Stage 15: Pontarlier - Verbier 207.5km

So, then that happened.

As I said to several people, the stage was exciting but at the same time it was predictable. It was almost as if I was experience deja vu. I wanted to be like 'didn't this already happen?' only have I no idea where or when. There was a breakaway with some promise, but as mountain stages go, you knew it wasn't going to last. There were bright spots, Simon Spilak, Ryder Hesjedal, and Fabian Cancellara in the breakaway. But, no matter how much effort they put in, they were doomed. And that's exactly what happened.

The final climb of the, all 8.8k of the Verbier, was not long, but it was always going to create problems for the riders. Maybe, though not me, expected it to be Armstrong who surged ahead. I was with those who imagined that Contador would be the one to step it up for Astana. I was hoping, especially when wee adorable Simon Spilak attacked (and he was justly rewarded with most aggressive rider), that something magical would happen. Of course I was wrong. And that's about when Contador attacked.

I know that in previous tours with Armstrong, they'd talk about how easy it looked. Well, I've to tell you that they're so fucking wrong. Watching Contador climb makes it look like anyone could do it. He flows up the hill and it's like he's not even breaking a sweat. He almost reminds me of watching Roger Federer play tennis. You know he's putting shit loads of effort into it, but you cannot for the life of you see that on his face. It's simply amazing and while I might not like him, his effort is one of a kind. If he's not doping, he really is fucking amazing.

Once he attacked, no one else was ever going to win the stage. Try as he might, the adorable Andy Schleck went after him, but never managed to catch up with him. In the end, he had to ride by himself, caught in no man's land behind Contador, but in front of his brother and two others. It was a valiant effort that landed him in fifth place, 2:26 behind Contador – the new yellow jersey. But what was even more important to me was the group with Andy's brother, Fränk. That group, who were trying to catch up with Andy, but never managed to, was composed of three riders: Fränk Schleck, Vincenzo Nibali and ... Bradley Wiggins! Of all the cyclists to ever ride the tour, it was Bradley fucking Wiggins who was riding his ass off. God, he was awesome.

Oddly enough, there were several more attacks after Fränk, Nibali and Wiggo went. Sastre had ridden himself out of trouble ended up coming in sixth (Nibali was 3rd, Fränk 4th and Wiggins 5th) after nearly dropping out of contention completely. Behind him was Cadel Evans (surprise!) who I totally thought had been dropped repeatedly, then Andreas 'I'm the only rider on Astana Sarah even pretends to care about' Klöden in eight and then ... Lance Armstrong. Yes, Armstrong was dropped by everyone, even his own teammate(s)! Bloody fucking brilliant, if you ask me. Also, I totally believe that, until he finished today's stage, he completely overestimated his fitness and the other riders in the peloton, including Contador. It was, well, great to see. I'm a bitter, grudge-holding fan, what can I say? A little schadenfreude never hurt anyone.

So, wow does the current GC look? It'll blow your mind, I promise. Here they are:

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 63:17:56
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:01:37
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:46
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:17
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26
6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:30
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:51
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:03:07
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:09
10 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25
11 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo TestTeam 0:03:52
12 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:03:59
13 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - HTC 0:04:05
14 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0:04:27
15 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - HTC 0:04:38

Yeah, I wasn't kidding. I know you see Armstrong there in second and think, OMG HE MIGHT DO IT. But you know what? You're wrong. Absolutely wrong. Plus the best thing about the top 3? BRADLEY FUCKING WIGGINS. I know there were other things to talk about, like Nibali pushing into second in the young riders and Andy Schleck ousting Tony Martin (SADFACE) into third for the lead in the same competition. Or the fact that Astana is back in full force, but in the race lead and the team competition. But, whatever. Bradley Wiggins is in third place and if he stays there and Armstrong doesn't win the tour? I might even be happy about the results.

Stage 14: Colmar - Besançon 199km

This was the weirdest, most fucked up stage ever and most of it didn't even happen until after the stage. It started out simply enough with a breakaway that was decent sized, though not large. What was pretty awesome was that George Hincapie was in the break and the virtual yellow jersey on the road. If he managed to keep the jersey at the end of the day, it would have been awesome. Except there was this little thing called hardcore drama going on. There were three bizarre events that happened.

1) A 60 year old woman was killed when she crossed the road on the Tour route. Apparently she crossed after the breakaway, but before the peloton, came through. First of all, let me say this was absolutely horrible and the last thing anyone would want to happen. Especially since after the police motor bike hit her, it slid into two other people, injuring them both. But let me just add that the only thing worst than crossing the road in front of cyclists is to cross between the peloton and the break. I really, really wish that that didn't happen. I also don't like the fact that the cyclists were forced to ride by her body by the side of the road (not only do I know that this happened because some cyclists were twittering about it, but also because there were pictures of her body – which is completely horrible – being passed by cyclists). It's a horrible accident that overshadows the rest of what I'm going to write about this stage.

2) The sprint finish that my friends and I are calling The Mark Cavendish Incident. Basically, the sprint for points after the rest of the breakaway crossed the line or was caught was dramatic on every single level. Columbia did a little train for Mark (which I will talk about later, but not how it relates to the Green jersey) and things got weird and basically it looked like Mark was boxing it and then interfering (?) with Thor's chances at the sprint. I don't know if anyone complained (though I think Cervelo must have) or if the race officials decided to look at it again, but it's seriously hard to tell what happens. At full speed and from the front (aka, looking to the sprint from the finish) it's almost impossible to see what made the official DQ Cav (docking him points and giving Thor the Green). When you look at it from above, it kind of looks like Cav glances back, sees Thor (in Green) and then moves over in front of him. They have a brief argument, but again, it's hard to know if it was Cav, Columbia, a Cervelo (not Thor), the barriers, or some combination of all of those that forced Thor ... toward the barriers, since he didn't crash. I think it was unfair to DQ Cav, but what's done is done and I'm not the Tour expert.

3) Five seconds from glory. Seriously, all he needed was five more seconds and then George Hincapie would have raced Stage 15 in yellow. Except, of course, he lost five seconds. As I mentioned earlier, George was in the breakaway that stuck together up until the very end. He crossed the line 16 seconds behind the Russian stage winner and then played the dreaded waiting game. It's what happened after that's strange. First off, let me just say that George's tactics in break weren't the best (and I think he's admitted that). He didn't attack either at the right time or hard enough, I'm not quite sure. Which meant that instead of winning the stage, he came in fifth or whatever and lost those 16 precious seconds. But then what happened next was odd. Astana had been doing tempo for most of the stage, but once it seemed like George might end up in yellow, AG2R took over the work. As happens in stage races, when one team goes, the rest have no choice but to follow. It looked like Columbia, George's team, was doing it's part to slow things down, but it wasn't working. From what I can piece together, Garmin started working with AG2R and so did Astana and eventually Columbia. Armstrong himself blames AG2R and Garmin, and Columbia a little, for making George not get the yellow. I call bullshit, though.

Here's the thing. No one, not anyone deserves to be in yellow. Yes, when someone gets the jersey, pulls it on in the podium, we can say 'oh, he did all the work today, he definitely should be and deserves to be in yellow.' But first and foremost, this is a RACE. As in, team against team and rider against rider. I don't care what anyone says, there was no reason for Astana and Garmin not to race. There was no reason for AG2R not to race (George did not complain about them, because he's not entirely stupid), after all, it's their boy in yellow. But for people to point fingers and blame Garmin or Astana or whatever for not racing to put a cyclist NOT ON THEIR TEAM in yellow is completely ridiculous. I'm sorry, but you don't win races by being nice. Garmin's tactics were to make sure they didn't lose time. Astana's were to make sure they didn't lose time. AG2R's was to make sure that the yellow jersey stayed on their team. All of those things happened because that's what happens in a stage race. You don't look out for the other guys in the peloton. Sure, you might do nice things for them occasionally (see: Fabian Cancellara and David Millar), but that doesn't mean that your teams work together, nor does it mean that you try to get someone else in the yellow jersey – someone not on your team.

I don't care what Armstrong or Matt White or Johan Bruyneel might have said, because they are wrong. Sure, you might want George in yellow after the stage. Sure, you might be able to claim that you didn't do anything to stop him from getting yellow, but during the stage that's not the case. You react because that's what you do. The whole point of the Tour de France is to RACE THE GOD DAMN RACE. I don't care what kind of history you have with George, there are no favors in cycling. And as much as I adore George, and as much as I think he has a right to be angry about those five seconds, it's no one's fault but his own and maybe Columbia's.

As for Columbia? I have no idea what's going on with them. They had a terrible day. George didn't win the stage, missed out on yellow, while Cav was busy getting DQ'd and all but losing the green jersey.

All in all it was a wild stage. Perhaps stage 15 will be just as wild, but who knows.

Stage 13: Vittel - Colmar 200km

I almost didn't make it up in time for coverage to start. I didn't oversleep, but I definitely contemplated staying in bed a bit longer. For some reason I did and I was compelled to check the cyclingnews live ticker, because I was curious to know about the break. I don't know that I had a feeling that something good was going on, but I certainly felt the overwhelming need to check it. So I did.

And then I promptly flipped out. Anyone following me on Twitter immediately noticed this because I totally lost my shit. My two favorite riders, in a break together? What more (at that point) could a girl ask for!? I knew that chances were that if the break stayed away, one of them was going to win. The question became different of course, Sylvain being my favorite, did I want him to win? Or, because Sylvain already won a stage of the Tour, did I want my second favorite, Heinrich, to win a stage? Turns out I wanted Sylvain to win, but if for whatever reason he couldn't/wasn't going to, then I wanted it to be Heinrich. Little did I know what the stage held in store for me.

I know there were other things going on, like a battle for the King of the Mountains and struggles with the weather (plus two riders being shot with air guns), but at the time, none of that mattered. And, save the shooting incident, all that other crap doesn't matter to me in the least. The things that matter are Sylvain and Heinrich, they are the only things that matter to me. Anyway.
As much as I loved the fact that for a good bit of the stage the two boys were riding together, this stage was hell on my emotions. I'm one of those live and die by my teams/favorite athletes and both Heinrich and Sylvain ran me ragged (drove me?). Before we knew that Sylvain just didn't have the power in his legs (I kind of thought Paul & Phil might be right, but upon further reflection, Sylvain's not stupid enough not to eat enough), I was kind of freaked out because Heinrich was taking all the risks and Sylvain was taking none.

It turned out that Sylvain hit the wall. I knew he didn't really like the rainy/cold weather (even though previously he'd said as much and has won several races/stages of other races in shit weather), at least not as much as in the past, so that probably contributed to his mediocre (though not poor) performance. But no matter what he did, eating/drinking/etc, he just couldn't catch up once Heinrich dropped him. It broke my heart to watch him struggling so much. But he finished the stage (he later gave credit to the DS in the care, saying that without him, he didn't know how he'd've finished the stage).

And then there was Heinrich. Turns out the boy loves the cold, rainy weather. Someone, Renshaw maybe? Said on twitter that Haussler looked more Germany than Australian, because Aussie's hate the cold weather. I thought that was hilarious, though I've no idea if it's actually true. Not that it matters, really. Anyway, the point is that Haussler put the pedal down and never really looked back. His post-stage remarks were fasicnating. He confessed that he had no idea, until about 1k to go, or maybe a bit more, that he really didn't know he was going to win the stage. He also said he felt great and once he figured out that Sylvain wasn't going to give chase, he just went for it.

It was fucking brilliant to watch. He took risks on the descents and later I learned that he actually had no idea that Sylvain was in a bad way. He said something like he thought Sylvain was playing with him, some sort of cat and mouse game I think. But he wasn't having any of it (even though Sylvain was just really suffering) and that's when he let loose. It was so much fun, especially when he finally figured out he was going to win. Aside from Sylvain winning races, I have never been happier about a cyclist winning a stage. Watching Haussler cross the line in tears was a beautiful thing. I'm so proud of him and I'm not ashamed to say I cried.

Stage 13, not unlike Stage 19 last year, is my favorite of this tour. I just hope there's another one – this time when Sylvain's the winner.

Stage 12: Tonnerre - Vittel 211.5km

I finally got to see most of a stage! The first time since Sunday, which isn't really saying much because the last time was Sunday. Regardless, it turned out to be a fascinating stage, tactically speaking. What we didn't see live was that Evans and A. Schleck attempted to join a breakaway. I know, I know, they're doing it to try and gain time, but REALLY. I do not support such things because it's not fair to the boys in the break. Yes, I know that they had to true, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. But, moving on now.

The breakaway was eventually seven riders, including the stage winner, Niki Sörensen. The stage wasn't that eventful, except for a crash or two(?) with a dog. I don't know any details, though. When the stage started, the Versus commentators all agreed that it was likely going to be a stage for the sprinters -- in that they all picked sprinters to win. But, amusingly, that's not what happened. This break of seven kept on racing hard, pushing as much as they good to see how the peloton would react and ... it barely did. Eventually it seemed clear that if the peloton didn't step up, the break would survive, and that's exactly what happened.

Which meant that we turned out focus to who, out of those seven riders, was going to win. It turned out to be a joy to watch because Niki Sörensen, who was a bit late joining the break early in the stage, did everything right. He attacked the breakaway near the end of the stage and just took off. He played at tactics and held everyone off. All remaining six breakaway riders finished before the peloton, which eventually came in almost 6 minutes later. What surprised me, and ended up making me really happy, was that Columbia changed their tactics.

Cavendish took eight place, in front of Hushovd and a Lampre rider, which might have been a surprise (attacking without the chance to win the stage, really, Cav?), except for one thing. Early on in the stage, at the 32k mark, Cavendish attacked briefly to win a six sprint points. It was then that it seemed pretty obvious that Columbia and Cavendish had decided to keep the Green jersey by any means necessary (within reason, of course). This pleased me greatly, and so when we got to the finish, I was a bit anxious. Would Cav attack? Would Farrar or Hushovd try to steal the points? In the end, it was Thor who tried to out smart Cav, but as Columbia has proved, time and again, they are definitely the strongest.

Cav gathered another sixteen points head of Thor, giving him a bit more lead on the Green jersey. When the Versus reporter interviewed Cav after the race, he was asked if he was worried more about getting through the mountain stages or about winning on the Champs-Élysées. Cav's answer was hilarious. He basically said he'd have no problems with the mountains and was only worried about winning the final stage. It was so totally a Cavendish response that I completely loved it. Hopefully he's right, because I want to see Cav in green on the final day.

Nothing changed with any of the jerseys, except that there were a few more points added in both the green and kom competitions. It was a fun stage, especially the end. Tomorrow is the start of the Alps and I am so ready for those damn mountains. Hopefully the stage won't run too long, as I've got to leave for work at 11:30 am ET. It should be exciting!

Stage 11: Vatan - Saint-Fargeau 192km

I didn't see much of this stage live and I've watched the sprint finish twice. Again, it was just a flat stage, but this one had a couple of pretty bad crashes (which I have not seen and I don't care to see, because ugh, really. The pictures make it look like total carnage and I don't need to see that). AG2R was doing a lot of work for their yellow jersey boy, though as Phil said either yesterday or today, perhaps that's not for the best because they should let the sprinter's teams do the work. I don't think that's necessarily the case, if only because they probably know they'd don't stand a chance to keep the jersey once we hit the next set of mountains. At least this way, maybe they'll make some allies and get themselves a lot of TV time. Also, AG2R is currently leading the team standings and that's just awesome.

The race was basically a chance to bring back a breakaway of two riders, then there were the crashes and ... then we got to one hell of a sprint finish. Not only did Cav win, but that Tyler Farrar is edging closer and closer to taking a stage. It almost looked like he'd have a win today. But what was really awesome as that Cav just barrelled through and not only did he win the stage, but he also took the green jersey from Thor. This really makes me happy. I'm really happy that he took the jersey, especially after his hilarious Versus interview before the stage where they tried to ask him all these questions and he was brilliant and playing coy.

The Columbia train was too strong for the break to succeed and Cav, well, is just. Cav broke a bunch of records (broke or tied), something about tying for the most stage wins for a British rider and the quickest number of wins in the shortest amount of time or something. I liked his post-race interview where they were like 'can you be in green in Paris?" and he's all 'I'm totally not thinking about this at all!' which I have to say, is the best answer ever. Who knows if he's thinking about it? I don't care, because I want him in green in Paris, but if he keeps not thinking about it and then winning stages? I'm not complaining.

Nothing else really changed on the stage, which was fine. Tomorrow is a bit more of an up and down stage, but again it could be for sprinters or maybe a breakaway. Let me just add that if this doesn't seem to make sense, it's because I've only had 5 hours of sleep and I'm basically sleep walking through this post. Hopefully tomorrow will be awesome. Sylvain Chavanel, how about another go at a break? That's my hope for tomorrow!

Stage 10: Limoges - Issoudun 194.5km

I saw the start of the coverage of Stage 10 on Versus and then the end of it. I missed basically everything in the middle. And, from what I can tell, I didn't miss a damn thing. I have to say, that's not really a good endorsement of the Tour. Up until today, it's been pretty fun. But to hear that people are describing this stage is kind of ridiculous. I don't think I would have minded it too much, if only because I don't mind just watching riding. It's fun and soothing and I enjoy that. But I had an appointment I couldn't miss.

I got home just in time for the good stuff, which was the sprint. What I'd missed was the breakaway: Thierry Hupond (Skil-Shimano), Benoit Vaurengard (Francaise des Jeux), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha). They wanted to win, three of them especially since it was Bastille Day. It was odd that there wasn't much drama, because the dreaded radios didn't do much except piss off the riders before and after the race. They kept the break within a reasonable distance and when the time came to step up the chase, it worked perfectly. Well, the capture was perfect. The real problem was the sprint finish.

It was a lot steeper than most of the teams realized, except for Columbia. This turned out to be because Columbia decided to do their homework. From what I can tell, Cav is apparently the kind of guy who likes to research his finishes and therefore, Columbia sent Zabel to scout it out. He reported back and said that the finish was more uphill than the race bible (as it's called) stated. Thus, Columbia knew was was coming and was able to propel Cav to the finish, while everyone else struggled. Happily for me, Cav won and he came within two points of Thor's green jersey. It was kind of obvious that Cav wants green again, and I'll be honest, I want him in green again.

The most interesting thing that happened was that there was some sort of 15 difference between two groups of finishers and Bradley Wiggins apparently lost 15 seconds and moved from 5 to something like 7th or 8th. It was odd, because if you watch a replay of the sprint finish, you can barely see the separation and it seems kind of odd that the Tour with indicate that as a 15 second difference (between the time Cav crosses the line and the time the 'leader' of the second group cross the line, not the front of the second group and the back of the first). I thought it was ridiculous and apparently so did the Tour jury, because they overturned the 15 seconds and Wiggins and LL are back where they were when the stage started.

It was kind of a wild stage and I'm glad things were sorted out in the end. Tomorrow is yet another sprinter's stage and hopefully another win by Cavendish -- with him picking up the green jersey, maybe?

Rest day: Limoges

10 things about the rest day:

Good.
1. Columbia
Okay, so. they have the sexiest, most kick ass train EVER. Seriously, they're the best train since Petacchi's silver bullet or whatever the hell it was called. I could watch Columbia lead about Cav forever. They are tough and awesome, and they seem to work really, really well for each other. I love it and that's what a train should be like. So, other sprinter's teams? Y'all can SUCK IT.

2. Weather (mostly)
It's been hot, but it's been pretty beautiful if you're a fan. There've been a few occasions of shitty weather, but it's been really great for watching. I don't have much to write about, except that no matter how much I like the good weather, bad weather brings drama to the race, which is also fun. Hopefully the weather stays good, but if it doesn't I hope it causes good, non-injury drama.

3. Bradley Wiggins
Yeah, I'm not even sure if I like him and yet I really do like him. I like that Garmin's all about him and trying to help both Wiggo and CVV do well and protect them. I like that they can divide their time between those two and Farrar (who I'd like to be able to win a stage, just one). Anyway, Wiggins is awesome and I hope he ends up higher when the race gets to Paris.

4. Lack of a real contender
This is awesome. I know we're supposed to think that LA and Contador, et al are contenders. But, seriously, no one is really trying to dominate, which means that the races are way more interesting. I know people thing they are totally lame, drama wise. But, for the most part, I love it. It's fun to see different people win.

5. Sprinters
I know, they're in both categories, sort of. I know Cav seems to be dominating, but Thor's won a stage and has the Green jersey, and that's kind of awesome. Not because I don't want Cav to have it, because I do. But just because it's all about spreading the love around, and I adore that. As long as the sprint finishes stop being so dangerous, this is only a good thing.

Bad.
6. All Lance All The Time
Yeah, this basically speaks for itself. Sometimes it feels like all they do is talk about Lance. It's ridiculous. It makes coverage lame and it's seriously irritating. I don't have much else to add, except that he's not in yellow and it'd be nice if people stopped pretending he was. Ugh.

7. Astana
Why won't they implode? Why do they insist that there's no infighting? Why does LA seem to think he'd be okay with Contador winning, when it's pretty fucking obvious Contador doesn't feel the same way. Why does everyone toe the party line? WHERE'S THE DRAMA? Seriously, this team should be overflowing with it, and yet nothing. Also, why are they there? They just piss me off.

8. Crazy Sprint Finishes (could be good, but ...)
Too many crashes, no enough people paying attention. They're dangerous and I doubt they'll get any less dangerous. At the same time, this makes them exciting, but I hate crashes and so this is totally a negative. I don't know if I want to blame the race organizers or the cyclists, so we'll just say the blame belongs to both.

9. Tom Boonen
Yeah, where are you, Boonen? I might not like you, but the worse you are (and god, you're so bad), the more annoyed I am that you took Allan Davis' spot. You're a waste of a Tour rider. You do nothing, you've crashed, your team is non-existent. You're probably ruining Sylvain's chances of doing anything because all you do is have issues. Go back to Belgium.

10. Mountain stages
Yeah, whatever happened to fun time attacking? Why didn't anyone put in any sort of effort? Why is that AG2R boy still in yellow? Does no one have the guts? Do they just not care? Is it really true that no one wants to work for the jersey yet? Way to make a sucky race, guys. Of course, if it keeps the jersey away from Astana, well, that's mostly a good thing.

Your TDF blogger is bitter. I'd apologize, except I'm just not sorry.