Contador all the way

I'd be damned if I don't say the man in the picture, Alberto Contador, isn't going to win this Giro d'Italia.
Finally woke up from the dreamland of Manchester United completing the double. Plus the past two stages of the Giro, weren't too apetising for me to jot down. But Stage 14 last night, the first of the really high mountains, an Italian Alpine stage that went over 195km from Verona to Alpe di Pampeago in Val di Fiemme, was when the real protagonists came into the picture.
At the end of the Godforsaken mountain stage, CSF-Navigare had bagged their third stage win of the Giro, through Emanuele Sella who rode solo for almost 50km. Tinkoff's Vasil Kiriyenka, Belarus' most famous sportsman, tried a follow-up attack, but had to be satisfied with second.
What was most important at the end of the night was the picture painted by the general classification. Gabriele Bosisio of LPR added time in the maglia rosa he inherited from the leader over the past eight stages - Giovanni Visconti. But Bosisio is not going to win the Giro.
Just five seconds adrift in the standings is the powerful picture of 2007 Tour de France winner Contador and a bunch of fired up Astana teammates behind him. A minute and two seconds behind in fourth is Saunier Duval's Ricardo Ricco and Serramenti Diquigiovanni have parked two-time winner Gilberto Simoni at a still comfortable one minute and 31 seconds, in eighth. This is how the game is going to be, although Lampre might have something up their sleeves with Marzio Bruseghin, winner of the first time trial of the Giro, at 28s in third.
It is gonna be between those four or five, if LPR's defending champion Danilo di Luca, in fifth at one minute 07, gets it going. Or six, because Rabobank's Denis Menchov is also close. In seventh at 1.18s.
From now to the final stage. This is when stage racing gets me biting my fingernails. But I've named the winner already. It is gonna be Alberto Contador.

Woooops, here we go again....

Portuguese police have today raided the home of Portuguese pro continental team LA MSS, according to the International Herald Tribune report here.
LA-MSS could be the first of the Portuguese teams going down in a doping scandal that is reminiscent of the Spanish Fuentes scandal that pulverised the Liberty Seguros-Wurth, Comunidad Valenciana and a host of other teams in 2006. In the Opreacion Puerto-styled raid, Constantino Zaballa, the team's Spanish rider who'd had links in the Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes scandal, is also reported to be in deep *h*t... again..

Thank you Chelsissies!

I'd mistakenly thought the Chelsissies would be forgotten by the time I wake up and get down to writing this posting today, but honestly their team has to be thanked for realising who they are and what they're supposed to be this year, which is no better than second best.
And Sir Alex Ferguson shouldn't be celebrating too much, because now we don't want to wait another eight or nine years between our European titles, as was the case with the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Cup in '99 and the one we won in Moscow this morning.
Johanna Terry and Nicole Anelka became our Santas this morning, but we must learn to kill off these small teams when we have the chance to do as as was the case in the earlier part of the first half when the Chelsissies were pinned back. In honesty, it should have been 3-0 at half-time. Maybe we do need a Karim Benzema upfront and a Samir Nasri in midfield to add some punch to a somewhat ageing but still classy engine room.
We knew the title would be ours, but we could do without the drama. 6-5 on penalties, with an ageing Edwin van der Sar the hero against a team of nothing, is something that should give us a wake up call. The Chelsissies are nothing but a team bumped up with lots of Russian roubles, expensive players and a bunch of loudmouth, big-talking fans. But we made them look good in Moscow. Even their equaliser by Francine Lampard was a gift.

Well, anyway, that's done and over with. It can't always be the ideal victory and I bet as usual the Chelsissie fans are up to their usual screwed up normalities comprising one-sided refereeing, Ronaldo's acting, linesmen in United's favour...etc. bla bla bla.. quack quack quack..

Now get over it quick and start the plan for the fourth European Cup going! Another treble maybe?

No problem at all

The hours tick by and the great United look confident.
Sir Alex Ferguson just sort of figured out his line-up to start the Slaughter of Moscow.
Looks like the great Ryan Giggs is gonna start on the bench, along with Owen Hargreaves and Anderson. But Paul Scholes will get to drive the engine room in a partnership with Michael Carrick. Cristiano Ronaldo on the left flank and Nani on the right, the Chelsissies are gonna taste only what they didn't want to taste. Rooney up front alone should be enough cos the shots will be going in from everywhere, with also Tevez backing him up.
At the back its gonna be pretty much like I said before - Vidic, Ferdinand in the middle, Evra on the left, Brown on the right. And of course the giant van der Sar between the posts. For the Chelsissies' line-up, ask their loudmouth fans.

U-NITED! U-NITED! U-NITED!

YEAH. That says it all. A little more than 24 hours to go and for the third time in history, United will be crowned champions of Europe. That's three stars on the official kit from now on, while the Chelsissies need a couple of billion more to come closer to reality.
Two great players will start - Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Two who've played their lives out at one team. the greatest team of all. The frontline that Abramovich can't buy is gonna read Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, two soon-to-be-immortalised young players who are born to be with United. You got the great Edwin van der Sar who the Chelsissies, even as their Dogbarks up front, can only dream of beating. The set-for-greatness rock-solid centre of defence of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic won't be broken, even if Patrice Evra and the great Wes Brown chose to muscle their way up (and probably score a goal or two) while keeping the back water-tight. You got the trickery of Nani, then Michael Carrick to also contend with you Chelsissies.
I won't even bother to write a word on your line-up. On Thursday morning, when I have my breakfast, you'll be as forgotten as the waste I flushed down the toilet last Monday.