Tour de France: Stage 9 Live Thread (Tuesday, July 11, 2006)

VeloNews.com ^ | July 11, 2006 | VeloNews.com

[nutmeg]

Stage 9: Bordeaux to Dax - 169.5km

Course: After a long transfer and rest day in Bordeaux, the race continues with the last stage likely to have a mass finish until the Tour is two days out from Paris. The sprinters won't waste the opportunity, especially on a completely flat stage like this one. It barrels southwest through the pine forest of the Landes almost to the Atlantic coast before turning south. Any breakaways are likely to be swept up after the route turns southeast for the final 35km - where winds off the ocean could split the peloton into echelons (perhaps CSC will make one of its trademark surges) and possibly catch out some of the favorites. A number of sharp turns in Dax itself in the final 5km could again split the pack, leaving a smaller-than-usual group to tackle the long, slightly uphill finishing straight.

History: In the last of three Tour stages to finish in Dax, in 2000, Paolo Bettini out-sprinted a four-man break that just held off the pack - which was brought home by Erik Zabel and given the same time as the breakaways.

Favorites: This is a different finish from 2002, but maybe Zabel will finally add to his double-digit total of stage wins. If not, then Robbie McEwen's run of stage victories will probably continue.

Graphics by CyclingNews.com

[Ready4Freddy]

Secon intermediate sprint:

PARENTIS-EN-BORN (D.46-D.652) - Km 72 Points
1 172 BENETEAU Walter 6
2 186 KNEES Christian 4
3 132 AUGE Stéphane 2

[BaBaStooey]

I've got to give Beneteau some credit, he's been in a few of the breaks so far this Tour.

[leilani]

Thanks again for posting the standings. Kloden seems in an awfully good position & nobody's talking about him. As I recall, he's always been pretty good on the climbs, no? Could he be TMo's trojan horse?

[Ready4Freddy]

He has indeed!

BOUYGUES TELECOM 172 - BENETEAU Walter (FRA)

Stage P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- - 11 18 21 26 30 35 37 44

[leilani]

I'm surprised that guy (Beneteau) didn't go into competitive sailing instead. He'd have had a lock on a lifetime sponsorship, that's for sure.

[green iguana]

Kloden has been a very good climber in the past, although sometimes inconsistent on back-to-back tough climbing days. Nevertheless, he's probably T-Mobile's best podium shot.

[Ready4Freddy]

Good point, leilani. Kloden was 2nd to Armstrong in 2004, just ahead of Basso, so he's definitely got the chops as an all-arounder. Gonchar won't hang in the mountains, so Kloden is TMO's best GC candidate, I'll bet we'll see him supported heavily by TMO over the next few days.

Kloden seems in an awfully good position & nobody's talking about him. As I recall, he's always been pretty good on the climbs, no? Could he be TMo's trojan horse?

[leilani]

You wouldn't know how old he is, would you? Seems like he's been around forever.

[Ready4Freddy]

Just turned 31:

T-MOBILE TEAM
21 - KLÖDEN Andréas (GER)
Born in 22/06/1975

This is his 3rd Tour, 2003 - nc / 2004 - 2nd / 2005 - nc

[Ready4Freddy]

LOL, wonder how many folks got that? (I did, see my profile :)

[leilani]

Great, so he's still a baby, he can win this thing. (Don't know why I had the idea he was a geezer.)

[Ready4Freddy]

31 isn't exactly a spring chicken at this level, he had a late start making a team. Tho his record in his 1st 3 Tours is better than Lance's was...

[leilani]

HOLY COW! You've got some monster toys there! And all the ocean passages! I've only done that in my fantasies. (Best I've done is Galveston to Key West!) LOL! But my dream is the mini-transat, love that Figaro!

[green iguana]

I'm guessing you're the only one... Ever been out in a Picnic Boat?

[Steve_Seattle]

Sinkewitz could be the future star who emerges from this TDF; and - who knows? - that future might be only two weeks away.

[Steve_Seattle]

Kloden

In my personal handicapping, I had Kloden #2 before the race started, behind Valverde. But Sinkewitz is another T-Mobile dark horse (I projected him #12).

[Ready4Freddy]

Hey, Gal->Key West is no slouch of a passage, the Gulf can be a rough place to play. I grew up in NOLA & Houston, started sailing on Galveston Bay mid-60's. First offshore race was on an Islander 44, 1st passage was Galveston to Corpus on 'Bluebonnet', an ex-Ted Hood 'Robin', 56' centerboarder as were all of Hood's 'Robins'. We raced it in Gal Bay, too, but couldn't drop the centerboard all the way due to the shallow water.

Yeah, nice toys, but no time to play w/ them all. All but the Picnic Boats are in charter most of the time.

[green iguana]

All but the Picnic Boats are in charter most of the time.

How in the world did I miss those 2(!) on your profile??? Just shoot me...

[Steve_Seattle]

"Thankfully the tour is on again today, and the mountains are coming up :-)"

Is it normal for the tour to take this long to get to the mountains? These flat stages don't do much to tell us who's really in form for the overall win. I'm very impatient for tomorrow to come. Does anyone know how far back (in time) someone can be at this stage and still have a shot at the podium? Is Leipheimer out of it?

[leilani]

Yep. I got my share of "boat bites" on that route. 17' seas most of the way, black & blue from head to toe dropping anchor in KW. Is your picnic boat on LBJ the Hinkley kind, or is it one of those flat party boat thingamajibbies?