"Cougar Girl has just told me to stop being mean about Pierre Rolland"
Yay! Fame at last!
It was obviously a slow day at the race, and a slow day on twitter, as at 60k to go, Carlton mentioned me again: he said that the front group contained Pierre Rolland, "who Cougar Girl is very fond of".
LLB thought this was hilarious, that I have spent four years tweeting in praise of Andy, and never had a mention, and I make a casual reference to Pierre, who is just one of many Schleckland pets, and blow me down, I get two name-checks, and am now associated with Pierre instead of Andy.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Luxembourg:
Andy: *sobs uncontrollably*
TinkerJil: "Oh, now now, come on Andy, it's not that Coug doesn't like you anymore, she just made a passing reference to Pierre Rolland, that's all."
Andy: *more sobs*
TinkerJil: "But she gave you several plugs for your glasses," (more sobs)
At 57.5k to go, coming back from an advert break, the first three contain Lars Bak and Carlton said "someone said I have to say Bak is on the front," *he laughs* " and he isn't; well he is."
Guess who that was, then?
As for the race being not exactly scintillating, well, to be honest, it was pretty dull. Apart from getting a name check, that is. Some lovely scenery, nice chateaux, but not really exciting.
The main point of discussion seemed to be whether Rodriguez would win the stage, in which case he would take the polka dot jersey from Tekko: if he doesn't win, then Tekko gets to ride the TTT wearing it, and would therefore carry it forward over the rest day and into Stage 10.
Call me biased (cries of "Coug! you are SOOOO biased" to which I would replay yes of course I'm biased, the whole point of this blog is to be in favour of Andy, regardless of his personal form!) but I don't like Rodriguez, he's an unrepentant doper: whereas Tekko is a Schleckland Pet, and therefore I would very much like him to be carrying the polka dots for as long as possible.
So, what actually happened? Lots of huffing and puffing on the last couple of km, with a somewhat surprise win for Villie-Mouse from AG2R, Dan Martin (and his teeth) came in second, and then a little bunch containing Froomey (cries of "good boy, Froomey!" from our sofa), Bumfluff, Rigoberto, Onion, and Sagan.
Great news all round - Froome maintains the yellow jersey, Tekko maintains the polka dot jersey, and the top ten on GC is pretty much unchanged, apart from G dropping off the bottom and into 15th place, with Onion moving up into the leader group.
So, a very good day all round - Coug gets her name on Eurosport not once but twice, and Tekko gets to keep the polka dots. This very nearly makes up for the expulsion from Schleckland of Paolini.
Tomorrow is another day - it's the TTT, and between fatigue and loss of riders, it could be a very interesting day indeed...
YAY for you!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have Carlton and Dan commentating, we get the "others" though P & P are interesting but aren't nearly as funny as Carlton at the end of a sprint stage!
The stage was pretty boring until the last few kms, when they hit the hill and then it all turned custard for Nibali who was nowhere to be seen (same for Mr. Bunny ears for that matter too!) and whenever I see Dan "the teeth" Martin I can't stop staring at them! please get them fixed...
Nice to see no carnage today as well, still a couple more days and we are into the mountains, hooray!
Forgot to ask if anything has been heard from Paolini? Has he pleaded ignorance? stupidity? or just given the one finger salute to everyone and stomped off in a huff back to his cave?
ReplyDeleteActually the Death Star planet, cos that's where he comes from
DeleteCongratulations on your Eurosport infamy! Jonathan Vaughters commented on a photo I posted of one of his riders once (I took the photo at a Sydney race). That's about as far as my claim to fame extends in cycling.
ReplyDeleteDo you get a crazy French Cook giving you recipes from the region in your coverage? We do, and it's so unfair. Our coverage starts at approx 10pm, when my evening meal is done & dusted and the washing up complete...(well, most of the time). I then sit through the piece salivating over strawberry crepes, fish with a buttery sauce and tonight's delight - scallops with cauliflower purée. This is after I've finished my non-culinary inspired meat & veg or quickly thrown together pasta dish. http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pan-fried-scallops-cauliflower-coquilles-st-jacques-la-puree-de-chou-fleur
I've had to stop looking at Hannah Grant's twitter feed too (her of the Stinko kitchen). There's way too many healthy and yummy dishes. I couldn't ride the tour, but I'd love to be a team member just to eat their evening meal!
Just watching poor ol Orica battle through the TTT, Bling is battling on the back... Everyone watching on the course, blow as the go past. - they need a tailwind!
We're doing weird things with our Tour viewing at the mo - LLB has Eurosport and ITV4 so this weekend we were watching both of them live (and yes, I was there on twitter trying to get Carlton to mention me again, no success, drat) at the same time (ah, the miracles of modern technology) so we skip between them. He doesn't like Carlton at all, and we both dislike Greg Lemond and his stuttering and spluttering. But we are both big fans of Fletcha ("Handsome Dude").
ReplyDeleteNeither of us can stand P&P - honestly, they waffle on about chateaux as though we were interested, then they contradict either other, or - worse - they both say the same thing, as though they are in seperate booths and can't hear each other.
But - and it's a big but - at least the ITV coverage doesn't keep dropping in stupid vaguely-cycling-related pieces, or dropping in pre-race interviews just as the real race reaches a critical stage.
Not to mention the advert breaks, which usually come at different times on the different channels, so we skip between the two. It was a bit strange. We have decided that possibly the best commentary is Rob Hayle on Radio Five Live, so next weekend we are going to try watching the ITV pics with the sound turned off, while listening to the radio commentary.
Confused? I will be, too!
As for Paolini, disgraced Dark Lord and former Schleckland Pet, no news - yes, I expect he has crawled into a cave somewhere.