It’s funny how some things work out. I’m still uncertain how I should deal with this breaking news, or if it’s even appropriate to talk about the Tour de France and about one Tyler Farrar winning a stage on the 4th of July. But I’ll go ahead and take on a couple liberties. I knew Tyler Farrar back when he was 16 and was kicking ass in Washington State’s Category I races of the United States Cycling Federation. At 15 he was already faster than any amateur racer in the Washington, Idaho and Montana racing series and whenever he would go out to defend his Junior National Championship title with the rest of us, he would just simply make it look like a joke.Be it on a time trail, on a criterium, on a stage race, Tyler Farrar was simply faster and stronger than any racer that same age I had ever seen, I had ever raced with, or quite simply I had a chance to see live. Racing against Farrar was like taking a slap to the face. He would help you realize that only a very select few has what it really takes to make it and survive in the Tour de France. That’s when at least for me it all became clear. It was the Tyler Farrar’s of the World who made it the Champs-Elysees after more then 2200 miles of cycling in less than a month. Those of us Juniors who raced against Tyler Farrar, we all knew that he couldn’t train more than we already did. We knew that he didn’t have a better or faster bike than we all did, and even if he did, it was not about the bike. We just knew that he was build to be professional racer, and despite all our efforts we weren’t.I’ve been following Farrar’s career for a while now, because for the few occasions I had to race against him, I knew that he was going to make it to the top. Little over ten year’s later, I’m writing about Tyler Farrar winning his first ever Tour de France stage, and the first American to win in the most prestigious and demanding race in the world since Levi Leipheimer placed first in the individual time trial in Angouleme in 2007.
Farrar is one of the world’s best sprinters and took advantage of the 123-mile flat route from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon in western Brittany. This particular stage favored sprinters like Farrar, Mark Cavendish of Britain, Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi, Tom Boonen of Belgium and Thor Hushovd of Norway. At the finish, the American barely outsprinted out of France’s Romain Feillu, who was second, and Jose Joaquin Rojas of Spain who came in third. Farrar and a pack of riders clocked the same time: 4 hours, 40 minutes, 21 seconds.
The defending champion, Alberto Contador of Spain, lost time on Saturday after getting entangled in a crash, and is currently 69th overall — 1:42 back of the Norwegian leader.
Among the other favorites to arrive to the Champs-Elysee on July 24 wearing the Yellow Jersey, runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, the leader of Leopard-Trek, is eighth overall, 4 seconds behind Hushovd. It’s still early. This first stages are for the sprinting specialist, but its not going to be until we hit the first mountains and the individual time-trails that we could start counting on the favorites to make their move.
:Farrar win Stage, Stage 3 tour, Tour de France, Tyler Farrar
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