News Letter

‘In the (Time) Zone'
David Olle, France, +33 66 16 909 87

Tour de France, July 3 - 25, 2010, Report stage 8
Stage 8    Sunday, July 11    189 km     Station des Rousses → Morzine-Avoriaz

Results
1      Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank      4:54:11      
2     Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi           
3     Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank     0:00:10     

General classification
1      Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team      37:57:09      
2     Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank     0:00:20     
3     Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana     0:01:01

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, Holland's Robert Gesink, Spain's Alberto Contador and Russia's Denis Menchov are all riding well and have had a good week.  Cadel has had a better one.  He now leads the world's biggest bike race.  Can he win it?  Just keep watching for the next two weeks!

Lance report:  The end of an era.  Lance lost more than eleven minutes today.  After the cobbled stage, where he lost two minutes, he said ‘some days you're the hammer, some days you're the nail, I've been the hammer, today I was the nail'.  Today he was nailed, well and truly.  I think we can write the old dog off now.  His 7 year run of good luck has come to an end.  Photos of his being held up at the Les Gets KOM here:  http://www.twitpic.com/24f8l0, http://www.twitpic.com/24f9vd, http://www.twitpic.com/24fahn, http://www.twitpic.com/24faxg

Skippy report:  Well, after Webber won the Formula 1, Cadel took the lead in the Tour de France.  Pity we're not in tonight's world cup.

Cuisine report:  Spent the afternoon in Hotel Boomerang (Les Gets) drinking beer and eating chips, watching the bike race go by, and then on the telly.

Tomorrow:  Rest day    Monday, July 12         Rest day in Morzine-Avoriaz
For those in Australia, SBS shows a daily report on the Tour de France, along with many stages broadcast live, catch them if you can.  
Not forgetting our own Topbike TV on digital channel 44, check your local guide for details.

The Bike Race:
This year's Tour starts in the Netherlands (making that 3 grand tour prologues in a row, for Holland) belts into Belgium, before following a clockwise trace around France, finishing, of course, on the Champs Elysee in Paris.  July 3-25, 3,596 kilometres, more than enough for anyone.

The Writer:
David Olle's cycling reports are used by ABC radio's 774 DRIVE show in Melbourne, ABC radio
702 breakfast show in Sydney, ABC national overnights and 3RRR FM's Breakfasters.  He chats regularly with all.  He also created and produces the magazine style TV show ‘Topbike TV' which is seen throughout Australia and New Zealand on community televison.  The reports are also published here, www.cyclesportnews.com, along with any photos.

These reports are independent, opinionated, Australian biased, and could miss a day here and there, along with containing the odd error and repeating the odd comment.  We make no apology for this.

We aim to send these reports daily, while any worthy bike race is on.  You have the power to control your interest in these reports, see details below.

We also run good bike tours.

David Olle
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