Stage 12 - Leaving the Alps
Think it's easy to take the yellow away from Lance? Just ask Jens Voigt (CSC), the man who wore yellow after Stage 9 is now on his way home. His big push to grab the yellow for one day has cost him a tour finish. He expended so much energy on his break away win that he was never able to fully recover. Four hundred yards from the finish of Stage 11, Jens Voigt ran out of time.
There's actually a time limit for each Stage that is determined by the winner of the race. From the time the first rider crosses the finish, a big digital clock starts ticking off time. When time runs out, the clock goes blank. Any rider not across the finish when the clock goes blank is eliminated. The amount of time on that clock varies depending upon the overall length and difficulty of that day's Stage. As Jens approached the finish of Stage 11, he saw the big digital clock go blank, "Game Over".
Thus far, everyone who has wore the Yellow, aside from Lance, is out of the tour. On the upside, it's said that if you ever wear the Yellow in the Tour de France, you'll never have to pay for a drink while in France. So here's to Dave Zabriskie and Jens Voigt!
Today's Stage 12 out of the Alps was pretty uneventful. Like yesterday, there were no position changes as everyone pretty much finished at the same time. Everyone that is except for the 2 Frenchmen David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Sandy Casar(FDJ) who took today's Stage for first and second respectively. One of my favorite things, though, about the Tour de France is the fact that you don't have to like the French to like the Tour, in fact it's even better if you don't. Why? Because its just so much darn fun to watch the French perform miserably at their own sport. It almost makes up for the US Basketball Team's performance in last years Olympics. Almost... So if the French are so bad how did they place first and second today? Because it's Bastille Day and overall, it's considered "Good Form" to let a Frenchman win on Bastille Day as long as it won't affect the General Classification (the Yellow Jersey). The last Frenchmen to win on Bastille Day was Laurent Jalabert in the 2001 Tour followed by Richard Virenque in last years Tour.
On a bad note, Manuel Beltran from Team Discovery, crashed early in today's Stage and was forced to abandon the race. He's OK, but was a key member of Lance's high powered climbing team. Luckily we're through the Alps but the Pyrenees in the days to come have some seriously steep climbs and Michael Rasmussen(Rabobank) has yet to show any weakness in the mountains. Let's hope Team Discovery can keep up the blistering pace without him.
There's actually a time limit for each Stage that is determined by the winner of the race. From the time the first rider crosses the finish, a big digital clock starts ticking off time. When time runs out, the clock goes blank. Any rider not across the finish when the clock goes blank is eliminated. The amount of time on that clock varies depending upon the overall length and difficulty of that day's Stage. As Jens approached the finish of Stage 11, he saw the big digital clock go blank, "Game Over".
Thus far, everyone who has wore the Yellow, aside from Lance, is out of the tour. On the upside, it's said that if you ever wear the Yellow in the Tour de France, you'll never have to pay for a drink while in France. So here's to Dave Zabriskie and Jens Voigt!
Today's Stage 12 out of the Alps was pretty uneventful. Like yesterday, there were no position changes as everyone pretty much finished at the same time. Everyone that is except for the 2 Frenchmen David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Sandy Casar(FDJ) who took today's Stage for first and second respectively. One of my favorite things, though, about the Tour de France is the fact that you don't have to like the French to like the Tour, in fact it's even better if you don't. Why? Because its just so much darn fun to watch the French perform miserably at their own sport. It almost makes up for the US Basketball Team's performance in last years Olympics. Almost... So if the French are so bad how did they place first and second today? Because it's Bastille Day and overall, it's considered "Good Form" to let a Frenchman win on Bastille Day as long as it won't affect the General Classification (the Yellow Jersey). The last Frenchmen to win on Bastille Day was Laurent Jalabert in the 2001 Tour followed by Richard Virenque in last years Tour.
On a bad note, Manuel Beltran from Team Discovery, crashed early in today's Stage and was forced to abandon the race. He's OK, but was a key member of Lance's high powered climbing team. Luckily we're through the Alps but the Pyrenees in the days to come have some seriously steep climbs and Michael Rasmussen(Rabobank) has yet to show any weakness in the mountains. Let's hope Team Discovery can keep up the blistering pace without him.
posted by TexasDan at
10:28 PM
