FTDF Stage 3 - Farrar wins on Independ-Pance Day

Those of you who know me in real life will know I'm not the most ambitious of people, but I still have my dreams. I'm old enough to realise that I'll probably never get to walk on the moon.

Or even own a monster truck.

But at least I can now say that I've been on top of the overall team standings for the Velogames Fantasy Tour de France, (or at least my made-up blogging name has).

I'm not so much of a dreamer that I imagine the Bile Beans success will continue. But I will enjoy it as long as it lasts. Which will probably be about 24 hours - I'm worried about "Keep 'em Gesink", that's for sure. Although I'm doing well, unfortunately I can't say the same for the Bile Beans development squad, the "Beanies". I picked the team for the soon to be born "Vestan Jr." and they haven't been doing too well so far - much to Mrs. Pance's disapproval. In my defence I may have been drunk when I picked the squad. Or maybe it was crack. Ivan Basso? What was I thinking? He was off the back today, after being put in difficulty by a road bridge.

He did get back on in the end though. So what else happened today? Well, first we had a break with some riders in it.

Then we had one of those new-fangled intermediate sprints, which was taken by Mark Cavendish. That is until he and Thor Hushovd were relegated for a bit of headbutting action.


And then before we knew it the finish line approached. It should have been one for Cav, but there was a bit of a argy-bargy on the final corners and the HTC train was derailed.

Today was the Fourth of July which a big deal here in the USofA. Although I had to work, I was able to sneak off early, to enjoy grilled-meats, fireworks and booze. It has something to do with Americans freeing themselves  from the evils of British rule. I'm sure they'll come crawling back soon, realising the errors of their ways and wanting the Queen printed on their money. Until then though, they'll try and assert their independence by winning stages in the Tour de France like Tyler Farrar did today.

A good few days for Garmin-Cervelo then. A TTT win, a Stage win and Thor in Yellow. Stage 4 is another day for Philippe Gilbert, with an uphill gallop on the Mur de Bretagne. It's Pip's birthday tomorrow and this year he seems to win any race he fancies. Can he put himself in yellow again? Or will that crafty Cadel Evans be up there to take the race lead?