STAGE 12
This was a strange stage with some big climbs coming right from the start with about 200k of flat riding coming afterwards to the finish. Having David Millar win was really cool, but Matt Goss’ hook into Peter Saga at the finish wasn’t all that cool. I mean it was far from being bloodthirsty but it did impede Sagan’s progress. The lucky thing was that it was Sagan. If that was you or me we would’ve crashed into the barrier and broken 15 bones, but with Sagan’s bike handling skills he was able to save it.

We’re just over half-way through the Tour and as hard as it’s been so far, it’s gonna get a lot harder on Sunday. Wiggo could have a crisis and how he manages it will define his Tour. It’s good to see that Wiggins has calmed down a little now. The Sky effort reminds me of the first Tyson/Holyfield fight years ago.  Everyone was talking about Tyson, how he’d just come out of prison and would be a stone killer. But Sky is like Holyfield who came out and knocked Tyson out in the second round. It’s a strange analogy I know, but that’s how I look at it.

Still, team Sky still defies expectations in terms of what they’re trying to accomplish. I started a rumor yesterday that Cavendish would not be riding with them next year even though I know he has a multi-year deal. But the idea that they would simultaneously be fighting for both the yellow and green jersey is mind blowing…you can’t fight for two jerseys!! With the Tour de France you need a single focus, a single goal and right now for them it’s obviously the yellow jersey. The strange thing is that Cavendish defies expectations and he’s still able to put up a fight even without a lead-out train. But you can expect Wiggin’s will be fighting for yellow for the next three years – where does that leave Cavendish and his goals of winning green jerseys?

It’s kind of like the word on the street when BMC hired Hushovd and Gilbert and there was an immediate clash within the team with Cadel because he knew you couldn’t come to the Tour with more than a single goal which for Cadel was having team help him win.

So July 14, 2012, Bastille Day and I bet I’ll be the only person in France working, but then this is France so that’s what it’s like every day! The problem with France is that the land is so fertile that life just shoots up out of it and you don’t have to work that hard…which is good I guess – for the French.