Stage 10 review
Yeah, Virenque won the stage. He picked up 68 points today, giving him 73 now. He wears the polka dot jersey and has a lead of 16 over Axel Merckx. In the past Virenque has essentially won the jersey on one day of work. This year the rules have been changed a bit, so he still has to pick up a lot of points to win this thing.
There was a spat between Virenque and Merckx during their long breakaway. Merckx never challenged Virenque for the points and later revealed why. Merckx claims they made a deal--Virenque could take the climbs, and Merckx would get the stage win. "When he accelerated I thought he would wait for me because we had an agreement. But no... he went off. He didn't respect his word. If I had have known he was going to do that I would have taken points from him on the climbs."
Well, boo-hoo! Shut your whining, Axel. First of all, what makes you think you're a good enough rider to ride in the mountains with Virenque for 200 km? Secondly, Merckx not only lost his 10 minute lead on the peloton, but he was caught and dropped by them. He finished 71st on the stage. Did you make a deal with all 70 riders so that you could win the stage? Gimme a break. You don't come in 71st and complain about being robbed of the stage win. If Virenque had followed your wheel, you still wouldn't have won, so shove it.
Virenque was determined not to allow Merckx to be the only one to say something stupid. "It was not me who attacked, he was dropped." Look, pal, I saw it. You turned up the pace. Just admit it. Virenque must have gone to the "Bernard Hinault school of working together in the mountains."
OK, Erik Zabel, you were amazing. This guy is old enough that he should have retired 2 years ago. He's a sprinter, not a climber, yet he hung around with the chase group of the yellow jersey contenders. He was in the peloton when it finished, but the other green jersey contenders were all 15 minutes behind in the Autobus. So, Zabel picked up 15 points at the finish line, pulling himself into second place, 10 points behind McEwen. A big coup by Zabel. The only problem was that Andreas Kloden, Zabel's lead out man, didn't pull back and let Zabel pass him. Kloden was second on the stage and cost Zabel another 2 points. Doh!
Great job by Brioches to protect Thomas Voeckler. For a while the yellow jersey was in danger of popping off the back of the peloton during the big climb, but he managed to hang on. But in this stage the big boys weren't going hard. On Friday they will.
Yeah, Virenque won the stage. He picked up 68 points today, giving him 73 now. He wears the polka dot jersey and has a lead of 16 over Axel Merckx. In the past Virenque has essentially won the jersey on one day of work. This year the rules have been changed a bit, so he still has to pick up a lot of points to win this thing.
There was a spat between Virenque and Merckx during their long breakaway. Merckx never challenged Virenque for the points and later revealed why. Merckx claims they made a deal--Virenque could take the climbs, and Merckx would get the stage win. "When he accelerated I thought he would wait for me because we had an agreement. But no... he went off. He didn't respect his word. If I had have known he was going to do that I would have taken points from him on the climbs."
Well, boo-hoo! Shut your whining, Axel. First of all, what makes you think you're a good enough rider to ride in the mountains with Virenque for 200 km? Secondly, Merckx not only lost his 10 minute lead on the peloton, but he was caught and dropped by them. He finished 71st on the stage. Did you make a deal with all 70 riders so that you could win the stage? Gimme a break. You don't come in 71st and complain about being robbed of the stage win. If Virenque had followed your wheel, you still wouldn't have won, so shove it.
Virenque was determined not to allow Merckx to be the only one to say something stupid. "It was not me who attacked, he was dropped." Look, pal, I saw it. You turned up the pace. Just admit it. Virenque must have gone to the "Bernard Hinault school of working together in the mountains."
OK, Erik Zabel, you were amazing. This guy is old enough that he should have retired 2 years ago. He's a sprinter, not a climber, yet he hung around with the chase group of the yellow jersey contenders. He was in the peloton when it finished, but the other green jersey contenders were all 15 minutes behind in the Autobus. So, Zabel picked up 15 points at the finish line, pulling himself into second place, 10 points behind McEwen. A big coup by Zabel. The only problem was that Andreas Kloden, Zabel's lead out man, didn't pull back and let Zabel pass him. Kloden was second on the stage and cost Zabel another 2 points. Doh!
Great job by Brioches to protect Thomas Voeckler. For a while the yellow jersey was in danger of popping off the back of the peloton during the big climb, but he managed to hang on. But in this stage the big boys weren't going hard. On Friday they will.
posted by uberschuck at 11:16 PM
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