With such a tough stage, a few riders stopped along the way for a beer and to read the paper
You’ll all be very proud of the team last night. We were all in bed very early. After so much drinking in the sun, it really was inevitable that we started passing out a reasonable hour. To be honest, the boys from FDJ kicked it far harder than we did and I think that some of them didn’t even get to bed by some reports that I’d heard.
Things were pretty nervous at the start line this morning. Some of the riders had surprise visits from the women in their lives and then their wives or girlfriends turned up as well.
An old photo of Cadel with his missus - a delightful piece of crumpet
Not for my good mate Cadel Evans though. He had a visit from his missus yesterday, but as far as I know, that’s the only woman for him. Let’s be honest ladies, he’s not exactly the best looking bloke in the tour, but Chiara is one of the hottest pianists running round.
Unfortunately, Cadel’s visit from his hot missus took out a little too much energy from the yellow jersey holder and he wilted in the heat today. He did try to come up with some dodgy excuse about riding with a fractured arm, but big George Hincapie has ridden the entire tour with a fractured skull, three broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken leg. Own up Cadel. Your missus smashed you on the rest day, we know.
Even bogans love Le Tour
Back to the cycling and it was a truly tough day in the saddle. I went all out today and was happy to finish in the top 10. Levi rode a great race today and has moved into the top 5 on GC. Lance is going to cruise all the way to Paris now, to conserve his energy for the all important drinking and partying. I was going to say that I busted a nut on todays stage, but that would be disrespectful to Lance.
Big congrats to Casar for winning such a massive stage. Only problem was that I bet on him for the last stage and didn’t get on in time for today. I was fairly pissed about that. Contador and Schleck proved that we were complete noofas though busting everyone up today. Even Gesink and Menchov who hitched a ride in the team car when the peleton split, couldn’t catch the boys who actually rode the whole way!
Tonight is going to be something a little different I hear. Movie night with the Katusha boys. Apparently Kolobnev has some traditional Russian movies he wants to show us. That was enough to gain my interest (along with the keg they are putting on) to get the Shack boys out for a party.
Tomorrow is a more classics style stage with a few hills and some challenging terrain. Not really a day for the sprinters, though it should be a great opportunity for a long break to get up. I dare say the French organisers had something to do with that. It is Bastille day after all! We’ll be loading up on the Frenchies to get up today and hopefully have a few coins in the pocket for the second half of the tour.
