2008 Tour de France - Stage 17

Crashing can certainly make a bad day worse as was the case for Christian Vande Velde yesterday. For Americans, he is a bit of a Cinderella story. Well, Christian, anyone can have a bad day (just ask Floyd). Perhaps Christian can borrow a little testosterone from Schumacher!

Schumacher is showing he still has some strength as he catches the break 15 km into the race. There’s a long way to go. Stephan is the first to top mountain number one. Eisel tumbles on the descent. Then Perez goes off road. Hincapie goes down. Eisel makes it a double as he falls again. My god, this has turned into a demolition derby.

Meanwhile, Team CSC – Saxo Bank is a machine at work. They are cranking hard and spitting racers out the back. If they keep this up, only CSC teammates will remain in the peloton. Hey, that’s not a bad idea! When will Frank make his move? As they crest the second mountain top, the contenders are together. I’m running out of patience. Somebody please attack!

Sastre listens to me and he oozes from the leaders group on the final climb. Jabs are coming from both Schleck’s, Valverde, and Efimkin. Evans goes to the front with 3km to go. CSC has the strongest team but do they have the strongest man? The suspense coincides with the elevation gain.

Sastre deserves the glory with his stage win by over 2 minutes to the contenders. Frank didn’t put a dent into Evans. Cadel came to the front to show he wants yellow in Paris. He’s still the favorite but it looks like we will have to wait until Saturday. 

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Super Dave (Enjoy my dribbles, dislike them? Got suggestions for improvements? I appreciate your feedback!)