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93rd Tour de France - presented by

Stage 11, Tarbes - Val d'Aran - Pla-de-Beret, 208K

13 July

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
Orange Crush

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap, Stage List, Stage Profile, Photos

It was not the orange team we were all probably expecting to set the Pyrenean roads alight. But Rabobank did a phenomenal day's work to blow the field to pieces on the roads of the Tour de France.

Early on, T-Mobile was doing their impression of US Postal/Discovery Channel by having 3 or 4 of their men on the front setting a hard, but not infernal tempo, shedding riders bit by bit, trying to set things up for their man Andreas Klöden. Klöden, however, failed on his Lance Armstrong impersonation when it was his turn to take over.

The real story today for the Double D was Michael Boogerd. Boogerd is a rider who, 99.999% of the time does absolutely nothing for me. He inspires such apathy in me, it's hard to even put into words. But today, he was an absolute trojan. The pacemaking he was laying down for Menchov on the final climb was BRUTAL! And then after he blew things to pieces he still managed to finish ahead of Klöden after dropping him! Amazing!

Levi Leipheimer showed us today he ain't dead yet. With a strong performance today and practically a whole Tour left (practically speaking) he has a lot of time to gain on those who stand between him and yellow. My prediction though is that he will not be able to topple Floyd Landis and the best he can hope for is 2nd or 3rd.

"No Fuss" Floyd rocked the mike today. Never once did he look in a spot of bother. Pedalling along, following the pace set by Kessler, Rasmussen and then Boogerd without a teammate in sight, and then keeping his cool enough not to be tempted by stage victory and go for the overall, today he convinced me that he is THE MAN to beat!

I think that Denis Menchov is definitely surprising a few people though. I never imagined him being at this level. But, like I said, we have a ways to go still. He sure looked strong today though! As steadfast and dependable as old LA, just following his domestiques pace as cool as you like, while they rip the legs off the opposition, and then coming through to deliver the death-blow. He didn't quite deliver on the Coup d'grace, but he looked strong nonetheless.

Gearge Hincapie answered the question everyone has been asking all year today. Being a team leader is a lot different than being a super-domestique. Interesting! If George was riding for Lance on the climbs today, he would've been doing what Rasmussen and Boogerd were doing.

Floyd Landis looks very strong and self-assured though. Barring catastrophe, I can't see him being beaten. If I had to guess right now, I would say

1. Landis
2. Menchov
3. Leipheimer