Tree Tops in France

Lars Boom--the Tree--rode away from the field at the very start of the race today and never looked back. He wins his 2nd World Cup race of the season and is looking more and more like a legitimate threat for the World Championship in two weeks. Wellens and Mourey round out the podium. Nys finishes--gasp--8th. He's washed up. Full results, report, and photos from CN.

For the first time in five races, Andy didn't win. I did. But he only concedes 30 points, so it's still a sizeable lead for the professor. The big news of the day in the FGBC Pool is David S. Apparently inspired by the opportunity to race in front of the home crowd, his mostly French team netted him 180 points. Mind you, it was on the strength of just two guys--Mourey and Gadret--the only 2 riders to earn him points all season. Still, that's almost as much as he's earned in his last 9 races combined. It's got to feel good to be El Presidente today. If only they raced in France every weekend. With 780 points, he now has an outside shot at cracking 1000 by the end of the season. The only downside to all this is that it all but ends the race to avoid last place. It's looking like Laura's got her name written all over the lantern rouge.

They race again next Sunday. It's the last tune-up before the World Championships.

Top 20:

Boom - 150
Wellens - 125
Mourey - 100
Vervecken - 90
Gadret - 80
Pauwels - 75
Stybar - 70
Nys - 65
Simunik - 60
De Knegt - 55
Aernouts - 50
Al - 45
Page - 40
Groenendaal - 35
D. Vanthourenhout - 30
Fontana - 25
Van Gils - 20
Belgy - 15
Cichosz - 10
Verstraeten - 5


Today's Results:

Chris - 325
Andy - 295
Jonny - 200
David - 180
Hal - 160
Matt - 150
Tomek - 150
Naomi - 140
Dallas - 120
Paddy - 115
Arlene - 110
Vic - 95
Rachel - 95
Laura - 40


Overall Standings:

Andy - 4815
Chris - 4440
Vic - 4195
Matt - 3705
Naomi - 3400
Rachel - 2980
Arlene - 2920
Jonny - 2660
Hal - 2470
Tomek - 1725
Paddy - 1280
Dallas - 1075
David - 785
Laura - 580

OTT: The Devil Makes Three, Graveyard