You gotta love these short stages of the Tour de France. The racing was aggressive from the gun, the attacks lasted from start to finish, and the riders left everything on those seven climbs into Switzerland. Thibaut Pinot was the man of the day but tomorrow is where the race will really start to take shape. We drove the TT course tonight and it’s not nearly as flat as the profile suggests…
(Via Inrng.com)
Photos
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- Fans already set up to camp overnight on the TT course to get a good spot for tomorrow’s stage.
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- The team busses lined up in the fields near the finish line of Porrentruy, Switzerland
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- Arthur Vichot is no Obscure Pro here in France
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- It’s not a good photo but here is Cadel having a personal moment with Marc Herremans, the Belgian triathlete and motivational speaker who suffered paralysis when crashing on his bike in training.
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- Jurgin Van Den Broeck’s Campy EPS shifting has been having some problems over the past 2 days
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- Cadel came in second on the stage for the second day in a row, but has yet to make up time on Wiggins. The race is still young and anything can still happen.
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- The bunch kick for second place taken by Cadel Evans
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- Thibaut Pinot, the youngest rider in the race, crossing the line first. Pinot raced into the lead of the stage with 17km to go. He caught and immediately raced past Kessiakoff near the top of the final climb and was away for the win.
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- The race finished in Switzerland today before coming back into France for the rest of the Tour.
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- Wiggins had some blunt words for his critics when asked by an Associated Press reporter about comments that have been made on Twitter comparing Sky’s Tour performances with US Postal’s in previous Tours. “What do you say to the cynics who think that you have to be doped up to win the Tour de France?” Wiggins replied. “They are just f***ing w*****s. I cannot be doing with people like that. It justifies their own bone-idleness because they can’t ever imagine applying themselves to anything in their lives. It’s easy for them to sit under a pseudonym on Twitter rather than get off their arses in their own life and apply themselves and work hard at something and achieve something, and that’s ultimately it. C***s!”
Stage 9 Preview
We drove the TT course tonight and the climbs are much more significant than the profile suggests. The climb up to the 16.5km mark is steep and has a 14% sign at the top. The final lump on the profile within the last 5kms is a short and sharp one as well. As for the rest of the course, the amount of descending on short and windy roads will definitely be a factor. From what I saw from the car, it is a very technical course which will suite a rider like Cancellara.
[rrsumm raceid=712]