Screw the Tour! How many times can you watch Lance Armstrong make T-Mobile look silly while a group of riders up the road contests the stage and minor GC placings? 7 is too many. Meanwhile, in the heart of Russia, Ondrej Sosenka, a 29-year old Czech, who doesn’t even ride for a ProTour team, demolished Chris Bordman’s 5-year old record, putting in an extra 279 meters. The record now stands at 49.7, just a wee bit over lap below the elusive 50 kph barrier. No word on gear yet, but I’m guessing it was massive – Sosenka rode with enormous 190mm cranks and a super-heavy 3200 kilo wheelset (a pair of Ksyrium Elites weighs in at 1800g), thinking perhaps that the heavier rims would contribute to a flywheel effect. No word on when the UCI plans to ban this, but given that the organization views technological innovation the same way 18th-Century Salem viewed eccentric single women, I’m sure it won’t take too long.
I’m sure you all saw today’s stage, in which Pereiro avenged his loss of two days ago, while Aussie Cadel Evans drove the break to jump up to 7th in GC. Oscar may now be lamenting his efforts to spring the break earlier in the day, as the determined antipodian displaced Pereiro’s Phonak teammate Floyd Landis in the overall. Lance Armstrong and his no-hour-record-attempting backside rolled in at 3 minutes back, while the battle for green finished down nearly ten. No points changed hands today, meaning that the next 4 stages will be darned interesting as far as sprinting goes.
Andrej Kashenkin got whomped in the nose today, and promptly started leaking blood all over the place. The Credit Agricole rider blamed a spectator, and, since it was his nose, immediate began whining for better security. No offense, bro, but Eddy Merckx took a shot in the liver that cost him the 1975 Tour. If that didn’t improve security, nothing will. Besides, today, as anyone who saw the footage can tell, was a freak accident, like Lance and the musette bag in 2000. Trust me, any intentional altercations would be delt with in the most immediate an severe matter; the French do not jack around as far as crowd control is concerned.