CyclingRevealed's First Impressions '05

Stage 18: Albi – Mende, 189 km

Which Race are You Watching?

My long suffering family has come to accept and even enjoy my passion for cycle racing. Yet still they have a big problem understanding how races like the TdF work. Yesterday and today combined, Lance was almost 34 minutes behind the respective stage winners. He has not yet won a stage whereas two of his teammates have. “How come he is in the Yellow Jersey?” This is how the general public views the race. They do not understand it, but they celebrate Lance's multiple wins with enthusiasm.

Race fans are a little closer. They understand how the race classifications work. They know who the main contenders are. Their race focuses on the big names and when you get stages like today or yesterday they are seen as “boring”. Watching a bunch of “no names” ride away from the field, stay out there for hours and then ‘stealing' the stage is of little interest to them.

Race connoisseurs savor their sport in the same way that a wine connoisseur appreciates great wines. The nuances, intrigues, dynamics and sheer complexity of the event are all there for the discerning connoisseur to enjoy. Before today's big break formed Alex Vinokourov went hard for the first intermediate sprint at 13km. His second place earned him valuable seconds in his quest to move up the GC table. Following the sprint a group of notable riders formed a break. Discovery hunted them down. At about 40kms another break formed which contained no dangerous names in terms of the GC. Discovery and the other teams let them go and Marcos Serrano (Liberty Seguros) won the day in lone splendor. Behind him Discovery destroyed the peloton and Armstrong, Basso Ullrich and Evans came in ahead of the remnants of the bunch.

Basically what we have seen over the past few days is Basso trying to get closer to Lance. Ullrich is trying to eat into Rasmussen's lead in order to claim third place on the podium in Paris . GC places five to ten see a daily struggle between Mancebo, Leipheimer, Evans, Vinokourov, Landis and Moreau. They are all eyeing Saturdays' long time trial. The Points race and the Team race hold their own dynamics to add more complexity to the daily battle.

Today was absolutely not a boring stage. But then it depends which race you were watching!

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