After those three finished together Cadel Evans claimed the Gold Jersey as the leader of the race. Maybe he can pull off an unbelievable victory in this year’s vuelta. All I can say is go Cadel!

For the Coverage of this year’s Vuelta watch SBS One at 7:15 every morning for a short highlights package,

James Moffat

This started at the beginning of the year. I had been riding a Giant OCR 24″. In case you don’t know I am only 12. The 24″ was for twenty four inch wheels. My dad had recently bought a new bike so in the garage he had a Condor with Campagnolo Daytona(the previous incarnation of Centaur. Centaur is the Campag equivalent of Ultegra.) and Mavic Krysium Equipe wheels. I was going to buy a Giant Defy 1 or something at the $1500 price point  when Dad suggested about buying a frame and fitting these components. I jumped onto the idea straight away with the thought of making a bike up seeming like a brilliant concept. I also wanted to ride on Campagnolo and the Components where much better than anything I would have got otherwise. So job sorted, I would buy a 46cm frame and fit dad’s components on my frame. So then I went off to do some research. As far as I could find you could only get frames more expensive than the bike I would have gotten otherwise or you had to get a custom frame for Kennedy’s for $700. After a few months I came to the conclusion that I would have to buy a Giant Defy 3 and take the components of that and swap them with dad’s components. So we went down to the local bike shop and when we were there we found a diamondback criterium for $700. That brings me to the question why do bike shops not sell frames separately anymore. There must be more than one person like me who had good components and needed a new frame. Surely the must be a big market for frames in the 500-1000 dollar mark? So why don’t shops sell frames any more. More importantly why don’t companies sell entry level bikes as frames any more.

James Moffat

In cafe racer there are approximately 40 Campagnolo bikes per 60 Shimano. If you go down to a local race or just take a ride that figure would be about 5 per 100.  If you’ve ever ridden on Campagnolo you will now there is something special about it. Satisfying clicks and multiple shifing are some highlights of the Campagnolo groupsets. The Italians also make in my opinion the best looking groupsets. With the anodized black of Veloce to the all Carbon finish of Super Record campag oozes style. Cycling Plus a British Cycling Mag had a groupset test and Campagnolo Record came out on top.

Now why is Camagnolo not on more bikes. I think there are two reasons. Firstly the lack of and entry level group like Sora gives Shimano the advantage of more people are familiar with the system. The other reason is that with all the style and flair Campag is a botique brand. Strangley enough though is that Record is actually cheaper than Dura-Ace.

Campagnolo could easily become the overall groupset king but to do so they need to realese some entry level groups which is a market that Shimano is the only competitor in. So come on Campagnolo, release your Italian Flair to the lower price level market.

James Moffat

The Major Players

The Boss. After the first mountain range, a time trial and some tactical smarts Lance has confirmed that he is up for the challenge and will tackle Contador. The question is whether he can keep up with the young guns on Ventoux and limit his losses in the time trial.

Alberto Contador. On amazing form if not for a tactical error on stage three would be in yellow and dominating. His attack on the road to Arcalis clawed back some valuable time for the Spainard over Lance and silenced the doubters. He will try to gain yellow in the Alps if not expect a showdown in the time trial and on Ventoux.

Andy Schleck. As expected has lost time in the individual and team time trials. Will attack on stage 17 in the alps with three category 1 climbs or leave it all till Ventoux. If he can attack on Ventoux there will be a huge battle.

Cadel Evans. Out of contention in my books. Lost to much time from Astana in the TTT. In reality he can’t drop Contador nor Schleck in the mountains. Is likely to lose time in the stage 18 time trial.

Carlos Sastre has stayed quiet and with Astana around he wouldn’t be able to achieve the victory like last year.

Stage by Stage

Stage 1 ITT

Stage 1 saw Fabian Cancellara annihilate everybody in the time trial managing to inflict 20 seconds into Alberto Contador. Contador was amazing on the first uphill part of the course beating Fabian by five seconds in an impressive however he couldn’t maintain his advantage. Although an improved time trialler he can’t do what Lance used to do in the time trials.

Stage 2

Today was always going to be a sprint finish and we saw Cav and the Columbia team achieve sprint perfection. They managed to break away from the peleton in the final lead out. Cavendish proved who is the fastest man in the world in an impressive manner and Columbia team showed that their team meant business.

Stage 3

In a stage with huge crosswinds we saw the Columbia team ride off the front in a group of thirty leaving most of the main favourites behind. Of the GC riders only Lance managed to make the break. Cavendish and team Columbia again proved the goods with their second consecutive stage victory. The group ended up finishing thirty seconds ahead rearranging the GC with Lance moving to third ahead of his teammate Alberto Contador.

Stage 4 TTT

This stage saw Fabian Cancellara hold onto his jersey with only .22 of a second to spare. The Astana team proved the goods with an impressive performance dominating all their rivals. Cadel Evans fell out of the race losing two and a half minutes to team Astana.

Stage 5

Today we saw a breakaway go clear and Thomas Vockler added a stage win to his yellow jersey. Thomas Vockler couldn’t contain himself and in the end only winning by seven seconds.

Stage 6

In a stage into Barcelona Thor Hushovd was the good in a uphill finish not suiting Mark Cavendish. The peleton only regrouped in the last kilometre after an attack by David Millar. The roads were wet and Micheal Roger’s tour was ended after losing 14 minutes after a crash.

Stage 7

In the first mountain stage up to Arcalis a break got clear and Brice Feillu claimed the victory on top Arcalis. Behind however Contador attacked his rivals to gain 20 seconds and show who’s boss. He moved up past Lance on GC and showed he was going to fight for this tour.

Stage 8

In a high mountain stage we saw Cadel Evans attack from the gun in attempt to regain some lost time. The bid was unsuccessful but it was great he had a go. The winner was Luis Leon Sanchez who had attacked from the gun and had held on to win the stage.

Stage 9

In another high mountain stage with the Tourmalet 70km from the finish it looked like another break would succeed this time a two man break held off the pack with the Frenchman Fredrigo oust sprinting Pellizotti at the end of a long day.

Next week we mainly have transition stages so expect to see a lot of Cav. We will have to wait until stage 15 for more action in the alps.

Stage 7 Barcelona >> Andorre Arcalis 224km

This was the day that other than Ventoux would decide the tour. This stage made the peleton finish 2010 metres above were it started making for a tough day of racing. Unfortunately for Christiann Pruddome this stage was not like the stage that climbed to Arcalis 12 years ago. That day Jan Ullrich climbed his way into the yellow jersey on route to collecting his only title.

A early breakaway again got away and stayed away. Brice Felliu ended up winning and I imagine he would have got a little bit of a shout from the sponsor Agritubel for not doing his jersey up as he crossed the line. If you watched the stage you would have got to witness a truly extraordinary descent from the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara after being dropped from the peleton. The highlight of the day though was going to occur on the climb to Arcalis were we saw a unsuccessful attack from Cadel Evans before Alberto Contador blew away the front group with around two kilometres to go. This was Contador stamping his authority over the rest of the peleton. He reminded everyone of how Armstong used to attack and dance on his pedals. The chase was started by Andy Schleck but no one could have caught Contador. Unfortunately the mallot jaune was not waiting for Contador with the honour going to a breakaway man Rinaldo Nocetini. So after the first mountain stage we don’t have a winner but we know Contador is on form and is going for it. The suprise of the day was Bradley Wiggins who charged home with the front group. At the moment Contador is holding a two second advantage over Lance. That most likely won’t change until the summit finish in Verbier on Stage 15.

Stage 6 Gérone >> Barcelona 181.5

This Stage took the riders the furthest south the tour has ever been. The stage was a rain affected one with many rides taking the fall.Among these GC contender Micheal Rogers fell after Henrich Haussler fell on a roundabout. Their were other high profile falls such as Tom Boonen.

With a break of four off the front getting clawed back into the peleton their advantage of 50 seconds was thinning and with only 30km a win seemed unlikely. David Millar attacked from the breakaway. Millar is a great individual time triallist and was aiming to time trial to a stage victory. With the wet conditions the run in to the finish was very wet making a chase treacherous. 10km to go and Millar had an advantage of a minute making for an interesting run in to the finish. The rule of thumb is that the peleton can claw back a minute in 10km but with the conditions you couldn’t be sure how it would pan out.

The peleton was organizing itself so a bunch finish did look likely. In the run in the crash that took Tom Boonen occurred. It wasn’t as bad as the crash that took out Micheal Rogers and that ended his hopes for tour glory. However Rogers finished 10 mins behind the peleton. David Millar was caught on the climb to the finish inside the last kilometre leaving victory for the sprinters. The sprint was won by Hushovd overcoming the Spaniard Oscar Freire in the sprint. The sprinter are now out of the spotlight until after the Pyrenees and the first rest day.

Stage 5 Le Cap d’Agde >> Perpignan 196.5km

With huge crosswinds blowing off the Mediterranean the peleton was split into three groups. In the end the split amounted to nothing but a breakaway did. With 55km to go the breakaway had a 2:00 advantage over the peleton and with a charging peleton it looked like it would be over in a matter of kilometres. However the breakaway managed to last. The highlights I am watching skip to 7km to go. The break still had a minute advantage, with only such a small distance to go the chances were the peleton couldn’t catch them.

Think back to 2004. Thomas Vockler joined a breakaway in stage 5 and then held the yellow jersey till stage 15 on top of Plateau de Beille where he fighted to the end but lost his yellow jersey. 5km to go and Vockler took off, Ignatiev had tried to attack and so he was tired. The rest of the break was reluctant to chase so Vockler went clear. While Vockler was saluting the crowd you could see in the background the peleton charging into the finish. The french finally had a winner in their home tour. Tomorrow the finish in Barcelona is a hilly one so don’t expect Cav to make it three.

Today was the day of reckoning. After yesterday’s amazing stage Lance Armstrong was in contention to after 4 years and a comeback to professional cycling perhaps wear the yellow jersey again. In my honest opinion a contender for the yellow jersey Cadel Evans is out of the competition. Often criticized for having a weak team with the team time trial back this highlighted the fact with Cadel losing two and a half minutes to Astana.

The battle was on though between Lance Armstrong and Fabian Cancellara. Lance needed to gain 40 seconds over Fabian Cancellara to get the yellow jersey. In the end it was Fabian Canellara who kept his jersey but by only .22 of a second. Lance must have been frustrated to come so close but his tour isn’t over. Now Fabian Cancellara will have another couple of days in yellow before the climb up to Arcalis where we will see how everybody’s form is. Lance will be gunning for that yellow jersey but people will be fighting for it. Astana are perfectly placed at the moment with four out of the top five people in the GC. This is panning out to be a great tour.

With Cavendish going for a second stage today was going to be another bunch sprint bar something extraordinary. With large crosswinds and a temperature in the mid 30′s the stage would be tough. A breakaway got away early and they got the advantage to over fourteen minutes. After 102 kilometres out of 196 the breaks gap was nine minutes.

By forty kilometres to go the gap was down to four minutes. Columbia were at the front and they were putting pressure after a short the pace created a group of 30 going of the front . In the group was all of the Columbia team and notably Lance Armstrong. With the whole team working the advantage was growing. Armstrong wouldn’t be in yellow at the end because Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara made the group.

The peleton wouldn’t really organise itself with none of the teams riding together to claw back the group. 10km to go and the gap was 32sec it looked like it would be a sprint between Cavendish and Hushovd. The peleton wasn’t organising itself the three strongest teams in the competition wouldn’t chase because they were represented with cerevelo test team having Thor Hushovd and Astana had Lance Armstrong. Columbia of course had their whole team.

With 5km left It was apparent Lance Armstrong would be ahead of Alberto Contador on GC. When we get to the mountains Armstrong will be ahead of Contador which will make for some very interesting racing and mind games. The sprint would be a two horse race with Hushovd and Contador. Cavendish had the advantage with an almost full team at the front inside the last 10 kilometres. A skill Shimano rider tried to surprise in the last kilometre. In the sprint Cavendish came off Renshaw’s wheel Hushovd almost surprised Cavendish. With Armstrong gaining he is now in front of Contador on the GC With the team trial on in Montpellier tomorrow anything could happen and Armstrong could be back in yellow. Something many thought impossible.
After a great stage and tactical faux pas on Contador’s part; the team time trial will decide more than the yellow jersey with a psychological battle on the line