Les Winners so far, on the Road and in your Living Room; Stage 9 Update – More Pain and Bloodshed on the Road to Saint-Flour July 10, 2011

Bonsoir mes Amis de Veloplonk! I trust you had a lovely weekend.

Here’s a quick update on the Stage winners so far, the overall standings in the three jersey categories (To recap, that’s: Yellow – overall race leader; Green – points competition; White – Young rider; Polka-dot – King of the Mountains), and the lucky recipients of the Vins Diaboliques. I shall also list up the withdrawals.

But first here is a nice picture of Le Pin-Up du tour, Monsieur Tommy Voeckler. A Japanese TV commentator just described him as ‘kakoi sugiru’. He clearly hasn’t seen this photo:

Les Vinqueurs:

Stage 1: GILBERT Philippe (Stefano B)

Stage 3: FARRAR Tyler (Joe B)

Stage 4: EVANS Cadel (John H)

Stage 5: CAVENDISH Mark (Charlie R)

Stage 6: HAGEN Edvald Boasson (Naomi W)

Stage 7: CAVENDISH Mark (Charlie R)

Stage 8: COSTA Rui Alberto (Rose A)

Johnny Hoogerland. Give that man a stiff cognac!

Jersey Holders, before stage 9:

Yellow: 1. Hushovd Thor. Followed by 2. Evans, 3. Schleck F, 4. Kloden, 5. Fuglsang

Green: 1. Gilbert Philippe. Followed by 2. Rojas, 3. Cavendish, 4. Hushovd, 5. Evans

Polka Dot: 1. Van Garderen Tejay. Followed by 2. Costa, 3. Hoogerland, 4. Roux, 5. Evans

White: 1. Gesink Robert. Followed by 2. Taaramae, 3. Jeannesson, 4. Ruijgh, 5. Thomas.

The current rider in the Lanterne Rouge position is Vincent Jerome, with Gert Steegmans just ahead of him.

Atomic Saddles tipped Sandy Casar (pictured here) for the Lanterne Rouge. He might yet win today’s stage. He is in the break with 10 km to go.

Withdrawals:

INTXAUSTI Benat (ESP) Sanborn B

HORNER Christopher (USA) Sasha A

PAURIOL Rémi (FRA) Yui A

BOONEN Tom (BEL) Masato F

WIGGINS Bradley (GBR) Takako R

KIRYIENKA Vasil (BLR) Micah G

VELASCO Ivan (ESP) Albie S

KERN Christophe (FRA) Tom B

BRAJKOVIC Janez (SLO) Topher W

VAN DE WALLE Jurgen (BEL) Naomi W

His friends call him Lulu and his brother Pedro plays for Real Madrid, tu sais. Will Luis Leon Sanchez win today? He is up there with Sandy C and Tommy V.

STOP PRESS* Oh dear. As I type there are reports of a huge crash. Vinokourov (Emilie) seems to have come off the worst (there are conflicting reports, broken femur or broken pelvis). Frederick Willems (Tom B) has a broken collarbone; Dave Zabriskie (Sanborn B) has a broken wrist…

Jesus! a TV car has just sideswiped two riders who are in a breakaway. One went flying into a barbed wire fence, another smashed into the tarmac. Think it was Johnny Hoogerland (who was guaranteed to be wearing the Polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage).. More as I find out. Looked really nasty. It was Flecha who was knocked off and Hoogerland sent flying into the field. Unbelievable. Both are back on their bikes, now. Hoogerland is covered in blood. He is riding on but looks awful. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has to abandon.

To continue, Jurgen van den Broek (Yui A) has a broken collarbone and is out.

And in all this excitement/carnage I forgot to mention that my fave Tommy Voeckler is not only in the break 4 minutes off the front of the bunch – if it finishes this way, he wears the Maillot Jaune tonight!

It is Sandy Casar (Rose A), Tommy Voeckler (John A) and Lulu Sanchez (Joe B) off the front with 24km left. There’s a pretty good chance that one of those riders is gonna bag their punter a bottle of Mongolian merlot today. I think the stiff drink should go to Johnny Hoogerland really. The Vacansoleil rider is soldiering on alone way off the back of the peleton – not so long ago he looked like a possibility to win the stage. I hope he can finish and recover a bit during tomorrow’s rest day.

Bonne nuit for now mes amis.

Allez Tommy V!