Stage 8
Thor Hushovd had a big day, winning the stage and picking up 41 points between the finish line and the intermediate sprints. The sprint finish of this stage was pretty strange. A three man breakaway was caught at about 2km remaining. The course had several turns, an incline, and rain in the last kilometer. Paolo Bettini tried to escape with 1 km to go, and the only man to go with him was Robbie McEwen. When Bettini realized who was with him, he stopped the attack, thinking he'd just lead McEwen to the stage win, hurting his man Boonen. So, they were caught by the field.
Kim Kirchen attacked with a couple hundred meters remaining, and looked to have a good chance of winning the stage, but Thor Hushovd sprinted past Zabel, McEwen, and Kirchen like they were standing still. Credit Agricole did a great job catching the breakaway, but Hushovd did the sprint by himself without any lead out.
Thor wins stage 8.
photo from bbc.com
The green jeresy race is now very tight. McEwen outscored O'Grady today to re-take the jersey, but Hushovd and Zabel helped themselves by beating McEwen to the finish. McEwen now leads with 158 points. O'Grady, Zabel, and Hushovd are all within 11 points of McEwen. Hondo is still lurking 19 points down. Boonen (109) and Nazon (101) are probably out of it.
Monday is the first rest day, so the next stage isn't until Tuesday. Stage 9 is 160 km, somewhat hilly, with two category 4 climbs and 3 intermediate sprints.
Thor Hushovd had a big day, winning the stage and picking up 41 points between the finish line and the intermediate sprints. The sprint finish of this stage was pretty strange. A three man breakaway was caught at about 2km remaining. The course had several turns, an incline, and rain in the last kilometer. Paolo Bettini tried to escape with 1 km to go, and the only man to go with him was Robbie McEwen. When Bettini realized who was with him, he stopped the attack, thinking he'd just lead McEwen to the stage win, hurting his man Boonen. So, they were caught by the field.
Kim Kirchen attacked with a couple hundred meters remaining, and looked to have a good chance of winning the stage, but Thor Hushovd sprinted past Zabel, McEwen, and Kirchen like they were standing still. Credit Agricole did a great job catching the breakaway, but Hushovd did the sprint by himself without any lead out.
Thor wins stage 8.
photo from bbc.com
The green jeresy race is now very tight. McEwen outscored O'Grady today to re-take the jersey, but Hushovd and Zabel helped themselves by beating McEwen to the finish. McEwen now leads with 158 points. O'Grady, Zabel, and Hushovd are all within 11 points of McEwen. Hondo is still lurking 19 points down. Boonen (109) and Nazon (101) are probably out of it.
Monday is the first rest day, so the next stage isn't until Tuesday. Stage 9 is 160 km, somewhat hilly, with two category 4 climbs and 3 intermediate sprints.
posted by uberschuck at 11:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home