First off, as feared, Chris Horner had to abandon the Tour due to the injuries sustained in Stage 7. This was Horner’s 5th Tour, but the first as a GC contender and protected rider. Starting the Tour he was one of 4 for Radio Shack, but after crashes took out Brakovic and put Levi Leipheimer more than a minute down, Horner was sitting pretty when yesterday’s stage started. Such a shame, most likely at age 39 his chance to be in that position again may be over.

Stage 8 was an exciting one and a welcome relief after the crash filled flat-ish stages.

Movistar got their first stage win, and in their first Tour de France. They’ve had a tough year, it’s nice they won. I’m sure Vinokourov, Phillippe Gilbert and Tejay Van Garderen might disagree.

And, somehow Tour tough man Thor Hushovd, stayed with the Tour favorites and kept his overall lead and the yellow jersey.

Tomorrow looks like a stage for Thomas Voeckler, I was happy to see him not challenge Vinokourov today.

Forgive any typos, posting this from my phone.

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I hate days in the Tour like this.  Days where a favorite or serious GC contender gets knocked out of the race because of injury or illness. Actually I hate it when it happens to any rider.

Today we lost Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky, the British hopeful for the overall championship.  Wiggins was caught up in a crash and suffered a fracture of his collarbone.

Particularly sad for Wiggins, after winning the Tour of Switzerland just a few weeks ago, he appeared to be peaking at the right time and was in 6th place overall.  Team Sky was riding high after their first Tour de France victory yesterday in Stage 6 when sprinter, Edvald Boasson Hagen took it at the line.

Making matters worse, Hagen was caught in the crash although he did return, but several Sky riders waited minutes for Wiggins (as any team would if the team favorite/leader goes down) which made their time gaps even greater. Geraint Thomas fell from 3rd to 38th place… suffice to say – a very bad day for Team Sky.

We saw Tom Boonen, Quick Step sprinter, withdraw from the race today too due to injuries sustained in a crash two days ago.

Besides losing Wiggins and Boonen, several riders in the top 10 were also either involved or caught out by the crash. Roughly half of the peloton was caught by the accident, while teams HTC and Leopard-Trek drove the pace the rest of the peloton was left to sort through the carnage and get back on and try and continue.  Team Radio Shack’s Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner went down; Leipheimer’s second straight stage to hit the pavement and lose big chunks of time – Leipheimer now is in 50th place and Horner in 119th.

As expected Mark Cavendish sprinted to the line first to claim his 16th Tour victory (amazing) and his 2nd in Chateauroux – also the site of his very 1st stage win in 2008. Also, Tour leader, Thor Hushovd, Garmin-Cervelo, kept the yellow jersey for another day.

Just a horrible day in the Tour, and a stage that looked anything but problematic.  No hills, no narrow roads, no rain… nothing but the crashes happened anyway. It is said often, but obviously not overstated, riders are always nervous the first week of the Tour and the week is crash prone. Few years rival this one’s impact on the overall GC though.

Tour de France Fantasy Cycling Challenge

For the Love of Bikes team (4loveofbikes) scored 109 points in Stage 7. Riders Phillippe Gilbert, Romain Feillu and Nicholas Roche scored 19, 74 and 16 points respectively. We lost GC contender Bradley Wiggins.  

Another so-called sprint stage that wasn’t. 

Stage 6 was too lumpy and long to be a stage where the typical sprinters challenged for the win.

Edvald Boasson Hagen, Team Sky, took the stage narrowly beating HTC sprinter, Matt Goss, and yellow jersey wearer Thor Hushovd. Both Hushovd and Hagen are from Norway.

It was a rainy day on the road and although there were fewer crashes than yesterday, a couple of GC riders still managed to hit the pavement.  Unfortunately for the already banged up Radio Shack team, GC hopeful Levi Leipheimer, crashed with just 4k to go. Although he wasn’t seriously injured he lost 65 seconds. Alberto Contador had some kind of mechanical issue with his bike but was able to recover and finish the stage with the peloton.

Stage 7 is a true sprint stage, flat and fast, with a long finishing straight at the end – a sprinter’s dream.  Look for sprinter extraordinaire Mark Cavendish to win.  The finishing town is the same one where Cavendish got his very first Tour win back in 2008. Alessandro Petacchi and Tyler Farrar should be in the mix tomorrow, as well as Ben Swift and Romain Feillu – she said hopefully.

Today was another impressive ride by Thor Hushovd, not only keeping the yellow jersey, but challenging Hagen and Goss at the line for the stage victory.  He continues to be the most impressive rider thus far in the Tour.

Look for Hushovd to keep the yellow jersey tomorrow and to be in the mix at the finish.

Tour de France Fantasy Cycling Challenge

For the Love of Bikes team (4loveofbikes) managed to pull 151 points from stage 6.  Both starters Phillippe Gilbert and crazy man, Romain Feillu earned points.  Feillu finished in 4th place and Gilbert finished 7th.

Stage 6 points:  151

Without fail there is always at least one crash filled stage in the Tour. Hopefully today’s stage was it and this will be as bad as it gets.

And it was bad.  Team Radio Shack rider, Janez Brajkovic, was caught in one of the crashes, injuring his head and likely suffering a concussion by the looks of it. It looked very serious; he appeared to be unconscious initially, but was alert when he was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

There were 5, maybe 6 crashes, plus a number of mechanicals. It was a strange day; prior to sitting down to watch the recording of the stage (we rode this morning so DVR’d) I commented to my husband that I had a feeling it was a bad day. Bad indeed.

Tom Boonen, Quickstep sprinter, appeared to have a broken collarbone but somehow managed to finish the stage – hopefully inside of the time limit. That would be a travesty for them to give him the boot after struggling so hard to finish.

Defending champion, Albert Contador, crashed but appeared unscathed. 

Nicki Sorensen was clipped by the photographer’s motorcycle and took a hard fall.

It might be easier and quicker to simply say who didn’t crash.  It was a roller derby stage out there today.  A lot like Stage 1 last year.

One of my favorite riders,Thomas Voeckler, did what he always does:  broke away and went for the stage win. Unfortunately for him, he came up a bit short, couldn’t escape from the fast and furious pace of the peloton. I love the way he rides though, and know we haven’t heard the last from him at this year’s Tour.

As most expected, Mark Cavendish did win the stage. He did it on his own without his usual lead-out train.  It appeared Phillippe Gilbert was going to win but Cavendish accelerated hard and beat Gilbert pretty easily.  I’m sure Cavendish is relieved to have his first win, and I’m also sure it won’t be his last this Tour.

And last but not least, super-rider Thor Hushovd, finished with the pack and held on to the yellow jersey for another day.  Thus far in the Tour, Hushovd has been the most impressive rider. Wish I had him on our Tour de France Fantasy Challenge team.

Tour de France Fantasy Cycling Challenge

Today we did a bit better thanks to Phillippe Gilbert.  We’re most happy that no points were left on the bench by the 4loveofbikes team. 

Stage 5 points:  116

Today’s stage was initially billed as a stage for the sprinters – not hardly – except for one that is.

Yellow jersey wearer, Thor Hushovd, managed to stay with the likes of Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Alexander Vinokourav and other great climbers, up a short but steep climb at the finish to defend and keep the maillot jaune.

Hushovd rides with such grit and determination!  He is a good climber in his own right, especially for the type of climb at the conclusion of Stage 4.  And, as is often noted, when you wear the yellow jersey you’re able to dig just a little deeper to keep it. Hushovd certainly proved that today. What a ride!

Congratulations to Evans, narrowly beating Contador at the line and taking his first ever stage win (his other stage win was a result of a disqualification of a rider).

It’s also good he didn’t take the yellow jersey (he is still just 1 second away).  It’s too soon, too much pressure (and he doesn’t do well under pressure) and would require too many team resources being used to defend it.

With Hushovd of Garmin-Cervelo keeping the yellow jersey, it actually is a good thing for the contenders for overall top standing in the GC. Hushovd isn’t a contender for the Tour championship, no one else on Garmin-Cervelo is in position to contend so the yellow jersey is safe with them. It reminds me a little of 2004 when Thomas Voeckler, known then as “little Tommy Voeckler” kept the yellow jersey for 10 days, while Lance Armstrong waited until the time was right to take it and keep it. 

Getting the yellow jersey is hard, but keeping it is harder.

With a team like Garmin-Cervelo having the yellow jersey, it allows the true contenders to bide their time until after week one when we start to get in to the serious mountain stages.  That’s when the real hunt for the yellow will begin in earnest.

No shortage of action or excitement in these early stages though, that’s for sure.

Tour de France Fantasy Challenge 

I am one lousy team director, or sportif, as they are called in France. Today the 4loveofbikes team picked up 66 points (from Phillippe Gilbert, thought he would get me 200 as the stage winner) but left (she said with profound embarrassment) 82 (Vino) and 30 (Bradley Wiggins) points on the bench. Didn’t realize the stage would finish with a Category 3 climb (read the Primer if you don’t know what that means) since it was billed as a sprinter’s stage I had my sprinters on the start team and my GC guys on the bench. Fail.

I need a primer for the Fantasy Challenge evidently.