The Tour Pool

After all was said and done, thanks to all of you and our sponsors this year’s Tour Pool has contributed $1,080 to the Seenite Sports espoir bursary. As you all know, this bursary plays a big role in helping young, up-and-coming riders from our area.
It was a good Tour, and next year’s race is shaping up to be even better. What’s more, the Canadian contingent in the Tour is liable to grow – and could start posting some stage wins, after Ryder Hesjedal claimed a stage of the Vuelta a Espana in September. The Tour Pool will also be a good one, and we have some rule tweaks that will add to the interest.
It’s been awhile since the last posting – sorry about that. I was distracted with things like getting married, and all.
So, until next year. Start saving your pennies – you’ll need 1,000 of ‘em, that’s three a day. All the info will be updated at the appropriate time at 7thgroove.com/letour.
– KW

So, the moment everyone’s been waiting for: The announcement of the prize winners in the 2009 Tour de France Pool! Based on the updated final ranking (check it out here) with ties broken and late payers rehabilitated. Read the rest of this entry »

Now comes the final reckoning.
Could STEVE HEART LANCE hang on to the top spot in the overall standings? Is Jennifer & Patrick still Lanterne Rouge? Who guessed the total number of finishers right? All these questions, and more, are about to be answered. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATED on July 27 at 11:00 pm: And then there were three … Between paypal, cash at the bike shop and promises (I can be gullible …), only three entrants have yet to pay:
Peter Metuzals
Adam Glendenning
mastercontrol.it
What’s more, Craig Deveer paid, but never entered. Thanks Craig!
Kris W.

So, who bagged the final stage of this year’s Tour Pool? Appropriately, it was Team “Going for Sprinter Glory” Heins with his third stage win and a solid 41 points, ahead of Bill Richardson with 34 and Sweet Dreams and Julian Hine tied for third at 31 points. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Cavendish left no doubt as to who the sprinter of 2009 is, bagging his sixth stage of this year’s Tour on the Champs Elysees by several bike lengths. Read the rest of this entry »

The Tour leg to the top of Ventoux gave us a new winner in this year’s Tour as Juan Manuel Garate finally bagged a stage win. And so it was in the Tour Pool, as Jeffrey Furry got his first win of this year’s pool, joining the select band of stage winners in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

The highly anticipated stage to the top of Mont Ventoux was, as expected, the decisive stage of the Tour de France. But it was more decisive in the sense that nothing much changed among the top 10 overall; instead, the stage reinforced the pecking order in this year’s Tour. The biggest gain came from Roman Kreuziger, who moved up three spots to ninth overall, at the expense of Astarloza and Le Mevel, but despite all the fireworks on the mountainside it was pretty much status quo for everyone else. Read the rest of this entry »

Every day is different in the Tour Pool, and Stage 18 delivered yet another new winner in the Pool. Today it was Luise and Leslie who took a fine win with 62 points, followed by Team Tina B one point behind. After a poor start, Luise and Leslie have hauled themselves up 65 places in the Tour Pool to the top 20. Not bad going at all. But all eyes are on STEVE HEART LANCE, who didn’t disappoint with a fine third place tied with six other entrants. Steve maintains his Tour Pool lead over Blaine Penny, who trails by 10 points. Read the rest of this entry »

The Manx Missile got himself back in the winner’s circle today after a tricky little sprint into Aubenas, showing once again that in a straight drag race to the line nobody can touch him. Green jersey Thor Hushovd and another top-drawer sprinter, Gerald Ciolek, never looked like they could come around Cavendish and followed him over the line in that order. It’s still mathematically possible for Cavendish to take back the green jersey in Paris, but it would take some misfortune on Hushovd’s part for it to happen. Despite Cav’s five stage wins, time has run out for him in the points standings. Read the rest of this entry »