Stage 11 - Another Win For Cav

Mark Cavendish may have got off to a rocky start in the Tour this year, but he certainly seems to have come good now, as he just bagged stage win number 3 of the race and number 13 of his career. The lad is still young, so chances are there are plenty more victories to come before he hangs up his wheels.

There was some contact of the head-butting variety between Cav's lead-out man Mark Renshaw and Juilan Dean from Garmin, during the dash to the line - forcing Cav to go for a long one, and resulting in Renshaw being chucked off the race.



The Green Jersey changed shoulders today, as Petacchi's 2nd place was enough to put him 4 points ahead of Thor Hushovd, while Cav moves up to 4th spot. It should be a close run thing to see who gets the jersey, and it could all go down to the sprint in Paris - which Cav should win, even without Renshaw.

There's not much else to tell you about today's stage, all the GC favourites finished together and were happy enough to take it easy. In fact, unless you enjoy watching the early break working away for ages, and then getting caught, there wasn't really any point in watching anything other than the last 10km or so.

The most exciting thing I saw today happened in real-life right before my very eyes. Some dude's car caught fire just outside the shop.

The Fox News helicopter was circling overhead as the smoke rose, and eventually the the Fire Department turned up and put it out.

I caught the news tonight and it seems the "fire outside the bike shop" story didn't quite make the cut. I think they story about the guy stealing the monster truck must have just edged it out. They did show some head-butting from the Tour though. Who said the Tour never gets any mainstream coverage in the US unless Lance is involved? Anyway, dude's car is fucked. No great loss, it was an ugly car anyway.

Stage 11 scores don't seem to be in just yet. I think we can just say, if you have Cav in your team then you did pretty well. If you have Thor Hushovd, then you didn't do quite so well.

Stage 12 sees the return of the hills...... not big mountains mind, but enough to spoil the sprinters chances. It's a long stage too at over 200km. Maybe a day for a plucky breakaway of strong riders to make it to the finish ahead of a resting bunch. Then again, that uphill finish may see the likes of Schleck and Contador try to get a few seconds over one another.

Stage 10 - Bastille Day Break-Away

The 14th of July will always go down as a day in history. A year ago today, it was my last day in my old job back in the UK. So it's now been 365 days since I last had a "proper job" and swapped this place.

For this place, (which will remain nameless for the time being) ...... more about which later perhaps.

The 14th of July is also Bastille Day, and happened to be the day of stage 10 of the Tour De France. It took the riders from Chambery.

To Gap.

With the final run-in to Gap using the same stretch of road that effectively put an end to Joseba Beloki's career in 2003. And the same field that featured in that famous display of off-road riding by Lance.



Much as I predicted, the bunch took it easy today, and soon a six-man move was over ten minutes up the road. Nearing the finish, the attacks started in the break, and we were soon down to two leaders. At the line, it was Radioshat's Sergio Paulinho, who just managed to out-sprint Vasili Kiryienka for the win.

Also as I predicted, the French riders failed to make much of an impact on their national holiday, and top French finisher was Pierre Rolland in  fourth.

There was also a nice little move out of the peloton from Bile Bean Nico Roche. His last minute sneak off the front, saw him finish in seventh spot and about 1:20 ahead of the main field..... moving him up to 13th overall and leap-frogging the likes of Alexander Vinokourov, Michael Rogers, Carlos Sastre and  Bradley Wiggins. Nice one Nicolas, I'm sure your dad is proud.

In the fantasy realm, George has been uncommonly prompt and the scores are up already.

Thanks to Rochey, the Bile Beans have managed to slip into second spot, but there's still a job to do, to catch those Gherkins. The double whammy of Schleck and Contador in the Gherkins team seems hard to stop, and Ged is still out in front of the pack. Biggest score of the day goes to Dickie's Dirty Devils, (though I have no reason to believe they're any dirtier than anyone else). Another bad day in the saddle for Miffy's Random Riders with a mere 65, but they're still a fair distance ahead of the Kadence Kings.

Stage 11 should see the battle for the green jersey start-up again - as long as the break gets caught. The last few days have seen Hushovd and Petacchi going after some of the intermediate sprint points, and Cav should be up there in the dash for the line.

Stage 9 - Evans Elbowed Out of Race Lead

Poor Cadel Evans. As I blogged back in May, I've been warming to him recently. Despite the odd outburst, he's a quality rider, who seems to suffer from more than his fair share of bad luck. He was looking good in the Giro, but then got sick and it all went pear-shaped. Today, he started in the yellow jersey and aboard the obligatory yellow bike.

Then it all went pear-shaped when the road went uphill. It seems Cadel couldn't climb properly after he picked up a fracture in his elbow in that early crash on stage 8.



So, while Cadel was suffering and saying goodbye - yet again - to all hope of a major tour win, it seems to have turned into a two-horse race. Those two horses are, Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck. Or Bert and Andy.

In fact, if you can sit through all those commercials featuring the dour visage of Lance Armstrong, you can see their comedy double act on the TV during the Tour on Versus.

They're now sitting in first and second spots on the GC and seem to have shown that they are the strongest in the mountains. Now, it seems the only question is, which one will be in yellow come Paris? I'm sure they'll continue to battle it out over the rest of the mountains, not to mention that final time trial - where Contador is likely to slay Schleck for a couple of minutes.

And who will take that third step on the podium? At the moment, it's that Sammy Sanchez. But there's plenty of riders in the top ten who'll want to be under the number two. Chances are it won't be Brad Wiggins though. He lost more time today and is now some seven minutes behind Schleck. I know we all wanted him to do well, him being the great UK hope and all. I picked him for the Bile Beans more in hope than expectation, but at this stage in the race I'm not sure who I should have gone for instead.

So, to the scores, (also available in spreadsheet form, including Drew's team).

Still the Gherkins on top then, while just behind it's neck and neck with a bunch of teams hovering around the 2100 mark. Top score today went to Team OYFB, with an impressive 432, while Miffy's Random Riders could only manage a lowly 66. There's still plenty of race to come though, so there's plenty of time for teams to come good or go bad.

It will be stage 10 tomorrow then. Or stage dix, as they say in French. The race will be extra-French tomorrow, as it's Bastille Day. No more big Alpine climbs, so expect the big names to take it easy in the bunch and let a break get away to fight it out. Or will the sprinters teams try and bring the race together for a bunch gallop? As it's Bastille day, expect to see some Frenchies have a go at winning the stage and failing.

Rest Day Roundup

In much the same way as the TV channels have to fill a day with no racing with clips from the race so far, I'm going to have a roundup of what's been going on.

We've been going for just over a week now, and we're starting to see who the main players will be, in both the real and the fantasy Tours. I've been playing with the spreadsheet and it now has team scores for each stage, rider scores for each stage, and a fancy chart.

If there is one person who was talking big and is now well and truly out of the race, it's Lance Armstrong. I have been criticised for not gloating enough at Lance's downfall  (I wouldn't really call myself a "hater", check out some of the comments on the cyclingnews forums to see some real hating). He has had more than his fair share of bad luck this year, I'll have to admit........ But I might as well get stuck in.

This is my first year following the Tour in the USofA and the Lancemania here is astounding. You can't get away from the guy. In the US, the home of the Tour is the Versus channel. If you watch the race live you get the same Phil&Paul commentary as on ITV4 in the UK.... Which is bad enough for constant Lance references. If you watch the highlights, you get commentary from Lance's mate Bob Roll and some other dude who also loves Lance.... There's even more Lance references.

Then there's the commercials. In a typical ad-break you get to see Lance advertising Radioshack.



Lance advertising Nike



Lance advertising beer.



And Lance advertising cars.



As on many a sports channel, on Versus there's some post-stage analysis from from some pundits. So, after the prologue, along with the commentators, which great American cyclist did we have sitting behind the desk? Greg Lemond? Andy Hampsten? No, we had Ben fucking Stiller talking about what a great guy Lance is.



It's enough to make you hate Lance I tell you!

Anyway, despite what the US media might have you believe, there are other riders in the Tour this year. And most of them are doing better than Lance. Here's a look at the top 25 on the GC.

The time gaps at the top are still pretty tight, and there's plenty of racing to come. But chances are the overall winner of the race is in the top 20 by now. Cadel Evans is in yellow and looking strong. Andy Schleck is climbing well with plenty of mountains to come. Contador is still up there, along with potential dark horses Samuel Sanchez and  Dennis Menchov. Not to mention Liquigas pair Basso and Kreuziger. Wiggins was a bit off the pace yesterday after some dodgy tactics on the first climb. He'll need to do better if he wants a podium spot.

On the rest day today, the riders will be taking it easy and tending to the wounds most of them picked up during the first week. A tough day tomorrow, and the GC contenders will need to be in top condition if they don't want to lose time on the nasty climb of the Col De Madeleine. It's not a mountain-top finish though, so we might see the favourites stay together up the climb, rather than try to attack and get reeled-in over the flat run-in to the finish. Watch out for Sammy Sanchez though, he goes downhill like shit-off-a-shovel, so might try and get away on the descent.

Stage 8 - Schleck Smokes Samuel Sanchez

I'm thinking we've probably all been keeping an eye on the Tour today. The first mountain stage is always a good 'un, and they usually have it at the weekend so folks can waste a good part of the day watching it on TV or the internet or whatever.

So we saw the big boys going at it up the hills.

We saw the rare sight of Andy Schelck winning a sprint ahead of Sammy Sanchez to win the stage . He also put a bit of time into Contador, though he'll need more time over Alberto heading into the time trial.

And we saw Cadel Evans take the race lead.

Good news for the Lance haters. He crashed just before the first big climb, got dropped and ended up losing a shed-load of time. His hopes of another Tour win are over. But maybe he can salvage some dignity by going for a stage win later in the race.

There seem to be some goings-on with the scores. I though I was doing better than I deserved after the last round of scores went up, which looked like this.

Then they changed and looked like this, with the main casualties, as far as I can see, being the Bile Beans.

Anyway, now we've had scores up to stage 8 and they look like this.

So now just like in a big mac, it's the Gherkins on top. Previous leaders down & out are in third spot and the mysterious team BBC are second. The Bile Beans are now sitting comfortably near the front of the main field in fourth, just ahead of Maillot Jenn, who had a good day in the mountains with 1st, 2nd and 4th. At the other end of the race, Charlton and the Wheelies have moved off the bottom at the expense of KN Kadence kings.

It's a rest-day tomorrow, so no maps and profiles to look at. Stage 9 is another toughie in the mountains and the favourites will need to recover well if they want to be up there again on Tuesday.

Stage 7 - Victory for Chav

I reckon it's been a pretty good Tour so far. The first week has had plenty of thrills and spills, so I don't really mind that things seem to be repeating themselves somewhat. Just like back on stage 2, Sylvain Chavanel won the stage with a lone-break and took the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara.

There's also a few more guys out of the race, Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde didn't start after a crash yesterday and Stijn Vandenbergh was eliminated after finishing outside the time-limit. With the Alps looming tomorrow there could be a few more riders struggling to make the time cut-off. Robbie McEwen seemed to spend most of today off the back, after that finish-line crash with a journalist. Lets hope he can keep up with the autobus.

We have been blessed with some precious Velogames scores for stages 5 and 6..... though stage 7 scores don't seem to be up yet. To see how those scores break down you can look at the spreadsheet, (now including Drew's scores for that team he picked but never entered). The overall now looks like this.

So, it's still Down & Out at the top of the table, with the Bile Beans snapping at their heels and the Gherkins also looking strong. My usual nemesis Evil Chan and last year's minileague winners, the Wacca Racers are in mid-table obscurity. And down the bottom of the table the battle for the lantern rouge position is between the Smugblokes and Charlton and his Wheelies.

After a good start, Maillot Jenn seem to be fading fast - which I'm sorry to see - I had some input into the team selection and have been accused of stitching-up the Directeur with a crap team. In the interests of marital harmony, I hope they come good in the mountains.
We should be in for some more repetition tomorrow, as chances are Chavanel will lose the yellow jersey on the climbs of stage 8. I don't think he'll be losing it to Cancellara again though. This could be the first proper show-down between the "heads of state of the Tour De France", as Paul Sherwen is fond of calling them - that, and he's always saying "the front-end of the main field". Both of these expressions piss me off...... I hope I can find a live feed of Eurosport tomorrow and then I can listen to Sean Kelly instead.

Anyhooze, here's the route for tomorrow, pretty hilly I think we'll agree. From the Bile Beans squad I'm tipping Robert Gesink. He's the only one of my squad not to score any points yet - so he needs to start pulling his weight. He may have a broken bone in his hand, but he's bravely soldiering on. He was very impressive at the Tour Du Suiss, so I hope he's still got something in his legs. If he can't deliver, it might be time to start kicking myself for not going for Kreuziger instead.
 
 

Stage 6 - Win Win Situation for Cavendish

Another win for Cav then, with a text-book display of sprinting. He seems to be back on form and might still be able to get his hands on the green jersey if he can get enough wins.

For the moment though, that points jersey is still with Thor Hushovd. And he was heading up the all-important Velogames rider score table after stage 5.

The last couple of  "sprinters stages"  have seen things a bit more predictable in the bunch, and I'm glad to say we've had no one quit the race for the last two days. We are already down by ten men, and we've not even been going week yet....... it could be a small peloton in Paris. Robbie McEwen has had plenty of crashes so far in the race, and today he was taken out by a race worker just after the finish. Here's a video in Dutch which shows the scene. I don't speak Dutch, but I do know a pissed off Australian when I hear one.



If the dangers presented by the roads and wandering bystanders aren't enough, sometimes the riders like to have a good-old fashioned fight. Check out this display of fisticuffs between Carlos Barredo and Ruis Costa, which was something to do with a bit of contact in the last few km.



Anyway, enough with the sprinters. Stage 7 will see things start to get hilly. Not the sort of mountains where the GC contenders will be trying to get time on each other, but tough enough to keep the likes of Cav from being in the first group on the road. I'm hoping Thor might be able to hang in there, but it's pretty unlikely. It should be more of a day for a good classics rider. I'm going to tip that Nicolas Roche again, or maybe Lars Boom. And if Geraint Thomas can get to the finish in the lead-group, and Fabian Cancellara doesn't, we could see the young Welshman take the yellow jersey - that would be pretty cool.