We have ourselves a race, apparently. Not the real race. That was pretty sweet. But as far as the overall standings go, it wasn't really much of a difference maker. Dallas covers all the bases nicely. See Pez if you must. But where the organizers of the real bike race didn't give us the big GC shakeup they were hoping for, the vicarious race stepped up to the plate and belted a grand slam. Melissa looked to have this thing all sewn up. She was ahead by almost 200 points a couple of days ago and she was still ahead by 122 points yesterday. But that precocious kid with the lunchbucket from Hamilton refuses to give up. Greg has pulled to within just 57 points with one more stage to go. And if that wasn't thrilling enough, King Andy has managed to climb his way back onto the podium. It's just that the Impaler is still standing there as well. Amazingly, the two of them are tied for third at 3269 points. And Keith and the Weasel are nipping at their heels. Keith trails Andy and Brad by 14 points and James is 23 points from the final podium step. So with one more stage to go, the final composition of the podium for the 2009 FGBC Tour de France Pool is still very much up for grabs. There's no ceremonial final stage in the vicarious race. It's all out racing right to the finish.
Let's take a moment to cast our gaze toward the future, shall we? There are plenty of points up for grabs once the riders cross the Champs Elysees for the final time. If the GC and three points jerseys were to stay exactly as they are right now, here's what the top five would get:
Melissa 1255
Greg 1155
Andy 795
Brad 940
Keith 1195
James 1220
If that's how it plays out, Melissa would hold on to her lead. And it looks like the Weasel would come from out of the blue to end up on the podium. But we still have one more stage to race. Melissa and Greg both have Hushovd and Farrar, so that's a wash. But there's always a chance that someone could sneak into the top 5 or 10 and gain some points for Greg to steal the win. Not very likely. But you can always dream. It's a little more complicated for third place, as there is more diversity amongst the four teams. But the advantage seems to lie with James at this point. We will know for sure tomorrow.
Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves just yet, though. We still have some daily achievements to recognize. Matt H won the stage today. If anyone deserves the little taste of glory that a stage win offers, it's probably Matt. He's one of the few to have never missed a vicarious race. He was with us for the very first edition of the FGBC Tour de France Pool. And he won it. Or at least one version. That was the year we had to divide things up between the dirty pool and the clean pool. Matt floated to the top of the dirty pool thanks to the efforts of the Chicken, while Rachel won the clean pool because the had the foresight to pick some unknown kid named Contador. Matt's win today demonstrated the importance of the wild card. Garate, his wild card guy, came up with the stage win on Ventoux and the 150 points that go with it. And he got points from Andy Scheck and Pellizotti as well. It all adds up to 315 points for the Vice President of Style. Keith M continued his torrid pace with 300 points and a second place finish. And James, the aforementioned Weasel, was third best with 270 points.
Results and overall standings here.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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2 comments:
Quick look over shoulder, a zip up of sponsors' jersey, two fingers to lips, points to sky, then heavenwards with a shake and crosses the line...
See, that's why you're the Vice President of Style. You should have seen the Weasel's victory salute yesterday. He had on his blue Great Trek jacket thing. It was covering up the Sweetest Jersey in the World. He threw out his chest when he crossed the line as if to say, "do you want a piece of this?" And then when Stuey O'Grady started coming at him all HTFU style, he ran screaming into the camper van. Embarassing.
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