Well cycling fans, Stage 3 today (Monday) was a bit of a letdown from the blazing glory of Stage 2 when our local Wenatchee cycling icon Tyler Farrar pulled off an incredible second-place finish in his first-ever Tour de France road stage.
Today’s stage was long, hot, and — most importantly — windy. Now there are certain things that work well in the wind. Flying kites, for example. There are other things that really don’t work so well. Like riding in a huge bike peloton trying to position for a giant final sprint where you will beat Mark Cavendish to the finish line.
So here is the sad story on the race today. The whole group of 170-plus riders was basically bunched up for several hours, seemingly content to cruise along together. I am not certain, but I am pretty sure I saw a few guys in the middle of the peloton taking naps and playing cards, it was that tranquil for most of the race.
Over the course of the day, it got windier and windier. With about 30 miles or so to go, there was a giant gust of wind that allowed the entire Columbia HTC team, including Mark Cavendish, to make a break from the rest of the group. A few astute riders — including Lance Armstrong from Astana — were able to pull away with them. Because there were a lot of strong riders in the breakaway and because the Columbia HTC guys had their entire team and thus could be really well organized, the breakaway managed to stay ahead of the main group and finished 30-some seconds ahead.
Our hero Tyler was valiantly trying to help organize the main group to catch the breakaway. Alas, the “catch” was not going to happen in these conditions, so Tyler and about 100 of his closest friends all had to settle for the same time in the main group.
There was a sprint at the end between Mark Cavendish and the Norwegian rider named Thor, the God of Thunder. Now Norway is a perfectly fine country, but I am sure you will agree that they don’t grow sprinters in Norway of the same caliber as the Wenatchee Valley. So, not surprisingly, Cavendish won.
But, loyal readers, you don’t rely on me for the basic facts of the race. Nooooo indeed. Tune into The Wenatchee World Web site for nifty news coverage. Instead, I bring you the news and insight that you won’t find anywhere else.
So in that spirit I did a little sleuthing around to see if I could find out more about what was behind the breakaway today. I mean, yes, it was windy and all, but Tyler and his merry band of bikers are astute professionals. Could a simple gust of wind really flummox them this much and wreak this much havoc?
So my research uncovered an interesting fact. It turns out the Columbia HTC team chef altered the usual pre-race fare today. Rather than high-protein shakes and pasta, he went with an unusual diet of 100 percent baked beans for breakfast before the race started.
Ah ha, now it all starts to make sense.
As all of us can attest, there are certain gastrointestinal “implications” of such a diet. If you were Tyler and the rest of the riders, you too would hang back a bit from the nine Columbia HTC riders who strategically positioned themselves in front of the peloton whilst the baked beans were fully active. Combine that extra distance with a couple of gusts of natural wind and the result was Tyler and the rest of the field being out of the running for the day. Fiendishly clever of the Columbia HTC guys.
I also discovered an interesting — and somewhat distressing fact — about Mark Cavendish’s hometown in my unorthodox research. For those who are unfamiliar, Mark lives on the Isle of Man, a small rock halfway between England and Ireland. As part of my educational mission, I will share Isle of Man tidbits I have picked up along the way as the Tour progresses.
For example, it turns out Mark Cavendish is not necessarily the most famous person to come from the Isle of Man. In fact, the most famous would be Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees. Who would have figured a group like that would come from a speck in the ocean? On the other hand, it seems pretty clear that those guys could not have grown up in a normal place where things like mirrors and self-respect are common, so maybe that does make sense.
In any case, let’s look forward to tomorrow (Tuesday). This is going to be a team time trial day, which means that there will be no individual glory for Tyler. The basic concept is that each team will be riding around the course together without any other teams next to them, racing against the clock. Think of it like a three-legged race, except there are nine guys instead of two, they are on bikes instead of running, their legs aren’t actually tied together, and each team does it by themselves instead of in a group race. Otherwise it is almost identical.
Everyone on the team will get the time of the fifth rider to cross the finish line, so the team really needs to work together to maximize the team result. Tyler’s team is one of the favorites for this stage, along with Team Astana, so let’s keep our fingers crossed. It is supposed to be hot and windy, which could make it exciting.
Oh, and tell the Columbia HTC guys to lay off the legumes for a while if you see them.
Best of Luck to Tyler.

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