Well There Goes That

Yeah.. pretty much

The highs and lows of sport were on full display in Stage 11 of the Tour de France when Cadel Evans made what looked like it would be a brilliant attacking move. Evans, who everyone and their dog knew needed to claw chunks of times back from Bradley Wiggins, timed his move to coincide with his teammates, particularly Tejay Van Garderen, slipping back from the early breakaway to “pick up” Cadel and do the pace making and dirty work.

As an Evans fan, as most of us Aussies are, it looked like team BMC has planned this to perfection and we were watching our boy put a move on that might well win him another yellow jersey. Very quickly though, it become clear it wasn’t going to work.

The minute Cadel couldn’t even keep up with young Tejay; it was obvious Cadel just didn’t quite have it. Whether it’s just that one day, or whether it’s in the entire Tour this year, we will find out. However the failed attack then meant Evans didn’t have the energy to keep up with Wiggins and co to the finish line and instead of clawing time back, now he is even further back from a guy he can’t beat in the time trial.

So now the Tour de France is likely a one horse race and we are only just over halfway. I personally hope Chris Froome says “f*ck the man!” and decides to attack himself and make this a Sky on Sky showdown. How awesome would it be to see Froome defy team orders and realise he is actually the best guy out there and should be winning the whole kit and caboodle.

Unfortunately that will never happen.... unless the reports that he already defied orders in Stage 11 prove to be true. But I doubt he does it again.

So instead I am left praying Cadel pulls a Floyd Landis (sans drugs... probably) and recovers from a horrible day to destroy everyone and win the Tour anyway. The problem with this is the “sans drugs” part and thus the only real hope for those of us who want to see a legitimate yellow jersey contest is for Wiggins to somehow struggle and bring all the other players back into the race. Let’s just all hope it’s not a crash that makes that happen. Or you know, a positive drug test, which would suck even more.

On another note, my fan boner for Pierre Rolland which began last year was back last night. It seems that at least once a year Rolland decides he is going to show just how strong he is climbing one of these ridiculous mountain passes and leaves everyone in his wake. If only he learnt to put in a time trial competitive enough to really give the GC a shake and we could be looking at a real contender for years to come.