Today’s ride had more of a sense of calmness about it
compared to the bedlam of yesterday’s stage finish. I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘another
day in the office’ since it’s only the second day but I’m sure many riders were
thankful just for surviving the first.
Pre-race the Orica-GreenWEDGE team passed the hat around to
pay for the ruined finish line arch. The
team bus aircon unit won’t be fixed until Le Tour is back on the French
mainland, so it could get a bit hot and sticky in there for a few days. Ads
running on SBS might point to the cause of the crash. Seems those Swisse sleep
pills, the preferred choice of the Orica-GreenWEDGE team, might have been a
little too effective. Subsequently, the team doctor has put them under lock and
key.
The stage took the riders into the beautiful mountains and gorgeous
gorges of Corsica. Horses were on their best behaviour. SBS commentator Mike
Tomalaris was right about the lack of cows, although reports of wild boar
sightings gave Gabriel Gate some ideas for a spit roast to feed the tour
caravan, if he could manage to find enough road kill. It was not to be but did
get his mitts on some local brocciu cheese and whipped up a delicious Corsican Fiadone
cake. No butter so the Taste Le Tour Beurremetric counter is still stubbornly stuck
on zero.
Spit roast anyone?
The fans were out in numbers as usual for the ascents. Some
wore morph suits adding to the spectacle. A refreshing change from mankinis?
Hmm. Still, how anyone can wear a morph suit for more than two minutes without
suffocating is beyond me.
The inspiration behind the morph suit craze
The calmness in the peloton was rippled in the final 10 kilometres
by a couple of white knuckle moments. An idiot runner bolted seemingly out of
nowhere into the middle of the road. With the peloton bearing down a white dog
made it off the road just in the nick of time.
Happily there were no major crashes to report and Tour
officials were taking no chances with another balls-up by strictly enforcing a ban on massive VIP
yachts taking a shortcut through the finish line.
Day two of the post-race SBS wrap had Mike and
Scotty maintain neutrality in the trollshirt stakes by sticking to their standard issue black SBS shirts . We
eagerly await the return of cycling writer Rupert Guinness to throw a cat among
the pigeons.
And the winner of the stage? One
of the blokes from Radioshack Leopard.
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