Forget the yellow
What an awesome break. I had no idea what I wanted to happen. Did I want Barrado to stick it(heck yeah, man was crushin' it)? How about another for Casar (dude rocks)? Maybe Armstrong because of his bad luck (nah)? Horner? Why not Horner, the guy is a draft horse and just might be a little crazy(love the guy).
What half ounce of respect I have for Armstrong is drying up after his stage hunting episode. Are you so self centered that you are going to sacrifice one of the most deserving domistiques without a tour stage win just so you can save a little face. Only to fall flat on it and look even more like a fill in the blank. Horner is b'dass. What else can you say about the guy, he will obliterate himself for his team leader and like it. Dude is so far into the pain cave setting tempo and.... he has a smile on his face. He loves what he does and he does it without any self concern. Horner is sitting 14 GC to Armstrong's 25 and he is setting pace for Armstrong? What is wrong with this? Get your 25th GC self-righteous fill in the blank up to the front and set some pace for your man Horner and show some respect.
I was crushed when Barrado was caught at the red kite. The guy made headlines for the wheel swinging incident, but suicide breakaway artist is what we will remember after his solo effort. Edge of the couch, yelling at the TV "don't look back, keep going". Oh, heartbreak, all of that work to be swallowed up and spit out the back of the chase group. I say Thank you, Good Show to Barrado. Going "rogue" is awesome and you my friend deserve the red numbers on your back.
I am going to beat this dead horse as long as it continues to be deceased. Number Six. Make that 6 stage wins for the French, thanks to Fedrigo and his cagey sprint out of the eight man break. A break that stuck, Yes! Viva la France.
Jens Voigt. Just writing those two words carries the weight of 3.5 War and Peaces. I'm exhausted just typing that combination of letters together. (five hours later) What can you say about Jens? Anything you want, but be careful he might attack so hard that he travels back in time and destroys your family line. Jens is and always will be the MAN. When Jens fell in a crazy descent at last year's Tour he caused an earthquake in South America. Jens fell yesterday on the first descent at 70kph (roughly 43mph), his tire blew and he went down hard. There are "stories" that he finished the stage on a neutral support bike with toe clips (unconfirmed at this time). The legend that is Jens Voigt will one day eclipse the whole known universe.
"My ribs are hurting but hey, broken ribs are overrated anyway" -Jens
Jens's "neutral support bike" was a junior bike (that was obviously too small for him) and had toe clips. The picture is available here: http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/tour-features/saying-no-sag-wagon.
ReplyDeleteI was rooting for Armstrong to win the stage. But I would have been more impressed if he had worked so that Horner could have gotten the glory (my guess is that the thought did not cross either rider's mind). Did you see Horner get initially dropped from the break, then get dropped from the peloton, then bridge back up to the break to help Armstrong? I give him the win for that effort alone.
I have one thing to say JENS!!!!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing -- I wasn't rooting for LA, but I always feel compelled to watch him race. I just can't help myself. Okay -- there was that one moment when he was hammering up that climb w Barrado -- this thing bubbled up out of my gut -- and sure enough it sounded like "GO LANCE" -- I said it. Oh yes I did. I was rooting for Cunego though -- really thought he'd take the sprint. I glad Barrado didn't take off his front wheel and beat Plaza for chasing him down.
Okay one more thing -- In the 80's Joop Zotemelk won the TDF at 39 yoa. He started something like 15 or 16 TDF's, and finished them all. On a major climb his Domi (who was pacing him) swerved like crazy, and totally took Joop's front wheel out -- Joop crashed -- nobody waited (except his Domi a small man, who gave him his bike) Joop chased back on in the yellow jersey (wool) and won the TDF that Year.
Last word -- JOOP!!! kinda sounds cool -- maybe that's what Johnny K is saying -- now in a sudden epiphany the whole world makes sense -- Johnny K is saying "JOOP JOOP" -- WOW