Stage 8B, a short day in the saddle but with some tough climbs ahead of a well-earned rest day before heading out of the Pyrenees.
Stage 8B you say, not stage 9? Well, if you’ve been paying
attention this stage has been unlucky for Tasmania’s own Richie Porte who
crashed out of the 2017 and 2018 Tours on stage 9. The Couch Peloton has been
reluctant to mention ‘Stage 9' for fear of jinxing Porte, in much the same way
actors call it ‘The Scottish Play’ instead of Macbeth.
To the course and It was on from the get go but no break
away as yet. Some of these starts have been so hard I’m getting to sense the
theme of the first week has been destroy the sprinters.
In the Plat du Tour kitchen Guillaume Brahimi was
reminiscing about the Espelette pepper festival in the Basque Country. Wow, a
whole weekend of eating peppers. Go ahead, knock yourself out!
But the reason Brahini took us there was for tonight’s piperadewith swordfish and clams made with capsicums and piment d'Espelette. And since
we are in the Pyrenees, Guillaume Brahini chose a Peyresourde fish for
tonight's dinner…
Back on the course and barely 20km into the race and 2015
Vuelta Espana champion Fabio Aru slipped further and further back through the
peloton until he was shadowed by the Voiture Balai or the dreaded broom wagon
and Aru abandoned.
For Robbie in the pretend caravan of commentary, the
question as the broom wagon looms is to bail out now or suffer all the way to
the end? When it comes down it the broom wagon, according to Robbie is, "the
worst naughty corner there is".
Troll DJ paid tribute to KOM classification leader Benoit
Cosnepoid with Polka Dot Undies by Bowser & Blue. Just out of curiosity,
has Troll DJ ever played Walking Indurain by Fred Poulet?
Discussion turned again to the prospects of Richie Porte who
on stage 8B was in ‘twelve-B-eeth’ position in the GC. Tomo didn’t miss a beat
with, "This is stage 8B". Well done Tomo and team, 8B, 12B, is this a
B movie? Mattie can’t be all that superstitious with, “thirteenth’.
Dissecting stage eight I still can’t get over the
distressing scenes of screaming fans at the roadside wearing masks on their
chins, the equivalent of wearing your undies around your knees.
While we we’re still on stage eight, Mattie, Bridie and
Robbie were analysing Ilnur Zakarin’s poor descending skills as opposed to his
brilliant climbing prowess and did I hear, "the goat of Ilnur
Zakarin?" from Mattie.
The broom wagon gets an update.
Dave Macka called in for his regular Zoom meeting with Tomo
and the team and had some trouble getting Mitchelton-Scott sports director Matt
White on the line. White was very
pleased to have held the yellow jersey in the form of Adam Yates for four
days. Mitchelton-Scott suddenly found
itself in a position to go for GC instead of the original strategy of stage
wins and everyone was trying to avoid saying 'pivot'.
Back to the race and it took a while for the breakaway as Marc
Hirschi time trialled away from the peloton Panzerwagen style. Hirschi was to stay off the front for 90km in
what you could say was a kiss-off to the peloton.
Robbie mentioned that the riders had a big transfer up north
ahead of the resumption of racing on Tuesday. This would normally be done by
plane but since no one is flying anymore, it would be a long transfer by team
bus. Besides, were would you find a plane big enough to carry 170 odd riders
spaced out on board? To make room the naughty corner lads would have to be strapped
to the wings.
Hirschi held his ground up front and wow, can this fellow
descend! He could also get some Zoom meetings out of the way with that set up
on the handle bars.
Murder Hornets Jumbo Visma cracked the whip in the peloton
on the climbs in a throw to try and get former ski jumper Primoz Roglic closer
to yellow, which is ironic since their kit is difficult to distinguish from the
real yellow jersey.
Hirschi looked like he might just make it to the line but
was caught at around 2km to go by the chase group of Primoz Roglic, Michel Landa,
defending champ Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogacar.
Hirschi bided his time but after 90km out in front was
pipped in the sprint to the line by Pogacar and Roglic in another 1-2 Slovenian
finish. Great for Pogacar, who notched up his first Tour win, but heart break
for Hirschi.
A change of the guard in the GC with Primoz Roglic moving
into yellow. Porte made it home safely and moved to eleventh overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment