I’ll write more about today’s ride in a completely separate post tomorrow. I have some good photos and this was one of the most remarkable rides I’ve ever experienced (I know I keep saying that, but it’s true!). I’ve been to a lot of mountain ranges in my life, but this part of the French Alps has to be one of the most stunning.

I have to be honest, I hardly know what happened in the race today. It was a stage I wanted to follow closely but was on the bike all day and I only caught the last 20km on an old television that you had to squint really hard to see the picture. From what I could make out, Boasson Hagen had an unbelievable ride to get his second stage win, Cadel gained a few more seconds on Voeckler, and there were some near misses on the sketchy descent to Pinerolo. Anything I missed?

Tomorrow is going to be absolutely epic. The forecast is supposed to be similar to today (mostly sunny and cool) and the race will head into much of the terrain I rode through today. Thousands of campervans and tents have already staked out their places on the mountain and I’ll be going with Veeral to get some photos of all the crazy fan atmosphere and the peloton smashed to pieces. This is the showcase stage, so don’t miss it!

T-Shirt Winner

Last week on Stage 13 I asked the following trivia question and offered up a Shut Up Legs t-shirt to the winner:

When was the last time a current World Champion won a stage of the Tour de France? What year was it?

One thing I didn’t consider in my question is that Cancellara won the ITT stage 19 in 2010. I accepted this as a valid answer since it’s absolutely correct. The winer I’ve randomly selected (by a random function in excel) is Matt Harrop. Matt, if you could please get in contact with me along with your size and mailing address I’ll send as soon as I get home. (My email address on the “About” page.

Another Competition!

I have only a few Shut-Up Legs t-shirts left and this seems like a good way to part with them. I’ll give away one of these t-shirts to the person who correctly tips tomorrow’s stage winner. If multiple people tip it, I’ll randomly draw from those answers. Who’s it gonna be???

Yell For Cadel

I don’t have anything to do with organising this event, but if you’re not here in France soaking up the atmosphere, this sounds like the next best thing:

Come join the party to Yell for Cadel as the 34-year-old takes it to the world’s best cyclists on the world’s biggest stage.

Date: Friday 22nd July, 2011
Venue: Ormond Hall - Belgian Beer Café Bluestone, 557 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Time: Doors open 8.00pm. SBS’s Tour de France coverage will be live on the big screen from 10.00pm.

Tickets: $15 cover charge.
Pre-book via TryBookings – click here (some booking fees may apply).
Food and drinks available at bar prices.

Questions? Email : [email protected]

Can Cadel ride his way into the history books?

Stage 19 – 109.5km from Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d’Huez. This is where the action is.
Ormond Hall at Belgian Beer Café – this is where the supporters need to be to Yell for Cadel.

If you have any TdF parties or events coming up, feel free to post the details in the comments section of this post. If I get many, I’ll aggregate them into one post so that everyone can see them.

Buona Notte from Italy.

Oz Cycling

courtesy of OzCycling.com


OzCycling is back in action!

Photos

courtesy of Veeral Patel, Sirotti and Tim de Waele

Stage 17 Profile

Stage 17 Results

1 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 4:18:00
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:40
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ 0:00:50
4 Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team
6 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Pro Team Astana 0:01:10
7 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
8 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team RadioShack
9 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Saur - Sojasun 0:01:15
10 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:02:20
…
20 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:04:26
64 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:12:36
83 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 0:14:15
141 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek
161 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad
162 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad

General Classification after Stage 17

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 73:23:49
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:18
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:01:22
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:02:36
5 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:59
6 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:03:15
7 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:03:34
8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:03:49
9 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:06:04
10 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:07:36
…
75 Richie Porte (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 1:26:03
83 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek 1:32:39
100 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 1:52:39
140 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 2:20:14
160 Mark Renshaw (Aus) HTC-Highroad 2:39:04

Stage 18 Preview