"Gobsmackingly Brilliant" rides of 2000Javier Otxoa Palacios---- Javier Otxoa Palacios. Whether Lance Armstrong 'gave' it to him or not, the way in which the young Spanish climber won one of the most challenging Tour de France stages was fabulous. Attacking almost the entire stage, with a lot of help by surprising Belgian Nico Mattan, and coming through first on the Marie-Blanque, Aubisque and Soulor and finally Hautacam is heroic! In general, the performances by the Kelme-team in Giro, Tour and Vuelta are remarkable. Santiago Botero Echeverry's Tour de France was quite impressive, and Sevilla in the Vuelta gave us a hindsight to what we can expect from him the coming years. And Heras, well, he was simply the best Grand Tour-rider this season. Ivo Habets, ---- |