Tour de France - catch up

OK, I know intellectually that it's over now, but I can't quite let it go....besides, it's traditional to discuss and dissect the Tour for months, isn't it?  So here are a few odd moments that I enjoyed, and wanted to share with you.

Firstly, did anyone else catch this little moment, in a back street in Paris? Eurosport were carrying out a serious post-Tour interview, and just look: what's that going on in the background?

 Answer, the Leopard-Trek mechanic - the one who we saw giving Fabian a new bike after the "Leopards Hit The Deck"  incident - gets thoroughly kissed!

I think it's Roger, but I'm not sure - the one with the strange old-fashioned Mohican hair-do.

Yes, let's assume it's his girlfriend, and not One L Jil, or Martine in a dark wig and glasses..... the cameraman kept moving round to get Bob in the middle of the shot, and to obscure the snogging, but they kept moving! D/aaaw, kinda sweet.

Right, next funny moment: we had some footage on Eurosport, of "some of the top riders" arriving at Grenoble airport on the morning of the TT. This included Fabian, Jean Vois, Conti, Frank and Andy, Cav: blimey, good thing nothing happened to that plane, wasn't it? Our sport could have been wiped out in one fell swoop...does not bear thinking about.

Here's Andy entering the airport: oh look, some fans have gathered to ask for autographs.

 

 Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, there must be all of seven, maybe eight fans waiting there.

So, ladies, a helpful hint: when trying to Stalk-a-Schleck, consider going to the little airports early in the morning, as there won't be much competition.

Of course, they will be tired and a bit cross, but they'll still sign autographs for you!

 Here we are on the podium - ah, that podium *sighs*.

Andy is fiddling with his cap, as he's forgotten what to do with his arms.

Frankie has it right: put them behind your back in a manly manner. Keep the weight equally distributed on both legs, so you don't look like a nancy. Head up, gentle smile - don't grin like a maniac, but look happy, there are approximately 37,482 cameras on you.

The bird with the microphone is about to start warbling some strange song which they are claiming is the Australian national anthem (what? You mean it's NOT waltzing matilda? There goes another illusion, shattered...) and what is Cadel doing? He puts his right hand up the back of his jersey, and pulls out the Aussie flag! Great conjuring trick, Cadel!

 Then, final TV moment for today, Cristin was asking about the clip of Frankie being a bit emotional after the TT.

I tried to take a video of it, but the TV banding made it unwatchable. (You know, the black bands that your eyes can't see, but which the camera can. So much for "the camera never lies"..)

It was very short, and of poor quality, and was a bit intrusive, but basically it was Fabian giving Frankie big hugs, and ruffling up his hair.

 Poor Frankie didn't really want to be filmed at this time, and you can't blame him.

Fabian moves off, leaving others to pat Frankie consolingly on the shoulder, as he gets himself under control.

And this is the man who has just made the highest win of his career - all upset because his brother didn't quite win it. I don't want to hear any more criticism of the brotherly bond, I think it's lovely.

Under the general heading of "Stupid Things Commentators Say" has to come this one, again from Eurosport: after the usual comments that Andy has now come second three times (as though that were a bad thing!) one guest was asked "Do you think Andy has had his day? Will he try again?"

I didn't hear the answer, I was howling at the tv so loudly. Andy is only 26, guys! Plenty of time, yet, plenty of time.

He said himself that he was getting stronger each year, in fact he made a lovely subtle point about his second places. He said that in 2009, he won second place. In 2010, he "lost" first place, because he was as strong as Conti, but he didn't quite manage to beat him. This year, he says he again "won" second place, because Cadel was just that much stronger than him.

For someone who's been a bit cossetted and protected, that's a very mature way of looking at things, I think.

And finally for tonight, (how often do I say that, before rambling on for another several paragraphs? Well, I get distracted.. or I remember something else I wanted to share.. or when looking for new pictures doing some in-depth research on one point, another point raises itself...) let's have a big super cheer for Fabian.

Why?

Well, for a start, why not?

But in particular, for giving so much in support of the team that he only ("only!") came 7th in the TT.

I mean, can you imagine how galling that must be, to be the World Champion at TT, and to only come 7th?

To have those 6 other guys, for the rest of their cycling careers, saying "Hey, I beat Cancellara!"

What a fantastic sacrifice.

I know that all the others gave huge amounts as well, but for people like Jensi and Stuey, well, we know that they are Super-Domestiques, that's what we expect of them.

But Fabu has a reputation: he is the best Time Trialist in the world!  And he was able to put all that aside to do his part when it was needed. Fantastic!

Well done, Fabian!

By the way, Fabu, why are you apparently handcuffed to that chair?

Victory! We beat Contador!

Well, let's admit it, the Leopard Trek strategy for this year was slightly less "Win the Tour" and slightly more "Beat Contador", or possibly "Whatever happens, don't be beaten by Contador".

And we did it!

"We" being all our brave riders, the L-T team, and all us fangirls (and boys, but let's be honest, mostly girls) who added virtual pushing when necessary.

Yay! Two Schlecks on the podium! Yay!

OK, it would have been nice to have had one or other of them actually win the Tour: yes, it would have been very nice indeed, and I am sure that there are some big disappointments and some broken hearts this morning, but I am really, really thrilled with this result, and I hope that all other Schleck fans are, too.

I say "this morning", by the way, as I am writing this early on Sunday before the final day - and for the benefit of those reading this who might be new to cycling, the last day is, traditionally, just a parade or club ride for the GC contenders, as they accept that whatever the result was after the TT, that's it.

It's different for the sprinters, who are contesting for the Green Jersey or Points Jersey, as they have two last chances to get more points and possibly win that jersey. However, for our guys, the race is done, all they have to do is get to the end. I suppose that if Cadel Evans fell off and broke something, and was unable to complete the race, then Andy would win, but I can't imagine for one minute that he would want that. Well, maybe for one minute, in the darkness of the middle of the night,  but it is unworthy, and no-one would be happy with a win under those circumstances. It would be too much like being given last year's title if Conti were to be banned after all this time. No, we have to accept that on the day, the stronger man won, and Cadel is stronger in the Time Trial and that's all there is to it.

There's been quite a lot of speculation that they should have taken more time out of their rivals earlier in the race, particularly in the Pyrenees. They should have attacked earlier, they should have done this, should have done that.  Well, maybe, but am I a DS with many years experience of road racing tactics and rider psychology and physiology? No. Are you? No? Well, shut up, then.

There are always lessons to be learned, whether from winning or from "losing" (and I put that in quotes because I don't consider two podium finishes to be "losing") and if I had to stick my neck out and say something critical, just to prove that I'm not a woolly-thinking Schlecks-can-do-no-wrong uncritical worshipper, I would say that they should have ridden their own race, to win, not having a private battle with Contador. But they can only do what the legs would allow, and this is a fantastic result for the first year of a new team - we can all be so proud of them!

In fact, I don't think any other team has come anywhere near these results in their first year - Europcar have managed to get 4th, but they were pretty much an entire team that were taken over by a new sponsor, so it was new kit but basically the same set-up. (And a huge "Well Done!" to Europcar, by the way.) Leopard were a completely new set-up, pretty much rushed into existence, with new organisation, new kit, new bikes, new sponsors, new everything: their only saving grace was having a core of how many was it? 12 or so riders all from Saxo Bank, most of whom were in the Tour squad.

So, did we enjoy the Tour? (yes, I know it's not quite over yet, but you know what I mean). Was it the best Tour so far?

"Yes!"

That's my vote. The change to the Intermediate Sprint was inspired, it made things so much better than the predictable "oh look the HTC train are at the front all day" scenario. And if Cav wins the Green Jersey, then it will prove to be the better way of rewarding the best sprinter. And if he doesn't, then it will be most exciting finish for years, so we win both ways.

Ending in an individual TT is, in my opinion, the best thing: it gives us immense tension, that builds minute by minute in an otherwise visually less-than-thrilling discipline (oh! those button mushroom helmets!) and avoids having to watch riders killing themselves in a last-ditch attempt to climb a mountain, or thunder down a dangerous descent.  Knowing that there is a TT to come, they can't do that on the last mountain day, they have to hold something in reserve.

Starting without a Prologue, however, is not so good. It's just plain silly to have the winner of the first stage having the Yellow, Polka Dot and probably Green Jersey as well. It's also unfair, as it takes away the chance of a jersey from other riders. I would much prefer not to have any Polka Dot points on the Prologue, and I don't see anything wrong with starting with a TTT for producing a Yellow Jersey winner - ok, it would probably be Fabian, but what's wrong with that? - and it does give a structure to the race right from the start. Without it, as we saw this year, it's a mad free-for-all which does not go well with the traditional early-Tour nervousness.

Now here's a thought: is there a mobile sweatshop that follows the Tour around, knocking up extra clothing?

Andy only went into Yellow on Friday night, but on Sat he was resplendent in a yellow skin-suit. I can't quite believe that any team would be arrogant enough to have skinsuits made up in yellow in advance, (I mean, how many would you make? What if you made up one for someone tiny, and your biggest rider then had to wear it? Or the other way round?) so there must be someone making them up at very short notice. And Sammy Sanchez of Euskaltel won the Polka Dot Jersey (and was I the only one to scream in horror at the clash of red polka dots with their orange kit?) then appeared a day later with matching shorts. I know that that organisers provide the jerseys (the teams provide the iron-on logos) but they don't provide shorts as well!

So I reckon there's a plain, unmarked truck somewhere, from which come the sounds of a generator humming and sewing machines zizzing, all through the night......

Here's a funny photo moment: at the presentation of the Young Rider's White jersey, anyone else spot that the podium girl wasn't given the Yeti in time?

The right-hand podium girl, from our point of view, had done the double-kisses thing to Pierre Rolland, he turned to the other girl for kisses and the flowers, and our girlie had to make hand signals behind her back to get the yeti!

Here she is, having it handed to her in an oh-so-casual, no-we-didn't-really-forget-it, pretend-nothing-is-happening sort of way.

She then coolly handed it to Pierre with a big smile.

You go, girl!

I have a thought to make about the actual TT performance as well - there's always a heap of people pushing and shoving to be first to say how bad the Schlecks are at TT, how weak they are, how terrible they are, etc etc, but they both came in the top 20. That's perfectly respectable for any GC contender, and pretty damn good for guys who acknowledge that they are not TT specialists. If they were superb at every discipline, it would be dull, dull, dull..... and the ASO themselves stated that they were striving to make cycling more interesting to watch.  NB after Thursday afternoon spent following the ticker and squeeing on Twitter, I think Nim would agree that if it got much more exciting, there would be fangirls passing out from stress all over the place!

You have to spare a moment's sympathy for Andy, as well: did you catch that quick glimpse of him waiting to go up the TT start ramp? He was whiter than a white thing, and looked as though he was about to throw up. When asked afterwards about the TT, "how hard was it?" he said that it's been a while since he was suffering like that.

Yet he still did a very respectable TT:  at the first and second check-points, the commentators were saying that he and Frankie had the same time to within one second, but at the end, Andy's time was some 3 seconds faster than Frankie - so he didn't exactly give up and cry, as most of us would have done. Good boy, Andy! (*big pat on back*)

Oh, oh, here's the video of Andy, a little while after the TT:  Andy Post Stage 20.

He can't jump in the air, he says, but the team are happy, he is happy: what a guy! "Of course, in the beginning you are disappointed, but come on," he says, "it's the Tour de France!"  "I go home with my head high, I don't go home a loser. "

As someone else said, "Andy is not only an amazing athlete but also an amazing person too, even though it would be hurting him inside to be runner-up again he's shown nothing but class in defeat and shown great respect to the Tour De France."

TdF stage 18 - Andy Schleck, Stage Winner!

It's raining heavily in England this afternoon, so I had to stop work, come home, and put the computer on. Oh look! The Yahoo ticker is on, I can follow the race - yay!

I've come in at just the right time, with 60km to go, Andy attacks. Quickly, I sign in to Twitter so that I can squee "Go, Andy!" with everyone else.

As I don't have any pictures of the stage (and I'm having to make up the visuals in my head, always a dangerous thing) here's a great pic from yesterday, when Andy was descending with some style, and with his tongue hanging out in concentration:

Hey, look at his socks! I have a pair just like that! (proud).

The squeeing on Twitter has reached huge new heights, even Tom Stamsnijder is saying "Go Andy!". Poor Nim is having nervous breakdowns watching Andy descend, and Gnasher wants someone to hold her hand, it's so scary. I tell you, I can't wait to watch this footage tonight!

Have you encountered the Eurosport Yahoo ticker ? It's brilliant if you can't get live footage - which I can't - and it's even better if you sign in to Twitter at the same time, so that you can get more information from all those crazy people who watch it live, but manage to Tweet at the same time.

This is what it looks like:

And the little cycling figures are animated! They even have the right jerseys on.  And every so often, they lean forward as though putting in a bit of extra effort. Adorable.  The red bar shows you whereabouts in the race the leaders are, which is very helpful.

Underneath, you get a text description of the action, which is automatically updated, so you don't need to keep refreshing the screen. Like Twitter and blogging, the newest one is on top.

They've just commented on Contador calling for a new bike partway down this final descent, in preparation for the final climb. They say "He changed his bike a lot before the final descents in the Giro. Then, the tactic paid off. Will it today?"  I am now struggling not to bring up the subject of mechanical bikes again!

A lovely little touch on the Yahoo ticker: as the stage was won by Andy ("Yay!") look, his little avatar has it's hands up in triumph!

Well, I'm emotionally exhausted now, from all that squeeing, but well done Andy, well done Frankie,  well done all the fangirls who contributed virtual pushing for the last 15kms: Yar Boo Sucks to all the critics (who are now shrivelling up inside their holes, as Gnasher said) and let's hope there's a bit less Schleck-bashing now.

And tomorrow I will be watching it live! No, on TV, not "live", live. (Although I do now have a passport, great news and look out world.)  So fingers crossed for an equally exciting day,  I probably won't be back here to comment until after the weekend, so good viewing, one and all!

Ouch!

This hurts!

Talking about Andy, "In an interview with race TV, he bleated on about how absolutely unfair it was that the riders should be forced to ride downhill in the rain."

and

"So what have the Schlecks achieved by throwing the toys out of the cot?
They have exposed their weaknesses for all the world to see and they have shown themselves to be mentally fragile."

So said the Bleacher Report (chorus of "who?") today.

Pfff! (*dismissive noise*) We still have Andy and Frankie sitting 3rd and 4th in the GC - well, ok, 4th and 3rd, if you insist.

And they are confident: they didn't lose any more time today,  they made a mad dash towards the end - when you would think that they would be tired out - and I have great hopes that things are going to be much more interesting, from our point of view, tomorrow and Friday.

Matt Rendell interviewed Frankie after the stage, and he was quite firm on the point that no-one wants to see the riders getting hurt. "We are breaking bones here" said Frankie.

If you'd like to listen to it, it's here, just click on the mp3 file to download it, and it's about 70% of the way through.

Well, no comments or pictures to enliven the post as I haven't seen the footage of Stages 16 and 17 yet. And I might not have time for much over the weekend, as it's going to be full of Tour footage! So bear with me, all will be back to normal ("normal?") next week, with exams over and lots of time to discuss the results. No, the results of the Tour.

Figgy must be either out there or well on her way by now, and Leelu is already there - go Schlecklanders! (*examines all Tour footage very carefully for Schlecklanders in the audience*)

Fingers crossed, everyone, for a good result: preferably with no-one else breaking anything!

(*resists urge to make any more jokey "predictions" after the total success-in-the-wrong-direction of my earlier predictions..... wasps... broken collarbones.... intestinal upsets... *)

Jean Vois and fan-slapping update

I have pictures!

Firstly Jean Vois appearing like a two-armed Venus de Milo from the shrubbery: first the shrubs waved, then the bike appeared, then Jensi appeared: then he looks over his shoulder as though to say "What! They went on without me?!" then he continues walking back towards the road with his bike in one hand, operating his radio with the other.

What a guy.

Next is the Andy stiff-arm: not terribly clear, you need to see moving pictures really, but here's the moment of push-off: He's in the very top right-hand corner of the picture, and the annoying spectator is the one in the blue shirt and red shorts, with black legs. There's no point me making the pic any bigger, it just gets fuzzier.

Go Andy! Slosh him one!

Well done to Figgy for finding a Yootoob video of the last 12km, if you want to see it in action, go to the point where the mileage countdown is at 1.5km to go, and it's just after this group have gone under the 2km banner.

Observation of the fans at this year's TdF (trying to spot Leelu in the crowds) leads to the inescapable conclusion that there are two types of fans:

1) Fans of cycling
2) Idiots who want to be on TV.

They are the ones who face towards the camera bikes, instead of turning to watch the cyclists as they pass, so they're easy to identify.

Although I will make an allowance for the nice folks who stand at the roadside and who wave at the camerabikes and the helicopter, as they pass. That's ok. I particularly hated the ones who were dropping their trousers and "mooning" as the peloton went into a small town on Stage 12. They were annoying. I am hoping that with so many police around, someone found the time to arrest them....

Talking of police, marshalls, crowd control and cars in general, anyone else noticed the pleasing lack of cars around the riders for the last couple of days? Isn't it much nicer to watch? It's lovely being able to see along the group, across the gap and into the chasers, it gives a much better idea of how close they are, without it all being cluttered with hundreds of extraneous cars.

And it must be hundreds, if you consider that there are 22 teams each with 3-4 cars, that's 100: plus white ones, yellow ones, red ones: ok, maybe another couple of dozen, yet that French TV car was car number 800. That was way, way too many cars. I shall be watching with interest to see if the stray cars start creeping back over the remainder of the Tour...

And finally, a couple of odd shots from earlier in the race - did anyone else spot the strange game of "swap-the-shoe" that has been played?

First it was Thor Hushovld (there is no "l" in Hushovd, I must learn to spell that correctly) who was told that he'd been wearing the shoe for quite long enough, thank you, and it was time to take it off.

After quite a lot of conversation, Thor removed his shoe.

He then grumpily hands it in to his team car....

..and pedals off to rejoin the race, with only one shoe.

Meanwhile....

.... there was this Saur-Sojasun rider, desperately waiting for his turn to wear the shoe.

Here he is being steadied by a team-mate as they come up behind their team car.

PS I like their cute little socks with blue undersoles, don't you?

After a short wait, the team car hands him out the shoe, and he puts it on.

This is all while pedalling along at not much less than race speed, of course.

Cries of "Cinderella! You WILL go to the ball" from all directions....

This is a sad reflection on the fact that some teams have much, much bigger budgets than others, and a very pleasing reflection on the way the bigger teams are willing to help the smaller teams along the way.

As a final note, on Stage 15, Sunday's flat stage, Phillipe Gilbert had to hand over BOTH of his shoes!

But as he's been doing so well this year, his team allowed him to wear a substitute pair of shoes, which was nice of them.

Right! Enough of this silliness, for today is a race day again! We are now heading for the Alps: Contador says that he is going to be better in the Alps than he was in the Pyrenees, and is in a fantastic position - he says that he's not bothered about winning the Tour as he has done so well already: “I’m easy in my mind because I’ve already delivered great results this year." he said. (*makes poking motions at him*) Not quite so for Leopard Trek, who are going to be very interesting to watch as we enter the Alps, the longer climbs, the altitude etc.

I don't know about you, but I shall have my fingers and toes crossed for them! And I'm secretly hoping for bad weather this afternoon so that I can stay in and follow the tickers....

Jean Vois, and Andy Slaps A Fan!

Oh, Jean Vois! Gasps of horror/amusement as he emerged from the bushes part-way down the Port de Ler,  waving his bike in one hand, and operating his radio with the other ("I need some bike parts") (can only imagine what the tufty-headed mechanic was thinking - "some" bike parts?  What has he done now?), then howls of "Noooo!" as he hit the deck hard at that following corner.

He said that his back tyre had popped on the descent, hence the dive down into the greenery, but he didn't know what happened the second time. Brave Jean!

Alas, I have no photos of any of the action: I have been thinking that my photos of the TV screen aren't exactly wonderful, but now I realise that they are much better than nothing! Will try again, I promise.

Well, things are progressing a little: Andy and Frankie did the Schleck Sandwich and Conti didn't like it one bit: he was looking much stronger today than he did earlier in the Tour, but luckily he still couldn't quite attack, and Andy was the stronger brother today, making up a couple of seconds on Conti.

It's still quite annoying to hear the commentators all saying how they were expecting more from the Schlecks, and prophesying that Conti is getting stronger every day and is going to be back on top form in the Alps.

But I guess we have to admit that Conti really is the best, strongest Tour rider of the current period: Andy himself said so a couple of years ago, he, commented "Alberto is a simple guy, with both feet down on Earth. You can laugh a lot when you're with him, he's a nice guy and we get on very well. Unfortunately he's also a very strong rider, perhaps the greatest talent of the last 10 years. It's a pity that I've had to come across him during my career. Anyway, he's not unbeatable".  (With thanks to Miss Fede for the translation of that interview.)

So, just briefly, I had to make a quick post while you all still have videos of the recent stages.

Anyone else spot it? Andy slapping a fan?  (*laughs*) Not really a slap, I don't know if there's a word for it. They do it a lot in comedy shows. Read on.

Stage 12, when the race was about 1.5kms from the end, Frankie and Andy had done the Schleck Sandwich on a not-quite-with-it-Contador, and Frankie had pinged off the group and came in 3rd.

Andy was just going under the 2km-to-go banner.

He was just behind Conti, and in my opinion was just about to swing to his left round Conti for another attack, now that Frankie was safely out of the way up ahead, when a fan came running up alongside. You know, one of those annoying spectators who think it's somehow encouraging to show the riders that they can run faster uphill than these guys can cycle....

Look out for him, he's wearing a blue top, red shorts, and black leggings.

He runs alongside Andy, and Andy does that lovely thing where he puts the palm of his (left) hand on the guy's face, then pushes him away.

Not a punch, that would be aggressive and painful. Not a slap, that would be pouffy and spiteful. Just a simple hand-off in the face, and the fan goes spinning off the road, probably in embarrassment.

Hilarious!

I'm hoping that someone will get this up on Yootoob, but for now you'll have to rewind the videos for yourselves.

Lovely to see OGL defending himself for once.

Actually, he was quite funny on the after-stage interview from Stage 14 in the Pyrenees: after politely answering the usual questions, he had to ask the interviewers to "give me some space here, please"  as there were a dozen or more hands shoving recorders and mobile phones (how unprofessional is that?) in his face. (*smiles proudly at OGL standing up for himself in the face of intrusive, pushy, and stupid-questioned journos*)

Right, that's all for now, time to rush back to LLB's to watch Stage 13 which should be mostly flat and a bit dull, but is on the coast so there might be (*spine-chilling chords*) WIND which might be fun.

I still think that Andy and Frankie should swap jerseys, as Conti is clearly sticking with Andy no matter what. Unless L-T have decided to decoy Conti altogether, and are actually planning for Frankie to go for the GC?

We shall see.... enjoy the racing, everyone.

A look back in time

Quote from Wikipedia on the first ever Tour:

"The men waved their hats, the ladies their umbrellas. One felt they would have liked to touch the steel muscles of the most courageous champions since antiquity."

Ah, how little changes.

If you've never bothered to look back at the history of the Tour, I can recommend having a quick read through the Wikipedia entry. Fascinating history!

I love the idea that they used to have to scrounge their own food and drink en route...

Here you can see an early Jean Vois, centre, wearing his German national sash, accepting his trusty steed from the team's top mechanic. Or possibly the butcher.

A member of the Junior league warms up, ready to pace Jean Vois back to the peloton.

Meanwhile, just as a bit of light relief, I found this amazing video on Yootoob, showing the lengths to which the Mavic neutral service guys will go in order to get cyclists back on their it-fits-me-I-don't-want-your-horrid-yellow-one bikes:



Great, huh?

Stepping back in time yet again, I found this lovely little article whilst trawling through news archives - don't ask, it was one of those days when you look up one thing, then you see something interesting and go and look at that, and then you see something else.... anyway, Little Fab, back in his early days

Gerolsteiner's Fabian Wegmann rode the Clasica San Sebastian Sunday for the fourth time, returning after a two-year break. He never had much luck with the race in the past, and things didn't go much better this year.

It started out well and went fine until the peloton came up against the protest by the ETA, which blocked the road on the Jaizkibel. "Disguised types with a chain jumped into the road to hold us up." Familiar with such actions from the Tour de France this year, for example, Wegmann and the other riders don't let themselves be beaten. "At times like this we riders aren't particularly squeamish and are willing to fight our way through," he noted on his website, www.fabianwegmann.de. "Singly and at intervals of about 30 seconds we went by the blockade, rider by rider, which meant, of course, that the field was totally strung out."

So Wegmann had to catch up with the field in front of him, and "I went all out." He made it to the group but "I overdid it in the chase. The natural result: I totally exploded on the next hill."

But Wegmann's bad luck day wasn't over yet. Not willing to give up entirely, he says, "I sprinted for 50th place and 100 meters before the finish line fell flat on my face. Suddenly a rider pulled over and rode directly into my handlebars. How embarrassing, I lay there with one tire off and had to carry my bike in my arms over the finish line.

"Conclusion: This race doesn't like me, and I don't like it either. But I will still come back again."

Yay for Little Fab! Who has turned out to be 4 years older than OGL, oops, sorry Little Fab, not so little, but you know what I  mean...

Moving smartly into the present: today's stage of the Tour was pretty dull by the sound of the ticker - thank heavens for that! - and just in case you think I've forgiven and forgotten, here's a pic of what Johnny Hoogerland looks likes after that barbed wire fence:

Poor man, not only 33 stitches (we can see about 11 of them here, ouch) but he spent the rest day lying on a bed with his legs encased in "cold compression" tubes, I can't imagine that was a bundle of fun for him.

Still growling about the hit and run driver.....

And, to end on a good note, with thanks to Figgy for the link, here's a photo of OGL in the sun on the rest day:

The Leopards Hit The Deck!

Panic! Panic! Andy, Frankie, Fabu, Stuey and Maxime all hit the deck within 10km of starting the race today, Stage 10.

Phew! They're all up and running again.

Several of them needed new bikes - is it me, or is it becoming more common to change bikes than it is to change wheels?

I know I mentioned the dastardly possibility of Contador cheating (*sharp intake of breath, surely not*) a while ago, involving motorized bikes: but the more I watch this race, the more I am seeing bikes being changed almost as a matter of course.

Is it possible that the brakes/gears etc are getting less reliable? Or, before I get shot by some bike manufacturers, are the bikes getting so technical that wheel removal can throw other components out of alignment?

I did read somewhere yesterday that Astana (or Katusha, possibly) were having to send home for more bikes and more parts, as they'd written off so many already. At at 8k euros each, hmm, well, let's hope that the sponsors are paying for them.

I also read a slightly scare-mongering article somewhere today, which suggested that the lightweight carbon fibre bikes which are now popular amongst pro-cyclists are less able to absorb impact than the old steel ones, and could be contributing to the general feeling that cyclists are going down harder these days. Anyone have a thought on that?

Talking of which, I received a strange suggestion via email today - you are most welcome to email me, by the way, if there are things you wish to say but don't want to put up as a comment. I don't check my mailbox every single day (*blushes guiltily*) but I generally pick messages up every couple of days...

Anyway, it's been suggested that I am doing Blogging "wrongly". Apparently I'm not supposed to answer back in the comments section, that's for you lot to use: if something needs an answer, I am supposed to answer it in my next blog entry.

Any thoughts on that? I rather like the to-and-fro of the comments column, personally. And this is intended to be an interactive blog - you know, you ask questions, I ignore answer them: I pinch your ideas turn to you for inspiration: and in return hopefully provide a bit of entertainment. With a teeny tiny Schleck-flavour.

Which reminds me, as we seem to be slightly losing sight of OGL, here is what he looks like:

Still a tiny hint of a moustache, Andy my pet: when shaving the legs (and yes, we can all visualise that Very Clearly Indeed thanks to Susanne) don't forget the upper lip.

Oh, must tell you (*jumps up and down with excitement*) this tiny thought on the subject of Andy's girlfriend, Jil (oh blimey, I've just ruined this blog again for search terms: I kid you not, the post which I foolishly entitled "Andy Schleck you-know-what 2011" has received 9 times as many page views as any other page! Where was I? Oh yes: Jil.).

So, we all speculate from time to time what it must be like to go out with Andy Schleck someone a bit famous who rides a bike, don't we?

I was reading about "the girlfriend" of "a cyclist" - it would be a bit mean to give names - who didn't know a thing about cycling when she was introduced to "the cyclist" by a friend who at that time trained with him.

She's now trailing around France with her parents, waiting for odd moments to meet up with him. She says that after the race they are piled on to the bus and taken off to the next place, so there's not much chance to meet up after the race.

And she rather wisely says that she doesn't like to get in the way at the start of a race. So she grabs a few moments with him when she can - and says she's managed to sneak in a couple of times. (That sounds fun!) (And rather reminds us of the *sighs gently* Monza video. Remember Andy showing "attitude"? Sitting on the stairs outside the room because Frankie's girlfriend was visiting him...)

So what's her take on being part of the Tour? Does she adjust his brake blocks for him? Check that his saddle is level? Spray that stuff on his cleats? No - she cheerfully admits that she doesn't know one end of a bike from the other, and says “I don’t have a clue – I keep as far away from the bike as possible."

After spending a day or two topping up her tan - her words, not mine - she said  “But on Tuesday in particular it was pouring down and I was on the side of a mountain with cream shoes. It was a bad idea, I don’t know why I had cream shoes on the side of a mountain.”

A-ha-ha neighing! Sorry, shouldn't laugh, these things always lose something in the translation, ("She has to live with this for the time of my career.” comes to mind) but she does seem a little, er, unconnected. I would have thought that to be the girlfriend of a rising star, you need to put in a bit of effort to help them, wouldn't you?

And what does this have to do with Jil? Not a lot, I was just wondering how involved she is: has she managed to fix it so she can follow the Tour? Does she manage to see him now and again? Does Frankie have to sit on the stairs, in his turn?

Not terribly exciting stuff, I know, but it keeps me off the subject of French Cars and what should be done to their drivers. Latest news is that Sky are suggesting that they won't sue the driver in order to avoid offending ASO, who were kind enough to give them a wild card invite to the Tour last year, before they were a pro team. Uh? I mean, grateful, yes, but grateful enough to overlook a French driver knocking over their rider? I think not.

Oddly enough, no-one in the cycling press has pointed out that the French TV car took out a Spaniard riding for a UK team,  and a Dutchman, leaving the two Frenchmen (and another rider) perfectly unharmed.

I can't imagine that any of you missed it, but here's the car hitting Flecha:

The plot appears to be thus: the car contains personnel from French TV: not actually filming, just what they call "support personnel" ie guests, visitors, managers having a nice day out, you decide.

The car was told not to overtake the riders, but to make way for the Europcar team car which was on it's way to the front to give Voeckler a water bottle.

Instead of doing as it was told, this car pulled out to overtake the breakaway, then swerved into the road to avoid a tree growing in the verge. They could have braked: they could have waited: but no, too important to wait, they drove on, swerved out, hitting Flecha with the wing of the car thus knocking him heavily to the ground, and Hoogerland then went into the back of Flecha and was catapulted a couple of feet into the air and then into a barbed wire fence, at some speed.

And this is what remains of poor Johnny Hoogerland after he was catapulted through that fence:

33 stitches, Schlecklanders, 33 stitches. And a rest day spent mostly lying in an ice bath, apparently, ugh. Oh, and he had to have a new pair of shorts in order to finish the race - now, I know these boys aren't particularly body-shy, but I wouldn't fancy having to strip naked by the roadside with camera bikes, helicopters, cars etc all cruising slowly past, gawping. And it wouldn't be a quick strip and change, would it, with all those cuts?

Flecha, meanwhile, is worried that his elbow is damaged, but he's determined to carry on the race.

Darn, I didn't mean to get started on that subject. I think you can tell that I'm pretty cross on the subject, and although I have taken Team Sky's words to heart, I have made my decisions:

1) Sack that driver from the Tour. Check.
2) Sack that driver from French TV. Check.
3) Ban all "jolly" cars, leaving just team cars, medical cars, commissaires, neutral service cars, ditto bikes plus camera bikes, and the yellow bike with the chalkboard. All others banned.
4) Give all drivers a good talking to and remind them of who is important in this race: all together now, "THE CYCLISTS"
5) At the very least, instruct all cars to take extra care. Check. I think they've given out instructions that all cars must be a certain distance away from the cyclists - well, that's a start. I think it's "two minutes away from the riders where the roads permit."

And finally, 6) Sue/prosecute that driver. Dangerous driving, and not stopping after an accident, for a start: had they been drinking?

Stop! Enough! Right.

Well, so much for botany homework, I really must stop now and do some, so here's a nice photo of Andy who didn't want to get wet getting from the team coach to the hotel, so he improvised a coat:

Little Black Riding Hood was the best comment.

Brace yourselves: it's another race day

And for goodness sake, let's hope it's a bit less exciting than the weekend's racing!

Team Sky have wisely said that they are not going to make any decisions or demands until they have calmed down: so hopefully today they will be issuing detailed instructions for the plate on which the French TV car driver's head will be placed.

And guess what - we have a failed drug test already. Will they never learn? Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha has failed a drug test, it seems. You'd think that this year, of all years, no-one would try to get away with it, wouldn't you? It will be interesting to see if he's allowed to start the race today.

I'm a bit short of time this week, so I'm happy to direct you to Miss Fede's Blog to read all the details of what happened on Sunday's race: I agree with everything she says, except for the bit about Vino, as I'm not a fan! (I don't like Unrepentant Drug-Takers) (And yes, I was making "pokey" motions towards the screen, but it wasn't my fault that he fell off. Honest.)

Of nose cones and podium dresses...

As you all know, I'm not able to watch the TdF as it happens, I have to catch up at the weekends (and please don't suggest I watch a live stream on the internet, the quality is so terrible that really, I'd rather not) so I'll re-direct you to Miss Fede's excellent blog for daily coverage.

Instead, I just tell you about the odd things that have caught my eye... and from yesterday's stage I'd like to share this new concept in Aerodynamic Nose-Cones:

Comments that come to mind:

1) It was raining, the roads were very slippery, they're going downhill, he's eating his sarney, and yet he chooses to adopt the madly-dangerous aero position. Kiddies, don't try this at home.

2) He's holding a tin-foil wrapped package between his teeth? Hmm, no fillings, then.


Secondly, Johny Hoogerland won the Polka Dot Jersey: but what on earth are the poor podium girls wearing?

We have laughed in the past about the terrible Polka Dot podium frocks - you remember, those ones with the huge skirts that looked like the result of an after-midnight, one-too-many-tequilas meeting between a lampshade and an upside down umbrella.

But at least they were memorable. Those ones look like - well, I don't really know WHAT they look like! Raincoats? "Frumpy" isn't the word.....

And then I found this - ok, I admit it, it's raining, I can't go to work, it's either waste time on the internet do research or do housework. And here I am.

 So, you think being a podium girl is all glamorous and lovely, huh?

How's this for a tasteful changing room?

Aww, bye bye to Jurgen Van de Walle...(Andy Schleck girlfriend update)

So sad, poor old Jurgen Van de Walle: what a crappy Tour he's had.

Firstly he crashed spectacularly hard while trying to warn other riders about a hazard.

Then he spends pretty much the rest of the day pulling the entire peloton, despite having bandages all over the place.

THEN I get his name wrong on this blog, due to my own laziness in not checking the team roster properly....

...and now, after struggling through the TTT, he's finally had to admit that he's not fit enough to finish the stage, and he's the Tour's first official withdrawal.

Aww, poor Jurgen. Most non-Schleck riders who are mentioned on this blog go on to win whole races, (JVS, we mean you!), but alas, not this time.

Maybe he'll have better luck later in the season, when his inside-thigh muscle has healed. I do hate the phrase "groin strain", don't you?

It looks as though Christophe Kern from Europcar (he won a stage in the Crit Dauphine recently) might be next to withdraw, he's having knee problems: but good news about Solar, he's no longer in a coma and is starting to make very slight improvements.

Great news for us today: Contador is now 1'30" down on Andy: Frankie came in 7th on the same time as Cadel Evans, who pipped Conti to the win by, apparently, "the width of one tyre and a deep section rim." Well done, Cuddles. This leaves Frankie in 3rd place in the GC, with Andy 9th and Jakob 10th.

Hey, remember our outrage about the TT bike checks? (*pat on back to BoulderEl for spotting it*)

Incidentally, (*sniggers heartily*) Johan Bruyneel of Radioshack and Bradley McGee of SaxoBank have been fined 200 Swiss francs (each!) for unprofessional conduct over the saddle-checking fiasco.  (I put these links in, by the way, so that you can check that I am not making this stuff up.)

The UCI are saying that they told teams a month ago that they would be checking this item. Ah, how the story keeps on changing.  An interesting point is made by Mr Bruyneel, that these same bikes have been scrutinised and accepted by the same officials in the Tour de Suisse and the Crit Dauphine.  And yet the UCI saw fit to make a big fuss at the Tour, and now these two guys have been heavily fined for, presumably, looming over the officials in a threatening way.

Did I say "heavily fined"? 200 francs, wow, that's (*pause while I find a calculator - drat, can't find one, have to take my socks off, hold on a tick:*)  $237, or £148 good old British pounds, or 222 Aussie dollars ("Hey Leelu!") wow, that's nearly two visits from my plumber to fix the boiler, then. Yes, dear readers, my boiler is dripping gently upon the floor and alas, I have no hot water.

Anyway, getting back to bikes,  it looks as though the UCI are determined to stir up trouble - or possibly, to distract us away from drug problems. They've announced that they are going to start random bike checks, immediately.  This means that they can grab a bike and take it away for testing, with no notice. If a bike goes missing on the way to the commissaire's tent, or if a team is found trying to substitute another bike, then the rider will be immediately disqualified from the Tour.

Seems harsh, huh?

But there could be a reason: and it's down to our good friend Contador, who might be in trouble again.

It seems that during the Giro, he did a lot of bike changing in the mountain stages, for no apparent reason. Not changing a wheel, but changing the entire bike, and not once but "several times".

There's a chap called Cyrille Guimard, described as a former DS, who is suggesting - well, no, insinuating - that Conti has been using "mechanical doping" or, in short, a bike with an engine.

Oh dear yes, we all remember the slanderous attacks on Fabian last year. This Guimard appears to be suggesting that the common link between Fabian's alleged engine-in-bike, and Conti's undoubted leaping-up-a-mountain-like-a-little-lambkin is Bjarne Riis, who is (he thinks) the purveyor of these electric bikes.

The UCI announced last year that they were going to x-ray bikes, but nothing came of it and, as far as anyone knows, they are no longer doing so. Which means that anyone accused of having an engine in their bike can't really prove that they hadn't....

...Poor Bjarne, things are not going well for him. Not least because SaxoBank only signed up for one more year of sponsorship because he got Contador on board the squad.

That means that Bjarne is once more hunting for a sponsor for 2012, and with the doping scandal etc hanging over Contador's head - well, he's not finding it easy.

And as well as that, Bjarne has to keep just a little bit of attention free for Baby Bjarne, Thomas Nybo,  who has just been selected to ride in the Tour of Denmark.

Cute little thing, ain't he?

I wish I could say that we have found out more about ANDY SCHLECK GIRLFRIEND 2011 JIL and other annoying search terms, but all we know is that now he refers to her most casually: “I have a girlfriend, yes. I have a busy life and I’m away for long periods, but I would not change it. She has to live with this for the time of my career.”

A-ha-ha neighing!  No, I don't know quite why I find this so funny. I mean, funny ha-ha, rofl funny. And sort of cute. I know things often get lost in the translation, but it seems so un-characteristically heartless of him, and at the same time he makes it sound as though she's already agreed to put it up with it until he gives up racing, like a long-term thing. (*sound of breaking hearts all over the continent*)

Or, perhaps we should say that this is the true Andy, utterly dedicated to his racing? Which, frankly, is what I would expect. I'm still a bit surprised that Jakob has the Lovely LouLou, she just kinda looks like a high maintenance girlfriend that would get all pouty when he has to go off and live in hotels with the boys for weeks at a time. (Apologies to the perfect stranger LouLou, we know nothing about you so we have to extrapolate and I may well be completely wrong.)

UCI cock it up again

 It's 5am.  It's Stage Two of the 2011 Tour de France, Contador is well cross at having been caught up in a spectator-caused accident close to the finish - but not close enough to be covered by the 3km rule - and being now 74 seconds behind the Schlecks. There is much grumbling over breakfast.

And it's the Team Time Trial, no-one's favourite day. Oh well, come on, say the coaches, get your bony butts out there and get spinning.

The boys are all togged up, the practice bikes are all rolling, numbers are pinned in place (*yelps of pain from the back of a coach as one rider tries to pin his own numbers on without taking his jersey off first*) and soigneurs are anxiously checking lists to ensure that riders are presented in the correct order.

Suddenly, a stir goes through the Village.

"They want to check our saddles."

"What?"

"They want to check our saddles. UCI Rule 1.3.012 says that the TT bike seat support must be horizontal, and they are doing spot checks now, right now, before the race."

"Whaaaat!"

Yes, in an utterly bewildering move, the UCI decided that it was time to spring a surprise inspection on the TT bikes, right before the TTT. In the TdF. The biggest bike race in the world. The biggest cycling event of the year.

Are they crazy? After all the kerfuffle we've had with doping, Contador, race radios, etc etc, they now decide to throw this into the mix.

A hilarious jig was produced: 

....  there - isn't that just the most ("least") professional-looking bit of kit you have ever seen?

And the bikes were trundled up one by one, fitted onto the jig and if they "failed" then the mechanics had to alter the saddle positions until they were accepted.

The report in VeloNews said that almost every one of the 22 teams were caught out by this, and in the SaxoBank team, nearly half of the bikes had to be adjusted.

Can you imagine how upsetting this must have been? I mean, I don't ride a racing bike myself, and I've certainly never attempted to achieve the TT position, but I've read enough times about how hard it is to maintain. The briefest and least-informed of looks tells you that their backs are pretty much horizontal, and they need to be able to see ahead, so if you stand up straight and tilt your head back until you can see the ceiling above your head (*terrible cracking noises as Cougar Girl attempts to look up: just ignore them, I'm built of Meccano*) then you have partially achieved it. Add to that the effort required to pedal, to keep your balance, to assess road conditions, to cope with the distraction of your DS shouting in your ear "Faster, faster! Go on! Don't brake! You can do it! Faster!" and so on, and even a complete non-cyclist can appreciate that having your saddle position changed could well be disastrous.

Bjarne Riis summed it up beautifully when he said "This is bullshit," and  “I’ve never seen something like this before. Bullshit.”  I make no apologies for repeating his language.

Radioshack's Johan Bruyneel was pretty miffed as well: he cornered the UCI WorldTour manager, Philippe Chevallier, and apparently said

“The whole season you’ve ruled like this (with last-minute decisions and poor communication with the teams),” and. “We spend thousands each year in the wind tunnel and today in front of the world’s press, at the most important race of the year, you do this!”

Chevallier replied curtly, “I won’t discuss this here.”

The report goes on to say that "team managers from several of the world’s biggest teams insisted on stepping behind the bike-check tent and airing their grievances in private to Chevallier and the other UCI commissaires in attendance. "

"Airing their grievances" - I bet they were!

And best of all, and I wish I could take the credit for spotting this, check out the highly technical device used to get the jig level before they start checking:

Can you see it? Yes, there is a little pebble underneath the bar. Wow. I am speechless. (Well, nearly.)

They create a jig specifically for measuring level-ness, and omit to add a simple mechanism for levelling the jig first???  A little screw-out leg, perhaps, with a spirit level built in at some point?

Unbelievable.

Meanwhile, as we all know (*hangs head in shame*) my mean-spirited and small-minded suggestion that maybe Contador would be stung by a bee (or swallow a wasp) has completely backfired, as apparently Frankie did exactly that shortly after the TTT began.

The report in AP - which has been repeated by about a dozen papers word for word, but for which I can't find any additional details - says that "he initially “panicked” before remembering previous similar experiences that helped calm him."  Does this happen a lot, then? I know when I was a dirty greasy motorcyclist, back in my hell-in-leather teens, swallowing flies was pretty common (motorcycle joke: how can you spot a happy motorcyclist? Ans: by the flies on his teeth. Sorry.) but I didn't know of anyone swallowing a bee/wasp. I imagine that could be pretty nasty, as a lot of people are allergic to them.

It didn't end there for poor Frankie, apparently: "he also cut his nose during the stage after hitting a camera."

Held by a spectator, presumably? What is it with the spectators this year?

Talking of which, if the UCI want to throw their weight around a bit, I suggest they leave the orientation of the saddles alone, and force the organisers to do a bit more work on  crowd control, and marshalls to stand on the traffic islands.

All year so far we've been watching what you might call "lesser" races, and comparing their camera work and marshalling to the TdF, either favourably or unfavourably. Now I'm thinking I have to revise my standards downwards - after the various dramas of Stage 1.

Right, that's all I have to say for today, other than a general complaint about the monotony of the search terms over the last few days.  If I told you that of the top 10 search terms, eight of them contain a combination of the words Andy, Schleck, Girlfriend, Jil, and 2011, well, you can imagine the face I am pulling.  30% of the people who came here via a google search, ie the ones who don't already know where it is, came via "Andy Schleck girlfriend 2011".  30%!!!

And of course I've had to go and Google it myself now... yes, Eisen Andy is first and second on the page, with Miss FeeDee in third position ("Hi, sweetie!") Well, why do I worry? Welcome, Schleck fans! (As long as you are not deranged obsessive stalker-types, we don't like that sort.)

Right, I'm off to finish watching the Schleck On Tour documentary, with thanks to Susanne for the link: it's here, in case you didn't find it.

And thanks to BoulderEl, the new Schleckland Top Newshound, for bringing the whole Bike-check episode to my attention!

IT'S THE TOUR!!!

Gasps with relief! The Tour has started, we've just watched Stage 1, and all is well.

Firstly, a quick word about the presentation. No, not about the booing, about Team Thunderbird (note for non-UK viewers,  Thunderbirds was a kiddy's puppet series, long, long before CG was invented.)

Why is Andy standing like a puppet? Who knows...right, that's enough about that!

So, stage one nicely under way, I am quite bemused by the number of crashes: it was lovely weather, bone dry, dead flat, no cobbles, but people tumbling off all over the place. Poor old Greipel from Omega Pharma Lotto, hitting the deck before the race had even properly started! Not a good stage for O-P-L, they had half their riders wearing bandages by the end of it.

And what about that poor O-P-L rider , Van den Broek, [Van de Walle! Jurgen Van de Walle! Sorry!] who was diligently putting an arm up to warn the others about a traffic island, and who then went "Slam!" down onto the tarmac. I don't think  I've seen anyone hit the deck quite that hard at such slow speeds. And he spent pretty much the rest of the race at the front, pulling! I think he's the one who should have won the "Combative" jersey....

Early on the race, LLB and I were discussing the Conti thing, and we both agree that although the best thing would have been for him to have chosen not to race - this is my point again about bringing the sport into disrepute by having booing - he was within his rights to do so, so we have to put up with it.

After much discussion, we came up with a solution: if Contador were to have a, say, moderately minor mishap and have to retire from the race, then his face would be saved in that he started, and everyone else could relax and enjoy the race.

Yes, the eventual winner would have to endure some "ah, but if Contador had been in it, he would've won" but we decided that after a few months, people would forget about it, so it wouldn't detract from the win. Well, not much. Especially if Conti wasn't in that strong a position when he retired....

And the nature of this moderately minor mishap? Well, how about the old "stung by a bee and had to go to hospital thus having to retire" routine?

Or there is always that good old standby, food poisoning - but not from steak, of course - sufficient to make him withdraw?

Or the famous Frankie broken collarbone - my personal favourite.

Of course, this came back to bite us when we saw that he had been caught up in the first of the two final crashes..... 

In case you haven't seen it, a stupid, stupid spectator was standing on the grass verge, somewhat too close to the road, and one of the Astana riders collided with her. She did nothing to avoid the collision: she couldn't, as she was looking the other way at the time. (Fingers crossed that it wasn't Leelu: Lee, that wasn't you in a bright yellow overlong tee, was it? Or was that you at the finish line, waving an inflatable kangaroo? We weren't sure where you were, so we shouted out "Hi, Leelu!" at 10km intervals, just in case.)

So he ended up 1'20" down, shame (*laughs hard-heartedly *).

OGL was then caught up in the second of the final crashes, although he managed to stay on his feet: and best of all, being within the last 3km, Article 20 was invoked (thank you, BoulderEl, for telling us the name of the 3km rule!) so he didn't lose time for it. (*laughs smugly*)

Now, this plays nicely into my plan - Contador now has a chance to stop all the booing. He is now well over a minute down, and he looked tired, stressed, and not in good condition by the time he got across the line. If he maintains a stoic demeanour, and says things like "Well, these things happen", he might find that he gets a bit of sympathy.

If he then does something nice for a French rider, such as letting them wheel-suck up a hill, then perhaps the French might change their minds and stop booing him.

And if he then swallows a wasp at high speed and has to go to hospital, thus withdrawing from the race... well, wouldn't that work out well? 

In a perfect world, Frankie and Andy would beat Contador up a particular mountain, in a fairly convincing manner, and then Conti could have the accident/injury/debilitating food poisoning episode, and retire. Thus no-one would say "Ah, but if Conti were there....." instead they would be saying "Yay! Andy/Frankie is a well-deserved winner of the Tour, pity poor old Conti wasn't on form, and swallowed that wasp, but, well, he wasn't riding well, look how they thrashed him up the [insert name of mountain]."

Finally for today, what happened about the rider who went the wrong way and shot off into the buildings? Anyone else see that? It was at 123km to go, so just a little while after Van Dem Broek crashed.

The peloton came up to a biggish roundabout, they all went round it in the usual two streams, except for this one guy.  In the screen cap below, we are viewing the peloton head on: the main field are following the camera bike round to the right of the screen, and you can see the one guy - thinly circled in red - who shot off to the left.

Seconds later we got the aerial shot of the same moment, so here they are going in two streams around the roundabout, and the mystery rider is shooting off at right angles, to the right, through a gap in the crowd.

I've circled him in red, (it was a lot clearer when he was moving) and you can see him going over the crossing stripes, to the far right of the picture.

No-one ever mentioned it!

It was too brief and too unclear to identify the rider: I can't even decide on the team for sure (as Andy and Jensi say) but I think it's Garmin. At least, he's wearing the same blue hat as the other Garmin rider.

Any suggestions?!

Well, I'm so happy to finally be watching the Tour, and I hope that we're all going to enjoy swapping comments and points of interest over the next three weeks.

TdF presentation: Contador booed!

Here's me with raised eyebrows!  What is happening to cycling? At the TdF presentation in the mock Roman amphitheatre, Saxo Bank and Contador were booed by the crowd.

Cycling Weekly did a nice report of the theatricals by the other teams, then commented that "Contador's arrival was greeted with boos, jeers and whistles, although they just about stopped short of giving him the thumbs down and sending in the lions."

Yahoo's report, via Reuters, says "A recent survey by radio Alouette FM showed that 63 per cent of French people polled were against Contador's participation in the Tour." and comments that OGL got the loudest cheers (other than for local riders, of course) which indicates that the French public are going to be taking his side in the Tour.

Sky Sports tried to play it down, concentrating instead on quoting Contador and his "I am not a doper" statements.  They made the point that Contador is allowed to race, according to the rules.

Bjarne Riis (right, looking sinister with a teddy bear) made a few defensive statements about the situation, including;
 
"Alberto was cleared by the system, and has the right to ride." which is true. 

He agreed with all of us, that "Everybody would love to have had a solution a while ago, before the Tour, but that hasn't happened." Sub-text: Blame the UCI/WADA for stringing it out for so long.  

Finally, he makes the perfectly valid point  "If you don't agree that Alberto is riding, you should question the system and not so much us or him."

All of which is true.

My view? I personally don't want Contador to ride the TdF precisely because of the booing. I like cycling, I like the gentlemanly aspects of it, I don't want it brought into disrepute by people booing and throwing tomatoes at riders.

But if he didn't ride, and OGL won, forever afterwards people would say "ah, he only won because Conti wasn't riding." which would be infuriating for him, and for us.

So on balance, I have to grit my teeth and want him to ride - oh, and what was it? to see Andy kick his bony little butt, for sure. As Andy says. (the "for sure" bit,  I don't think Andy has ever referred to Contador's bony little butt. Well, not in any interviews that I have seen, at least.)

Contador, meanwhile, is playing the "oh, I'm very tired after the Giro, the route doesn't suit me, lots of stress from being booed etc" card, thus paving the way to make a future failure understandable, and a future success even more outstanding.

Andy, however, is not hiding: in Velonews he says  "I have no excuses. Everything around me is 100%. It's now up to me."  

Side issue: I am so pleased to hear OGL say that he is going to give 100% - not 110% as some misguided people do. You can't have more than 100 per cents! I hate that expression! Sorry!

So now we just have to wait, with bated breath. And a nice picture:

I'm also doing my bit to support the boys: here are my work t-shirts, now with the added L-T  logo on the back.

 A-ha-ha neighing!  Well, I think it's funny. I'll let you know if anyone ever stops me in the local supermarket and says "Hey! You're a Leopard Trek fan, aren't you?"