Hello all,
So, it's July in France, and it's 12 degrees. It's July in Maputo and its 12 degrees. See a problem here? Well, only really if you're a cyclist. The poor sods at the Tour (that I should be so lucky to be a poor sod) are battling wind and rain and cold. Whereas us in Mozabique contend only with the cold because.. it's sunny so no rain.
So.. going back to the TDF.. This is probably the first tour that I am watching assiduously from start to finish, more even than the Giro (thanks in part to SuperSports' idiotic programing of the Giro, or lack of!). It is a tremendous learning experience, and if I can blot out Phil and Paul's voice, I can actually concentrate on watching the cyclists, how they pedal, and seeing how the race unfolds. Poor Phil and Paul, they're not really to blame.. I mean they cater to the 200 odd million people who watch the program, most of whom haven't even used a bike, so their commentary is simplistic and half the time a tourist guide to France. There are a few gems amongst the broken glass that is their monologue.. so I still listen to the droning voices. And in reality, the do a pretty good job on the background of the riders, which saves me doing a Google search..
But back to the ACTUAL Tour de France.. The racing. Well, so far it's been bloody fantastic. I think that every stage has left me satisfied.
Philip Gilbert's win on stage 1 was a wondrous thing on that uphill finish. His drought of tour stage wins was broken, and has created another cycling legend.
Stage 2 vidicated the Cervelo bike I bought, giving Garmin-Cervelo the win and Thor Hushovd the yellow jersey. Thor, probably my favourite cyclist, is riding as he should have in Paris-Roubaix, and showing that notwithstanding his diminishing sprinting speed, he's still a great all-round cyclist.
Stage 3 - Tyler Farrar from Garmin Cervelo brings a second victory to the US squad, their second in their history! And on the 4th of July (a first, an American winning on that day in the TDF). AND he got led out by the Yellow Jersey, Thor Hushovd.. AND it's his first tdf stage victory. How much perfect can you get than that? Well, that's about it for perfection, because Cavendish who was stuck in the back and had to go around traffic wasn't far from taking his victory, and when Tyler stood up to give his victory salute his handlebars almost made him swerve. Methinks Tyler you need to practice your victory salute. Nice that you thought about Weylands.. although this tribute story is getting a bit long, and I'm pretty sure you did it for yourself.. BUT lets leave asside these petty niggles and celebrate an (almost) perfect moment. Hat's off to you Thor for being the team player that Cervelo tought you to be. And Tyler.. watch out for the Manx Missile..
Stage 4 brought another surprise, an uphill fight to the line between Cadel Evans and Alberto Contador, won by the former by a distance of.. well not more than the space between each word in this blog post. Utterly thrilling stuff. And Cadel, the eternal second, deserved a stage win under his belt. The agony of last year's tour must be a very distant memory, replaced by this stage win and the tantalising possibility of wearing Yellow again, 1 second behind Thor.
Stage 5 - Hmm.. I've lost track of who won! Short term memory.. Argh.. Ah, yes Mark Cavendish won this one. However his team, HTC, is in total disarray, and one wonders if he's better off on his own. Would certainly save a bit of money, of which HTC apparently needs because.. it won't be HTC next year according to reports. Still, the Manx Missile proved why he is the fastest sprinter in the world. In an uphill finish, coming from way behind, after having to dodge traffic and do without his usual nice computerised leadout, he managed to get to the line first. Gilbert tried and tried but was second, which all things considered is not bad at all. Green jersey contender.. definately.
Stage 6 - Edvald Bossen Hagen showed the world that Norway has more than one cyclist. Pretty impressive mangling of cranks as all the sprinters and sprinter/climbers were there (except Cavendish.. was he off sipping some tea?) pounding like spastic monkeys on their pedals.. Thor was there as well, in 3rd place, and really showing off that he deserves to wear Yellow another day, and not just that. He's obviously chasing a stage victory, and so he should.. but, can it be to dream the impossible dream, that he keep up with the climbers on the mountains and somehow finish the tour in Yellow?! Well, its madness of course.. It's the first week, Contador is still firing on 3 cylinders, and the real Tour has yet to start. But can it be that opportunistic and brave Thor manage to somehow make it work?! Well... we shall see.. we shall see.
Stage 7 - It's on as I type, so let me get on home to see how the boys are doing.. Prediction? Manx Missile, with Thor somewhere in top 20. Ok, stage is done and dusted... a few days have passed, and I have a few more race results. Yes, the Manx Missile won stage 7, with Thor in the top 10. Greipel was there on the line with Cav, so he musn't start counting too many chickens. Petacchi was also there, and by the skin of the squashed fly on his wheel he edged just past Greipel. Thor 10th?! Pretty impressive.. Perhaps the Yellow suits him afterall!
Stage 8 - Hmm.. this was another tough stage, with a breakaway off the front for most of the race. Vinokurov attached on the last climb and hunted down the breakaways, gobbling them up one by one until only Rui Costa remained in front of him, 20 seconds away. But Vino just couldn't bridge to him and he was engulfed by the pack came thundering up the tarmac. So close.. and yet so far. Rui Costa though conserved his distance and crossed the line a scant 10 seconds before everyone else, amazed that his breakaway (a few km's from the start of the 208km stage) managed to survive... Sometimes fortune favours the bold. Pity about Vino, who showed real penache in attacking and almost making it first to the line.. An era will pass when he leaves the peloton..
Stage 9 - Well, finally a stage that has shaken things up completely. A few cat 3 and cat 4 climbs, so nothing serious, but enough to mess with the peloton. A break of 3 riders makes a run for it a quarter of the way through the stage, joined by another two a bit later, making for a 5 man super-break. They gobbled up all the mountain points and sprints (Hoogerland hoovering the KOM's) and were keeping their distance from the peloton who had suffered a nasty crash on a descent, putting Vino out of the race with a fractured pelvis, when the breakaway had their own run-in with lady (bad) luck.. A car swereved into Flecha who then took out Hoogerland behind him who then did a sommersault worthly of an acrobat, and landed into a barbed wire fence. Cassar, Voeckler and Sanches somehow managed to ride through the carnage. Voeckler was actually bumped by Flecha as he fell but managed to stay up.. They slowed a bit, but when they saw there would be no quick return of their fellow breakaway artists, they pressed on, barely 37km to go and with a Peloton smelling blood and Cervelo firing on all cylinders. However with desultory help from Omega (they just wanted the sprint points for Gilbert, who then promptly disappeared from the front) Garmin was not putting their whole heart into the chase and when it was too late to make a difference they pulled off the front, letting BMC (Cadel is nr 2 still with just 1 second difference) do the rest of the work. Meanwhile Voeckler was doing the lion's share of the pulls on the front, pedalling like a madman, while Cassar had trouble keeping the wheel and Sanches simply biding his time till the finish line. The uphill finish saw a bit of cat and mouse but in the end the fresher legs of Sanches meant he could comfortably control Voecker's attack and power up to the finish. Stage win to him. Voeckler gets arguably the bigger prize, a Yellow jersey and a 4 minute lead over 3rd placed Cadel. The remnants of the peloton fragmented on the way up the climb, with Thor merely a cyclotouriste on his last day in yellow, while Gilbert sprinted for 4th with Cadel close by. A horrible stage if you ask me with all the crashes, big names out of the tour, and a really unlucky breakaway (normally the safest place to be to avoid bunch crashes!). Still exciting stuff and a general re-ordering of the results. Cadel is the best placed contender, with Andy Schleck close by. Rest day on monday, and a well-deserved one.
