Tour de France 2014 Stage 21

Driving to Monterey

For Laura B's birthday

Took my eyes off the

Champs Élysée

Péraud took a tumble

Dang!! What a shame

So much can go wrong

In the racing game 

But ultimately Kittel

made it home free

As did Tour Champion

Nibali

The shark of Messina,

a Scorpio

Rode like a virtuoso

On the mountains

and on Pave

He really never had a bad day

Calm and serene

he inspired his team

through cloudbursts and crashes

and heat

I suspect if the top men had been there

He 'd still be hard to beat

Péraud and Pinot came deux et trois

And Bardet rode so well for what

almost was

Finally France had it's day in soliel

And the sun sets sweetly on the

Champs Élysée 

Tour de France 2014 Stage 20

Tony Martin wins the TT

Coming fourth is Nibali

Peraud came second

Heroic I reckon

Sixth place belongs to Van Garderen, T

He'll move up a spot in the GC

And  ends his race happily

A study in serenity

Romain Bardet flats and loses a place

It will take a while 'till 

his smile is replaced

Thibault Pinot does a great job

His third place in Paris makes him gallic god

Special mention to König, L

He moves up two spots by TT-ing well 

Tour de France 2014 Stage 19

A fast first hour

A five man break

At Bergerac

mauvais il fait

A sprinters' finish

in bad conditions

as  fast men 

struggle for position

But right now on the

open road

Cannon and Giant

pull the load

It's still bad out there on the route

80 miles to finish cute

A nasty hill quite near the end

Looks like a chance for Peter Sagan

Il pleut a verse

Rain torrential

     The fear factor exponential

 So much suffering 

So much pain

Now we have horrendous rain

The roads begin to undulate

Fingers crossed for safety's sake

The peloton moves like a giant snake

Garmin riders raise the stakes

Navardauskas huge risks takes

All eyes on the Lithuanian

A breakaway win?

This is insane, man!

A big pile up!

 Sagan! Bardet! Andre is down!

Navardauskas wins for Garmin Sharp

He rode with skill, guts, and heart

Pete S ages before our eyes 

another stage win fate denies

Tour de France 2014 Stage 18

Today it's about the Tourmalet

Then 69th time for this climb

Blel Kadri and Nieve lead the way

On the  climb of the Tourmalet

Nieve wants to win for Sky

They'd have one stage at least

First climbed in 1910

Tourmalet is still a beast

On the descent

Valverde appears and

opens a gap

This is his tactic

That's that about that

MoviStar has men down the line

Second place he says

Is mine! mine! mine!!

On the Hautacam

Chris Horner attacks

Nibali effortlessly reacts

It's Vicenzos' Tour

Phil says that's a fact

Every other hard man is at his back

9 climbing KMs with no respite

Nibali shows that might is right

He passes Nieve like he was standing still

An extraordinary show of will

Valverde in trouble--sorry chum

Pinot has him on the run

And also TeJay Van Garderen

5 KM Nibali is flying

Majka wants two

But the French lads say

'Phooey to you'

Pinot strives to take place two

Nibali wins with a seven min lead

Pinot in second 

Majka takes third and KOM

He's pleased to be first of the mountain men

The Polka Dots are his this year

In future all riders will have him to fear

Van Garderen still has skin in the race

But right now he's in 6th place

The Time Trials still stand ahead

But Nibali has put this year's Tour to bed

Tour de France 2014 Stage 17

Four tough climbs in the last fifty miles

Pain upon pain this stage piles

Referred to as the ring of fire

Queen Stage stakes could not be higher

The finish point at Pla d'Adet

Is a lofty goal for all today

After TeJay's post rest bad stage

A good mind set he must engage

For us mortals on the sidelines

this is the best and worst of times

Katusha rides hard for Purito

Polka Dots would be so sweet--oh!

The break of eight includes Voigt, J

Could they possibly stay away?

Kiriyenka pounces in a solo attack

Rodriguez takes points behind his back

Nibali descends breezily

But the next climb won't come easily

The toughest climb of Le Tour this year

Gives each rider something to fear

Bardet bounces back gaining time

And Valverde seems to have something in mind

Roche and Visconti both excell

Majka seems to be doing well

Ag2r shines as a team

50 points for first over the top

Nibali moves fast he's so hard to stop

TeJay hangs in rejeuvinated

T, Pinot goes on unabated 

Majka winks as he takes the 50

A Polish youth who'll go down in history

Tinkoff Saxe takes a stage times three

Another great ride for Nibali !

Valverde managed to come in 10th

Succeeding in what he meant

Fantastic work by all of the faves

This was another wonderful stage

Tour de France 2014 Stage 16

Mark showed up for the mussels meal

His team has inked a new deal--they

became  Etixx-Omega Pharm

As Mark is rehabbing his wounded arm

Tony Martin signs up for two years

Filling the OP gang with cheers

Quite sheer and sexy is next years' kit

I wonder if the lads are feeling it?

Three more days in the Pyrenees

Hopefully healed hurt hands and knees

Every team has taken their bumps

As they now approach some mighty lumps

Out with pneumonia is Costa, Rui

A total disappointment for he

Simon Yates sent home today

To save him for another day

The KOM is highly contested

And all participants are rested

Finalement a 21 man break

All teams have so much at stake

The most to gain has Kwiatkowski, M

Who could move closer to the top ten

In this this crowd Frenchman Tommy V

Looking towards a stage victory 

It would be his third at Bagnères-de-Luchon

So Tommy is saying "Allons" "Allons"!!

At the top of the Porte D'Aspet

 A ten minute lead in the breakaway

This longest stage Bob Roll says

Is about energy conservation 

With rough mountain days ahead 

And TT altercation 

The Peloton lurches forward

There's a twelve minute gap

Poor Jack Bauer struggling

Off the back

The long descent of the Porte d' Balès

raises hopes in the breakaway

Just to remind you--it's hors catégorie

Thin air adds to the GC story

They're dropping like flies

On the Porte d'Bales

Tommy V keeps attacking

Palmeres he's packing

Mike Rogers moves well

TeJay is dropped -mon deux!

Bardet struggles too--sorry for you

We're watching climbing hell

The descent is on 

Nibali holds tight

Europcar has the fight

MovieStar is lurking

But Rogers plan is working 

Tenth try is a charm

Mike raises his arm

Sorry TeJay

This wasn't your day

Pinot soldiers on

Tinkoff's Australian

Shows jubilation

Finally a win!

After so much effort

We're so proud of him!

Tour de France 2014 Rest Day 2

Revue Jour de repos

1.

 A jolly German giant Kittel, Marcel

Has a coiffure which suits him well

Movie star locks and a mighty stroke

Marcel knows his swag is swell

He is also in on the joke

As at his hair we all fun poke

Marcel's  strength makes him a brute

And yet his hairdo is so cute!

A man who proudly displays gel products

Can be excused for strength of ox

2.

Finally Le Tour de France

has some Frenchmen extant

Excellent work from Gallic born

shows France coming into form

Tony Gallopin of Belisol

wins stage 11 and thrills us all

He wore yellow on Bastille jour

Tony is having a merveilleux Tour

Ditto Pinot for FDJ.fr

Young Thibaut has come a long way

Strong in the mountains

an improving descender

He's proved to be an aggressive stage ender

He's always quick to come out and play

Especially with fellow Frenchman Bardet

They duel for supremacy day by day

He is known for a strong TT

Will he battle it out with BMC?

Romain Bardet, 23 

A natural rival for Pinot, T

Both are French, fast and young

as they strive for the podium

Let's not forget Jean Christophe Peraud

Sixth overall--On dit Chapeau!

Always working-- Pierre Rolland

For years he's been Frances' go to homme

For 25 plus years the French failed to score

But these young lads have success in store

The drought is broken for La Belle France

Our gracious hostess gets her chance

3.  

With no Berto, Cav, Froomie, (nor Brad)

Some felt Le Tour was going to be sad

Now as  3lèm semaine starts

We've surely had a change of heart

Just as the weather

Each stage hard to predict

And yet a great contest has ended it

So many heroes emerging from Chaos

All the top riders are not such a loss

Not that we don't love them still

But this year's Tour has been a thrill