“Superman Sagan does an Incredible Hulk 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

On a day marred by a horrific crash 25km before the finish, it was Peter “Superman” Sagan of Liqigas-Cannondale, who once again stole the thunder at the finish line with an incredible burst of speed and an impersonation of the Incredible Hunk!!

The 6^throad Stage of the 99^th Tour de France started of from Epernay to Metz, a distance of 210kms, with all the 195 riders who finished yesterday.

On a course, which yours truly had analyzed as being fit for a breakaway to try and win the stage, it was Capt. America – Garmin-Sharp’s Dave Zabriskie who set out first to form the day’s breakaway. Davide Malacarne of Europcar, Romain Zingle of Cofidis and Karsten Kroon of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, all of them pedigreed riders soon joined him. From that time onwards, it was smart riding by the four of them, which kept them in the hunt till the very last km. As is the norm for the past 5 days, it was the RadioShack Nissan team, specially, Jens Voigt, who was responsible for the peleton keeping the break in check and within the ambit of the peloton’s reach. In the end, the breakaway was caught a few kms before the finish by a broken peloton, but not before Zabriskie made a valiant try to time trail his way to the finish line and he almost succeeded too, as he was passed only inside the last km. The day stared with a crash even before the flag off when, Richie Porte of Sky Procycling and Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Lotto-Belisol, both hit the decks, but without any damages. Later Greipel & Peraud of AG2R-La Mondiale also entangled and that left the Gorilla, with lots of bruises on his hands & legs. The drama of the day however started, when with 25kms to go, a huge crash in the middle of the peloton led to riders being thrown all around the road and the two sides of the road. With fields & ditches on both sides, it was difficult for even those riders, who were not involved to cross over and continue after the peloton.

Many of the big names were caught up with this mishap, the biggest of them being Frank Schleck of RadioShack Nissan, Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, Michele Scarponi of Lampre-ISD, Pierre Rolland of Europcar, Jean-Christophe Peraud of AG2R-La Mondiale and Janez Brajkovic of Astana, all of them with title aspirations. Despite their best efforts, they have already lost more than 2 minutes on the leaders at present.Robert Gesink of Rabobank lost almost 3.30 min, while Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin Sharp, the winner of the Grand Tour of Italy, lost 13 minutes! The crash also saw the end of Tom Danielson of Garmin Sharp, and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi, both of whom could not even get back on their cycles. The peloton, in the meanwhile continued upfront, but minus few sprinters, as even Mark Cavendish was held up in the pile up. Andre Greipel, the winner of the last two stages, who started with the goal of making it 3/3 for himself and had crashed twice already, bravely rode on with a torn jersey.  In the end, it was the delivery train of Matt Goss of Orica-Greenedge, which kept a relentless pace and brought in the breakaway.  But before the peleton hit the final straight, Lotto –Belisol, also got its act correct and Greg Henderson, who for the last 2 days had delivered Greipel into the winning run, was once again on the ball. Also present for the run to the line was Ale Jet of Lampre-ISD along with Boeckmans of Vacansoleil-DMC rider & Peter Sagan. But as Goss started his sprint, it was noticeable that he was not full on his form, and Greipel & Sagan overtook him on both sides. But the falls of the day prevented Greipel from being at his best, whereas, Superman Sagan was clearly flying away. With the roar in the style of the Incredible Hunk, Sagan capped of another dream run in this year’s tour. Greipel came second, and Goss finished third. The leader board for the top 5 spots and the Jersey owners all continue unchanged for another day. The Yellow Jersey of the race leader continues with Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack Nissan. The Green Jersey for thepoints leader continues with Peter Sagan of Liqigas Cannondale. The White Jersey, for the best young rider continues withTejay Van Garderen of BMC Racing team, while Michael Mørkøv of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank retains the King of the Mountain Polka dotted Jersey.  (Me thinks – all the Jerseys will change hands tomorrow!!) A relived, stage winner Sagan said, “I’m very happy when I can win a stage like today. Yesterday I was unlucky with the crash, but also content that nothing was broken and that I didn’t have any injuries,” Smiling away, he added “I don’t want to be compared with other riders, I want to be Peter Sagan.”

Fabian Cancellara acknowledging that his reign in the Yellow Jersey was going to over tomorrow said, “I have no idea about the finish tomorrow.  I saw in the race book that the climb is marked in black, which means the gradient is something like 9, 10 or 11%.  That’s normally a level of steepness that I don’t like.”

The finishing town of Metz, is also known as the Green City of France, has a history of over 3000 years. Its position as being near the borders of Germany, Luxembourg and France also positions itself for a culture, which has the all three highlights. Don’t miss visiting Saint Pierre aux Nonnains, which claims to be France’s oldest church and the Esplanade which has one of the finest gardens in the city.

As for the foodies, try out the ChoucrouteAlsacienne at any of the local eateries and have a Kirmade with mirabelle liqueur or an artisanal beer. Tomorrow, the 7^thStage of this year’s TdF is from Tomblaine to La Planchedes Belles Filles, a distance of 199kms. Me thinks, the Yellow Jersey is set to change. How much ever Cancellara tries, the Category 1 climb of the La Planche de Belles Filleswill be just too much for him, as he himself has agreed, but with Frank Schleck almost out of title contention, he will try and limit his losses, so that on Stage 9, on the time trail stage, he can win the Yellow Jersey back. Levi Leipheimer of Omega Pharma-Quick Step, who has been riding quietly but out of trouble so far, will come into play. And with the time being lost for many of the leading contenders, a breakaway on the climb by any of them – Frank Schleck of RadioShack Nissan, Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, Michele Scarponi of Lampre-ISD, Pierre Rolland of Europcar, Jean-Christophe Peraud of AG2R-La Mondiale, Robert Gesink of Rabobank and Janez Brajkovic of Astana, will throw the race wide open. This is what I think, for what’s there to loose for these guys??…:)

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