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| Tomorrow's stage will finish at the Marco Pantani memorial that marks the spot where he attacked in the '98 Tour |
I delayed today's post in hopes that we'd get some sort of official word on tomorrow's stage. Well, RCS has now announced that tomorrow's stage will in fact take place and that it will climb the Col du Mont Cenis, but that it will not go all the way to the summit of the Col du Galibier. Instead the stage will finish at the Marco Pantani memorial about 4 kilometers from the original finish line. There were rumors that the stage might be scrapped altogether, so this is better than nothing.
It's really too bad that we had such limited live pictures of today's stage. Sounds like the last 5k were pretty exciting. Henao attacked at some point as did Pellizotti, and Rosa, but all attacks were neutralized by Nibali. The Italian, along with Santambrogio and Betancur, dropped Evans and Uran. Santambrogio took the stage and the bonus seconds, while Nibali took second. He continues to show great form and at this point it's hard to bet against him. The battle for the other two podium positions, however is still very much alive. Santambrogio had a great day, and is now a real contender. Uran, Evans, Santambrogio: Three riders, two places on either side of Nibali.
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| Absolute shit weather didn't stop Betancur from finishing an impressive third |
Oh, something else... Vini Fantini has all their guys wearing visors. People: NOT BASEBALL, NOT TENNIS, NOT GOLF! IT'S CYCLING!
Phew... Anyway, I'm relieved that we will have a stage tomorrow, now I just hope we'll get some sort of live pictures of it.
Randomness:
- Mario Cipollini mention counter: 5
- Helmet talk counter: 13
- Euskaltel guys on the deck counter: 3
- Stage winner wearing cycling cap / baseball hat / no hat counter: 1 / 10 / 1 - Santambrogio had a visor! WTF?
Betancur lost a couple minutes in an early stage right? Bet he's wishing he had that time now- At this point it seems like Nibali needs to have a bad day to have Uran or Santambrogio overtake him. I don't see Evans being able to do much in the mountains beyond maintaining time gaps; plus it seems as though Evans always has a bad day in the mountains, so I'd be surprised to see him on the podium after it's all said and done.
ReplyDeleteThe Euskaltel guys on the deck counter should be 4, Martinez crashed when part of the signature break.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, BUT since I didn't see it happen, I didn't count it. I guess it should be "Euskaltel Guys I've Seen on the Deck Counter"
DeleteIt pains me to say this but I think our guys from Team Colombia have hit the deck more than the Euskaltel dudes. It's gotta be the shit Basque-ian weather that we're seeing, which may explain why the Euskaltel riders are staying upright
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