishing a solid 4th, just behind old man Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni).

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Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank) proved today that he is not just here to train for the Tour de France. First among the big GC favorites to come home, he showed that he has the will and the form to challenge for this year's Giro after a monstrous stage through Italy's Dolomites.

Italian Emanuele Sella (CSF Group Navigare) broke free from an earlier breakaway to win this epic stage while the main contenders began what will be a long battle for the maglia rosa. The big loser of the day, unfortunately for me, was Levi Leipheimer (Astana). He was dropped when the fireworks began and conceded 5 or so minutes to the other front runners. Andreas Klöden also lost ground while Alberto Contador gave up a half a minute or so to his rivals. Today clearly didn't turn out the way Astana had planned for but there is hope since both Klöden and Contador should be getting stronger as the Giro goes on.

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Mark Cavendish (High Road) won a relatively uneventful stage 13 in a sprint over yesterday's winner Daniele Bennati (Liquigas).

Two main news points today include Mr. Cocky, Danilo Di Luca (LPR Brakes) attempting a breakaway at km 26. Can we please start the real action? All of this showing off for the camera is annoying. Apparently, Di Luca hasn't learned to conserve energy ahead of this weekend's storm of mountain stages. He may be paying for all of this acting soon.

The second news point is a break in the peloton 5 km from the finish meant contenders Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott), Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Denis Menchov (Rabobank) losing a few seconds, peanuts compared to this weekend's possible time gaps. Stay tuned!

Top 10 Results for Stage 13
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road..............................4.11.07
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
3 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram
5 Julian Dean (NZl) Slipstream Chipotle Presented By H30
6 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
9 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Silence - Lotto
10 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank

See the complete results here.

Today's post will talk about one of the most important cycling traditions still existing in the pro peloton; what should not happen when the leader of the race (or any other potential contender) crashes.

Team LPR Brakes and Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) seemed to not understand this. When maglia rosa Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) went down in a crash that also involved many other riders including Levi Leipheimer (Astana), Riccò, Danilo Di Luca and Paolo Savoldelli decided to attack. Of course, no one knows whether they knew there was a crash or not but the aggression lasted long enough that race radio would have informed them. Another clue would have been the countless other riders screaming at Riccò, Di Luca and Savoldelli to stop. What's wrong with these guys? Is winning their national tour getting to their heads that they don't think rationally?

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Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval - Scott) showed today that perhaps he is the leading candidate for this year's Giro. He stormed out of the peloton to claim today's 8th Stage, his second this year. He outkicked compatriot Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) to gain the valuable 20 second time bonus given to the winner of each stage.

While this day ended with another sharp climb, some of the action happened mid-race when Alberto Contador (Astana) went down in a crash that claimed his teammate Steve Morabito. Contador was able to chase back but didn't contest the finish as he was just content on not losing any time. All of the other favorites arrived safely with the same time as Riccò ready for the next big test on Monday.

One has to think whether Riccò will be good enough in the high mountains fully a week from now. If he is this good, will he be able to keep his form? We can assume he will lose valuable minutes to some of the other GC contenders on Astana so his 20 seconds may go a long way.

Tomorrow's stage should be one for the sprinters as everyone would want to save energy for Tuesday's time trial. Monday is a rest day.

Top 10 results for Stage 8
1 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott.............................4.41.05
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) LPR Brakes
6 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes
7 Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
9 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes
10 Félix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld

See the complete results here.

Link: http://www.letleviride.com/

I received this email today from LetLeviRide.com. It reminded me that I had signed a petition to show my support towards letting Levi ride in this year's Tour de France. While it hasn't worked just yet, Astana's inclusion in this year's Giro is a good start. In my opinion, it will be hard for Astana to get entrance to this year's Tour by the simple fact that those cronies at ASO are just so stubborn. They care more about having a Frenchman win the Tour than having a legitimately competitive Tour that includes all of the contenders. I hate to say this, because I like Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde and any other contender in this year's Tour, but their win will forever be marked by an asterisk. The fans will never know how they would have fared against an in form Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer or Andreas Klöden.

With that said, I am a cycling fan. I will watch the Tour. There is nothing like it in the world and it is the cyclists that make the race. I will take nothing away from their efforts and hope the best man at the Tour wins cleanly.

Another early breakway group made it to the finish. Except this time it gained a massive 11 minute advantage over the (sort of) chasing peloton. Italian Matteo Priamo (CSF Group Navigare) won today's stage and fellow breakaway companion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) earned the maglia rosa to replace his Italian Champions jersey.

Update

Okay, I have to be honest. I did not catch a lot of the coverage on CyclingTV. I had a hard time connecting this morning and for those of you that are subscribers to CyclingTV, you certainly know what I'm talking about. Image knowing that a crucial section of pavè at Paris-Roubaix has just started but you can't view the coverage that you paid for so all you have is cyclingnews' live coverage. That's what it usually feels like except today wasn't so bad. It wasn't one of the Giro's potentially decisive stages so I was patient.

When I did finally connect, the stage was in the final few kilometers. I did catch big Magnus Backstedt (Slipstream Chipotle) try his hardest to win the stage. But knowing that the end included a sharp climb wasn't exactly the best motivating factor for the biggest guy in the peloton. I found out later that Slipstream Chipotle's back luck continued as Backstedt had to waste mounts of energy after having mechanicals earlier in the stage. Let's hope their luck gets better as tomorrow presents the first big test for all of the GC hopefuls. The stage is highlighted by the first real mountains of this year's Giro. The stage concludes with an uphill finish in Pescocostanzo. Look for the mountain men to come to the fore. STL patiently awaits for tomorrow.

Top 10 Results for Stage 6
1 Matteo Priamo (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
2 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
3 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit Systems
4 Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank
5 Maxim Iglinsky (Kaz) Astana
6 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
7 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre
8 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quick Step
9 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Slipstream Chipotle
10 Matthias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner

See the complete results here.