Today's stage of the Giro d' Italia was short, less than 70 miles short. But for what it lacked in length it made up for in vertical gain finishing with a 15k climb that was being compared to le Alp de Huez of Tour de France fame.
In predictable mountain top finish fashion all the contenders and a few super domestiques blew the peloton apart on the opening slopes of the climb. By the time they were half way up it was a very select group.
On his twitter account this morning Lance Armstrong wrote that he hoped to stay within 2 minutes of the leaders by the end of the day. Across the line he missed his goal by a minute finishing 3 minutes back on the day's winner Denis Menchov. So, what's this mean? And what's it have to do with Alberto Contador? Allow me to explain.
It's no secret that Lance is "racing" the Giro to get the extra miles in the legs for the Tour. So, on a day like today, he stays at the front, out of trouble, and then rides with the tempo for as long as he can. Once the accelerations start he's content with letting them go and riding in on his own. Lance is now a super domestique for Levi. I'm not breaking news here, it's well documented.
So, riding for Levi at the Giro means that Armstrong still isn't at top form and he's hoping the Giro, a break and probably the Dauphne will be just the ticket to arrive in Monaco like the Lance of old. But, as I'm not the only one with access to various cycling websites, I'm sure one Mr. Alberto Contador is checking in on these results daily and seeing what I see as well, that Lance is planning on coming to the Tour to win, and in Lance's style of team leader that means Alberto's fetching bottles.
I'm not Alberto Contador so I don't know exactly what motivates him, but I have seen his face grimace in pain as he refused to let off the gas after clearly dropping all opponents off his wheel on a climb. Alberto and Lance aren't so different when it comes to winning bike races. They both not only want to win, they want to destroy you both mentally and physically. Don't think for a second that Alberto is sitting at home crying over the fact that Lance is now trying to come in and steal his spot as team leader at the Tour. No. I'm sure he reads the reports just like everybody else, kits up and heads out into the mountains for some self inflicted pain that most of us can't even imagine.
I hope beyond all hope that Lance shows up to the Tour in the absolute best form of his life because an internal show down between these two would be amazing. I don't even care who wins. I just want to watch the drama!
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