Recent content by astokes

1994. You had the unthinkable of a (mostly) unknown 24 year old Russian kid spanking the 3 time TDF and 2 time Giro champ, Miguel Indurain. I think that was the first year they passed over the Mortirolo, and watching Berzin turn himself inside out to keep his Maglia Rosa up that grind was...

This is my 16th straight year with a racing license. Who's talking about quitting? Actually, there have been years where I only buy the license as a motivator to actually get out and race. For every "on" year, (for me it was 1997 thru 2002 and 2007), there's a lot of "off" ones where I toe the...

Good on Robbie Hunter to take out stage 3 against the usual suspects for a bunch finish after a stage with hills, ie Garzelli and DiLuca. Even more so since I'm sure those two were looking to save face after dropping well over a minute on the Pampeago yesterday. The clocks ticking on those guys...

Webmaster. Might I suggest creating another category within this forum dedicated to doping? It appears that some here can't seem to get beyond the topic, regardless of what the original thread may be. If these individuals want to be cynical and rant, please create a dedicated forum where...

Rock Racing is without doubt a good thing for the US domestic scene. Does anyone pull for Saxo Bank because of Bjarne Riis? For Astana, because Bruyneel is behind the wheel of the team car? Saronni at Lampre? It's about the riders and racing, not who's pulling the strings behind the scenes...

I think it falls to which team is going to be able to dedicate themselves to one, and only one, rider for the win on the Via Roma (Though I think the actual finish is a few blocks away again this year). For the heavy favorites: LPR: Petacchi has Ongarato, Bernucci, and Bosisio who can be...

So, there you have it. Angliru and Titan_90 have reinforced, for me anyway, that this is a global sport, and one need not continued to try and highlight petty national favoritism. Thanks guys, what a breath of fresh air. For the record, and complete transparency, my favs are: Petacchi and...

Simple answer to the original post. Americans, (not looking to get flamed here, just pointing out a fact) admire winners. But we're hardly alone in this regard...would Mark Cavendish receive heaps of praise if he were consistently finishing 3rd? 4th? Of course he wouldn't. VdV and Dave Z are...

Since Mr Armstrong chooses to overlook the obvious, I'll point it out for him. Unlike LA's Tour run from '99 to '05, what Contador failed to receive at Paris-Nice was the benefit of 7 blue and yellow clad Astana team mates doing all of the work for him until the last 10K. If "Mellow Johnnie"...