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Un jour pour les francais. Jerome Pinot takes most of the polka dot points all day (until the last climb where he was caught and dropped by his own teammate Chavanel and others) and is firmly entrenched in the climbing competition while Chavanel flies to the front on the final climb. I really hate to make this comment but perhaps as the rest of the peloton becomes cleaner the French will ascend. I think that following the Festina scandal with the disgrace of Richard Virenque, the French have raced relatively clean and they have won almost nothing. The Spanish, who have been implicated in a lot of doping, have won a lot. Perhaps the French are looking better because every one else is cleaner? OTOH< the French are still not seen as a threat to actually win. But who knows?
For whatever reason, Chavanel had a fantastic ride and earned the jersey today. In my mind his first time in yellow resulted from the neutralized stage and was tainted by the road conditions and crashes. Today he was simply the stronger rider, the only guy willing to go into deficit and pain to win. Chapeaux to Chavanel.
Speaking of the French it was like a blast from the past to see little Tommy Voeckler motoring up the road with tongue hanging out and jersey unzipped. I have no idea why, but I have always found him sort of amusing to root for. Fourth is a good finish for him and his team. And with the way they controlled the front team Bbox has perhaps helped us forget their almost comically bad performance in the TTT last year.
Today also saw my first Didi Senft sighting, on the penultimate climb. There he was with pitchfork and red tights, shouting ‘allez, allez!” Meaningless, but fun. It vindicates my avatar.
On the last climb it was rather startling to see Armstrong riding alone in the midst of all those baby blue Astana jerseys. TRS was supposed to be a strong team but instead they looked like an old team today. Astana was leading the peloton (or what was left of it) in its chase of Chavanel up to Station des Rousse. Contador was sitting on LA’s wheel the entire way. Where was popo, or Kloeden? Those guys all just wilted on the climb. Very surprising. At least Levi made it up to LA. OTOH, it is possible that TRS decided to conserve the team energy for tomorrow. Armstrong has said that the real race begins Sunday and maybe he wants a fresh team for the effort. In any event, LA looked cool and rode without any apparent stress. Contador was also never in trouble. But, I do wonder if TRS will be able to drive a climb like the old days or, for that matter, if LA can dominate a climb like he used to do. Tomorrow may give us more answers.
I have said this before but I cant get over how awful the footon-Servetto tan jerseys look. I think they are just terrible. Speaking of jerseys, for all of you that have laminate floors, there is a chance that you contributed to the success of Chavanel today, as his Quick Step sponsor makes laminate flooring and sells a lot of it in the USA. So, well done!
The French speak passively of a ‘selection’ being made in this type of stage. We saw this today not so much from who podiumed but by who was spit out the back of the bunch. Fabian Cancellara, he of the massive thighs and sturdy build, was ejected from the leader board. This was not a surprise, but it is always surprising to see just how much time an obviously amazing rider can lose in one stage. If you peruse the overall leader board you will see many familiar names at the top. Contador, Evans, Schleck are all there, and notice that Menchov is quietly moving into a good position. Maybe he will show us something after all.
A great stage today with an interesting set up for tomorrow.
Oh, and I am not sure anyone earned any points on this stage. I may need to do an adjustment like I did last year. Let me play around with it and I'll see.
For whatever reason, Chavanel had a fantastic ride and earned the jersey today. In my mind his first time in yellow resulted from the neutralized stage and was tainted by the road conditions and crashes. Today he was simply the stronger rider, the only guy willing to go into deficit and pain to win. Chapeaux to Chavanel.
Speaking of the French it was like a blast from the past to see little Tommy Voeckler motoring up the road with tongue hanging out and jersey unzipped. I have no idea why, but I have always found him sort of amusing to root for. Fourth is a good finish for him and his team. And with the way they controlled the front team Bbox has perhaps helped us forget their almost comically bad performance in the TTT last year.
Today also saw my first Didi Senft sighting, on the penultimate climb. There he was with pitchfork and red tights, shouting ‘allez, allez!” Meaningless, but fun. It vindicates my avatar.
On the last climb it was rather startling to see Armstrong riding alone in the midst of all those baby blue Astana jerseys. TRS was supposed to be a strong team but instead they looked like an old team today. Astana was leading the peloton (or what was left of it) in its chase of Chavanel up to Station des Rousse. Contador was sitting on LA’s wheel the entire way. Where was popo, or Kloeden? Those guys all just wilted on the climb. Very surprising. At least Levi made it up to LA. OTOH, it is possible that TRS decided to conserve the team energy for tomorrow. Armstrong has said that the real race begins Sunday and maybe he wants a fresh team for the effort. In any event, LA looked cool and rode without any apparent stress. Contador was also never in trouble. But, I do wonder if TRS will be able to drive a climb like the old days or, for that matter, if LA can dominate a climb like he used to do. Tomorrow may give us more answers.
I have said this before but I cant get over how awful the footon-Servetto tan jerseys look. I think they are just terrible. Speaking of jerseys, for all of you that have laminate floors, there is a chance that you contributed to the success of Chavanel today, as his Quick Step sponsor makes laminate flooring and sells a lot of it in the USA. So, well done!
The French speak passively of a ‘selection’ being made in this type of stage. We saw this today not so much from who podiumed but by who was spit out the back of the bunch. Fabian Cancellara, he of the massive thighs and sturdy build, was ejected from the leader board. This was not a surprise, but it is always surprising to see just how much time an obviously amazing rider can lose in one stage. If you peruse the overall leader board you will see many familiar names at the top. Contador, Evans, Schleck are all there, and notice that Menchov is quietly moving into a good position. Maybe he will show us something after all.
A great stage today with an interesting set up for tomorrow.
Oh, and I am not sure anyone earned any points on this stage. I may need to do an adjustment like I did last year. Let me play around with it and I'll see.
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