FGDI Stage 15: Rambo Beats Rod

It's a mostly texty update today i'm afraid, as i'm having to Blog on a popular fruit-themed mobile telephone. We've got a bit of weather here in Atlanta, and the lightning appears to have broken the internet.

Anyway, just imagine some nice shots stolen from CyclingNews in the gaps.

After twelve solid days of racing, I bet everyone was looking forward to the rest day today. Me included. It’s hard coming up with new nicknames for Mark Cavendish you know.

I had tipped J-Rod for a good performance on stage 15, and he didn’t disappoint. Well he did slightly, as although he re-took the Pink Jersey from Ryder Hesjedal, he only managed second on the stage.

I wasn’t too unhappy, as stage winner Matteo Rabottini had been out front for most of the day in some nasty weather and I thought he deserved it. He fell off a bit on the wet roads, and it looked like it was all over for him when J-Rod came up to him in the last couple of hundred meters. Rambo wasn’t going to give in though, and managed to come past the Spaniard before the line.

In the mini-league the Roulers are still on top, but coming up behind are dark horses the Velociraptors, just ahead of the Maner in Strumpfhosen.

1 Rouleurs tdm911 3509
2 velo raptors Warwick Anderson 3086
3 Männer in Strumpfhosen Teagan 3061
4 LPL ltraq 2926
5 Trigon - CHCH benperrycanada 2814
6 Bicycle Chain-Notaro-SRC George Clews 2732
7 Hell of the North Vincent Lavallee 2667
8 Craigatron Charmer 2647
9 Bile Beans Vestan Pance 2619
10 The limit is the Sky Mark 2488
11 Team ChanBots Danny Chan 2259
12 Mungo Cycling Mungo 2192
13 Cofeedis Tom 1728
14 Scibstiques Scibs 1727
15 Threepenny_Pierrot Ritchey_BreakAway 1674
16 Team SGTBA pif4ever 1639
17 The Smugblokes Mark Philo 1536

The Roulers may find they’ve lost a bit of steam going into the final week. As big-girl's-blouse, Frank Schleck abandoned the race with a sore shoulder or somesuch excuse. We also said goodbye to these guys:

DNF Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team
DNS Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Sky Procycling
DNF Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team

When the racing starts again tomorrow, the Giro (and mini-league) is still all to play for. And the worst is still to come as far as the mountains are concerned. From the Bile Beans point of view, it’s good to see Cavtronicus is still hanging on, and says he wants to take the Points Jersey all the way to the finish.

My climbing pick, “Baldy French Climber” John Gadret also remains in contention, thanks to a spare wheel  from his team-mate, Hurbert Dupont yesterday. I find this rather ironic, considering how he shafted his team-mate Nico Roche at the Tour a few years back by not giving him a spare wheel.

Tomorrow’s stage then. And they boys will be easing back into things with some "medium mountains" before it starts getting tough on Wednesday.