HomeDiariesLe Tour de France 2009 - Stage 17: Bourg-Saint-Maurice > Le Grand-Bornand,...
It had to be an early start, today for Le Grand-Bornand. To get down to the Bourg-Saint-Maurice start, we had to drive against a section of race route and decided to get away early to beat the closures.
By the back of 08:00 we were clear of the worrisome section; we grabbed a coffee then made our way down to the start.
Bright sunshine, pretty girls, a free breakfast and a meet with a yeti – what more could you want?
In the village we had a chat with ex-British pro road race champion, Tim Harris who drives the VIP’s on the Tour; **** hotels, a helicopter trip over the race, champagne picnics – a snip at 3,000 per head.
Schleck senior wins, a present from Bert. That’s one you him, Frankie.
And that’s gone midnight, again.
Bon nuit.
Tour 09 Stage 17 Map.
Tour 09 Stage 17 Profile.
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Al Hamilton
Mikel Astarloza’s win yesterday put him on the front and the back page of today’s AS. “El gran Astarloza” is his headline and “Victory for the Euskaltel leader. Andy Schleck attacks Contador”. Not that it did the young Schleck much good!
Astarloza can be proud with himself after today.
The Basque, Mikel Astarloza is a bit hard on himself in his interview as his self description is of a “pathetic team leader”. He isn’t big headed or charismatic, but he can win races. At the moment he is in 11th position at 4 minutes and 38 seconds, good, but not great!
Contador: “Ya hablo en carrera con Lance”. The relations between the leaders of the Astana team seem to be improving as Alberto admits to speaking with Lance during the race. Also in the Astana news is that team manager Johan Bruyneel will be leaving at the end of the year; “I’m turning a page in my career”.
Lance had a pop at Bert today for attacking and putting Kloden out the back – since when did LA care about a teammate on the podium? Anything to have a go at AC.
All this along with the announcement of a new team by “The Boss” Lance Armstrong on Twitter the other day, all looks too pre-ordained. Where does this leave Alberto Contador? He still has 1 year left of his contract with Astana.
The crash of Saxo Banks, Jens Voigt gets good coverage with five photos, the retransmission of the Tour on Spanish TV last night showed the crash in all its bloody details. So far we know he has a broken cheek and collar bone and will be in hospital for a while. Marchante also crashed into his Cervelo team car yesterday, but he did finish.
Spanish TV will be showing today’s (Wednesday) stage live on the normal channel (La 2) and on the sports channel (Teledeporte). Co-presenters; de Andrés and Delgado will be doing more than 5 hours transmission again.
They are very happy with their work and receive many e-mails on facebook. “Many chicas [women] are very interested in cycling” they say, and at the stage finishes Pedro still gets shouted at by the fans “:¡Perico, Perico!”
That’s it for today; let’s hope there is more action to talk about before the finish?
Ed and Martin, our top team! They try to do the local Time Trials, the Grand Tours and the Classics together to get the great stories written, the quality photos taken, the driving done and the wifi wrestled with.
Andorra, Pyrénées. Everything about it seems wrong. For a start, it's an independent tax haven/principality sitting at the top of a Pyrenean mountain, an hour's drive over sweeping twisty hairpinned roads from the nearest town. Some pals said to me that when they went to Andorra for skiing, they thought it was OK. Perhaps the snow covered all the cracks, but I'm not sure how the inhabitants' attitudes could be masked; almost - no, everyone - we met was unpleasant, in attitude and manner.
There are time trials – and then there are time trials. this is the Mens Time Trial 2012. Dual carriageways with high traffic counts on balmy Essex afternoons are one thing; Limburg in the autumn rain with a parcours which includes the Cauberg is another.
When it became apparent that the Scottish Vets' Road Race Championship 2007 - over 65 wet and hilly miles at Alford - would end in a sprint finish, most bets were on fast-finisher Graham McGarrity (Edge RT); John Kermode (Dundee Thistle) had other ideas however and McGarrity had to settle for second. Kermode was, understandably; 'delighted', whilst McGarrity: 'hates to lose a sprint, especially in vets' race!'
Chris Froome lost more time to race leader Joaquim Rodriguez in today's stage from Lleida, all in the final 500 metres, as Alejandro Valverde and JR jumped clear of him and chased after Alberto Contador, who had got a gap of 100 metres over the three, with just a kilometre to go.
Giro d'Italia 2012 - Stage 2 and Cav is King. If these were Medieval times I'd have to throw myself on his mercy. Prostrate myself at the foot of the steps to the Sky bus, next Monday in Frosinone. Trust that in the joy of his re-confirmation as king of Denmark he'd be merciful.
"Our pal Bosisio positive,' said the text from Dave. Gabriele Bosisio of LPR Brakes and Italy was the subject of a UCI out of competition test; "the adverse finding was a direct result of a targeted urine test, conducted immediately after a blood test triggered an unusual blood profile within the biological passport program," said their statement.
Scottish Time Trial Championships in April? But like Dylan said; ‘The Times They are a Changin’... Sunday was horrible, wind, rain, cold – just what my bad throat and chest didn’t need. Step forward our Editor, Martin who, despite having been riding in the storm all morning to help with filming John Anderson's Tour o' the Borders sportive, braved the ghosts from the biggest Iron Age in Scotland, which sits up on the 1400’ White Meldon to brandish the Nikon into the gale force storm.
A Great Result. After all of my brash talk about Garmin's cherry having been popped, and Tyler thus being assured of the win on Stage 3, it was so exciting to see the result this morning! The race wasn't quite the shootout I'd anticipated, but Garmin executed their final kilometres brilliantly, and if there ever was a deserving winner of a stage, it is Ty Farrar.
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