Archive: July 16, 2010

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TDF stage 12 / rollers with a kick / Rodriquez wins, Contador takes 2nd, 10s from Schleck; Vinokourov 3rd

Friday,  07/16/10  06:05 PM

Today's stage really lived up to its potential.  A huge 18-man break escaped early, with GC contenders Ryder Hesjedal, Alexander Vinokourov, and Andreas Kloden included.  That ensured a long hard day for the peloton as Saxo Bank and Lampre tried to keep the break within reach.  All were aware of the sharp steep finishing climb waiting at the end. Predictably the break itself was attacked, with Hesjedal, Vino, Kloden, and Vasil Kiryienka escaping off the front, putting even more pressure on the peloton.  On the brutal final climb Hesjedal was cracked almost immediately, followed by Kloden, and Vino battled Kiryienka halfway up the climb before shedding him, seemingly on his way to a stage win.  Meanwhile the peloton surged up the climb and exploded, spitting out also rans to the back as a back of serious contenders formed in front, grinding up the remnants of the break in the process.  And then - Joaquin Rodriguez attacked! and Alberto Contador went with him! and Andy Schleck was left to try to answer.  Contador and Rodriquez flew up the hill, passing everyone including Vino at the very end, and Rodriquez out-kicked Contador for the victory.  Schleck recovered and gained some time back, eventually limiting his losses to 10s, but it was a moral victory for Contador.  The other GC contenders were close but there were a few time gaps, and Levi Leipheimer in particular lost a little in the battle for third place.  It was a great race and man was that a nasty climb at the end.  Whew! Oh, and another cool thing?  Thor Hushovd made that 18-man break and took sprint points all along the route to regain the green jersey; the wily veteran always seems to do this once or twice a tour.  It was beautiful to see him driving the break up those mountain stages.  After the last sprint he threw out the anchor; job done for the day. And so tomorrow we have - more fireworks?  We'll see.  On paper it looks like a lot of rollers but without enough bite to let a break stay away, so maybe it will end in a sprint.  But on the other hand this has been a wild tour and you never know... [ Tour de France 2010: all posts | index ]

 

week stuff

Friday,  07/16/10  06:22 PM

Another long week ends - I was in Vista M-T-W-Th, lots of calls and meetings and things to report and things to prepare, and man it was nice to come home and get to work.  Weird huh?  Yet today was incredibly productive, made it back through my inbox (took care of all those little "thanks for this" replies, as well as a few things of substance), cleared my desks (physical and virtual), and even had some good think time.  And now it is on to a weekend with nothing planned, what a luxury!  Will I work on work all weekend?  Maybe.  Will I sit by the pool and work on my tan?  Possibly.  Will I ride in the heat?  Most likely.  Will I blog?  Of course! One fun thing; Wednesday night Aperio had a little tennis tournament, to raise money for the Komen Foundation which is our chosen charity this year and to have a little fun.  As added incentive anyone who broke the serve of an exec won $10 directly from that exec so the pressure was on.  I lost $20 but had a great time doing so :) This was a week in which the days were crummy and busy and the nights were interesting and fun.  I was able to get in a nice ride, play a little tennis, and share an amazing experience with a good friend.  Trying to make each day count... This is the best possible news; BP appear to have [*finally*] capped their spilling well.  Whew.  Of course it is too late, huge damage has been done, but at least now things can get better instead of worse.  I haven't been following the iPhone4 antenna issue closely, but as always the PR disaster comes from the cover up and dishonesty instead of the original problem.  My high-level arms-length take is that Apple has screwed this up badly, and it isn't over yet...  BTW, is it just me, or is the bloom off the iPad rose?  Not just me, apparently. Check out this old Cola ad - wow (click to inspect).  "For a better start in life, start cola earlier!"  Who knew?  Maybe this is my secret... :)  Whenever I see things like this, which of course caused no comment at the time, I wonder what things from our time will be regarded like this in this future?  How about all those weird sports drinks?  From a friend: picture of the devastation after today's 3.6 earthquake in Washington DC.  Fortunately no one was hurt.  Never say I don't post useful stuff; here we have the periodic table of swearing.  It isn't searchable unfortunately, but I don't think I see "Karumba!" in there anywhere...  Have a great weekend!

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