Hey, Servais Knaven isn't going to be confused with the great riders, but let's give him his due. He was the best of the opportunists today. He picked a great time to attack the riders in the breakaway, and he was very strong to hold them off. I love to see an ordinary rider do something great, especially when it's someone who has been so close in the past--he's been in breakaways before, only to be beaten at the finish.
Another thing about his win...the Quick Step team now has two stage wins and the polka dot jeresey (Shockingly, Virenque still hasn't failed a drug test). This team has some of the remains of the old Mapei team, which was notorious for doing absolutely nothing in the Tour. Now, they not only have a pulse, they've got a little hardware too.


The long breakaway did prevent the sprinters from picking up big points today. Just to correct the error, it was McEwen--Zabel--Cooke, with each position separated by a point. Just a little separation, but really, this race may come down to one or two points. With the race so close, I expect they'll make themselves present for the intermediate sprints on Friday, and we should have a pivotal bunch finish. Check out this stage profile--McEwen must be chomping at the bit.