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Dave's Dogmatic Dribbles
By Dave Osborne
Jul 11, 2004, 18:23

Tour de France - Stage 8

There were no overnight withdraws or visits by police for that matter.

You could see yesterday that Moreau was trying to improve his position and today he again made that effort. He managed to make the spotlight for a few moments but unfortunately doesn’t make the top ten at the finish.

I think my boss, Thomas, is feeling pretty good. Thomas resides in Denmark and I’m sure he enjoyed Jakob Piil and a few comrades lead the way today with a maximum gap of 5:45. Jakob, another Dane is also on team CSC from Denmark. Go figure! Although Piil and the other three were eventually swallowed up, he has been showing his aggressiveness the entire Tour. He now gets designated as “Mr. Attack” by this writer.

Basically, it was just another day at the office. Here’s what happened: race, rain, crash, swallow attack group, get close to finish, and crash. I guess that sums it up. Apparently, the first big crash was caused by a dog crossing the road. I wonder if it was a German Shepard or French Poodle!

Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) takes the stage win ahead of Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo). Roadcycling.com diarist Julian Dean did a fantastic job to help Thor in today's sprint. Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.

In the end, Thor Hushovd easily wins the sprint. Since he is the Norse God of thunder, you think he could do something about the rain. I wonder if he has a tattoo of a hammer and a lightning bolt? Lance said Voeckler could keep the yellow for about a week and it seems to be holding true.

Tyler Hamilton seemed calm in his interview with Roadcycling.com. However, he said “it can make the stage very difficult if you start to relax.” I think he will enjoy the rest day but he stated Tuesday’s stage is not much different than today’s. He said, “Wednesday is really when the second half of the tour starts.”

Dave

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