Tour de France - Stage 16 Results

It's the last day in the mountains and Michael Rasmussen was able to hold off the attacks of Discovery Channel's Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer, adding 47 seconds to his overall lead. Rasmussen continues to be shadowed by doping suspicions; some fans booed him as he crossed the finish line in Gourette.

Also today, we learned the identity of the rider who had a positive test result for exogenous testosterone on Stage 11 - Cristian Moreni of the Cofidis team. Moreni was part of a protest against doping at the beginning of today's stage. Oops.

Meanwhile, Alexandre Vinokourov claims that he never doped, theorizing that a large amount of blood in his thighs from his crash earlier in the race may have thrown off the test.

Four stages to go! Things are going to be interesting.

Today's results:

Rasmussen
Leipheimer
Contador
Evans
Soler

General Classification:

Rasmussen
Contador
Evans
Leipheimer
Sastre

Points - Tom Boonen

Mountains - Soler

Team - Discovery Channel

Lance Breaks His Silence On The Landis Decision

When first asked a couple of weeks ago about the decision in the Floyd Landis case, Lance Armstrong basically implied that he didn't keep up with cycling anymore and that he didn't have time to look at it.

Now, in a new interview released yesterday, Armstrong blasts the decision of the arbitration panel and states that he feels that Landis would have been exonerated by a jury.

It's about time he spoke up. He may be focused on finding a cure for cancer, but he needs to recognize that for most Americans, he is the person that comes to mind when they think about professional cycling.

Specialized Rolls Out 2008 Products In Advance Of Interbike

Specialized has already rolled out much of their new products for 2008 in advance of Interbike.

Saddles: Specialized found that, because of its comfort and light weight, many of their mountain bike riders were using the Toupe road saddle off road. They saw that they could use the same technology to make an MTB saddle that is as light and comfortable, but more durable and off road specific. The result is the new Phenom saddle.
They also are rolling out a new time trial/tri saddle called the Tri-Tip. This is very similar to the Toupe, but with a longer and wider, slighty more padded nose.
Tires: Specialized grew their tire team this year and worked with long time advisor Ned Overend on a new line of mountain bike tires. This year sees the introduction of the Control line, with S-Works, Captain, Armadillo and S-Carve models. The S-Works tire was designed to be lighter while increasing cut resistance.
The Captain is an all around tire, while the Armadillo is focused on overall durability.
The…

First "Look" at Look 586 Road Frame

The new Bikeradar.com site (formerly cycling.co.uk) gives a first look at Look's new 586 high modulus carbon road frame that will come out in 2008.
It is 100g lighter than the frame it replaces. Like it's predecessor, it has an integrated seatpost, but this model includes elastomer blocks in the post that will help to soften the ride a little bit.
The same article mentions the introduction of the Keo Grip cleat. Apparently this is the Keo cleat with some rubber grip pads to help keep your feet under you when walking.
The new products can be seen at Look Cycle's web site.
As an aside, I see that the review was written by Gary Boulanger, of the late, great Cycles Gaansari.

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