Let's make a first point after the two first HC stages ..
But before , there was the middle mountain stage where Gutierrez gained 30" on Sheringham-Scholl and more than 1' on the others opponents for gk . I'm not sure it was so good for him .. now he's chased everytime he tries something . But he took a good option for the final podium . And we saw Scholl blocking Sheringham and Sheringham blocking Scholl .. Let's hope it won't happen often during the tour . Then the flat stage , big try by JPS , Gonzos off . Could have worked but bugmugs controlled well the peloton . Then Gonzos arrived and the group got caught . Of course we had an escape which won because we have no sprinters teams .. But we didn't have chaos , that's a good thing .
First HC stage : veryyy loooooong .. Very hard for Gonzos to controll everything and I didn't work because everybody saw that I was less strong in the TT . So Scholl was the big favo . The escape was gone , that was clear so the climbers had to fight only for GK . First km well-ridden by Gonzos/ZL .. he made the climbers attack by just putting a 70 in tempo . Almost all the 85 attacked , they took 15" . Then Lhotellerie behind who came back really easily . Riding with Sheringham was really hard .. Waiting for the double attack Lhotellerie-Scholl , but then I had to be very careful if Lhotellerie stopped tempo .. And I had to attack at the same moment of Scholl . Well-done , but I lost 16" .. It's much , but that could have been more . First I thought Bugmugs rode bad with Gutierrez , not enough patient .. But finally , he did a not bad uphill and could take the yellow .
Second HC stage : Shorter , but again hard to controll for just a team . I didn't want to ride too much , so I send Gautherie in the escape . It was just my goal when I did that , no plan yet . Escape really strong again , 3 Die Adler , 2 JPS . Almost everybody with more than 65 mountain . Gonzos chased hard again . He attacked with 2 70-80 before a hill , then sieb with Lhotellerie . Finally , I could come back so he didn't do great operation here I think . The stage finished with two hills .. One really long but not so hard , and an other one shorter but really hard . With Gonzos , we're less strong in TT , so we have to gain time .. So Lennox attacked , just to see . If nobody reacts behind , Sheringham goes the other km . Gonzos would be on me for sure , but who cares .. First we beat the TT-men , then we'll see with Scholl . But big surprise , Lennox was followed by Lhotellerie who was followed by Gutierrez & co .. Better than expected . Hopefully they didn't ride in front , which would have been difficult to catch . Now we're back .. Bugmugs is riding , Gautherie is between the front and the peloton . I saw a 7% . Ok , let's attack . Sheringham and Scholl .. Ouff , didn't want Maurice with us at all .Then I looked at the chat , Gonzos says it's too early .. Shit , I'm disappointed . But now , we have to try . We caught Gautherie at the right moment but then we siebed him . Mistake here .. Should have helped him with Roby , to lose less time on the next 5% . But ok , we have 50" and a big downhill . Let's pray Lionel is strong .. And he was . We arrived at the last hill with 1' . First km , attack by Gutierrez . Excellent ! They are losing power too .. 1'03" finally , good day , hard for the power , but a good day .
Following post will analyze the GK , before and after the last TT with the actual gaps .. but later
