Leipheimer rode the time trial of his lifetime to win his first career Tour stage. He nearly overtook Cadel Evans for second place, but finished only 9 seconds behind Evans. Interestingly enough, Leipheimer had a 10 second penalty earlier in the Tour that looks to be a much bigger deal now. Who woulda thunk it, a 2200 mile race, and a 10 second penalty proves vital to sorting out the top 3 riders. This should make tomorrow more interesting though, as a first or second place in tomorrow's stage by Leipheimer would give him a big enough time bonus to get second place. Discovery Channel teammate Alberto Contador appears to have wrapped up a Tour de France win. Leipheimer has said after the stage that Discovery Channel would not attack tomorrow, but this team is notoriously good at deception and mind games so I'll be sure to be tuning in tomorrow morning.
OK, now for some of the crazy shit that went down this week.
Alexander Vinokourov, a Tour favorite before being hurt earlier in the race, tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning last Saturday's stage. Before the results of the test came back, Vinokourov also won Monday's stage.
Before Stage 16, several teams(including Team Confidis) protested the lax attitude of Tour officials towards doping. At the end of the stage, Confidis team rider Cristian Moreni of Italy was kicked out of the race for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone. Team Confidis withdrew from the race.
Overall leader Michael Rasmussen was kicked off the Tour and his team (Team Rabobank) for violating team rules relating to reporting his location during missed drug tests.
NBA official Tim Donaghy was implicated with the mob in a betting scandal in which he allegedly made calls to affect the spread of NBA games.
Michael Vick was indicted and plead not guilty to charges relating to dog fighting on his property.
Padraig Harrington won the British Open to claim his first career major victory.
Pittsburgh Pirates have continued to lose.
Barry Bonds hit HR number 754, Selig has been in attendance for games this week in order to be present when the record is tied and/or broken.
NFL training camps opened, and Steelers first round draft pick Lawrence Timmons hurt his groin again and is out indefinitely.
Steelers signed Troy Polamalu to a huge $30 million plus contract extension that will keep him in Pittsburgh through 2011.
Kenny Lofton was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the biggest trade deadline move so far this year. The deadline is Tuesday I believe.
Nicole Richie was sentenced to 4 days in jail for a DUI.
Lindsey Lohan was arrested for drugs and DUI.
Rock of Love contestants Brandi C and Brandi M have done porn. Shocking!!
George W. Bush got a camera stuck up his ass, and for two hours Cheney was POTUS.
I'm sure I missed plenty of good stuff, but I'm still trying to absorb all of this. I'll be posting this week after a great trip to the homeland for fishing and drinking.
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