Tour Stage 8 and 9 - Sat/Sun

Having been away for the weekend, LLB and I rushed back to unpack quickly and watch the race coverage for the weekend.

Exciting stuff!

The pre-race interviews were interesting, although it was slightly hard to listen to what Chris Frome was saying when he was wearing what appeared to be sexy see-through lingerie. And it wasn't just him, it was all the team!

Even Carlton Kirby, commentating, referred to the Sky kit: "Lots of bare chests on display today," he said, "Sky have gone all high tech, or maybe just Dodgy Disco, with a string vest effect."

Also good to see Sean Yates in the Eurosport studio: he used to be the lead DS for Sky until forced to retire last year due to ill health - he has a long-standing heart condition, and I can well imagine that what with winning the Tour with Wiggins, he was finding it all a bit hard to manage! He was looking much better, although he still sounds, as he always has done, as though he is either slightly drunk or has had a stroke. I'm pretty sure that neither is the case, and if you overlook his slight problems with pronunciation, he is always very interesting to listen to.

So what caught my eye about this stage? Well, at 43k to go - a long flat stage with a big hill towards the end and an uphill finish - as they were working their way up the big hill, sweating, open vests all around (except for Sky, who were presumably cool and airy in their Dodgy Disco outfits) and suddenly there was a huge puddle in the road. And white stuff on the verges. "Is that snow?" asked LLB, just as Carlton confirmed that the snow was melting and running onto the road.. good thing they were going up, not down!

35k to go, Daryl Impey, in yellow, starts to drop back through the pack. Ah, I knew he'd eventually suffer for the lack of his musette. Is it too late for me to give it back to him?

34k, we see Jan Bakelandts dropping back, but no sign of Andy.. or of Conti... so we assume he's safely up there in the main bunch. With 2k to the summit, Sky up the pace, people drop off the back, and there he is! Andy is safe in the main bunch. He makes it to the summit with everyone else, and safely down the other side.

Now we are coming in to the final ascent: with 6k to go, Andy is off the back of the front group, but he's not alone, Cadel Evans is there as well. It's not all bad news, Jakob is way up there with the leaders, yay!

5k to go, Sky have stepped up the pace, slaughtered the group, and are catching up with Quintano: Conti drops back! Frome jumps! He goes alone! He take Quintano! Meanwhile Conti is having to be lead up the hill, he's chugging!

The camera bike works up from the back of the lead group - there's Cadel, chugging badly: Roulland in his polka dot jersey, shorts, saddle, gloves and (probably) socks, chugging: then Zubeldia - aha, he didn't break his wrist then? - wobbling from side to side, and look! There's Andy! Not looking too bad, actually.

Meanwhile Richie Porte of Sky, having done his duty as domestique, gets his second wind and starts making headway again, and is now in second place.

We see the group again, and Conti is clearly struggling: even LLB says "what we need now is for Andy to go past Contador" which makes me laugh. Alas, all the coverage is on the front of the race (!) and Frome wins it in style: Porte comes galloping up behind him and gets second, in style. Conti limps in, 1'46 down, and I wait anxiously for pictures of Andy coming in, but we don't get any more coverage. Checking later, he comes in 21st, 3mins or so down, which is not bad at all. He later said that he was pleased with his performance, as did Kim Andersen, so I'm pleased as well.

Sunday's racing was even more exciting:  a day of mountains, with 5 climbs, spread out through the day.

It started with early breaks - Jensie, of course, then Bumfluff (Tejay Van Garderen) has a go, despite being covered in bandages, and despite having had a really bad day yesterday. Carlton tells us that it was 28 degrees yesterday (no wonder the snow was melting) and LLB and I exchange looks - we were standing outside, painting, yesterday, in 28 degrees (yes folks! It's officially summer in the UK, expect a hosepipe ban within days) then driving home for 2 hours with no air conditioning, and we were absolutely drained by the end of the day.  We cannot imagine how these guys have the strength and fortitude to cycle up great big hills in that sort of temperature, even if they are wearing Dodgy Disco net-wear.

146k to go, all quiet and peaceful, then suddenly whap! Sky's Kennaugh fell off the road and down a ravine into the hawthorn bushes. Shades of Vino! Luckily he managed to scramble back up the bank, retrieve his bike, and eventually he got going again.

130k and an odd situation has developed - no break has been allowed to get away, so the pace is really high, and every non-climber is falling off the back - which is better than falling down a ravine - and suddenly Frome, in yellow, is staying safely at the front of the group, as he should: but he has not one single team mate with him. How odd, Sky have been riding as a bloc all year, and suddenly there is Frome, in yellow, and all alone. Obviously Kennaugh is recovering from ravine-diving, and G has a cracked pelvis (there's a lot of it about) and is therefore just hanging on, but where are the others?

As Contador starts chumming up with Spanish riders from Movistar, LLB comments on how annoying it is for us that there isn't another UK team for Sky to make deals with. I have to say, if teams based on the continent, where cycling is a BIG sport, can't get sponsors, then there is not much hope for the UK getting another team.

Unless possibly Wiggins leaves Sky (we keep hearing about the friction between him and Frome) and, using his fame as Tour winner, Olympic winner, Track winner etc, gets a completely new UK sponsor to build a team around him? *sighs*

102k to go and the race is in total shambles, riders are all over the road in bits - apparently there is a string of riders over 6k long, strung out over the mountainside! Frome is unfazed, and makes a really good move by leaping off the front when taunted by Movistar, so they have to drag him up the main front group, and then off the front of that, leaving behind Cadel, Conti - and Our Andy, and Jakob, who hopefully have found time to have a quick chat.

Jakob: "So, Frankie getting the shove, huh?"
Andy: "Pfff!" (angry noise)
Jakob: "We have money, just say it right and you can both come to Ass-t'na"
Andy: "What, and have Coug call me a Pyjama Boy?"
Jakob: "It's a term of affection."
Andy: *gives him a Look* "Just say it right?"
Jakob: "Yup. Come on, ASS-t'na. ASS-t'na. You can do it."
Andy: "Achs-star-nar."

93k to go and the Conti/Cadel/Andy group make it up to the Frome/Movistar group, as the four guys out in front (who we have barely seen, such is the interest in Frome) go through the intermediate Sprint Point.

LLB comments that normally nothing happens before the sprint point! Not today...

Carlton and Sean Kelly are continually expressing surprise at all the fireworks we are getting today, the high pace, and the fact that the Sky team have disappeared -they speculate that they over-tired themselves yesterday.

84k and finally the camera moves away from the Frome group, and we see a few tattered remnants of Sky, pulling back the whole of the grupetto. Boassen-Hagen is on the front, despite looking like a sick dog, but not for long, then he drifts to the back along with Richie Porte, who really looks as though he is suffering: next we see G, with his fractured pelvis, pulling at the front, followed by a mummified Kennaugh, while Carlton and Sean talk about the time cut-off, which is 13% of race time, which they calculate to be about 36 or 37 minutes today. The organisers, ASO, have apparently said that they are going to continue to be really strict about this (having cruelly and meanly disqualified Ted King for being 7 seconds beyond the time limit at the ITT, despite him having had a really bad fall on an early day, boo) so there is a real risk that a large chunk of the sprinters will not make it to the finish in time.

Movistar have realised that they must keep the pace up, to prevent any of the Sky boys getting back to help Frome, but they are killing the sprinters.The best hope at the moment is that the grupetto exceeds 20% of the riders, in which case the organisers put it to a judge, who may - or may not - allow special dispensation for them to be allowed to continue, although I think they get fines, and lose points. Still, better that that than being thrown off the Tour, eh?

80k to go, and I realise that I have not seen a single natural break. They have been pedalling at high speed all day, they barely slowed down for the feed zone, so what are they doing about peeing? At that moment, de Ghent is shown tipping water over his feet - we wonder if it's the heat, or has he just peed down his leg?

Movistar are still steaming along, and pulling terrible faces - probably thinking "How on earth do Sky do this, day after day?!"

60k to go, and Sean Kelly is reminiscing (if that's how you spell it) about his days as a rider, when on very hot days, if they passed a suitable waterfall or river, the riders would hop off their bikes, cool down in the water, then carry on.

I don't think they'll have time for that today.

40k to go, the pace continues, Movistar continue to pull, Frome continues to stay with them, and there is Andy! He's about 6 riders behind Frome, and looking very comfortable, yay!

Our commentators are repeatedly stressing that Frome is all alone - but Cadel Evans won races, all alone, for years. I guess they mean that it's unusual for Frome to be unsupported... but he doesn't seem to be too bothered by it, I have to say.

35k to go and Movistar have eaten up nearly all of the break, they've ruined Porte's day, losing him his GC 2nd position by about 11 minutes, they are seriously stressing the sprinters and domestiques who are floundering at the back, but they are also giving Frome a perfect free ride to the top of the mountain. Again.

Dan Martin (him with the teeth) pings off the front. No-one chases. Jakob pings off the front. No-one chases. LLB is hoping that Frome will attack, and I am hoping that Andy will attack. Go on, Andy! You're not a threat, they'll let you go! But he doesn't, not today.

Meanwhile Jakob and Dan Martin (and his teeth) are out leading the race with 32k to go - they crest the final hill, and Jakob leads the pair of them downhill and in towards the finish.

I have noticed a big shortage of Lux ensign flags during the Tour so far (oh Andy-fans, where are you!!) so I wave mine.

17k to go and Andy is staying very close behind Frome, and totally ignoring Conti, who is a little further back. I'm particularly pleased to see this, as I would rather Andy concentrated on the race ahead, rather than always looking to see what Conti is doing. Just my opinion. It's clear that Conti is not on form himself, otherwise he would have attacked by now...

I'm thrilled to see that Jakob is storming along with Dan Martin: he's looking really strong, which is a good thing as he is rapidly losing his team (only 6 of them left) and he's probably Ass-t'na's only hope of winning UCI points.

We go back to the main group, and although Conti does not seem to be on form enough to attack, his team mate Kreuziger does - and Andy goes with  him! Lots of waving of Lux ensign flag from my corner of the sofa. I don't care what the outcome is, or how long they go for, I'm really happy to see Andy riding confidently again.

5k to go and Conti is looking uncomfortable, whereas Our Andy is looking quite relaxed.

And the result? Well, you must have seen it, Dan Martin (and his teeth) just pipped Jakob to the line, and Andy came in with his group 20seconds later, 12th position, which puts him now 15th in the GC at just 4mins down.

Not bad at all, eh?

Sky later said, of their non-appearance, "no excuses, the peloton kicked our arses" (That was Richie Porte) they just didn't have the legs, and Kiryenka, my pet robot, didn't make the time cut and is now out, which is a bit of a blow to the team.

I haven't been able to find a list of who didn't make the time cut, but I am assuming that if it were a huge list, it would have made the news!

So, Andy now sitting in the top 20 GC - isn't that great?