Vuelta a Espana - Saddles: No Country Farrar Men

Eurosport - Tue, 01 Sep 18:08:00 2009

Resplendent on the recent Eneco Tour, American Tyler Farrar yet again failed to cut the Grand Tour mustard on Monday.

CYCLING Tyler Farrar of the USA - 0

It seems a mystery that a man who roared to a hat-trick of wins last week on the roads of Benelux can be so off the pace in these Dutch teasers to the Vuelta.

Granted, his main lead-out man Julian Dean suffered a puncture towards the finish but on Sunday Gerald Ciolek showed it was possible to win solo - and he's a rider supposedly in poor form.

Not that Farrar was the only big-name sprinter out of sorts. Yet again, the stage was as flat as Keira Knightley and once more the likes of Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire and Farrar were left for dead.

An unlikely victory went to unheralded 32-year-old New Zealander, Columbia workhorse and former scratch world champion Greg Henderson, who was meant to be leading out Andre Greipel but decided 'What the heck, I'll go for it myself' while outpacing his master.

Vacansoleil pair Marco Marcato and Borut Bozic initiated the sprint, the former embarrassingly caught celebrating, arms aloft, on approaching the finish line, believing his Slovenian team-mate to have triumphed.

Moments after Marcato punched the air in celebration, Greipel did the same - prompting the Italian to slam his handlebars on learning his folly.

Apart from that rare moment of excitement, it was another rather boring day in Holland. Blazin' Saddles has nothing against the Dutch, but if global warming does eventually raise sea levels then at least we will be spared more inconsequential bike rides through this monotonous land.

Tuesday's stage four should spice things up with an undulating route that splices Amstel Gold with Liege-Bastogne-Liege to produce the race's longest stage at 224km.

With two ascents of the infamous Cauberg and a foray up Mont Theux, spectators might have something, at last, to cheer.

That said, hats must go off to the Dutch fans who are lining the streets in their thousands every day.

Maybe it is because their country is so dull that they compensate by over-enthusing about what would otherwise be a few tedious days in the saddle.

Follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day on www.twitter.com/saddleblaze.

Enjoy LIVE commentary of stage four of the Vuelta with Eurosport-Yahoo! from 10:45 UK time on Tuesday!!

Felix Lowe / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 12 of 12

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  1. I think there are a lot of good sprinters out there but­ I after every sprint stage I'm thinking "well­ Cav ain't here". I don't believe you can­ say Cav isn't a great sprinter due to his­ opposition at the time. Who would dare turn around and­ say well Merckx was average just everyone at the time­ was @#$%?? Also makes the sprints a little more­ exciting than the Tour when leadout men can legitimitly­ win sprints.

    2

    From Calum, on Wed 2 Sep 11:40PM

  2. Keira's so flippin hot...she's makin you sexist­ Zoran, makin BS blatantly, repeatedly sexist...Maybe BS­ could share around the anatomy 'humour' by­ describing the prologue 'as short as BS' penis­ after he's had a swim in the pool'

    From demi162, on Tue 1 Sep 1:53PM

  3. Interesting feedback. I have been reading and watching­ this site for a few years now and suppose that enough­ was enough of the BS from BS. I am fully aware of his­ "role" and lack of respect for anything or­ anyone! I read all of the input on this site with­ interest and like it or not I will continue to comment­ where I see fit. I just believe that this sort of­ sensationalism and gutter journalistic style is better­ suited elsewhere!

    I am going to leave it at that.

    From obriendonal, on Tue 1 Sep 12:54PM

  4. "the stage was as flat as Keira­ Knightley"

    LOL

    From zorangrubic85, on Tue 1 Sep 11:46AM

  5. Obriendonal, you're right: it would be poor­ journalism to simply rubbish a nation for being dull.­ But then again, BS never claimed to be journalist. For­ most of us who have been following Saddles for quite a­ while now, we kind of know what to expect - and that is­ not unbias opinions about nations and riders. Everyone­ is vulnerable to BS's whim - be they French, Dutch,­ American, Alexander Vinokourov, Tyler Hamilton or Lance­ Armstrong. And you say BS seems to be able to write­ with impunity without any sanction and response... how­ do you know that it isn't in his contract that if­ he does not get more than 20 comments per blog, he will­ be whipped by the Eurosport.yahoo management and go­ without renumeration?! It might explain why he has a­ pop at virtually everyone and doesn't hold back for­ fear of offending people like you. Indeed - he needs­ people like you to cause a fuss... which kind of makes­ you the butt of his writing, doesn't it?

    From , on Tue 1 Sep 11:21AM

  6. I find that most of the comments "against" BS­ (and I guess none of you see the significance of­ "BS" either) are from those who take­ themselves far too serious... the name in of itself­ invokes parody...

    PSSST - this is NOT journalism at­ its finest nor was it ever intended to be...

    If you­ don't like, don't read it....

    And­ unfortunately I train in the Black Forest... where you­ get to contend with wind and hills...

    dwp

    From David, on Tue 1 Sep 10:35AM

  7. Lads, stop taking him seriously! It's all tongue­ in cheek. I love it, especialy as there's a grain­ of truth in what he says...Just a grain, mind you.

    From Paul, on Tue 1 Sep 10:34AM

  8. yo saddles... let us know when ur going back to ur day­ job stacking shelves, will you..? thnx

    From vern_sampson, on Tue 1 Sep 10:22AM

  9. Farrar is a good sprinter, but amonst average­ competition - Cavendish is way ahead. This goes­ someway to explaining the carnage at the end of many­ stages, as the so-called sprinters teams are hardly­ faster than the rest, so the peleton doesn't get­ strung out and becomes dissorganised. I think the art­ of pure sprinting is dying out on the road.

    From pedro118118, on Tue 1 Sep 10:15AM

  10. RK,

    Fully understand your point about the mountains­ and agree somewhat but my response is more aligned to­ the continued trash journalism being spouted by this­ individual.

    I feel quite justified in writing the­ comments in no.1 and feel that BS seems to be able to­ write with impunity without any sanction or response.­

    I also believe some of the greatest racing has been­ played out on roads which never raise or fall more then­ a few metres. I challenge him to come and race in­ Holland in the wind and open roads where professionals­ have time and again been found wanting and left­ crying....

    My response was simply that to rubbish a­ whole (very proud cycling) country and nation for being­ "dull" is just poor journalism.

    From obriendonal, on Tue 1 Sep 9:43AM

  11. In relation to comment one the point is that cycling is­ most exciting in the mountain stages.

    From RK, on Tue 1 Sep 9:08AM

  12. You must be one of the most ignorent people who has­ ever written on this site. Maybe you believe that by­ insulting a whole nation that you will keep things­ interesting and people will comment thus making your­ pathetic "stories" interesting but would you­ just do us all a favour and disappear off our­ planet.

    I come from Ireland (lovely country, nice­ people, not boring) have lived and raced in many­ countries and now make my home in Holland (also a­ lovely country, nice people, not boring). They have a­ cycling pedigree which most nations on the planet would­ love to enjoy, a landscape which makes for some­ seriously hard riders and a fan base which makes it a­ joy to compete at any level.

    I realise you will­ probably have to stay with Eurosport as there is no­ space under the rock for your ill-informed, narrow­ minded, over inflated ego, but do us all a favour and­ give it a go!

    From obriendonal, on Tue 1 Sep 8:36AM
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