Green and Gold.
Jul. 7th, 2003 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deathpixieI just finished watching today's stage of Le Tour De France, and talk about excitement!
Frist up, Brad McGee retains his hold on the yellow jersey by a slim margin of four seconds. But only just, as there was a crash in the last kilometre that effectively cut the peloton (that's the big bunch of riders) in half and resulted in some serious gravel rash. McGee was hit from behind and did a somersault over the handlebars (not that uncommon in cycling, but damn scary!), but completed the stage. Lance Armstrong was also in the melee, again only getting some bruising, but the other American hopeful Tyler Hamilton is in hospital with a suspected broken collarbone - a fairly common consequence of going over the handlebars. When you consider the peloton was doing 65 k/h at the time, it's amazing there weren't more nasty injuries. It just proves my motto - "Pro cyclists bounce."
With most of the peloton picking themselves up or stuck behind the mass, the fifteen who were ahead of the bingle at the time had a free sprint. There were two Aussies involved - Robbie McEwan and Baden Cooke, the bright young star of last year's Tour. McEwan came second behind Alessandro Pettachi, but had managed to score enough points during the day on various sprints to score the green sprinter's jersey by two points. Cooke came fifth. So, we have both green and yellow jerseys. Not bad, neh?
I'd forgotten how exciting a sprint was to watch. One day, I'll be there to see it in person. In the meantime, I need to ride more - I might as well make the most of the good weather the drought is bringing.
And I need an icon with a bike on it for these kinds of posts.. *makes with the pixie eyes*
Frist up, Brad McGee retains his hold on the yellow jersey by a slim margin of four seconds. But only just, as there was a crash in the last kilometre that effectively cut the peloton (that's the big bunch of riders) in half and resulted in some serious gravel rash. McGee was hit from behind and did a somersault over the handlebars (not that uncommon in cycling, but damn scary!), but completed the stage. Lance Armstrong was also in the melee, again only getting some bruising, but the other American hopeful Tyler Hamilton is in hospital with a suspected broken collarbone - a fairly common consequence of going over the handlebars. When you consider the peloton was doing 65 k/h at the time, it's amazing there weren't more nasty injuries. It just proves my motto - "Pro cyclists bounce."
With most of the peloton picking themselves up or stuck behind the mass, the fifteen who were ahead of the bingle at the time had a free sprint. There were two Aussies involved - Robbie McEwan and Baden Cooke, the bright young star of last year's Tour. McEwan came second behind Alessandro Pettachi, but had managed to score enough points during the day on various sprints to score the green sprinter's jersey by two points. Cooke came fifth. So, we have both green and yellow jerseys. Not bad, neh?
I'd forgotten how exciting a sprint was to watch. One day, I'll be there to see it in person. In the meantime, I need to ride more - I might as well make the most of the good weather the drought is bringing.
And I need an icon with a bike on it for these kinds of posts.. *makes with the pixie eyes*
