Le Tour - Stage 5 - **Spoiler**

[Cathryn]

Still whupped Richard's arse, even so!

 

[simon_brooke]

Me too. Well deserved win for Thomas

You can't help but be delighted for Voeckler, he was just beaming afterwards! SO lovely to see. This is shaping up to be a great tour!!

Tomorrow's stage ends up Montjuic in Barcelona. Richard and I slogged up this hill last month on hire bikes. It was tough!!

Go Thomas!

I can remember afternoon after afternoon five years ago when I sagged off work to sit on the sofa, yelling 'Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!' as though, a thousand miles away in France, he could hear me and be encouraged.

I LOVE breakaway riders - they are the people who set races alight. I LOVE riders who will not admit they're beaten, who will not acknowledge it's hopeless, who will not bow down before the might of the big sprint teams. And of them all, although big Jens Voigt is the strongest and wiliest, Thomas is the bravest and the most foolish: the romantic, the man who rides for passion and for sentiment and for shining belief.

Go Thomas!

In the epic poem that is cycle racing, yours is by no means the least glorious stanza!

(and to think I included him in my fantasy team out of sentiment!)

 

[Cathryn]

Admit it...you had a tear in your eye, didn't you, you old romantic...

 

[Molecule Man]

Admit it...you had a tear in your eye, didn't you, you old romantic...

I certainly did. I've been cheering for Thomas since the 2004 Tour too.
It was great when you could see the peloton appear behind him, but you knew he could still win.
I do love breakaway wins like today, I guess the fact that they are usually doomed to failure makes it all the more exciting when it works.

 

[Chuffy]

I did like Cav's mini strop when they asked him what had gone wrong...

 

[Chuffy]

And I too can recall the look on Voekle Voke Tommy's face 5 years ago when he realised that he'd saved yellow.

...and the look a day later when he lost it.

 

[Skip Madness]

Tomorrow's stage ends up Montjuic in Barcelona. Richard and I slogged up this hill last month on hire bikes. It was tough!!

I too have slogged my way up Montjuic, but didn't find it too tough

























































because I used the funicular railway.

 

[John the Monkey]

Voeckler post stage interview transcribed on Eurosport;

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08072...interview-thomas-voeckler-today-believed.html

...once the escape had been established I was concerned about the two Francaise des Jeux riders in the break, I thought they would beat me at the finish. I think that without the wind, which disrupted the chase, I could not have won. In fact, I only began to believe it was possible with about 300 meters to go.