O filho que toda a mãe gostaria de ter

"He attacks, he crashes, he rides into random car parks - and yet still he leads the Tour. Is Thomas Voeckler the most exciting maillot jaune since, erm, Thomas Voeckler in 2004?

They call him "Petit Blanc" - but surely that should be "Grand Jaune" now after another mesmerising performance in the fabled yellow jersey.

The most thrilling Tour in years hit top gear on Wednesday with a descent described by Andy Schleck as "fatally dangerous". Schleck's quibble aside, it was without a doubt one of the most thrilling finales to a stage in recent years - primarily due to the man in yellow.

Knowing his overall lead will be under severe pressure on Thursday with the Tour's highest ever summit finish atop the snow-capped Galibier, Voeckler went on the offensive on the controversial descent down the back of the Pramartino.

A yellow jersey on the attack, eh? That hasn't been seen since the days of Armstrong - but then it was often a tedious, robotic affair. With Voeckler you never know what you're going to get. He's the Kryten of cyclist robots (for all those Red Dwarf fans out there) - just not as gormless.

First of all, he overshot a tight bend and almost landed into the same ditch that cushioned the fall of his compatriot Jonathan Hivert minutes earlier.

Then the same thing happened on another bend. But instead of crashing on his side, Voeckler chose to ride on into a car parking area on the concrete terrace of a house beside the road. In doing so he actually jumped off a metre-high ledge and was airborne for a moment before landing in the concealed space.

Keeping as cool as Thor Hushovd in a Mardi Gras parade, Voeckler turned around, pushed his bike up the slope and back onto the road, and continued on his way. He can thank his fellow Frenchman Hivert for leaving the gate open - for the Saur-Sojasun rider had again made the exact same mistake minutes earlier.

The elegance with which Voeckler dealt with these mishaps was worthy of an "oo, la la!". Two big scares and not a scratch. He even joined the road ahead of Ivan Basso - and lost only 27 seconds at the finish. "A lesser evil," said his Europcar team-manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau - and that's about right.

Had it been Andy Schleck, he would have probably contrived to slam into the parking lot fence - merely to make a point and prove his scaremongering right.

Had it been the honest Cadel Evans, he probably would have stopped to pay the parking meter before going on his way.

Had it been Jan Ullrich, there would have no doubt been a farmers' market being held in the open space and the German would have felt compelled to stay for a bratwurst with fried onions.

We know, he knows, everyone knows that Voeckler has about as much chance of winning the Tour de France as either Schleck has at winning an arm wrestle against Mr T. But you get the impression, by the way he's riding, Voeckler isn't going to give up without a fight.

On Thursday Tommy will enter the 19th day of his career in yellow - that's two more days than Alberto Contador has managed. That stat speaks for itself."

do Blazin' Saddles

Eu no fundo não tenho culpa de aproveitar as coisas boas da vida. Isto ainda àde ser tão cool cum'ir ao Super Bock; um artigo do "Saddles" ainda há de ser tão coiso cum'um dos xx.