Today will be the first stage that the realy contenders can test their legs. I myself dont think I will be able to keep up to guys like Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, but the team is giving me more of a shot to be team leader as Christian is more tired than I am from the Giro. For now I'll act as super domestique though.
At the bottom of the Col de la Croix Morand, Andy Schleck makes a big attack. No one follows as they think 30km from the finish is too far to go solo.
But VandeVelde makes a move, and counters Schleck. He doesn't make it up to Schleck but by the top of the climb he has 1:21 on the peloton. Also Efimkin joined and passsed him on the downhill.
Now at the bottom of Super-Besse Valverde, Contador, Rodriguez make attacks, so I figure this is my chance to make it up to where the real race is going on. Soon after I find Vandevelde struggling on the climb, he tells me to keep going, he says he's having a bad day, so I do.
3km from the line and Contador attacks, making it all the way up to Schleck who at one point looked unreachable. Kloden follows close behinf but with a timegap.
As they sprint for the line, Contador finds some extra energy, and takes his first stage win of the Tour. For Andy, he'll have to be angry inside because he was only 3 bikelengths from a victory.
I didn't manage to stay with all the favourites, but I held on to Purito's wheel and Pellizotti did the same to me.
laidbackmarc wrote:
Will Ryder take over the role as team-leader now? A top-10 looks possible.
I'm not sure yet. Hesjedal isn't a better climber than VandeVelde so its possible VandeVelde can make up some time in the next stages. I think the problem was I went too early with VandeVelde, but he's only 3 minutes down on Kloden, so its possible he might make it up.
Today, will be an interesting stage because no one knows what to make of it. Will it play out like a flat stage, or will there be lots of attacks towards the end, with us seeing a well known puncheur raising his arms?
For most of the stage the only real action was happening in the breakaway. A dozen or so riders broke away at the beginning of the day and now Geslin is attacking on the descent.
A couple minutes later also on the descent, Van Summeren follows an attack, by both Devolder and Pineau. The trio work together until about the 10km when they are joined by another rider.
That rider being Sammy Sanchez, who blew past them and made it up to the leading group of 6 in almost no time at all.
A little later, Linus Gerdemann, attacked and also made it up to Sanchez who had now dropped the on-the-limits BOTD riders. Meanwhile chaos behind as nearly every GC rider had either attacked or counter-attacked.
Because of this, we sent Zabriskie, Martin and Millar to the front to help bring them all back, and it actually worked. Now we just had to wait for the sprint.
But then in my earpiece i heard "RYDER ATTACK NOW!!!!" I went on the attack, and made it all the way up to the group 20 seconds ahead of the peloton. I followed Valverde's wheel and made it up into 11th, with the same time as the winner.
The winner being Linus Gerdemann, who obviously had a little something special in his water today. A great ride by him.
So today we have a transition stage, from the Pyrenees to the Alps so lucky for us its a sprinters stage, so we can get some rest before two decisive mountain stages.
Inside the last 5km but outside of 3km, I got tangled up with another rider who had fallen, an I am now behind the peloton. This is really tragic for my Top 10 hopes. I didn't lose that much time, but I'm now 4 minutes back on Kloden.
Petacchi won the stage, Cav had a top 5 secured, but he's shown us he's only here for wins because he dropped back after there was no chance at a win.
Today will be one of my biggest test of the Tour so far. Its a tough mountain stage, and eventhough there is lots of downhilling any good rider will tell you, its not used for resting, its used for attacking.......or something. Anyway, JV says after today he might know who will be the team leader, but he's told me to protect Christian like I would normally, and we'll see how things pan out.
The first real action today, is me taking an attack on the final climb of the day. I'm following, Monfort, Garate and Pineau but its my chance. VDV told me to ride for myself, and if he needs help, drop back.
Going over the climb, I'm here and so are the other Top 15 riders in the Tour de France, but Christians still behind. I radio in to ask where he is. He tells me, he has Dan Martin as company, just keep riding in the main group and dont give up a stage win possibility.
In the heat of the moment sprint, I can see that im boxed in, so I settle for 11th.
Andy Schleck takes the win, but most importantly I feel I'm the new team leader, with VandeVelde already 5 minutes down. He must be really tired from the Giro when he fought extra hard for the win, but came up second.
Here we have one of the biggest stages of the whole 3 week race. We climb up to Hautacam, and with any indication from yesterday, it will be a very tough day for me. With no downhill to catch our breath, it should be an intense race all the way to the line, but there is a little bit of confidence in me knowing that tommorow is a rest stage, so there's no worry of going too hard or anything like that.
We pick up the action as we are 9km from the line, and on the final climb of the day, and no breakaway out front. I'm just sitting behind VandeVelde, but I'm not doing to well, my heart rate is up, and I feel like I could drop back at any moment. Christian is feeling better than I am today, but he has also said he's not 100%.
4km from the line and Contador, makes a huge acceleration. I'm falling back now, but I manage to stay with a couple other dropped climbers, but nowhere close to where I want to be. Christian is doing better than me, but he's only in the 2nd group on the road while most of the favourites are in the first group.
Kloden wins the stage by a small gap in the sprint.
Here I am crossing the line, and losing 3:12 on the stage to Kloden. So with my chance at even a Top 10 likely gone, and also for Christian, Garmin's focus will probably switch entirely to Farrar and his Green Jersey battle with Greipel. Its a tough day knowing the thing you've been working so hard at, for the whole year still wasn't good enough but if theres any consolation, there's still a chance to win the King of the Mountains, and I might go after it...
So now we have a hard hilly stage before a couple flat stages. This could be the perfect day to get a little tim back if I can, of course I could lose even more time if I'm not careful.
The biggest news for Garmin today is that Dan Martin is in the breakaway. We think it could be a good day for the break to succeed so its worth a gamble.
It very clearly was a day for the break as they were allowed to fight for it themselves. the Liquigas rider Carlstrom attacked late, but Martin sprinted very hard for the line and ended up passing him, but behind Cardoso and Ponzi are gaining quickly with the line so close.
But Dan Martin wins! This is a great day for Garmin, and we finally have something to celebrate about this years Tour.
I also managed to follow Contador and a couple other favourites and even got a little time on Kloden back. VandeVelde finished in the peloton with Kloden.
hillis91 wrote:
So we can expect another story when you get PCM 11 to work?
Maybe
That's a Yes , Glad to see this story running again. It had been such a long time that I had to reread it from the start.
Well, IF I can get PCM 11 to work. I have little hope right now.
I'm having so much fun playing this game right now. It brings back such great memories, and the AI might be a little better than PCM 10.
Today is finally another flat stage, something we really needed. Coming off yesterdays finish, we want to continue the success by getting Farrar into the Top 3, and most importantly getting more points than Greipel.
The wind was howling today, which made it hard, but us Garmin guys, had energy to start off the train, which really paid off today, as Hunter and Farrar were in perfect position.
Farrar jumped out from Hunters slipstream and took the stage win. Greipel came quickly behind but couldn't catch up to Farrar in time. So its another great win for us, and its two days in a row.
Good reading aswell 
