Scattered thoughts following a very busy rest day:

Proponents of the notion that the Tour was at long last “clean” pointed to Contador’s relatively pedestrian ascent of Arcalis. They will take less heart in the young Spaniard’s record-setting performance at Verbier. John Wilcockson, with the prerequisite credulity of a man whose latest book is titled Lance Armstrong: World’s Greatest Champion sees a difference in the wind.

Finally! Back to GC action and Contador delivers. It certainly wasn’t a knockout blow, though. I’ll have plenty to say about this tomorrow, but for the time being, I’ll let the video do the talking. It’s also up on YouTube, but let’s try not to tell the ASO about it this time, yeah?

[right-click for iTunes compatible download]

Simple stage, big break goes, no one wants to burn any matches before the mountains. 199km later there’s more gossip and bickering than a middle school girls’ room between classes. It’s almost enough to make someone wish for a drug scandal.

Add to that the tragic death of a spectator, and most people watching have probably already forgotten the perfectly-delivered counterattack by Sergui Ivanov that won the stage. Of course, the fact the Versus was in commerical when the Russian made his move certainly doesn’t help that situation.

Oscar Freire, along with Julian Dean, got shot with an air rifle during today’s stage. In this interview (mostly in English) the three-time world champ clarifies that, while nothing new for him, this sort of thing is “not nice”.

Original Video – More videos at TinyPic
via @nttawwt, who suspects Alsatian Separatists.

(I tried contacting the directly ASO via their YouTube channel, but they refuse to accept messages from anyone they aren’t friends with. I sent this to them via email links on their homepage, but I do not expect a reply.)

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was very disappointed to read this morning that you filed a copyright infringement complaint against my video “2009 Tour de France – Stage 2 – How The Race Was Won (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq7oEE7PdUk)”

Yes, it sounds like a grade school joke (“hey, wanna join the wee-wee fan club?”) but that’s the official name Bbox Telecom rider William Bonnet‘s fan club.

You might think, as a middling rider on a middling team, that gatherings of M. Bonnet’s supporters would be small and reserved. You would be dead wrong:

click for full-size mayhem, via @JulietMacur.

Today’s stage, and the radio-inspired protest that dominated most of it, was one of the most foolish things I’ve ever seen at the Tour de France—and yes, I am including the Giuseppe Guerini incident in that list. And, lest we forget, I am adamantly pro-radio.

All the proponents of race radio had to do was play along with the premise: have a single bike race without radios. The stage had almost no potential for GC impact (apologies if Leipheimer and Wiggins are still stinging from missing the split), and baring an event of Merckxian scale, fans and organizers alike would see removing the radios does little, if anything, to shake up the routine of break-and-catch.

(tipped off from @cyclevox, Brian Smith’s twitter).

That’s really the only way to put it. Frank Schleck put a few pedal strokes into it on Saturday, but other than that, the GC remained tame. While I can’t say I’m excited about it, after the first seven stages, I can’t say I’m disappointed either. Things had to settle in at some point, and with dangerously hilly stages—but no hilltop finishes—until after the first rest day, this weekend seemed like as good a time as any for peace to break out.

Stage 7 is in progress. The break, which contains many solid climbers, is way up, and after an aggressively ridden first week, the pack has thus far shown limited interest in chasing. Certainly makes for a sharp contrast to the 1997 edition, where some suspiciously fresh riders powered away from the field.

In It’s Not About The Bike, Lance Armstrong relates watching this stage from his hospital bed and thinking that Ulle, then 23, would dominate cycling for the next decade. Sounds bizarre, especially when you consider how the following 10 years actually turned out.