Tour de France 2009- Stage #19

Transition stages usually are fairly predictable, especially near the end of the Tour.  A breakaway forms of riders who have done little for three weeks, especially from teams who have been relatively anonymous.  They gain a couple of minutes, and they cruise in to gain a much needed victory.  The overall pictures goes on unaffected, as the leader thinking about the final weekend.

In some ways, today wasn’t too abnormal.  A break did form, and did gain some time.  With Mont Ventoux on the horizon tomorrow, and with a field exhausted by a week in the Alps and following yesterday’s time trial, few riders were too interested in expending any unnecessary energy.  This led to some of the less successful teams, like Rabobank, policing the field and keeping the breaks in check. The surprises actually came at the end of the race.

The organizers saw fit to through in an interesting 2nd category climb in the last 20km of the race, enough to break up the field.  No one seemed to think that today would result in a field sprint, but Mark Cavendish did not appear to care much about those plans.  He won his fifth stage of the year, and ninth in only two years, in impressive form.  What I found to be even more impressive was Lance Armstrong’s attentiveness in contesting the sprint, on the off-chance that there might be a split in the field.  In the end, he did earn 4 seconds on his closest rivals, and in a race which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the closest race in history, won by 8 seconds, it is highly conceivable that a podium place may be earned by a similar margin.

I haven’t talked much about the green jersey race, given the excitement of this week.  I will say that I was a bit bummed last  week when Mark Cavendish was relegated, because I felt as though it essentially was ending the competition early.  I thought at that time that the only remaining sprint would be on the Champs Elysees, and that he would not make up the losses he had incurred.  I was very impressed on Wednesday that Thor Hushovd went on the offensive to score some intermediate points, and essentially justify his lead in the competition.  I doubt very sincerely that Cavendish will close a twenty-five point lead on Sunday, but at least it becomes slightly closer competition, and one worthy of watching.

Of course, I am waiting for tomorrow, for the epic journey up the barren, moonlike slopes of Mont Ventoux, and where the story of the Tour will have it final general classification battles settled. I am not going to make any predictions, but I am sure it will be entertaining to see what the Schlecks may try, and how well Astana will react, and indeed, who may fall away or blink first.