Aside from Valverde, who is now fourth in the general classification (GC), Cadel Evans was the only other strong overall contender who showed his cards on Saturday. The Australian crossed the line in sixth place, 3:13 down on Rasmussen, and now sits sixth in the GC, 2:53 behind the yellow jersey.Pre-race favorites Carlos Sastre, Levi replica Omega 951292.10 watch Leipheimer (who had to change bikes after a mechanical failure), Andreas Kl?den, and Alexandre Vinokourov rolled through between 3:30 and 4:30 down. While a case can be made for saving some energy for the tough time trials and Pyrenean climbing stages to come in week three, their time losses on Sunday weren’t encouraging.One pre-race favorite who did take the initiative on Sunday was T-Mobile leader Michael Rogers. The Australian went with Rasmussen’s breakaway and was soon the virtual race leader.
He looked set to take the yellow jersey and solid control of the overall. But he crashed hard on a descent and was forced to abandon with a dislocated shoulder. Also crashing hard on Sunday was Australian Stuart O’Grady. The winner of this year’s Paris-Roubaix reportedly ran into a pole and was taken to a hospital with eight broken ribs, a replica Omega 4131.81 watch dislocated shoulder, and a punctured lung.Rasmussen’s win in the mountainous stage was hardly a surprise. The two-time defending champion in the polka-dot-jersey climbers’ competition was favored to be the top climber again this year.
At heart I’m a sartorial traditionalist. As such, I consider shorts to be beach or street wear and not the right apparel for the office, even ones that redefine the concept of “casual.” (All it took to get me thinking this way was a former colleague’s affection for replica Rolex Datejusts watch wearing short shorts throughout Augustand crossing his legs during meetings). But as a cycling commuter with an implicit disdain for the Washington DC metro, when the swampland humidity of summer descends, biking in pants just isn’t an option.
