This is pretty cool:

Data: Zabriskie’s Edge 705 from stage 4 (TTT)

http://www.slipstreamsports.com/2009/07/08/data-zabriskies-edge-705-from-stage-4-ttt

I agree with this too James except for the Levi part.  When I hear Versus talk about Astana they talk AC, LA, and Levi.  Kloden is the one that seems to get left out.  I would be pissed if I were him.  Particularly since he was ahead of Levi and LA in the ITT.

 I have AC and Levi in my fantasy league.  I hope I am wrong, but I think Lance will fade in the Mountains.  I sort of agree with Lou that Levi does not attack a lot in the mountains.  I think he does not do well with the quick spurts in the mtns, but he can push a higher pace for a long time in the mtns.  If he wants to do well he will have to push the group early so that they can't kick in the power at the end.

I also like Andy Schleck and Christian Vandevelde.  I hope Vandevelde is sufficiently recovered from his accident in the Giro.

BTW, bad news for those of you that have Robert Gesink in your league.  He broke his wrist today and has withdrawn. 

It has been a very good Tour so far.  I was watching the end on the internet, but I missed what caused the 15' gap in the peloton which caused a slight shake up in the GC contendors.  Does anyone know what caused it?

I will answer my own question for anyone who is interested.  I watched again last night and really did not see a 15' gap.  I read Levi's blog and he just said he got caught up for a bit behind the crowd.  He had gone back to the team car.  One of the Katusha riders crashed at the end, but it did not affect the peleton.  They never said what caused the split, but this morning the race officials voided it so all 106 riders were awarded the same time as the peleton.

He is around.  He finished 16th today.  One place up and you would have gotten some points for him. 

I would like to see what Farrar could do with Cavandish's team.   He has a GREAT team and they take him to the line almost perfectly.  I thought Farrar went toe to toe with Cavandish today, but Cavandish had the leadout.  Both Farrar and Hushovd have to follow Cavandish and use him as their leadout.  He is too small to get much of a draft off of him though.

_{Too bad about Levi.}

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/5849672/Tour-de-France-2009-Lance-Armstrongs-team-mate-Levi-Leipheimer-out-of-Tour.html

Yes, I really hate to see that.  I had him on both my teams.  I was hoping that he would win the whole thing.  It would not have been that far out of the realm of possiblities either.  I could have seen JB sending him on a break to test the GC guys and him winding up winnining.  He is a good guy too.

Good karma interview with Lance Armstrong last night on tv.  I would have been mean and bitter, but he was graceful and complimentary of AC. 

Did any of you watch Saturday's stage?  I was almost as pissed as George Hincapie was although I was giving Astana more of the benefit of the doubt than he was at the time.  Matt White was the real culprit.  Lance, JB, and Stapleton all did good interviews saying they wanted to see George in yellow at the end of the day.  Matt White was kind of an a$$ and said "we do not care what anyone else thinks.  We are here to race and we are not concerned with what is going on with everyone else."  Obviously, I have paraphrased that.

I agree with Steph that Lance did a graceful interview after yesterday's stage also.  There is something about Lance that rubs me the wrong way, but he does know what to say and when to say it usually. 

Remember the back drop on Astana...lance and JB are out after Sept.  Astana has already put them on notice.  Alberto will not be movingwith them.  So, they will play to win, but that does not mean they have any love for Alberto.  He will become the target next year.  AC better be careful because he needs a team to win.  With no support, he will find it tough.  Lance would have never won 7 without the top team each time.  That is JBs way to win.  Total commitment with the best team focused on nothing but winning.  Others hedge their bets and water down the team.  Lance leaves and takes a bunch of guys, Astana picks up a bunch of unreliable Spanish riders.  Andy S. and others mature some more...2010 could be interesting. 

This year?  taking a bit of turn to the boring for the overall.  Out of 22 stages, only three or four truly hold any drama for the overall.   Can't believe I am rooting for a few bonks with the overall guys to inject some interest.  No drugs should give us at least one spectacular bonk, maybe? 

I agree that was a pretty cheap move by Contador.  Lance handled it so well that if you did not know better, you would not have realized that it was a cheeky (as Leggett would say) move.  Leipheimer was pissed too.  He showed it a little more.  I actually have Contador on both my fantasy teams, but at this point I would like to see him lose to just about anybody because of that move.  I would like to see Andy Schleck make a race of it now.

What I really found interesting was that Prudhome (sp) made it sound like Lance made a move and Contador made a counter move.  That kind of pissed me off too.  Lance did not make a move in the cross winds.  Contador just made a mistake.

Finally a great day...nice to see Lance still has it.  Still time to take time...