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Stage Six: Arras to Reims - 121km/194m
Jul. 10th, 2014 11:56 pmNo, there is too much. Lemme sum up:
Don't be stupid and assume your team's one shining hope is going to STAY your one shining hope. I am absolutely not saying I know better than these whip-smart tour managers. But nothing is ever, ever sure in cycling, and while yes, your team needs speed and strength, it also needs depth. Case in point: heavily favoured Team Sky captain Chris Froome abandoned yesterday after not one, but TWO crashes.
They have Richie Porte, and they have a great team, but what they DON'T have is former Tour winner Bradley Wiggins. They left him off the team this year. Don't get me wrong: the year Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong were both on Astana was a WRECK. There was no clear leader, and the team's loyalties were divided. But had anything happened to one of them, they would have had another champion. (Okay, Lance turned out to be well past his prime, and didn't do well, and...there were probably other reasons we needn't go into for his less-than-stellar performance that year.) Bob Roll is referring to a team's hubris, and I can't blame him. There are plenty of teams who don't have the option. In fact, it's rare for a team to have two potential winners. But when you do, USE THEM. You can't win with the guy you don't bring.
Anyway. We have four guys in the breakaway today. I see Cofidis, Belkin, Bretagne, and one other I can't quite read. It's a cold, wet, windy day, and the peloton has been shattered not by hills this time, but by crashes. Boom, boom, boom: it's three or four guys at a time, and they're going down HARD. At least twice so far, they're not getting back up-- it's the team car and/or hospital for them. Xabier Zandio of Sky is one of the losses, with a possible broken rib and severe back injury, which will affect the whole team come the mountains. And yesterday sucked as well: cobblestones everywhere. In fact, yesterday, the Tour went over the course used for a springtime race often referred to as "The Hell of the North." This was always going to be a brutal Tour, but man. Ouch.
Sixteen miles to the end, and the lead is down to 45 seconds. 107 km they've been up there, but the end is quite literally in sight. Any time it's under a minute, the race officials begin pulling team cars out of the gap. It's heartening for the peloton, but it has to be absolutely galling for the breakaway. It's that silent, "Yeah, nice try, but you're done, and everyone knows it. Next!"
177km now, and there are only two in front now. There was an attack, and two of the leaders were dropped, but now it's only seconds back, so it's all a sort of final show of defiance. Luis Mate of Cofidis drops Pineau of IAM, and leads on for a few minutes. 187km in the lead now, and he's got 13 seconds on the race. He won't give up, and he's going to be today's Most Aggressive Rider. He keeps looking over his shoulder to see where the peloton is, and to make sure they'll swallow him up safely when the catch comes.
5km to go and the heat's been turned up. There's been a massive attack by a large group, and in that group are all the sprinters and top contenders. Omega Pharma QuickStep is getting Mark Renshaw in position. Giant Shimano is NOT there for Marcel Kittel-- where are they? Peter Sagan is trying to find his place. Whipping through the streets, 2km to go. Screaming crowds and broad avenues, and they're under the 1km banner. Giant Shimano is gone-- one man in front, another, there's no lead out for ANYONE, what the hell is going on and-- it's ANDRE GREIPEL out of NOWHERE! Greipel takes the stage!
Andre Greipel: Lotto Belisol rider and Champion of Germany. Renshaw and Sagan are fourth and fifth for the stage with the same time. And Marcel Kittel? Wow. Of all the times to get a flat.
Also of note today:
With the Tour giving a nod to 100 years since the start of World War I, French President Francois Hollande honored the fallen and took a ride with race director Christian Prudhomme on Thursday. The Tour chief led a ceremony honoring 1909 winner Francois Faber, one of three winners of early Tours who died in the war. (http://www.timesherald.com/sports/20140710/cycling-sensing-rivals-calm-nibali-defends-tour-lead)
So on tomorrow to the Tour's second-longest stage. Vincenzo Nibali has spent five days in yellow, but it remains to be seen if he can keep that up. He's won the Giro, he's won the Vuelta. This is all that's missing from his mantel, at this point.
Onwards!
Don't be stupid and assume your team's one shining hope is going to STAY your one shining hope. I am absolutely not saying I know better than these whip-smart tour managers. But nothing is ever, ever sure in cycling, and while yes, your team needs speed and strength, it also needs depth. Case in point: heavily favoured Team Sky captain Chris Froome abandoned yesterday after not one, but TWO crashes.
They have Richie Porte, and they have a great team, but what they DON'T have is former Tour winner Bradley Wiggins. They left him off the team this year. Don't get me wrong: the year Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong were both on Astana was a WRECK. There was no clear leader, and the team's loyalties were divided. But had anything happened to one of them, they would have had another champion. (Okay, Lance turned out to be well past his prime, and didn't do well, and...there were probably other reasons we needn't go into for his less-than-stellar performance that year.) Bob Roll is referring to a team's hubris, and I can't blame him. There are plenty of teams who don't have the option. In fact, it's rare for a team to have two potential winners. But when you do, USE THEM. You can't win with the guy you don't bring.
Anyway. We have four guys in the breakaway today. I see Cofidis, Belkin, Bretagne, and one other I can't quite read. It's a cold, wet, windy day, and the peloton has been shattered not by hills this time, but by crashes. Boom, boom, boom: it's three or four guys at a time, and they're going down HARD. At least twice so far, they're not getting back up-- it's the team car and/or hospital for them. Xabier Zandio of Sky is one of the losses, with a possible broken rib and severe back injury, which will affect the whole team come the mountains. And yesterday sucked as well: cobblestones everywhere. In fact, yesterday, the Tour went over the course used for a springtime race often referred to as "The Hell of the North." This was always going to be a brutal Tour, but man. Ouch.
Sixteen miles to the end, and the lead is down to 45 seconds. 107 km they've been up there, but the end is quite literally in sight. Any time it's under a minute, the race officials begin pulling team cars out of the gap. It's heartening for the peloton, but it has to be absolutely galling for the breakaway. It's that silent, "Yeah, nice try, but you're done, and everyone knows it. Next!"
177km now, and there are only two in front now. There was an attack, and two of the leaders were dropped, but now it's only seconds back, so it's all a sort of final show of defiance. Luis Mate of Cofidis drops Pineau of IAM, and leads on for a few minutes. 187km in the lead now, and he's got 13 seconds on the race. He won't give up, and he's going to be today's Most Aggressive Rider. He keeps looking over his shoulder to see where the peloton is, and to make sure they'll swallow him up safely when the catch comes.
5km to go and the heat's been turned up. There's been a massive attack by a large group, and in that group are all the sprinters and top contenders. Omega Pharma QuickStep is getting Mark Renshaw in position. Giant Shimano is NOT there for Marcel Kittel-- where are they? Peter Sagan is trying to find his place. Whipping through the streets, 2km to go. Screaming crowds and broad avenues, and they're under the 1km banner. Giant Shimano is gone-- one man in front, another, there's no lead out for ANYONE, what the hell is going on and-- it's ANDRE GREIPEL out of NOWHERE! Greipel takes the stage!
Andre Greipel: Lotto Belisol rider and Champion of Germany. Renshaw and Sagan are fourth and fifth for the stage with the same time. And Marcel Kittel? Wow. Of all the times to get a flat.
Also of note today:
With the Tour giving a nod to 100 years since the start of World War I, French President Francois Hollande honored the fallen and took a ride with race director Christian Prudhomme on Thursday. The Tour chief led a ceremony honoring 1909 winner Francois Faber, one of three winners of early Tours who died in the war. (http://www.timesherald.com/sports/20140710/cycling-sensing-rivals-calm-nibali-defends-tour-lead)
So on tomorrow to the Tour's second-longest stage. Vincenzo Nibali has spent five days in yellow, but it remains to be seen if he can keep that up. He's won the Giro, he's won the Vuelta. This is all that's missing from his mantel, at this point.
Onwards!