Friday 11 July 2008

Super Besse - 10 July part 2

Something went wrong with my last post and the paragraphs at the end were unreadable. so I am posting them separately in the hope you can read them.

Speaking of guys I have never heard of, the seventh place finisher today, seven seconds back, was Moises DueƱas Nevado (Spa) Barloworld. Not only have I never heard of him, but both of my magazine supplements do not even list him on the team roster. One day I will look him up. Who is Moises? I remember a Moises from Spain a couple of years ago, but why is he not even on the team lists? 69th and 36th the last two years in the Tour, 27, formerly Agritubel. How did he do so well today?

My two favourite art works today were a family of “cave dwellers” who were also hanging out with a two tone green Deux Chevaux, which was linked to advertising the merits of the Chou de Magnat. This is apparently a very fine variety of Cabbage that is in danger of being lost to humanity, and happens to grow in this area. This family was shown sitting down to eat, in the usual large gathering, and was contrasted quite pointedly to two Dutch people who were also sitting nearby, next to their caravan, with a glass of orange juice on their table. The other art was a German plastic artist who was shown twice. The one I liked was what looked like huge blocks of Styrofoam cut out in the shapes of the letters spelling “maintenant” (“now” in French) which were anchored in a still lake on the route. OK, a third one, consisting of 600 children who were bending at the waste displaying a sea of yellow T shrits, within the outline of a jersey. When the helicopter came over, they stood up and waved.

We also went through the area where St. Nectaire is made, and no doubt other cheeses that were not mentioned while I was watching.

The first hill was no big deal, Fignon said he went up it in 1992 on the big ring. As did many of the riders today. He said that this morning he rode up it in the small ring. It was 8k or so at 5%, which is a hill that some of the guys in my club could go up in the big ring, but not quite as fast as the giants of the road.

Fabian Wegman for a big mountain move.

No doubt I have missed something today, but I really have to go to bed if I am going to beat this sore throat. I like how the tour is taking shape earlier than usual. By this time normally we would still be doing sprinting stages, waiting for the “real leaders” to begin to appear at the top of the GC. They are already there this year, so all we have to do is wait for some to rise and some to fall, and maybe some, like Cadel and Alex to remain where they are. I still hope for some surprises.

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