The Tour de France - 1st mountain stage

Well anyone who knows me well knows I love The Tour de France. It is particularly exciting for me this year because Lance Armstrong is back in the peleton.

In the years Lance raced and reached his goal of 7 tour victories I jokingly (OK, only half jokingly) referred to the race as the Tour de Lance. Last summer when I was watching the race I turned to my husband and said "Lance will be back, mark my words...there is no petrone of the race, there is no dominant team, there is a gaping whole that can only be filled by the likes of Lance." And so it is. He is back.

I have enjoyed watching every moment of the Tour so far. I record it (old school on video tape) when I am not home and avoid all tickers on TV screens until I can come home and watch the whole stage. For some people it is baseball for some it is football, for me it is the Tour de France. Don't get me wrong I watched during the years of Lance's absence as any Tour fanatic would however there is a sweetness in the race this year now that Lance is back.

Team Astana has a full roster Lance Armstrong 7 time Tour Champion, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador, Andreas Kloden, Yaroslav Popovych just to name a few of the great riders (well except for the exclusion of Chris Horner, bummer) and can you imagine 4 of the 9 team members are Tour contenders! The excitement is endless. I yell at the TV screen, jump up and down and just plain have a great time. Every July is like a little slice of heaven. The teams, the riders, the sprints, the time trials and the mountains. This year brings us back to Mount Ventoux, one of Lance's major regrets in his cycling career happened on that mountain. I believe he will create a new great memory this year. I can see it already a stage win (winner of that day) in the yellow jersey (leader of the race) on top of Mt. Ventoux. Yes!

Today was the first stage in the mountains. Many of the riders got dropped (left behind) as the climb up the mountain got longer and steeper. Lance however stayed in the pack with the other lead riders of the Tour. Amazing that he could be out of competition since his 7th victory in 2005 and come back and ride as one of the oldest riders in the tour and be at the top of the pack with all the other contenders! Simply amazing.