Tour analysis: The Cobra strikes

Except for Ricardo Ricco and a few other riders who tried to win stage 9, the peloton’s tactic today was tepid at best. Ricco, nicknamed the “Cobra from Formigeni”, attacked 30k from the finish and was never seen again.

Although the move might be considered a waste of energy (he gained a measly 77sec !), considering that the stage tomorrow goes up to Hautacam, deep in the Pyrenean region of Spain, Ricco’s gain of over a minute was a show of panache, eerily similar to the attacks of the late, great Marco Pantani. And if Ricco decides to go after the general classification instead of hunting for stages, the measly seconds could be important as there are no bonus times (20, 12 and 8sec) for the top 3 stage finishers this year.

Ricco’s attack was so forceful that you’d think like the rest of the peloton were simple club riders. It reminded me of yesterday’s stage, when Mark Cavendish sprinted past the great sprinters in the same fashion.

I think the rest of the favorites- Alejandro Valverde, Cadel  Evans, Carlos Sastre and Dennis Menchov were simply content to ride tempo. It was also obvious that no team was strong enough to control the climb that the favorites decided it was best to just cruise. But of course, it was bad racing to see. I miss the Postal Train and Lance Armstrong!

Tomorrow’s stage is huge, with the hors category climb of the Col d’Tourmalet as the appetizer which is 19km long and with an elevation of 6935ft. The average gradient is 7% with 10% in some sections. The finish will be at the ski resort of Hautacam, a 16km climb of 4500ft. The gradients are similar with the Tourmalet but will be harder as the racing gets faster and the riders gets more fatigue from the effort.

Cadel Evans hit the deck yesterday. He had painful gashes all over his body. I know that sleep would not come easy to the Australian. How his body would react to the injury would be very interesting. Alejandro Valverde also crashed a few days earlier and his bandages made him look like the Michelin Man but I think he has alredy recovered.

Going back to Ricco, I like his attitude. He is very outspoken but can back it up. I think he will be a very important rider in the future. The only problem with Ricco is his naturally high hematocrit count. The allowable hamatocrit is 50 while the Cobra’s 52. While he claims that the UCI already knew about his situation, this did not stop the media rom pestering the Italian. Also, it would be interesting how ASO would react to this situation considering that its not in good terms with the UCI.