Sorry about my silence this weekend, but a) if the Vuelta wants to start at 3am Pacific, there's nothing I can do; and b) it's become a tradition around here that plenty of people pick up where I leave off anyway. But other than the start times, I still love this parcours, and today -- one last rest day before we dive into three days that will decide the race -- is no exception.
Anyway, as to our last Grand Tour of the season, Pez files a nice summary and forecast. Ditto for Eurosport and CN. But the winner for coolest recap goes to CyclingRevealed's photo collage and the links thereunder.
I'll start a separate thread on that topic. Meanwhile, there's a ton going on elsewhere...
- Sticking in Spain for a moment: Cancellara goes home to get ready for Salzburg.
- According to Podium Cafe fave Chris Horner I didn't miss much yesterday.
- For the last time, don't forget Poland. Stef Schumacher does his Jens impression, as another German dominates a northern European Tour with a string of crushing stage wins. Man of the Year voting here is gonna be tough.
- Instant replay? McEwen dusts Boonen in the Paris-Brussels sprint finish.
- JB talks at length to VN.
- Another profile... this time it's Fast Freddy.
- Pez's new line of clothing is setting off some lightbulbs for me...
- CN is featuring Les Woodland doing history lessons, this time on some guy named Zimmerman.
- And last... a fun description by winner Robert Forster of the stage 15 sprint, pilfered from CN, if only because it contains unintentionally humorous descriptions of Rene Hasselbacher in action:
With eight kilometres to go, his teammates Heinrich Haussler and René Haselbacher took him onto their wheels, leading him and keeping him out of the wind. "With 2 km to go, Haussler fell back and Hasi wanted to go to the front, but I kept calling him: 'Not yet, Hasi! Take it easy, it's too early, it's too early. At 1200 meters he couldn't wait any longer and I stopped to hold him back. Okay, let's go for it, I thought. He brought me into position behind Napolitano. A good wheel to be on: Napolitano and one of his helpers and Petacchi in front of me. Milram comes with four men. At 700 meters I had the feeling we were slowing down and I was worried that riders would come left and right and pass us. But that kind of feeling can be misleading. Napolitano waited and waited. Suddenly Petacchi makes a scene, pushes Napolitano, although there was lots of space. 'What are they doing there?' I thought. I look forward again - hey, the race is almost over... Finally Napolitano goes for it, and I pass him. 25 meters and I'm in front. 10 meters, 5 meters, I'm still in front. 'No one else is going to come round now,' I think, and raise my arms. It all went through my head like a movie."