2008 Tour de France - Stage 9

I’m so glad I have a bike that has a motor. Going uphill is so much easier. The Tour de France is torture and today begins the second phase. The mountains are here! My knees hurt just thinking about it.

A trio consisting of Aleksandr Kuschynski, Nicolas Jalabert, and Sebastian Lang establish a gap from the peloton. I really don’t know who they are or what they’re doing. Wait a minute, it’s JaJa! He’s come out of retirement. Oh, never mind, its Laurent’s brother.

Here comes my favorite named team. Euskaltel Euskadi will be cheered by their Basque fans as they race a bicycle built in their homeland. As Cippo would say, Hey Orbea, Spain’s best bike, eh?

Oh no, a crash has brought down Evans! He’s bleeding a little bit from everywhere. His jersey and shorts and shredded, not ground. He gets a rolling house call from the Doc. Wait til he gets the bill!

Lang has won the “Survivor” game as brother JaJa and Kuschynski lost their energy. It doesn’t appear there is any organized team action in the peloton. It’s more or less every man for himself. Kirchen is still there.

The R man, Riccardo Ricco, becomes the lone chase to Lang. He closes fast to Lang and doesn’t even stop to say hi when he passes him. He never lets up and earns his second stage victory 1:17 ahead of the peloton.

Kirchen remains in yellow but is without a team. I hope he enjoys his last day in yellow. That sounds familiar. Didn’t I already say that? Its déjà vu all over again.

Super Dave (feedback welcomed)