Can someone stop team SKY?

Chris Froome doesn't look pretty when he's on his bike. He's the opposite of "poetry in motion", so to speak. His bike looks 2 sizes smaller and he has a crouched position when sitting on his saddle. When he stands on his pedals, he sticks his elbows out, crab-like.

Pretty he is not, efficient, absolutely!

In yesterday's stage, the team showed its efficiency, in the final climb to the 7.8km, 8% grade,Ax-3 Domaines. His top lieutenant, Richie Porte, set a very high tempo when another teammate, Peter Kennaugh peeled off after a K and a half at the start of the climb. Porte simply shifted to another gear and one by one, his captain's rivals fell off the wayside. Cadel Evans showed his age when he couldn't hang on at the early slopes and Purito Rodriguez followed. Another kilometer or so and the Froome group some riders couldn't keep up with Porte's pace and they became a quintet- Porte, his captain, Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador and his domestique, Roman Kreuziger. Valverde's teammate, Nairo Quintana, a dark horse in this year's Tour, was ahead, a part of the early break.

When 6K's to go, Froome noticed that Contador, the man he most likely feared, was in trouble. At 5.3K's Porte raised the pace higher, dropping the trio. A few moments later Froome went. He passed a gassed out Quintana, who tried to hang on, and the beating was on. To make matters worse for his rivals, Porte noticed Contador struggling and digging deep, he distanced the Spaniard.

In the end, it was a SKY 1-2, Froome-Porte, followed by Valverde at third. Astonishingly, a couple of riders from BELKIN, BaukeMollema and Laurens Ten Dam, made a great recovery to finish 3rd and 4th respectively. Among the contenders, Contador came in at 8th (+1.45min), Rodriguez at 11th (+2.06min). Evans can his ambitions goodbye by finishing 26th (+4.13min). Surprisingly, Andy Schleck, was better than Evans, finishing at 21st (+3.34min).

The way this race is going, or the way SKY is dominating this race this early, is giving cynics ammunition that there must be something that SKY is doing, which must be illegal. During the post-race interview, Froome again had to defend himself that he was riding 100% clean. Froome's performance to the climb Ax-3 Domaines was the 3rd fastest in that climb in the history of the Tour. Also, people just couldn't help comparing the Froome-Porte combo to the Lance- Roberto Heras, Lance-Floyd Landis or Lance-Jose Acevedo.

SKY's performance must be very demoralizing to Contador and at team BMC, who had ambitions for Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen. There are still a lot of stages and racing to do and everything is not set in stone for Froome. Maybe a change in strategy for Contador like what he did in the Vuelta last year will help but Froome is not Rodriguez.

Finally, Dwight Howard has decided to sign for the Houston Rockets for $30 million less than what the LA Lakers can pay him. As a Laker fan, I think that that it was best for the franchise that Howard left the way he did. I mean, LA didn't drove him away, he just took his talents to Houston, but I believe LA didn't want him the way they wanted Shaq or Kobe. Besides, if he stayed with LA, what would he do different than last year? Good luck, Houston!