Viva le Tour--Stage 2

This has been a really fun Tour so far. I mean, for me. I'm not riding.

Today we're going to look at some of my favorite--and least favorite--things. This is in no way objective and sometimes there just isn't even any good reason for my answers.

Favorite Tour Riders' Names:
Eddy Mazzoleni
Paolo Savoldelli
Oscar Pereiro
Thor Hushovd (How can you not love this name? Plus, he kicks ass.)
Dave Zabriskie
Yaroslav Popvych (aka "Popov")
Beat Zberg
Iban Mayo

Least Favorite Tour Riders' Names:
Nicholas Jalabert
Fabian Cancellara (He does kick ass and he's now in the yellow jersey, but come on.)
Cadel Evans
Denis Menchov
Juan Antonio Flecha
Axel Merckx (Son of the great, but Axel? Please.)

Now, in defense of these guys, it may just be the way Phil, Paul, Bob, and Al on Versus say their names--and usually they butcher them. Bob Roll of the "Tour Day Frants" fame is notorious.

Favorite Names of Guys Who Were Supposed to be in the Tour but Aren't:
Bobby Julich
Alessandro Petacchi
Ivan Basso

Favorite Kit:
Astana
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Discovery (I like the new "green" look. What can I say?)
Francaise des Jeux
Gerolsteiner

Team That Makes Me Giggle:
Astana, because they are from the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I almost expect to see Borat's grinning gob when I go to their website.

Team Name I Really Like Saying:
Euskaltel-Euskadi

Least Favorite Team:
T-Mobile. This isn't at all fair, but I disliked Jan Ullrich, their former leader, so much that it cast a pall on the entire team for me. They are the Slitherin of cycling to me.

Favorite Team Names:
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Credit Agricole
Cofidis
AG2R Prevoyance (I like how they almost got the word "annoyance" in there.)

Least Favorite Team Names:
Discovery Channel (boooring)
Liquigas (Need I say more?)
Barloworld

Favorite Overall Riders So Far:
Tom Boonen (Though he's not having an impressive ride, I have to say....)
Robbie McEwen (If you haven't seen it, look for his Stage 1 win--it was truly magnificent)

Favorite Team So Far:
Though my heart belongs to Quick Step (and Discovery), CSC is having a pretty darn good Tour so far. They've got the yellow jersey (not after today, most likely) and they're having a good run.

Now the fun in the mountains is getting ready to start so the sprinters will take a back seat to the climbers.

Oh, one last category. Company who should become the new team sponsor after Discovery drops out after this year:

Kwiki-Mart. I'm rather pleased with myself for coming up with that one. See, what's funny about this (yeah, it's bad when you have to explain your own joke) is that back in the day, 7-Eleven used to have a kick ass cycling team. Ha ha. Wouldn't it be funny to have a Kwiki-Mart team? Oh, nevermind.

My friend Rich thinks Wal-Mart should sponsor the team and then buy them really crappy bikes that are made in China and fall apart.

Well, that's all the fun for today. Enjoy my cycling ramblings! And, uh, how come a Google Image search of "Tour de France 2007" brings up pictures of Floyd Landis?