Sport and Cinema.com

Today was a sad day in the history of the Tour de France. Bad luck and age caught up with Lance Armstrong today to leave him 13′26″ off the lead. Compounding his trouble on the cobbles in stage 3, Lance fell 3 times today and at age 38, he just didn’t have the gas to rejoin the leaders. Regardless of the falls, Lance really didn’t have what it took to keep pace on the climb as teams Sky and Astana held a fast tempo up the high mountains. The other contenders, Contador, Evans, Schleck and Menchov were able to stay together. Notably, Lance’s teammate Levi Leipheimer was able to stay with the leaders, and leave team Radio Shack with a shot at the podium.

The 2010 Tour de France had a rough and tumble couple of stages. Stage 2 wasn’t expected to be much trouble, but the slick descents caused Andy Schleck and Christian Vandevelde to fall and lose ground on the other GC contenders. In response, Andy’s teammate Fabian Cancellera slowed down the entire peloton and prevented the bunch sprint as a kind of protest against the tour organizers, and allowing Andy to rejoin the group. Christian was out a a result of broken ribs suffered on the fall.

It is a tough criteria, some play longer seasons, others go solo, a few operate complex machinery while others merely navigate their bodies through wind or water.

Last week this site took a look at great athletes, like Lance Armstrong, some that retired on top and a few that tried to comeback including some that clearly shouldn’t have. With the bombshell that seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will return to race for Ferrari after a three year retirement, just like Michael Jordan, Larry Holmes and Johnny Unitas, is he risking tarnishing his fantastic career?

Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal returns to ABC with a new reality series.

Debuting August 18th, in “Shaq TV” the 15-time NBA All-Star will pit his athletic skills against an interesting array of opponents in their sport specialty.

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.

It is obvious that either Alberto Contador, currently first overall or Andy Schleck, currently second overall, could have battled for the stage win at the top of Mont Ventoux and closed the 38 second gap to stage winner Juan Manuel Garate. Instead, both leaders chose to be great teammates and lead their team’s battle for podium places in Paris

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.

With 17 stages complete, the 2009 Tour de France podium is still up for grabs. There are 2 major stages left to determine the Yellow Jersey, and 2 contenders (Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck).

The 2009 Tour de France is far from over. Today’s stage 16 didn’t play out as you would expect. Saxo Bank tried to attack Alberto Contador with no success. In the biggest surprise of the day, Lance Armstrong was able to bridge the 30+ second gap Saxo Bank opened on the weaker riders.