Sport and Cinema.com

The first three stages through the Pyrenees haven’t yielded the clear leader most of us were hoping for. Instead, the 31 second lead held by Andy Schleck has been erased, and Alberto Contador now holds an 8 second lead. Since my last post, both Denis Menchov (2 minutes back) and Samuel Sanchez (2 minutes 13 seconds back) have been able to close the gap on the leaders.

YELL FOR CADEL goes behind the scenes at the Tour de France to reveal how a world class cyclist – Australian Cadel Evans, the recent winner of the World Championships – prepares for the world’s toughest bike race.

One of the biggest stories of the 2009 Tour de France is that there were NO scandals or drug accusations. Alberto Contador’s 2007 victory was marred by the number of riders excluded for positive drug tests or missed testing during training.

Alberto Contador ended all questions today about who is the best rider in the tour, and who is the leader of Astana. 7 time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong climbed to third place today while losing 1 minute and 30 seconds and finishing 16th on the stage to time trial and apparent Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

According to the Hollywood Reporter’s Risky Biz Blog the amazing sports comeback story of the seven-time Tour de France winner from Texas has entered a new stage as Gary Ross, writer/director of that well-received equine comeback story of “Seabiscuit”, has signed on to write the film.

“The Italians are coming!”

On the heels of the Giro d’Italia, we’d like to remind our readers that one of the great sports movies in Hollywood history revolved around the story of a talented young Indiana cyclist’s escape into a world of Italian bicycling.

Michele Scarponi of the Diquigiovanni team won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday as the race crossed into Austria.

Scarponi, who won March’s Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, finished the 248-kilometer (154 mile) stage in five hours, 49 minutes, 55 seconds. Scarponi was part of a five-rider breakaway that led the race for most of the day before the Italian dropped his companions and rode alone across the finish line. Danilo Di Luca of Italy held on to the overall leader’s pink jersey after finishing 36 seconds back.