Cav Two, Bradley Zero

Stage 7
8 July 2011

I am late starting this. I went for a ride today and am a bit tired. None of you serious cyclists will be deeply impressed, but I rode 67k today and climbed over 700 metres. I have not done that, which means a particular circuit I know, for at least two years. I have not been fit enough. But today I thought I might be. I am beginning to sense “being fit enough” (maybe in a month or so), that I can go anywhere and survive the ride. Around here that is.



Championne of France lives two villages up the valley




Chateau at Lunas

Have to admit to feeling sorry for French people in general and Brits/English people in general. At least those who watch the Tour. The French have STILL not won a stage. It could be they are saving it up for the fourteenth. But the fourteenth is up the Tourmalet then Luz Ardiden. For them, I fantasise a huge pack of every French climber who has lost at least fifteen minutes on the yellow jersey taking off and just outlasting the finest climbers when they try to catch them on the last climb. Could be a great scenario, and maybe with a one two three it would make history and we could get back to the real Tour. Gadret, Gautier, Dupont, Charteau, Coppel, Vichot ... It could be one glorious day. Anyway I do feel sorry for them. They put on a show and none of their guys are getting the big daily prize. In case you are not aware, an entire career is guaranteed to any French rider who wins a stage, and more. I will say something about Feillu in a moment. Maybe even a French guy might win who is NOT entirely vanilla French. Yessss.

Before I mention the other thing, Bradley's crash, I would like to say that in some ways, nothing much changed although it might look like it. For example three Brits in the top ten and three Sky guys in top ten for young, today they are almost gone. And Millar soon will be. Boonen left the Tour today. Pauriol (young French lad with possibilities) as well. But overall, even though some of the jerseys changed hands, that was partly due to Wiggins' crash. My wife was actually quite upset about it. I could pretend I wasn't, that it was all part of the game, that things happen, that the Tour is not about 'justice', but I was really disappointed. I have read two of his books. I liked the guy that I met in the books. I like hearing him talk. I like how he tried really hard to do well last year and failed. Then tried another way this year and was looking like he might succeed. Lost even more weight so he could climb better, and demonstrated it a few weeks ago in the Dauphine. But also seems to have lost nothing in his time trialling. He had a lovely team of such talented young lads, mixed with a couple of old geezers. I have been enjoying 'getting to know' Thomas, Swift (my least favourite) and EBH, for example. Bradley was pretty quiet up to now, staying out of trouble. But ready to try something. Damn. We will never know.

I felt a bit sorry for Pauriol too and Boonen, but not the way I did for Bradley. I note that Radio Shack has had some serious bad luck. Their young leader Brajkovic is out of the entire Tour in one of those stupid crashes, collar-bone maybe. Today Leipheimer and Horner lost so many minutes they are nearly out of the GC themselves, Leipheimer anyway. All they can do is win a stage and help Klöden. I still bet they are the 'best team' at the end of the Tour. Bradley was the only Sky guy injured, not like Shack. The rest of the Sky team is still impressive. Tyler Farrar, as a result of that crash, is now probably an outsider in the green jersey race. Although I am sure he will keep trying every sprint.

So results-wise Thomas hung around Bradley so long that he lost over a minute and with it the white jersey. I doubt he will see it again, but would be dead chuffed if he did. The new “young rider” is Gesink, who nearly everyone thought would win it anyway. Thor kept his jersey, but most likely will lose it tomorrow. There is a semi-serious climb at the end, not just an uphill finish, too much for Thor. By taking the points n the intermediate sprint and at the finish, Rojas grabbed the jersey from Gilbert, for a day anyway. So some small changes, but the outlines of the after mountain GC are still unknown. EBH, Bradley and Thomas, all in the top ten yesterday are out of it. Bang. Over.

What I like about the Sky disaster is that they might give us a good substory. Team has big plans. Leader is fit and ready. Suddenly Plan A is shattered. The leader is gone. But there are all these pretty good young lads, and a couple of competent vets. What can they do to make headlines? Nice challenge for their management. No one can doubt they have some fairly good raw material. I still think Thomas and EBH can do interesting stuff on the Tour.

I am fully enjoying those heli shots of houses and landscapes and am going to LOVE them in the mountains. It is such quality coverage. I have seen other coverage by other TV teams in various cycling races. I think the French produce a superbly varied and mostly pretty well edited picture/story. Did you know that in the studio it is Ronan Pensec who actually choosing exactly what camera to put on live? True! How else cold anyone, except the filthy rich, ever see shots like this? And the slo-mos of the sprints help me to actually understand what went on, since I have never actually, and never will actually be in such a sprint. End of tribute to the lads and lasses that bring us the picture. And to French history which brings us the landscape.

THE Intermediate Sprint was totally classic again. Do search out the video and check out both sprints. Soon the action will develop at a more leisurely and sustained pace, in the mountains. We won't need slo-mo to sort it out. Looks like Cav and his team ARE targeting the Green. Hope he gets it. Although I picked Hushovd. We shall see what he does when he loses the yellow jersey.

A word on Feillu. I am utterly certain that if he were not French, he would be relegated or tossed off the Tour. He is a “suddenly” competitive fast sprinter after many years of being pretty good, without being a star. He IS fast. I have been trying to watch him, and realised that he is a very dangerous sprinter. He has no train, just another competitor on his team, Bozic. Often they do NOT work together. If you are a sprinter, when you are in the last few hundred metres, you are mostly meant to go in a straight line toward the finish. You are not meant to suddenly lunge to the left, or drift over and block other riders, or make any really sudden moves. You are not really supposed to cut off someone by suddenly swinging over into their way. Now there is always a bit of physicality, but you are not meant to to do sudden dangerous moves. I maintain that Romain Feillu makes sudden dangerous moves every time he sprints. He is fast though. He is the guy with the VacanSolieil dark blue jersey with bits of yellow on it. Identify him in any of the sprints and then follow him, and you will see what I mean. If I get around to it, I will insert the URLs for the YouTube link. But there have only been six stages you have to check. Less really.

They were way behind schedule today, so I even had an extra long nap and “didn't miss anything”. They were tired, there was a headwind, weather had been togh, they wanted to take it easy, there are hard stages ahead, those were the reasons given.

One thing I like about some riders, Cavendish, Jens Voigt, Voeckler, Millar, Farrar, Voeckler, Gilbert, Thomas is that they give interesting interviews. Almost as if they know that giving interviews, ones that add something to our understanding and appreciation, is part of the spectacle. Some riders think they are sportsmen only, without realising they work for companies advertising products.

Voila. I had a couple more ideas, but I would not mind getting to bed at a decent hour. No time to even tell you about how my fantasy teams are doing. Actually my favourite fantasy team is doing badly. I decided to pick cheap chancy sprinters, only two. They have not done anything, so I am only going to start scoring points in the next few days. Should do well after that though.

Good night.

EBH Takes the Cake

Stage 6
7 July 2011

A rather long stage today, the longest. Dreary weather, and although the road was frequently wet, not as dangerous as yesterday. Without apologising too much for being repetitive, those of you who are not checking out the incredible architecture and countryside of France are really missing something. I would like to spend more time in front of the box, taking that in, doing little errands, checking things on the computer. However, often, as today, I only caught the last fifty k and missed the intermediate sprint. Must mark the mountain stages on my diary and make sure I devote time to watching on the new TV. As I suspected, with big screen HD, everything is better. I liked the picture setting that made everything brighter, my wife liked it more realistic. Typical of us both. Can't wait for the mountains.

A few things that I'd like to mention before the results. If you look carefully, it was certainly clear today, there are long sections of road which are newly made. The tarmac is so new they sometimes don't have time to paint the lines on it. When the Tour comes to an area, you can almost see the route by finding new road surfaces. They don't mess about, the tour is money, and no one wants crashes due to bad roads in THEIR region. On the last wee climb and toward the end it was obvious today.

The spectators sometimes park their cars on the side of the road, then instead of watching between cars, they watch between their cars and the road. This means that when the riders were taking up the entire road, which they often do if not going really fast, and the spectators didn't know about bikes and races, which they often don't, neither the riders nor the spectators had anywhere to go to avoid each other. Its like the spectators forget, or wilfully don't think that the road is for the riders, there is a race on. A ROAD RACE. They came so close to collisions, so many times. Like the yellow dressed woman the other day, except she knocked over a rider and herself got knocked over. So thoughtless, so stupid. Mind you, the same thing happens to bikes ridden on ordinary streets and roads, but as the Tour passes they should all know there is a race on for a few minutes of their lives. Mind you, considering the millions of people on the road it is always something to explain how they get through with so few deaths and injuries. It is not just luck, there is something more profound.

As for the race, although you don't know it, I did, in the end, pick Edvald Boasson Hagen, EBH. I really thought about it and thought he would actually win. Although I picked him partly because no one else picked him, and I would get big points in our league. I am pleased because I have been a fan of his for a couple of years, he is a shy and modest fellow (in English anyway), clearly an immense talent, and he has been plagued by injuries for two years. This year, for example, he came down with an attack of shingles a week before the Tour. Brilliant lead-out from Geraint Thomas, himself a great talent and WELSH. Earlier Ben Swift buried himself for EBH. EBH was riding in front of Thor, Feillu, Gilbert, Goss (plus the others) and no one gained an centimetre. Notice how when the Rabobank guy took off, it was instantly Geraint on the wheel with EBH behind. In one of his interviews, EBH said when you follow Geraint you can just trust him, he is that good. Note how Geraint looks around, sees who is where, knowing EBH is on his wheel, and drifts off to his right, continuing to ride hard, but subtly blocking other sprinters, then slowing up seconds later. EBH also made a very good move when he chose the right time to leave Geraint's wheel, when he saw the right opening (you can see the space he went into), to begin his sprint. Just enough space and perfectly timed. Master class. Watch that sprint on the videos for sure. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2451

Other riders who struck me during the day, although I have noticed some of them before. Laurent Roux did a nice little futile attack near the end. He almost won the French jersey this year, and if he had, I bet he would ride even better. In any case, he is a young talent in one day races or stages. I was also immensely impressed with Adriano Malori, the Italian TT champion this year. Not many could have ridden in front of a serious peloton at the end of the stage for that long. IN ADDITION to riding in the escape. If he ever gets in another escape with one or two serious rouleurs, we can expect someone to react quickly or he will be gone. We also got a wee thrill with another futile attack by Thomas Voeckler. He does have that fighting spirit, but just is not quite good enough to pull it off. On the other hand, try and try again and you eventually make it. He will , and has. He really is a liable guy when interviewed. Kid next door. Confident, but modest, if that is possible.

Arthur Vichot (FDJ) right up there today. Arthur Vichot? Guess we better watch him. You don't get in the top ten on a finish like that by luck. Can he climb? Apparently. Romain Feillu also seems to be having a good Tour. Still don't like him much.

A very amusing and realistic interview with Chris Horner. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2457
Compare Hinault's predictions with the results. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2432

Someone who runs the Specialised company should take a look at the bikes they are sending to Contador/Saxo. He has been changing them a lot. Its not that he has (Shimano) electronic shifting, as he uses SRAM gear (same one that betrayed Schleck last year). I have heard of several riders mumbling about bikes which shift on their own, but not much in the press. Anyway, Contador seems to be upset quite often with his bikes. I really don't know why, they have mechanics, the bikes should be fine. Puzzle.

I was self-critical too soon, the new intermediate sprint system is giving us two good sprints a day, but not two catches. I just watched the video of Cav in the intermediate one, and HTC just did a classic lead out, perfect. Lovely to watch. I notice Rojas was there and Farrar and Gilbert, so they are still very serious about the green jersey. I love it, but bring on the mountains. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2447

Cadel was the first Australian to ever wear the mountains jersey, and when it got handed over to Johnny Hoogerland (whom we see attacking later, for sure), it was the first time a Dutch guy had it since Gert Jan Theunisse, who was a drugged climber from the eighties.

Might I recommend some quite good informal videos that Geraint Thomas is making. http://www.geraintthomas.com/videos/ Sky has three of the top six young riders at present. I wonder if they can keep them all for a few years. Overall doing well and quite visible in this Tour.

Last “feature” bit from a story in L'Equipe today. About the companies and budgets. Seems it is easy enough to identify the “big teams”. The dividing line seems to be 10,000,000 euros a year as a budget. The average budget is apparently 9.5 million euros. Over ten million are Saxo, Leopard, Garmin, Astana, Radioshack, Sky, BMC, Quick Step, HTC and Katusha. Katusha (named after a missile, by Putin) leads with 15 million, but I think this includes a junior team too. Saxo, Astana, on 12. Astana seems the odd one out, not really worth all that money. Following Shack at 11, we have Garmin, Quick Step and HTC on ten. The rest have smaller budgets. I am not saying money buys a good team, just pointing out that a team like Euskatel and Europcar on 6.5 and AG2R on 7.5 are simply never going to have the best riders. Money talks. By the way, I have no idea if these data are correct, but they are the only ones I have. Euskatel (94), Rabobank (96) FDJ (97) and Cofidis (97) have been in the peloton longest, although AG2R was a co-sponsor in 1997. Lampre has been with us for along time too. It does seem like the French teams have the most stability, since Europcar has been around for years with different names. Then again so has Movistar. In fact with all the chopping and changing, it is hard to tell when 'a team' stops being a team, since it can be the same team, same admin, same riders, but the sponsor's name changes. They advertise simply because it is cheap and effective. It is just business, although it helps to have a cycling fanatic at the top of a company. Quick Step, for example, said that when they began advertising in 1999, 0.55% of the population recognised their name. In 2011, they say 51%. Effective.

In case you missed Mont St Michel, this video might help. Turn down the sound though. Second most visited place in France, apparently, after the Tour Eiffel. I have been there. If you know you are a tourist, and realise that tourists/pilgrims have been coming for several hundred years, it is an amazing place.
http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/2469

Feillu doing well, but wandering about all over the place looking for an opening.

As for the stage tomorrow, I will just bask in my accuracy for a day. Nearly everyone on my forum has picked Cav. Probably right. The stage finish is completely and utterly flat. Before that, there is nothing whatsoever resembling a hill. So I pick Ben Swift. Unless I change my mind after I send this off. Maybe Tyler Farrar would be a better pick for second or third.

Soon, the mountains.