21 July 2007

How I watched Stage 13

I spent most of today wandering around Paris looking for a memory card reader for a digital camera. Having located one at an electronics store in the Latin Quarter, I strolled down to the side of the Seine and popped into a small bar that had a big LCD HDTV on the wall.

In broken French I asked the bartender about the Tour de France and she replied that she would see if it were on.

IT WAS. The national television station here in France was running today's stage live. So the coverage began early and I got to see the racers in a more romantic and genuine atmosphere.

By the way, for snacks at the bar, they had boiled eggs. I had one just to be polite. Otherwise I would have eaten two.

I also found out that the reason more bars don't have the Tour stages on television is because people who care about the Tour - and she assured me they were legion - were either at the Tour or at home watching on their own television.

I decided to be like a Parisian and rushed home at 4:20PM to watch the final four riders finish.

SPOILER - TIME TRIAL RESULTS

The leaderboard has been jumbled. Here's how the Top 10 finished today's Stage 13 Time Trial.

The top 10 in stage 13 is:
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) AST - 54.0km in 1h06'34"610
2. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 1'14"
3. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST at 1'39"
4. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST at 1'44"
5. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) COF at 2'14"
6. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR) DSC at 2'16"
7. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 2'18"
8. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) COF at 2'38"
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 2'39"
10. Mikel Astarloza (ESP) EUS at 2'42"

Rasmussen finished at 00:02:55 which allows him to remain in yellow, but the leaderboard now has a whole host of new names at the top. And other smiling faces have dropped down the board a ways.

Here's the new top 50...

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 58:46:39.000 00:00:00.000
2 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 58:47:39.000 00:01:00.000
3 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 58:49:10.000 00:02:31.000
4 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 58:49:13.000 00:02:34.000
5 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 58:50:16.000 00:03:37.000
6 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 58:51:02.000 00:04:23.000
7 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 58:51:24.000 00:04:45.000
8 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 58:51:46.000 00:05:07.000
9 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 58:51:49.000 00:05:10.000
10 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 58:52:08.000 00:05:29.000
11 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 58:52:27.000 00:05:48.000
12 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 58:52:27.000 00:05:48.000
13 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 58:53:38.000 00:06:59.000
14 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 58:53:43.000 00:07:04.000
15 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 58:54:16.000 00:07:37.000
16 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 58:54:24.000 00:07:45.000
17 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 58:54:28.000 00:07:49.000
18 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 58:54:57.000 00:08:18.000
19 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 58:55:52.000 00:09:13.000
20 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 58:57:04.000 00:10:25.000
21 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 58:57:16.000 00:10:37.000
22 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 58:57:29.000 00:10:50.000
23 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 58:59:48.000 00:13:09.000
24 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 59:00:02.000 00:13:23.000
25 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 59:00:20.000 00:13:41.000
26 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 59:00:25.000 00:13:46.000
27 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 59:01:59.000 00:15:20.000
28 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 59:02:00.000 00:15:21.000
29 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 59:02:26.000 00:15:47.000
30 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 59:02:29.000 00:15:50.000
31 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 59:06:00.000 00:19:21.000
32 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 59:06:21.000 00:19:42.000
33 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 59:06:34.000 00:19:55.000
34 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 59:07:33.000 00:20:54.000
35 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 59:13:50.000 00:27:11.000
36 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 59:14:04.000 00:27:25.000
37 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 59:14:32.000 00:27:53.000
38 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 59:17:12.000 00:30:33.000
39 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 59:18:16.000 00:31:37.000
40 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 59:19:40.000 00:33:01.000
41 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 59:20:11.000 00:33:32.000
42 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 59:22:00.000 00:35:21.000
43 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 59:24:13.000 00:37:34.000
44 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 59:25:23.000 00:38:44.000
45 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 59:25:23.000 00:38:44.000
46 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 59:26:00.000 00:39:21.000
47 193 IGLINSKIY, Maxim KAZ AST 59:26:51.000 00:40:12.000
48 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 59:27:21.000 00:40:42.000
49 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 59:29:22.000 00:42:43.000
50 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 59:31:33.000 00:44:54.000