Wildcard Bingo

In order to taste success in a vicarious grand tour, it is necessary to have significant contributions from one's wildcard picks. Often they toil away in thankless anonymity. Working for the team and all that. But every once in a while, one of them is given a chance to shine. And when they do, it usually spells Success. With a capital S. Let's spell it together, shall we? S-U-C-C-E-S-S. Good work boys and girls. Today it was the wildcard Fabio Sabatini who came though. He finished second, beaten only by the Wenatchee Wunderkind, Tyler Farrar. And well ahead many more well-known sprinters. In doing so, he spelled Success for Paul and Charlie. They were the only two to pick him out of that long list of obscure names. And even though they were probably thinking of the late 80's tennis sensation, Gabriela Sabatini, they hit the jackpot on today's stage. Charlie's jackpot was quite a bit bigger, thanks to solid rides from Dean and McEwen, and another top 20 from Pozzato. He ended up with 330 points and the stage win. Paul was second, with 275 points. Once again Brad and Josh were forced to share a podium step. This time it was the third step. And this time Dallas was not there with them.

Jonah is getting pretty confident, having worn the vicarious pink jersey for the better part of a week now. The longer he holds onto it, the more it's going to hurt if Dallas or Olli manage to take it off his shoulders. Queen Val is right there as well. And everybody knows how hard royalty is willing to scrap to hold onto the reigns of power. We're just about half way there. This could get interesting yet.

Full results and standings here.