News Letter

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

Tour de France, July 3 - 25, 2010, Report stage 2
Stage 2    Monday, July 5    192 km     Brussels (BE) → Spa (BE)
Results
1      Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step      4:40:48      
2     Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale     0:03:56     
3     Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Team Milram           
4     Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha

General classification after stage 2    
1      Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step      10:02:25      
2     Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank     0:02:57     
3     Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia     0:03:07     

General report
(Champagne is my office)
More crashes today, but the race organizers don't care, they had Frenchmen in the break.  Eventually Sylvain Chavanel made the break his own, and ran in nearly 4 minutes in front of the peloton.  While many riders crashed on the Stockeu descent, not all did, but it was enough for Cancellara to call a protest ‘slow ride' to the finish, because of the unsafe riding conditions.  No sympathy from me.  Bike riding is dangerous in any conditions.  And these riders get paid to do it.  Ride!  It's your job.  

Lance Report:  ‘When I got back on my bike it was crash, after crash, after crash'  Lance Armstrong on today's descent down the ‘Stockeu'

Skippy report:  Bad news about Adam Hansen yesterday, definite collar bone break (and no more TdF).  That's two in two years for him.  At least Cadel got three of his five clavicle breaks out of the way in one year, back in 2003.

Women's Giro Report:  Ina Teutenberg (Ger) has won the first three stages of the Women's Tour of Italy, 2 flat sprints and a time trial.  She could be up to 20 wins for the season, she has good ties with Australia.  We'll claim her.

Cuisine report: Leaving our hotel in Venasca, Piemonte, the hotelier kindly gave us 2 bottles of Barolo, see them here  http://www.twitpic.com/22orba he said they were for ‘collectors' only.  1965 & 1974.  They lasted about 3 days with us.  http://www.twitpic.com/22p3sz

Tomorrow:  Stage 3    Tuesday, July 6    207 km     Wanze (BE) → Arenberg
The stage between Wanze and Arenberg, which includes 13 kilometers of pave, finishes outside the Trouée d'Arenberg of Paris-Roubaix fame.  In 2004, Iban Mayo farewelled his General Classification hopes after a fall on a short sector of cobbles outside Erre. Prior to 2004, the pavé had not appeared in the Tour de France in more than 20 years.  Thor Hushovd also lost the race lead amongst the cobbles and voiced his displeasure vehemently about the pave inclusions in the TdF to anyone who would listen.  This prompted Robbie McEwen to declare ‘Well, take the mountains out of the race, and I'll win the damn thing'.   Yes Thor, it's one race for all, not a race just for one.

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 taking 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 3GG radio, Gippsland, 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.

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David Olle
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