Random picture...

A picture from the Tour de France 2009, which wrapped up with a win by Alberto Contador today... See this and a number of other fantastic photographs at The Big Picture's 2009 Tour de France.

Tour de France 2008

The 95th Tour de France, 2008 drew to a close today. Running 23 days from Saturday July 5th to Sunday July 27th, consisting of 21 stages with 2(!) rest days (10 “flat” stages, 5 mountain stages, 4 medium mountain stages, and 2 time trials), with twenty teams each of nine riders, for a total distance of 3,000.5 kilometers. Won in a total time of 87 hours 52 minutes and 52 seconds by Carlos Sastre (Team CSC), with Cadel Evans in second place (+ 58 seconds), and Bernhard Kohl in third (+ one minute and 13 seconds). Such are the razor-thin margins separating one from "la gloire" and the top step on the podium...

Just thinking about the scale of this endeavor hurts this blogger e.g. see the profile of stage 17 (Embrun to L’Alpe-d’Huez) below. Congratulations are due to all 145 riders who completed the tour.

Le maillot jaune – Carlos Sastre (overall winner)
Le maillot vert – Oscar Freire (points winner)
Le maillot blanc à pois rouges – Bernhard Kohl (best climber)
Le maillot blanc – Andy Schleck (best young rider)
Team Winner – Team CSC Saxo Bank (top three riders’ cumulative time)

Site officiel du Tour de France 2008
Carlos Sastre
Carlos Sastre - Wikipedia