Put your hand up if you didn't watch Paris-Roubaix and gasp in awe after seeing Tom Boonen cross the finishing line. If you didn't put your hand up you should be truly ashamed and as my history teacher you should have your head whacked by a large trout. Boonen's victory just oozed panache, it was a ride reminiscent of a greater time in cycling one with stars like Merckx, De Vlaeminck and Hinault, a time which is now long gone.

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This post was originally written for my blog thewhitejersey.com. Please check it out and see all the other posts that have been written there

This year for Christmas I got an assorted selection of presents. However most of them were bicycle gifts even if they wern’t intentionally meant to be. Here are my five bike related presents for Christmas.

1. Bike Gallery Cycling Socks
Thanks to Bike Gallery for this Christmas present. Last Wednesday I went on a group ride with Bike Gallery. Having enjoyed myself so much I went on their next group ride to Kanagroo Ground on Christmas Eve. Upon return to the shop I was given these socks as a Christmas Present from Bike Gallery.

Today I rode out to the 1/20 with Dad and I wore these socks. While I recently Shunned Black Socks as they were a Christmas present I decided to wear them. Let me just say these are the most comfortable cycling socks I have ever worn! While out we experienced a quick bit of rain and if I was wearing white socks they would now be gray but these black socks stayed the same colour. Thanks again to bike gallery and make sure you follow them on twitter at @bikegallerymelb

2. Niterider bike lights

Thanks to Mum and Dad for the bike light. Last night I charged it and this morning I tested it out on my bedroom floor and let me say this is the brightest bike light ever. The battery pack is small as well and is designed to be mounted under the stem but because of my Garmin I think I will mount it under the tops of my bars.

3. Cyclopedia – William Fotheringham

Thanks to Harriet and William (my brother and sister, not in that order) for the Cyclopedia. Having spent all yesterday being unsociable and reading it I have to say that this is without doubt a must have on any cyclist’s bookshelves. It is filled with everything starting from Djamolidin Abduzhaparov to AA Zimmerman and everything inbetween. It is published by the Yellow Jersey press and you can buy it from Readings. P.S Harriet is an awesome designer and if you need any graphic design check her out you can view her work at her deviant art profile

4. Limar Crono

I have already written a post about it so I won’t elaborate but thanks again to Uncle D for my awesome areo helmet. I am planing to do a test ride with it tomorrow so stay tuned for a brief review.

5. Crumpler Barney Rustle Blanket

Thanks again to Mum and Dad for my new Crumpler bag.  It is an amazing looking bag and it has a special buckle and strap that keeps it from swinging while riding. When I am next commuting I will test it out and write a brief review but from using it yesterday it feels great off the bike and has lots of good compartments plus it looks awesome with its dark colour scheme.

James

Turbo training isn't a pleasurable way to train. You go out for a short amount of time prepared for suffering and by the end you are often close to dying. Adding to that by the time you have finished you are so sweaty that if you had just got out of the shower you would be drier. So why do we subject ourselves to this sort of punishment? One simple answer; a better result on race day. Cyclists become obsessive over training Michael Hutchinson a multiple English time trial champion said that instead of racing motivates his training, he got to a point where his training motivated his racing. After my last post about Indoor training on Podiumcafe.com I got a flood of responses with many recommending sufferfest videos for indoor training. I took the community's advice and by chance Cycling tips had 10 free copies to give away I leaped on the offer and this morning I downloaded Fight club. This afternoon I completed the Training session for the fight club. Let me just say it was the most enjoyable (in other words painful) session ever. The video was based around the 2009 World Championships in Mendrisio with five sets of intervals. The hour length session was amazingly difficult however that hour flew past, this was thanks to the amazing and inspiring imagery as well as the suffering and will for it to be over. The video contained footage from the world champs. Here is the session taken from the sufferfest website:

• 5 minutes warm-up featuring video footage from a ride along the Yarra river in Melbourne, Australia from Ride By Shooting.
• Five ‘laps’ of racing, featuring footage from the UCI 2009 World Championship Time Trial and Road Race:
  • 1st lap:
    • 6:00 of tempo riding, with a few attacks to break up the field
    • 1:00 recovery
  • 2nd – 5th lap:
    • 4:00 time trial effort (with more ttacks!)
    • 2:30 climbing (with even more surprise attacks!)
    3:00 recovery (no attacks – we’re cruel, but not that cruel), featuring footage from Cyclefilm’s descent of the Col du Glandon

After 20 minutes of the workout I was swearing at the TV screen whenever ATTACK came up on the screen. While I will never enjoy the pain turbo training inflicts that is as close as I will ever get to it. For training for racing the Fight Club is the ultimate workout as it has tempo efforts, climbing and attacks. Thanks to Wade Wallace of cycling tips for the awesome freebie. I will finish here but here is the trailer for the Fight Club. James

This post originally featured on The White Jersey

With the days being short, homework and school it is hard to find time to train. One of the most effective ways to train is indoors. Indoor Training is a great way to get a lot done in a short time. Sessions are targeted and will tend to last anything from 20 min to 1 hr. When time for training is limited getting the most out of it could be the different between first and second at your next race. Here is a quick run down on how to get set up to make the most of your time.

For successful indoor training you need to have a good set up.  You can use rollers but for any serious training rollers are not ideal because they don't offer resistance. Rollers are more suited for improving cadence and for track racing as you don't need to lock your bike in.  Instead turbo trainers are the way to go. They have resistance which is essential. There are lots of companies that make trainers however the one I use is made by Kurt and it is amazing. I therefore recommend Kurt. All the Kurt trainers are of a great quality. Unfortunately this quality comes at a price though with the RRP being $599. While you don't need to spend this much it is important you get a good trainer. With some of the cheaper turbos it feels more like riding through sand than the road.

For indoor training a good speedometer is absolutely critical. This should be able to display speed, cadence and heart rate. While speedos that contain heart rate cost a premium it is necessary to have one so you can track how hard you are working. It might take a while to crack Dad but if you can it's worth it. The best speedo if you can afford is the Garmin Edge 500 HR. It comes with speed, cadence and heart rate and much more. You can program the screens and it lets you build workouts so you can track you workouts. The best part though is the fact that you can download ride data. For intervals this is especially crucial as it allows you to monitor how you improve and analyse your rides. I wrote about the analysing features on this post.

Another must is a good set up to train. It is critical to have a permanent environment for training. This should be a well ventilated place as it gets hot training. A fan is a must as well. Since there is no scenery going past inside some music or company is a definite must. For this an iPod and a dock is a tool of choice. In terms of music to listen to it is a matter of personal preference. It needs to be something enjoyable to listen to but it can’t distract you from the session. So no Justin Bieber

Fabian Cancellara in my mind now is the best rider I have ever seen in my short life. On the Mur de Grammont Fabian Cancellara was riding with Tom Boonen and after attacking 44km's to go splitting the peleton on the Molleneberg. Round the steepest corner of the Mur de Frammont Fabian just rode away from Tom Boonen. He took the corner right on the inside while Boonen was weaving all over the road and he just kept going. By the time Boonen had reached the top of the hill Cancelara was down the other side. From there he just time trialled away the rest of the stage.

After the incredible performance you have to wonder if Cancellara is one of the best riders ever. He joined the elite club of riders who have won the three biggest classics (Milan San-Remo, Tour of Flanders and the Paris-Roubaix). The thing that I find most amazing about Fabian Cancellara is the elegance of his riding. He seems just to be able to ride away from the field like in the 2008 Milan San Remo where he attacked with 2km's to go. Although I'm to young to really know about Eddy Merckx I relate him to Fabian Cancellara.

Fabian Cancellara know must have won almost every thing he really wants to win except for a Road race world championship but you've got to remember that he is only 29. He in my opinion completely open to debate the best rider I have ever seen in my life.

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I love going into a bike shop for no reason other than to drool over the best bikes, wheels and groupsets. In Melbourne where I live there is a bike shop called Cecil Walker. Cecil Walker must be one of the best bike shops in the world. My dad reccently bought a new Centaur groupset. Dad went to bike shops and asked if it was worth replacing the frame. A large majority of the bike shops said that he should when it was a five year old Giant frame that weighed 980g for a size 56cm. They said that the Giants now where so much better because of the aero seatpost and the bigger bottom bracket area. When dad went to Cecil Walker they said that there was no major difference in the Frames at that level from 2005-2010.

However the local bike shop is under siege from a new enemy. The online bike shop. Shops like PBK / Wiggle / Chain Reaction cycles are now offering amazingly low prices for equipment. You see especially in Melbourne bike shops getting attacked almost buy these shops with prices being half price. It is a question of ethics. How much would you pay for the bike shops to vanish. Now why would you buy tyre from a bike shop when a $100 tyre costs $50 from PBK.

We need to save the Local bike shop because if we don't I won't be able to drool.

For me personally the Tour de France last year wasn’t very exciting. I mean after Mark Cavendish won his second stage after 3 days of racing it was clear he wasn’t going to be beaten. Alberto did the same thing, when the Alps came around he was only a few seconds off the pace of Brice Felliu who wasn’t a GC contender anyway. After his attack on Verbier he had a large buffer on everyone else in the race.

The Tour de France’s most interesting aspect was the war between Lance and Contandor. The build up was vicious. When Contador had the bonk in the Paris Nice Lance tweeted that Bertie still had a lot to learn. It was obvious the whole time that Johann Bryuneel was favouring Lance . When Lance was suffering in the mountains he took the time to announce his new team Radioshack as if to relieve pressure off his racing.

The worst spat of the whole tour was still to come though with Contador claiming the the hotel was harder than the race as well as claiming that he had to pay for his own wheels. I known Lance is supposed to be quite a nasty guy but surely that took it to the extremes.

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2009 has been a great year for cycling. The Tour again had been on every bodies minds but one man stood above the rest. He doesn't need any introduction for anyone who has ever watched any Tour de France in the past 10 years.

The boss dominated the tour from 1999 - 2005. He started out as a Triathlete and was a very good one but as a cyclist he was even better. He was the youngest road world champion ever winning the Professional race on a cold rainy day in Oslo. He was the next American Legend just after Greg Lemond the three time winner had called it quits. In 1995 on a Pyreenean stage his team mate Fabio Casetelli died. The next day the whole Motorola team crossed the finish line ahead of the bunch but Lance attacked on a Mountain stage and when he won the race he pointed to the sky in a gesture to Fabio.

In September of 1996 Lance Armstrong was Diagnosed while Testicular Cancer but it had spread to his Brain and to his lungs. He survived against the odds and then came back as a whole new rider and won the tour 7 times. After the 2005 tour he retired but in September of 2008 he announced to the World that he was back.

He joined the mighty Astana team where his former directuer Sportif Johann Bryuneel worked and the 2007 tour winner Alberto Contador worked. For most of the year the year was a media slinging battle but when the Tour came around Alberto was the stronger.

The year also signaled the dominance of Mark Cavendish as the best Sprinter in the world. He won 6 stages in the tour de France as well as multiple stages in the Giro and the Milan san Remo. He didn't win the Green Jersey though with Thor Hushovd winning the Honor. Part of the Reason he won was a epic solo breakaway on a Mountain stage. Cavendish admired Hushovd saying that was something he would never do.

Fabian Cancellara all showed that he was the best time trialler in the world he won the World Championship time trial by an incredible margin.

The world road championship was won by Cadel Evans with an Amazing Attack with two climbs to go. Finishing an amazing year of cycling

To 2009 has been an incredible year with close fights in the Grand Tours. The war between Contador and Armstrong and amazing performance in the World Championships.

The Story of Shifting

The story of shifting is quite an intriguing one with the Penny Farthing the basis of shifting. The Penny Farthings Cranks were attached to the wheel. This meant the  rollout or how far the bike would move in one rotation of the pedals was all about the size of the wheel.

After the death of the penny farthing and the beginning of the then called safety bicycle the transmission was via a chain driven by a crankset. This meant that different ratios of gears could be used by altering the number of teeth on the sprockets or cogs on the rear wheel or the teeth on the front chainring. Bicycles from the late 1800’s to the 1930’s could have two gears with a sprocket on either side of the wheel. Those gears would be typically a flat gear and a hill gear.

The next important inovation was the what happened after the scene on the Croce D'Aune Pass in 1927. Tulio Campagnolo was in a chance to win the Gran Premio della Vittoria when he tried to change into his climbing gear. The axle nuts were frozen so he was unable to change gear. This cost the promising racer a chance at victory this brought a string of inventions that would improve gear shifting. It was on that mountain he muttered the legendary quote in cycling folklore “Something has to be changed in the rear”. He meant by this a new way of changing gear that was quicker and easier. What he did although quite a small change was to invent the quick release skewer. The skewer allowed quick wheel changes without much effort.

The next big innovation in cycling was only 10 years later with the creation of the Cambio Corsa rod gears . This worked with two rods. One was a quick release lever and the other was a rod that was used to push the chain before the days of the derailleur. Without the derailleur the dropouts would have to be long to take the slack out of the chain. How this would work is that the rider would open the quick release lever so that the wheel could move freely around the dropouts. Then the rider would push the chain onto a different sprocket and then let the chain take up the slack in the chain then you would close the quick release and then the shift was complete.

A few years after Tulio Campagnolo created the Roubaix gear shifter that combined The quick release lever and the chain pusher in one. However this didn’t last long because a couple of years later he created the Gran Sport derallieur. This was one of the single most important invoations in cycling. Put it simple it revolutionzed cycling. This meant that that the rod shifter could be replaced with downtube levers. That meant better ease of use and faster shifting as well as being more smooth with less rubbing of the chain.

Then after twenty years of innovation the changing stopped. It wasn’t that nothing improved it was just that there was no big change. The amount of gears increased as well as speed of shifting but in comparison there was no change. There has from then to now only one major innovation in cycling. Electronic shifting. The Japanese have added another innovation against the Campagnolo Italians. Electronic shifting is more efficient with the system run by a computer it makes little adjustments to the chain and overshifts to make a more efficient shift.

As you can see the technology has changed a huge amount since the now ancient Penny Farthing. Now are we at the peak can we improve the technology? There isn’t much we can think of but like the 40 year gap between Derallieurs and Dual Integration Levers not much happened. Could we say there will be another big gap in innovation all we can do is improve what we know. So that’s the story of shifting from the humble penny farthing to the Japanese computer shifting.

James Moffat

In one of my previous posts The rubbish route I talked about how I hated this years route I have to admit my opinion has changed. The Alps have brought three brilliant stages. The most apparent factor is that the tour seems like a race for second.

In the summit finish in Verbier we saw Alberto Contador attack and take the yellow jersey off Rinaldo Noccentini the Italian who had held the yellow jersey for the whole second week. He showed he was the man to beat and that no one could touch him. Andy Schleck tried to stay on his wheel though on stage 15 Contador was in a league of his own. 

The big surprises in the Alps were Lance Armstrong and Bradley Wiggins. After falling back to play the team game on stage 16 Lance attacked to get back to the elite front group. It was a stark reminder for me of Lance in a Pyreneean stage in 2004 were Basso attacked up the road and Lance counter-attacked and then went straight past Basso. Like in the Giro Lance was getting better as the tour went on.

The queen stage was the most memorable. Cadel Evans the Australian hope had cracked and after stage 16 he said that he couldn't comment for professional reasons. Up the Col de Romme and the Col de Colombrie the Schleck brothers destroyed the peleton and reorded the overall standings. Wiggins cracked as well and Lance fell victim to the rapid pace set by Andy and Frank. He played the team game and after Wiggins had lost all energy attacked and tried to get up to Contador and the Schlecks. Up the Col de Colombrie Contador had his first faux pas in the tour. He attacked and Andreas Kloden who was in the group was dropped leaving the Schlecks and Contador. Tomorrow's individual time trial will set up for a showdown on Ventoux but Contador will be to strong and will wrap up his second tour.

Well thats my opinion

After three days in Transition I have stopped writing everyday about what happened every stage. It has just got boring. The first two stages went like this:

A breakaway gets away at the very beginning. They are not let more than four minutes advantage and at a round about forty kilometres to go the chase begins and inside the last ten kilometres the catch is made and we have a packed bunch. Team Columbia get on the front and provide the grand lead out for Cav. The lead out is always perfect and with 200m to go Cav swings off Mark Renshaw's will and celebrates his latest victory.

Yesterday nights stage was a little better with the breakaway of nine staying away before Nicky Sorenson attacked solo. He held off the original breakaway to win the stage. This is more exciting but I don't watch the tour for the transition stages. I watch the tour for the excitement on the mountains. A epic attack up to the summit finishes in the tour. A gripping time trial. In these three stages not much has happened but next week we arrive in the alps for a week of racing with only one boring stage. I can't wait

This year the route has taken a turn for the worst. We have gone over the Pyrenees and what has happened in the GC next to nothing. The idea that having included the Legendary Mount Ventoux made the route great is ludicrous. The route is still rubbish because of having only two serious Mountain top finishes. If you think back all the great tour de France stages in the past 10 years have been Lance up Hautacam, Pantani on Mount Ventoux and Sastre up Alpe d'Huez. This year I believe the tour will be decided before the giant of the Province. With the individual time trial the race could be decided before Ventoux.

The other problem is two boring Pyrenees stages with the last mountains more than forty km's from the end which allowed breakaways to escape because the GC contenders thought it was to far away to attack which is true. The Alps looks a lot better but it still doesn't make up for a dull Pyrenees.

Andy Schleck will likely be to far down to get enough time and with the mighty Astana team he could probably get away. The stage were you would most likely win the tour will be the Mount Ventoux and the only man who could get away would be Alberto Contador but I bet that he will be in the yellow jersey after the Individual time trial if not before. The stage to look forward to is stage 17 the same stage which Floyd Landis attacked on to win the Tour in 2006. That is the end of my rant but I look forward to a more exciting Pyreenes next year and more summit finishes.

Stage 9 Saint-Gaudens >> Tarbes 160.5


A breakaway of three formed with Franco Pellizotti, Jens Voigt and Pierrick Fredrigo. Up the Tourmalet Voigt was dropped leaving the other two to contest the stage. Up the Tourmalet there was a truce in the peleton with the favourites realising that it was two far from the finish to attack. The breakaway had a 3:00 advantage over the peleton at the top. The chasing teams were mediocre and the breakaway stayed away with Pierrick Fredrigo taking the stage from Pelizotti. It is just showing how successful the French are in this year's tour. Normally they win a transition stage from a breakaway but this year they have won three stages by stage nine.

Now we enter two boring Pyrenees stages where we will most likely see the GC stay the same with a big climb 40 and 70km to the end respectively. The Stage going over two category one climbs and a category two started with a bang. We saw Cadel Evans launch in an attempt to regain some of his lost three minutes. Sadly Astana never allowed him to get a gap of more than 45 seconds. At the first Sprint point Hushovd a member of the early break won the intermediate sprint and moved into the green jersey.  Today they proved their dominance in not allowing Cadel to go clear.At the first Sprint point Hushovd a member of the early break won the intermediate sprint and moved into the green jersey. Up the Col d'Agnes Andy Schleck tried to launch an attack however Alberto Contador was straight onto his wheel and stopped the attack in it's tracks.

With the acceleration the peleton was split in two and the yellow jersey of Rinaldo Noccentini was in trouble. However Ag2r put in a spirited effort and brought back their yellow jersey to the lead group. Four riders had remained from the early breakaway of 9 and headed by Luis Leon Sanchez had a two and a half minute advantage at the top. 

With 4km to go Vladmir Efimkin attacked and got a 35m advantage and it stayed there until the chase began where Sanchez had to claw him back. Unfortunately Efimkin didn't go home with the win and in the sprint LLS overcame Sandy Casar to win his second stage in two years.
Tomorrow we have another high mountains stage climbing the Col du Tourmalet. Another breakaway is likely to get away with the final  mountain 70km to the finish

The Major Players

The Boss. After the first mountain range, a time trial and some tactical smarts Lance has confirmed that he is up for the challenge and will tackle Contador. The question is whether he can keep up with the young guns on Ventoux and limit his losses in the time trial.

Alberto Contador. On amazing form if not for a tactical error on stage three would be in yellow and dominating. His attack on the road to Arcalis clawed back some valuable time for the Spainard over Lance and silenced the doubters. He will try to gain yellow in the Alps if not expect a showdown in the time trial and on Ventoux.

Andy Schleck. As expected has lost time in the individual and team time trials. Will attack on stage 17 in the alps with three category 1 climbs or leave it all till Ventoux. If he can attack on Ventoux there will be a huge battle.

Cadel Evans. Out of contention in my books. Lost to much time from Astana in the TTT. In reality he can't drop Contador nor Schleck in the mountains. Is likely to lose time in the stage 18 time trial.

Carlos Sastre has stayed quiet and with Astana around he wouldn't be able to achieve the victory like last year.

Stage by Stage

Stage 1 ITT

Stage 1 saw Fabian Cancellara annihilate everybody in the time trial managing to inflict 20 seconds into Alberto Contador. Contador was amazing on the first uphill part of the course beating Fabian by five seconds in an impressive however he couldn't maintain his advantage. Although an improved time trialler he can't do what Lance used to do in the time trials.

Stage 2

Today was always going to be a sprint finish and we saw Cav and the Columbia team achieve sprint perfection. They managed to break away from the peleton in the final lead out. Cavendish proved who is the fastest man in the world in an impressive manner and Columbia team showed that their team meant business.

Stage 3

In a stage with huge crosswinds we saw the Columbia team ride off the front in a group of thirty leaving most of the main favourites behind. Of the GC riders only Lance managed to make the break. Cavendish and team Columbia again proved the goods with their second consecutive stage victory. The group ended up finishing thirty seconds ahead rearranging the GC with Lance moving to third ahead of his teammate Alberto Contador.

Stage 4 TTT

This stage saw Fabian Cancellara hold onto his jersey with only .22 of a second to spare. The Astana team proved the goods with an impressive performance dominating all their rivals. Cadel Evans fell out of the race losing two and a half minutes to team Astana.

Stage 5

Today we saw a breakaway go clear and Thomas Vockler added a stage win to his yellow jersey. Thomas Vockler couldn't contain himself and in the end only winning by seven seconds.

Stage 6

In a stage into Barcelona Thor Hushovd was the good in a uphill finish not suiting Mark Cavendish. The peleton only regrouped in the last kilometre after an attack by David Millar. The roads were wet and Micheal Roger's tour was ended after losing 14 minutes after a crash.

Stage 7

In the first mountain stage up to Arcalis a break got clear and Brice Feillu claimed the victory on top Arcalis. Behind however Contador attacked his rivals to gain 20 seconds and show who's boss. He moved up past Lance on GC and showed he was going to fight for this tour.

Stage 8

In a high mountain stage we saw Cadel Evans attack from the gun in attempt to regain some lost time. The bid was unsuccessful but it was great he had a go. The winner was Luis Leon Sanchez who had attacked from the gun and had held on to win the stage.

Stage 9

In another high mountain stage with the Tourmalet 70km from the finish it looked like another break would succeed this time a two man break held off the pack with the Frenchman Fredrigo oust sprinting Pellizotti at the end of a long day.

Next week we mainly have transition stages so expect to see a lot of Cav. We will have to wait until stage 15 for more action in the alps.

Stage 7 Barcelona >> Andorre Arcalis 224km

This was the day that other than Ventoux would decide the tour. This stage made the peleton finish 2010 metres above were it started making for a tough day of racing. Unfortunately for Christiann Pruddome this stage was not like the stage that climbed to Arcalis 12 years ago. That day Jan Ullrich climbed his way into the yellow jersey on route to collecting his only title.

A early breakaway again got away and stayed away. Brice Felliu ended up winning and I imagine he would have got a little bit of a shout from the sponsor Agritubel for not doing his jersey up as he crossed the line. If you watched the stage you would have got to witness a truly extraordinary descent from the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara after being dropped from the peleton. The highlight  of the day though was going to occur on the climb to Arcalis were we saw a unsuccessful attack from Cadel Evans before Alberto Contador blew away the front group with around two kilometres to go. This was Contador stamping his authority over the rest of the peleton. He reminded everyone of how Armstong used to attack and dance on his pedals. The chase was started by Andy Schleck but no one could have caught Contador. Unfortunately the mallot jaune was not waiting for Contador with the honour going to a breakaway man Rinaldo Nocetini. So after the first mountain stage we don't have a winner but we know Contador is on form and is going for it. The suprise of the day was Bradley Wiggins who charged home with the front group. At the moment Contador is holding a two second advantage over Lance. That most likely won't change until the summit finish in Verbier on Stage 15.

Stage 6 Gérone >> Barcelona 181.5

This Stage took the riders the furthest south the tour has ever been. The stage was a rain affected one with many rides taking the fall.Among these GC contender Micheal Rogers fell after Henrich Haussler fell on a roundabout. Their were other high profile falls such as Tom Boonen.

With a break of four off the front getting clawed back into the peleton their advantage of 50 seconds was thinning and with only 30km a win seemed unlikely. David Millar attacked from the breakaway. Millar is a great individual time triallist and was aiming to time trial to a stage victory. With the wet conditions the run in to the finish was very wet making a chase treacherous. 10km to go and Millar had an advantage of a minute making for an interesting run in to the finish. The rule of thumb is that the peleton can claw back a minute in 10km but with the conditions you couldn't be sure how it would pan out.

The peleton was organizing itself so a bunch finish did look likely. In the run in the crash that took Tom Boonen occurred. It wasn't as bad as the crash that took out Micheal Rogers and that ended his hopes for tour glory. However Rogers finished 10 mins behind the peleton. David Millar was caught on the climb to the finish inside the last kilometre leaving victory for the sprinters. The sprint was won by Hushovd overcoming the Spaniard Oscar Freire in the sprint. The sprinter are now out of the spotlight until after the Pyrenees and the first rest day.

Stage 5 Le Cap d’Agde >> Perpignan 196.5km

With huge crosswinds blowing off the Mediterranean the peleton was split into three groups. In the end the split amounted to nothing but a breakaway did. With 55km to go the breakaway had a 2:00 advantage over the peleton and with a charging peleton it looked like it would be over in a matter of kilometres. However the breakaway managed to last. The highlights I am watching skip to 7km to go. The break still had a minute advantage, with only such a small distance to go the chances were the peleton couldn't catch them.

Think back to 2004. Thomas Vockler joined a breakaway in stage 5 and then held the yellow jersey till stage 15 on top of  Plateau de Beille where he fighted to the end but lost his yellow jersey. 5km to go and Vockler took off, Ignatiev had tried to attack and so he was tired. The rest of the break was reluctant to chase so Vockler went clear. While Vockler was saluting the crowd you could see in the background the peleton charging into the finish. The french finally had a winner in their home tour. Tomorrow the finish in Barcelona is a hilly one so don't expect Cav to make it three.