Tour de France 2008

From the Tour de France website:

Carlos Sastre spent three weeks being sheltered by his CSC-Saxo Bank colleagues before delivering the decisive blow on the heralded summit of L’Alpe d’Huez. It was a 13km effort that saw him ascend the steep slope leading to the ski station on his own, onward to victory and into the lead of the general classification. Before the 17th stage he was ranked fourth overall, 49 seconds behind his team-mate Frank Schleck; after it, his advantage was 1 minute 24 seconds over the next best rider.

But it was his performance in the time trial when he finished 12th and minimized his losses to Cadel Evans that the victory was sealed. The Australian gained another seven seconds thanks to a split in the peloton in the final sprint – meaning that, for a second successive year, the Silence-Lotto recruit finished within a minute of a Spanish rider – but the elation of Sastre’s team was evident at the finish in Paris.

Not only did CSC-Saxo Bank win the yellow jersey, Andy Schleck claimed the white jersey as the best young rider and the squad won the team classification with a dominant display. The 33-year-old is the seventh Spaniard to win the Tour de France and he celebrated his success with his children by his side on the podium in the center of the Champs-Elysees. The final stage was won by Gert Steegmans who finally gave the Quickstep something to savor in the 95th edition of the Tour.

I don't care what anybody says, July is the cruelest month. The heat just kept going up and it drove me to cooler climes for book reading and movie watching. I haven't spent as much time on-line lately or even watching my shows (like Tour de France highlights), so I didn't get into the Tour this year like I'd hoped. Too bad, its a great sporting event, always one of the most fascinating year in and year out. I didn't make a prediction but I had my eye on Cadel Evans who finished 2nd, not bad for a cycling novice like myself. Carlos Sastre, though, is the man of the hour, the guy in the winner's circle getting smooched by fashion models, the guy with big bouquet and the admiration of Frenchmen all over the world. Go get some, Charlie.