Saturday, July 22, 2006
The race of truth
Robbie Hunter, South African on the Phonak team, did not make the time cutoff today for the individual time trial and was eliminated from the Tour de France. How very sad for that to happen nearly within sight of the Arc de Triomphe!Pez said: "Robbie Hunter was time cut after the TT. He had to ride the entire 57k out of his saddle due to a cantankerous saddle sore, as a result, he didn't make the time cut, and officials showed him no mercy. No matter that he was a part of the Landis' Tour winning team - he'd be watching the final stage in street clothes." Over 35 miles standing on the pedals? OUCH! I'll bet everything hurt when he was done!
That leaves 140 riders in the 2006 Tour. Barring some disastrous accident, all should finish tomorrow in Paris.
The last five finishers in the Individual Time Trial today were:
136 123 ETXEBARRIA Unai EUS VEN 11' 57"
137 145 LOBATO Ruben SDV ESP 12' 29"
138 133 CASPER Jimmy COF FRA 13' 37"
139 192 CALVENTE Manuel AGR ESP 13' 48"
140 199 SALMON Benoit AGR FRA 14' 01"
Even though Jimmy Casper lost some time to Wim Vansevenant, he still is 16 seconds ahead of him overall. So unless he somehow manages to fall 16 seconds off the back of the peleton tomorrow, Casper may not achieve a third Lanterne Rouge finish of the Tour.
The final ten times for the 2006 Tour de France finishers are, at the finish of today's stage, are:
131 135 COYOT Arnaud COF FRA 3h 35' 34"
132 158 MENGIN Christophe FDJ FRA 3h 35' 52"
133 165 CARLSTRÖM Kjell LIQ FIN 3h 35' 53"
134 105 POZZATO Filippo QSI ITA 3h 37' 14"
135 193 COUTOULY Cédric AGR FRA 3h 39' 00"
136 048 WROLICH Peter GST AUT 3h 39' 28"
137 124 HERNANDEZ Aitor EUS ESP 3h 49' 57"
138 067 STEEGMANS Gert DVL BEL 3h 59' 24"
139 133 CASPER Jimmy COF FRA 4h 00' 05"
140 068 VANSEVENANT Wim DVL BEL 4h 00' 21"
It should be noted that Filippo Pozzato and Aitor Hernandez are both young riders under 25 years of age.
Those standings are unlikely to change tomorrow, but then again, this is the Crazy Tour.
