lucylily's blog: "ght"

Footballs World Cup. A Super Bowl ring. The tiny Ashes urn in cricket. And, of course, the yellow jersey. No list of the most famous trophies in sports can be complete if it doesnt include that gaudy shirt from the Tour de France -- and British speedster Mark Cavendish aims to get his hands on the first one this year. Over the next three weeks, 21 of them will be distributed at the 100th Tour. None will be more important than the last one -- worn by the overall winner on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 21: Many pundits believe that will be either Britains Chris Froome or two-time Tour champion Alberto Contador of Spain. But it would be a mistake to reduce the Tour to a two-horse race. Multiple heartbreaks, crashes and other dramas await over the meandering 3,404-kilometre (2,110-mile) trek along wind-swept sea sides, through flat plains and Alpine and Pyrenean mountain punishment, and even to a medieval island citadel in the English Channel. The first story could be written by Cavendish: the "Manx Missile" is a favourite to win the mostly flat Stage 1 over 213 kilometres (132 miles) from Porto Vecchio to Bastia in the race debut on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica on Saturday. The Briton, whose muscle, timing and accelerations make him the finest sprinter of his generation, has already won other coveted prizes in his sport. In 2011, he won both the green jersey given to the best Tour sprinter and the rainbow-striped jersey awarded to cyclings road-race world champion. The yellow jersey, however, has eluded his grasp. "Its not just one of the most iconic symbols in cycling, its one of the most iconic symbols in the world of sport," Cavendish said. "To be able to wear that for at least a day in your life, its a thing to make any riders career. Its a thing you dream about when youre a child. It would be a beautiful thing." Cycling could use some beautiful things. This is the first Tour since Lance Armstrong was stripped of his record seven victories for doping, which he finally admitted to on U.S. cable TV after years of denials that were exposed as lies by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Despite millions spent on fighting drug use in the peloton, blasts from cyclings checkered past keep on coming: Ahead of this race, French media reported that a Senate investigation into the effectiveness of doping controls pieced together evidence that a urine sample provided by long-beloved French rider Laurent Jalabert contained EPO, cyclings designer drug, at the Tour of 1998. Tour organizers will be hoping the racing drama of the next three weeks will push such miseries to the background. In the traditional pre-race presentation, the 22 teams took a stage one after the other Thursday in Porto Vecchio, with its idyllic mountain backdrop on Frances "isle of beauty." Hundreds of fans clapped politely, as white yachts stuck up like teeth from the shimmering blue Mediterranean. Contador predicts an action-packed race in this comeback year for him. The 30-year-old Spaniard was stripped of his 2010 Tour title and missed out last year over a doping ban. He could be the biggest danger for Froome. Both riders excel in mountain climbs that feature heavily this year. But Contador said there would be more to this Tour than simply their rivalry. "This year wont just be the story of two riders; well have more actors in this film," he said. "This year will see more action than in past years," he added. Of Froome, he said: "I would have no motivation to be here if I thought I couldnt beat him." Among longer-shot contenders are 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans of Australia -- though at 36, his legs arent the freshest -- and his young BMC teammate Tejay Van Garderen of the United States, plus Spaniards Alejandro Valverde of Movistar and Joaquim Rodriguez of Katusha. Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 Tour winner and a Sky teammate of Froome, is sitting out this year due to injury. Last year Froome was more impressive than Wiggins in the mountains, but that race was more heavily weighted to time trials -- Wiggins specialty -- than in this years edition. Like Wiggins last year, Froome has had a nearly flawless run-up to the Tour: the 28-year-old Kenyan-born Briton won four of five races he started. He said hes confident, but not fond of the "favourite" moniker. "Its an absolutely privilege for me to be in this position," he said, but "there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with it." "Coming in as the race favourite sets that precedent of people looking to beat you ... so it definitely opens doors that people may be ganging up," he said, acknowledging the possibility that Valverde, Contador and Rodriguez might form a Spanish alliance against him. Contador is high in Froomes mind. "I dont think we have seen Contador at his best yet," he said. "His goal was never to perform well at any of the races building up to the Tour, but then to come to the Tour at his absolute best. I believe hell be here at his best -- and thats what well expect." Andy Schleck, who inherited the 2010 title stripped from Contador for testing positive for the muscle-building drug clenbuterol, said this years mountainous course would have suited him under normal circumstances. But hes coming off a rough year -- including a crash injury to his lower back that kept him out last year. The Luxembourg rider considers himself an "outsider" -- not a favourite. The race spends three days on Corsicas winding, hilly roads. It then sets off on a clockwise run through mainland France along the Mediterranean, into the Pyrenees, then up to Brittany and the fabled Mont-Saint-Michel island citadel before a slashing jaunt southeastward toward the Alps before the Paris finish. "The Tours always full of surprises," said Garmin-Sharp team director Jonathan Vaughters, insisting his American squad could have contenders like Ryder Hesjedal of Canada and Andrew Talansky of the United States. "The easy answer is: Yes, its Chris Froome vs. Alberto Contador -- but I think were going to try and make the answer not as easy." cheap wholesale nfl jerseys . Myers pitched five innings of three-run ball against Houston on Friday, then said he had been dealing with a problem with the flexor tendon in his arm since spring training. wholesale cheap jersey china . He wants to help buy the team. Mickelson said Monday he has a joined one of the five groups trying to buy the team from John Moores, the Padres majority owner for the last 18 years. http://www.nfljerseyswholesalecheap.com/ . At the end of a difficult week for everyone in the city of Vancouver, the Whitecaps brought some positive sporting feelings back to the Lower Mainland by ending their 14-game winless streak. cheap jerseys china . -- Kobe Bryant is sitting out the Los Angeles Lakers preseason game against Portland on Wednesday night with a strained right shoulder. jerseys from china . His voice cracked as he talked about having dreamed of this day. "I think we all do as boys -- that I would one day play in the NBA," said Meruelo, a California developer and pizza chain owner.BARCELONA, Spain -- Fierce rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid are bound to a common cause after heavy losses in the Champions League: the need to believe in miracles. Barcelona has the daunting task of overturning its 4-0 loss at Bayern Munich in their second-leg semifinal Wednesday while on Tuesday, Madrid faces the slightly less formidable challenge of coming back from its 4-1 defeat at Borussia Dortmund. No team has ever come back to win from such margins at this stage of the competition, meaning the May 25 final in Wembley Stadium will likely be an all-German affair. Overrun by the two Bundesliga sides in their first meetings, the Spanish powerhouses will rest their hopes on the two best attacking players in the game. Barcelonas Lionel Messi has struck eight times in Europe this campaign and is on a record 20-game scoring run in the Spanish league. Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, leads the competition with 12 goals, followed by Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski with 10 after he scored all four against Madrid last week. The big problem is that Messi and Ronaldo may not be fully fit. Messi is still nursing a right hamstring injury from April 2 that noticeably slowed him down in the first-leg rout. Ronaldo, for his part, has an unspecified "muscle problem" that kept him from playing on Saturday at Atletico Madrid. He went through an individual workout on Sunday while the rest of the team trained. Messi made his first appearance in four rounds of the Spanish league on Saturday as a second half substitute in the runaway leaders match at Athletic Bilbao. And even though assistant coach Jordi Roura said afterward that the Argentina forward is still not 100 per cent fit, Messi looked to be back after he scored a brilliant goal against Bilbao that will go down as one of his best. Within 10 minutes after taking the field at San Mames, Messi had scored one goal after an amazing display of footwork and ball control to weave his way through a pack of defenders, and set up another to leave Barcelona on the cusp of victory until it conceded a 90th-minute equalizer to draw 2-2. "Messi is slowly recovering and we hope to have him back to full strength," Roura said.dddddddddddd "The fitter he is, the better our chances of fighting back against Bayern." Barcelona will have to conjure up another mammoth effort akin to the one that fueled its historic 4-0 win at Camp Nou to overturn a 2-0 loss at AC Milan in the round of 16 last month. But Bayern, the newly crowned German champion, is a much better and far more mature lineup than the Milan team that was unable to hang on after Messi got Barcelona going with a pair of early goals. Bayern rested 10 players from the side that routed Barcelona when it played out a 1-0 win over Freiburg this weekend to set a German league record for points in a season with 84. "Weve all witnessed the magic of Camp Nou often enough. But we want to show the world it wont work on us," said Bayerns Thomas Mueller, who scored twice against Barcelona in the opening leg. Dortmund, which is the only unbeaten team in the Champions League this season, also made 10 changes to the starting 11 that brushed aside Madrid and had to survive a late scare to win 2-1 against Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday. Lewandowski went on as a substitute and failed to score, ending his league record run of goals in 12 consecutive games. Dortmunds Mario Goetze was left out with muscular problems but should be fit for the match at the Santiago Bernabeu. While Barcelonas staff and players recognize that a 5-0 win is probably asking too much even of Messi, the mood in Madrid is a little more hopeful with a 3-0 victory over Dortmund enough for the nine-time winners to go through. Madrid didnt need Ronaldo against Atletico and a side full of reserves was able to come from behind for a 2-1 victory to keep their hapless rivals winless in 25 straight derbies dating back to 1999. "Its important to score early," said Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira. "But we cant lose our heads because a goal from them would increase the pressure even more. "This club has experienced many magical nights in the Bernabeu and we are going to try to add one more to the list." ' ' '