Faithful Farrar Fans (FFF)

Yes, you are right. It was pretty quiet on the Farrar train from late last week until Monday. I told you all I was going to take a break for a few days because I expected it to be quiet, and sure enough I was right.

Stages 7-9 were mountain stages. Now mountain stages and big-time bike sprinters go together about as well as … say … South Carolina Governors and the Appalachian Trail. It sort of seems like that is where they should be, but they are almost nowhere to be found. Tyler did manage to finish both stages with one of the gaggles of riders at the back, so that was mission accomplished for the first set of mountains.

And the good news is that Mr. Manx Cavendish did not pick up any more sprint victories. In fact, Thor the Thunder God took the green jersey from Cavendish, at least for a few days. As a reminder, sprinters get points for the order they finish and cross over designated points. The green jersey goes to the overall points leader. Of course, I would have been even happier if Tyler had been the one to take it from him, but I’ll take what I can get.

After the mountains, the guys took a rest day. I saw from Tyler’s blog that he spent a lot of the day zonked out in bed — can’t say I blame him after an exhausting first week on the Tour. I am sure that all you readers will agree that this has been about the coolest thing ever to see a home-grown Wenatchee product racing around France with the very best athletes in the world.

So fast forward to Stage 10. The Versus TV guys expected this to be a pretty slow day overall, and they were right. Of course, they can’t just sit there for 4 hours broadcasting about nothing, so they have to invent some controversy. Today the focus of the controversy was on the decision to not have little tiny radios in the rider’s ears for this stage. Yes, you heard it right. The fate of the free world came down to whether the riders could survive without having their team manager yammering on in their ears all day.

Frankly, I think a lot of them probably enjoyed not having the radio. In fact, in an exclusive (meaning I am making this up) report, I managed to get inside of Tyler’s head to record what he was thinking during one of these Garmin team radio exchanges earlier in the week.

Manager: OK Team, a left turn coming up
Tyler’s Brain: I do have eyes doofus, I can see that the entire peloton is turning left

Manager: Now we are coming up to a hill, so keep your speed up
Tyler’s Brain: Hey Einstein, you try keeping your speed up while you are riding a bike uphill. Near as I can tell you just sit on your lazy rear in the car all day.

Manager: Lots of rider bunching together, be careful
Tyler’s Brain: Boy would I love to have a day without radios ….

Still, without radios, the guys were going to have to organize their teams for the final sprint the old-fashioned way – talking to each other and making wild hand gestures.

As they were coming into the last couple of kilometers, several teams were lined up pretty well for the final sprint: Manx Cavendish, Thor Thunder God, Tom Boonen, Tyler, and a few other wannabees. The end was a tad tricky — a couple of corners before the final sprint. Tyler and the Garmin guys did a great job keeping near the front of the pack as they bolted for the finish, where Cavendish, Thor, and Tyler finished 1, 2, 3.

In short – ANOTHER FANTASTIC TOP 3 FINISH FOR TYLER.

I attach a photo below from the VeloNews. A couple of noteworthy facts. First, the next closest guy behind Tyler was still in, like, Spain. Second, Manx Cavendish wore green glasses even without the green jersey. With fashion sense like that, maybe it is not so surprising that he and the Bee Gees are from the same rock in the ocean.

Now for the numerology part of the update. For those of you mathematically challenged, let me remind you of Tyler’s sprint finishes. So far there has been a 4th place, a 3rd place, and a 2nd place. What is the next number in that order, class?

The next couple of days favor the sprinters, so pay attention.

- Bruce

Velo News, 2009 Tour de France Stage 10

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