Cycling News

10 July 2010

Stage seven was the first real test in the mountains in this years Tour. There were a lot of nervous guys before the start today because what usually happens in the first mountain stage is a large break goes away with a number of teams represented and this break can generally gain a lot of time like we saw last year with Ag2r’s Rinaldo Nocentini taking the lead in the first week of the race. It’s a good opportunity for a breakaway rider to take the yellow jersey so this explains why most teams want to be represented in this break.

In our team meeting this morning the plan of attack was to have a SKY rider in the group that went up the road. This was the job of myself, Steve and Flecha. What caught everyone off guard was when a group of five guys went away immediately from the start line and got a gap straight away. So many teams missed this move including SKY and although a number of teams tried to get riders across, no one was able to do this and the five guys established a solid time gap over the peloton.

So the three of us then went back to the job of supplying the guys with food and water throughout the stage. It was a super hot day again and humid so we were going through a lot of bottles.

The other goal of the day was to make sure Wiggo was still in contention at the end of the day and that he remained with the other GC favourites. The rest of the guys in the team were there to support him as long as possible. It worked out well with Wiggo finishing in the first group alongside Thomas and moving up to 11th on GC.

I got dropped from the main group on the second last climb of the day when the attacks started and Chavanel made the winning move. Great ride by Chavanel today to take his second stage at this years Tour as well as the yellow jersey.

Gee’s main role was to support Wiggo and try to finish with the front group and if he was able to do that then we would have kept the white jersey. Unfortunately he got dropped a couple of k’s from the finish but he put in a great effort to go as far as he did.

I felt much better today than I did yesterday. My wounds are all starting to heel up now and I’m feeling better on the bike so hopefully in the coming days I’ll be up there with the front group. 

We have one more hard stage tomorrow before we get a well deserved rest day.

I’m glad everyone is enjoying my blog and thanks for all your feedback. If you have any questions or you have a topic that you would like included in my blog, send me a twitter or facebook message.

Simon.

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