A nail biter of a finish today in Gap, as Fedrigo outfoxed Commesso, and the two of them held off the peloton by a mere seven seconds. Kudos to Christian Vendevelde for a fine 11th-hour move to take third. Too bad Fedrigo waited a couple days after Bastille day for his French hour of glory.
A bizarre and nasty incident took out two popular riders (in the Tour Pool, at least): David Canada busted his collarbone, and Rik Verbrugghe, who went down in sympathy on the same corner, may have broken his leg. Magnus Backstedt is also out, despite the support shown by a number of Tour Pool entries ...
Is the Tour Pool creating domestic strife for one couple? After sharing first place yesterday, Rob Grondin pipped his wife Alex Lai by a single point to take the stage win. We'll let you guys sort that one out. Meanwhile, Metuzals and DeVeer are still 1-2, but the erosion of their lead continues. Do they have enough to hold on until next Sunday?
Sadly, Phil Brun del Re's team nickname, "The Lucky Lucky Nine", has proved to be almost comically inapt. Five of his riders (Brochard, Celestino, Backstedt, Julich and Di Luca) have abandoned, and he has the dubious honour of sitting at -10 points. Lucky he picked O'Grady, otherwise things would be even worse.
Enjoy the rest day, and just think how lucky you are not to be facing two brutal mountain stages on Tuesday and Wednesday!
-- KW
Date: 16-Jul Stage: 14 Start/Finish: Montélimar > Gap Distance 180,5 1st FEDRIGO Pierrick FRA BTL 2nd COMMESSO Salvatore ITA LAM 3rd VANDEVELDE Christian USA CSC 4th MOREAU Christophe FRA A2R 5th TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT GST 6th GARZELLI Stefano ITA LIQ 7th BOOGERD Michael NED RAB 8th MORENI Cristian ITA COF 9th HINCAPIE George USA DSC 10th EVANS Cadel AUS DVL Mountains COMMESSO Salvatore ITA LAM Young rider CUNEGO Damiano ITA LAM Aggressive COMMESSO Salvatore ITA LAM Teams LAMPRE-FONDITAL Abandon CELESTINO Mirko ITA MRM Abandon BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE LIQ Abandon CANADA David ESP SDV Abandon VERBRUGGHE Rik BEL COF Overall: Yellow PEREIRO SIO Oscar ESP CEI Team TEAM CSC Green MC EWEN Robbie AUS DVL Polka dots DE LA FUENTE David ESP SDV Young rider FOTHEN Marcus GER GST
RANK TOT Stage rank Stage points 1 507 55 7 Peter Metuzals 2 489 55 7 Helena DeVeer 3 469 42 8 Linda Gilligan 4 463 42 8 Paul Crowley "Team Blood Wash" 5 452 26 13 Meylina Kandoy 5 452 73 5 Orange Scheisse 7 438 37 9 Stefan Sander 8 436 73 5 Markus Chiang 9 435 55 7 Jamie Bryan 10 426 55 7 Spencer Campbell "Texless" 11 424 21 14 Glenn "My Team is Clean" Robinson 12 418 16 15 Tyler Lawlor 13 414 73 5 Steve Proulx 14 413 7 20 Chris Holzauer 15 411 42 8 Nat Faulkner 15 411 21 14 Grimpeur George 17 405 5 21 Ian Dalling 18 399 3 23 Julie Deschenes-Furry 19 397 65 6 "Barnet CC" 20 395 65 6 Team D.O.P.E.- Downplaying Operation Puerto Evidence 21 391 42 8 John Fee / Cynthia Phelan 22 390 55 7 Blaine Penny 23 383 26 13 Chris & Storm 24 381 65 6 "Mr. Stevens Picks" 25 380 2 27 Alex Lai 26 377 26 13 Craig Hawkes "Sith Riders" 27 376 4 22 Derrick St. John 28 374 26 13 Natasha Elliott 29 370 73 5 Sean O'Donnell "The Ruse is Up" 30 367 7 20 Vicki Thomas 31 365 16 15 Mhairi Gilmore 31 365 30 12 Kevin Field "Fev" 33 360 16 15 Jeffrey Furry 34 355 42 8 Doug Hinan 35 353 65 6 Matt Toulouse 36 352 7 20 Paul Scafel "Team Venga Venga Venga" 37 350 16 15 Sandy Fulton 38 349 5 21 Marc Boudreau 39 344 1 28 Rob Grondin 40 343 65 6 Eva Ortega "VillaEva" 40 343 55 7 Courtnay Romkey 42 341 42 8 The Cyclery 43 340 42 8 Ross Knight 44 331 10 19 Kris "Can't win" Westwood 45 325 21 14 Gordon Dalling 46 317 30 12 SUPERFAN 47 316 77 3 Lori Meyers 48 311 65 6 Julie Jay 49 302 65 6 Neil la Plante 50 292 77 3 Musky Ninja 51 283 80 1 Josh Hall 52 264 12 17 Richard and Catherine 53 263 11 18 "Dick und Doof" 54 262 42 8 J to the U 55 260 15 16 Team Damdom 56 251 16 15 Team Oro Rocks 57 250 21 14 Mike Larochelle 58 244 32 10 Ed Makarchuk 59 243 80 1 Deb Hine's Most Excellent Picks 59 243 32 10 Yellow Dopes "Grubby Rabbit" 61 242 79 2 Team Boyz on Bikes 62 240 32 10 Jennifer Garrett 62 240 85 0 Wilby McKnight 64 239 80 1 Jay "Son of Rudy" Heins 65 235 12 17 Kiwi Mike 66 234 85 0 Dave Thomas 67 221 65 6 Team 18 Wheeler 68 220 37 9 Shawn Clarke 69 206 21 14 Donelli 70 193 37 9 Adrian Das 71 191 32 10 Rob Kerr 71 191 55 7 Reed Archer 71 191 55 7 Larginski 74 183 42 8 Sheri Jay 75 172 42 8 "Team Wheelywotten" 76 163 37 9 Les Boyz 77 149 12 17 Chris White 78 141 42 8 Dave Shirley 79 127 42 8 Kate Scallion 80 118 55 7 Operation Spain 81 97 80 1 Team OK 82 95 55 7 Los Spics 83 74 32 10 Luise Sander "No Euros Here" 84 58 42 8 Mr. Glen 85 48 37 9 Remi "Team MTB + Frenchies" Berube 86 33 80 1 Il Gatto 87 -6 87 -10 Phil Brun del Re "The Lucky Lucky Nine"Posted by kriswestwood at July 16, 2006 12:30 PM