Posted on 07/02/2016 9:28:55 AM PDT by Baynative
Day one of the 2016 tour finished right at Omaha Beach in Normandy France. With the 70th anniversary of "D" Day coming this week the message of remembrance is a stark contrast to the condition of our world today.
(Excerpt) Read more at letour.com ...
Thank you. I’ll be off the back if anyone needs me... :-)
Yes, we will never forget. Some of us remember it. I had cousins who were there. Hero’s all!
But as far as the Tour de France is concerned, who cares! There are no hero’s on the tour...any winners have to be druggies. But ‘they’ only pick on certain ones...
That was a beautiful place to start, looked like middle earth, but it seemed poorly planned. All the cyclists stopped choking the route.
(one of these days I'll learn not to try to do two things at once)
Sunday July 3rd, 2016 Stage 2 Saint-Lô / Cherbourg-en-Cotentin
An uphill finish for a great spectacle
Mark Cavendish will parade with the yellow jersey for the first time of his life during stage 2 from Saint-Lô to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. He said he'll respect this iconic symbol of cycling but he's very likely to lose it as the uphill finish is too steep for sprinters of his type. Still in La Manche near the English Channel, it shouldn't be too windy though. Most of the course is protected but a short section exposed to the sea just before the city of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin could lead to splits in the peloton. The very end is very hard.
Here's hopin' the first day jitters are gone and everyone stays off the pavement from here on.
Everyone who's been here for the last couple of years knows I'm a Peter Sagan fan. This is his kind of course, so team or no team, I'm putting some chips on him for Stage 2
Yow! What a great stage #2 was!
Man, great finish.
Excitement level sure picked up the last 3 miles.
Mark Cavendish was quite solemn in one of his post-race interviews yesterday. He remarked how honored he was to have won a stage that ended at Utah Beach. He also gave "thanks to the many soldiers who died for our freedom".
I remember back in the 1990s when my husband and I were there, we had to plan our trip out to the Mont carefully, observing the tides. We used the muddy road to/from Mont-Saint-Michel and got back to the mainland in the nick of time. Just an incredible place.
It's funny how sport is like life. We plan and predict, but we don't know what's happening until it happens.
Some interesting discussions are surely going on at team meetings tonight. With Richie Porte so far down in the GC, TJ might be the new team leader for BMC.
Contador has also slipped well down int he classification and could probably make it up with a strong mountain performance. But I don't think he can shake Nairo Quintana and he has to endure some long road stages coming up - team or no team to help him it isn't fun riding injured when you know your only objective is to hang on.
It's early and I don't know the potential of some younger riders, but the odds seem to be falling in Nairo's favor right now.
Another paradox that struck me watching the last 60k of today's long stage is how climbers and GC contenders can recharge to an extent by taking advantage of the protection offered by their domestiques within the peloton. But, at the same time their teammates, the unsung heroes, are using valuable energy stores that they are going to need when the road tilts up.
This truly is one of the greatest events in sports.
223 Kilometers -
over 6 hours in the saddle -
and it all came down to this...
Took a while to confirm this one.
What’s that? Three inches?
It looked as if they were dead even and Griepel thrusted just a hair sooner than Cavendish and was fully extended just before this photo snapped and Cav’s wheel pushed out right when they hit the white stripe.
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