MANILVA AND THE TOUR DE FRANCE.

WEDNESDAY 7TH JULY 2010.

Yesterday we sorted ourselves out after our six days over at the villa in Guadalmina; the weather is really hot, 35degs.and rising but there is still a little coastal breeze at the moment, the government has health warnings on the TV as over the next few days it is rising to 44degs.in some parts of inland Andalucia, it is already 41degs in Seville! Mano and Anna called in to catch up with all the news and at the same time Mano fixed our shower, whilst Jeff and Annette were here the coil broke and we had to splash and dash so he brought a new coil which he had picked up in Sabinillas and fitted it – thanks Mano ! In the evening we watched the football, Holland beat Uruguay and are in the final on Sunday; tonight is the big one when Spain play Germany in the other semi-final, come on Spain, the omens are good as when Spain last played Germany they beat them in the European Cup, two years ago and we ended up dancing in the fountain at the bottom of the village!

TOUR DE FRANCE 2010.

The Tour de France started in Rotterdam on Saturday with a prologue around the city; the Swiss rider Cancellara won and two British riders, David Miller and Geriant Thomas came third and fifth, my hero Lance Armstrong, seven times winner of the Tour, came fourth. The Spanish Champion and last years winner of the Tour,Contador,came in lower down the field. The race organizers this year have changed the first week of the race; normally the early stages are on flat roads and the sprinters take the honours,last year Mark Cavendish won 4/5 sprints for England. This year the second stage is going over the Ardennes in Belgium and the third stage is over the infamous cobbles in Northern France, so the forecast is for some upsets right at the start !

The first stage was won by the Italian,Petacchi,after a final chaotic finale marred by crashes on the route from Rotterdam to Brussels; Cavendish crashed on a corner near the finish, there was another major crash which stopped the peloton ( Main Group ) and yet another as they sprinted to the finish !

Stage two was from Brussels to Spa going through the legendary Ardennes hills, cycle racing has taken place on these routes for over a hundred years with the famous Liege- Bastogne -Liege is done in the snow, the stage was full of crashes as the weather changed, rain and wind caused many riders to come off on the descents including most of the favorites, one group broke away and then Chavanel,a French rider for a Belgium team broke away and won the stage. He took over the leader’s yellow jersey but the dramatic stage was not over as in the treacherous conditions following a number of spills on the wet, slick Belgium roads the peloton slowed down to allow many of the main contenders to catch up and at the end Cancellara,who was in the yellow jersey orchestrated a go slow in protest as they crossed the line !

The third stage was won by the Norwegian rider Thor Hushovd in a sprint finish from Geraint Thomas with the Australian champion Cadel Evans coming in third; the race was from Wanze in Belgium to Arenberg Porte du Hainault in Northern France over the tricky cobblestones sections, the last 30km used some of the “ Pave ” sections that feature in the Paris-Roubaix classic – The Hell of the North ! The peloton was split into several groups over the dusty cobblestones and one of the Schleck brothers crashed and broke his collar bone, Lance Armstrong suffered a puncture and lost time and the Spanish rider ,Contador who had not ridden over the stones before, as had many of the riders also came in down the field.Bradley Wiggins the best British rider also came back into contention at the end of the day along with Cadel Evans. The yellow jersey was regained by Cancellara with Geraint Thomas the young Brit second also taking the white jersey for the leading young rider! Cadel Evans is third,Contador 9th Wiggins 14th and Armstrong 18th in the overall standings.

Over three weeks the 97th Tour de France covers 3,642 km which ends in Paris; Today’s stage is from Cambrai to Reims and is reasonably flat so the sprinters will be out to take the stage ,watch out for Cavendish !

PS; Petacchi won the sprint,again,and Cavendish was not on his best form.


PPS; Cavendish has just won todays( 08-07-10) stage from Epernay !


Thought for the day;

Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.

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