St. Etienne – 24 July

St. Etienne – 24 July

NOTE. I am posting this now, unfinished, as there is a bit of thunder in the distance and I might not be able to post it later. We unplug during thunderstorms. Maybe that’s it until tomorrow. I might not have edited all that well, please forgive me. I will do it later.

Very busy tonight checking out a concert in an hour. I really am ready for the Tour to be over. It was a treat to watch three finishes tonight. That’s it really. Thought it was alert of Andy S. to notice that Kreuziger was gone, then to follow him to make sure he had the same grip on the white jersey as before.

Toward the end of the stage Laurent Fignon said it was a transitional stage. There was a flurry of argument among the lads, as they could not figure out what it was a transition TO. Finally they agreed that it was a transition to Paris. But that is not how the notion is used. What it means is that nothing happens that affects anything, that there are no great difficulties and other than the stage finish, which is usually interesting, nothing happens. That is what happened today.

The concert was not that great, I can write a bit more.

In l’Equipe, today or yesterday, and in a Bernard Hinault special they sold for the Tour, Hinault said he is back on the bike. A Hinault bike of course, carbon. No more details given. He famously stopped riding altogether and worked on his farm for many years. Although of course he worked for the Tour as well, part-time. Recently he sold the farm and moved into somewhere near Dinard, I figure, although its not clear. He goes out for sure twice a week (sometimes three), with two of his buddies. Although maybe more buddies, the details were not clear. His hairdresser, and an old pal who is something in the cycling organisational world in Brittany. They go a hundred k in three hours. Elsewhere he mentions 30kph average. That is why he looks a little bit fitter on the podium. I reckon that’s a pretty good rate of speed for three hours. Brittany can either lumpy or flat depending on your exact route. One of the guys in the club did the route of the Tour near us, Narbonne to Nimes. He averaged 32k, on his own. So Bernard is getting pretty fit. Apparently he has done one and intends to do two more, cyclosportifs in his area, in August. When he retired, I wondered about the “hanging up the wheels” that he was so into. Really loud about it. It’s good to see the bike come back into his, or for that matter, anyone’s life. They asked him what jersey he wore when he went out. He claimed it was a non-descript jersey. He even expressed some disdain for guys who wear the jerseys and ride along at 15kph. I think it’s a good story.

The feature for the “Legends of the Tour” series of shorts was Yvette Horner. Jean Paul Olivier does this short bit on whatever bit of history he has found film for. I must have seen the Hinault Lemond Alpe finish five times this year. Have not seen much of Lance yet. But today’s story was about Yvette Horner, who nearly everyone of a certain age knows about. In what seemed to be the early years of the caravan, she rented or bought a small car, cut a hole in the roof, built a metal sun shade and was part of the caravan. She played the accordion the whole way. Obviously she might have stopped and sat in the car during the long bits of countryside between towns. I think the “chicks” on the other caravan vehicles stop waving for most of the route too. She was a great accordion player, really classic French with terrible fast fingers. Everybody knew her. I can imagine, although the clip did not show it, that she might stop in a town to play a song everyone knew and could sing along with. She was a bit older for the interview, but still looked fine. You don’t get this if you watch the Tour live.

Having been a bit snappy with the stage, it did provide four finishes in one day. At the front was the choice between

Next was the minor escape that Schleck bridged to when he saw Kreuziger in the break. They are the only two left in the young jersey competition. Still left, usually by now it is well sorted. I am sure Andy will not lose enough time on Kreuziger in the Individual Time Trial, but no one knows. In fact this time trial will become a reference for the two for a couple of years. Neither of them have done one in the Tour, the last long one. And they both have something ride for. So for a few years this will be the reference for both of them. As for anyone in the top fifteen or anyone who thinks they can win. I am sure guys like Schumacher, Kirchen, Millar, Cancellara and Voigt might give it go. Although if Cancellara or Voigt does well it will be a miracle. Mind you they are all pretty tired. It will be a reference for any of them really, but I have got off the topic. Every one is talking about the TT and speculating about who will gain how much on whom. I will no doubt watch the last hour at least, maybe with friends since there is not really any “action”, just guys riding around alone.

Then there was the sprint for the few points left for the peloton, after both breaks finished. Freire beat them all, scoring ten pints, but ore importantly, more than Zabel and Hushovd who each got one point less. There will come a time when Freire logically and mathematically will be unable to be beaten. I suspect that will be after the TT. People do the maths, but I am not really into it tonight. There are so many points left, if Zabel wins all the sprints he can or at a given moment cannot beat Freire. But if Freire just finishes behind Zabel every day, he has it locked. I think Freire can even finish 30^th one day. In any case we don’t want any bad luck to any of them. If no bad luck then Freire has it. I notice that Duque is still trying. Good for him. I figure they all will be serious on the Champs, including Robbie. I am looking forward to that sprint. Freire has won enough prizes that he should be searching for an ultimate aesthetic move, winning on the Champs with the green jersey on. Very cool. Zabel will want to win one more big one before he goes. The Champs is as big as it gets for a sprinter. I mention no one else, as I want Zabel to take it. Then retire.

The last race was whether Cunego would make it. He crashed heavily at the beginning of the stage. He was severely knocked about. He got back on the bike and three or four of his teammates helped him ride the whole distance, losing only 12 minutes on the last of the buses, and 20 minutes on the winner. I don’t fully grasp why he didn’t lose more time, as he only had his colleagues there to push him up hills. They did show shots of just this happening. I noticed they pushed him on his saddle. When guys in my club push me up a hill or when a gap has appeared in the bunch, they push my lower back usually. I like that, I bet Cunego did. Anyway he has gone down in the annals of Tour history for that. He will always be referred to as a guy who can endure plain, who can suffer, who has character. I reckon he does. He is often referred to by the commentator who fills up space, as “the great failure of the Tour”. I am not sure this is true, but he did hope to do a lot better. He will be back. It’s a good crop of riders, and if none of them get caught doping and keep riding well, there should be some good classic confrontations over the next five or six years. I doubt that anyone will be able to dominate like Miguel or Lance did. Cunego wil be a player someday, for the GC. But he will be a wiser man for all this. He won the young rider two years ago, and I think he thought he had the Tour figured out. If he is not already humble, he might be now. It helps. There is no doubt that the Tour is the hardest race on earth. Not for the route or the climbs or whatever. One could argue other tours are harder. But because everyone is there. Every one. The riders make the tour. All the chief strategists are there, the first team is in play, the stakes are global. More now than ever.

So four races in one. I guess I could reluctantly admit that something happened, even though nothing really did. Know what I mean?

Note what happens to Columbia team standing when they have one guy who gains lots of time on one stage, with a couple of other guys finishing with everyone else. They win the competition of the day. Or draw, as Quick Step is equal for the exact same reason, they had one guy way ahead, and no one is the second group. The prize is the cumulative time of the first three team riders on each stage. Note that AG2R and CSC stayed exactly the same as all their riders were in the third group, same time for the first three.

1 Team Columbia                                               13.44.43

2 Quick Step                                                          

3 Credit Agricole                                                 3.33

4 Agritubel                                                           

5 Euskaltel - Euskadi                                             3.35

6 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone                                    6.39

Ranking yesterday

1 Team CSC Saxo Bank                                         223.50.44

2 AG2R-La Mondiale                                                9.27

3 Rabobank                                                     1.01.06

4 Euskaltel - Euskadi                                          1.11.01

5 Caisse d'Epargne                                             1.11.45

6 Silence - Lotto                                              1.13.29

7 Lampre                                                       1.18.05

8 Credit Agricole                                              1.28.33

9 Gerolsteiner                                                 1.29.03

10 Team Columbia                                               1.29.48

Ranking today

1 Team CSC Saxo Bank                                         237.42.06

2 AG2R-La Mondiale                                                9.27

3 Rabobank                                                     1.01.17

4 Euskaltel - Euskadi                                          1.07.57

5 Caisse d'Epargne                                             1.11.56

6 Silence - Lotto                                              1.13.29

7 Lampre                                                       1.18.16

8 Team Columbia                                                1.23.09

Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d’Huez – 23 July

We know more now, but oddly enough, the Tour is still not over. We don’t know the yellow jersey winner, although all the smart money seems to be on Evans. We don’t know if Kreuziger will beat Andy Schleck in the time trial, by more than two minutes to take the white jersey, although it is highly unlikely. But the green jersey and the spotted jersey are fully sorted. Congratulations to Freire and Kohl, for doing just what needed doing to win the competitions. Kohl certainly looked like he gave it all he could today. I think he knew that there are hardly any climbs left and went for it.

Without wishing to appear ungrateful for the excellent spectacle on the last climb, and without wishing to be critical of the greatest sporting event on earth, it was just a tad boring today, for nearly the entire stage. Perfectly explicable, very rational, hard to really criticise; but nevertheless a tad boring. One can watch the strongest team in the race riding tempo for only so long without wishing something would happen. Even if the work they do is phenomenal, and even if my admiration for Cancellara and all the CSC guys is immense, even if the strategy of Riis might just turn out to be the good one, I was a bit hungry for more action. Loads of spectators. The scenery was spectacular. I have no desire whatever to go into the high Alps on my bike. Way to full of arid barren landscapes and pointy hills for me. But good on TV.

Andy Schleck has now convinced me he is the best, the strongest rider in the peloton. Laurent Jalabert agrees. I really am sorry he forgot to eat and drink and had his “fringale” on the climb to Hautacam. Today he was working like three mountain domestiques. In fact he was so full of himself on the climb to Alpe, that he really didn’t know what to do. He kept riding up and down the peloton looking at people, and then going back to the front. As if his earpiece did not work and nobody was telling him anything. He could not attack Sastre really, he might bring someone up to him. He could not leave his brother really, they are buddies. So half the time he made the pace for Evans, both Schlecks did. I never could figure that out. Once Sastre was gone they should have been invisible, except for four or five lightning attacks that would ruffle Evans. Andy is young. He seemed to be able to launch attacks at will, but never quite sure what to do next. He was like an untrained puppy. He was so far behind that if he attacked, it would never have been clear that Evans or anyone would have followed him. We shall see how he can time trial to preserve his jersey. If he does a good one, then precisely where is he weak? Anyway, I look forward to him being back next year and in the years to come. I wonder if he can beat Contador, which, to anticipate, should be the major question next year.

After Carlos Sastre’s predicted (by some) ride into both yellow and the stage today, the congratulations for Riis and the CSC team are flowing from everywhere. Carlos has a good reputation and has won at the Tour before. Remember the stage winner who took out his baby’s dummy which he had been carrying around in his pocket for days? He then stuck it in his mouth as he crossed the line. That was a younger Sastre. There are little complaints about the CSC strategy, such as the one I just made, but they did the right thing. Frank is probably a bit sad, but I bet he knows he is not a Tour de France winner. Deep inside. The question that everyone is asking is will a minute and half on Evans be enough for Sastre. It is pretty clear that 2,39 is enough on Menchov. No one else could possibly gain enough time on Sastre to take the jersey. This all assumes that both Evans and Sastre get to Saturday in a healthy state. I might not have time tonight, but one day I will do an analysis based on comparative time trial results. People, even on French TV, have done this already, and the verdict seems mixed. No one knows what the effect of having the yellow jersey will have on Sastre. No on knows what the possibility of winning it will have on Evans. I expect both will ride a cracker of a TT.

One thing. In my usual optimistic way, I kept thinking that something might happen in the next two days. I looked at the race profile for each stage and tried to invent a strategy. I tried to figure out how many seconds could be won and lost. I more or less failed. I cannot see how CSC, combined with Gerolsteiner, combined with Silence, will not control anything dangerous to the top three for two slightly hilly days There are some hills, but not very big ones, nothing to break things up. But I still say it, “something could happen in the next two days”. But more likely it is simply whether Evans can beat Sastre by more than one minute and thirty four seconds. No one knows and the uncertainty of this Tour 2008 continues.

There are 300 cyclists a day who climb the Alpe, and there are seven big dustbins along the route.

I was struck that there were so many attacks, after the initial one of Sastre and before the final one of Sanchez. They were very short, none sustained, often for no apparent reason. It just seemed like everyone but CSC had no strategy at all. Even their strategy made no good use of Andy, he just kept riding up and down round about, looking for something decisive to do with all his extra energy. Shame really. Mind you, Evans had a good strategy. Slightly boring I will admit. Not a plan to endear him to many sports fans, except those who like strategy. He just stayed with Schleck, and stayed with Menchov, and waited for the end of the stage. He is a gutsy guy, obviously suffering a fair bit on that stage, everybody more or less against him. No teammates again. He really should go to a team who promises him loads of money to buy quality climbers to stick with him and two guys for the flat bits. Sounds like the missile team from Russia. Still the attacks were good TV entertainment.

I tried my best to ignore “the lads” on Alpe, the ones who have been drinking all day and want to get on TV. The ones who run alongside their alleged heroes, scaring the shit out of me and maybe them. I did a pretty good job of ignoring them. Except they are everywhere. Enough said.

The real nature of the Tour was revealed today. For some reason that must have to do with money, instead of the usual lasses on the podium, somehow Michael Douglas and the owner of the LA Lakers basketball team got on the podium and gave the flowers and so forth to the riders. I was disgusted. How can they do that? I don’t care if they love the vélo. I love the vélo, and I even ride it. They are just rich pricks. They were not even in the line of local hacks that get to shake hands; they were actually on the podium. Because they are rich!

You can see why AG2R are the second team. They are the only other team than CSC who have two guys in the top ten, and on the last climb had three of their rider left, like CSC. The team prize is still up for grabs, although it looks like CSC has really done enough to win it. Oddly, since CSC has so many riders in the top ten and needs their own people to protect the riders, they won’t have such freedom as the AG2R riders might. So who knows how this one will go.

As for the white jersey, I have never, ever seen such a tight race. Until Monfort and Nibali got dropped today by the CSC train, there were four guys in with a chance. Even now, Kreuziger is a much better time trialist than Schleck and might just peg back the gap. I just have no way to compare them. Actually Andy turns out to be better than I thought. Last time trial of the Giro 2007 he came sixth just 50 seconds behind Zabriskie and 12 behind Bruseghin. He can motor as well.

Kim Kirchen lost lots of time today, but I think he will ride himself into the top ten in the time trial. He has had a very good Tour really, and it should be fun to see him back next year, but this time with the certain knowledge he can make the to ten.

As for Valverde, he lost 5.24 on Schleck during the Hautacam stage. He is now 5.35 behind Sastre. This means nothing much as if he had been a contender and had not lost the time, others might have ridden differently as he might have done. But it gives the idea that if he can avoid a bad day, he is clearly a contender.

Have you noticed that there are STILL four riders within a minute and half after all the tough stages are done. And the fourth place won IS likely to win. All in all I prefer this kind of race to a race with a “patron” or a team that is too dominant. Although CSC is very good, very good indeed.

I am sure there are things that I should have commented on. But I rode this morning with the club and am a bit tired frankly. I am off to bed.