So Lance is going to hold a press conference tomorrow in NY about his Global Cancer Initiative, and then at another press conference on Thursday at Interbike, he will announce his plans for his return to cycling. Bummer that I can’t be at Interbike this year, but like everybody else, I had to tighten up on the spending....

A long-time reader, Burt, gave me a heads-up on an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that rumors about a “possible buyout” by Lance of the Tour de France from ASO, calling it an “audacious plan”. Huh? Is this April 1st or what? However, you can read it for yourself if you follow the link.

And then there’s the thing with Alberto Contador and Lance on the same team. Alberto has been tearing up the road with his wins since he was aced out of the 2008 Tour. He said that he welcomed Lance back to the cycling world, but more recently sounds like he is wondering if there is room for them both at Astana. Alberto feels that he has rightly won the title of team leader for 2009, especially at the TdF. However, he is wondering how that will work if Lance has that same goal... Don’t think Alberto would have any trouble finding another team, but sure hope we don't lose him... Stay tuned...

News Release from PJ Rabice:

CONTADOR CAPTURES OVERALL WIN IN SPAIN
(Austin, TX) – At 162 kilometers in length, including two categorized climbs, today’s final stage of the Castilla y Leon race in Spain was set to be another hard day in the saddle as Team Discovery Channel looked to defend Alberto Contador’s overall lead. However, with a roster including powerhouses like Leipheimer, Basso, Martinez, Brajkovic and Danielson, the Team was clearly suited to control a mountain stage, and they did just that, leading Contador to the overall victory and third place on the day.

Sports Director Johan Bruyneel did not specify a team leader coming into this weeks’ race, instead looking to see which of his squad had both the fitness and motivation to take control. Bruyneel stated, “Our entire team continues to impress me this year. Although it was Contador winning here in Spain all the guys are looking great, not just those on the podium. The classics riders like Gusev and Devolder are preparing well for the coming weeks. Tom and Levi look good for Georgia and Ivan is showing good fitness as he prepares for the Giro, although he lacks a bit of top-end speed right now. Overall, all the guys are performing better than expected and I could not be happier.”

Contador was pleased with his continued good form this week, saying, “I was a bit unsure of how I would feel yesterday on the climb. I worked very hard to win Paris-Nice and you never know how much you will have left in your legs. In the end, I had just enough to win. Now I think I will take a short break from racing to recover and start to prepare specifically for the Tour. I want to be my best in July.”

Team Discovery Channel will take to the road next in Belgium at the Three Days of De Panne.

Press Release from PJ Rabice:
DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM WINS AGAIN WITH CONTADOR

(Austin, TX) – Alberto Contador, the new acquisition for the Discovery Channel Team, took advantage of his good form following his overall victory at the Paris-Nice stage race just two weeks ago to win once again. The young Spaniard captured his fourth stage win of the 2007 season in today’s 4th stage, a mountain-top finish, at the Spanish Vuelta a Castilla y Leon stage race.

The Discovery Channel Team rode into today’s stage with six riders placed in the top 10 overall (Jason McCartney and Sergio Paulinho have both pulled out of the race due to illness) allowing Sports Director Johan Bruyneel a number of tactical options. “The Team was very impressive in the opening time trial and they made my job much easier. I was able to talk with the guys and come up with tactics based on how they were feeling during the stage. Ivan and Alberto have good form and felt good today so we were hoping that one of them could take the win. Things worked out just as we had hoped,” stated Bruyneel.

Contador’s stage win is the seventh for Team Discovery in 2007 and with only one stage remaining, and a 36 second lead, the team is hoping to add the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon to their overall palmares along with the Tour of California and Paris-Nice.

Contador!! Awesome, Aggressive, Amazing. Alberto Contador takes the Yellow Jersey for the 2007 Paris-Nice by an incredible win in the last stage. The fantastic work by the entire Discovery Pro Cycling team led Alberto right to the final climb. All the team, especially Tom Danielson and Levi Leipheimer, rode the rest of the peloton ragged. A truly exciting stage finish - it was a thriller...

On cycling.tv, we saw how ecstatically happy Alberto was, but also Levi, too, who hugged Alberto twice in glee. The entire team is totally stoked with a win like this - they did their part and then it was up to Alberto to not let them down in his solo climb, descent and battle against the crosswind to the finish line.

Awesome race, and if you are a Premium cycling.tv subscriber in North America, you can see it again. If you are not, then better make friends real fast with somebody who is.... Better yet, pop the bucks to subscribe - the season has just begun...

Alberto Contador took the stage win at Stage 4 of Paris-Nice in an awesome finish. Two seconds ahead of Rebellin, Alberto’s face was a mixture of agony and determination. Davide Rebellin had a great ride into the Yellow Jersey. Levi Leipheimer came in eighth. What a finish on cycling.tv.

Contador also picked up the Best Young Rider Jersey - he well deserved it, and the whole Discovery Pro Cycling team worked their butts and legs off for him. Great job for all the guys. Pic of Alberto is from the Solvang training camp this year.

I notice now that the Floyd Landis buzz is now that maybe another rider’s piss was used instead of Floyds in the testing process. When the FFF had the question session in the town meeting in San Jose last month, I stood up to the mic and posed that question to Floyd. I asked if he had any comment on the possibility that he was taking the rap for another rider who had juiced. That maybe there is some other rider out there who is sweating this out and staying silent and hoping to Hell that nobody notices that it is his number that was tested. I kinda felt like my question was minimized in the response, but I think it is a vital point. The slides clearly show another number on the testing documents... Yeah, there were tons of Cesspool errors, but Jeeze, maybe it wasn’t even Floyd’s sample, or it got mixed with some other sample.

If The Piss Don’t Fit, You Must Acquit...