Yawn of a stage today until the last 30km when it became clear that we were going to be treated to a bunch sprint. Loved seeing Cav get the win today and I was moved by how emotional he was at the end. I love how hard he works for the teammates that work so hard for him. I'm sure other sprinters feel the same, but I've never heard a top sprinter give so much credit, time and time again to the guys that set it all up for them. He's young but he's a class act that boy.
Still much discussion here about what happened in terms of communication on that climb the other day between AC, Kloden and Johan. I have to agree with Cathy on this one and say that while it was clearly not a well thought out move and probably the mark of a young,relatively inexperienced cyclist, I really think his intentions were honourable. I think that Johan probably did say, "you don't have to attack to win the Tour," and maybe what he meant by that was, "don't attack," but what Alberto understood was, "you don't have to attack but if you can then go ahead." I think it was an honest mistake that he regrets but, like Cathy said, there's nothing he can do about it now but learn from it and move on.
I can't wait for tomorrow! I'm setting the DVR tonight and I'm going to wait until my kids are in bed tomorrow night, get a big bowl of popcorn and curl up on the couch and drink in every second. As the riders love to say, it's going to be epic!
Those of you that have read my interviews know I'm usually all about "Tell us how your FEEL!" and not so much about the next win. I came across this today on Carlos' twitter:
http://www.carlossastre.com/sastre_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=774&Itemid=49
Very interesting read, I would love to sit and talk with him. I think of his attitude before he came--he wears the #1 but has gotten no real respect this Tour before or during the race...and then this humble account of what he's been going through. We know he can go up a mountain in the 3rd week of racing--maybe it will be him to light up the Ventoux tomorrow! Good luck, Carlos. (I almost wanted to cry when I read his blog entry, hardly anyone ever says they are sorry these days!)
And totally OT, but who is watching So You Think You Can Dance? My goodness, the most amazing dancing I've ever seen. The breast cancer piece on Wednesday night had me bawling my eyes out. Unreal! (I am getting very burned out covering the Tour so I look to the show for my big weekly escape, but I go on vaca next week anyway so I think I can make it until Sunday--not a day off in more than a month now between the tour and my regular job, ugh)
Posted by: CMehl | July 24, 2009 at 06:03 PM
Hi everyone and Sara, I just want to thank you again for another year's hosting of this and for your fun lead stories. I too enjoyed the chocolate covered women comment! Also the pocket Schlecks :D You so funny.
I cannot WAIT for tomorrow's stage, even if it may end up differently than I hope, it should be AWESOME to watch. And one thing that will console me when it's all over... no more of that obnoxious commercial "Choooosing a carrr, is liiike, tryyying on a dress..." ugggghhhhh
It would be really cool if those 4 seconds Lance got today ended up keeping him on the podium.
Posted by: Camille | July 24, 2009 at 10:09 PM
On second thought, I meant to say the 4 seconds Lance *didn't* get -- and very cleverly so, I might add.
Posted by: Camille | July 24, 2009 at 10:12 PM
Camille! We've missed you! Well, we've missed me too if I'm being honest. I'm happy we're all back for the Tour!
Posted by: Sara Best | July 24, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Best comment of today's stage was when Cav was interviewed afterwards about the difficulty of the final climb and he said something like, "It was really grim. My seat was sticking pretty far up my ass!" Oh that was priceless!
Posted by: CMehl | July 24, 2009 at 11:12 PM
WOW what a great stage! RIVETING is the word! I won' give anything away here cuz the stage JUST ended...but what a dogfight! You just can't end a Tour any better than that!
Have a great weekend everybody! Tomorrow it's champagne in Paris (you going to BE there Cathy?)
Posted by: Matt | July 25, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Oh, I posted my comment on the last page!
but I wanted to add, a great stage!! WOW for Pellizotti, way to go to show the climber's jersey!
And Yay that Rabobank finally got something to go right!
Posted by: Rae | July 25, 2009 at 12:32 PM
WOW! What a stage! THOSE CROWDS! I am hoarse. Almost perfect even if there wasn't the big shakeup many were expecting. Sure, it would have been MINDBLOWING if Lance & AC could have attacked Andy with 2-3K to go & get Lance back into 2nd, but hey, I would have passed out & was in the house alone, so it's probably better that didn't happen. ;) :)
Anyway, sorry I've been behind writing up my Stage stuff. Work was bad the 1st week, & that combined with being so upset with COMCAST ruining the coverage (& worrying myself sick that something had actually happened to a certain writer), well, I got behind & I've been playing catch-up ever since.
And I'm so sorry for any of you if the Comcast Curse has spread! I've been curse-free since LAST Friday & I feel like I'd been abused; just didn't trust it not to come back at 1st. If your cable vendors started doing it after mine, maybe this means there was some kind of devil-deal Versus made. I would rather PAY a special fee than have that again. Normally, in an hour show, there are 20 minutes of commercials. In my 1st 13 days of the Tour, of every hour, there were at LEAST 30 minutes of commercials. When the commercials started breaking into OTHER commercials & into the "30 minute commercial-free" segments, I started calling Comcast every day. I never did contact Versus, but I will next week.
Anyway, I'm exhausted. I don't know HOW you West coast people do it! I've been so in the Tour Tomb this year, I'm barely aware of anything else. And Cathy, I missed SYTYCD except for clicking over to see who got voted off. I did see a couple bits of those clips & boy, did the dancing look great! Wish my other VCR had not chosen THEN to stop working!Well, at least, we'll get to see the Final 6 (I think?)
Posted by: susie b | July 25, 2009 at 12:46 PM
STAGE 18 - THURS, JUL 23 (TT)
********************************
Theme Song of the Day :
I'VE SEEN BETTER DAYS
SUSIE'S SWEETIES :
(1) Lance 'RUNNIN ON EMPTY' Armstrong. Of course, for Lance, runnin on fumes still gets him 16th place. And for the vast majority of riders in the Tour, that result would have been great! For LANCE ARMSTRONG? As much as it PAINS me to say - it was not. After his efforts yesterday, he looked tired & just never looked comfortable on the bike. Which I probably wouldn't have noticed as much if not for the 1-hour Lance-Tour stages Versus ran for the week before the Tour started. The last one I saw was the 2005 Final TT, where Lance crushed everyone, as usual in this event. When I compared that memory to this TT, the difference was vast. I do NOT believe it is his age, but the fairly short training/racing time before the Tour. And for the 1st time in THIS Tour, I worried he would'nt make it on the podium. Still, he is one of THE best at recovery, so I would NEVER count him out! GO LANCE!
(2) Andy 'IT'S MAGIC' Schleck. Magic, miracle, voodoo, whatever you call it, the guy had one of if not THE best TTs of his life. Sure, Lance was not at his best, but Andy finished only 15 seconds back to the man who used to CRUSH in this event! I had thought he would be at LEAST 2 minutes down. Watch out, AC, Andy's comin. Maybe not THIS year, but soon.
(3) Fabian 'FLY LIKE AN EAGLE' Cancellara. Actually, I'm only ASSUMING Spartacus flew going by his fantabulous result, as one of the problems with a Final TT not being on Saturday is that we got to see, oh, about 2 seconds of the guys below 25th place. Well, at least we got to see him toweling off. So, NOT a total loss.... ;) And I couldn't tell from the footage I saw how close those motorbikes were to AC. From a front-shot, everything looks super close, but when you see the aerial shots, you realize they are not. It seems that EVERYone, including Fab, had for hours thought he had won the stage until the VERY last second & perhaps his comment was spoken amidst his initial shock/disappointment. Plus, he did follow it up with a congrats/well-done for AC.
(4) Cadel 'I'M NOT DEAD' Evans. Sure, 12th is not THE best, but at least it showed he hadn't TOTALLY given up. Like, um, a certain Russian.
(5) Neal 'CAN'T HELP LOVIN THAT MAN' Rogers. Which was a good thing today, 'cause I was BUMMED til I saw "my man". :)
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE LONESOME LOSERS?
(1) Bradley 'FUNNY, HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY' Wiggins. Not a bad ride, in fact, was fantastic for the 1st half & then he had trouble in the wind. He did beat Lance by 45 seconds, but it wasn't QUITE enough to claw back on the podium. He's now 4th, 11 seconds behind LA. I think when he's had another year of TT training with his CURRENT bodyweight, he could be a real threat to dominate the Tour TTs.
(2) Christian 'SACRIFICE' Vande Velde. He gave EVERYTHING to help Wiggo yesterday & how he even finished 24th is amazing to me.
(3) Frank 'DOWN THE ROAD I GO' Schleck. Just not fast enough. Actually, for Frank, this was not that bad of an effort. He did lose about a minute to Lance & fell from 3rd to 6th, but he's only 34 seconds behind the new 3rd place - Lance. Wonder if Frank is lovin Lance's Comeback right about now? ;)
THEY CALL ME MR. PITIFUL :
No 'winner' toDAY, but I did want to single out an offense from last Saturday. By the "race jury' who stripped Cav of his sprint points after Thor had complained Cav had supposedly pushed him into the barrier. They should give themSELVES a TIMEOUT as it was the WRONG call. Plus, it hurt if not killed the very exciting contest for this year's Green jersey. Talk about Pitiful, they should wear the hat.
Posted by: susie b | July 25, 2009 at 02:24 PM
STAGE 19 - FRI, JUL 24
********************************
Theme Song of the Day :
SPINNING WHEEL
SUSIE'S SWEETIES :
(1) Mark 'WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS' Cavendish. On a stage that most 'experts' believed would end in a breakaway win, The Cartel, along with some teams not having the best Tour so far, foresaw a different outcome. And made it happen. And no one thought Cav could 'get up' that final Cat 2 mt near the end, but, he was motivated, even more than usual. ("Green, green it's green they say on the farside of the hill..."). And let's just also say Hannibal's elephants may have had a 'happier' time in the Alps than Team Columbia. ("Are we there yet?") So, they may have had a thing or two to prove. Anyway, Cav did his thing & not only got his 5TH win in this Tour, but is now the winningest Brit in Tour history. How do you translate "Whooo-Hooo!" into "Brit-English"?
(2) George 'HURTS SO BAD' Hincapie. Yeah, he's hurtin from a crash in Stage 17 which MIGHT have even broken his collarbone. But, our man George is determined to see Paris once again riding ON the Champs AND pain be damn, HE was the Mack Truck haulin his boy over that mountain to catch the break & on towards the line. All I can say is he BETTER be in the Tour next year, are you HEARIN ME NOW, Bob? :)
(3) Lance 'SMILING FACES SOMETIMES' Armstrong. Wait, who was up there with the sprinters, pounding to the finish? The OLD DOG? And getting himself 4 seconds over ALL the other GCers. Hmmm, maybe he should have WAITED for the Yellow jersey.... ;)
(4) Carlos 'RESPECT' Sastre. As some know, Carlos has never exactly been a fave of mine; thought he was a very good GT rider, just not Tour-winner caliber. Thus, I was not exactly, ahem, thrilled last year. Still, he had always seemed like a good, sweet man, & I was totally on his side vs Riis. But then his character seemed to have done a 180 at this year's Tour, as illustrated by the 'WHO...Are You?' 2nd Rest Day Press Conference. It seemed his success had gone to his head, combined with the frustrating lack of success in THIS Tour to create one cranky-pants wearin man. Carlos then put out today a public apology to his teammates, friends, fans, & media. I agree with Cathy, I don't think an athlete has EVER stunned me as much. I don't know about anybody else, but I now RESPECT Carlos much more than if he had won a 2nd Tour.
(5) Neal 'I'M TOO SEXY FOR MY SHIRT' Rogers. I said this last year, I'm saying it this year, & I'll say it again next year : It wouldn't HURT to show a little skin. 'Cause isn't it HOT over there?!
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE LONESOME LOSERS?
(1) All the 'ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL' GCers. Except Lance. Awww, you'll get over it!
THEY CALL ME MR. PITIFUL :
Team 'DID I SHAVE MY LEGS FOR THIS?' Rabobank.
Yes, Team Cursed has NOT had the best Tour so far : horrific TTT, lost their GC-future hope/current main mt helper weeks ago to a crash, have won NO stages, have had NO time in any jersey, & then of course, their main GC man has been replaced by a Pod Person. So, today, they miss the break & spend the entire day killing themselves to bring it back & set up Oscar Freire for the sprint win - it's perfect for him. Alas, tis not to be. "'Koirses! Foiled again!"
Posted by: susie b | July 25, 2009 at 03:36 PM
Well, I'd hoped to get a little work done & be able to write up today's stage too, but, is not to be. Have fun everyone watching tomorrow. I always get a bit melancholy myself. I know, I'm a wus! Well, I would LOVE it if Tyler could pull off the win, with Cav right behind.
Anyway, one of my Sweeties for today's stage is :
'AMAZING GARATE
How sweet the sound,
Who saved our wretched team.
What once seemed lost,
Is now found,
A win for all to see!'
:) :)
See ya Monday!
Posted by: susie b | July 25, 2009 at 06:53 PM
Damn, it's OVER.
Posted by: Barbara | July 26, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Don't want to leave the Tour Tomb either Barbara.
Posted by: jessica | July 26, 2009 at 03:14 PM
Only 29 days until the Vuelta.
Posted by: nakigrl | July 26, 2009 at 04:45 PM
29 days?!!! what'll I do?!!
Oh, yeah, ride my own bike...
Posted by: Rae | July 26, 2009 at 08:33 PM
29 days? That's all? I'll never catch up on all my lost sleep by then! I cannot believe how tired I am, you'd think I'd been running over France for a month rather than just goofing off in Santa Barbara!
Posted by: CMehl | July 26, 2009 at 09:10 PM
Ok the next race to get excited about is the Tour of MO!!!!
On the battle on Ventoux, I think AC was impulsive. And two guys that are trying to commuicate in their 2nd language are bond to misunderstand each other.
I was watching Wiggo and Christian, praying they didn't lose time! I'm so proud of them!! And the AC to Garmin rumor is just weird!!! This is an American team, first language ENGLISH....Not spanish!
I also heard someone say AC may go to a Spanish team next yr. We'll see.
But if Vaughters hires AC( which I can't get my brain around either Cathy) He might as well throw the Misson statement out the window!!
I love George Hincapie! And I love Mark Cavendish!!! Can't help it; George makes Mark a better cyclist. And cudos to Mark for talking to Thor and apologizing for the impeteuos (sp) interview.
And I'm floored that AC beat Fabian in the ITT...
I know I haven't been around much, I start on facebook, after emails...
And Brad's been having sucess up north. Two wins, and a third place...Nikki would correct me if I'm wrong, but she barely knows who won the Tour! Little Miss Official...with no sleep!!
Posted by: Theresa | July 27, 2009 at 01:16 AM