The town of Toulouse has seen the Tour de France 25 times in its history, the last being in 2003 when the Triple Crankset rode the Tour. Back then, a young Juan Antonio Flecha soloed to victory for his iBanesto.com team and unveiled his signature salute.
Today, it was Team Columbia providing all the fireworks. The team formerly known as T-Mobile, before being taken over by its California based sports management group, High Road, has seemingly slipped under the radar because of their new exterior. However, the latest inception of "America's team" is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.
On a rain drenched Stage 8, Bob Stapleton's charges provided a textbook example of a lead-out in delivering not one, but two of their sprinters to the finishing line, while in the same instance they shepherded their team leader to the line in order to protect his yellow jersey. Mark Cavendish took his second stage and the final lead-out man in the Columbia train Gerald Ciolek came in second.
Teammate Kim Kirchen stayed upright and retained the maillot jaune for another day, though he is sure to face a heavy assault from all sides in the next few days.
Next: Stage 9 - Sunday, July 13 - Toulouse - Bagnères de Bigorre (224km). The profile says it all, this should be the first big sorting out of the General Classification, that is, unless they wait till Monday to really have a go.
More:
New York Times - Cavendish Wins Tour Stage as Kirchen Keeps Lead
Isle of Man Today - Mark Cavendish: The road to glory
Cyclingnews - Columbia carries Cavendish to second stage victory
Photos: Leonard Basobas (top); AP Photo/Laurent Rebours (center)
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