Our favourite stages of the Tour so far
Published by Halverde on 7/18/2006 at 11:06.
5. Stage One
After the surprise of the prologue result, optimism was high in the DerailedUK Tour camp. It started well, but things rapidly got worse. Hincapie shot out of the bunch to pick up enough bonus seconds to take the yellow jersey; the sprint started, but someone forgot to tell Boonen; as well as losing the yellow jersey, Thor Hushovd managed to take an horrific injury from a PMU hand. Rumours of the US Army testing a giant green hand cannon have yet to be confirmed.
4. Stage Seven
The first time trial was the day we'd find out how well the race favourites were going. Who would emerge on top: Landis? Hincapie? Err... Wiggins? It turned out to be that old man who pushes massive gears, Serhiy Gonchar, who took the stage pushing a slightly less massive gear, as the favourites crashed and burned (with the emphasis on the "crash" in Bobby Julich's case). Landis changed bikes to bypass the last minute UCI sanctions placed on his ridiculous position, but still lost a minute despite this act of deception. Ha!
3. Stage Thirteen
Floyd Landis: 2004 23rd, 2005 9th. Oscar Pereiro: 2004 10th, 2005 10th. This stage was impressive just for the lunacy on display in seeing Phonak "give" half an hour to someone who consistently finishes a mere place below Landis's highest ever finish. The Phonak team looked hugely imcompetent whilst Landis was in yellow, and not even defending the jersey in case their weakness was highlighted was enough to piss off the French fans and riders -- and the other race contenders won't exactly be worrying for their chances after that kind of display.
2. Stage Eleven
The first mountain stage, and we were treated to five whole Pyreneean cols. Every proper cycling fan's favourite rider, Iban Mayo, was the first man dropped on the stage. But at least he didn't do it gracefully, audibly swearing at the race motorcycle and having to pay a fine as well as abandoning. T-Mobile displayed their famed tactical nous by exhausting themselves on the penultimate climb, seeming to forget there was one more to come and isolating Kloeden in the process. Denis Menchov didn't get the publicity he deserved for winning the stage, but we're expecting him to impress a lot of people yet in this year's Tour.
1. Stage Fourteen
This stage had it all. If making the riders race over melting roads wasn't enough, we got plenty of crashes too. Matthias Kessler went completely head-over-heels, and stood up wearing his jersey inside out over his helmet, looking confused to see his bike in the middle of a vineyard below. With the peleton bearing down on the two leading riders, and Vandevelde trying to bridge the gap adding to the tension, it wasn't until the podium that we realised just how aerodynamic stage winner Pierrick Fedrigo's face was. Forget blood doping, the peleton will be turning to rhinoplasty after that performance.
After the surprise of the prologue result, optimism was high in the DerailedUK Tour camp. It started well, but things rapidly got worse. Hincapie shot out of the bunch to pick up enough bonus seconds to take the yellow jersey; the sprint started, but someone forgot to tell Boonen; as well as losing the yellow jersey, Thor Hushovd managed to take an horrific injury from a PMU hand. Rumours of the US Army testing a giant green hand cannon have yet to be confirmed.
4. Stage Seven
The first time trial was the day we'd find out how well the race favourites were going. Who would emerge on top: Landis? Hincapie? Err... Wiggins? It turned out to be that old man who pushes massive gears, Serhiy Gonchar, who took the stage pushing a slightly less massive gear, as the favourites crashed and burned (with the emphasis on the "crash" in Bobby Julich's case). Landis changed bikes to bypass the last minute UCI sanctions placed on his ridiculous position, but still lost a minute despite this act of deception. Ha!
3. Stage Thirteen
Floyd Landis: 2004 23rd, 2005 9th. Oscar Pereiro: 2004 10th, 2005 10th. This stage was impressive just for the lunacy on display in seeing Phonak "give" half an hour to someone who consistently finishes a mere place below Landis's highest ever finish. The Phonak team looked hugely imcompetent whilst Landis was in yellow, and not even defending the jersey in case their weakness was highlighted was enough to piss off the French fans and riders -- and the other race contenders won't exactly be worrying for their chances after that kind of display.
2. Stage Eleven
The first mountain stage, and we were treated to five whole Pyreneean cols. Every proper cycling fan's favourite rider, Iban Mayo, was the first man dropped on the stage. But at least he didn't do it gracefully, audibly swearing at the race motorcycle and having to pay a fine as well as abandoning. T-Mobile displayed their famed tactical nous by exhausting themselves on the penultimate climb, seeming to forget there was one more to come and isolating Kloeden in the process. Denis Menchov didn't get the publicity he deserved for winning the stage, but we're expecting him to impress a lot of people yet in this year's Tour.
1. Stage Fourteen
This stage had it all. If making the riders race over melting roads wasn't enough, we got plenty of crashes too. Matthias Kessler went completely head-over-heels, and stood up wearing his jersey inside out over his helmet, looking confused to see his bike in the middle of a vineyard below. With the peleton bearing down on the two leading riders, and Vandevelde trying to bridge the gap adding to the tension, it wasn't until the podium that we realised just how aerodynamic stage winner Pierrick Fedrigo's face was. Forget blood doping, the peleton will be turning to rhinoplasty after that performance.
