Oscar Pereiro's Wacky July
Consider what Oscar Pereiro has experienced in the last couple weeks.
July 2, Stage 1 time trial: He enters the Tour as one of Phonak's 3 candidate team leaders. He finishes the time trial 58th, 2 minutes behind the winner, 30 seconds behind teammate Botero and 1 minute behind teammate Landis.
July 12, Stage 10: On the first big mountain stage, he attacks on the penultimate climb, burns out, and finishes 7:29 behind the stage winner. He falls to 28th overall, 10 minutes behind the yellow jersey. He's also 5 minutes behind Botero and 6 minutes behind Landis. After the first real mountain stage, he has no claim to team leadership.
July 13, Stage 11: Pererio attacks 130 km from the finish, before two HC and one category 1 climb. He gets caught by Botero and Vinokourov, then dropped. Then he's caught and dropped by the peloton, finishing 7 minutes back again. He moves up to 30th place, but is almost 17 minutes behind Armstrong and over 10 minutes behind Landis & Botero.
July 16th, Stage 14: Goes with early breakaway, but then returns to the peloton. Gets dropped by the elite climbers during the attacks.
July 17th , Stage 15: Goes with 14 man breakaway 150 km from finish. Survives at front for 8 climbs until being passed by George Hincapie 300 meters from the finish line. He's second on the stage, picking up 5 minutes on the yellow jersey. At this point he's 17th overall, nearly 20 minutes out, 10 minutes behind Landis. Botero is off the map.
July 19th, Stage 16: Attacks on the category 1 climb 110 km from finish. He catches the breakaway, goes over an HC climb, then out-sprints the lead group to finally get his stage win. He picks up 3 and a half minutes on the peloton. Currently, he's 15th place, almost 16 minutes behind Armstrong and almost 7 minutes behind Landis. Botero is still off the map.
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His repeated attacks are foolish for anyone who thinks himself a team leader and yellow jersey contender. But his stamina is amazing. On four stages he's exposed himself to long breakaways over mountain passes. He's experienced the crash & burn, the one that got away, and the Holy Grail stage win. What a wild ride!
On Sunday he complained about George Hincapie sitting on his wheel all day until he came around to claim the stage in one sprint. Well, I can understand why he felt bad. He did lead the way, only to have someone else win the stage. But spare us the whining. Hincapie isn't going to set tempo because his man is in yellow. By the time they were in the last couple km, Pereiro should have dropped Hincapie. He tried, but George stayed on his wheel. Everyone who was watching knew the sprinter would beat the climber in the home stretch. Why didn't the climber use his best weapon and lose the sprinter before the sprint? Well, that's water under the bridge. Pereiro finally got the win in stage 16. And he's earned it as much as anyone.
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Wednesday's stage 17 is almost flat as a pancake. McEwen, Hushovd, O'Grady. Let's get it on!
July 2, Stage 1 time trial: He enters the Tour as one of Phonak's 3 candidate team leaders. He finishes the time trial 58th, 2 minutes behind the winner, 30 seconds behind teammate Botero and 1 minute behind teammate Landis.
July 12, Stage 10: On the first big mountain stage, he attacks on the penultimate climb, burns out, and finishes 7:29 behind the stage winner. He falls to 28th overall, 10 minutes behind the yellow jersey. He's also 5 minutes behind Botero and 6 minutes behind Landis. After the first real mountain stage, he has no claim to team leadership.
July 13, Stage 11: Pererio attacks 130 km from the finish, before two HC and one category 1 climb. He gets caught by Botero and Vinokourov, then dropped. Then he's caught and dropped by the peloton, finishing 7 minutes back again. He moves up to 30th place, but is almost 17 minutes behind Armstrong and over 10 minutes behind Landis & Botero.
July 16th, Stage 14: Goes with early breakaway, but then returns to the peloton. Gets dropped by the elite climbers during the attacks.
July 17th , Stage 15: Goes with 14 man breakaway 150 km from finish. Survives at front for 8 climbs until being passed by George Hincapie 300 meters from the finish line. He's second on the stage, picking up 5 minutes on the yellow jersey. At this point he's 17th overall, nearly 20 minutes out, 10 minutes behind Landis. Botero is off the map.
July 19th, Stage 16: Attacks on the category 1 climb 110 km from finish. He catches the breakaway, goes over an HC climb, then out-sprints the lead group to finally get his stage win. He picks up 3 and a half minutes on the peloton. Currently, he's 15th place, almost 16 minutes behind Armstrong and almost 7 minutes behind Landis. Botero is still off the map.
*******************
His repeated attacks are foolish for anyone who thinks himself a team leader and yellow jersey contender. But his stamina is amazing. On four stages he's exposed himself to long breakaways over mountain passes. He's experienced the crash & burn, the one that got away, and the Holy Grail stage win. What a wild ride!
On Sunday he complained about George Hincapie sitting on his wheel all day until he came around to claim the stage in one sprint. Well, I can understand why he felt bad. He did lead the way, only to have someone else win the stage. But spare us the whining. Hincapie isn't going to set tempo because his man is in yellow. By the time they were in the last couple km, Pereiro should have dropped Hincapie. He tried, but George stayed on his wheel. Everyone who was watching knew the sprinter would beat the climber in the home stretch. Why didn't the climber use his best weapon and lose the sprinter before the sprint? Well, that's water under the bridge. Pereiro finally got the win in stage 16. And he's earned it as much as anyone.
*****************************
Wednesday's stage 17 is almost flat as a pancake. McEwen, Hushovd, O'Grady. Let's get it on!
posted by uberschuck at 9:50 PM
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