Stage 5
Another day, another sprint finish, another win for Petacchi. That's the third time in four stages Petacchi has won the final sprint. He is clicking on all cylinders, particularly today, as the final sprint was set up perfectly for Baden Cooke to win. FDJ maneuvered him right to the front and peeled off with about 400-300 meters to go. Cooke looked to have the stage, only to have Petacchi blow by a win the stage. By a lot. Look at that finish, it's not even close.
So Petacchi has won three stages and he's still down one point in the Green Jersey standings to Robbie McEwen. So McEwen's got to be sweating bullets right now. In head to head sprints, he's losing. He's in green right now just because he picked up enough intermediate points here and there. Every breakway is costing McEwen chances to pad his lead, which has almost totally evaporated.
The King of the Mountains jersey changed hands. No one cares yet. It's all about the green right now. And predictably, Nazon is sliding back in the pack and Cooke is joining his rightful place among the real leaders for the points title. Zabel's still in third, but he's falling further back and now he's almost been caught from behind.
The 230 km Stage 6 looms large. Because though there will some early sprints in Stage 7, the Tour has its first Category One climb on Saturday. And then we're in the mountains and the goal of all of these sprinters is just to not drop out of the race.
Another day, another sprint finish, another win for Petacchi. That's the third time in four stages Petacchi has won the final sprint. He is clicking on all cylinders, particularly today, as the final sprint was set up perfectly for Baden Cooke to win. FDJ maneuvered him right to the front and peeled off with about 400-300 meters to go. Cooke looked to have the stage, only to have Petacchi blow by a win the stage. By a lot. Look at that finish, it's not even close.
So Petacchi has won three stages and he's still down one point in the Green Jersey standings to Robbie McEwen. So McEwen's got to be sweating bullets right now. In head to head sprints, he's losing. He's in green right now just because he picked up enough intermediate points here and there. Every breakway is costing McEwen chances to pad his lead, which has almost totally evaporated.
The King of the Mountains jersey changed hands. No one cares yet. It's all about the green right now. And predictably, Nazon is sliding back in the pack and Cooke is joining his rightful place among the real leaders for the points title. Zabel's still in third, but he's falling further back and now he's almost been caught from behind.
The 230 km Stage 6 looms large. Because though there will some early sprints in Stage 7, the Tour has its first Category One climb on Saturday. And then we're in the mountains and the goal of all of these sprinters is just to not drop out of the race.
posted by Poseur at 12:09 PM
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