This was a bet made back 2006 during Tour de France on Betfair.
The Danish Rider "Michael Rasmussen" was attacking to get his mountain jersey.
We have seen this a number of times in the Tour de France, just to see Armstrong with full speed on the last mountain taking everyone down.
I thought this would be the case again. Michael Rasmussen was to big a competitor to let go upfront. Also, we have seen a number of times that the favorite to win the Mountain Jersey, falls back when enough points are taken. This was not the case..
So, as I have done a number of times, I layed Michael Rasmussen when he was like 8 min ahead of peleton, with still 70 km to go.
I lost around £3,000 on laying that sucker, when Armstrong decided not to catch him....
Anyway, I was break even on the Tour de France overall on some similar lays during the race.
Replay here..
http://www.letour.fr/200.../LIVE/us/900/index.html
or just read here:
"Why did the chicken go up the road? Because there were plenty of points for the polka-dot jersey on offer. Mickael Rasmussen has a special talent. At 60kg his body is ideally suited to climbing. He proved that on the first real day in the mountains of the 2005 Tour when he inherited the polka-dot jersey on the day his Rabobank team-mate Pieter Weening won the stage.
The rider they call ‘Chicken’ has a power-to-weight ratio that allows him to scale high ‘cols’ with apparent ease.
Before Rasmussen lined up for his second attempt at the Tour de France he announced that his ambition was to fight for the win in the mountains classification. The battle began en-route to Gerardmer yesterday. A day later he is in complete control. His rivals must now reconsider their options.
In the 171 kilometers between Gerardmer and Mulhouse there were six categorized mountains. The 31-year-old ‘Chicken’ was first over each summit. His objective for the stage had been achieved with 50km still to race. But Rasmussen wanted more. Instead of sitting up and resting his legs before the Tour’s rendezvous with the Alps, he maintained his effort.
Although he attacked early in the stage and conquered the climbs – including the celebrated summit of Le Ballon d’Alsace, the mountain pass which made its Tour debut 100 years ago – he realized that he had enough of an advantage to consider the stage win.
