6:00am - wow I'm tired. I actually slept until
my alarm went off at
5:28am and I've been in a daze ever since.
Today is the last of the big mountain stages,
with the last CAT 1 and
HC in the race. It runs 180.5k from Mourenx to
Pau.
I have cobwebs in my head. Oscar Pereiro and team
Phonak have been
whining for two days about the way he pulled
Hincapie up the mountain
on Sunday, and George sprinted past him at the
last minute to take the
stage. Whatever. wah wah wah. Oscar, if you could
have kept up, then
you would have. Shut the hell up.
So far - there are 10 riders in a breakaway 7'15"
ahead of the peloton.
Heras, Ullrich, Sastre, and Vino have attacked
the peloton away as
well. Cadel Evans has attacked the breakaway
and is in the front of
the race. They are on the way up the last giant
HC climb of the Tour,
Col d'Aubisque. Lance with Popovych and HIncapie
are up with Ullrich,
Basso, Landis, Sastre, Rasmussen, and Leipheimer.
It seems the fight
for 2nd and third in Paris is all out war. I
don't think anyone can
beat Lance at this point, especially with the
55.5k Individual Time
Trial coming up on Saturday with Stage 20.
Earlier there was a fan on the side of the road
with two blow up
thundersticks who hit Kashechkin in the face
(with his fist) which
forced him to go back to the team doctor and
get treated for a nose
bleed. Not good going up these massive mountains.
7:00am - CRAP - just woke up - thank The Goddess
for Tivo. Oscar
Pereiro, who Hincapie beat on Sunday, takes the
stage by jumping ahead
of Cadel Evans at the last minute, doing the
same thing that George did
to him, so he and Phonak need to STOP THE WHINING.
The only big change in the overall GC is Cadel
Evans jumps up to 7th,
and Andréas Klöden is knocked to
11th.
Flat sprint stage tomorrow.
GO LANCE!