2006 Tour de France - Stage 6

Happy Birthday Erik! Mr. Zabel is a strong 36 today. I'm happy he's still racing. It gives us old guys some motivation and name familiarity. I think Erik looked better in pink than he does in blue though. Wonder what he's getting for a present?maybe a Catlike Whisper helmet! My present to Erik was stopping the rain. Hey, they don't call me Super Dave for nothing. Maybe there will be an even better present for Zabel at the end of the day or will Boonen finally get a stage win while actually wearing yellow.

Julz flopped over his bars yesterday near the end of the race. He said he saw others go down and his topple was like being in slow motion. He is obviously disgusted. As hard as Martinez went down, he's still in showing why he was awarded most aggressive rider. He didn't lose too much time and even tried to get some back today attempting to go with a break.

Ok, so what's goin on in the race? Pineau tries to catch the break in order to add points to his king of the mountain lead. Then the break emerges with 18 racers, one of which is named Boonen. Despite what you might think, bike racers aren't all that dumb (just bike racing journalists) and CSC starts to bring them back. Davitamon-Lotto and Lampre come up also. It always looks better when the teams are together. The color coordinated racing compadres eventually soak up Boonen but decide to leave Geslin, Backstedt and Brard out front. They obtain a maximum gap of 5:15.

Gentlemen, start your engines! The chaotic organization of the sprint finish has begun. Zabel has Boonen's wheel. Then Freire moves in. It's the McLaren zooming by to beat out the Saab and BMW! It seemed like forever when watching Quick Step drawing Boonen to the line. Then everyone goes into slow motion while Davitamon-Lotto does their thing for Robbie. They have everything in sync and know when to do it. The McLaren McEwen is the man. I think he's the next Cipollini! I'm sure Tom wanted to get the win but a better man and better team is dominating.

Tomorrow will show us how strong the Americans are. It will become the turning point of the Tour. The French riders will suck because they will be worrying about some futbol game.

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