Popo's TDG ITT

Although Popo (Yaroslav Popovych) had a weaker time trial than Floyd and Tommy D., he still put on an impressive performance this year with a win on Stage 2 and a fantastic show on the climb up Brasstown Bald (more about the Bald in a later post).

Because of the impressive performance (a bit of a shocker it was) in Stage 2, Popo was the overall leader going into the Stage 3 ITT and, therefore, the last man off the start ramp. Popo had already put a couple of his minute-men (actually, 120-seconds-men) down by the time he made it to this killer climb up Lookout Mountain. Still, it wasn't enough to come close the powerful exlamation point put on the ITT by Floyd Landis. Popo finished a buck fifty-three off of Floyd's scorching 54'14" time, which was still enough to keep Popo well in the top ten overall (and 9th on the day), just not enough to be in contention for the yellow.

I imagine and am deeply hoping that Popo was saving the good stuff for the Tour de France. Perhaps we'll see him in yellow this July?