Tuesday, July 19, 2011

TDF: It's Thor's Tour - All Hail The God of Thunder

"Oh Hi!" - Thor Hushovd from the podium today

Oh what a Tour so far! This year has been absolutely one of the best we've ever seen...and we've been following since the Greg Le Mond days and watching since cable starting carrying it.

"Hushovd, of Garmin-Cervelo, outsprinted Norwegian compatriot Edvald Boasson Hagen to take his second victory of the race after a rainy 162.5km ride over undulating terrain from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux.

Frenchman Thomas Voeckler retained the race leader's yellow jersey but the Europcar leader, like the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, lost time to both Contador and Australian Cadel Evans in a thrilling finale."


Yes, ANOTHER THRILLING FINALE. Every Stage this year has been packed with thrills and excitement. And for the first time in what seems like decades WE'RE NOT SURE WHO IS GOING TO WIN.

In the "Lance Years", we knew 2 weeks in who had it in the bag. Lance.

Last year's fiasco with that snake Contador attacking Andy Schleck as Andy's bike chain broke at the last minute really pissed alot of people off...and then we knew Contador would win.

We really don't want that to happen again this year. Alberto is a douchebag.

This year we have a laundry list of guys that we would WANT to win including the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank and the Aussie, Cadel Evans.

1. VOECKLER Thomas 181 TEAM EUROPCAR 69h 00' 56"
2. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM + 01' 45"
3. SCHLECK Frank 18 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 01' 49"
4. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 03' 03"
7. BASSO Ivan 91 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE + 03' 49"
26. LEIPHEIMER Levi 75 TEAM RADIOSHACK + 20' 12"
29. GILBERT Philippe 32 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO + 20' 50"
30. VANDE VELDE Christian 58 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO + 21' 39"
53. HUSHOVD Thor 51 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO + 51' 04"
60. MILLAR David 56 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO + 1h 04' 48"
68. CHAVANEL Sylvain 121 QUICK STEP CYCLING TEAM + 1h 13' 08"
95. HOOGERLAND Johnny 204 VACANSOLEIL-DCM + 1h 36' 09"
100. PETACCHI Alessandro 169 LAMPRE - ISD + 1h 43' 11"
105. HINAULT Sébastien 105 AG2R LA MONDIALE + 1h 48' 24"
122. CANCELLARA Fabian 12 TEAM LEOPARD-TREK + 1h 59' 57"

And of course, the #1 Sprinter and owner of the Green Jersey:
Mark Cavendish Team Highroad

Now of course only the top few guys have a shot but what we would give to see Big Thor win the entire thing.

A note on Thomas Voeckler who has the yellow again tonight. It seems like yesterday Little Tommy Voeckler was new to the race and winning the White Jersey for Best Young Rider. Well, that was 10 years ago and this "seasoned professional" as Paul Sherwin put it has really come into his own. A Frenchman, Voeckler has the entire country rooting for him...and us too!

Today's Roll of honor - Result after stage 16

YELLOW: VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR 69h 00' 56"
GREEN: CAVENDISH Mark HTC - HIGHROAD 319 pts
POLKA: VANENDERT Jelle OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 74 pts
WHITE: URAN Rigoberto SKY PROCYCLING 69h 08' 51"
TEAM: GARMIN - CERVELO 206h 31' 24"

Read this GREAT article:

ESPN - HOW TO WATCH THE TOUR DE FRANCE

We're in the final week but it's never too late!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alle hagl tordenguden! Thor's awesome!