Well, you can't say the Pyrenees aren't lively: between Luke Durbridge attacking a Movistar soigneur who inadvertently got in his way, Valverde's squad ruthlessly eliminating a bonked and helpless Tejay Van Garderen from the podium slugfest, and a coupla French riders other'n Chavanel who actually don't suck battling it out for both the third place overall and the prized white jersey, it's !@#damn carnage out there! So let's chat:
Oleeeeeee, Ole Ole Oleg: so the entire purpose of Alberto Contador's season is !@#$ed, first by his leg-breaking crash and then by surgical complications now screwing him out of the beloved Vuelta, and what does a despondent Plan-B-less Tinkoff-Saxo do? That's right, bag three huge mountain stages and the polka-dot jersey in short order, even without high-pass superdomestiques Roman Kreuziger and Jesus Hernandez in hand. Uh, Oleg, not to besmirch either young Majka or we love Mick Rogers, but you *might* wanna ask these guys to cool their jets just a *little* bit--you *want* the narcs so suspicious you have to find the squad a Band-Aid sponsor next year just to plug up the holes from their surprise 2 a.m. doping tests?
Polka Party: meantime, much as it rips my guts out to see dear Purito losing the polka-dot jersey to Rafal Majka, I gotta say, since Rodriguez' main goals for the year were supposed to be the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta anyway, maybe it's better for him to conserve some energy now for the Vuelta and not squander it all defending the King of the Mountains. Oh, hell with that, go for it Purito--*then* kick everyone's !@# in September!
Race to the Bottom: in wholly disgusting and hopefully inaccurate news, the peloton's now wracked with the word that alleged Orica-Greenedge class-act Michael Albasini called French breakaway companion Kevin Reza a "dirty negro" for failing to work in the break, which according to team management was simply a "misunderstanding" pleasantly resolved between the two riders with a "handshake." !@#$, Albasini, you're lucky it wasn't pleasantly resolved with a punch to the jaw a lifetime ban and immediate expulsion from the race! Sigh, and here I'd heard in sport this was mostly a soccer problem...
Just Say No (or "Neigh"): and, over in the rarified world of horse racing, I see even the unimpeachable Queen Elizabeth's prize horse has been busted for pony doping, upon which the royal family promptly blamed--and you can't make this !@#$ up--"contaminated feed." That's right, now you gotta hire one guy just to go and hand-pick a bale o' organic clover for the sensitive beastie, none o' this cheap tainted Chinese suspect hay anymore...
Haut(acam) Couture: finally, the mountains ain't over yet, as even a cagey and perhaps superstitious Vincenzo Nibali concedes, with brutal climbs up both the hors categorie Tourmalet and Hautacam tomorrow, and the best chance for anyone to crack Alejandro Valverde's increasingly iron-clad second place. Me, I'm looking for Tejay to get his wings back before Peter Sagan's desperate next-day last-chance stage before the Champs-Elysees. And of course, where else but tomorrow for Purito to grab back that dashing dotted jersey again? Allez, the lot of you--but I wouldn't mind a former Euskie grabbing the stage! Here, WWF champ Durbridge throws it down:
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