Stage Thirteen!
Jul. 18th, 2008 07:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobelleStage Thirteen:113 miles, Narbonne to Nimes
French rider Florent Brard of Cofidis and Dutch Niki Terpstra of Milram are the lucky riders in the breakaway today. It’s been hours, we’re less than 47k to the end, and the peloton is closing. They’ve been out front the entire time, but they won’t make it to the end. What they have managed is to get intermediate sprint points and the resultant money they bring—800 euros ($1200) each, plus, I believe, another 600 if you win all three. Not bad for a day’s work. And those breakaways serve another purpose, too.
An interesting bit of strategy just happened that I found fascinating. We have two riders out in front. They’re not hours ahead, but it’s certainly not like anyone’s going to catch them up this very second. The first two places for each sprint are therefore taken—lost to the other riders. But there are three places to win, and even third place is important—especially if you’re just a few points down in the prestigious green jersey points competition.
But on a long stage like this, where there’ll be a hard sprint finish, one thing you don’t want is to tire out your team’s best sprinter before the end. So today, out of nowhere, Juan Antonio Fletcha, Spanish rider for Rabobank, shot forward and seized the last sprint points. He’s nowhere in the standings. He has no chance whatsoever to win the green jersey. But what he’s done has guaranteed the peloton will continue at its steady pace, and his sprinter will live to fight another kilometer.
Under 20k to the finish, and here’s another surprise: after nearly 175km, Terpstra has dropped Brard like an overwarm spud. A Cofidis rider has come up to comfort (and support) Brard, but Terpstra is hovering at a minute ahead and showing no signs of giving up. It’s obvious how he won eight Dutch championships. The peloton is gaining, but he’s not giving up. Might he make it?
Aw, damn. No.
Six miles to go, and Terpstra’s caught. He drops like a stone through the peloton as it rumblingly digests him and reorganises itself to put its captains in place for the finish.
And probably the most spectacular crash of the Tour so far! A Gerolsteiner rider, Sven Kraus, is slowly standing up in the middle of the road as the end of the peloton swirls past, and his bike has just FLOWN OVER HIS HEAD IN TWO PIECES. Damn. I’ll be waiting for video of THAT. (He hit a post—what they call “road furniture.” He’s fine, btw, but his bike shattered on the asphalt. I mean, came completely apart. Literally.)
And Cofidis isn’t done yet! Sylvain Chavanel has taken off like his ass is on fire—and he’s close enough to the end, and in good enough form—that he may just make it. Milram, Garmin-Chipotle, and Columbia have other ideas, of course. Milram wants Erik Zabel to take the day. George Hincapie is determined that Columbia will deliver Mark Cavendish for a fourth stage. Garmin-Chipotle for Julian Dean.
3k, and Chavanel is caught. The peloton is together, setting up for a spectacular sprint. Liquigas is pulling. Now Milram. 200 meters! There’s blood in the water, the crowd is screaming. Robbie McEwen is challenging—Mark Cavendish is boxed in. Thor Hushovd comes up the outside—but it’s too late! Cavendish has found the break in the fence, and he’s off like a shot! Two lengths between him and Robbie McEwen! A fourth stage win—absolutely unprecedented for a British rider!
Nimes to Digne-les-Baines tomorrow. A stage almost entirely uphill—hang on, we’re heading into the Alps!
Bits for today:
The centre of Nimes has an honest-to-G-d Roman coliseum. Unlike Rome, theirs is in one piece, and currently sporting an enormous and very state-of-the-art stage and lighting rig.
Mark Cavendish is from the Isle of Man.
Five litres of liquid. Ten to fifteen bottles PER STAGE. That’s how much these guys have to consume, or face up to 20% decrease in efficiency. Dehydration is absolutely ugly to see—Lance Armstrong won an Alpine stage with a ring of salt around his mouth, looking like death on a bike. This is why the domestiques spend the entire race going back to the team car for more and more water—up until 20k from the end, when you can’t go back to the team car any more. You’d better make sure you load up before you go under that marker.
French rider Florent Brard of Cofidis and Dutch Niki Terpstra of Milram are the lucky riders in the breakaway today. It’s been hours, we’re less than 47k to the end, and the peloton is closing. They’ve been out front the entire time, but they won’t make it to the end. What they have managed is to get intermediate sprint points and the resultant money they bring—800 euros ($1200) each, plus, I believe, another 600 if you win all three. Not bad for a day’s work. And those breakaways serve another purpose, too.
An interesting bit of strategy just happened that I found fascinating. We have two riders out in front. They’re not hours ahead, but it’s certainly not like anyone’s going to catch them up this very second. The first two places for each sprint are therefore taken—lost to the other riders. But there are three places to win, and even third place is important—especially if you’re just a few points down in the prestigious green jersey points competition.
But on a long stage like this, where there’ll be a hard sprint finish, one thing you don’t want is to tire out your team’s best sprinter before the end. So today, out of nowhere, Juan Antonio Fletcha, Spanish rider for Rabobank, shot forward and seized the last sprint points. He’s nowhere in the standings. He has no chance whatsoever to win the green jersey. But what he’s done has guaranteed the peloton will continue at its steady pace, and his sprinter will live to fight another kilometer.
Under 20k to the finish, and here’s another surprise: after nearly 175km, Terpstra has dropped Brard like an overwarm spud. A Cofidis rider has come up to comfort (and support) Brard, but Terpstra is hovering at a minute ahead and showing no signs of giving up. It’s obvious how he won eight Dutch championships. The peloton is gaining, but he’s not giving up. Might he make it?
Aw, damn. No.
Six miles to go, and Terpstra’s caught. He drops like a stone through the peloton as it rumblingly digests him and reorganises itself to put its captains in place for the finish.
And probably the most spectacular crash of the Tour so far! A Gerolsteiner rider, Sven Kraus, is slowly standing up in the middle of the road as the end of the peloton swirls past, and his bike has just FLOWN OVER HIS HEAD IN TWO PIECES. Damn. I’ll be waiting for video of THAT. (He hit a post—what they call “road furniture.” He’s fine, btw, but his bike shattered on the asphalt. I mean, came completely apart. Literally.)
And Cofidis isn’t done yet! Sylvain Chavanel has taken off like his ass is on fire—and he’s close enough to the end, and in good enough form—that he may just make it. Milram, Garmin-Chipotle, and Columbia have other ideas, of course. Milram wants Erik Zabel to take the day. George Hincapie is determined that Columbia will deliver Mark Cavendish for a fourth stage. Garmin-Chipotle for Julian Dean.
3k, and Chavanel is caught. The peloton is together, setting up for a spectacular sprint. Liquigas is pulling. Now Milram. 200 meters! There’s blood in the water, the crowd is screaming. Robbie McEwen is challenging—Mark Cavendish is boxed in. Thor Hushovd comes up the outside—but it’s too late! Cavendish has found the break in the fence, and he’s off like a shot! Two lengths between him and Robbie McEwen! A fourth stage win—absolutely unprecedented for a British rider!
Nimes to Digne-les-Baines tomorrow. A stage almost entirely uphill—hang on, we’re heading into the Alps!
Bits for today:
The centre of Nimes has an honest-to-G-d Roman coliseum. Unlike Rome, theirs is in one piece, and currently sporting an enormous and very state-of-the-art stage and lighting rig.
Mark Cavendish is from the Isle of Man.
Five litres of liquid. Ten to fifteen bottles PER STAGE. That’s how much these guys have to consume, or face up to 20% decrease in efficiency. Dehydration is absolutely ugly to see—Lance Armstrong won an Alpine stage with a ring of salt around his mouth, looking like death on a bike. This is why the domestiques spend the entire race going back to the team car for more and more water—up until 20k from the end, when you can’t go back to the team car any more. You’d better make sure you load up before you go under that marker.