I know I'm late to the game this week, today being the penultimate stage. And TP's had it wrapped up since my last entry, but that doesn't make it any less exciting: the Tour is BACK - no skips. Every stage is worth watching, and the mighty Thymen Arensman has been one of my favorite characters this year. Solo break, big boys closing fast...hold your breath. Victory salute.
Aside from the recent action in the mountains, I have to say my favorite so far was stage 11.
When I woke up we had a 5 man break and a 5 man chase with MVDP, WVA, and Captain F**king America, Quinn Simmons. My jaw dropped when Quinn attacked, but I don't think any of us were surprised to see MVDP grind it out to close the gap, and then counter and drop EVERYONE over the top....
And then the tension grew: 30 second gap, 27 seconds and closing at 7k...25...MVDP is gonna do it! Further down the mountain Matty J was playing the perfect domestique ...counter attacking for Jonas...all I could say was....damn, this is awesome. STILL a great race.
Cut back to MVDP with 16 seconds at 5k, and then...the moment that was talked about all week: TADEJ CRASHES!!!!! GO JONAS, ATTACK!! But no, alas he bridged back up
Because they waited.
And at that moment, the SHIMANO STIG was born.
Back to Van Der Poel who came within 600m of winning this stage, but just couldn't close. Man, if there was ANYONE who could do it, it was him. So he went out the next day and tried again, and almost made it happen. And guess what? This beast had PNEUMONIA the whole time. GOAT status. PRO cyclists are badasses, full stop. And I include Remco in that camp, too, even though both have retired from the race they fought through a LOT to get as far as they did and BOTH had time in Yellow or White.
OK, so on to the million dollar question: Would YOU have taken the opportunity to get time on Tadej? There was heated discussion between Teejay and Brent in the commentary booth, they were divided right down the middle. The venerable Phil Liggett says take it. Bobke says: don't - Jonas ben and Remco did the right thing. But the overwhelming voices cried out, "He's not in yellow, they shouldn't wait."
Of course, the UAE team director thanked everyone, and said in his sing-song way "We likes to make-a da race with-a da legs"
Me? I'm the guy that attacks the second I hear a missed shift. You crashed? That's racin, son! I'm gone. I crash? See ya in tha douches, TAKE IT. That's what I get for overlapping wheels with a rookie. Jonas should have romped on it, and grabbed back a few minutes to make the third week of the tour as exciting as the first two.
Because, let's face it...we all knew what was coming: Teddy Foccaccia. is unstoppable.
