Tour De France Update - 7/17/2009

4th place Levi Leipheimer is out! He had to abandon after a Stage 12 crash that broke his wrist and he did not start Stage 13 today. To say Levi is bummed out is an understatement. He is devastated. He is not leaving France and will continue to be with his team till the end, albeit not as a rider.

Team Astana continues to dominate, although its unclear how they will deal with Levi's absence on the road. Lance holds his ground in 3rd place - 8 seconds from 1st. This alone proves that Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest athletes in this sport or any other. He is the oldest man in the Tour and there are 159 other younger riders who cannot gain ground on him.

Astana's manager, Johan Bruyneel, has to decide what to do with his two tour contenders. Contador and Armstrong will be at each others throats before this is over. Each is a Champion in his own right and neither will be willing to sit back and let the other win. There could be a internal Astana bloodbath on mountain Stage 20.

The Alps Stages are coming up this starting this Sunday. Both Contador and Armstrong handle the mountains very well, but give Lance the edge for 1) Being Lance and 2) Being Lance.

UPDATE:

WHEN THE LEVI BREAKS!

Levi had emergency surgery today and will sent home to the US to recover. He will be unable to support the team any further. It's still uncertain what will happen to Astana without his critical help on the mountain stages to come.

BREAKING NEWS:

BB Shots Fired at Peloton This Afternoon!!! Team Rabobank Superstar Oscar Freire has BB's removed from his leg! Julian Dean of Team Garmin gets hit on his left hand! This is bad and better not set some sort of sick precedent for other psychos....