Stage 13 - Saturday, July 15: Béziers - Montélimar, 231 km

It was almost the best stage of the tour. Why? Sylvain Chavanel was in the break. The only way it would have been better is if Sylvain could have won it. But he didin't listen to me (and I was shouting pretty loudly at my TV) as I explained how he should attack. It was Jens Voigt who did exactly as I suggested Chavanel should do. So I just spent a lot of the final kilometers being mad at Sylvain. He has since admitted that he totally screwed up his chances to win, so that's something.

I probably cared more about stage 13 than any of th previous stages. It's hard to care that much because it hurt when Sylvain just couldn't finish for the win. But, that being said, I am fans of both Jens Voigt and Oscar Pereiro, so the results weren't say, as bad as if it had been McEwen or something. I was disappointed, of course, but that's cycling, right?



The stage started with attacks, but it was the five man group that managed to stay away. They were Jens Voigt, Oscar Pereiro, Sylvain Chavanel, Manuel Quinziato and Andriy Grivko. They did a fantastic job of working and took around 30 minutes out of the peloton at one point. It was around then that the time dropped to 27 minutes and with 14/15km to go, Grivko attacked. Sadly for the young Ukrainian (the young rider of the group), he attacked to early and with too much effort. He was easily caught and then he was dropped, never to see the remaining for again.

Then it was Chavanel who attacked. Alas, this didn't stick either. But with that attack, Sylvain had screwed up the cooperation the group had previously thrived on. Soon there were a few other attacks, but it wasn't until Voigt went that anything lasted. He went, followed by Pereiro and neither Sylvain nor Quinziato could catch him. Sylvain later said that he'd picked the wrong man to be the strongest. As much as I adore Sylvain, if Jens Voigt is in a break, that's the man you stick to.

It was left for Sylvain and Quinziato to fight out third and fourth because the battle was going on without them. Voigt and Pereiro weren't giving anything away. They battled it out, talking to each other the whole way. For a moment, it looked like Pereiro wasn't going to contest the win, but he did. He fought hard, but it was Voigt who, to the surprise of no one, was stronger. It was a great stage win for Voigt (his second tour stage) and for CSC.



But it was Pereiro who lucked out. Not only did he come in second in an all day breakaway, he managed to acquire the yellow jersey. How did this happen? The peloton needed to be at least 28 minutes behind the stage. So, not only was this breakaway successful, it was totally awesome. The peloton finished 29 minutes behind the break, giving Pereiro the jersey. Much, I must add, to the relief of Phonak. No one wants to work their riders so hard before the stages that might actually determine the winner.

The stage was brilliant and I hope that tomorrow's is just as good.

Tags: tour de france, cycling, stage 13, sylvain chavanel, floyd landis, jens voigt, oscar pereiro

Stage 12 - Friday, July 14: Luchon - Carcassonne, 211 km

It was another day with a breakaway, and much to my joy, the winner came from that break. Who that winner was might not have pleased me, but I'll get to that later.

The stage was "falt" in that there were not huge mountains, but it wasn't really flat. It was fun to watch, not just because I adore breaks, but instead because I love tactics as well. And one of the things that made this stage so different was that the tactics didn't quite reflect the tactics of the riders in the break. Last year's best young rider, Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery) of the Ukraine, was the highest placed rider in the stage.

Landis and Phonak, theoretically, should have chased down the break. But they didn't, not really. I mean, the time between them was just enough so that Popovych was able to slip into 10th place overall. But Phonak didn't feel Landis was in danger or that Popovych would be able to challenge for the overall lead and so they left the break alone.



The break had a mind of it's own and there were more tactics, of course! In addition to Popovych, Oscar Freire, Alessandro Ballan, and Christophe Le Mevel made up the three other riders. I was rooting for either Freire or Ballan for the win -- especially Freire so he could take more points for the green jersey. I want him to unseat McEwen. But that was not to be, though Freire did gather more points and passed Boonen to take over second in the competition.

What did happen was actually a lot more interesting. Discovery told Popovych that he needed to attack the group repeatedly, and that's exactly what he did. He shook Le Mevel first (who later said he just didn't have the legs, though he'd wanted the win on Bastille Day). Ballan and Freire were hot on his heels, but the more Popo attacked, the harder it was for both sprinters to follow. In post race interviews, Popo mentioned that there was no way he'd have beaten the two sprinters at the line. So he did the only thing he could -- attack. And finally it worked.



Ballan and Freire were left to fight second and third out amongst themselves. Popo, on the other had, road away with the stage win and 10th place over all. While he didn't make up for Discovery losing two riders (Noval and Savoldelli) he did do a lot for the team's moral. I'm not buying that this will turn around Discovery, but I think that it does help. And they definitely needed it.

Nothing much else changed, though. Ballan took second and Freire third. It was Le Mevel bringing up the rear. Four minutes later, Boonen managed to beat McEwen to the line for fifth, which was a nice change.



Stage 13 is similar to 12, flat (oh, you know what I mean, not REALLY flat) and good for breaks.

Tags: tour de france, stage 12, cycling, yaroslav popovych, floyd landis

Stage 11 - Thursday, July 13: Tarbes - Val d'Aran/Pla-de-Beret (Spain), 208 km

It was supposed to be the stage where the contenders would put time between themselves and the rest of the peloton. It was the day we were supposed to find out which team was the strongest. All pre-race predictions had been thrown out the window with the whole doping affair. Except, of course, for that of Discovery. They'd lost no riders and were expected (and talked up) to be just as good now that Armstrong was gone.

What happened was not at all what was expected.

Though some people picked Landis, many had not. But he proved that he has the legs. He was not, as certain commentators expected, the dominate cyclist that Armstrong was. But of course that was not unexpected. Instead, he kept pace with a few of the other contenders and a former one (unless there is a miracle, Leipheimer won't contend).



The stage started with a breakaway, consisting of four riders (two started and then they were caught by two more). The break was on a mission to get KOM points and oh, did they get them. What was really impressive was the young riders, David De La Fuente. He set his heart on the king of the mountains and won them all – except the final, of course.

Thomas Voeckler tried to join the four riders, but that wasn't to be. He worked hard, but the peloton decided they were having none of it and caught Voeckler and three of the original escape riders. It was De La Fuente alone and then T-Mobile stepped up the power on the front. He was caught and the "real race" began. Which I think is crap, but there you go.



T-Mobile on the front after Ag2R did everything in their power to keep the yellow jersey. Dessel couldn't handle it and eventually slipped out of the peloton. And that's when trouble really started. Riders began dropping from the front group, a few every kilometer until there were 18 riders. And then Rabobank sent Boogerd and Rasmussen (who was also trying to get KOM points) to the front to work for Menchov, and work they did. They pushed until there was nothing left for either of them. Rasmussen went first, shortly followed by Boogerd (who still had enough energy to finish sixth). What had dwindled to seven riders, shrunk even further. The contenders (and former) were fighting it out. Sastre and Evans were the next to crack, leaving just three riders. Leipheimer, Menchov and Landis.

Yeah, note the lack of Discovery riders. In face, note the lack of T-Mobile riders as well. I'll write about that later, though. So, it was left to Leipheimer, Menchov and Landis to battle it out for the stage win. And that's when we realized that Landis also had the chance of getting the yellow jersey.



From all reports, it seemed that Landis would not contest the sprint – not good for his hip. But it looked like all three were going to try for the win. Leipheimer, having nothing to gain but a bit of time and a win, wanted it perhaps the most. He's mostly out of contention for the yellow, after a crap day at the TT. But it was Menchov who was the strongest. As in so many years previously, it was the rider with the most teammates who usually managed a win. And, in this case, it was Denis Menchov. Rasmussen and Boogred did their job and Menchov outsprinted Leipheimer, with Landis coming in third.



It was a really good stage, from the moment the live coverage started at 6:50 (ignoring the pre-race crap) until it ended around 11:30 or so. The break, the mountains and Dessel. Speaking of Dessel, a lot of people thought we were going to see a repeat of Voeckler's '04 performances in the mountains. Sadly, it was not to be. But to his credit, Dessel is in second by only eight seconds.

Of course, this might all change once we reach the Alps. That's the best thing about this year's tour. Anything can happen – and it does. Oh, and I wrote the Stage 11 report for Bicirace. You can read it here.

Tags: floyd landis, denis menchov, cyril dessel, tour de france, stage 11, levi leipheimer

Stage 10 - Wednesday, July 12: Cambo-les-Bains - Pau, 190.5 km

I'm a day off again, but work and all. I actually had to watch this stage twice, because Comcast sucks and though that doing their emergency thing right as the stage finished. I guess it was all Comcast, not just in Michigan. GAH. So I had to force myself to listen to Bob and Al. It wasn't so bad, mostly because I tuned them out. Anyway.



Stage 10 was exciting, of course I went to work before it was over and had to tape it. So I came home and watched it. I knew who won and everything, but that didn't stop it from being an interesting stage (and got me out of having to watch Project Runway like 90% of my friends, wtf?).

There was a break that slowly just took over the race. It started as a bigger group and just dwindled down until there were just two of them. And the two? A French rider from a French team and a Spanish rider from a French team. What a day for France! On the day that Zidane apologized (sort of) for his behavior, a French rider donned the yellow jersey. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but whatever.



So, the break. It was fantastic. I am always a huge fan of breaks (just as much as sprint finishes, really) and to have a real one that actually made it? Awesome. Even better was the fact that one of the riders actually got to take over the yellow jersey. So much fun. Cyril Dessel of AG2R found the willpower and the legs to stay away from the pack and take both the yellow jersey and the king of the mountains jersey. If he's lucky, he'll keep one of them. His partner in crime for most of the stage was Juan Miguel Mercado of Agritubel. Mercado rode just as hard as Dessel and managed to steal (I say that just because it's fun, not for any other reason) the win. They both deserved it after their amazing ride. Third went to Inigo Landaluze of Euskaltel-Euskadi, who fought hard but could never quite catch the two leaders.



As for the rest of the peloton? As predicted, T-Mobile worked to control the peloton and failed. And Gonchar slipped off the back, along with a lot of other people -- like Levi (I am too lazy to go look up how to spell his last name) and Mayo (who should just stop, he's obviously not cut out for the tour). Discovery riders were nowhere to be seen (though they were there, just oddly invisible). Floyd was there and a few of the sprinters impressed us (like Zabel and Freire). But overall? It was about the break.

There wasn't much to say, since this stage was just a sample of the mountains to come. Stage 11 is the killer -- this week.



Oh, one last thing. One of the best things about yesterday was the scenery. I really loved about Stage 10 was the scenery. I loved the fog as they rode up the mountains and the scenes off the sides of the cliffs as they road around. It was stunning. As I've told many people, one of the things I love about cycling is the landscape. No other sport has such beautiful scenery as cycling. No matter where the race is (Germany, the US France, or Australia -- or anywhere, really), race organizers find the most beautiful views and send the cyclists there. I highly approve of that.

Tags: cycling, cyril dessel, juan miguel mercado, tour de france, stage 10

Stage 9 - Tuesday, July 11: Bordeaux - Dax, 170 km

Aren't you surprised? I'm posting on the correct day! Mostly because I have to work tomorrow and will only be able to catch the stage up until 9:30 in the morning (but I am getting up at 7 to shower and such so I can watch straight until then). But anyway, back to the stage.



Over at Podium Cafe, someone mentioned that they found this stage (and I don't know if it was just today's or flat stages in general) to be boring. And, honestly, I can see where people who feel this way are coming from. Just like I understand that not everyone likes cycling. But while I get it, I don't agree. Sure, crazy things happen to the GC on mountain stages and people get sent out the back and breaks are exciting. But, there's something soothing about flat stages. I love them because they lull you into a false sense of security and then BAM something happens (a crash, a breakaway, a few riders going for points or a time bonus) and you have to pay at least some sort of attention because things happen. Especially when you don't think they will.

And then, of course, you have the sprint. A lot of times I find the finale of a mountain stage to be a huge letdown. All the excitement has already happened and there's nothing left to do except finish the stage, but flat stages are completely different. There are brief moments of action and mostly just riding. And then, suddenly, the pace starts to move faster. The peloton is on edge and if the riders are lucky, everything falls into place. What's made this tour even more exciting (and dangerous) is that nothing is falling into place. The sprinters' teams have to battle hard to get into place and there's no one there to really control it. Sure, some might except T-Mobile (because they've got the leader on their team) or Discovery or Phonak to control it -- but they won't. Not yet, at least.

So it's up to the other teams and they try. They constantly throw riders up to move the peloton, especially if there's a break to be caught. And when they are caught (in all but one of the flat stages so far this tour), chaos ensues. And it's amazing. We get dramatic wins and surprises and crashes. This is what makes flat stages fun. It's all about the rush to the finish. When a flat stage concludes, something has happened. And that's how it makes me, the viewer feel. I can understand how someone could find it boring, but I think they're just missing the point.

Flat stages are wonderful. Of course, that being said, I cannot wait for Stage 11 on Thursday. But, back to flat stages. Today's was one of the flattest stages of this year's tour (or at least I think so, I haven't compared them that closely) and the end was completely fitting. And it really made me happy.



Not much really happened, not even that many crashes. There were a few assorted problems, and everyone kept their jerseys. But there was a break, made up of three riders who fought hard and worked together but, as luck would have it, were eventually caught. I actually watched the last hour of the stage twice, which was fun. Especially because I knew who won and it pleased me.

The buildup was good and multiple teams sent men to the front. But, due to the lack of a train like Petacchi and Cipo had in the past, the front of the peloton was a mess. Of course there was a crash and people lost time, but luckily everyone seemed to get back on their bikes and finish, which was good. But while those who crashed were trying to catch up/hang on, the sprinters were blowing my mind.

It looked, several times, like at least five different sprinters would win. I yelled a few times for Zabel and Hushovd and Freire. I saw Boonen and at one point I thought he was going to win it. And then all hell broke loose. McEwen was boxed in (again!) and everyone was battling and then suddenly, out of nowhere it was Freire and McEwen. And everyone knows I can't stand McEwen, but today I was completely and totally impressed (and I was able to be because of the stage result). He just fly around the other riders and came out of nowhere.



And, of course, he didn't win. Instead it was Oscar Freire. And man, that totally made me happy. It was really fun to see Freire beat McEwen to the line. But I agree with what everyone's said, had the finish line been a foot further, McEwen would have taken the win. But he didn't, and that makes me happy. Freire and Boonen are closer to the green jersey, but I don't know if they'll be able to take it before the final stage (I hope, but I am not holding my breath).

It was a good stage with a great finish.

Tags: oscar freire, robbie mcewen, tom boonen, t-mobile, cycling, sprinters, tour de france, stage 9

Rest Day 1 - Monday, July 10: Bordeaux

Rest Day Number One. The biggest news, of course, is Zidane's head butt. Oh, wait, no. Wrong sport. The biggest news of the Tour de France is Floyd Landis. The NY Times reported that Landis will most likely be having hip replacement surgery after the tour.

» Landis's Hip Will Need Surgery After Bid for Tour

CHÂTEAUBOURG, France, July 9 — Second over all in the Tour de France and a strong favorite to win the race when it ends July 23, Floyd Landis confirmed on Sunday a report that he had been riding in severe pain for four years because of a degenerative hip condition he had kept secret. He said he was planning to have his right hip replaced in an operation.
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Eric Gaillard/Reuters

"If I hadn't had a bicycle-racing career, I would have had the hip replaced two years ago because I don't really want to deal with the pain," said Landis, the 30-year-old American leader of the Phonak team from Switzerland.

It rings a bit of the whole Armstrong cancer thing, but whatever. It's kind of interesting because it's like American cyclists need something like this. I pick Saul Raisin to come back and win the tour in a few years. Okay, the fact that he's alive is pretty damn awesome, so we'll just leave it at that.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. The past two years I've done a top ten of the tour so far (and then later, between rest days) and this year is no different. So, here it goes -- 5 good things and 5 bad things.

1. The wide open tour. Everyone, including myself, believed that the doping could signal the end of the Tour as we knew -- something fun and exciting. Little did we know. It turns out that I haven't had this much fun watching the tour since I started watching (which, I know, is that long ago -- but seriously, 2003! It's been three years, you'd think ...). Not only has Armstrong retired, but almost every single true favorite (I know, people picked Hincapie and Landis and Valverde, but they weren't serious) couldn't start and we have an amazing and exciting. It really makes me happy and it's doing good things for cycling as well. The show WILL go on and not just because it has to.

2. Time trials. The first was just a prologue and it established, though temporarily, that Hincapie was here to fight. And Hushovd impressed, but I'll get to him in a moment. The second time trial shook everything up. Not only did it put a Ukrainian on top, it totally filled the top ten with cyclists from German teams and exposed the weaknesses in all of the favorites -- and the rest of the peloton. Instead of asserting their dominance, as Armstrong had done for so many years, they fell to the side. This is not, in any way, a bad thing.

3. Breakaway on Stage 8. I know there have been others and exciting things have happened, but there was just something about the stage eight breakaway that was magic. It's not just that they lasted (in whatever small form) but the winner was French and he won alone. And then the second and third place riders gave everything they had to make it and they did, with 10 seconds to spare. It just really made me happy to see it.

4. Thor Hushovd. I know, there are other stories, but I'm a big fan of Hushovd (I've got a thing for Scandinavians). He took the opening prologue and it was amazing. I was so proud of him and he was in yellow and he beat out Hincapie (who I'm not a fan of) so it was just wonderful. And then disaster struck, and yet Hushovd finished the stage and showed just how badass cyclists are. And then went and took the yellow jersey the next day. And he's still racing. How is he not awesome?

5. Competitive nature of the jerseys. This is just general and I couldn't use 'fans' twice, because I'd just be redundant. It seems that this year, more than ever, everyone is out to get jerseys. It's really kind of awesome. You've got a tough fight for the yellow, a big battle for the green and then you have the two other jerseys. The KOM cause a mini-fight and once we get into the mountains, who knows who is going to happen. I'm hoping Rasmussen will find a way to get the jersey -- but you never know. And, of course, that leaves the young rider. It's not a tight competition, there's a minute or so between the leader and the second place, but all one of those young riders have to do is get in a break. Or Fothen, in his first tour, will just crack. It's all wide open and a lot of fun.

---

6. Doping. This goes without saying. So I'm not going to say much except that it sucks but at least it didn't completely ruin the tour. Yes, my team couldn't race and I lost two favorites (Davis and Contador, though Contador is denying any doping charges and I believe him because he's my boy), but at the same time my favorite rider is still racing and tour is still going on. That's cycling, I guess.

7. Crashes. They have been horrible and tragic. First with the incident about Hushovd's arm. Then Dekker and Rodriguez. And, of course, the loss of Valverde. Of course it doesn't end there and during the time trial on we lost Bobby Julich. While not anything close to a favorite of mine, his crash was horrible. Hopefully the rest of the tour will be low-crash, but I don't hold out hope.

8. Americans. They've sucked. There's no doubt that Landis is the best of the bunch, but in a race when they were supposed to be proving themselves, they've fallen flat. From Hincapie to Landis to Zabriskie to Leipheimer. Of course, I'll go on to say that of course that's why I don't pin my hopes on the Americans at the Tour. But my pick for a winner (since Vino's gone) is Landis, so I can't say that. I don't know what their problem is -- maybe too much pressure to "replace" Armstrong (stupid, stupid, stupid). Maybe just too much pressure in general with the doping business. But that's cycling and all of them should know better. We'll just wait and see what happens. Landis is the best placed and the most composed, I believe. He had to go through this last year with Hamilton anyway, so he's been there. It's just a bit of bad luck that he's not in yellow, I think.

9. Weather. It's been hot. Disgustingly hot. And then it'll rain a bit and go back to being hot. Hopefully it'll sort itself out in the mountains, but I don't hold out much hope. It's not an excuse (like England with their we can't play in hot weather crap), but it's there. These guys are tough, though. The crashes just happen more when it's hotter.

10. Fans. I wanted to say that they were good. They helped when Dekker and Rodriguez crashed, but that's it. They were the reason Hushovd's arm was cut up and they caused Sandy Casar to crash. I cannot imagine what might happen with the thousands of fans in the mountains. I hope that they learn to behave themselves. This year, more than ever, it seems the fans are causing more problems than before. Or maybe it's just that they are doing it more visibly this year.

Whatever happens, though, I think this tour is pretty damn awesome. I can't wait for the next two weeks.

Tags: tour de france, rest day

Stage 8 - Sunday, July 9: Saint-Méen-le-Grand - Lorient, 181 km

I am behind a day. Real life and the World Cup got in the way. No, I wasn't rooting for Italy. Yes, I still love Zidane. And yes, I am ready for the EPL and CL. Moving on.



Sunday's stage was yet another flat stage. But unlike previous stages, there was something special out the break. And that something special was Sylvain Calzati. He went off the front of the break and somehow managed to stay away. It was pretty amazing. I was also impressed with the fact that he managed to go off the front, keep the two chasers from catching him -- and finish over two minutes ahead of the peloton.

In a tour that's been anything but normal, this stage fit right in. It was the first flat stage to have a breakaway actually work. And it was just awesome that Calzati did it alone. It's too bad that the French football team couldn't back him up.

There were also two chasers who fought it out for second and third place. They were almost caught by the peloton, only 10 seconds separated them. Finland's Kjell Carlström and France's Patrice Halgand did a really good job of keeping ahead of the peloton, but no matter how hard they tired, they just could not catch Calzati.



Other than the break, nothing much happened. The yellow remains on the Gonchar's shoulders. McEwen is still in green (much to the dismay of Tom Boonen) and there were also no changes in the King of the Mountains or the young rider. Of course, come Wednesday, all of this might change. But before then we have a rest day (Monday) and another flat stage (Tuesday). I hope, though, that we'll get another break that lasts.

Tags: cycling, tour de france, stage eight

Stage 7 - Saturday, July 8: Saint-Grégoire - Rennes ITT, 52 km

It was supposed to be a day when the contenders would be exposed. When everyone would know who the top riders at the tour were. What happened was completely unexpected. The worst, of course, was poor Bobby Julich. He crashed horribly (took a corner far too fast) and that finished his tour. Such a sad result. Another big surprise, Levi Leipheimer completely underperformed, while a few of his teammates did surprisingly well. CSC's Dave Zabriskie also didn't do that well, finishing a disappointing 13th. And to completely the disappointment for the US, Discovery did not get a single rider in the top ten of the stage.



George Hincapie, one of the so-called favorites, failed to show anything like the form he had during the short prologue at the beginning of the tour. Hincapie finished fourth, and the best placed Discovery rider was Paolo Savoldelli in 19th.

Not everyone was disappointing. Six of the top ten were from German teams (T-Mobile and Gerolsteiner). One of those, the seventh place finisher, was the young Marcus Fothen in his first Tour de France. His teammate, Sebastian Lang, also road well and held the lead for most of the stage.

But hope was not completely lost for the Americans -- or me. Since the dismissal of Vino's team, I'd been search for a new "favorite." I'd settled on Landis or Valverde, but with Valverde out after a horrible crash, I was left with Landis or a fantasy (aka Chavanel or Gilbert -- impossible). And so when Landis was reported to have had a flat, I was about to throw my hands up in the air in despair. Of course, I should not have.


Instead of letting the flat ruin his time trial, Landis decided to step it up. For the second time trial in a row, Landis lost significant seconds but proved that he is something else. He fought and fought and finished the stage in second place. I know a lot of people said that had he not had the flat, he wouldn't have fought so hard, but I don't know. And honestly I don't think it matters. He went all out and made up a lot of time. And while most people are at least a minute and several seconds back, Landis is exactly a minute behind the man in the yellow jersey.

The man, of course, is Serguei Gonchar. The Ukrainian T-Mobile rider (and former world time trial champion) rode a superb time trial and settled himself comfortably into the yellow jersey. Of course, he's not known for his climbing and therefore it unlikely he'll remain in yellow.


But everything isn't bleak for T-Mobile. There are five Germans in the top ten of the general classification, and of those, four are from T-Mobile. Gonchar is obviously in first, but following are Mick Rogers in third, Patrik Sinkewitz in fourth and the man most likely to lead T-Mobile, Andreas Klöden. If Klöden is on form, and it's hard to say -- we haven't seen a lot of him so far, he could definitely be up there fighting it out with Landis.

Another surprise is the fifth place on GC for the young Marcus Fothen. He established himself in the white jersey yesterday and, if he can, plans to keep it. Of course, his goal is now to work for his teammates, but you never know.

There are no French riders in the top ten so far. The closest is Christophe Moreau, but he's in 12th. Of course, we have yet to hit the mountains and it's likely everything will change again.

Tags: tour de france, time trial, floyd landis, cycling, serguei gonchar, t-mobile

Stage 6 - Friday, July 7: Lisieux - Vitré, 189 km

The sprinters, as they say, will have their day. Though I'm not sure who exactly "they" are, Stage 6 was certainly their day. It didn't of course, start out that way. Instead, there were a flurry of break attempts, including one with some 17 cyclists (including the yellow jersey -- I don't know whose bright idea that was). It of course didn't last, but such is the nature of the break. In fact, it's the theme of the breaks in the tour this year. Not a single one has lasted.

I listened to the stage at work on Eurosport (which was so totally awesome. I might ditch OLN audio in favor of Eurosport -- I just haven't decided on that yet) and one of the commentators was really excited about breaks. He called himself a bit sentimental because not only did he want Erik Zabel to win (birthday boy and all), but if he couldn't have that, he wanted the break to stay away. And I'm there with him. I love breaks that last. Hopefully we'll have a few in the early mountains.

The Stage 6 break consisted of three riders, the French Champion Florent Brard, Maggie Bäckstedt, and Anthony Geslin. Two French and one Swede. They works had, though Bäckstedt worked the hardest. They were doomed from the start, since Geslin was the highest ranked rider and QuickStep was definitely not going to lose the jersey before the so called 'defining' time trial on Saturday. So the riders kept at it, even though it was a mostly futile effort. It'd have been nice for one of them to win, but of course it wasn't to be.


Nor was it to be Erik Zabel's birthday. He'd won his first Tour de France race 11 years ago to the day. And, on the day he turned 36, many of us (myself included) wanted him to in. But unfortunately it was not a stage that suited Zabel. Instead, there was, of course, a bit of a battle. And the winner? Simple the best at sprinting out of nowhere, Robbbie McEwen. Again.

Yes, you read that right. McEwen managed to win another stage -- his third of the tour this year. THIRD. I cannot believe it. I mean, well, yeah he's good (and even though I cannot stand him, I at least admit that) but really. I'd like to see other people win stages. Which, I suppose, is why a lot of people don't like sprinter's stages. I'll confess that a stage can be pretty awesome and then McEwen will win and I'll just think the stage sucked. But a stage shouldn't be judged by it's winner. And today's was a good stage, in spite of the fact that McEwen won.


Boonen kept the yellow jersey for one more day (unless he blows us all away with his time trialling skills -- but I don't think he has a chance). The King of the Mountain jersey didn't change hands (even though there was a brief fight the other day. And, most impressively, the young Benoît Vaugrenard took back the young rider's jersey with some awesome tactics. He took a six second time bonus that put him back in white and gave him three seconds on Marcus Fothen. The white jersey competition is turning out to be a lot of fun. I'm actually writing about it over at cycling fans.

Tags: cycling, tour de france, tom boonen, robbie mcewen

Stage 5 - Thursday, July 6: Beauvais - Caen, 225 km

I have yet to decide who I'll root for on Sunday, but it'll probably be France. If only because I am a huge fan of Thierry Henry and I've got a bit of a crush on Zidane. And, as the Devil says, Allez Les Bleus! But, now, back to the stage.

The fifth stage of the tour was treated to a bit of rain, but mostly (what OLN showed us, at least) it was sunny. There was a break, but unlike yesterday's, the one today was composed of only two riders. One from Ag2r and one from Milram. The lack of Zabel wins had me hoping that the Milram rider, Björn Schröder, would somehow manage to stick it out for the win. That, of course, was not to be.



Although the chase often seemed feeble at best, the break was eventually caught and the the bunch reformed. Unlike yesterday, when there was only one major accident, (resulting in a minor form of chaos) there were a few today. Everyone did finish the and there was a scary moment when Discovery looked like they were going to lose Egoi Martinez. But luckily for both Martinez and Discovery, he was able to finish the race.

Once the peloton caught the riders, there was a mess of trains and sprinters all trying to work out a way to beat Robbie McEwen. Yesterday I mentioned that the best way for Tom Boonen to win or get more points was to make sure that McEwen was boxed out. And what happened today? Exactly that. I had to have a laugh when I watched because really, who expects that? Anyway.

So Boonen did as I suggested and, well, he certainly didn't win.



The magnificent Oscar Freire both outwitted and outsprinted the best this year's Tour has to offer. Not only did he beat Boonen to the line, but his tactics surprised everyone. While the majority of the sprinters were driving toward the left (the "inside"), Freire -- in a moment of pure genius, really -- saw an opening on the right (the "outside") took a chance and blew them all away. It was fantastic. And OLN/French TV showed us an aerial view of Freire's win and man, it was pretty damn awesome.

It was clear how frustrated everyone else was, but I don't care. It was worth it. When cyclists win, their faces are usually filled with happiness and excitement. To me, though, Freire's was just that of pure joy. It was really nice to see such an unexpected win. Not wholly unexpected, as Freire had been sprinting with the lot for the past couple of stages, but he wasn't a favorite. At least not an outright one. And, as anyone who knows me can tell you, I find those wins to be the best and most exciting.

Nothing much else changed, Boonen still has the yellow jersey and he put a few more seconds between himself and Michael Rogers. I don't expect Boonen to keep the jersey much longer (but then again, I didn't think A-Rod would ever move to the Yankees), but we'll just have to wait and see.

Tags: oscar freire, cycling, tour de france, tom boonen

Stage 4 - Wednesday, July 5: Huy (Belgium) - Saint-Quentin, 207 km

This stage, like so many during the first week, started out with a breakaway. The stage was, for the most part, thankfully uneventful. There were no major crashes and no one abandoned. At the very end of the stage, there was a crash involving Julian Dean (Credit Agricole), but he finished the stage. We'll see tomorrow if he was hurt badly. The crash only involved Dean, by some miracle no one else in the peloton hit him and fell. It was kind of surprising, considering how fast people were going. I think that they knew he was going to fall because he wobbled a bit before going down.

Boonen and Quick-Step did a good job protecting the yellow jersey. He finished the stage in fourth place, keeping his one second lead over T-Mobile's Michael Rogers.


The final sprint was confused, as usual, but more with Dean's crash. There wasn't really a battle, as Robbie McEwen just exploded out of nowhere, as usual. He took his 10th win and second of the Tour. Thor Hushovd finished near the top, but was later relegated (I have no idea what exactly he did) apparently cutting Bernhard Eisel (FDJ) off. Eisel said on cyclingnews that Thor cut him off, but he didn't want Thor to lose any points or anything so he didn't complain (unlike last Tour, when Eisel was all about being a bad teammate with Baden Cooke). But, upon further review, the Tour did relegate Hushovd. I didn't see what happened, but I suppose that's just the way it goes.


Neither the young rider jersey nor the king of the mountains changed hands. Next week those will probably change often, unless a lucky young rider ends up in a supurb break. None of these breaks so far have ended up being as spectacular as the one where Voeckler won the yellow. I don't know when we'll see another like that -- if ever. But for now, it's Tom Boonen topping the yellow jersey competition and hot on Robbie McEwen's heels for the green jersey. All Tom needs to do is win the stage and finish in the top and then make sure McEwen is boxed out. Of course, I don't see that happening, but this is the tour.

Stage 3 - Tuesday, July 4: Esch-sur-Alzette - Valkenburg (Netherlands), 216 km

Dude to family obligations and the holiday, my update is again a day late. But, hey, that's life, right? Hopefully today's will be posted tonight, but work gets in the way, too. Anyway, onto the stage.



On the one hand, this stage was pretty awesome. A break that stayed away, a rider who give it a go and won and a couple of crashes. Of course, the crashes were much worse than the usual run of the mill crashes. Cyclingnews has a rundown of the crashes, so I won't rehash them here. I will say that I am sad to see Valverde go because it would have been nice to him win (even though I've some how started to root for Landis), the tour or stages, it didn't matter. But now he's out and that's just to sad.



Of course it's a bit worse for Erik Dekker. Not only did he abandon, but he was knocked out. And, of course, this was probably his last Tour. Very sad. I hope all the victims of the crashes heal fast. I think, sometimes, people forget that cycling is sometimes dangerous. I know that when I showed some of my friends the pictures of Dekker and Rodriguez, they were very surprised. And then, of course, I had to tell them that the pictures were as bad as they looked, unlike with Hushovd yesterday.

Not everything sucked, though. There is a new young rider, Marcus Fothen and a new king of the mountain, Jérôme Pineau. And, of cousre, Hushovd is no longer in the yellow jersey. I'll get to that in a moment.




What happened? Well, once the break was caught, it was a flurry of attacks (including one by Philippe Gilbert) and one of them was successful. At the end of stage two, Kessler had tried and come so close to winning the stage, only to be swallowed up by the peloton. He'd gone to early and lost his chance. But today? It was a complete different story. He timed it exactly right and managed to stay away. And then he won. It was really good. And to make the day even sweeter for T-Mobile, Michael Rogers beat everyone else to the line for second.




Unfortunately for Thor Hushovd, he was caught behind a crash and ended up losing the yellow jersey after having fought Tom Boonen hard for it on stage two. Which left us with Boonen in both the yellow jersey (not too happy, though -- it was obvious that he wanted to win the stage) and the green jersey. But winning the yellow jersey for at least a stage in your home country is good, so Boonen does have that.

Tags: cycling, tour de france, tom boonen, matthias kessler, t-mobile

Stage 2 - Monday, July 3: Obernai - Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg), 228.5 km

Stage Two was almost spoiled for the sprinters. But, as so many (nine, I think) times before, Robbie McEwen came out of nowhere and beat everyone to the line. And, for the second time, Boonen was beaten to the line. Though the first time in the stage, it was Hushovd who beat Boonen to a sprint point -- and too the yellow jersey back.

The stage was a lot more eventful than Sunday's Stage One. Not only were there two young riders (David De la Funete and Aitor Hernandez) in a break for much of the stage, Boonen wanted to get the yellow jersey to wear into Belgium today. But it was not meant to be. Boonen and Hushovd went off the front of the peloton to battle it out for time. And everyone thought that one of Hushovd's teammates was racing up to keep Tom from taking the time -- but it was Hushovd himself. Battling the sore arm (it's expected to hurt for several days), he managed to ride hard enough to take back the two seconds he needed.

Not everything was that easy.



There were two crashes, one of which happened right as the sprint was going strong -- thus splitting up the peloton. Everyone did finish the stage (though Danilo Di Luca -- suffering illness -- did not start. Poor guy has had a crappy GT season), so that was good. But one of those Saunier Duval riders is the unlucky Angel Gomez. I hope everyone starts tomorrow.

The break cause a shake up of the King of the Mountains. Fabian Wegmann has the jersey yesterday, but the two breakaway riders decided to make a contest of it. It looked, of a bit, like the young Euskaltel-Euskadi Hernandez would end the day in the polka dot jersey, but that was not to be. He blew up on the second to final small climb of the day and ended up finishing about 13 minutes (14 minutes now from the Hushovd) back. But the Saunier Duval young rider (well, one of them), De la Fuente managed to hang on and win the King of the Mountains Jersey.



It was a good day for young riders. And, well, a good day for veterans. It was Hushovd's second yellow jersey of the tour and yet another win for the scrappy Robbie McEwen. Those of you who've read my blog (either of the cycling ones) on any sort of regular basis know that I don't like McEwen. I try hard to, I mean he's a great biker rider and has personality -- but I just can't like him. He does enough things that piss me off so that I can't like him. Kind of like Roger Federer, but without dominating everything.

I must admit that I did not think that McEwen was going to win -- and yet he did. He just appeared out of thin air. It looked as though Hushovd, as he crosed the line, was upset about something. I had to go to work, so I never saw the replay of the win, but I believe McEwen might have bumped Hushovd, but I'm not sure. I did read that they talked and sorted things out -- but who really knows?

Stage three is another sprinter's stage, or perhaps there'll be a breakaway that'll last. Either way, the end of the stage promises to be just as exiting as stage two.

Tags: tour de france, thor hushovd, robbie mcewen, david de la fuente, cycling, tour de france 2006

Stage 1 - Sunday, July 2: Strasbourg - Strasbourg, 183 km

The stage started out like every other flat stage. There was a break of seven riders including the eventual King of the Mountains, Fabian Wegmann and Young Rider, Benoît Vaugrenard. The break, as everyone predicted (and somehow this rarely fails) was eventually caught. And it was then that the real excitement of the stage began. Of course, no one guessed the winner or the incident that followed. Luckily, all the drama on stage one had nothing to do with doping and everything to do with the crowd and the sprinters.


It was only a matter of seconds between the Yellow Jersey of Thor Hushovd and second place George Hincapie. Hincapie, when interviewed by OLN after the stage, mentioned that he was extremely unhappy he hadn't won the stage yesterday (I, on the other hand, was pretty damn happy about that) and wanted a bit of revenge. The only way he'd get the jersey was if Hushovd finished the stage in one of the top three positions.

As the peloton rounded the final bend toward the finish line, the attacks began in earnest and no one was sure who was leading (and I was busy cursing myself for forgetting to save an excel spreadsheet and closing it without saving -- I learned my lesson). It looked like Tom Boonen was going to blow everyone away, but Robbie Mcewen (I think) grabbing Boonen's back wheel and Boonen it was then that Boonen realized he'd gone too early. Boonen, out of the sprint for the day, slipped back (eventually coming in in 13th). With that, the race was wide open.


The name on everyone's list to win if Boonen couldn't, was Robbie McEwen (I want to like him, I really do -- I just can't). But, by some miracle, it was a French rider who took the glory. Boonen had gone too early, leaving the remaining sprinters to fight it out and fight they did. The winner, Jimmy Casper of Cofidis, rode hard, powering his way past everyone else. Never far from the action was McEwen (of course) and hot on his heels was my personal favorite, Erik Zabel. It was really nice to see Zabel fighting out the sprint. I know he misses Petacchi (who doesn't? I know I do), and I was excited when Paul and Phil mentioned Christian Knees (Milram) working hard for Zabel.

There were a number of other sprinters up at the front, aside from Zabel, McEwen and Casper. But then something happened. At first, no one was quite sure, but almost as soon as Casper crossed the line, the cameras switched to show the yellow jersey on the ground, covered in blood. At first we all feared the worse, a horrible crash in the final sprint. But replays showed that was not the case. Instead we could see Hushovd crossing the line, looking down at his arm. And in later replays and pictures you can see the blood just pouring out of a cut. Though the team doctor said that Hushovd will be okay and that the wound isn't that serious, for a few minutes we were all scared.


It looks like a fan waving something, possibly one of the green hands, hit Hushovd in the arm, cutting him. Luckily he'll be okay, but he's lost the yellow jersey he wanted to hold onto for at least a few more days. The recipient? George Hincapie of course. Hincapie, who might possibly be Discovery's new leader (in their lamely titled 'Race to Replace'), took the yellow jersey when Hushovd crossed the line in 9th place.

Though Hushovd is only two seconds behind Hincapie, we'll have to see how his arm holds up to see if he'll win the yellow jersey back from Hincapie. Or if we'll have another day, such as two years ago when Thomas Voeckler made all of France proud. Today, though, it was Jimmy Casper's day. He raced a good sprint and finished on top.

Tags: tour de france, cycling, thor hushovd, george hincapie, fabian wegmann, jimmy casper

Prologue - Saturday, July 1: Strasbourg ITT, 7.1 km

The first stage of the tour should have been focused on Ullrich and Vinokourov and Basso, but instead there were others to take their place. Not to replace them (not on their teams, or even as dominate figures), but to take their place as the names we "need to know" for this years tour. The winner did not come from one of the so called "big names," but instead from a sprinter who I have affection for. The Norwegian Thor Hushovd, of Crédit Agricole, surprised a lot of people (though not OLN's own AL Trautwig).



I was one of the people who expected today's stage to suck. I didn't think that the Tour would be able to pull of an exciting stage, but as I said to my mother during one of our frequent phone calls, it was definitely exiting. I'll post about about non-stage related things in the regular cycling blog, but I just want to say that even though Phil, Paul, & co tend to annoy me, it was nice to hear their voices.

But back to what's important. Today's stage was pretty damn awesome. I really enjoyed it. One of the highlights, aside from the winner, was being able to see a whole lot of Sylvain Chavanel. Chavanel, being France's TT champion, was guaranteed to be on television, but what I didn't know is if I'd get to see him. And I did. And as he rode across the screen, I knew that my love for cycling hadn't flagged. Sure, the doping has had a huge impact (especially since my tour favorite is now out and I've lost two others who have been accused) and yet I am still looking forward to the next three weeks of cycling.

And today increased my excitement. I was yelling at the screen for Chavanel to ride harder. For Savodelli to ride faster. And for Hincapie to just not get there in time. And in the end, I got one of those three things. Hushovd did amazing and I don't know how he won. I'll be honest, I thought that Hincapie had won and I was pretty annoyed (we all know I take sports far too seriously/personally). But then I figured out what really happened, and, well, pure joy.



I know there are a lot of people (especially some over at Podium Cafe) that are unhappy with the result of today's stage. They also see Hincapie's second place as the biggest disappointment of the day. I disagree there, and I disagree with those who are unhappy with David Millar's 17th place. I think that both riders did really well. Hincapie was always a decent TT rider and has been improving, but Thor skipped his national championships in favor of training for today and, well. I think he's shown what he can do. Sure he can't keep the jersey for more than a few days, but still impressive as well.

As for disappointments? I was going to say that Zabriskie's ride was one. But then again, his forte is not short prologues, but longer time trials. If anything, the lack of Brad McGee (and others) is more upsetting than Zabriskie's third place.



Overall, I enjoyed the prologue. I'm the girl who likes every stage (though I am bitter when the boys I want to win don't) from mountains to time trials to sprinters stages. This stage, then, was fantastic and exciting. And for a couple of hours I definitely forgot about all the doping, etc. I cannot wait for the first stage tomorrow.

I am so happy that the Tour is back.

Tags: tour de france, tour de france 2006, prologue, thor hushovd, cycling, dave zabriskie, george hincapie