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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Allez Noel!
@Erik
A+1 to that! Well, not the wanker part, at least as far as I know.
@Ron
Rolland was riding perfectly and cornering aggressively. He only crashed because the Astana rider braked hard when he fucked his line and blocked the exit. Not a fast/hard crash really by pro standards.
do we have a Hinault - Lemod situation brewing in Team Sky....... great stage, and good to see Wiggo and Nibali bury the hatchet ( hopefully!) at the finish line...
@Gerard
Race ON. Race OFF. Until next time -- Race ON!
Why oh why did Froome have to get pulled back? I know he rides for team Sky, but I had him winning the stage, now I'm lamenting coming close on the VSP but not winning the shoes.
Seriously though, how long will he sit up and wait. This year for sure, but I don't know if he will do it next year even if Sky makes him the leader for the Vuelta in the Spring. I understand he is under contract for three years though. How could he move if he wanted to?
Thanks, Harminator. I did see it, but broken up. Ha, PROs do it all hard, even crashing. That's still a great showing of mental toughness to jump back on the bike & chase.
Pat on the back? I was kind of liking the one finger salute at the line stuff.
Just back from my first proper ride in over two weeks. Amazing how fast you can feel out of shape, slow, and out of breath. Oh well. Still fun to be back on the bike & recall that just a short cruise can be damn fan. And also nice to jump back on your #1 and have it feel perfect, run smoothly, and handle nicely.
@Harminator
Frankie Schleck almost did the same thing to Evans as they approached the finish line.
@motor city
Nice bit of class.
@Buck Rogers
Cyclingnews has a 2:28 video of Roche talking after the stage about his GC chances. Which seems like a lot of time.