Saturday, July 23, 2011

Tour de France - Stage 20

Today is the day.  The 2011 Tour de France will be decided today (and depending on when you're reading this, already has been).  It's been a pretty exciting race this year, with a ton of crashes and many unexpected leaders.  One of the biggest surprises was that Alberto Contador, last year's winner, will probably not be in the top three by the time the race finishes.  Today's race, between the guys who are going to be in the top three, is sure to be very exciting though.

Stage 20 is an individual time trial.  Unlike most days during the Tour, when all the cyclists ride in a big group and can draft off of each other, stage 20 is every cyclist for himself.  And the exciting part is that the top 3 riders are only separated by 57 seconds.  Even more exciting, the top two riders are brothers!  How awesome is that?

Photo taken from Versus.com.  This is the current top 3 riders: Cadel Evans (left), Frank Schleck (middle) and Andy Schleck (right)
When I wrote this post, Andy Schleck, who was 2nd place in last year's Tour, was leading his brother by 54 seconds, and leading Cadel Evans by 57 seconds.  Personally, I'm pulling for the Schleck brothers to finish is first and second, only because I think that would be pretty awesome for them (and the first time that brothers have finished on the podium together during the Tour's 108 year history!).  Unfortunately for them, Cadel Evans is a much better time-trial rider, so this last stage favors him.

I know that I'm going to be watching this stage, and I think you should check it out too.  It will be on Versus (channel 603 on DirecTV) pretty much all day.  If you're reading this early enough, the live airing is at 8:10 a.m. (eastern).  Check it out!

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