We are now approximately half way through this year's Tour de France, which has been action packed to say the least. There have been crashes, bad car drivers, surprisingly in form riders and much much more. I can't really think of a more action packed start to a Tour in recent years.
The number of crashes that we have has so far on this Tour has been absolutely unbelievable. Wiggins, Van den Broeck, Vinokourov, Horner and the list goes on. It's really strange. Last year there were no way near the number of crashes. The difference I think is most likely down to the the fact that the average speed of the race has risen considerably over the last couple of years meaning that when you crash it hurts a lot more.
We should also not forget the terrible crash on stage 9, caused by a rubbish driver. If there is one powerful image coming out of this Tour so far it is that. How a driver can be so ignorant and unaware is beyond my understanding. All he had to do was slowly brake but instead in a sudden movement he swerved and hit Flecha, who then hit Hoogerland, the latter crashing into barbed wire at top speed. Disgraceful.
In terms of stages, Cavendish has shown his form by winning 3, and could of won 4 if he had more team mates on Stage 10, where he was only just beaten on the line by Andre Greipel. Thje two main yellow jersey holders so far on the Tour have been Hushovd and Voeckler, the current holder. Hushovd showed incredible guts to hold on to his lead for as long as he did, sticking with the climbers for example on the climb up to Super Besse. However Voeckler took over on stage 9, after getting in a breakaway and so far is also doing a very good job at sticking with the leaders. For the other jerseys, Cavendish is currently in green, Jeremy Roy, the Frenchman has the polka dot jersey and the white jersey belongs to Robert Gesink.
The scond part of the Tour is when it gets difficult, however. Tomorrow the riders face a mountain top finish at Plateau de Beille and later on in the Alps face two mountain top finishes at the Galibier and the Alpe d'Huez in the space of two days. Contador will really have to step up to the plate if he is to have any chance, as he already behind a considerable amount. Cadel Evans, the Schlecks (Frank especially) and Ivan Basso look like the strongest riders (way stronger than Contador), but we could have a few surprises in store. Who knows what's going to happen.
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