Paris

James is back

Our 9 year old son James, returned home from an overseas trip on the weekend.

He had traveled with Pauline’s mum to England and France. I’m not at all jealous that he got to see the final stage of this year’s Tour de France live in Paris. (Well – OK – maybe a little.)

We’ve been missing him terribly so it was wonderful to finally have him back, even if it meant being at the airport in the very early hours of yesterday morning. We finally got to bed at around 4:00 a.m.

I reckon that overseas planes purposely arrive at odd hours so that even the people who haven’t been traveling can go through the whole experience of jet lag with those who’ve been away.

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Yellow dream ends for Cadel

Jul 27th, 2008

by Rodney Olsen.

2 comments

After an amazing three weeks, Cadel Evans will stand in second place on the winners podium in Paris later today, just over a minute behind Carlos Sastre.

Cadel’s time trial performance wasn’t good enough to counter the amazing effort of Carlos Sastre who retained the Yellow Jersey after the 20th stage. Most experts had tipped Evans to pull back the minute and a half lead of Sastre to take yellow but Cadel’s time trial looked awkward while Sastre rode the time trail of his life.

Cadel did take some time back from the leader and managed to move from fourth place up to second overall but this wasn’t to be his year for a win.

This will be the second consecutive year that Evans has finsihed second in the world’s greatest sporting event. There is little doubt that he would have finished number one if he had a team as strong as Sastre’s CSC. CSC dominated the race on most days of the event, especially in the mountain stages.

Sastre was able to take valuable time on Evans because he had faultless team support. He proved himself a worthy winner by attacking and building a good lead on L’Alpe-d’Huez.

Another Australian, Stuart O’Grady, figured highly in the succes of Team CSS. He worked hard at the front of the peleton, forcing the pace and helping to make his team the dominant force that it was.

So the Tour de France for 2008 is almost over. All that remains is today’s final stage which is traditionally a day for the sprinters.

I’m dissapointed that Cadel won’t be standing in the number one position later today but still incredibly proud that he managed to place so highly without a great deal of team support in the mountains. He is a magnificent rider and I can only hope that he moves to a team that can take him one place higher in 2009 or that Silence Lotto makes more of an effort to build a winning team to back their star rider.

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Who will win Tour de France 2008?

Jul 25th, 2008

by Rodney Olsen.

Comments are off for this post

The question of who will win the Tour de France for 2008 continues to be a cause of great speculation.

Most experts are stilling seeing Cadel Evans as the favourite and even some of the riders consider him to be almost unbeatable.

In the ABC News article, Only disaster can deny Evans Tour victory: Millar, British time-trial specialist David Millar is tipping Evans to overhaul his 1 minute 34 second deficit to his Spanish rival Carlos Sastre.

In the race’s first time trial, held over 29.5km, Evans finished fourth at 27secs behind winner Stefan Schumacher. Sastre finished 1:43 behind the German.

Some are wondering whether having the yellow jersey and starting last from the field will drive Sastre, more known for his climbing skills, on towards a maiden triumph on the race.

But Millar believes Evans would have to have a disastrous day not to overhaul the Spaniard.

“Carlos will do a better time trial than he would normally do, just because he’s going so well,” Millar said.

“But he’s a climber, so he’s going to lose time to Cadel and Denis (Menchov) and Christian (Vande Velde).”

So can we expect an Evans triumph on Saturday? “No worries,” added Millar.

All the big contenders enjoyed a relaxing day last night, and tonight’s 19th stage is likely to be dominated by a bunch sprint at the finish.

I’m not celebrating yet but it’s good to know that the general feeling is still that we’ll see an Australian in Yellow in Paris this Sunday.

One of the other early favourites, Christian Vande Velde also rates Evans as the likely winner.

American Christian Vande Velde, who dropped out of yellow jersey contention on the second of three days in the Alps, is aiming for the race of his life in a bid to secure a podium place.

The 32-year-old Garmin team leader is sixth place at 4:41 behind Sastre and is hoping to jump up to third.

“I think Cadel has a great chance of winning the Tour,” Vande Velde, who finished 10secs behind Evans in the first time trial.

My nine year old son, James, will be in Paris to see the final stage. I’m not at all jealous. All I can say is that he’d better get some good photos.

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Can Cadel still win the Tour de France?

Jul 24th, 2008

by Rodney Olsen.

7 comments

James from Disciple of the Way left a comment on my previous Tour de France post, Tour de France Jerseys.

Hey Rodney

Just curious on how well placed you feel Cadel is after last nights ripper of a stage? The commentators seemed to jump back and forth from Sastre having enough time to Cadel staying just close enough.

As I do only watch the Tour de France I don’t really know how good a time trialist Cadel is, having to trust the commentators saying ‘he’s good’.

Do you think he has done enough? It def looks like it will be pretty tight!

For those who missed yesterday’s stage which finished on the punishing L’Alpe-d’Huez, Spain’s Carlos Sastre attacked on the climb and finished over two minutes ahead of the other tour leaders. His amazing effort meant that he took the Yellow Jersey from the shoulders of CSC team mate, Frank Schleck.

Cadel Evans, who started the race as favourite, is now in fourth place, 1:34 behind the leader, Sastre.

So can Evans come back from such a big loss of time? I think so.

Cadel is well and truly still in it.

On the first time trial of this year’s race Sastre lost 1:16 to Cadel. That ride was over a distance of 29.5 km.

Saturday’s time trial is much tougher and longer with a distance of 53 km. I’ve heard that Cadel rode the second time trial course four times before the tour to make sure that he knows every turn and every piece of road.

In normal circumstances I reckon he’d be able to pull back the 1:35 he needs over that distance but when Sastre has the yellow jersey on his back he’s likely to ride the time trial of his life.

Cadel Evans has always said that he sees Denis Menchov as his main rival for the Yellow Jersey in Paris.

Menchov was 7 seconds behind Evans in the first time trial so he would be a danger if he wasn’t just already over a minute behind Cadel in the overall standings. Of course anything can happen and if Menchov rides a brilliant time trial he could be a danger.

It’s quite amazing to see a Tour de France still so wide open at this point of the event. If Cadel manages to take the race it’ll be a stunning recomendation of his abilities considering his team has been missing in action most of the time when it’s counted. They say that it takes a team to win the Tour de France, and his team has supported him as well as their abilities have allowed, but if Cadel wins it will be a remarkable solo effort.

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Tour de France 2008

Jul 5th, 2008

by Rodney Olsen.

15 comments

The wait is over. The Tour de France 2008 begins today.

For the next few weeks I’ll be glued to the SBS Television coverage of the event and the official Tour de France website.

The Tour de France has been described as the toughest sporting challenge in the world. The elite athletes who take part face 21 grueling stages with many involving cycling up incredibly steep mountain roads. Some have compared it to marathon running saying that it’s like running a full marathon every day for three weeks.

This year’s favourite to wear the yellow winner’s jersey into Paris is Australian, Cadel Evans. If Evans wins it’ll be the first time an Aussie has won the event. Evans stood on the podium at the end of the event last year in second place, the highest ever finish for an Australian.

So what does the world’s greatest sporting event hold for us this year?

Running from Saturday July 5th to Sunday July 27th 2008, the 95th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres.

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

* 10 flat stages,
* 5 mountain stages,
* 4 medium mountain stages,
* 2 individual time-trial stages.

Distinctive aspects of the race

* 4 mountain finishes,
* 2 rest days,
* 82 kilometres of individual time-trials,
* 17 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.

You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little sleepy over the next few weeks. The stages are run each day in France which is late at night here in Perth.

C’mon Cadel.