Stage 3: Erik Dekker's Big Day
We poke a lot of fun at Erik Dekker. He has the nasty habit of crashing out, or losing by several hours. Which isn't to say he isn't a good rider, he's an excellent rider. The Grand Tours aren't exactly his bag, but he's exactly outstanding in one-day classics. He always rides the Tour and he always competes.
Today was his shot, and he absolutely dominated the breakaway. OK, the break didn't work, as he got swallowed up about 2k from the finish, but he gets a fabulous parting gift: the polka dot jersey. You can tell its early because Erik Dekker is in dots. But he earned it.
Speaking of earning it, Boonen dominated that final sprint. He's got two stage wins right now, which can't make Hushovd or McEwen feel very good about themselves. This was a completely honest sprint, it was pretty much a question of which sprinter is the strongest. Answer, Tom Boonen. Hushovd collapsed and finished 10th. I have to look at this and say that Boonen is the best sprinter, so if Hushovd or McEwen are gonna win the Green Jersey, they need some help from the team.
Oh, and we found that CSC ain't gonna lift a finger to defend their yellow jersey. It's neat they have an early leader, but they aren't going to deviate from the overall strategy: protect Basso. A fun stage, I like those big breakaways.
Today was his shot, and he absolutely dominated the breakaway. OK, the break didn't work, as he got swallowed up about 2k from the finish, but he gets a fabulous parting gift: the polka dot jersey. You can tell its early because Erik Dekker is in dots. But he earned it.
Speaking of earning it, Boonen dominated that final sprint. He's got two stage wins right now, which can't make Hushovd or McEwen feel very good about themselves. This was a completely honest sprint, it was pretty much a question of which sprinter is the strongest. Answer, Tom Boonen. Hushovd collapsed and finished 10th. I have to look at this and say that Boonen is the best sprinter, so if Hushovd or McEwen are gonna win the Green Jersey, they need some help from the team.
Oh, and we found that CSC ain't gonna lift a finger to defend their yellow jersey. It's neat they have an early leader, but they aren't going to deviate from the overall strategy: protect Basso. A fun stage, I like those big breakaways.
posted by Poseur at 10:01 AM
2 Comments:
Serves me right for writing this right after the stage, not waiting for other news. McEwen's been relegated to 186th in the stage as a result of bumping Stu O'Grady during the final sprint.
That's huge. Boonen's win becomes so much bigger given McEwen's total lack of points. McEwen's down by 44 points and Boonen's got 20 points over his closest competitor (O'Grady).
The goose egg for McEwen is an enormous gift for everyone, not just Boonen. Something odd is that outside of Boonen & O'Grady, there was not much consistency in points scored. Boonen won both sprints. O'Grady was 4th & 3rd. The only other repeat top-10 finishers were Hushovd (2nd & 9th), Wrolich (7th & 2nd) and Davis (10th & 5th). You've got to be consistent to win this thing (remember Erik Zabel, the model of consistency!).
The contenders have got to think about scoring in the intermediate sprints. And figuring a way to beat Boonen would be a good idea too.
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