Stage 7
For one of the “boring” stages before the mountains, this one had some interesting stories. First, there was Erik Dekker leading a breakaway (with Thierry Marichel) for most of the race. Lots of breakaways fail, but it takes Erik Dekker to get caught with 20 km to go and lose by 14 minutes in the final standings.
In catching the breakaway CSC set a pace that cut the field in half. Stuart O’Grady, Christophe Moreau, and just about the whole AG2r team were dropped by a minute, but their teams managed to bridge the gap and catch the peloton. Euskaltel riders should watch the tape to see how a team is supposed to bridge a gap.
After Dekker was caught there was an unsuccessful attack from Jacob Piil. That didn’t work, but the attack of Francisco Mancebo, Iker Flores, and Filippo Pozzato did work. Pozzatto won the stage, which must make Alessandro Petacchi feel really good. He quits the Tour and a 22 year old teammate gets the stage win for Fassa Bortolo Flores was the most amazing one in the group. I presume Flores was lost and confused because there is just no other reason for an Euskaltel rider to attack and contend for a stage win outside of the mountains. Mancebo was the opportunist. He finished third in the stage, 10 seconds ahead of the peloton. He also picked up an 8 second time bonus, so he gained 18 seconds on Armstrong, Hamilton, Ullrich, etc. Mancebo moved from 25th to 18th, passing Ullrich by a few seconds.
Pozzato gets the stage win for Fassa
photo from velonews.com
Points…
O’Grady and McEwen challenged for the intermediate points, and predictably, McEwen beat O’Grady. At the finish line McEwen couldn’t get into position, though, and finished behind Hushovd, O’Grady, Zabel, and Boonen. McEwen actually overtook O’Grady on points during the stage, but because O’Grady beat him on the finish line, O’Grady retains the green jersey by one point. O’Grady has 131 points and there are only 5 men within 30 points of him (McEwen -1; Hondo -8; Zabel-9; Hushovd -25; Nazon -30). Kirsipuu is on life support, 40 points behind O’Grady.
Tomorrow: Stage 8. It’s only 168 km, so the riders might think it’s a day off compared to the last few stages. It’s got three category 4 climbs and 1 category 3 climb. Small stuff, but perhaps enough for someone to take the polka dot jersey from Paolo Bettini. There are also three intermediate sprints, so we can expect O’Grady to go for them and McEwen to follow (and beat him).
For one of the “boring” stages before the mountains, this one had some interesting stories. First, there was Erik Dekker leading a breakaway (with Thierry Marichel) for most of the race. Lots of breakaways fail, but it takes Erik Dekker to get caught with 20 km to go and lose by 14 minutes in the final standings.
In catching the breakaway CSC set a pace that cut the field in half. Stuart O’Grady, Christophe Moreau, and just about the whole AG2r team were dropped by a minute, but their teams managed to bridge the gap and catch the peloton. Euskaltel riders should watch the tape to see how a team is supposed to bridge a gap.
After Dekker was caught there was an unsuccessful attack from Jacob Piil. That didn’t work, but the attack of Francisco Mancebo, Iker Flores, and Filippo Pozzato did work. Pozzatto won the stage, which must make Alessandro Petacchi feel really good. He quits the Tour and a 22 year old teammate gets the stage win for Fassa Bortolo Flores was the most amazing one in the group. I presume Flores was lost and confused because there is just no other reason for an Euskaltel rider to attack and contend for a stage win outside of the mountains. Mancebo was the opportunist. He finished third in the stage, 10 seconds ahead of the peloton. He also picked up an 8 second time bonus, so he gained 18 seconds on Armstrong, Hamilton, Ullrich, etc. Mancebo moved from 25th to 18th, passing Ullrich by a few seconds.
Pozzato gets the stage win for Fassa
photo from velonews.com
Points…
O’Grady and McEwen challenged for the intermediate points, and predictably, McEwen beat O’Grady. At the finish line McEwen couldn’t get into position, though, and finished behind Hushovd, O’Grady, Zabel, and Boonen. McEwen actually overtook O’Grady on points during the stage, but because O’Grady beat him on the finish line, O’Grady retains the green jersey by one point. O’Grady has 131 points and there are only 5 men within 30 points of him (McEwen -1; Hondo -8; Zabel-9; Hushovd -25; Nazon -30). Kirsipuu is on life support, 40 points behind O’Grady.
Tomorrow: Stage 8. It’s only 168 km, so the riders might think it’s a day off compared to the last few stages. It’s got three category 4 climbs and 1 category 3 climb. Small stuff, but perhaps enough for someone to take the polka dot jersey from Paolo Bettini. There are also three intermediate sprints, so we can expect O’Grady to go for them and McEwen to follow (and beat him).
posted by uberschuck at 11:02 AM
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