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…
Pro-Radio's Missed Opportunity
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…
The Astana Downfall Mashup
(tipped off from @cyclevox, Brian Smith’s twitter).
The Standoff Is Underway
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…
Old-School Andorra
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…
The Storm Before The, Uh…More Storm
Rainy, crappy weather. Makes it hard the day before the race’s first mountaintop finish, at least from a literary prospective. And, of course, from the prospective of the 100 or so riders who either crashed, got crashed, or got stuck behind a crash coming into the line today. A mere 43 riders finishing on ST?…
Is It Boring Yet?
Well, I did technically predict that today’s stage would be won from a break, but the way things unfolded on Stage 5 was definitely not what I had in mind. I was thinking something along the lines of break gets clear, gets 10 minutes, pack calls it a day and rests the legs, and one…
Stage 4 By The Numbers
A tight, crash-heavy parcours, riders dropping off the pace left and right, a symbolic surge to the line by a snubbed favorite, and frantic, split-second calculations after the last team’s finish. Stage 4’s Team Time Trial has delivered on what is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting TdF first weeks in recent memory—and a…
More Proof the ProTour is Bunk
Yeah, BBox Bouygues Telecom—now there’s a top tier bunch. Light years beyond LPR, that’s for sure. (via @alexfeel)
One Other Possibility…
I hadn’t initially considered this article to be of much merit. After all, the Texan has been quoted as saying “I’m here to win”. And even then, “ambiguity” isn’t really an asset if two of your riders split the team’s limited support resources attacking each other in the final week. But then I caught this…