Cycling continued

[Garden Kitty]

Oh Canada! Ryder wins the Giro with a tension filled final time trial - surprisingly close ride by JRod who holds onto 2nd (and takes the points jersey from Cav by one point).

And proving crazy attacks aren't so crazy after all, Thomas de Gendt rounds out the podium!

Congrats to Garmin on their first GT win as a team!

[JasperBoy]

Woo Hoo. Just turned on TV in time to watch Ryder's ride. Well done!

[Theatregirl1122]

Good for Ryder! It was definitely an exciting finish for Rodriguez. I always feel bad for a guy who holds the jersey for so long but loses it in the TT. But Ryder really has been great and had to do a LOT of the work over the last week.

I kind of hate the way the points jersey works in the Giro. Sucks for Cav to ride all the way to Milan and suffer through all those mountains and end up losing the jersey to a points guy, but it is what it is.

It's interesting to see Vande Velde riding for Ryder. I feel like it wasn't that long ago that he was consider to be the GC hope for Garmin (2008 when he finished 4th, I suppose?) But he's had a lot of bad luck in Grand Tours since then and Ryder is obviously prepared.

[ElizabethAnne]

Wow! This is an amazing accomplishment for Ryder and Canadian cycling! I hope the sports press here give him the recognition it deserves. I wish I had been able to see the final day on TV.

[Garden Kitty]

I kind of hate the way the points jersey works in the Giro. Sucks for Cav to ride all the way to Milan and suffer through all those mountains and end up losing the jersey to a points guy, but it is what it is..

I agree, but Cav does seem satisfied with his combativity award - one of the many minor awards the Giro gives out.

ETA: nice dashboard on Steephill with links to all sorts of pics and video interviews

[4rkidz]

such a great end to the Giro.. loved the time trial it was so exciting.. and yeah for us in Canada.. First time we have won this with Ryder! Sad the Italians didn't have anyone on the podium

[Garden Kitty]

US championships over the weekend. Zabriskie retains the time trial championship, and Liquigas' Timmy Duggan wins the road race. Very happy for a perennial domestique like Timmy who overcame a serious head injury that required major rehab to get a big win like this. Very well deserved, and nice payback for Liquigas's co-sponsor Cannondale who is the main reason Duggan is on the Liqui team.

[Theatregirl1122]

US championships over the weekend. Zabriskie retains the time trial championship, and Liquigas' Timmy Duggan wins the road race. Very happy for a perennial domestique like Timmy who overcame a serious head injury that required major rehab to get a big win like this. Very well deserved, and nice payback for Liquigas's co-sponsor Cannondale who is the main reason Duggan is on the Liqui team.

Weird timing for the US championships. Are they always this close to the Giro? Did any of the guys who road the Giro participate? I know Taylor Phinney didn't since he was cheering Tejay on via twitter.

[Garden Kitty]

I think they used to have the Pro Championships later in the season, but then people complained that a number of the top riders had basically stopped for the season or were no longer in top form, so they moved them up, but then had to deal with race conflicts. I read they tried to match it up with the Tour of Cali since many of the top US riders would include that in their program and would be in the states.

Blazing Saddle's Giro "awards" - including the easy to predict "best ryder" award.

[Garden Kitty]

George Hincapie announces that he'll retire after this season

[Theatregirl1122]

. Not unexpected but .

[susan6]

Andy Schleck is out of the Tour de France due to injury:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/schl...tour-de-france

Without Schleck the Younger and Alberto Contador, I guess the tour will come down to a battle between Cadel Evans, possibly Bradley Wiggins, and possibly Schleck the Elder although his time trialing is lousy.

The sprinters' stages might be more entertaining this year, though....Cavendish may have some serious competition from Peter Sagan who has been on fire this year.

Also....Fabian Cancellara. That is all.

[Garden Kitty]

USADA brings formal charges against Lance Armstrong - how timely.

He will be barred from the triathlon, though.

[Garden Kitty]

US named its Olympic cycling team - Phinney, Tyler, Chris Horner, Tejay Van Garderen and new US Champ Timmy Duggan all made the team. Leipheimer and Hincapie didn't.

Horner apologized for bringing the average age of the team up significantly.

[Theatregirl1122]

Not surprised they didn't bring Leipheimer but the London road course is essentially a sprint, right? I'm a bit surprised they didn't bring George to ride support for that. But he has said this is his last year.

It really, really sucks that Andy is out of the tour. It wasn't a great profile for him but, having been awarded the title for 2010, you have to imagine he really wanted to come and actually win one outright even more than usual this year. What a poorly timed injury.

With all the doping control they do in cycling, I really don't like convicting anyone without a positive test. Especially if they are going to hang this on the testimony of someone with the credibility of Floyd Landis. I get that other people will testify and I think he is probably guilty but basically EVERYONE at that time was guilty. So they strip his titles and give them to other people, including Jan Ullrich who left the sport because of doping, who were also probably doing it but no one cares to investigate them this much. For me, I just don't like it. I don't think they should strip titles this far after the fact without a positive test.

Andy being out and the Lance thing are making me feel a bit about the tour this year. I'm sure I will be more interested once it is actually on.

[susan6]

US named its Olympic cycling team - Phinney, Tyler, Chris Horner, Tejay Van Garderen and new US Champ Timmy Duggan all made the team. Leipheimer and Hincapie didn't.

Horner apologized for bringing the average age of the team up significantly.

Heh....Timmy, Tyler, Taylor, and Tejay. And Chris.

Surprised they didn't pick Levi for the time trial....he's still pretty good at that.

I'm still hoping that Old Man Horner gets to go to the TdF, now that Andy Schleck is out. The way he left last year's tour was pretty scary.

[4rkidz]

USADA brings formal charges against Lance Armstrong - how timely.

He will be barred from the triathlon, though.

hmmmm... I had always believed him but the recent stuff that is coming out is a bit

[NinjaTurtles]

Andy Schleck is out of the Tour de France due to injury:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/schl...tour-de-france

[Garden Kitty]

Surprised they didn't pick Levi for the time trial....he's still pretty good at that.

Supposedly Levi, George, Vande Velde and Zabriskie all indicated they didn't want to be considered. However, there's lots of speculation that with the Lance charges coming down, the USOC didn't want a lot of the former Postal/Disco riders on the team.

[deltask8er]

Here's the dumb legal question I've had for a couple of weeks. How can a U.S. agency strip an athlete of titles won in another country?

Of course, I'm sure France would gladly comply in this case