“Manx missile fires at TdF 2012”

This is a guest post by Mr.Q, a professional quizmaster and an ardent Tour de France fan who is reporting his 4th tour

The 2nd road Stage of the 99th Tour de France started of from Vise to Tournai, a distance of 207kms, with all of the 198 riders riding this year. It included the world time trial champion Tony Martin, injured with a broken scaphoid bone and Luiz Leon Sanchez, also with a strapped right hand, both of whom had serious falls yesterday. Right from the start of the tour, there have been reports and rumours of how Team Sky were going to operate for the whole of the Tour. Would they focus on Bradley Wiggins and protect him all the way, for he is definitely a title contender, or would they allow for Mark Cavendish, the current road race world champion, to have a delivery train, like his HTC heydays which saw him win an impressive 20 Stages in the TdF alone. And today, the answers were there on the road as the Manx Missile, fired on his own and won the race, in his own words,” with some plucky effort”, by riding shortgun on Andrie Greipel’s Lotto-Belisol team train. On a day, where it was very clear right in the very beginning, that it would be a bunch sprint out at Tournai, at the finish line, the Team Sky’s strategy was now out in the open, Cavendish will not get a delivery train dedicated to himself, he will get help in the mountains, no doubt Bernhard Eisel will be deputed to him for that, but on the straight finishes, it will be him alone who will have to ride to win, as the whole team will ride around Wiggins and go for the Title and get Britain, a TdF champion. With a relatively flat course for the day, the race was flagged of with much fanfare and at the 22km mark, Anthony Roux of FDJ-BigMat, Christophe Kern of Europcar and Michael Mørkøv of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, who is wearing the mountains jersey, made their escape. With one relatively easy climb for the whole day Mørkøv won the ride to reach it first and thus continued as the leader in the King of the Mountain Jersey competition. Again it was upto the RadioShack Nissan team to drive the peleton all the way and keep Fabian Cancellarain the Yellow Jersey, and again they did their bit. Around 30kms from the end the breakaway was caught, but Roux of FDJ-BigMat just would not give up and continued on alone till the last 14kms. But at the back, all the teams with sprinters were jostling for road space in the front and it was a nervy ride for all. BMC Racing was right upfront the whole of the last 35kms riding just to ensure that their champion Cadel Evans did not get caught in any incidents. In the end Lotto-Belisol team muscled in and their delivery train of 4 riders, with whom Andrie “Gorilla” Greipel, has already won 14 races this year, kicked up the speed and entered the final stretch at more 60kmph speed. But Cavendish had smartly placed himself on Greipel’s wheel and once the Gorilla kicked off on the final sprint the world champion easily came out of his slip stream and showed everyone why he is still the one man they will have to try very hard to beat. Matt Goss of Orica-Greenedge came in third. (point to note is that last year, all these three were part of the HTC Highroad Team, which disbanded at the end of the year due to lack of sponsors!!) In the end, there were no changes on the leader board as all the leading contenders finished on the same times. The Yellow Jersey of the race leader continues with Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack Nissan. The Green Jersey for the points leader is taken over by Peter Sagan of Liqigas Cannondale. The White Jersey, for the best young rider is retained by Tejay Van Gargeren of BMC Racing team, while Michael Mørkøv of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank continues as the King of the Mountain Polka dotted Jersey. Cavendish after the race, catching his breath after the sprint said, “It wasn’t as windy as I thought it was going to be and that didn’t play as much of a factor. It’s been a good start to the race for the team. Brad stayed out of trouble and hopefully he can continue on towards yellow. We’re here to win the yellow jersey. I’m here to do what I did today.” “I’ve been on the back foot, but I’ve been more relaxed than ever coming into this Tour de France, as the pressure hasn’t been there for me to do anything. Winning doesn’t give me any more confidence as it’s never easy to win a Tour de France stage, with a team or on your own.”….wonder what he meant by this statement, for me thinks, he is telling his team that, you have to back someone who is delivering, rather than focus on someone who can?? Only time will tell..:)

For those who want to enjoy the visit to Tournai and look around the town, one must visit the Romanesque- and Gothic-style cathedral of Notre Dame de Tournai and the belfry, the oldest in Belgium, which have been jointly designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. After the race there are a number of beautiful and friendly cafés and pubs in the Grand’Place amongst the fountains for one to spend time on. And for the foodies – don’t come back without tasting the Lapin à la Tournaisienne, a rabbit cooked with onions, prunes and dry raisins, served with potatoes.

Tomorrow the 3rd Stage of this year’s TdF is from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer, a distance of 197kms. With cobble stone stretches, the classic specialists will be the ones to watch for, as there are 5 climbs also just before the finish, with the final finish being after a 700m ascent. Me thinks, Cancellara will again unleash a super ride, and this time throw Sagan off his back. But so will Chavanel  and Gilbert, both of whom have been hunting for a stage win and are in strong form. Will the sprinter’s team try and repeat of today? Don’t think so. And hope that poor Marcel Kettel, in his first tour comes back fighting from the stomach virus, which saw him almost drop off at the back of the race today. Like Composed Volcano on Facebook. to get to read travel stories or simply subscribe to the blog!