A dreadful day to be a pro-cyclist with torrential rain at times. Sky get their first ever stage win, but big gaps have started to appear in the times of the riders.
Stage 7: Le Mans - Châteauroux : 218 km Todayâs profile is the flattest of this yearâs race and that will probably result in a victory for one of the contenders for the green jersey. Of course, the terrain decides the nature of the route, and in order to get to the Pyrenees from Normandy we have to cross an area where there are no real difficulties. The only two stage finishes that took place in Châteauroux were ten years apart, with the victory of two exceptional sprinters, who together have notched up a total of 27 stages wins. Indeed, in1998 Mario Cipollini was the winner in the prefecture town of Indre. Then in 2008, Mark Cavendish experienced his first stage win on the Tour in Châteauroux. This is just about as close as it comes to me, but seeing as half the town will be closed it will not be a day to find a parking spot.
Noggys 1st and third .........can it get any worse ???? enough of the ijits on the road as it is , dont need any more encouragement!!!
Stage 8 - Aigurande -Super-Besse Sancy: 189 km We are starting to get to the heart of the matter now. There is a second-category col, the Croix Saint-Robert, before the finish. The route is lumpy (as you would expect as we’re in the Massif Central) and will start to take a toll on the legs. However, the favourites rarely lose the Tour on a stage of this kind. But that might happen if there’s a lot of action and one of them ends up struggling with some kind of problem. If that does occur, then the race will really be on. That said, it’s on stages of this type that the sprinters fall back in the overall standings and the favourites climb towards the leading places.
You may sleep well tonight Norway. I watched the current leader for a little while this afternoon, and I can't see him dragging himself up some of the mountains to come that quickly.
The one in third that has me concerned, I was forced to watch some of it in a sports bar at the airport , Sorry to say I found the snooker more entertaining! There are enough cyclists on the roads here cylcing 4 or 5 abreast and not giving a damn about the jam they are causing behind! What is even more irksome is that the taxpayer has funded lots of new cycle paths and tracks that are hardly used and run parallel to the roads!!! Noggy cyclists should at least have to pay extra road tax!
Like several clubs in fact Norway has 5million people and nearly as many political parties although there seem to be 3 or 4 main alliances! Local politics is as hard to understand as the local language!
Stage 9: Issoire - Saint-Flour: 208kms This is a long stage with a very up-and-down profile particularly as it features the Pas de Peyrol and the first-ever ascent of the Col de Perthus. Except for the opening 50km, it’s just climbs and descents all of the way. It’s a real leg-breaker. And if the action really takes off then there certainly won’t be 100 riders coming in together to contest the finish. It’s the kind of stage that should suit Sylvain Chavanel. Last year he won the stage at Les Rousses in the Jura when there were numerous attacks. On this stage, a group containing one of the race’s strong guys could get clear, which could in turn set off any number of counter-attacks, especially as a stage like this is never easy to control.”
Tough on Vino today - too many crashes. Contador too. Schleck has +2", is that enough. Thursday is the big stage this week.
Total carnage out there today, maybe a dozen riders will not be able to race on Tuesday. It is one thing when the peloton gets in a tangle, but quite different when an official car takes two riders out. Anyway the most popular rider in France today now wears yellow. Over the past few days he has earned it with his effort to lead out breakaways. Last time he won it he managed to hang on to it for ten days. His team sponsors only agreed to put down the money if he was certain of a place in the team, and he has repaid them with interest.
Some very nasty accidents yesterday - I think the driver of the black Skoda who took out two of the riders in the breakaway must have come from the Henri Paul school of motoring.
