FTDF Stage 21 & Final - Cav Wins Stage, Cadel Wins Tour, Dropped (again) Win Mini-League

There were few surprises on the Champs-Elysees yesterday. Cav won the stage.

And these guys won the various jerseys.

And Garmin-Cervelo won the team prize. Dave Zabriskie had already gone home injured, but he joined his team-mates on the podium in cardboard form.

Now the final scores are in, and its all gone wrong for the Bile Beans. After staying on top of the mini-league for the entire race, it all went pear-shaped when the end-of-Tour points came in. I still finished in second, (and 124th in the main game), which isn't bad I suppose. And like the good sport I am, I will congratulate Team Dropped (again) on a team well picked.

I was going to give a big cash prize to the winner. But now I see it's not me, I'll be awarding a prize of fuck-all, wrapped up in nothing. Thanks all for playing and reading. And thanks to George at Velogames for all his hard work. I'll be managing and blogging anytime there's a fantasy game to be entered. So I'll most likely see you again for the Vuelta a Espana.

FTDF Stage 20 - Agony for Andy; Kudos to Cadel

Yeah! Cadel Evans did it! He beat that Andy Schleck! In fact he not only beat Andy in the final time trial, but pissed all over him and took 2:38 out of him over the 42.5km circuit.

Poor old Andy (and Frank), are not renowned for their time trialing. And without a yellow bike, it was always going to be a tough day for Schleck the younger.

Not a bad day for the Bile Beans, but not a great day either. As the slide down the table continues, we now sit in 20th place. Once the final scores are in, I think we'll be lucky to stay in the top 100.

So short of a major disaster, Cadel Evans will  be standing on the top step of the podium in Paris tomorrow, and I think he deserves it. Before then though, there is the formality of the final stage into the French capital. There'll be a leisurely ride into town, with TV footage of champagne drinking and general tomfoolery, before the racing starts on the Champs-Elysees. Mark Cavendish will most likely win the final stage and become the first British winner of the Green Jersey. Cav has been struggling in the mountains, but I think he might be OK tomorrow.

FTDF Stage19 - Schleck Schlips Into Yellow

In the run-up to this year's Tour, this picture appeared.

I was thinking that having some specially painted Schleck Treks was a bit premature before the race had even started, but it looks like Andy will be riding one of them tomorrow. For he currently holds the Yellow Jersey.

He has it thanks to his plucky breakaway yesterday, and thanks to the fact that Thomas Voeckler finally cracked today.

Tommy V may be done, but at least the Frenchies finally got themselves a stage win in the race. Thanks to Tommy's Europcar team-mate Pierre Rolland on Alpe D'Huez.

It may have been a thrilling couple of days in the mountains, but alas, things have not gone the Bile Beans way, and we've slipped down to 15th in the overall classification. I can take some comfort in still being on top in the Tour de Pance and Facebook minileagues, but there's still plenty of points on offer and it could all go wrong in the last couple of days.

While Andy may have the yellow jersey for now, he's only 57 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans, who has been riding a smart race so far. But can he pull-back enough time on the crap-against-the-clock-Schlecks  tomorrow? It's the time trial around Grenoble, and if you were paying attention at the Dauphine Libere earlier in the season, you'd know its a tricky little circuit with a bit of a hill in. Tony Martin won back then, but Fabian Cancellara wasn't riding. Although I'll be interested to see who wins the stage, all eyes will surely be on the Schleck -Evans battle for the overall win. If you hadn't guessed, I'm hoping Cadel puts more than 58 seconds into Andy.

FTDF Stage 18 - A. Schleck Goes Scholo

It was only yesterday, that I predicted that Thomas Voeckler would lose the Yellow Jersey today. Well it turns out I was wrong, as the plucky little Frenchy hung on in there up the Galibier, to hold onto the race lead by 15 seconds.

I know he's plucky and all, but I've never really been much of a fan of Mr. V. All those doomed breakaways and hamming-it-up for the cameras didn't impress me.

And Juan Antonio Flecha, (who I do like) doesn't speak very highly of him after that thing with the car on stage 9. I've got to hand it to Tommy though, he's riding well and he's probably got a few of the big-men worried by now. Still he's not in my team so it's about time he slowed down a bit and let Cadel win.

Another rider who's been pissing me off of late is Andy Schleck. He seems to have spent most of the race looking around to see where Frank or Bertie are. Or complaining about the fact that the roads can go down as well as up. He did a proper ride today though, going clear of the main guys on the penultimate climb, and he soon had a decent gap. No one looked to keen to chase, until Cadel Evans eventually upped the pace to limit his losses. So Andy took the stage and moved up to second overall.

All these recent events have done nothing for my scores. And I've now sunk to ninth place in the overall scores. After tomorrow I'll be out of the top ten for sure. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, and at least I'm still on top of the Tour de Pance league.

There's just one mountain stage to go, and everyone still within spitting distance of the race lead will be looking to take some time on Alpe D'Huez. It will be the last chance for the Schlecks and Tommy V to get time over Evans before he smashes them in the time trial on Saturday.

FTDF Stage 17 - Boasson Hagen Daz it Again

As you may or may not realise, I can track the comings and goings of traffic to this blog of mine. And the stats are telling me that so far this year, the page for stage 9 is the most popular one by quite some distance. I'd like to think that it's because it was an especially well-written post, but I suspect the real reason is because it features this picture.

And looking back, I notice that another popular post, was this one from the Giro last year.

I think I'm seeing a trend here. So I'm hoping we some more rider's arses revealed before the end of the race, so I can get loads of traffic and start selling advertising to Wiggle or someone.

Although I was pleased to see Thor Hushovd win yesterday, I did feel a bit sorry for Edvald Boasson Hagen. He was strong, but not strong enough to beat two men from the same team. Today, Eddy BH made sure he was on his own when he got to the line.

Behind the Norwegian, there was plenty of action on the final climb and descent into Pinarolo. Contador was on the attack again with his partner in crime Sammy Sanchez. The pair flew down the descent and managed to get a bit of a gap on the rest.

They were mostly back together again by the line though. Apart from Thomas Voeclker that is, who took a bit of a detour into a car park on the way down the hill when he misjudged a corner. In the end he lost another 27 seconds of his slender lead.

The scores are in, and in the big leagues, I'm still in third but the number one team "NoNuts" are looking strong going into the mountains.

Stage 18 is probably going to be the toughest of the race. All the big contenders will have to show what they've got on the way to the fearsome Galibier. Will Tommy V keep that Yellow Jersey? Probably not.

You may find it hard to believe, but I do have some interests outside of cycling. One of them is a spot of music, and occasionally the two worlds meet, as is the case with this Joeyfat tune.

Find more Silver Rocket songs at Myspace Music

I mention this, as tonight on BBC6 Music, Gideon Coe is having a special theme night to celebrate cycling and the Tour de France. If you're in the UK he'll be on from 9-12pm, and as usual I'll be listening in at work from 4-7pm through the internet. I sent Mr. Coe an email tipping him off as the the excellence of the Joeyfat track, which he seemed unaware of, so I'll have to see if he plays it tonight.

FTDF Stage 16 - Thor is Stylish in Gap

There was no sign of the Curse of the Rainbow Jersey today, as Thor Hushovd took another stage win on the road to Gap. He's having a great race this year.

It was yet another tough day. The rain came down, and the pace stayed high, until a breakaway formed after 60km of non-stop attacks. As Thor and Ryder Hesjedal worked over Edvald Boasson Hagen on the way to the finish, there was finally some action amongst the GC contenders, on a stage that was expected to provide few surprises. So it was Alberto Contador who started it all with an attack on the final climb. Only Evans and Sanchez seemed to be able to stay with him, while the Schelcks and Voeclker were left behind.

The biggest loser of the day was Andy Schleck, who lost over a minute to some of his biggest rivals. It seems he thinks it's a bit unfair that a Tour contender should be expected to go downhill as well as up. He's in for another bad time tomorrow then, as the race will head from Gap.

To Pinerolo in Italy.

And after a healthy dose of Alpine climbs, poor Andy will have to go down another hill.

Oh, the scores. Well, I may still be king of the mini-league, but even Thor couldn't save me from the onslaught of the those other teams in the overall competition, and I'm down to third. Short of some kind of miracle tomorrow, I think I'll be slipping down some more.

Oh well, so much for my main team. I've just picked a Live Scores Bile Beans team for the Alps, and after a poor showing in the Pyrenees, I'm sure the new squad will earn me some hard cash in the next few days.

FTDF Stages 14&15 - Pance Up and Down

Another rest-day today, and I got into the swing of things by not blogging for the weekend. I was too upset to blog on Saturday, as the Bile Beans were finally ousted from top spot in the overall league. Luckily I've managed to get a slender lead again - at least until tomorrow - so I guess I've got some catching up to do.

We were expecting great things from Stage 14 to Plateau de Beille. The big-guns were supposed to throw-down on the final climb, and give us some pointers as to who might win. It wasn't really that thrilling in the end though. And the GC contenders seemed happy enough to ride-up together like they were on some sort of club run.

So Jelle Vanendert won the stage.

Behind there were some half-arsed attacks, but apart from Sammy Sanchez, no one could really get away. The pace was slow enough that Thomas Voeckler was still there at the finish, and beginning to look like a man who could take the Yellow Jersey to Paris. With the race heading into the Alps, the bigger names will need to see if they can get the Frenchman out of his comfort zone on the climbs.

Oh, and on Sunday, Cav won again.

Tomorrow the race will be going uphill for most of the day, before dropping into Gap for the finish.

Not a day for Cav, but someone with some crafty descending skills. Maybe Gilbert, or Sammy Sanchez. Not a Schelck, that's for sure.

FTDF Stage 13 - Thor Saves Beans Bacon

As I may have mentioned before, I've been doing quite well with the Velogaming recently.

As the race rolls on however, I become even more sure that my time at the top will not last. My boys may be good on the flat and slightly lumpy stuff, but they don't seem to be getting the points in when it comes to the high mountains. So you can imagine my delight when the only man I had in the early break, went on to take the stage win. Well done Thor Hushovd. For a big man, mostly known for his sprinting, he did a great ride today and showed that he's a worthy World Champion, as he took the win in Lourdes.

It wasn't such a good day for some of the other riders, as we saw yet more quitters. So, farewell Andreas Kloden, Lars Boom, Vladimir Isaichev and Gert Steegmans. Another sad day for Radioshat, as they now have to rely on Levi Leipheimer as their last remaining team-leader, after coming into the race with four GC hopes.

Today was all well and good, but we're really itching for more high-montain action and to see the big-boys slugging it out again. Bring on Stage 14!

FTDF Stage 12 - Sammy Slips Away

A day of mixed fortunes for the Bile Beans today. Things started off nicely, with young Geraint Thomas in the early break. He had a spot of bother descending on the Hourquette d'Ancizan, but stayed mostly upright, got back into the group and managed to stay away till the climb of Luz-Ardiden. Once the big boys behind started riding hard though, it was all over for the Welshman, who finished the day over 5 mins down.

The winner of the day was Sammy Sanchez, who made up a bit of time in his bid for a podium spot.

However, most eyes were on the elite group just behind him. As Paul Sherwen would say, it was the "Heads of State of the Tour de France" in the chase group, and many a Velogames pick had been left behind as the road went uphill. So there was no Tony Martin or Robert Gesink, but we did see both Schlecks, Evans, Basso, Cunego and Contador battling it out on the mountain.

For once the Schlecks seemed to grasp the concept of taking it in turns to attack, instead of trying to ride away together hand-in-hand. It was Frank who managed to sneak away and gained 20 seconds on the "Heads of State". Not only that, but Contador lost another few seconds, as he was left behind in the last km. Frank must be pleased, but he'll need more than 17 seconds lead over Evans going into the time trial, that's for sure.

Maybe the key to the Schelck's success is a good diet. According to the Twitters, this is the sort of thing the Ley-O-pard Trek team eat on a typical day.

I guess I need to start eating a bit better if I want to get on the podium.

Although the Bile Beans are still hanging on at the top of the main table, today's events haven't filled me with confidence for the coming days. On the other hand, I think I've already scored more points this year than I had by the end of the race last year, so I guess that's progress.

One man who won't be earning me any more points is Denis Galimzyanov, (or Денис Рамильевич Галимзянов, as he's known to his friends) who quit the race today. The young Russian sprinter has been doing OK for a man in his first Tour, but the route today must have been a bit much for him. Don't be surprised to see him back next year though, and challenging the more established sprinters for the high placings.

Those riders still left, will be off over the Col d'Aubisque tomorrow. The big hill doesn't come at the end of the stage though, and there's 40km or so for things to come back together before the finish. Don't expect another big name show-down, it should be a day for a plucky break. Or Pip GIlbert.