606v2 awards for Crazy of the Week

As most of you know, the cycling boards on 606 regularly discussed the exploits of Crazy Amets, Crazy Johnny and Crazy Tommy - riders who seemed to have an allergy to sticking in the peloton and who specialised in mad (and usually unsuccessful) attacks.

Sadly, Crazy Amets didn't last very long this race before falling victim to a first week crash. Crazy Tommy seems to have undergone a personality transplant and is riding as very good Tommy, hanging on to the yellow for much longer than almost anyone expected (and so far doing it with apparent ease).

As for Crazy Johnny - taking on a car and then a barbed wire fence and still racing just adds to the legacy and definitely merits retention of the Crazy title.

However, there have been two guys this week who have really stood out for crazy racing -

1 Crazy Jez: Jeremy Roy led over the top of two of the first three HC climbs of the race and has absolutely slogged his guts out on two consecutive for no more reward. OK, the first attack was a fairly standard early break on the mountain stage, but the second effort was very impressive and would have been enough to win most days without the magnificent effort of Crazy #2 of the week.

2 Crazy Thor: Having held on to the yellow jersey for longer than expected in the first week by hanging with the big names on a finishing climb, the (slightly larger than the average) Norse God has cemented his Crazy status by attacking on the Aubisque, descending like a loon and then using his Classics power to chase down a solo leader and blasting past in the last km or so for the most outrageous stage win in recent history. The only stage in my memory that matches this for an absurd winner was Eros Poli (normally the bus driver) winning over Mont Ventoux - he had a 30 minute lead at the base and lost 1 minute per km on the ascent, but had enough in hand to take the win.

I'm still seriously impressed with Hushovd's ride - utter insanity to attack at the start of the climb and try to go it alone... and it paid off in the end.

I'd forgotten about Poli's stage - if ever a ride deserves to be describe as an epic one, him dragging himself up that climb and winning the stage deserves that title.

Crazy Tommy is Thomas de Gendt, but he seems to be in really bad shape. Voeckler is TV Tommy.

And today's break features:

Crazy Jez and Crazy Thor.

Crazy Johnny tried earlier, but his break didn't get away because of the presence of Jeannesan, so Team Sky chased down to protect Uran's white jersey.