We left Bourgoin-Jallieu this morning, but first a quick run through some of the teams’ performances; Cervélo: their Tour has been a good one, Haussler and Hushovd have won stages and Thor has made himself a whole load of new fans by the way he has ridden in pursuit of green.
Astana: their Tour has been marvellous – even better than that if you go on the “no such thing as bad publicity principle.”
Saxo: have had a good Tour thru Fabian, Sorensen and the Schlecks – it could get better; in my memory, no brothers have ever shared a Tour podium – and that’s possible.
Garmin: haven’t won a stage, but they’ve made the headlines with Bradley; not to mention Farrar and Millar.
Liquigas: Pello in polka dots and Nibali top ten, enough said.
Euskaltel: a stage win and Astarloza in the top ten; probably more than they had hoped for.
Columbia = Cav.
Caisse: Sánchez’s stage win means it’s a good Tour.
Skil–Shimano: have won nothing – except admiration and column inches; Rudi Kemna says that it’s his squad that’s getting all the press back home.
AG2R: Nocentini’s tenure in yellow has made it an excellent Tour – I’m still not sure about the brown, though.
Agritubel: finish at the end of 2009 but Feillu’s stage win and a resurgent Moreau have made it a good Tour for them.
B Box: two stage wins – a big, big result for the boys in blue.
Katusha: Ivanov saved the day; (even though I think he may be an alien)
Who’s left?
Rabobank: a grim Tour for the orange men – no question that the Tour was too much for Menchov after his battle with Di Cera in the Giro.
Francaise de Jeux: disastrous, especially with AG2R, Agritubel and B box all doing the biz.
Cofidis: see F des J!
Lampre: dire, made worse by Liquigas’s good run.
Milram: Who? Were they here?
Quickstep: maybe their worst ever; even Chavanel couldn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Silence: maybe even more disastrous than QuickStep’s – a Chernobyl of a Tour, in fact.
This was the year that Evans was to win!
With three stages left and being pragmatic; a Head will win on Ventoux and Cav will win on the Champs.
Therefore, if you want to win a stage; “today’s the day.”
Not being wise after the event, but we could see that it might well be together at the foot of the last climb.
The first 50 or 60 K were perfect for a break to ‘stick’ but then there were long, open stretches where it could be hunted down.
Cav: there’s nothing else to say, except; “the best sprinter in the world.”
Baroudeur stage? But nobody told Cav!