It is all Stuart O'Grady's fault....

Oy oy.

After writing the post below and talking with people on the cycling boards about the Tour de France over the last day or two, I found I had one more thing to say.

The title of this post is somewhat misleading. I really like Stuart O'Grady. He's one of the only sprinters in the peloton that isn't afraid of attacking and going on breaks in the big tours. He's done it a bunch in the past and I always love seeing it.

I talked below about how the pace of the first week and the toughness of the mountains made it nearly impossible for the teams of the main sprinters to chase down breaks in the last week. Stages 16, 17 and 19 were RIPE for a sprint finish, but no-one in either Confidis or Davitamon-Lotto had the power or motivation to chase them down. They ended up having big breaks off the front, so the main pack was stuck at the back fighting it out for the minor placings.

That's where my buddy Stuart O'Grady could have made a difference. Had he made it into one of those breaks and ridden hard to stay away, both Davitamon-Lotto and Credit Agricole would have had to chase. Who else was going to do it??? (I am) Thor (God of Thunder) Hushovd** wasn't going to get into a break. He had a decent lead in the points chase. Robbie McEwen wasn't going to do it because he's the stealth guy who comes out of no-where in the middle of a chaotic pack to compete and often win a sprint stage.

That leaves O'Grady. He was high enough placed in the green jersey competition that both Davitamon-Lotto and Credit Agricole would have to chase, yet not so high in the GC to have inspired T-Mobile, CSC or Discovery Channel to not let him go. (T-Mobile was too busy chasing down Vino to do much else.) ;)

Now I know that the tour is full of what-ifs. What if McEwen hadn't been penalized in Stage 3? What if O'Grady had been equally penalized in Stage 3 for starting the pushing? What if Tom Boonen hadn't dropped out? What if Eddy Merxcks had come out of retirement and ridden one last tour and kicked EVERYONE'S asses. (just kidding about the last one).

I guess my point is that there was one person who could have brought life to the points race during the last week of the tour. It would have been damn cool to see.

Go get 'em next year, Stuart. You're due for some quality time in green.

Pete

** The "I am Thor, God of Thunder" thing is from one of my favorite books. It was written by Douglas Adams. Ask if you don't know about it.