The Waiting
By JoE Silva

In reality the waiting began on a number of fronts nine days ago. Now, it seems, that the waiting may be over.

The waiting is over for Tom Boonen to participate in a sprint finish, since the Belgian champion has abandoned the Tour due to a stomach ailment. The Tour that began with fireworks for the Quicksep sprinter, fizzled out after crashes and a lack of results.

The waiting too is over for the gloves to come off. That was clear from the steely-eyed professionalism from Garmin directeur sportif Matt White, who’s message to the peloton and the rest of the cycling world was essentially: “I’m looking out for me and my sponsors, and everyone else should do the same.” And in a sense it’s true. There are no freebies in pro cycling and no matter how much the fans and the media would have wanted to see one of the nicest guys in the pro peloton get his share of the glory, George Hincapie knows that there are no guarantees in the big leagues and you can’t count on favors from anyone. Few people get the inside skinny on the unspoken alliances that exist within the sport, but it’s safe to say that there are none between the two biggest American squads in cycling and that is or isn’t a shame. Take your pick.

And most importantly the waiting is over for the GC men to show themselves. Verbier, the Swiss ski station that awaited the heavy hitters at the end of stage 15, proved to be the sieve that separated out the contenders from pretenders. Whether by design or by sheer power or both, Alberto Contador put to rest all the handwringing that both the fans and the media have engaged in since the beginning of this year’s Tour. Contador, motoring off the front of the field as the final climb began to severely sting, received no real answer from either Lance Armstrong or most of the other serious climbers in the field. Last year’s winner Carlos Sastre showed himself to be in a good amount of difficulty when the deal eventually went down, Christian Vande Velde hung on for dear life, and Cadel Evans was a non-factor. Only Andy Schleck was able to lay down a serious bridging effort to Contador, and when the young man from Luxembourg crossed the line he was still a full 43 seconds in arrears of the Spaniard. Super strong performances by Bradley Wiggins and Vincenzo Nibali bode well for them going forward but it’s unlikely that they can derail Astana at this point.

Is the waiting over? Is the story of the 2009 Tour de France essentially written into the history books? There are too many serious climbs in front of the peloton along with one time trial to get through before all is said and done. Contador should feel comfy in his position, but maybe not too comfy just yet. Mark Cavendish may have just enough speed and endurance left in his legs to make a last minute snatch of the green Points jersey off the back Thor Hushovd. And with only eight points separating Pellizotti and Martinez in the race for the King of the Mountains, the wait to see who wears the final polka-dot jersey in Paris continues. The waiting, would appear to be far from over.