Guess who got a little too into following the pro-cycling circuit this summer?

by Colleen

With the end of the third Tour of the summer, La Vuelta, this past Sunday, the cycling season is officially over. Or at least the Grand Tour portion of it is. There was talk of world championships coming up, or something. I’m not quite sure – I didn’t get that into it.

Know Your Grand Contender Cyclists:

Don’t be fooled by their skinny appearance! Cyclists aren’t jockeys. They’re taller. To put it in some perspective, if jockeys are like hobbits…well hold on, hobbits are kind of fat. Okay, if jockeys are like skinny hobbits, then pro-cyclists are close to, but not quite elves. Better than humans though. Right, jockeys are skinny hobbits and cyclists are a human/elf hybrid. Except Lance Armstrong. Lance can be full elf.

eh?

Alberto Contador - 2009 Tour de France Winner

 

Frank and Andy Schleck (the younger one is Andy) Andy came in 2nd in the Tour de France and 1st in the under 25 years category.

Lance riding for Team Astana in this year's Tour de France - the Kazakhstan team (yakshimash)

Cav(endish)

Oh those Brits..

Brice Feillu

Won one of the Tour de France stages, looks vaguely rodent-like.  But in a 'small furry mouse that you want to hug' way. And hey, how about that name? Clearly, Europe is decades ahead of us when it comes to nomenclature.

Alejandro Valverde. Won the Tour of Spain - La Vuelta Espana

Showed up wearing gold (1st place colors) on the first day of the race - classy.

Cadel Evans

Oh, Cadel. He has the dubious distinction of being the only rider to "blow up mentally" (actually said by a commentator) towards the end of the Tour de France, finishing in 30th place and almost getting fired by his cycling team. Admittedly, he also has the dubious distinction of being Australian, hehe.

He finished 3rd in the Vuelta, but may have been able to take 1st. His fall down the podium was due partly to a punctured tire during a critical portion of the race. His team car was supposed to hand him a new bike in under 30 seconds and his teammates were supposed to pace him back into the race. Well, the team car took a minute thirty to show up and his teammates never showed up. wa waaa.

A random rider from Team Milram