Tour of Germany Update

Sorry I was unable to update you yesterday this month has been very hectic lately. I have found very little time to write but I can today. So today was the sixth stage of the Tour of Germany. T-Mobiles Gerald Ciolek has taken a second win for the the past two days. While Ciolek is winning Jens Viogt is defending is overall lead. He has kept a strong 33 second lead over second place and will most likely retain it heading into tomorrows 33.1 kilometer time trail. But as always heres some results a little shorted up like usual. They were provided by velonews at velonews.com as well as the photo.

Tour of Germany
Stage 7
1. Gerald Ciolek (G) T-Mobile, 191.2km in 4:08:20
2. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, same time
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, s.t.
4. Aurelien Clerc (Swi), Bouygues Telecom, s.t.
5. Danilo Napolitano (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.
6. Rene Weissinger (G), Volksbank, s.t.
7. Mark Renshaw (Aus), Crédit Agricole, s.t.
8. Olaf Pollack (G) Wiesenhof, s.t.
9. Sven Teutenberg (G), Volksbank, s.t.
10. Koldo Fernandez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.

Overall
1. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 27:00:44
2. David Lopez Garcia (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:33
3. Robert Gesink (Ned), Rabobank, at 1:14
4. Chris Sorensen (Den), CSC, at 1:24
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, at 1:31
6. Leonardo Bertagnolli (I), Liquigas, at 2:19
7. Laurens Tendam (Ned), Unibet, at 2:34
8. Damiano Cunego (I) Lampre, at 2:48
9. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner, at 3:27
10. Maxime Monfort (B), Cofidis, at 3:45

The End of a Dynasty

I got some bad news today. It has just been announced that the Discovery Cycling Team will cease its operations. After following a search for a new sponsor, since Discovery decided to not continue its sponsorship, the team has decided to stop searching and to end all talks. This is quite a surprise due to the success the team has shown. Tailwinds Sports, the parent company of the Discovery Cycling Team, has taken the 8 of the last 9 victories of the world renowned Tour de France. One of the main reasons it has been difficult for the team to find a new sponsor is that companies don't want to be linked with a rider who is guilty of doping. This is following the release of Ivan Basso due to his connections. This should not alarm the riders from this team. They all are very talented and should be able get contracts with other teams. Some already have for example George Hincapie has signed with T-Mobile. Others will definitely land on their feet. There is interest in this years Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and his teammate Levi Leipheimer. This is a sad day in cycling for every. This will be a great loss to the sport.

T-Mobile Contract Extension and the New Tricross

T-Mobile has announced that it will remain the a part of the T-Mobile Cycling team. They will remain connected to the team till 2010. This is really all the news I have to tell you today. I do have a product review though. The all new 2008 Specialized Tricross Expert has been released. I have recently been able to ride this all new bike. It has a carbon fork and seat stays. The seat stays also come with the zertz insert to reduce the vibrations while riding. It also a FSA Sl-k MegaExo crank set. This bike also has mainly sram rival componentry to go with the FSA crankset. This bike rides very smooth and is very fast. Ill tell you what this bike will dominate any road bike on a dirt road. I give it a 8 out of 10 on my rating scale. The only flaws I would like to see changed is that specialized produce a full carbon tricross and also provide the bike with a better componentry line.

Tour de France Squad updates.

Well some more teams have released their rosters for the Tour de France. Some very important names have been left out of the rosters. This is due to the connection to steroids usage. This is a good sign that the Tour is going to be cleaned up. They are on the right track to cleaning up the cycling world. The sooner it is cleaned up the better. I hope more teams follow the examples of the likes of Astana.

Astana Squad

1. Antonio Colom
2. Maxim Iglinskiy
3. Serguei Ivanov
4. Andrey Kashechkin
5. Andreas Kloden
   
6. Daniel Navarro
7. Gregory Rast
8. Paolo Savoldelli
   
9. Alexandre Vinoourov

Saunier Duval-Prodir Squad

1. David Canada
2. Fran Ventoso
3. Iban Mayo
4. David de la Fuente
5. Juan Jose Cobo
6. Iker Camano
7. Buben Lobato
8. Christophe Rinero
9. David Millar

T-Mobile Squad

1. Michael Rogers
2. Mark Cavendish
3. Marcus Burghardt
4. Linus Gerdemann
5. Kim Kirchen
6. Bernhard Eisel
7. Axel Merckx
8. Giuseppe Guerini
9. Patrick Sinkewitz
   

Levi and T-Mobile

Well today is another slow day as we wait for the races to start again but I found out the pictures I talked about yesterday will be up tomorrow. Also T-Mobile is trying to drop there sponsorship for the Tour De France following the doping problems from then team Telekom which is now T-Mobile. Also Levi Leipheimer is the defending champion of the Dauphine Libere which starts today. He is a heavy favorite for that win and also the Tour De France. Plus hes a fellow American. Good luck Levi i rooting for you. I will see you all tomorrow for the race updates and pictures.

Velo Vie Bikes?

Well today I found a relatively new road bike producer. Velo Vie cycles. They only produce high end cycles but they appear to be structurally sound. Through the pictures that I view today the all carbon frames are quite strong appearing. I have yet got to test ride one so when I do I can get back to you with more info. Velo Vie only sell frames, forks, and headsets. It is up to you to purchase the components that you would like to mount on it yourself. So this will leave you with a lot of options to choose from. Also T-Mobile team will leave Honchar off the roster for the 2007 Tour De France. This is all spurred from the allegations against Honshar for you guess what. 'Roids.