ToC Stage 4

Juan Jose Haedo takes his second stage win in the ToC ahead of Fast Freddy Rodriguez. For a guy who said that he wasn't feeling that good in the later part of the stage, he sure is doing a pretty good job against a bunch of stud pro-tour sprinters.

Get a good look at J.J. in his United Pro Cycling team jersey, because he's not going to be wearing it for long if he keeps this up. There's a lot of reported chatter amongst the pro-tour teams that Haedo is super-talented and should be riding for a European pro-tour team. We'll see...

Something else
Read the Decontructing the Break section on Velonews' report of stage 4. There was a lot of "controversy" regarding Chris Horner bridging the gap to the day's main break.

Here are my thoughts:

Horner's move was full of great tactics for his team. If the guys in the break don't like it, then either drop him or shut up.

If Phonak didn't like it because they weren't able to pawn the pace-setting duties off on a sprinters team, too bad; that's the price you pay when your guy is in the leaders jersey.

If Phonak thinks Horner really bridged to that group as a result of seeing Floyd have a mechanical, then they're delusional. Chris has been around pro-cycling long enough to know the basics, and Phonak should've realized that and not whined to him when he returned to the peloton.

Grow up, this is bike racing!

Another Something else
I noticed while watching the end of yesterday's stage this morning...The UPC team may be disrespectful to the "stars and bars" jersey of the U.S. champion by having their kits look too much like it, but one thing about their kits that I do like is the last name of the rider is printed on the back each of their jerseys. That is something that could make deciphering who's in breaks a lot easier if more teams followed suit.

As For Today
Another opportunity for everybody to attack the poo out of Phonak. 105.32 miles from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara.

Stage 5 begins along the flat coast before heading inland towards a four-mile category one climb across San Marcos Pass. This area, near Solvang, will be familiar to many teams such as the Disco boys, who were training here just a month ago. The location of the San Marcos climb near the beach front finish in Santa Barbara will be strategically significant for a stage win, or possibly a GC move.

Although the climbs aren't all that difficult [for the pros], you never know what could happen after 5 hard days of racing. Them Phonak boys might be gettin tired.



Friday's Joke

A Tallahassee area mortician had a new apprentice who was learning the embalming ropes. He walked into the embalming room where a cadaver was lying on the table.

Thinking he knew enough now to begin the procedure without his boss, he began examining the body. He rolled it over and to his amazement there was a cork in its ass. Mystified, he pulled it out, and immediately heard, the Florida State Chop song come out the guys butt.

Startled by what had happened, he shoved the cork back into the cadaver and ran up the stairs to find his mentor. 'Sir, you've got to come down and help me, I've just seen something I can't believe.'

Annoyed by the naivete of his assistant, he said OK and followed him downstairs. 'There, look at the cork in the ass of that body, I couldn't imagine what it was doing there so I pulled it out. Please you do it.'

The mortician was a bit surprised to see the cork, too, so he walked to the table and removed the cork. Then the Florida State Chop song started playing.

Exasperated, he replaced the cork in its appointed position, turned to his assistant and said: 'What's so surprising about that. I've heard thousands of assholes sing that song.'