During the 1969 Tour de France, Felice Gimondi and Ray Poulidor were fined for taking a ride from a lorry up the Tourmalet. What about Merkcx? Well, he was towing the lorry.
Its an old joke, but like any good joke, it stays funny no matter how many times you hear it. I bet it’s even funnier if you know what a lorry is. I knew a girl named Lori once – wasn’t funny at all – though she would give a ride to anyone who asked, so I’m assuming that’s the joke.
Merckx decimated the 1969 Tour in a way we haven’t seen in ages. On July 15 of that year, The Prophet started the day with an almost unassailable lead of somewhere around 8 minutes. Not enough, obviously. So it was, then, that his rivals’ tails wagged at the sight of him flustering with his gears near the top of the Tourmalet. A mechanical, obviously, sure to cost him loads of time. In fact, he was just moving Sur La Plaque into my personal favorite gear for climbing – the 53×17. They wouldn’t see him again that day and four hours later, his solo effort would net him another 8 minutes’ lead.
If anyone at this Tour de France wants to beat Bradley Wiggins, they’re going to have to set aside the in-vogue last-mountain attack or start putting a lot more stock in poisn’d entrails, eyes of newt, and wool of bat. Unless their strategic plan involves deliberately crashing the entirety of Team Sky or having them all come down with a synchronized sniffle, they’re going to have to start riding their bikes hard from a lot farther out than the 5km banner.
Stage 11 is the test, even though Stage 10 is also a test and may already prove me right or wrong (it will be one of those, I’m sure of it). But Stage 11 sees the finish to La Toussuire where Floyd Landis cracked and lost a mountain of time before regaining it the next day and subsequently testing positive for beer-induced testosterone. Its not a very steep climb, but its hard enough to suck if you blow up. It won’t be hard enough to drop an in-form Wiggins, so Nibali and/or Evans will have to hit the road a lot sooner than the last climb if they’re going to start making inroads. And if my boy Fränkie Schleck wants a chance at the win, he should probably start the stage today.
It’s time to ride with the breath of a cannibal.
You know the drill: get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero for a chance to win a pair of fizik R3 road shoes and two pair of DeFeet socks.
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VSP PICKS:
1. Nibbles
2. Cuddles
3. Jurgles
4. Wiggles
5. Froogles
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Froome
3. Evans
4. Taaramae
5. Wiggins
Anit Delgado picks. Will likely change after stage 10 is complete.
VSP PICKS:
1. Cadel
2. Froome
3. Schleck
4. Wiggo
5. Nibbles
VSP PICKS:
1. Evans
2. Nibali
3. Van den Broucke
4. Wiggins
5. Froome
I must be dumb as f**k as my front runners are from the flatlands......
VSP PICKS:
1. Gesink
2. Van den Broeck
3. Froome
4. Evans
5. Schleck
Who's dragging who up the mountains on team Radioschleck Leotard? After today's stage full of epic attacks, Cuddles, Wiggo, and Nibbles won't be able to to anything tomorrow other than hang onto wheels. Jens tows the team through most of the stage and wrecks himself on the Col de la Madelaine, and then actually dies from the ascent to the Croix de Fer. Horner and Zubeldia do the rest of the work, leaving Schleck and Monfort steam up to the top of the mountain and into La Toussuirefor a little bit of redemption. Wiggo and Cadel the let Scheck cross the line first out of pity.
VSP PICKS:
1. Frankenschleck
2. Cuddles
3. Wiggo
4. Nibbles
5. Monfort
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibbles
2. JVDB
3. Froomie
4. Evans
5. Wiggo
Boss-Hoggraiding his tail off again for Wiggo. The man is definitely one of the unsung heros of that team
Fredrik Kessiakoff, Sweden, Pro Team Astana, best individual climber from stage 9.
VSP PICKS:
1. EVANS
2. PINOT
3. NIBALI
4. KESSIAKOFF
5. FROOME
Wiggins just wants to hold his time compared to Cuddles who will bust a gut but ultimately pull no time out of Twiggo because Vroominator will pull out another stage win at the end. Nilbbles will remain in the wings and Frankie will push hard but ultimately lose out to the pure climbing in form thoroughbreds......this is one pick where I won't be putting Sagan in the top 5!!
VSP PICKS:
1. Froome
2. Wiggins
3. Cuddles
4. Nibbles
5. Frank Schleck