2006 Tour de France - Stage 9

Hey, what happened to yesterday's stage? I guess they postponed it so Italy could celebrate BEATING FRANCE in the world cup! Also, my editor Thomas, needed a day of mourning after his team lost. I didn't realize soccer was a contact sport. It reminds me of hockey without the ice and sticks. Apparently, head butting is illegal in soccer also.

I wonder what's going on in cycling. Why did Floyd's announcement come out at this time? The Phonak manager explained it was because of rumors. C'mon, give me a break, who ever heard of rumors floating around the Tour de France?!?!? Why does Johan seem to be more supportive of racer's that aren't even in the Tour or those on other teams? Who did he want to win the world cup? Does anybody care about today's stage? I bet Pineau doesn't. Oh well, hill is a four letter word to me. I don't expect anything today.

Like I said, nothing is happening. Three racers gained nearly 8 minutes before their lead diminishes. Doesn't Knees look like a high school kid? There was a shot of Super Mario in the team car. Good to see his smile. Another cool view was from the helicopter showing a 170 man pace line. I've never seen that before.

Since today is "nobody cares stage 9", it would have been the time for a star to be born. Somebody should have gone out and established a lead of over ten minutes. Then there would have been some suspense seeing if they could have held on to win the stage. So for today, we'll just have to wait for the sprinters to do their thing.

Boonen's team is actually organized to make their last ditch effort to get Tom a stage win. He looks boxed in for a while then gets some room to the left. Robbie "the McLaren" is looking for a place to go then slashes across towards the finish. I think he travelled more diagonally than he did forward! What a move! Boonen falls short and McEwen doesn't make it in time to overtake Freire.  Zabel had enough to take a respectable third place. The last few seconds of this stage made up for the hours of boredom. It will be the last we talk about these guys for the next couple of weeks. It is still awfully quiet at Discovery Channel. Hmmm, maybe there's a good show on!

Please visit our sponsors.

Like or dislike Dave's dribbles? Got further info to add? Send Dave an email at info@roadcycling.com.

Check out our 2006 Tour de France coverage section for live updates, rider diaries, virtual stage maps (in live updates section) and more.