Bilderecke » working one-to-one with the younger guys, just cha

ANGERS, France -- Thomas Voeckler stuck out his tongue in his trademark way, determined to give the thousands of fans lining up the roads something to cheer about on a rather dull stage at the Tour de France.After two days of racing marred by several crashes in difficult weather conditions, the peloton took it easy and rode at pedestrian pace during Mondays long and flat 223.5-kilometer stretch between Granville and Angers in the Loire valley.The race did not really get going until Voeckler joined another French rider, Armindo Fonseca, in a long breakaway.Fortunately Voeckler made the stage explode, said Julian Alaphilippe, who is second overall, eight seconds behind race leader Peter Sagan.Fonseca broke away from the pack right after the start and rode for 140 kilometers on his own before Voeckler made his move and joined his fellow countryman with 83 kilometers to go.Voecklers attack sparked a reaction from the pack, ensuring a nervous and spectacular finale as sprinters teams started to close the gap. It also earned him the days prize for the most combative rider.It was boring, said Voeckler, a winner of four Tour de France stages in his career. I tried to make the stage a bit more interesting. I wanted to go for a fight, to have some fun.The 37-year-old veteran, who started his professional career in 2001 and wore the yellow jersey for 10 stages in 2011, has always been a fans favorite -- with or without his tongue hanging out. On Monday, he again showed that he has not lost his knack for attention-grabbing.Im not sure I still have 10 Tours to ride, so I wanted to ride with panache, said Voeckler, who also wore the yellow jersey for 10 stages in 2004.Once the sprinters teams really started chasing, Fonseca and Voeckler couldnt hold onto their lead and got reined in as the peloton devoured the final eight kilometers at a frenetic pace. Briton Mark Cavendish pipped German rider Andre Greipel at the line for the stage win after a photo finish.Voecklers teammate Bryan Coquard ended third in the sprint, and that was enough to console Voeckler for his efforts.That was the biggest satisfaction of the day, he said. Cheap Air Max Online . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Cheap Air Max China . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. http://www.cheapairmaxchinafreeshipping.com/ . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Wholesale Air Max Free Shipping . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Wholesale Air Max Shoes . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. Neil Dexters decision to leave a county that finished runners-up in Division One last season to join the one that had finished bottom of Division Two for three seasons in a row might have seemed somewhat perverse looking from the outside.At 31, he could not afford to make the wrong choice, but he says he felt confident from the outset and after half a season in his new surroundings nothing has happened to make him question his wisdom. His contribution already includes two centuries, the second against Gloucestershire this week.Leicestershires tight grip on the wooden spoon did not loosen despite the euphoria last June of ending their extraordinary 37-match winless streak in four-day cricket, but they have metamorphosed this season into potential promotion contenders - 15 points off the top with a game in hand and a bedraggled season still to take shape.It was a hard decision to leave Middlesex, Dexter admitted. Things were always good at Middlesex. I enjoyed my time there working with good people.But I wanted to bat higher up the order than I had been doing with Middlesex and when I sat down with Wasim Khan and Andrew McDonald to discuss coming here they were very clear in their plans and about what they wanted to achieve.It is a club with clear direction and I was confident that it was going to be a good move. And so far Ive enjoyed every minute of it here.Khan and McDonald sold their vision, too, to Essexs Mark Pettini and Lancashires Paul Horton as they moved to add quality, experience and a vital winning mentality to the squad. All three have had a positive impact on the dressing room environment.We are quite a tight knit bunch already, Dexter said. In terms of where we are heading and what we are trying to achieve over the next few years we are already on the right lines.If anything we have got to where we are as a team and a club a bit quicker than I thought.There are times when things are tough. The T20 has tested us a team but it shows how strong we are the way the team is bouncing back in the four-day stuff on the back of disappointment.In cricketing terms, then, it has been a good move. Where Middlesex felt they could make no guarantees of a regular first-team place - even though managing director of cricket Angus Fraser was willing to talk about a new contract - Leicestershire see him as just the right fit.For Dexter, moreover, there has been an unexpected bonus in moving out of the hustle and bustle of live in London. It has reminded how much he appreciates a less frenetic way of life.I wont lie, I struggled at times with living in London, he said. I think it is a hard place, so busy from the moment you walk out of your front door and until you get out of it again you dont realise how tough a place it is to live.Maybe it is the way Ive been brought up. And I started in Kent, too, where the atmosphere is a bit more relaxed.Ive got a young family now and having a bit more of a relaxed life and a bit more family time, time when you can get away and it actually feels like you are away from cricket - its really good.Whats more, he sayss, Grace Road feels like a proper home ground, something that Lords, for all its history and its status as the home of cricket, can never really be for a Middlesex player.dddddddddddd Dont get me wrong, I loved my time at Middlesex and to play at Lords every other week is a privilege I will never forget, he said. But Lords never really felt like home. When you dont own your own ground, you cant ever really call it home.Here, when you leave the ground you can leave stuff in the dressing room but at Lords, although the Middlesex players have lockers, you had to appreciate that the dressing rooms had to be cleaned, maybe for a charity match or something involving other teams and you couldnt just leave your gear behind.Inevitably, too, because the area around Lords isnt the cheapest, the players live some distance away, so if you needed something at short notice you couldnt just nip back to the ground to get it.And you didnt know from one day to the next where you were going to be training. Lords and MCC have worked really hard over the last few years to try to get the players more time in the Lords nets so we didnt have to go elsewhere but it was always going to happen that you sometimes had to.You have to accept that, though, and there are many advantages. The people at Lords and the Middlesex members were great to me. I left on very good terms, I still follow them closely and I wish them well.They remember him with affection, too, as the captain of the side that won promotion as Division Two champions in 2011, which is something on his CV, along with more than 6000 runs and over 100 wickets in his first-class career, that commands respect at Grace Road, where he is only too willing to share the benefits of his experience.People ask me about coaching and Im not sure, he said. I feel I have more to contribute as a player first. But I like working one-to-one with the younger guys, just chatting to them. I love being able to pass on some experience and knowledge and it would be great if I can help them move on to the next level because they are the future of the club.Leicestershire remain third, with the top two, Essex and Kent, about to meet at Chelmsford. Does he think their recovery can be so pronounced that in a season in which only the winners of Division Two go up they have a serious chance of promotion?When I was at captain at Middlesex I was never one to make predictions, he said. You can look too far ahead sometimes. You can talk but youve got to back it up with actions.All we can do is play good cricket and there are a lot of games to come. I wouldnt like to say we cant get promotion but Im not going to say we will.What is good is that as well as the matches we have won, we have been competitive most of the time and in the rain-affected games we have won a lot of sessions.It is what happens now that counts, at the business end of the season. If you can go on a winning streak at the right time you can be away. ' ' '