Danilo di Luca, and other thoughts

Danilo di Luca, fresh off a spectacular victory in Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, has added La Fleche Wallonne to his palmares. I've always liked him, though he seemed to have fallen by the wayside the last couple of years. That said, I wish him lots of luck in Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege; if he wins there, he'll repeat the triple David Rebellin won last year.

The Tour of Georgia is off and running, albeit slowly. I was pulling for Andrea Tafi today, who, in one of his last races, was in a long solo breakaway for most of the stage, only to get pulled back in the last few kilometers. That's always sad, and more so when those opportunities are running out. Cyclingnews.com is doing a great job with their live updates; it's really strange to be keeping track of it at work, instead of having to wake up at 6:00 when things get going in Europe...

Ivan Basso is hoping to win the Giro and the Tour. Well, what he really said was, "I hope to go well in both," but we all know what that really means...

Lance's impending retirement seems to have given his rivals extra impetus for the Tour this year, since everyone wants to be the one who won while Lance was still riding. I guess that makes sense, he's been so dominant that without him there it will feel like the competition has gone down a notch. In my opinion that will be a good thing, at least things will be more interesting...