ToC: Yay! Andy gets second in Stage 4!

Can't wait to see the footage of this stage - roll on the weekend!

It started with a minute of silence at the beginning, as it was Wouter Weylandt's funeral and of course our boys couldn't be there.

Here's Linus and Andy showing respect.

(Is Andy growing a moustache?)

Then the race got underway, and by all accounts was pretty exciting.

In particular I'm looking forward to seeing the break by Garmin's Ryder Hesjerdal (as opposed to Mechanic Hesjerdal, or Soigneur Hesjerdal) and Paul Martens of Rabobank. According to the report by Cycling News, "....the pair built up a lead of almost a minute before Martens misjudged a turn and rode into a gravel driveway and had to stop, get back onto the road, and chase back to Hesjerdal..."

That I have to see! He missed the turn, went up someone's drive and had to stop?!! Wonderful. Nearly as good as that time in Omloop when Pozzato went the wrong way round a roundabout, and found himself cycling, alone, on the wrong carriageway, forcing him to lift his bike over the barrier and run across the grassy central reservation......

Back to California - and Our Jensi gritted his teeth for all he was worth:


Yay, go Jensi!

And at the final stretch, ok Chris Horner of RadioShack went storming across the line with a clear lead of over a minute, which is phenomenal, but Our Glorious Leader made those pedals turn and beat the rest to come in second, yay! Go, Andy!


It seems that at 30k to go he gave all his fans a heart attack by dropping back to the rear of the peloton, but there wasn't a problem, he was just out of water and getting thirsty. No time to stop to knock on someone's door, of course, so he went back to the team car for new bottles. And from there, he surged all the way back to the front, yay! Go Andy! (*pauses for quick chorus of Chou Andy*) (*and yes, I was doing the dance*).

Praise to be heaped upon Steephill TV again for the photos, I can't recommend this site enough, it seems to be all done by one chap, who gets all the bib numbers and start lists, all the results, coverage info, streaming, some great photos, I don't know how he has the time to keep up to date on all the races, but however he does it, he's doing a great job, so well done Steve, keep up the good work.

So, results? Andy second, Linus 10th.

And in the GC it's now:

6 Andy
8 Linus
50 Jakob
53 Jensi
71 Martin P
101 Steff'n'd'neff'l
109 Anders Lund
113 Martin M

Yay, go Leopards! They're at the seaside tomorrow (tonight? today? I've lost track...) for the next stage, so that should be interesting. And I'm glad to see that the sun has come out, that's more like my idea of California.

The weekend is going to be very difficult, as we have hours and hours of cycling recorded. I expect that I will be wanting to watch the ToC, but I am sure that LLB will insist that we finish watching the Giro first. He's right, of course......  luckily dear old Miss Fede is keeping me up to date with the Giro on her blog, so thanks, FeeDee! 

BTW, I've found a sort of directory of cycling websites, it's at http://www.blogs.cycling-challenge.com. Please do go and have a look, and vote for Eisen Andy! No, only joking, there isn't a voting system.

Oh, can't quite sign off without including this rather nice pic of OGL when he was still a puppy: all together now, "D'aaw!"