(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
First, I just want to say, how cool is Tyler Farrar? Here it is his first Tour de France and the guy finishes second in a stage to the fastest man on the planet and he's cool as a cucumber! If that would be any of us on 7 Eleven back in the day we wouldn't have even made it to the next start because we we would've killed ourselves celebrating after the finish.
So the big scandal today was that the organizers put the “zone technique” next to a camp of albino gypsies. I gotta tell you, the gypsies know when the gravy train is headed their way and you better rearrange your wallet and stick to your tightie whities! I don't mean to sound sensational, these are just hard won revelations from the Prince of the Pavement. The Tour de France is not Club Med and the safety net is narrow. You have to be aware of your surroundings and make sure that you don't go out like a chump!
As for the stage today, it was hot and hilly. It wasn't as vicious as some Tour de France stages go, but it was definitely a stage that made it harder to to make the time limit if you got dropped. When the best you can do is average 30k and the peloton is cruising at 45k it's can be tragic trying to catch up if you lose the wheel in front of you.
The AG2R squad did a great job riding tempo today and saved the peloton from having a bad day. I have a feeling they aren't too confident about holding onto the jersey for much longer.
Contador is ripe for yellow, but even if they get it Astana would still try to give it away before next weekend. To put it mildly, Astana is in quite the enviable position right now. It all depends on the level of aggression shown by the others. Cadel could get an itchy trigger finger at the sight of the first hill so you never know.