The sprinting time is over. It's time for the real cyclists to begin racing as the Tour de France comes to the mountains.
The first week of the Tour has been marked by sprint finish after sprint finish. The placings changed, but the names rarely changed.Erik Zabel won his third stage in eight days Sunday. On other days he was second, third, fourth and had a victory taken away from him for straying too much in the final sprint on Friday.
Jeroen Blijlevens, who won Friday, has been third the last two days.
Mario Cipollini won the opening two stages.
Salt Lake City's Marty Jemison finished the eighth stage in 110th place, but moved up a notch in the overall standings to 29th. Racing for the U.S. Postal Service team, Jemison is 6:34 off the lead.
The only stage not decided by a finishing sprint was the fifth on Thursday, when Cedric Vasseur of France had a long bereakaway and was able to hold onto more than two minutes of his once 17-minute margin.
It's no wonder he is wearing the leader's yellow jersey. Zabel is 81 seconds back. Chris Boardman is third, less than three minutes behind.
But things will change starting today, when there are four major climbs in the first of the mountain stages, including a trip up the Tourmalet, one of the most famous climbs of the Tour, rated "out of category" in a rating system measuring steepness, length and difficulty.
Today also is Bastille Day in France, a national holiday.
"To carry the yellow jersey on the national day is exceptional," Vasseur said. "I am going to try to outdo myself. I don't, however, have any thoughts to say I will be among the best."
The leg goes from Pau to Loudenvielle-Vallee Louron (113.1 miles). "After eight days, nothing happened," said Bernard Hinault, who won the Tour five times. "Certain of the favorites will lose the Tour ..."
If they don't lose it today, there's always Tuesday.
Tuesday is another day of mountains, from Luchon through Andorra to Arcalis, 156.6 miles.
Sunday's stage was from Sauternes to Pau 100 miles. It was the last flat stage before the Pyrenees.
Second was Italian Nicola Minali, just ahead of Blijlevens.