Bull City Bellows Again

Most of us are still dreaming of a possible podium finish on a stage, let alone a stage win. But BCC stud Jay S has gone and won his second stage of the 2009 FGBC Tour de France Pool. With Haussler, Chavanel, Efimkin, and little Andy Schleck all finishing inside the top 10, he picked up a total of 365 points today. And he now sits alongside King Andy as the only other repeat stage winner. That's some pretty rarified company. Too bad his team sucks so badly when it's not dominating stages. Jay has earned 655 points in his two stage wins. But he has tallied just 531 points in the other 11 stages combined. That's an average of just 48 points a stage. And it's not nearly good enough for any realistic GC aspirations. But a couple of stage wins adds up to a successful campaign nonetheless. Not a bad showing in his vicarious racing debut. Donna and Chris A also posted some big numbers today. They share Haussler, Chavanel, Hushovd, and Frank Schleck and so end up tied for second with 345 points apiece. The rest of the field was a long way back. The Secretary and Halberto were the best of the rest. They had 225 points each and ended up tied for 4th place.

In the overall race, Greg is showing no signs of letting up. He has extended his lead. With 2377 points now, he holds a 178 point lead over King Andy, who continues his game of leap frog with Melissa. But Melissa is just 5 points behind, and is no doubt preparing to exchange GC spots with Andy once again tomorrow. From there, it's another 160 points back to a fairly close bunch of podium gazers. Mike, the winner of the 2008 edition of the FGBC Tour de France Pool and every other FGBC cycling pool he's entered, leads a group of six teams who continue to nurse dreams of a top three finish. As for the race for the lanterne rouge. I warned you guys yesterday not to let the Fraggle get feisty. Now that she's had a taste of what it feels like not to be last, she's set about looking for more. She's already obliterated the dreams of Mark S. And now it looks like she's got John Wa in her sights. He slipped down into the second last spot on the GC while the Fraggle has moved up into third last. Only 52 more victims to go. Watch your back, Bill. As it stands right now, it looks like you're set to be next.

In the real race, Heinrich Haussler reminded us why we spent so much time talking about him during the 2009 FGBC Spring Classics Pool. But instead of the impressive string of second-place finishes there, he picked up a win today with an impressive romp through the rain-soaked mountains of the Alsace region. Perfectly crappy weather for a spring classics stud. Too bad he's no longer decked out in his lookalike version of sweetest jersey in the world. Cervelo's new kit makes me want to gag. The closest thing we now have to the sweetest jersey in the world is Caisse d'Epargne's. But they haven't exactly received much air time so far this year. I suppose they can thank some guy nicknamed Piti for that. Meanwhile, Oscar Freire and Julain Dean were shot during the stage. Seriously. But they are cyclists, so they wil both will start tomorrow. More from Pez.

Results and standings here.