slcbob

Kudos to Lotto Soudal who stamped their authority on the Teams competition.

And to you, njlonghorn , for the commitment to computations and staying in character that you have so artfully maintained here. No doubt it pales in comparison to being a Texpat in the garden state. You deserve a healthy sprinkling of blue bonnets all over the pine barrens.

njlonghorn

I know, right? As I think about it, though, it does make sense. On mountain stages, why not go hard until the intermediate sprint to get points, then rest for tomorrow? Finishing too much earlier than the time cut is a waste of energy.

My pleasure. I enjoy doing it. To be fair, I did search high and low for standings that I could just cut and paste, but no luck.

Character? What do you mean? This is just me being me.

I can't believe I made it to age 51 before hearing that term. I love it!!!

What a beautiful image! Unfortunately, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center says the Texas Bluebonnet (lupinus texensis) won't grow up here. They say there is a similar flower (lupinus perenniss) that does. I might have to start scattering seeds.

njlonghorn

Due to wifely mandates, I didn't have time after Saturday's stage 20 to update the standings. There was more to report than I expected (yet still not much of note):

• Roger Kluge finished the TT near the middle of the pack, at 1H 04' 25".
• Frison was 8 seconds faster. I guess three weeks of riding together caused their cycles to synch up... (OMG that's a bad joke!!)
• Haller came in at +2' 15", which would've been enough to catch Ewan . . . if Ewan had ridden fast (which, predictably, he did not). Ewan came in at +1' 14", securing his spot on the podium.
• Bonifazo also came in at +2' 15", which would've been enough to catch de Boyst . . . if de Boyst himself had ridden fast (which, predictably, he did not). De Boyst came in at +1' 08", securing 5th place.
• Bol gained 53" -- not nearly enough to matter
• Chevalier had a regrettably fast ride (-2' 28"), sliding from 8th to 11th.
• Niv (+1' 53") and Bennett (+2' 36") had strong showings, each moving up a spot past Chevalier,
• Kevin Reza was the second-slowest finisher, gaining just enough ground to vault from 13th up into the Lanterne Rouge top 10. (In addition to passing Chevalier, he also passed Viviani and Walscheid.)

With that, the standings after 20 stages looked like this:

1. Roger Kluge 90h 32' 15"
2. Frederik Frison -6' 04"
3. Caleb Ewan -15' 17"
4. Marco Haller -19' 15"
5. Jasper de Buyst -22' 35"
6. Niccolo Bonifazio -23' 29"
7. Cees Bol -27' 26"
8. Guy Niv -32' 08"
9. Sam Bennett -32' 59"
10. Kevin Reza -34' 05"

On stage 21, nothing much changed.

• 7 of the 10 on the LR leaderboard finished with the same time as the fastest finisher, Sam Bennett.
• The two leaders, Kluge (+1' 20") and Frison (+2' 10") added exclamation points to their LR dominance.
• The gap between 8th and 9th grew because Niv came in at +1' 09" while Bennett picked up the dreaded 10-second penalty for finishing fastest.

Here are the final standings:

1. Roger Kluge 93h 27' 07"
2. Frederik Frison -5' 14"
3. Caleb Ewan -16' 37"
4. Marco Haller -20' 35"
5. Jasper de Buyst -23' 55"
6. Niccolo Bonifazio -24' 49"
7. Cees Bol -28' 46"
8. Guy Niv -32' 19"
9. Sam Bennett -34' 29"
10. Kevin Reza -35' 25"

Despite the drama-less ending, it was an above-average Lanterne-Rouge contest. Thanks to those who stuck around to read the reports!

slcbob

Chapeau, njlonghorn . You bravely kept up the personae being you and Bennet had enough buffer that he could endure the victory penalty and hold his spot in the Bottom Top 10..

I first heard the phrase Texpat from a proud hill country lass named Karen who was a true angel doing international development work (save the world stuff) and a lovely and vibrant strapping young blonde connoisseur of Tex-Mex, Shiner, and Titos. All credit to her.

She was not old enough to process my "everything is big and yeller in Texas" thought.