2006 Tour de France - Stage 9: Movin On

The rest day was a day of triumph for the Italians in the race and a day of disappointment for the French. Unfortunately for me, although I don't mind soccer, I can't get my head around how the World Cup can be decided from a penalty shoot out. I reckon there should be double over time where the team who scores first, wins. They get paid enough?

Well, just done stage 9. Things are moving along quickly. Already I?ve been away from home for two weeks. It has passed quickly but I?m really missing Carole and Tanner? Especially yesterday. When I saw all the other guys around the hotel with their kids, it made me miss Tanner even more. Even when I go away for just a few days he changes and I can?t help but think about what he?s going to be up to after not seeing him for a month.

In any case, the rest day went down well even though I missed my family. Firstly the plane transfer was smooth as... Often in the past, it has been a right cock up and taken hours. This time though, all was good and by 9pm we were in the hotel at Bordeaux.

The next day I rolled out for an easy 2hrs with Thor along a nice bike path that headed out of Bordeaux toward the coast. We preferred to train by ourselves because we could leave a little later and go a little easier, which we like to do on rest days. Leave late, ride easy. Then it was back to the hotel to watch a movie, chill out, and get the legs rubbed. Truth is, I wouldn?t mind a few more days like this. That would be perfect. In fact, I wouldn?t mind a whole life of days like that; 2hr rides, chilling out and a massage everyday.

So this morning we left Bordeaux for the last real sprint stage before we head into the mountains. It was a flat stick one down the coast to the Spanish border. The first totally flat day that we have had and we rode it averaged it at 50km/hr. It just seemed crazy during the stage when I looked down at different times at the computer and we were doing 50km/hr and it was feeling easy. Other times when I felt like it was a little hard, I looked at the computer and we were doing 60km/hr. It?s just amazing what feels easy after riding two weeks in the tour.

Anyway, the stage came down to a sprint and despite feeling good throughout the day I was missing a lot of power in the sprint.

After I got quacked just after the 1km banner, I tried to come back to Thor to help him but just didn't have the power to get to him before the sprint started. For us, and me personally, it was a disappointing day.

We are starting to get frustrated that things are not going our way.

I?m frustrated as I?m not feeling as good as I can and the team bosses are starting to scratch their heads. Things are getting difficult for us all. We just have to try and hang in there and hope we have a chance to do something in the last week.

Tomorrow the mountain stages begin. We?ll start to see who the real contenders are in the next couple of days. This will be when the real race begins to emerge. It?s pretty exciting as it?s wide open and I think that there?s going to be some good racing with some big attacks.

My prediction is that on the podium in Paris, we?ll see a Russian (that can include someone from any of the old Soviet states), any Aussie (for the first time ever), and an American ? and not in any particular order.

As for me, I just hope that I can get through the mountains.

Julian

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