DAMN! Another totally exciting finish!!! GO FABIAN! WOW!!!
I LOVE THE TOUR!!!
Cathy, have you ever watched the tour in person? Is it one of the best things ever? I was thinking about going there next year.
Cancellara is the man. HUGE effort by him…very impressive!
Take THAT Robbie!
Cathy, have you ever watched the tour in person? Is it one of the best things ever? I was thinking about going there next year.
I’ve been twice–2003 and 2004. It is the most amazing thing to see. In fact, I saw Cancellera win the prologue in Liege in 2004.
If you have the chance…GO!
Cancellara did the impossible!! 1km of raw power - amazing!
Wish i was there.
Sweet finish.
Did Paul give his “suitcase of courage line”? I think this may be the perfect opportunity to use that line…WOW! I can’t wait to see it later when I get home from work.
Dave in VA
Amazing!!!
The 4 leaders blew it though (in my opinion of course), I never understood slowing down waiting for somebody in the group to make a move … and the pack flew right by them. 200mi in the lead for nothing!
An extraordinary finish to be sure.
Cancellera took a huge risk, but based on his strengths, perhaps he knew that he could hold it too the line. Congratulations to him. Simply an amazing effort and one of the best stage finishes I have seen in years. It’s rare to see that sort of riding from the yellow jersey in the early stages.
Feel sorry for the guys in the breakaway, but indeed, they had no time to play cat-and-mouse. For one of them to win it, they would have had to drive it right to the line.
He knew that he could take the stage at the point he came round the last bend and did what he does best. Naturally, to have the confidence to know that he could do it was a huge part of the performance.
You are right, it was a crazy decision for the four guys in the breakaway to wait for someone to make their move and provide a wheel. Ultimately, it cost one of them the stage and the other three lost valuable time points.
Roll on Villers-Cotterets>Jioigny and another bunch sprint!
Freakin’ breakaway screwed themselves again by pussy-footin’ at the end. No way they should have lost that race. You’re watching them, just yelling, “Go you idiots!!!”
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Cathy - which stages did you see in 2003? I was over there for about 10 stages and had a blast. We camped out most of the time in the French countryside and stayed in hotels in Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse.
Yeah, this is probably more fireworks than we’ve seen in the first week in a long time. Actually has made these stages worth watching.
And I thought Riis was staying away from the Tour. I’ve now seen him twice, today escorting Cancellara after the finish.
I was there for the first 9 or so stages. In fact, some of the same roads they will be riding tomorrow in the Champagne country. Loved it there. Had a blast in Reims. Went down to the Alpes and went back to Paris the day after Lance rode cross country through the pasture (and after celebrating Bastille Day in Grenoble until dawn).
Somewhat regular reports are here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/parse.pl?url=http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/letour.html&text=cathy%20morgan
And I thought Riis was staying away from the Tour. I’ve now seen him twice, today escorting Cancellara after the finish.<<
No, he’s not there as the official DS for the team, but he’s there.
Sweet - we were up on Alpe d’Huez, saw Lance ride cross country in a McDonald’s after watching the start that day. We were mostly in the south and in the Alps. Great experience and definitely one that I want to repeat. We talking about going to some of the Classics next year or year after.
The video is out there, too (for those that are stuck at work and don’t mind spoiling it)…
Steve
that really was an amazing finish. I don’t think anyone could have predicted it.