Should Fangirls Go To Races?

Well, duh, yes of course we should.

But what would we expect? Would it be exciting? Would it be deadly dull? What would we need to take?

Today, we shall explore some of these concepts together. Well, having broken Twitter (see yesterday's post) I can't waste any time on there, so I may as well do this!

Firstly, I have to recommend that you go and read Fede's new blog, Bananas About Bikes:

...which brings together real stories from real fangirls (and fanboys, if there is such a word!) of their experiences at races.  Oh,  I can hear Miss Fede shouting at me "It's not MY blog, it's OUR blog!" as it's a co-operative effort, let's make that plain: this is a fantastic idea, Fede has rounded up some hard-working fangirls who are prepared to write out their first-hand experiences of cycle races, to share with us.

As Figgy said in a comment yesterday, "...if I wanted boring reportage of facts, I could go to any cycling news outlet for that."

And I am sure that there are lots of us who feel the same way: we all have the internet, we can read the Cyclingnews and Velonation reports for ourselves, but it's much more interesting to read about how it appears to other people like us, who don't get VIP passes but stand in the crowd with everyone else.

As you know, Schleckland is actually in the UK, so I'm thinking of attending at least one stage of the Tour of Britain which occurs in September. All I know so far is that it starts in Scotland and ends in London, which is not a lot to go on, but I'm expecting more details next month.

So, what would I expect from attending a race?

Well, I've read the excellent Spectator's Guide to Cycling, which contains helpful hints about where to stand.

For instance, don't go to a downhill section, they will whizz past at 500mph and be a mere blur. Furthermore,  you will have to either walk uphill to get there (puff pant), or walk uphill back to your car at the end of the day (puff pant, phew). The finish is the obvious place, but it will be crowded with hundreds of others.  Personally I think I'll go for one of the small towns en route, preferably one with twisty turny streets to slow them down: or - and/or - one of the feed stations.

Yes, I have a burning desire for a souvenir feed bag, or Musette, as they are properly known (darn, I can feel the Fangirls' Guide to Pro Cycling approaching...) preferably in Team Leopard Trek colours, although it could just as easily turn out to be a Garmin bag, or even a Sky bag.... ...last year I even emailed SaxoBank asking if they had one left over at the end of year, but they never replied (*sniffle*).

I've been watching the race footage very closely, and the riders slow down considerably for feed stations, thus giving more chance to see their hard-working, sweaty little faces. They also discard the emptied bags a few hundred yards further down the road, so that will probably be my position of choice: firstly I'll enjoy seeing them collecting the bags, then I'll run off down the road after them (trying not to look like a crazy fan) and see if I can pick up an empty bag. Who knows, I might even get an unwanted gel bar as well... I've often wondered what they are like.

Incidentally, talking of gel bars, in case (like me) you've ever wondered about them, this is what they look like - right - little sachets with a rip-off top.Worrying similar to hair conditioner or shower gel.... yuck, bet that wouldn't make you pedal faster.   I expect they have strict regimes on the bus to ensure that the shower gel stays on the bus, and the energy gel goes into the musettes....

These are the ones that Team Sky (my second team) use: I guess it's an obvious small sponsorship item, to get your local team to agree to use your particular brand of gels.  The blurb says that Team Sky asked for non-citrus gels, as they thought citrus caused stomach upsets for the riders.. guess it depends how many they eat? We all remember the Specialized commercial, don't we: "I can eat 20 gel bars without throwing up!"  I guess that gives us an idea of what the normal consumption would be...

They seem to cost just under a pound each, by the way: that's about two-thirds the cost of  a loaf of bread, to put it into context for non-UK readers, and to save me having to find a currency converter.

You can see the cyclists fiddle them out of their back pockets, rip the top off with their teeth, squirt it in, then throw away the pack. Apparently the particular benefit of gels is that, being pretty much liquid, they don't contain crumbs: when cyclists are poodling along (as much as pro cyclists ever poodle) they can eat the normal energy bars or muesli bars that we all eat, but when going at speed, the risk of choking on a crumb becomes quite serious, so they take the gels which slide down nice and easily.

Personally I am quite capable of choking on liquid as well as on crumbs, but I see what they mean.

Where were we? Oh yes, talking about going to a race.

Firstly I'm going to come right out and say it, I don't intend to be one of the crowd hanging around by the start line trying to get autographs and a word with the stars.

I know that's probably the main reason for going, for a lot of people, but I so don't want to to be one of "those" fans, you know the ones I mean. The one with the camera shoved in the face of the cyclist, who meanwhile is desperately trying to avoid eye contact and get on with signing in, focusing on the race, interviews with proper journalists etc.  Also, what on earth do you say? "Break a leg"? "Oh I think you're a jolly good cyclist"? "So, tell me, what is the significance of your team number? Do you get to choose it? Do you have a 'lucky' number, I notice that you are often number 6, for example?"  I can't imagine that they are in the mood for any sort of serious conversation, which just leaves "good luck" and "give us a kiss". You can see my problem, can't you?

No, my reason for going is to see whether it's true that the atmosphere of a race is different from watching it on tv: I strongly suspect that the view on tv is going to be massively superior to what you see from the roadside, but I want to find out for myself.

Bearing in mind that I have never been to a sporting event of any sort, let alone a road race, this is what I think the day would be like: settle down everyone, this could take some time.

Preparation:

As soon as the Tour of Britain release details of the route, I download the Race Manual and go though it carefully, checking the stages to work out which stage is a) closest to home and b) most interesting. I'm not sure that I'd take a day off work just to watch a time trial....  I need to work out where to leave my car, and how far in advance I need to get there to avoid the roads being closed off.

As the UK is not quite as committed to road racing as, say, France, it probably won't be that difficult, but I'd like to find a way to be able to get to my car and drive off to another spot, thus doubling my chances of seeing the race and gaining a musette...

Race Day!

Up with the larks, tea and toast - or will I be too excited to eat? Ha ha, no chance, I'll have breakfast as normal.

Sandwiches made the night before, into a bag with bottles of water, camera, spare hanky (in case I get overcome with emotion, or use it to wrap around the scraped knee of a cyclist who falls off  his bike right in front of me and .. no, stop it, aaagh, back to Andyhab!), and a folding camping stool to sit on. Yes, it's a big bag - I'm hoping to collect some loot, remember?

I've already made sure that my car contains useful items such as an umbrella, a selection of coats, spare shoes, more water bottles etc.

Right, we're off! No, I just have to go to the loo before leaving. Right, we're off! I've already worked out my route, so the map is open on the passenger seat.  Spare a moment to wonder if there are any other Schlecklanders doing the same thing, somewhere else in the country.....wouldn't it be great to meet up with some of them... put aside day-dream of meeting other fangirls, and concentrate on driving.

Uneventful journey, arrive in chosen small town in plenty of time, check with policemen on the streets that my plan to get back to my car and drive off will be ok. "yes madam," they say, "you should be fine." UK police are always polite. Scout around for best place to wait. It starts to rain. Go back and sit in car.

Two hours later, things are starting to stir, rain is lessening, so I go and stand by the road.

A long time later, a motorbike with flashing lights comes through, followed by a small group of riders, followed by a large group of riders, followed by a string of vehicles that takes 25 minutes to pass. Well, that was exciting.

Make my way back to my car, move some of the barriers (where did they come from?) so I can get through - luckily it's a small car - and drive off to Location Number Two, the feed station.

Park on grass verge along with several others.

Walk along with umbrella to the Feed Zone: yes, it's still raining, and the wind is getting up. Welcome to sunny Britain. Spot the Team Leopard Trek soigneurs, draped with musettes. Consider asking for one, but I don't have the nerve. Maybe afterwards. Go back and sit in car for an hour or so. Signs of life! Get out of car, oh good, it's stopped raining.

Make my way up to the Feed Zone, now strangely busy. Where did all these other people come from? At last, cyclists! Whoosh!  Funny, I thought they slowed down for feed zones. Oh, they do. They're still going pretty fast, though. Completely unable to pick out any known faces, partly due to them all being splattered in mud and looking grumpy - no smiles to be seen.

Walk along the road until I start finding abandoned bags and bottles. Hmm, pity I'm not an Astana fan.. or a Garmin fan.. or a Liquigas fan....  or - oh, what the heck, I'll just pick up what I find.

Stagger back to my car through the mud, who would have believed that mere push bikes would stir it up so much? Maybe it was the enormous cavalcade of vehicles following, the ones that you never see on the tv. At least I have now seen the famous Broom Wagon!  And I managed to get several bags, one of which might well turn out to be a Leopard-Trek bag, once I get all the mud off - so I'm happy.

Get back in car, struggle to get it off the now-muddy verge. Head for the finish, with the car's heater turned right up - ahh, lovely! Arrive at the finish area, am directed by policemen to park on the outskirts. That's fine, no more than expected. It's raining again, so I sit in the car enjoying the warmth and checking my camera - hmm, a little disappointing, lots of blurred photos of blurred, wet, muddy blokes on bikes. Oh well, pretty much as expected.

Walk into town with my umbrella, receiving strangely warm hails from the Radio Shack bus. Oh, it's a Nissan umbrella, and they sponsor Radio Shack. Shout "Up the R's!" to them. They look at me oddly. Walk on.

Huge crowds of people, despite the rain - well, I guess we're used to it, here. I'm glad my umbrella is a big one, it means I can use it as a shield against anyone who tries to squash me. The barriers are three deep, so I can't see much of the finish, but there's a lot of cheering and shouting.

Suddenly it's all over, the buses are going, so I drift back to my car, change into dry shoes, and drive home.

Well, as you can see, I don't have particularly high expectations of the day! Which is probably better than Plan B:

Arrive early at the start, warm sunny day, lots of promotional gear being given out, get Leopard Trek hat, t-shirt, flag and big foam hand to wave, along with sweeties and bottles of drink. Am spotted by group of ladies who are also wearing Lux socks. Hey, they know about Schleckland! Sing the Eisen Andy song, with much laughter, attracting the attention of a Leopard Trek soigneur, who recognises it despite our terrible Luxemburgisch accents. Andy Schleck comes over and makes us sing it again. He laughs. We give him a chorus of Chou Andy for good luck, kisses all round (several ladies faint at this point but I am made of sterner stuff). The sun shines, we scream and wave our socks as they set off....

.....OK, real life will probably be partway between these two: I am prepared for a long tiring day with no real focus, but I am hoping for a good day with some excitement, some photos, some mementos. Roll on September, I'll keep you posted!

Oh no! I broke Twitter!

Well, there you go, my five minutes of fame on Twitter are up. I broke it.

It's been getting slower and slower over the last couple of weeks - probably all those links I kept putting, to this blog - and now, today, it's taking on average five attempts each time before it will actually do anything.

It's a bit frustrating! So, probably about time I bowed out from it, then.

Hopefully we've gained a few more Schlecklanders, though, so I hope they stay around and join in making comments on the pics...

...talking of which, so this is what they mean when they talk about someone falling off the back of the peloton:

Ouch!

Quick check on Twitter:oh dear, still broken.

And I was halfway through a conversation with Anne (*waves to Anne*) as well.

Now she'll think that I'm very rude and ill-mannered....



Well, it's raining here in Schleckland, and hey, guess what, it's raining in Lux as well! So nice to think that Andy and Jakob and the others are suffering the same 'orrible weather that I am. Say, why don't we meet up for a cup of tea....  drat, I can't: (all together now) no passport.

Instead I shall look at the Howald Tunnel traffic cam - oh good, traffic moving well in both directions - and will ponder upon a comment on Twitter from Caroline concerning a news report in the Surrey Herald about a cyclist who said he "nearly fell off me bike" when he saw what he thought was a panther, while out on a training ride.

It wasn't me, honest!

OK, the thought of chasing cyclists - well, chasing one particular cyclist, before I went into Andyhab and Gave Up Having A Crush On Andy Schleck - has occurred to me, but I promise you, I was not in Surrey on the day in question.

Wait for the Tour of Britain, though, and then we'll see!

Actually, we are all "waiting" for the Tour of Britain - they aren't announcing the route until April (which is nearly here, hooray) and the website says that they are going to be looking for Volunteers for help in "fulfilling a variety of roles at start and finish venues, as well as at intermediate Sprints and King of the Mountains locations"

Well, that sounds fun - bagsy me the one with the wet sponge at the finish....

Huh, bet we wouldn't be allowed to pick what we did! I'd probably end up being the one clearing up the rubbish from the start area once they are under way, so I wouldn't be able to see any of what was going on.. and thanks to Anne for winning the competition to suggest the Worst Job Of A Cycle Race.

Back to Twitter to see if it's working yet; oh dear, things are getting worse.

I was wondering what to blog about this week, and LLB said "what about the Crit?" I thought there wasn't much point, as everyone has seen it, or read about it, by now: as you all know, we are a bit behind the times as we only get the weekends to catch up on all the cycling footage that has been recorded during the week, and after having none, none, none, for weeks, suddenly good old Eurosport has produced a whole pile of races to watch. Yay!

However, LLB said that maybe one or two of you might be interested in my particular "take" on a race (flattery will get you everywhere) and that furthermore, all the journalists etc are writing in retrospect, and again, some people might also be not quite up-to-date.

So, the Criterium International, then!  It's the 80th one: it generally happens every year, with a few gaps for World Wars and stuff like that: it occurs in Corsica, and even though it is not a UCI World Tour race, and therefore doesn't offer any Points which - we know all know - are essential for the Pro Teams to gain in order to keep their Pro Team status, it is still very popular. It's a race of three stages, over two days: confused? Yup, so were we.

Leopard Trek sent a top class team: Andy, Frankie, Jensi, Jakob, Little Fab, plus Maxime, Bruno and Anders.

Day One was the mountains: steep bits! Cobbles! Incredibly narrow roads! Views of the sea!

Jensi was a star, he stormed off  like a good 'un and enjoyed lots and lots of TV time: he's won it five times already, and the commentators frequently suggested that, at nearly 40, this would probably be his last season, although I really can't see why: he absolutely hammered along! Incidentally, apparently he used to spell his surname VOIGHT but he scared the "h" out of it.... oh, the old jokes are the best.

You could almost see on the faces of the other teams the phrase "with two Schlecks on the road, why are we even bothering to push  up the mountains?" and sure enough, towards the end, we had the enormous pleasure of seeing the Schleck Sandwich again: you know, Frankie attacks, everyone goes puff pant in his wake. Just as they get their breath back, Andy attacks: they all go puff pant after him. Then Frankie attacks: repeat until everyone not called Schleck is hanging over their handlebars thinking about throwing up.

So, this tactic worked, and Frankie shot off up the hill and won the first stage.  yay!

Day Two, first thing was the flat stage. Can't tell you anything about that, as it wasn't televised in the UK. I have no idea why! The coverage started mid-way through the ITT, and they didn't even refer to the morning's race, so we had no idea who had won it. Eventually there was a comment that the flat stage was a sprinters' stage, but the sprinters had all been exhausted by the mountain stage of Day One, so nothing much had happened.

OK we thought, let's have this exciting Time Trial, then.

Oh dear, those helmets.

So, we watched the various button mushrooms flying round the course: the footage started in time for us to see Andy's round: he made a terrible start, he was fiddling with his cleats (Kara, as was, I can hear you sniggering, stop it at once!)  (Not you, Kara Lara, the old one!) while the starter guy was doing the strange countdown sign language with his fingers.

Not quite as bad as the guy at Paris-Nice (was it?) who nearly missed his slot altogether, and was running his bike up the back of the ramp while the countdown was already starting... but it was obviously not a good start. He later said that he was having problems with his shoes, as we'd guessed: the cleats wouldn't clip in properly, and it took him something like 100 meters to get going properly.

Despite all this, and despite acknowledging that he's not (yet) a great Time Trialist, he was only 43 seconds off the leading time, which wasn't bad.

Of course, then the commentators started doing sums on their fingers: let's see, Frankie has a 14 second lead plus 10 seconds for winning Day One, and the guy in second place is 17 seconds down, but Andy just came in 43 seconds down, so Frankie will do the same (huh?) which makes him 7 seconds adrift.... etc etc. It was all just waffle to fill in the time.

Kiryienka (Movistar) was the guy to be beaten, and he did a pretty darn good TT: then at long last it was Frankie's turn, and that nice bright yellow jersey shot off the ramp.

Now, I'm not an expert, but I've watched an awful lot of pro cycling in the last few years, and I have been paying particular attention in the last year (for no particular reason at all, er hemandyschleck) and I can tell you that the difference between Frankie's TT and Andy's was really marked. Frankie looked so good! He kept his head up, his bike wasn't wobbling around as much as Andy's was, he was taking good lines round the corners, and I'm not at all surprised that Kim Anderson said "Frank did a very nice time trial today, I think it may have even been the best he has ever done.”And it was enough to win him the overall race, yay!

Not forgetting Jakob, whose TT took him to third place for the stage, so he got a podium finish too! Yay, Jakob!

Well, there you go, a thrilling week: Watched Crit, Broke Twitter. Oops. One final check to see if it's working: Oh dear, are they trying to tell me something?

We saw the Crit - yay, Frankie!

Yay!  See how happy Our Glorious Leader is? He's heard that I have another follower and I am therefore allowed another photo of him, so Hi! to Evaaaaa with lots of aaaas at the end, and thank you for becoming a Schlecklander.

Unndy has also heard that there was cycling on TV in the UK over the weekend, and of course he's very happy that we were able to watch Frankie boy winning the Crit, yay!

Talk about a nail-biting finish, last to go in the TT and not famed for his TT skills, but Frank did a terrific job, and we were thrilled to see him in yellow.

Not to forget Fabian winning E3, but as we didn't get any footage of that, we can't get quite as excited.... and even with the Crit, we didn't get to see any of the road stage. But we have learned to be grateful for whatever scraps Eurosport throw us....

Catalunya is proving to be a bit tricky to follow: I don't know if Eurosport were having problems or just making mistakes, but we got Stage 5 three times, and no Stage 6 at all. We're hoping that what they advertised as Stage 7 will indeed turn out to be that stage.

Moving aside from cycling just for a moment, there's been disturbing goings-on in Leelu's fridge again:

You can clearly see that there is a very dangerous Wild Koala Bear in there, and it appears to be drilling a hole into the wine box, for the purpose of inserting a straw, we believe.

Right! Back to the cycling!

But wait!

There are more scufflings in Leelu's fridge!

Quick, get the baseball bat, there are some highly dangerous kanGERoos in there, and they are making a bid for the wine box as well!

Oh no, panic! There's going to be a fight!

Right, I have restored order in the fridge, and we are back to cycling again.

Everyone remember this pic?

Barbara supplied it as Exhibit A in the "Andy Schleck has a heart-shaped scar on his right leg" episode, so let's pause while everyone focusses on his leg.

Mmmm.

OK, now we'll spare some attention for the oil can.

Why is he carrying an oil can?

Apparently, due to the cut-backs in the peloton - oh, if you missed this controversy, it started with the race radios business: you know, the UCI are phasing out the radios to make the cycling "more exciting", or so they think.

That's phase one.

After the radios have gone, riders will have to start carrying puncture repair outfits in order to fix any flat tyres that they might get while out racing.

Bearing in mind that the number of support members in the cars is also being drastically reduced, the cyclists will also have to act as back-up support for the cars, instead of it being the other way round:

Then, in phase three, the number of roadside helpers will also be reduced, so instead of feeding stations, riders will have the option of either knocking on doors as they pass through villages, or of using service stations en route:

As you can see, Astana are one of the first teams to really embrace these new rules and restrictions.

I've searched the Leopard Trek site quite thoroughly (as you can imagine) and I haven't found any mention of what their strategy is going to be, but no doubt they'll have a press conference to announce it shortly.
















Finally, a truly ridiculous picture that was just too good to keep over until next winter...



Wonder what the policeman is thinking?

"He looks 'armless!"

"  'Sno way to be riding a bike!"

20 followers! A new Pic!

Look! It's Frankie, with four arms!

No, wait, that can't be right, how would he ever get cycling jerseys to fit?

Mind you, it would come in handy when helping Martine change nappies etc (on the BABY, on the BABY) and it might be handy for playing two musical instruments at once...

Interesting thought, does anyone know if Our Glorious Leader has any musical tendencies? I mean, he has a lovely dark brown voice, but can he sing?

And now, JUST FOR LEELU  (well, for all the Jakob fans as well) in the hopes that she will, one day, if I am penitent enough, forgive me for the Dominic/Beaker thing:

Sorry ladies, no tongue, but he's doing a good "air ram" impression...

And now, with thanks to Anne for joining the merry throng of Schlecklanders, a not-exactly-new but not-that-over-used picture of the lovely Andy Schleck, and oh look, he's wearing a nice zippy top, ah, he has listened to my pleas to avoid the horrible (*shudders*) button things.

Say, have you seen the team that Leopard-Trek are sending to the Criterium International?

Andy, Frankie, little Fab, Jakob, Jensi: wow! Great line-up!

Starts tomorrow, and do we have any Eurosport coverage? No, we don't. Waaaah!

And guess what, I still have no passport, so I can't even drive over there to watch it! (she says, blithely, as if it were that easy...)

Other news for today - or rather yesterday - is that the UCI have, at the very last second, announced that they are indeed going to appeal over Contador's lack of a ban.

Groan! Can we bear it, all over again? Will it ever end? Will things ever be black and white (as Andy wants it to be) again?

Dominic Klemme - now who does he remind me of?

No don't tell me, it'll come to me in a moment...

Hey Leelu, this is what I found when I opened the fridge!

With apologies to everyone else:

The Face Plant: now I know what that means...

If you've been following this blog, you'll know that I'm a bit behind with my cycling viewing at the moment: we don't get much TV coverage in the UK, so we have to be grateful to Eurosport for what we get.

Unfortunately, we got 8 days of Paris-Nice and 7 days of Tirreno-Adriatico, all on at weird times of the day, and overlapping.

Now, as I have mentioned, I don't actually have TV at home (no, really!) so I rely on my boyfriend to let me watch his TV if there is cycling on. Luckily he has just bought a Hard Disc Drive recorder - I will still be using words like tape and video, but you know what I mean - and we managed to record pretty much all of it, but it's taking us a while to watch it. So you'll have to excuse me if some of my comments here are a bit out of date!

Anyway, the "Face Plant".

I heard this expression for the first time, then, over the weekend, it cropped up in the commentary on the Tirreno-Adriatico.

It was used in reference to Andre Gruipel from Omega Pharma Lotto, apparently he fell off in the warm up on the first day, and had to do the Team Time Trial looking like this (right), poor man.

He was obviously feeling bad, as he pulled out of the race on the following day.

I guessed from the context that he'd fallen off in such a way as to make contact with the tarmac with his face.

And then I found this:

There's not really a lot I can add to this, except AUTCH! as Andy and Frankie say!

And actually, I can add something (apart from "anyone know who the rider is?" ) and that's another face plant:

Oh dear!

It's a wonder that any pro cyclists have any teeth left!

And yes, Figgy, I don't have TV. Well, why should I? I don't care for:

a) Cooking shows - I can already cook.
b) Garden progs: see above. Plus they make me throw things at the screen.
c) Reality TV (*makes throwing up gesture*)
d) Football (*repeats throwing up gesture*)
e) House makeovers - for heaven's sake, throw out the clutter, paint it plain colours, how difficult can it be?
f) Soaps (*repeats throwing up gesture*)
g) So-called Talent shows - ugh, shudder, not likely.


Is there anything else on tv these days? LLB lets me watch the cycling at his place, along with Pro Bull Riding if  I am good, and occasionally we pass the time with winter sports - we're both quite keen on Nordic skiing, bob sled, and I don't mind Skeleton Bob even though it's quite scary to watch, but I'm afraid I cackle hysterically at Luge:

I  mean, can you imagine a less flattering angle for a photo?

And the way the competitors' bodies, in slow motion, wobble around like a wet-suit filled with custard - sorry troops, can't take it seriously.

Where was I? Oh yes, now that Stargate SG-1 has finished, there's not a lot of point watching tv, so I don't.

Instead I have an extensive library of DVDs, and I have just finished watching Twin Peaks. This has been quite a revelation to me, as I didn't watch it when it came out (guess why? Yup, no tv), and now at least I know who the Log Lady is/was.

And I've seen David Duchovny in drag. Very convincingly! I shall leave you with this image, and invite any comments...

Sanremo on Saturday!

Deep joy, the Milano-Sanremo is on Saturday, and it's actually going to be televised on UK tv, at a time when we can actually watch it!

We have a Stuey, two Fabians, and a Linus, plus Robert, Anders, Wouter and Daniele, who LLB always thought was Daniel EEEbennati, so we still pronounce it that way amongst ourselves.

There's quite a nice description of the course and tactics here, so now I am all ready for the event, and hoping that we don't have another accident-waiting-to-happen like this one from last year:

"Shoot that liddle dawg!"

I'm quite excited about watching a race live (we are still five days behind with our Tirreno footage, so don't tell me who won it!) as it actually happens, so hooray for Eurosport, more cycling coverage please, but NOT two races at once, it's just too tricky trying to watch them both and not get confused over who is in which race... being still in the middle of both Paris-Nice and Tirreno as we are, we've had to make ourselves crib-sheets with the names and numbers of our "pet" riders!

More good news - two more Schlecklanders! Welcome to Eva, and to another Kara, with fingers crossed that this Kara is not going to spend all her time in the Naughty Corner as our original Kara does...  This means I get to choose another pic of Our Glorious Leader:
 

With thanks to Mr Kemp at Photo.lu for permission to use it.

Good Tuftage, do we think?

More cycling news, if you can bear to concentrate on the words instead of Our Glorious Leader: the UCI - aaargh! my soul! my soul! - have until the 24th to appeal against Contador being let off.

Most of the cycling press seem to think that they will appeal, but there's not been any official word yet. I don't know how much it costs to mount an appeal, but it can't be cheap, and I'm thinking they won't appeal unless they are fairly certain of a win.

Unfortunately, a win is less likely now that another cyclist has also just been not-banned for having tested positive for clenbuterol: this is the case of Dutch mountain biker Rudi van Houts who said that he ate meat in Mexico which must have been how he accumulated 50 picograms of the stuff in his test - Conti had 30 picograms.

I say "unfortunately", which is a bit mean to both Conti and van Houts, but I am really having a problem with this whole issue.

On the one hand, if these two (and others) are innocent of taking any PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) then it's a good thing that their federations recognise that it's not always possible to check every single mouthful that you eat. And it's unreasonable to suggest that athletes - who generally eat high protein meat-stuffed diets - should have to have all their food supplies tested, or certified, or something.

But on the other hand, if there is anything the slightest bit dodgy going on, then athletes wanting to cheat will see this as a green light to go ahead and poison themselves with clenbuterol, knowing that they can claim innocent ingestion as their defence.

Difficult, isn't it?

As with many things in life, I guess that if there were an easy answer, someone would have done it by now.

Conti's legal team will no doubt casually mention van Houts' decision as supporting their case: they are also planning to point out how easy it is to buy clenbuterol. According to this report in BikeWorldNews,  they say it is "readily available to buy via the internet" and we know this to be true, having spotted it in an earlier blog entry being sold for weight loss.

I guess they are trying to make the point that the Bad Beef Producers can easily buy the stuff, even though it is banned for use in cattle.  Perhaps they don't quite appreciate the difference between fat women buying one bottle of the stuff to lose weight, and farmers buying additives by the sackload to dose up their entire herds... but we'll assume that they know what they are doing.

Well, finally for today, in case you are wondering why I haven't been quite as prolific this week as usual, it's all LEELU's fault (*points accusing finger*) for getting me interested in Twitter, which is now driving me demented and eating up my spare time. It's not as easy as you might have thought: thanks to the lessons from Auntie Leelu, I can now tweet (my last one concerned my washing machine, on the grounds that Leelu said "just talk about anything", heh heh heh) and I am starting to get my Lists organised.

Look, proof: note the subtle plugs for the blog, but apparently it's ok, you're allowed to do it.

I still can't work out how to filter out messages that are addressed to me that come in while I'm not online, and are therefore swamped amidst the general noise of incoming posts.

It seems quite rude that someone might say "hello" (don't ask me why), and I would never know about it:, so I wouldn't ever reply. Unless I just happen to be online at that very minute.

Perhaps the trick is that you wait until the person is tweeting, then quickly tweet them back?

Anyway, I said I'd give it five minutes - well, actually, I said that I would never last longer than  five minutes, same thing really - and it's been three minutes and 50 seconds, so I'll stick with it a bit longer... come and say hello if you have a Twitter account, and the best time to catch me is early in the morning - 7am GMT - and late afternoon. And no, I'm not using txtspk!

Some odd photos....

Time for some odd photos that caught my eye while I was looking for pictures of Andy researching a serious cycling story over the weekend.

Look! The Footon Servetto kit is back!

Yes, it's Lampre in the lead as he takes the awkward right-hander onto the Champs Elysees, followed by Footon Servetto, with Footon Servetto close behind, and there's a Footon Servetto rider trying to take  him on the outside...

Huh, makes our current problems in differentiating between the black-and-white kits seem quite trivial, doesn't it?

Could this possibly be "Bear-Back Riding?"

I don't think the ears are sufficiently close together to allow for a truly aerodynamic position, what do you think?








Oh dear, the road appears to be a bit damp up ahead.

And finally... yes, we've all seen it before, but just for Eli:

 There, hope we are all feeling better now.

So, Paris-Nice is over and done with, not quite the finish that Frankie was hoping for, but it was an interesting race to watch - and personally, I'm still watching it!

Good old Eurosport have done their best by bringing us both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, and the HDD recorder managed to get most of it. Trouble is, we didn't get enough time over the weekend to watch it all, so I'm only half-way through the TT! Knowing the final result beforehand does slightly take the edge off the viewing experience, but it's still very interesting to see how they got there.

And Tirreno ends tomorrow - go boys! Go! 

Cece made a good point in her comment - the one that got caught by the spam filters, I have no idea why and I have reported it to Google as "not spam!" so sorry, Cece, nothing personal! - with regard to race radios, and that is the question of what happens if a rider is seriously injured in a situation where race radios would have prevented it?  Will there be lawsuits?

Jensi ("go Jensi!") has made his viewpoint very clearly known, in his open letter to the UCI. In case you haven't read it, he says - amongst other things -

If I had a fatal crash, who of you, who think the radio ban is a great idea, will go to Berlin and explain to my six children that it was the right decision and daddy was just an unlucky victim in the so important battle for more drama in cycling?

Oooer!

I've been trying to find out what was said when radios were first introduced, back in the mid-90s: were there complaints from the riders then? Did they complain that it was taking away their individuality? Did they object to having the DS take control of the race?  It would be very interesting to see what the riders thought, at that time, so if anyone can find any archive comments, I'd very much like to hear about them.

Race Radios

There is a rumour in the peloton that certain teams are finding ways to circumvent the forthcoming ban on race radios:

Do you think anyone would notice?
























I'm currently catching up on the Paris-Nice footage, and David Harmon, commentating, keeps relaying messages they've received saying how much more interesting the race is, without radios. And he keeps saying "and the funny thing is, that they are indeed wearing radios!"

This makes me think that a lot of people don't actually know what they are talking about.

My opinion? I've only really followed pro-cycling since post-radio days, I'm perfectly happy with the level of excitement and spontaneity that I see, so I'd like to see them continue.

However, the UCI are in charge (no matter what we may think about them) and if they want to take radios away, then we have to do what they say. I can see that point that without radios it's harder for one team to control the peloton, and that without them there would be a lot more to-ing and fro-ing, which might be seen as more exciting.

But I really don't like the idea of the team cars having to butt their way into the peloton to give orders to riders. That seems ludicrous!

So, a middle course? How about allowing the Road Captains to have the radio, but not the rest of the team. I think that this way, the Road Captain would be informed of problems and guided in tactics by the DS - who has a much better overview of the race - but it would be up to him to choose how and when to relay information  to the rest of the team.

While we think about that, a little light relief: what do we think this little peasant lady is thinking as she admires Andy Schleck's bottom?

Loupe - Day Four

Day Four: Speciality Loop

Hello again to all our listeners, you're back with me, Lars Fargleson, and my colleague Rob is in the studio again, for the fourth and final day of this exciting race.

Today, much to our relief, we are back in normal race numbers, so it should be easier for us to identify the riders.(laughs)

So, what thrills and spills have the PUIAB in store for us today? Well, in line with the request from the UCI to make road cycling "more interesting", that's their words, not mine, the PUIAB have provided bikes for today's racing.

The course is a simple loop around the town, starting as usual from the Town Hall.

Riders will mount their bikes and follow the course, paying close attention to all road signs, to avoid accidents.

And here they are lined up at the start.

Well, this is quite a sight to see, I have no idea where the people of Loupe found all these bicycles for the teams to use. Perhaps it is a good thing that we lost so many teams in the Prologue. (laughter)

Oh, I'm being told by Rob at the studio that these bicycles are traditional in Loupe, and have been since the 1870s.

Of course, they are what we would call "fixies", which means no freewheeling, and no changing gear: just hop up and off you go. But these bikes have one significant advantage over track bikes, in that they do have a brake: yes, just the one, but it does give the rider at least some chance of stopping it safely!

 And Geox take the intermediate sprint, just pipping Sky to the points.

 Things are really starting to hot up  now, as they take the sharp bend out of town, heading for the ring road.

AG2R are well in the lead, with Sky hanging on behind them.

 And as they pass by the River Loupe again, AR2R make a strong bid to win the King of the Mountains jersey as well as the sprint points, what a valiant effort!

Finally, in an exciting end to the day, there is a bunch sprint for the finish line.

Well, what can I say, a fantastic end to a somewhat unusual but generally enjoyable four-day Loop of Loupe.

Rob and I are so glad that you were able to join us, sorry we can't bring you the podium finish as, once again, we are out of time, and I assure you those podium girls are well worth seeing!

Oh, nearly forgot to give you the results, we are still waiting for the final points to come in but it looks as though Leopard are clear winners, with Sky in second place, and Saxo Bank third.

Well, we hope that you enjoyed the last four days as much as we did, and we look forward to seeing you all hear again next Spring.

Loupe: Day Three - Ticker

Day Three: Radio Loop

Hello again to all our listeners, you're back with me, Lars Fargleson, and my colleague Rob in the studio, for the third day of this exciting race.

The UCI, after pressure from the remaining teams, and representation from the teams who lost members in the swamp during the Prologue, have agreed on a partial concession regarding the use of race radios, for this stage of the race only.

Teams were instructed to pick up their hand-held one-way walkie-talkies from the race organisers, PUIAB, before the third stage.

Each team was allowed three handsets: one to be held at base, one for the team car, and one to be shared amongst the riders. As we still don't have television coverage for you, we're bringing you a live ticker, to keep you up to date with the race, and we're adding in as many of the radio comments as we can.

14.20 CET Race begins: all the teams get off to a good start, although we are having problems identifying which rider is which, as today's racing is being sponsored by the Hikasuki Corporation, and they have provided race numbers for the day. Unfortunately they have chosen to use Chinese numbering, which is a bit confusing for us, so bear with us if we get some of them wrong.

14.30 CET The rolling start went well, the pack are leaving Loupe along the northern road, and are heading out into the countryside. The radio chatter has already started:

"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, there is a pothole up ahead, level with the hobbled donkey - it is to the left of the white line and it's quite a big one. Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, thank you, we see it, will try to avoid. Out."

14.40 CET There has been some jostling for position, but no breakaway yet.

"AG2R Car to AG2R 3, we want you to take a turn at the front, Over."
"AG2R 1 to AG2R Car, AG2R 3 isn't with us right now. Over."
"AG2R Car to AG2R 1, well, go and find him, Out."

14.41 CET One of the Astana team - can't quite read his number, it looks like "A Suffusion of Yellow" - has flown off the front of the peloton. Two riders from Saxo Bank - "Softly Falls the Jasmine" and "Spring comes and the Grass grows by Itself" - are in hot pursuit, along with Leopard's "An Eternity of Endless Space". It's far too early for a breakaway, I give them maybe five minutes before they are reeled in.

14.50 CET Yes, the breakaway has been reeled in, well, that didn't last long. One of the HTC riders is complaining.

"HTC Car to HTC 1, say again, Over"
"HTC 1 here, why are we in this shitsmall race? Over"
"HTC Car to HTC 1, shut up and pedal. Out."

15.00 CET We are moving through some lovely rolling countryside here. The pace is picking up slightly.

"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, we have seen a stone in the road, it's near the left-hand edge, just by a large oak tree . Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, thank you, we see it, will try to avoid. Out."

15.10 CET The Sky riders appear to have some non-standard equipment on their bikes, they almost look like small satellite dishes... Rob, can you have a look on the Sky website and see if they mention it?

(Rob speaks) Yes, Lars, I have the Sky website up on my computer, they seem to be doing a Q and A session live online!

(Lars again) Well, that's a new one on me. What are they saying?

(Rob replies) ummm, well, they're answering questions about the Time Trial Prologue, there's a lot of questions about having to go over that chasm.

(Lars again) Huh! Well, that explains why they are riding in such close formation this afternoon, and don't seem to be paying much attention to the breakaways. Oh, talking of which, a small bunch have gone off the front. Looks like "The clear stillness of autumn water" from Saxo Bank leading the bunch, with "A bird sang, everyone listened" from Leopard and two of the Astana riders, "He moves not the grass" and, is it "A Suffusion of Yellow" again? No, it's not "A Suffusion of Yellow", it's "An Ocean of pure Reality".

15.25 CET The four breakaway men are getting away, they've got 2 minutes 12 seconds on the peloton, but now the peloton are picking up speed.

"Leopard Base to Leopard Car, what is Leopard 2 saying to you? Over."
"Leopard Car to Leopard Base, nothing. Out"
"Leopard Base to Leopard Car, I can see Leopard 2 still talking to you, what is he saying, Over."
"Le'ss go home, le'ss go home awk! Leopard Base this is Leopard Car, ignore that, Leopard 2 is being silly, have sent him back into the peloton. Over."
"Leopard Base to Leopard Car, I will speak to you when we get back. Out."

15.40 CET The breakaway are losing ground, just 1 minute 45 seconds now, the gap is closing.

"AG2R Car to AG2R 1, we want you to take a turn at the front, Over."
"AG2R 2 to AG2R Car, AG2R 1 isn't with us right now. Over."
"AG2R Car to AG2R 2, well, go and find him, Out."

15.50 CET The peloton are picking up speed, and some riders are being dropped off the back.

"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, there seems to be a broken branch in the road just ahead, it's on the right-hand side, level with the speed limit sign. Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, thank you, we see it, will try to avoid. Out."

16.00 CET The peloton is well strung out now, but the breakaway are working really well together. Leopard's "A bird sang, everyone listened" is pulling really strongly, they are maintaining their lead, in fact they are storming ahead and are now 3 minutes 25 seconds clear of the field.

"HTC Car to HTC 1, what did you say, Over"
"HTC 1 here, I said, I want to know why we are in this shitsmall race? Over"
"HTC Car to HTC 1, shut up and pedal. Out."

16.07 CET The peloton seem to be struggling, the front edge is wide and level again, and they are losing time against the breakaway, who continue to ride strongly together. Oh! I spoke too soon, one of the Astana riders has punctured, I think it's "An Ocean of pure Reality".

16.10 CET That was good work from the Astana car, "An Ocean of pure Reality" is back with the breakaway.

"AG2R Car to AG2R 2, we want you to take a turn at the front, Over."
"AG2R 3 to AG2R Car, AG2R 2 isn't with us right now. Over."
"AG2R Car to AG2R 3, well, go and find him, Out."

16.15 CET At last, the peloton are getting organised, Garmin are at the front and are pulling well.

"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, tell Garmin 2 to stop rolling his sleeves up. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, he always does it. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, well we don't like it, it spoils the look. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, well I've told him, and told him, but he always does it. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, well tell him again. Over."
"Garmin Car to Garmin Base, tell him yourself. Over."
"Garmin Base to Garmin Car, don't give me that, get on to him and TELL HIM. Out.

16.20 CET There's something happening at the front of the peloton, one of the Garmin riders appears to be having an argument with his team mates, and is now sitting up. The rest of the Garmin team are losing their cohesion, and several of them are pulling at their sleeves. HTC are moving up towards the front of the peloton.

"HTC Car to HTC 1, get up the front with the others, would you? Over"
"HTC 1 to HTC Car, why bother, it's a shitsmall race. Over"
"HTC Car to HTC 1, shut up and pedal. Out."

16.30 CET The move by HTC has had some success, the peloton are stringing out again, and oh, another puncture, looks like "An Eternity of Endless Space" from Leopard with his arm up. The team car is running up behind him - yes, it's a puncture. Whoops, the mechanic has dropped the new wheel, that won't earn him any praise, but it's all right, the new wheel is in place, and "An Eternity of Endless Space" is back in the race.

"AG2R Car to AG2R 3, we want you to take a turn at the front, Over."
"AG2R 2 to AG2R Car, AG2R 3 isn't with us right now. Over."
"AG2R Car to AG2R 2, well, go and find him, Out."

16.40 CET Well, Rob, I have to say that having such a small number of teams left in the race is really playing havoc with the peloton, isn't it?

(Rob replies) Yes, Lars, with so few teams, we have 3 teams in the breakaway - Saxo, Astana and Leopard - which means that there's less teams in the peloton prepared to do any work. Garmin had a go, but there still seems to be some sort of squabble going on, and one of the HTC riders appears to be sulking at the back. I'm a little surprised that AG2R aren't making more of a showing.

(Lars responds) Yes, AG2R have some good strong riders in their team, in particular, er, "One single still light shines bright" I would have thought he'd be well up the front, but they seem to be scattered all through the peloton.

(Rob says) "One single still light shines bright"? Or did you mean "Leaves fall and flowers bloom"?

(Laughter - Lars replies) You are right, I did mean "Leaves fall and flowers bloom" of course! These Chinese numbers are very hard, aren't they? (more laughter)

"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, there seems to be a paper bag blowing loose in the road ahead, this might be a problem. Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, thank you, we see it, will try to avoid. Out."

16.55 CET Our breakaway group are starting to look at each other. With only 9km to go, they must be thinking about having a go. "An Ocean of pure Reality" looks to be struggling, that earlier puncture might have given him more of a problem than we thought. The other Astana rider, "He moves not the grass" is looking nervously around. If he can't rely on his team-mate to come with him, well, that could make it difficult to leap away from the bunch. That's it! "A bird sang, everyone listened" has made a break, quickly followed by Saxo Bank's "The clear stillness of autumn water" who leapt across to the Leopard's wheel. The two Astana riders are dropping back, it looks as though it's going to be a two-horse race at the end here.

"AG2R Car to AG2R 2, is AG2R 1 there, we want him to take a turn at the front, Over."
"AG2R 3 to AG2R Car, AG2R 1 isn't with us right now, nor is AG2R 2. Over."
"AG2R Car to AG2R 3, well, go and find them, Out."

17.03 CET Oh, my, the peloton is in trouble, there's a sheep or a large dog or something in the road.

"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, was that a sheep in the road? Over."
"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, there was indeed a sheep in the road, so sorry that we didn't warn you about it, anyone in trouble? Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, well, we all missed the sheep, we're all ok, no tumbles. Over."
"Euskaltel Car to Euskaltel riders, well done everyone! We'll keep an even closer eye out for trouble. Over"
"Euskaltel 1 to Euskaltel Car, thank you, it was a close one. Glad you're watching out for us. Out."

17.12 CET And it's getting exciting, the two leaders are giving it full gas to get to the line first, they are already turning back into the outskirts of Loupe, while the peloton are steaming up behind them, with Garmin's "Above speech and silence" leading the pack.

17.22 CET It's going to be really close!

17.24 CET It's a win for "A bird sang, everyone listened" from team Leopard, barely ahead of Saxo Bank's "The clear stillness of autumn water". Third place was taken by "The moon does not get wet" from Geox, who came from nowhere to beat the Astana guys to a podium place.

Well, that was an, er, unusual race for us commentating, I have to say that I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we go back to the normal race numbers.

We're out of time, no time to show you the podiums, which is such a shame as I can tell you, the podium girls are real crackers! (laughter)

Join us here tomorrow for the fourth and final day of this - well, interesting race.

Loupe - Day Two (including Prologue)

LLB bought a new freeview box at the weekend, and we found some cycling on a really obsure Freeview channel.

In case you missed it, here is the commentary by Lars Fargleson and someone whose name I didn't catch, it might have been Rob Bacall, I'm not sure.

---

Hello and welcome, this is Lars Fargleson and I'm here in Loupe with my colleague Rob ("Hi!" from someone off camera) covering the second day of this very exciting four day race.

As you will all be aware from criticism in the cycling press, the UCI is trying to ban the use of race radios in order to make races more "spontaneous and exciting", in their words. Well, this race has been used as a model for that idea, and already it is proving to be, well, I wouldn't say spontaneous, but it certainly has become exciting - in fact, a bit more exciting than some of the riders would have liked.

The Prologue yesterday was, well, umm, interesting. It was a Team Time Trial through the swamps to the south of Loupe, and I'm afraid the phrase "We've lost a few riders" took on a new and sinister meaning after the long section through the crocodile reserve. For many teams, the rope bridge over the bear pit proved to be a substantial obstacle, causing long delays as some riders struggled to maintain their balance, and indeed their lunches, as they crossed above the chasm.

This lead to many team times falling outside of the time limit for this stage. Now there is always confusion about this aspect of stage races, so I'll get Rob to explain it. Rob!

(Rob speaks)  Oh, it's not that bad, Lars! This is how it works: the finish time for the leader is taken as the base measurement, and the last team has to arrive within a certain additional percentage of the winner's time.

This percentage varies according to the average speed of the race, so if the race proceeds at less than 42km/h then the final riders have to get to the finish within 13% of the leaders' time. The faster the race, the longer they have - if the race speed averages 48km/h or more, they have 20%.

To make a really simple example: if the leader gets home in one hour, that's 60 minutes, at a slow speed, then the last rider has to get home in 60 minutes plus 13%, which is 67 minutes.  If it was a really fast race, like a time trial, then they would have had to get home in 60 minutes plus 20%, which is 72 minutes.

Does that make sense?

(Lars comes back) Thanks, Rob, that was brilliant. Unfortunately, this means that many teams were judged to be outside the race limit, and we are now down to just 9 teams for the second day of racing, which is taking place here within the town limits of Loupe.

In line with the UCI's stated aim of making races more interesting, the organisers, PUIAB, asked the riders to compete in today's short section using various riding styles suggested by the town's schoolchildren. This made a lightweight day for the riders, and after the trials and tribulations of the Prologue yesterday, this was not a bad thing. All the events were Team events, which made the scoring much simpler.

We started the day with the Wheelie competition:

First into the fray were the Individual Wheelies, where competitors gained points for their team by pulling the highest wheelie.

Some teams struggled with this discipline:

And some left the course altogether, and were disqualified: this unfortunate rider (left) lost control and ended up ramming one of the Town Walls.





Luckily, he wasn't injured, and the local police agreed not to press charges for damaging a Listed Monument.

After the individual section, teams competed en masse, and the last team with a man still "up" was declared the winner (right).







Once the teams had regrouped, they were given maps and told to make their own way from the start to the finish point, and of course with no radios, this caused a lot of confusion.  Astana stormed off from the line with great confidence, followed by Geox, AG2R, Euskaltel and Garmin, but the Leopard, Saxo Bank and HTC teams spent a little time checking maps and conferring, before leaving the start line.

The Sky team didn't have any hesitation, they rode calmly and quietly away from the Town Centre, many of them riding one-handed while they consulted what appeared to be phones with SatNav capability.

One team went in entirely the wrong direction, and were seen taking drastic measures to get across the River Loupe.

Astana, after a very fast start, found themselves outside the Town limits, and were forced to take a break to recuperate.


Eventually, all teams made it back to the Town Hall, and Sky were declared the winners, having beaten the others by nearly half an  hour.


Euskeltel were nearly disqualified, but managed to get their last man across the line just one minute short of disqualification.

The next section was supposed to be Fancy Dress, but unfortunately there were complaints from some of the teams who thought it was a bit below them to take part in such a section.


Leopard-Trek were the only team to even attempt this section, and were awarded all the points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places together.


This put them firmly in the GC lead.


Their spokesman, Team Captain Jens Voight, commented afterwards "Ve vill do voteffer it reqvires to vin the race, ho ho ho".


This left just two more sections to be completed, and the first one led to a great deal of confusion.

Teams lined up at the start - once again in the Town Square - and then the race organisers, PUIAB, took away half of the bikes.

The start flag was immediately dropped, leaving the teams frantically doubling up, to get all their team out of the town, along the beach, and back to the Town Hall.

As you can see from this picture (left) some teams were desperate enough to hijack the bikes of other teams!

Once all the teams were safely back at the start line, bikes were returned, and the teams lined up for the final section for the day: riding backwards.

This proved to be extremely difficult, and it was left to a non-competitor, one of the few surviving VacansOleil riders, to show the townsfolk how it should be done.

Sadly, the race rules did not allow his team to be reinstated into the race: rules are, after all, rules.

The overall winners of this day's riding were judged to be Leopard-Trek first, with Astana a close second, and Saxo Bank trailing behind in third.

Do join us again tomorrow for Day Three, which is a traditional flat stage through the countryside surrounding Loupe.