Slugfest on Prata Nevoso

CSC worked its team to perfection in yesterday's first Alpine stage. Cancellara and Voigt drove it to the base of the final climb, where Sastre and the Schleck brothers took over to give Evans the beating he had to have been expecting. Kohl, Menchov and Valverde chipped in with a few shots of their own. Menchov launched a viscious attack at one point, and looked to be riding away, but then went down around a corner and lost some of his gusto. Nice to see him riding aggressively. With a little bit of luck, he may well be in yellow. Remember the 38 seconds he lost on stage 3?

Eventially the little squeeky-voiced and bad-tempered Aussie cracked under the pressure and found himself unable to respond. Kohl and Sastre gained the most time, taking back 47 seconds, while Valverde got 38 seconds. Menchov took back 27 seconds, and now has to be considered a serious threat for the overall because of his TT strength. Frank Schleck finished 9 seconds ahead of Evans and now wears the yellow jersey. He holds a 7 second lead over Kohl and has 8 seconds on Evans. In light of the 53 km TT coming up on Saturday, that's not nearly enough. So expect CSC to continue attacking over the next couple of days.

It might not be a bad idea to organize a party for Wednesday morning.

The list of contenders now looks like this:

1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 63.57.21
2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.08
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.38
5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 0.39
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.49

Not to be forgotten in all of this is Simon Gerrans. He won the stage out of a breakaway group of 4 who spent most of the day off the front.

Oscar Pereiro had a bad, bad day. He crashed on the first descent, flying over a guard-rail and plunging 20 feet to the road below. Busted arm and no more TdF for him.


ASO/VN Highlights:



The final few kms (auf Deutsch):



In the FGBC TdF Pool, we had a three way tie for first place between Powered by Veggies, Fuck It, Let's Go Bowling, and English on the Ball. They each pick up 180 points. Team Runner up was next with 165, extending its lead over Zed's Dead, Baby to 400 points. English on the Ball rounds out the podium another 20 points back.

Stage 15:

Powered by Veggies (Jonny B) 180
Fuck It, Let's Go Bowling (Colin) 180
English on the Ball (Matt) 180
Team Runner Up (Mike) 165
Farm Team (Tinker James) 140
Don't Stop to Smell the Flowers (LeAnn) 140
Poison Ivy Weedwackers (Hal) 135
Nothing Stops a Party Barge (Donna) 130
Frequent Flyers (Tom K) 125
The A Team (Adam) 105
Team Toulouse (Vic) 105
Arms Akimbo (Brad) 100
Annie Proffitt's Kids (Rachel) 90
Dolphin Ankle Tatoos (Ian) 90
Sturmy-Archer All-Stars (Kevin) 85
Zed's Dead, Baby (Chris) 70
Los Lobos Soundcheck Disaster (Bill) 65
Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs (Jonny M) 55
You Suckers Don't Have a Chance Against the King (Andy) 55
You Like Samurai Swords, I Like Baseball (Arlene) 50
Mylie Sigurdur's Wheels of Fury (Dallas) 30
Viva Italia (David S) 5
Turn up the good, turn down the suck! (Paddy & Naomi) 0


Overall Standings:

Team Runner Up (Mike) 2225
Zed's Dead, Baby (Chris) 1825
English on the Ball (Matt) 1805
Powered by Veggies (Jonny B) 1775
Team Toulouse (Vic) 1745
Los Lobos Soundcheck Disaster (Bill) 1610
Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs (Johnny M) 1415
Nothing Stops a Party Barge (Donna) 1415
Frequent Flyers (Tom K) 1390
Mylie Sigurdur's Wheels of Fury (Dallas) 1390
Farm Team (Tinker James) 1380
You Like Samurai Swords, I Like Baseball (Arlene) 1350
You Suckers Don't Have a Chance Against the King (Andy) 1145
Fuck It, Let's Go Bowling (Colin) 1040
The A Team (Adam) 1025
Annie Proffitt's Kids (Rachel) 910
Sturmy-Archer All-Stars (Kevin) 900
Dolphin Ankle Tatoos (Ian) 855
Arms Akimbo (Brad) 795
Don't Stop to Smell the Flowers (LeAnn) 550
Poison Ivy Weedwackers (Hal) 515
Viva Italia (David S) 455
Turn up the good, turn down the suck! (Paddy & Naomi) 410