Is that Lance Armstrong?!?

Last night Jose, two friends and I went to Sevilla proper to see part of the ´Vuelta a España´. Translation: Spain´s version of the Tour de France (which obviously because it is French iz di best ting in di world). I was curious yet fairly apathetic about the whole race when we first arrived. Imagine, hoards of people waiting at the finish line of a race that must take place at 1000pm because during the day it is too hot. Being only a short leg of the race which runs throughout Spain, each team made a turn around the city, ending in about 15 minutes. While trying not to get killed by bicyclists or run over by the cars following them, we watched the participants finish the race (and when I was bored with that, some change in their bus). What surprised me was how Jose and his friends knew so many of the riders´names while cheering them on. I only know of Lance Armstrong and that´s only because he has one testi (Livestrong), dated Sheryl Crow and has won a bazillion times. Apparently, in Spain they actually care about this sport. They know who rides for which team, who is the favorite to win, what kind of bikes they use for each terrain. As they claim (and I have heard this many times since arriving), Spain is a country of strong athletes. They are good at soccer obviously but also basketball (calling the only 10 tall Spaniards), synchronized swimming (is that even still a sport?), tennis and finally cycling, among others. After the race ended, like any good Spaniard, Jose and his friends began looking for free goodies. On a side note, Spanish folk will always take something if it is free, whether or not it is worth the time or effort to obtain it. In Chapel Hill I have a very distinct memory of them waiting for what seemed like hours for a free ice cream cone and running across campus to catch up with the Jimmy John´s free sandwich representative. I was not surprised at their wanting to see if there was any free swag at the race but not finding any, we went to a bar. Which brings me to the results of the race, who won you might ask? Which Spaniard took home the title? Who had the best time? An American.