Remember how there were no crashes yesterday? Can’t say that today.

Today was the first stage of the Tour de France that was actually in France. It was a lumpy stage with several category 4 climbs and one category 3. The roads were narrow and a light rain fell the latter part of the race (when the racing begins in earnest) adding to the likelihood of crashes – especially during the first few stages.

There were 4 crashes today resulting in time gaps for many and in two riders having to abandon the race – Kanstansin Siutsou (Sky) and JJ Rojas (Movistar). In addition, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) suffered a separated shoulder; no decision has been made yet whether he will continue the race. Garmin-Sharp sprinter, Tyler Farrar was also caught in two of the crashes but didn’t suffer any significant injury. I think it’s a long shot for Danielson to start tomorrow. A separated shoulder would be difficult to ride with once the serious mountain stages start. If he does abandon it will be a big loss for GC hopeful, Ryder Hesjedal.

The man picked to win the Tour this year, Bradley Wiggins got caught up in the last crash just before the finish. He wasn’t injured apparently and didn’t incur any time loss. The loss of his teammate Siutsou will be a hardship on Wiggins and the team particularly during the 2nd and 3rd weeks. Losing any one of the 9 riders on a team makes the Tour that much more difficult on the others. Particularly for those with a serious contender for the yellow jersey.

Speaking of those, Cadel Evans (BMC) and his team seemed to escape unscathed. The team did a great job of keeping Evans at the front and out of trouble – very important – especially during the early stages when nerves are high.

In yesterday’s post I predicted Sylvan Chavanel (Quickstep) to win Stage 3. He didn’t, but he did try. He made a move with about 1 kilometer left, but didn’t have enough to finish and the peloton caught him.

One man had more than enough. A seriously powerful bike racer named Peter Sagan (Liquigas)! Did I say he was only 22… riding in his first tour… and has won 2 of the 3 stages thus far. The guy did the running man/Forest Gump after he crossed the finish line and didn’t even look winded. The photo shows the handful of riders that were racing for the win were winded… and they weren’t even really that close. Sagan is the real deal. He isn’t an overall GC type guy – yet – but who knows what his future holds.  He’s amazingly talented and I love to watch him win.

Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) retained the yellow jersey, Superman Sagan has the green jersey and a man that has managed to get himself into the break every day to collect the points for the climbs has the polka dot jersey – Michael Morkov (Saxobank).

Stage 4 is a (relatively) flat stage designed for the sprinters. A good part of it follows the coast of France which usually means crosswinds – which usually means splits in the peloton – which means the teams of the race favorites, BMC, Sky, Garmin, Liquigas and others will try to keep their guys up at the front.

It looks like another stage for Mark Cavendish, or maybe Andre Greipel (Lotto) or possibly Sagan. I think it will be Cavendish.

Stage 4 also is the official start of the Tour de France fantasy challenge. My team unless I make changes before midnight:

We’re up and running again, cable television and internet is a GO! Just got it hooked back up late this afternoon, so haven’t watched Stage 3 yet, but will catch the 7pm – 10pm broadcast and post later.

Stage 4 (tomorrow) means the roster for the TDF Fantasy Cycling Challenge team is set, no more changes to the roster. You can always make changes between starters and bench guys.

Here’s our team – I love being a director sportif!

Today was the type of stage that isn’t that exciting – even for me: A flat and fast stage with a bunch sprint at the end. The bunch sprints are exciting and today we had two; in addition to the stage win, the interim sprint for points for the green jersey classification was also contested by super-sprinters Mark Cavendish (Sky), Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) , Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and yesterday’s stage winner – Peter Sagan.

Unlike yesterday, the teams with sprinters took turns setting the pace of the peloton and chasing down the 3 man breakaway. They caught the breakaway with no trouble, keeping the pace high, they got their “sprint trains” in place to carry and deliver their sprinter to the 200-250 k mark from the finish and the let the sprinters duke it out.

With Sky saving their riders for yellow jersey hopeful Bradley Wiggins’ use in the mountains, Cavendish was left to his own devices. Not a problem. He worked his way along and with about 150 k to go he found former teammate/current archrival Andre Greipel’s wheel and held on waiting to pounce. When Greipel (Lotto) opened up his sprint, Cavendish came around him and just pipped him at the line. Goss, also a former teammate of Cavendish’s took 3rd.

When Greipel finds out that it was his wheel that Cavendish used to beat him and take the stage win, he will not be happy to say the least. Those two guys strongly dislike each other to say the least.

I don’t think it was accidental that Cavendish ended up on his wheel.

There was no change in the overall lead, fan favorite Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) held on to the yellow jersey. Tomorrow the riders leave Belgium and start their tour of France… 😉

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Stage 3 will be somewhat like Stage 1 – lumpy with Category 4 and 3 climbs. Unlike Stage 1, there is no uphill finish, nonetheless it isn’t a stage for the sprinters. It’s a stage for the likes of Sagan, Cancellara, Phillip Gilbert, or the guy I think might win – Frenchman, Sylvan Chavanel who sits in 3rd place (yes, 3rd) at only 7 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Expect more excitement tomorrow!

P.S. My cable television and internet service is out. Yep. Out. My husband is waiting on hold to talk to them and hopefully get it back up tomorrow morning. I can’t be without my services in the month of July!

This is the part of the Tour that is predictable. It was predictable that Fabian Cancellara won the Prologue yesterday and predictable that Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) was a good bet to win today. He did, besting Cancellara at the line after Cancellara was nice enough to tow him to the finish line. As they say… that’s bike racing.

Last night in my post I picked either Phillip Gilbert or Sagan to win, Gilbert finished 4th. He hasn’t quite had the form he had last year it seems or else he’s been holding back. Apparently he wasn’t holding back, today was a stage near his home and a stage win that he admitted he wanted but he couldn’t pull it off. 

Stage 1 wasn’t a flat stage for the sprinters or a mountainous stage for the pure climbers. It had a few category 4 hills with the last climb being short but steep. Between the final climb, the 2nd crash, crosswinds and the pace of the chasing peloton, there were some huge time gaps that resulted. Riders were still coming across the finish 4 minutes after Sagan took the win and did one of the better victory salutes we’ve seen in a while.

This is part of it:

Sagan is only 22 years old and in his first Tour, but he rides like he’s been there before. He’s strong, confident and immensely talented. We will see many more victory salutes!

In other news… as is the norm in the Tour de France there was a breakaway and crashes. A breakaway that left as soon as race director, Christian Purdhomme dropped the flag signaling the start. The breakaway of six riders managed to stay away until about the 10k mark.

About the time I commented to Mark that there hadn’t been any crashes, there was one, then another. A stupid fan standing on the road taking pictures caused the second crash. Tony Martin (Quickstep) went down, he has had zero luck so far. Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) went down too as did other riders. I haven’t read that any of the riders had dropped out due to injury.

There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not Mark Cavendish (Sky) sprinter extraordinaire would go for the green jersey (points jersey) this year since he will be competing in the Olympics later this month not to mention going for stage victories (he has 20). Cavendish has said he wasn’t interested in the points jersey but today he raced for the interim sprint points so he’s either testing his legs or wants to give it a go.

I bet we see Cavendish go for the win tomorrow and get it.

Still other news…

I don’t like Liam McHugh, nothing personal since I don’t even know the guy, but you get the sense his knowledge of bike racing is from the days of his youth (not that many years ago either) when he raced his buddies home??  Craig Hummer, who was the straight man to Bob Roll, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen in the 2009 and 2010 Tours is now a field reporter.

I say put Liam in a field… far away from the Tour.

Roll, Liggett and Sherwen are still there but Liggett and Sherwen seem out of the pre-race fun and strictly just calling the race. There’s a new guy too in addition to McHugh and Roll in the studio, but he’s got zero on-air personality.

Hey, NBC, I liked the Versus coverage of the race why did you have to go and change it.