Thursday, April 18, 2024

Ah, the First Time!

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Everyone remembers their first time. And after many years of flirtation and “everything but,” last night was JV’s.

Garmin have finally managed to break their cherry to win a stage at the Tour. Now that the hoodoo has been cleared, I’m expecting multiple wins throughout the race, with Tyler Farrar being first cab off the rank tonight with the Stage 3 Bunch Sprint.

Ah, the First Time
JV and the boys celebrate winning Stage 2 of Le Tour.

Today is a flat stage, and Mark Cavendish’s HTC Columbia will work with Garmin late in the day to ensure that the breakaway is caught, and a sprint is held. For me, the results will be;

  1. Farrar
  2. Cav
  3. Greipel.

The other big question of last night was “What’s In Wiggo’s Box”?

Heh. Well, not really, but there was a long strip of something under Wiggo’s kit, and speculation ranged from smokes, whiskey, jet pack, rectal temperature probe pack, water bottle, WalkMan, SmartPhone (to tweet on the road), or an iPod with the Who on full blast.

If you have any thoughts, hit twitter and use the hashtag #WiggosBox to put your thoughts out there.

In other, equally gripping news, the Velogames fantasy league continues apace, with team TobesVeloStars bringing it up the rear on 203 points. Currently leading is Tom Hopper, former Garmin mechanic, on 596 points. Hmmmm hate when the wrenches are in the lead! Other notable results — my boss Lemmo’sLackeys is on 475, Lions player Staker’sStars (who asked me for advice repeatedly prior to building his team) is on 384. Clearly he didn’t pay any attention to me!

The SBS Fantasy league hasn’t really changed since day 1, where I am also languishing at the bottom of the table, with my brother-in-law Roger dominating (and letting me know about it incessantly — bastard!) Cameron Memberey & James Lazarus (aka Garmin rider Matty Wilson) are on equal 2nd, and interestingly, Matty’s fiancee Meg is only a couple of points behind, threatening dominance in the Wilson/Prowd home!

Bring on tonight’s stage!

Toby Watson
Toby Watsonhttps://www.veloveritas.co.uk
Ex-Garmin Transitions physiotherapist and soigneur Toby Watson brings you inside the squad, and shows you what it's like to be working with a top team on the biggest races in the world. Through his regular blog updates, Toby shares his sense of drama and fun that were essential parts of his job. Toby is Australian, and currently lives in Girona with his fiancee Amanda. If he has any time, he enjoys reading and running, and occasionally skiing too, when he can.

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