2005 Tour de France Cookin'

It looks like that Lance Armstrong is cooking the same recipe all over again. In the past tours that he had won, he always took control of the race during the first climb. Not only did he controlled the race today but demolished the ambitions of T-Mobile, who were in great spirits just 4 days ago. Alexander Vinokourov, the de facto leader of T-Mobile lost 5.18. Jan Ullrich could only look at the fleeing Lance while Andreas Kloden wisely waited for his captain. Both lost 2.14 to LA. They are 4.02 and 2.16 behind respectively.

Just before the stage, the T-Mobile was insisting that Ullrich is their leader when Vino was obviously stronger. In a way, LA decided for T-Mobile by putting the leadership issue to rest. Vino went down from #1 to #3 in the team leadership with just 10km to go.

Team CSC also appeared as a real contender, placing 3 riders in the top 10 including yellow jersey Jens Voigt. Voight, not a contender for the overall, lost 30+ minutes while Bobby Julich lost 5.18. Ivan Basso, CSC captain was the last rider to be jettisoned in the lead group and lost 1.02. He is 2.40 behind overall.

What makes the tour great is its unpredictability. As the favorites went to the back, three new faces appeared to challenge LA to Courchevel.

One was KOM leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank, winner of stage 9, who was able to hang on to Lance's coattails to the finish. Nicknamed "chicken" for his spindly legs, Rasmussen is typical of a pure climber- fragile riders. They could fly over mountain passes one day and bomb out the next day. They are also notoriously poor time-triallist. Chicken came in 1st and 3rd in the last two stages but a rest day was sandwich between those days. Well see how he fares in his successive day in the mountain tomorrow.

Two of the three were teammates in the Illes Baleares team. Team captain Paco Mancebo is also a pure climber who only showed us what he can do this year. But at 29yo, I think he has already plateaued. 25 yo Alejandro Valverde who pipped LA on the line, could probably be LA's heir if he can improve his time trialling in the next few years. The kid can also sprint.

The possibility of Valverde winning this year's tour is probably remote since he's 3.16 behind LA in the overall. But if he can get in a breakaway, maybe he can win but then again, that's wishful thinking.

The tour is not over, with the Alps still on tonight. Then there's the Pyrenees, which is harder than the Alps. So don't get dismayed by the poor howing of CSC and T-Mobile, this is not yet in the bag for LA.

Sprinter's jersey Green Jersey (maillot vert)

Introduced in 1953, the green jersey is the second most important jersey in the tour. Sprint points are given along the route and on the finish line. The rider with the most points at the end wins this jersey. Also called as the sprinters jersey, it's not always the best sprinter that wins it but the most consistent. To win this jersey, you should be able to survive the mountains. That's why Mario Cipollini, the most amazing sprinter in the last decade, has never won the green jersey. That's because he goes home to Italy once the road starts to tilt upwards.

Past winners include Eddy Merckx, Djamoulidine Abdujaparov and Laurent Jalabert. In the past few years, this jersey was owned by the Australians. Last year's winner was Aussie Robbie McEwen.