Cue the old school Rush! (TDF SPOILER)
That's right Francophiles of the world (that means you Jeff Carlton), it's Bastille Day!
Speaking of which, why not replace that wussy national anthem with the old Rush tune from the Caress of Steel album (I'm really dating myself)?
But I digress. It's always a very big deal for a Frenchman to try to win on Bastille Day, particularly nowadays since the French can't seem to get anywhere close to actually winning the Tour. Alas, the best the home team could muster was fourth place. Sacre Bleu! Oh la vache!
The winner was actually Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery team, a feat that simultaneously boosted the morale of the American team while killing all the "Disco Inferno" cracks I was set to make after Thursday's debacle in the Pyrenees.
I don't know if team manager Johann Bruyneel was playing possum when he basically conceded that no one on Discovery had a chance to win the tour, but Popo looked like a completely different rider on Friday. It's not often that a guy who's still theoretically in the hunt - he started Stage 12 nine minutes back of Floyd Landis - can cut half of his deficit on a non-mountain stage. Maybe Floyd's not that worried about Popovych, but I think it illustrates that a) everybody was too gassed from the hellish Stage 11 to put up much of a fight and b) Popo's still a pretty darned good rider and a future threat to win the Tour, just not this year's version.
So Team Disco now has a guy in the top 10, as well as a stage win, another near win in the prologue and had a guy - Hincapie - in the yellow for a day. No, it's not the domination of the previous seven years, but it's still respectable. By no means is the team a has-been. Disco ain't dead. Okay, I'll stop the disco references - for now.
It was also a good thing that Popovych and the rest of the four-man breakaway were able to fend off the peloton, because these flat stages after the Pyrenees and before the Alps have the potential to be some of the most anti-climactic moments of the Tour, unless you really, really, really get into the battle for the green jersey. Usually nothing much happens in the way of a GC shakeup during this time.
I'm still sticking with Landis, Menchov and Evans as my podium finish although - after glancing again at the results from Thursday's stage - I'm reminded how much one good day in the mountains - or one bad day - can make a massive difference in time.
Comments (4)
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File this one under "Posts you know are by Jim just from the headline"...
Posted on July 14, 2006 3:52 PM
Great story! That finish was fun to watch, and, for once, I managed to tune in to the serial display at just the right time. One of the few times I could clearly see the strategy unfold, and then succeed. Agree with Jim's picks, but would add Kloden-- still up there, and lots of T-Mobile guys around. Wildcat
Posted on July 14, 2006 8:52 PM
A new plan for the Discovery Team per a quote from Popovych after his stage win--- perhaps we'll have some beautiful things to remember (stage wins, perhaps) We'll simply remember our beautiful things, and then we won't feel-so-bad-- or was it favorite things?
Posted on July 15, 2006 10:15 PM
Eurosport has an interesting story about Friday's stage -- the Lampre coach is accusing Discovery (Popo) and Rabobank of ganging up on their rider in Friday's break. Disco got the stage win; in return, Discovrey will help Menchov in the mountains. Both coaches (Bruyneel for Discovery, Breukink for Rabobank) are both Dutch and former teammates.
Hmmmm.
As for Landis, I think his team made the right call to give up the jersey because Phonak is just not that good. No sense in burning them out before they reach the Alps. To put the move in context, it suggests how strong Postal/Discovery used to be - Lance & Co. would have never given up the jersey by choice so late in the race.
Posted on July 16, 2006 11:02 AM