This just in: Pretty Boy will attack Super Spaniard on the Col du Tourmalet.
Well, like, duh. That’s like calling a press conference to announce that Lennard Zinn is tall, or that Senate Repuglicans are assholes. Some things are self-evident.
I don’t have a dog in this fight. Still, tomorrow’s stage should be amusing. There’s talk of evil weather, which always enhances the pleasure of watching skinny leg-shavers scale and descend two Cat. 1 mountains before tackling the off-the-charts Tourmalet. And eight seconds is not much of a lead, unless you happen to be Greg LeMond gleefully watching The Professor ride into Paris.
I’ll be up and plugged in early on behalf of VeloNews.com, and here’s hoping they fed the server-farm hamsters well this evening. All you cube farmers put a lot of stress on their wheel when you pop round for the word on who’s doing what to whom, and sometimes they get cranky and bonk.
Whaddaya think? I’m guessing Saxo Bank and Astana bring the pain from the get-go, trying to croak as many people as possible over the Col de Marie-Blanque and Col du Soulor before the survivors eat each other alive on the Tourmalet. If it’s done right, it should make the Donner party look like a Napa Valley wine-tasting.
If it’s not — say, if everyone rides piano until the Tourmalet — then we’ll feel the pain common to fans of American football, who learn over and over again that the Super Bowl is almost always the worst fucking game of the season.
• Editor’s note: Incidentally, we’ll be tuning up for the stage this evening by watching “Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black.” He’s a big softy, like Your Humble Narrator, and always puts me in a good mood.
Mad Blog Media 
Lewis Black, too? Damn, I guess it’s a window to what I’ll be in another 20 years. I better not let my wife read your website. She’ll leave me now and spare herself the trouble.
Always enjoyable, mad one.
I’ve decided to work from home tomorrow morning so I can see what happens. If it’s much ado about nothing, I’ll be pissed cause I’m really busy at work. But maybe it will be interesting. Schleck seems so young and naive, we’ll see what he’s made of tomorrow – – sounds like he’s throwing down and going all in.
Patrick,
Just finished breakfast in Luz Saint Sauveur. Been raining all night and all morning, temp is a balmy 57F and the cloud deck starts just above my second floor window. A couple of Aussies from our group took off to do Solour and Aubisque yesterday morning and had to be SAG’d out when they got caught at the top of Aubisque in pelting rain and zero visibility.
Two friens just left to climb Tourmalet again, but the road is closed 2K from the top. I’m waiting or a higher ceiling and will try for Gavarnie or Gedres.
This will be a stage best watched from a warm bar with an espresso.
The weather here this morning in the Italian/French Alps is looking a bit dicey as well. I hope for the poor folks who ride up near the top of any of these cols the sun comes out — we’ve been stuck up on the Tourmalet ourselves years ago, freezing our a__’s off while the French police made sure we stayed put — didn’t matter where we wanted to go — didn’t matter what the weather was, we were truly stuck up there with just cycling clothes and a windjacket (the weather was fine when we started the climb of course) and wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
As to the race, a rainy day could neutralize the whole thing until the final kms of the Tourmalet — but that could quite likely happen even with sun and dry roads. Let’s hope the clouds/rain don’t ground the TV ‘copters!
More than wanting either of these guys to win, we just want to see some drama and excitement — for a CHANGE!
It’s going to take a Pantani-like “attack from the first speed bump” approach for Raggedy Andy to pull this off. And I’m not so naive as to think everyone’s clean out there, but I’m pretty sure the secret combo that made up Marco’s Little Helper is no longer in vogue. What did Mud Puppy used to race on? Anabolic steroids, Novacaine, Nyquil, Darvon, some sort of fish paralyzer, and a few cocktails, wasn’t it?
Any last minute guesses before someone attacks?