Tour, Stage 9: A Hail Storm of Attacks

Mother Nature showed her sense of humor at the end of today's stage.  The irony is that the peloton had been sticking ice packs under their jerseys in hopes of keeping cool only to have nature dump buckets of ice on their heads over the final kilometers of the stage.  Since the top GC contenders were so close to each other on time, each attacked the other in hopes of stealing the Maillot Jaune off of the shoulders of the defending Tour champion, Chris Froome (Team Sky).  BMC had the advantage of having two well placed riders, leaving Richie Porte (BMC) to go on the offensive, leaving Tejay van Garderen poised to mop up the pieces should either Porte falter or the other contenders crack.  With each acceleration or counter attack, Froome appeared to have the answer and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was the only one who was able to stay glued to the Team Sky leader.  You should know that Porte use to be Froome's final ally in the mountains when they were both on the same team at Sky.  At the end of the day, Froome held his own, with only Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchane) and Quintana who came across the line with Froome.  Porte gave away another two seconds, while his teammate van Garderen lost just over a minute, and with that BMC is no longer the highest place team in the Tour.  The honor of the yellow helmets and bib numbers now switches over to Movistar.

This is a small original watercolor and ink painting that was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from Jack Richeson & Company.  This painting, along with all of my cycling art, is available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  While you are on the site, be sure to check out my other works of art and my two cycling books.  To purchase this particular painting, just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  Bear in mind that this is a one of a kind original and once it is gone, it is gone.

To buy this painting, follow this link:

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20de%20France%202016/2822215-64-224974/PaintingA%20Hail%20Storm%20of%20Attacks%20TdF64-Greig-Leach.html#.V4MAQbgrLIU