Contador

Assuming he can recover quickly enough to win the Tour and the CAS appeal either finds in his favor or gives him a reduced suspension (say six months,) I would love to see him take a shot at winning the Vuelta as well. While he's talked about it, actually planning to try for the triple is a pretty nutty thing to do. With the way this year has worked out, it's basically laid out for him. The whole "recover enough to win the Tour" part is a big if, of course. Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans and Ivan Basso are all training, looking to peak in July. Contador was just on the best form he's ever been on (as far as I can tell.) Getting even close to that in July is going to be tough.

We'll see. So much depends on CAS, of course.

La Corsa Rosa

This race was too hard. After having watched it, there were simply too many mountains. The last 10 days weren't exactly boring, but with the relentless mountains and Contador's dominance, it wasn't exactly the most exciting Grand Tour I've ever seen either (that would be the 2010 Giro, of course.) There was no balance.

Vasili Kiryienka

The best stage of the past week was the one into Sestrière, won by Vasili Kiryienka of Movistar. It was fun, watching him summit two massive mountains by himself and increase his lead over Rujano and the rest of the GC contenders. The fact the win was dedicated to Xavi Tondo made it that much more special.

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And that's it. I know I normally do sets of five, but… I've got nothing left. Compared to last year this race was just not as compelling and I'd just be filling in the blanks with nonsense. *shrug* Here are two cool photos instead.

Contador

Clenbuterol appeals aside… this guy is a pretty good bike racer and he's on phenomenal form right now. This certainly isn't the guy we saw struggling to stay on Andy Schleck's wheel last year at the Tour de France. Contador is at his attacking, aggressive best at this race and when he's like that it's really pretty tough to beat him. It also seems like he's been unleashed completely in this race. It looks like he's basically free to attack at will, which makes him even tougher to deal with than he was in the Discovery/Astana days where he was being kept on a tighter leash. With so much climbing remaining he could push his final margin to over 5:00 minutes without much effort.

Nibali

Nibali has shown himself to be a rider of real quality. He's not quite the climber he would need to be to take a climb-heavy corsa rosa like this one, but he's definitely got more grand tour victories in his future. A course like the one DiLuca won in 2007 or the one Menchov won in 2009 would be more within his reach right now.

For the most part he's ridden solidly, intelligently and has played the race as well as he can tactically against the power of someone like Contador. Here's hoping a couple more years of development and a course more suited to his particular talents will lead the Shark of the Strait to his own Giro victory.

Today especially showed well for him. He attacked when it was appropriate and when that failed he rode within himself to limit the damage as much as possible. While he did drop some time, he's still on the podium. It could have been much worse.

Cavendish

Does any active cyclist gather up more controversy than Cavendish? This week he dealt with accusations of being dragged up Etna and being called "fat" by Cipollini and answered by… winning two stages back to back. Not a bad way to answer critics

Crostis

After all is said and done, I'm happy they pulled the climb out of the race. Watching the videos and looking at some photos it was clearly a brutal, dangerous descent and it really had no place in a pro bike race. This is especially true in light of Wouter Weylandt's tragic accident.

Euskatel

I was happy to see the Basque team win back-to-back stages. They animate the high mountains of every Grand Tour so it's nice to see them get some results. Anton's win, especially, was a classy victory for the squad.

Speaking of which, have I mentioned I'm riding my own bike 65 miles for Bikes not Bombs in a few weeks? I am. It'd be really cool if you could throw in a couple of bucks for a great organization. All donations are greatly appreciated. I'll be posting photos of the ride after I'm done. Won't that make it worth it?

Wouter Weylandt

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Here are three quick thoughts as I wait for the race to start and my sports world will go complete. With the Sox starting to warm up and the Celtics and Bruins still playing, all I need is the world's most beautiful bike race to start to fill out my dance card completely.

Vincenzo Nibali

This year, I shift my personal allegiance in this race from one Liquigas Cannondale rider to another. Where last year I jumped up and down in my living room cheering on Ivan Basso on as he dropped Cadel Evans on the slopes of Monte Zoncolan, I'm hoping to do the same for Vincenzo Nibali on the slopes of Mount Etna (or any of the other million climbs in this race.)

Nibali is going to be a rider I pull for for a long time to come. Why? For starters, he's Sicilian. That's an important part of my heritage. There aren't a ton of pro cyclists from il sud at all, never mind Sicily, so he gets my vote on just that factor alone. And then there's the way he rides. He's an attacking, competitive all-around rider who's going to bag some interesting victories outside of just the grand tours. I understand the riders who focus solely on the grand tours. Grand Tours are important. That doesn't mean I can't appreciate a rider who wants to do well in other races throughout the year and Nibali is one of those guys.

Oh yeah, and he can descend like a demon. I love going fast downhill on my own bike, so watching people like Nibali who can really rocket is always a treat.

Alberto Contador

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