Day three was a typical first-week Tour day - a long day in the saddle, nothing much happens for five hours, then a bunch sprint at the end, won by Peter Soggy Sagan. Sky still have Geraint Thomas in yellow, and three out of the top ten places. OK, that last bit is not exactly typical, but very satisfying for all us Sky fans.
Day 4 however, started in Mondorf, home town of the Andy Schleck, and I didn't quite manage to get the day off work, hop on a plane, and be there for the start. Drat! However, I was optimistic that someone somewhere would manage to get an interview with Our Glorious (Former) Leader, and BikeGirl confirmed that this happened - but where is it? I haven't seen the stage yet, I have my fingers crossed that LLB recorded it and - most importantly - doesn't delete it before I get a chance to watch it. I assumed that someone would put up the clip on Yootoob but so far, no sign of it.
Darn!
Meanwhile, in the rest of world, Day 4 was another of those long, flat days, designed to take the stuffing out of the riders, and test their stamina. It ended in a bunch sprint, and this time Soggy Sagan, for an unknown reason, elbowed Mark Cavendish in the final metres, flung him into the barriers, and left him crashed and broken on the ground. Mark's out with a broken shoulder, and Sagan has apparently been disqualified and thrown off the race, although it's half past six in the morning as I write, and things may yet change before the day starts in Europe.
Having watched videos of the sprint, it does look rather like a nasty, spiteful elbow. But if Cav had only hit the deck, and hadn't broken his scapula (ouch!!) would it still have been a DQ? Or would it just have been a fine and a time loss?
Andy interview is Stage 3 about at 140 km left to go, I think is one of those "fill in" bits they do when the cycling is really boring.
ReplyDeleteWhere are Phil and Paul these days? Are they not doing the commentary? After last year I started calling them Zippy and Bungle, some of the mistakes they would say with riders names etc was shocking! I mean Richie Froome? (well maybe they got married, who knows) I was a bit worried about them, started to sound like they were getting dementia.
Bit of a shock having Peter Sagan getting booted off the tour, there is more footage coming out saying that Cav was already falling when the unfortunate elbow went out and his team have appealed the disqualification so we will wait and see I guess.
UPDATE!! Just watching stage 4 and more Andy bits (not his bits *snort* but him and his cute little face) at 161km to go
ReplyDeleteThanks, BikeGirl, I have made a careful note of the times, and now I have fingers and toes crossed that LLB has a) recorded those stages, and b) not yet deleted them!
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