On to Foix – 16 July

So looking at the GC, it seems to me that we can look forward to a bit of attacking in the next few days. At least I hope so. Not really from the top few GC guys, but from those who have now lost realistic chances for the yellow jersey. Especially in the mountains to come, the three big stages, two finishing at altitude. It is clear enough that only Saunier Duval and CSC have teams strong enough to control anything in the mountains and only CSC on the flat. Although Columbia might try a move or two on the rolling stages between now and next Sunday. It is pretty clear that some very talented riders are now out of it for the yellow jersey. Although some of them might get excited about finishing eighth, most would rather take a stage win. So guys like Cunego, Valverde, Ricco, Valjevec, Pereiro, Kreuziger, Monfort, Schleck and others further down could easily try something. They can be pretty sure that CSC or Saunier Duval or Columbia will let them go eventually. I thnk there will be some changes in the top ten for sure. In fact, I would take a bet that of the ten guys in the top ten, four will not be there in Paris. Even tomorrow there could be attacks as there are several hills, including a new for the Tour, Col de Crouzette/Portel. This one is supposedly first category, therefore equal to Peyresourde or Aspin in some way. Watch for a break forming on this hill. And then the pursuit, if it contains important riders. Could be fun.

Quote from a reader “In my family (my grandfather was from Peel), we made a definite distinction between Manx and English. So I think it is safer to stick with the Manx being British, but not English. Interesting to listen to Cavendish's Manx accent. You can hear a combination of Liverpool and Northern Irish tones in his voice, but with a difference that makes it distinctive. Quite subtle, I think, in that if you know the Manx accent you can hear it, but if you don't you aren't left wondering where the speaker comes from.” So Cavendish is British. Right.

So the results. Actually, absolutely nothing at all changed. Except that Botcharov and Moinard and maybe a few other guys rose slightly in the standings. And I do like that Arvesen won the stage, as he is hard working, from Norway and a very good rider. The countryside was gorgeous. I live only an hour or two from that area and hardly ever go there. One day I will look back and regret that. That little road they took over the Col de Portel was an utter delight. I would never want to live in such a desolate area, having to drive or ride many minutes to get a paper or have a coffee in the café, but for a break, a holiday or just some peace and quiet, it was excellent. My wife said there were loads of sudden thunderstorms too. Oh well.

But really, essentially, the stage was boring. A long escape was successful because it contained nobody who was within twenty minutes of the yellow jersey. One French guy tried to escape from the escape for the victory, but the break caught him near the end, and there was a three man sprint. The peloton contained anyone who was anyone, although Pereiro tried to escape, hoping someone would help him out and he could gain a few minutes. But no one came to join him, so he was caught and Hushovd won the bunch sprint for thirteenth place ahead of Zabel, Kirchen, Duque and Freire. We can see that the points jersey is still an object of concern to at least three guys. Allez Eric!

That’s it really, but that little road and the pass no one knew (as a Tour route) was really an unexpected treat.

Another Spaniard got caught for using epo. Actually those guys are so stupid I am almost in favour of banning them for life. After all this time, all this messing about, knowing there are reliable tests for epo, they still do it. They are just embarrassing. It’s not so much they cheat, just that they are embarrassing. Very similar to people who drink and drive actually. They should all be banned from driving for life too. Whew! That was strong!

A bit of action “off the ball” deserves comment. I think. It looks like the UCI, which is the governing body for cycling throughout the world has just got dealt a serious blow by the businessmen. The UCI is equivalent of the UN, but has a bit more enforcement power. Or had. Not meant to be a business as such. Anyway looks like the businessmen who are the owners of the races and the teams, have given the UCI a death blow. It seems that all the teams are going to withdraw from the scheme that was invented by the UCI, the Pro Tour. Now it is up to the teams and the businessmen to organise a calendar that suits them all and a way of governing it. Its such a long story that I don’t know if I should go into it, but the guys that won this little struggle are NOT the good guys. There may not be any good guys in the whole story, but the ASO, and the other owners of the Grand Tours are NOT the good guys. Maybe I will write a longer analytical piece later and post it on the blog.

For my Dad, who reads this blog. The pre tour show was located in a small village which was having an old car show, or gathering. You would have loved it. The presenter of the show rode around in a 1934 Chevrolet convertible. Cool cars. In those days of course, you could fix them yourself, not like now.

There will be a new team in cycling next year. They have already hired Gert Steegmans as a sprinter, and intend to sweep up many other stars; maybe even Cadel or Pozzato. Huge budget. Russian gas and oil money (ring any Astana bells?). The team, apparently, was suggested by Vladimir Poutine (as they spell it here). He also, apparently, suggested the new name, Katyusha. Those of you who are military nuts or weapons freaks will immediately recognise this as the name for a kind of cross between a Russian artillery shell and a missile that dates back to WWII. Kind of like naming a team Kalashnikov or M1 Abrams. They don’t say what the jersey will look like, but I think it might be blood red, and have pictures of dead people on it. What else can you do with a missile but kill people? I find this … hard to find the word really, tasteless. In fact I find it disgusting. The very idea that this will be allowed, or even suggested, is sick. Saunier Duval is branch of the Vaillant heating empire. Credit Agricole is my bank. My phone deal is with Bouygues. I might end up taking Silence to stop my snoring. I guess that is all OK, it is just advertising a simple product for sale. And the Tour is about advertising. But naming a team, for no good reason, after a missile! They could have called it Gazprom/Itera (both produce gas) and no one would have minded. Really sad. That is what might happen when rich tasteless people like the nouveau Russians or Poutine get into cycling. Maybe it won’t happen.

I read in the paper that Ricco doe not like his nickname the Cobra. The French media love it. I shall research this. I thought he made it up and it caught on.

Note that CSC was riding in front much of the day. According to the interview with Voigt they just thought the Silence team were not being very serious and wanted to up the speed, so they had to do it themselves. Evans on the other hand said he was delighted with his team and they led the peloton as they should have to keep the escape to a reasonable time. My view is like Voigt. I think the Silence team is really poor, and this will cost Evans sometime before Paris. Evans himself was literally on Frank Schleck’s wheel every time I saw him today. Right on his wheel.

Andy and the paper both agree that what happened to him on the Hautacam is that he had no more water and no more food. He forgot to eat and drink and keep himself supplied. He said it was the mistake of a young guy, but even older ones make that mistake. In any case it made his life simpler. He no longer ahs to worry about anything but helping Sastre and Frank. He will come back next year with a bit of experience, and a good chance of winning I am sure. Or the year after that. A very nice young man.

Hushovd got back five points on Freire, in the intermediate sprints and in the final sprint at the end. Both of these guys are still serious. The intriguing thing is hat Kirchen also won four points at the end, finishing just behind Freire. So whatever else, he is still trying to pick up a few points. While Zabel did not contest the intermediate sprints or at least did not take any points, he got seven points at the end, which is as many as Freire got all day and only five less than Hushovd. I think they are all still in it seriously.

In no other jersey competition did anything happen of any interest to anyone.

That is it for tonight. Must start to figure out where to watch the Tour day after tomorrow. At the feeding in a town, in a small village or in full countryside in the middle of nowhere? And then to figure out how to get there by car given the road closures.

Vive the cycling businesses!

The Action Begins

The Action Begins – Hautacam 14 July

What a stage today, with all sorts of events, just the stage I would like to look at really closely. But I still have this stinking cold, so you have to forgive the lack of detail and one or two stupid mistakes I will make. Not that I have not made mistakes before, when I didn’t have a cold, but maybe no one noticed them. For example I got the wrong name of the guy who smashed into a tree several stages ago. But today, to no one’s surprise the Tour changed. My hunch is that this won’t be the last day for changes, this Tour is so full of uncertainty, or rather, more uncertainty than usual. Where to begin?

I guess the headlines are both the failures and the successes. The stage’s two huge losers are two guys I picked to do really well. Hmmm. Andy Schleck lost piles of time, 7.42. Cunego and Valverde each lost about 3.34. Cunego was always an outsider. Valverde was the clear second favourite. It looks like a case of “jour sans” for Valverde and I don’t know what for Schleck. There are days when a rider just has not got the juice, empty legs, no petrol in the tank. If you are going to win a Tour de France, you simply cannot have one of those. You can finish in the top ten, but you can’t just give minutes to ALL your rivals. You cannot take it back on every single one of them. The same goes for Schleck, Cunego and Valverde. I never picked Cunego though. All of them might be actors in this Tour, and certainly their entire career is not over on account of one day. You can have a slightly off day one on climb, famous case of Lance getting dropped by Ullrich, but Lance managed it, and only lost a bit of time. The time lost by Schleck and Valverde and Cunego is way too much. No doubt all that will be unpacked in the days to come, as some kind of explanation will be sought. None of them are supposed to be THAT bad in the high mountains. Especially Schleck.

On the other hand there are the performances of Frank Schleck, Leonardo Piepoli and Cobo, not to mention the subtle good job of Ricco. Fignon and I (did you like that?) both agree that it would have been better for Evans to not pick up the jersey so early. Evans clearly has a crap team for the mountains, he was alone forever, so it would be good not to have to “defend”, set the pace and do all that hard work left to the yellow Jersey. Silence is just not good enough and so maybe that work won’t get done. On the other hand, CSC will ride “as if” they have the jersey because they almost do. So when Silence Lotto give up, CSC will HAVE to take over. So it might be OK for Cadel. He was very touched by it, practically crying on the platform. Real men don’t do that, especially tough silent type Aussies. The power of the Tour, the immensity of it, for each rider, and nearly everyone else, is hard to overestimate. Some think people want a “clean sport”, but I think they actually want days like today. They want the spectacle, with or without the drugs. Without is better because then we talk of cycling only, not business or drugs. A day like today is such a superb spectacle that you can almost forget that stuff.

Behind (literally) the dramatic climbing and attacks of the winners in the high mountain stages are the dramatic, and slightly tragic sight of one rider after another being dropped as the pace increases. When the members of the French teams are dropped, it is just a list. The sprinters too, just a list recited by the commentator. These people are not paid to ride over climbs fast. So they don’t. Then there are the first of the pretty good riders, or people who high up in the GC, but you know they will disappear. People are going to lose minutes. Then there are the really good riders who are simply not good enough on the day. Gradually the excitement builds until you hear “Valverde has been dropped”. The camera on the motorcycle ranges up and down the road until bodies are matched to numbers and then to names. I love that bit.

In spite of this minor tragic drama going on all day, although I will never get around to looking, I am almost certain that there has seldom been a Tour with such a small time difference between the top riders, after the first mountain stage and the first time trial. Seems excessively close. The difference between the first and twentieth yesterday was two minutes and thirty three seconds. The difference today is nearly seven minutes. Lots of riders now have the top ten as their goal. The GC is beginning to looks slightly normal, but I am certain this is a Tour that has much more uncertainty.

So the CSC pulled off a nearly perfect execution of a perfectly thought out strategy. It took me a while to figure it out. I was just puzzled by why Cancellara was riding quite hard in the front of the break and Voigt was riding quite hard in the main peloton. I finally figured it out. Besides just sitting in wonderment at Voigt (he’s still there!) pulling hard all the way up the Tourmalet, I began to think of what might happen if Cancellara and Voigt got together in the flat bit between the two climbs. What a treat! I know am not thinking with all neurons now, but I cannot imagine two other riders in the world I would like to have the exclusive job of exhausting themselves until the base of the Hautacam. They made sure Valverde, Cunego, and anyone else who they dropped would lose as much time as possible. Then see if any of my three guys could go faster than everyone else. It almost worked. Only two guy beat Frank Schleck, and Sastre was in the next tiny group. Although Andy just had no legs, the plan was totally brilliant and nearly worked. I suppose it was Riis.

Saunier Duval, however, had a plan they revealed in advance, and which worked. Ricco said that the team would make sure Piepoli won. He did. That is good predicting and good plan execution. It was great watching both the groups climb. The first group with the three guys who were, after a bit, the obvious guys to split up the spoils was fun to watch. In the end, it was not a dramatic sprint at the top between the three of them. The Saunier Duval guys were stronger, dropped Frank and they decided which one of them would win. The old guy. His last Tour maybe. The young guy, Cobo, has always been the team’s hope for GC got the time, but not the victory.

The climber’s jersey is now on the shoulders that should wear it to Paris. Winning on Alp d’Huez, with the polka dots, would appeal to a guy like Ricco. So maybe we might get a classic moment. I certainly am sure that Ricco is going to do something outrageous between now and the end of the Tour. I am so happy that the Tour is working out like this, full of interest. Wake up call for those who said stuff like “I am not interested, its too boring, no favourites”. You’ve got to admit this Tour is full of fun, and the great moments of “the spectacle” that we are supposed to get.

You can also tell the peloton has not found its shape this year. It seems to be all over the place, breaking up, pasting itself together, riding down the road shapeless and inelegant, or up the hill in bits. I rather like that. The power relations are not yet sorted, they are in flux. People are wiggling around, teams are wanting to know what their role is. Suddenly Columbia has nothing to do. It is as if they don’t exist. The French can’t do their three man breaks. Who can organise things?

We don’t know whether Cavendish will finish so far behind that even Jimmy Casper will beat him. Casper is a sprinter who absolutely cannot climb. That is, that he can climb faster than anyone you know or have ever ridden with, maybe. His time for the stage was probably better than the fastest amateur on the Etape du Tour. Etape du Tour, Laurent Four en 5h38'04". Casper … Holy Mackeral, the best amateur was faster than Piepoli. I must think for a bit. How can that be? Casper did a wheelie for the cameras as he came across the finish. He is no hurry. If I did that route I would finish three or four hours behind him, if I finished at all. He is not hurry. Nice wheelie Jimmy. But in the Alps he could get eliminated for being hors delai. We will get to that when it becomes relevant.

Clever how Freire got in the break, earned 12 points for the intermediate sprints, got back his jersey, and gained a few points on Hushovd. He picked up 12 points in the first 75k, and then just kept going. He knew it was rest day tomorrow, so why not give it a go. Imagine a sprinter finishing in the first group over the Tourmalet. On the other hand their was another sprinter in that group as well, and also Cancellara. So it was a pretty weird group over the Tourmalet first. Speaking of the Tourmalet, look who made a big move, Remy di Gregorio my pick for yesterday, well, one of my picks. And since nothing much happened yesterday you COULD say I would pick him for today, although it didn’t. But if I had, I would have been right. He seems a genuine talent, maybe not like Ricco, but next rung down. Young fellow who will surely win a mountain stage one day. Seems a very nice young man from Marseille from the interviews he gave. I liked him immediately, so did Naurika. But he got caught by the CSC train as he was riding alone across the valley. Imagine being pursued by Cancellara and Voigt! Bloomin heck!

The day’s racing was, among other things, a superb demonstration that although all the big glory and money is individual, cycling is still, to a larger extent than most people realise, a team sport. Lots of the interviewees are saying, in more than one language, that their team is not just teammates, but friends. What can be happening? At least CSC and Columbia are like that. And Bouygues has been like that for years (although they don’t win).

Each jersey in order and then I really must get an early night. I hope with the rest day I shall be fit for the next few stages and above all ready for the stage of the 18^th, when Naurika and I shall be seeing it live somewhere.

Yellow. Cadel was supposed to win it and he has it. Although I happy for him to win it and he seems a nice man. It is a shame he really has no team to help him out. I mean Popoych was supposed to be at his side, like the Saunier Duval were, but Popovych got dropped early on. Cadel even attacked once, although it didn’t go far. He is a gutsy guy who is clearly in pain. I think he often avoided standing on the pedals today, because of some pain.

I hope that the maillot jaune changes bodies at least once or twice more. Gets us closer to all-time record. We are at five now, which is about average, maybe slightly more. If this is the Tour of uncertainty then the jersey should move about a bit. Maybe that not so nice Italian fellow might do a huge number on one of the next two finishes at altitude, maybe both times. Anyway, Frank Schleck is one second behind. Gone from the top ten are Valverde, Schumacher, Devolder, Pereiro, S. Sanchez. You could say nothing happened for Menchov, he was fifth both days and finished alongside with the new yellow jersey today, so lost no time. Kirchen had a fall to seventh. Frank Schleck was not even in the top ten yesterday, and he is nearly in yellow. He had a GOOD day, except for two seconds. And Ricco was in 21^st place yesterday and is suddenly in the top ten. After TWO mountain stages and one time trial there are still quite obviously 9 guys within two and half minutes. Find me another Tour like that! I can easily imagine five of them who could still win, and perhaps I am insulting the other four. We still have some action ahead of us. One of the guys who now has to be taken into account is Ricco in spite of his awful time trialling. I doubt if he can gain six or seven minutes on Evans, which would mean he could lose four or five minutes on the last time trial. But maybe he can get three minutes on each mountain to finish. Maybe. Teams, strategy, all that stuff loses relevance in the last six k of a hard climb.

Green. More power to Oscar. He may yet carry it to Paris. Still four non-sprinters in the top ten, and the four are not finished scoring points. Kirchen had two jerseys and now he has none. But he has had and likely will have a good Tour. He still could win the green jersey. There are not really many true flat sprints left.

I fear no real race in the mountains jersey, but I guess it should stay with Ricco, unless he gets the yellow one. He might like riding around with it. And unlike Virenque he is a real climber.

Lovkvist will never get back the white jersey but unlike most years, there are still five guys who might win it. I am pleased that Monfort is doing so well especially since I knew nothing about him and he is French. I now know his name and that he can climb pretty well in the high mountains. Unlike many of the so called French climbers who can only climb one hill fast. Oops, French team, Belgian rider. The poor French! The French TV still tries to convince us that the French are real actors in the Tour, younger ones and older ones. I think Ricco is going to win this one too; although I am going to pretend there is uncertainty for a few more days.

Team classification is not that interesting at present. It shows that CSC and Saunier Deval are the best, followed by AG2R. They are in fact the best teams in the Tour, but I don’t think Columbia deserve to be tenth. Worse than Lampre? It seems to be a slightly odd system of calculation that does not take into account glory and beauty. Maybe they will creep back up. They calculate the team competition by adding the times of the first three riders on each team. They do that for each stage, and the “team time” is to cumulative total of those best three riders on each day. We can discuss it later when it has relevance. Right now they are not racing for that prize.

The media do like “The Cobra”. Cool name, big mouth, great riding. They can just smell a sensational story lurking behind every finish. Apparently Ricco believes that a Cobra looks his opponents in the eye before he strikes. Hence … I have no idea hence what. Still, not many cool costume bits like a Pirate. What are cobra-like bike fashion accessories?

Must go to bed. Got the paper today which had loads of, or a few anyway, interesting trivial facts. But I just feel too awful to look them up. After all, tomorrow I face the dentist, and hope not to have to blow my nose every three minutes.

Vive the rest day