Stage 1: Thor Has a Bad Day
Everything went according to form for the majority of the stage. A bunch of no-name riders went on a long breakaway. The peloton slowly reeled them back in, finally succeeding in the last 10km or so. Nothing much to write home about, and frankly, it was a fairly boring stage for the majority of the day.
Then came the last 10 km. With Beneteau, the only rider left in the breakaway, about to be caught, Hincapie somehow snuck up to the front of the peloton for the last intermediate sprint. Hincapie didn't want the points, he wanted that time bonus in order to get the yellow jersey. Hinault was the only rider who caught on to the gambit, and he beat Hincapie to the line in order to, um, protect Hushovd's green jersey from Hincapie. Er, yeah.
Of course, the gambit would only work if Hushovd managed to muck up the sprint, which he would promptly do. But that didn't make him special. Seriously, what happened to all of the big guns during the final bunch sprint? We have certain expectations of who we will see in the top five when there is a legit bunch sprint at the end of the stage. Look at the top five:
1) Casper
2) McEwen
3) Zabel
4) Bennati
5) Paolini
What's Jimmy Casper doing winning a sprint over Zabel and McEwen? This wasn't a fluky sprint in which Casper somehow got off the peloton in the last 100 meters. He just outsprinted the field. I don't know what to make of that. Nothing in his career gave me any reason to believe he'd outsprint McEwen. But at least McEwen and Zabel were in the top five. The other big sprinters were no-shows: Boonen went off too early and finished 12th, Hushovd got caught against the barriers and got 9th, Friere had no excuse and managed 10th, and O'Grady got a disappointing 7th. This was a (mostly) honest sprint and the big names got beat like a drum. Bennati and Paolini aren't exactly Green Jersey contenders either, but there they were.
The one guy with an excuse is Hushovd. He got hemmed in against the barriers and was apparently struck by a fan. I blame those big green fake hands everyone gets. His big cushion from the prologue is already used up, and Hincapie's cheeky move cost him the yellow. He never got a chance to open things up on the final sprint, and he ended his day being carried off in an ambulance. That's an all-around lousy day.
It's not as bad as it looks, though. He's still in second in the Green Jersey standings, and the injury is said not to be serious. But it was the cherry on top of a pretty crappy day for Thor.
Then came the last 10 km. With Beneteau, the only rider left in the breakaway, about to be caught, Hincapie somehow snuck up to the front of the peloton for the last intermediate sprint. Hincapie didn't want the points, he wanted that time bonus in order to get the yellow jersey. Hinault was the only rider who caught on to the gambit, and he beat Hincapie to the line in order to, um, protect Hushovd's green jersey from Hincapie. Er, yeah.
Of course, the gambit would only work if Hushovd managed to muck up the sprint, which he would promptly do. But that didn't make him special. Seriously, what happened to all of the big guns during the final bunch sprint? We have certain expectations of who we will see in the top five when there is a legit bunch sprint at the end of the stage. Look at the top five:
1) Casper
2) McEwen
3) Zabel
4) Bennati
5) Paolini
What's Jimmy Casper doing winning a sprint over Zabel and McEwen? This wasn't a fluky sprint in which Casper somehow got off the peloton in the last 100 meters. He just outsprinted the field. I don't know what to make of that. Nothing in his career gave me any reason to believe he'd outsprint McEwen. But at least McEwen and Zabel were in the top five. The other big sprinters were no-shows: Boonen went off too early and finished 12th, Hushovd got caught against the barriers and got 9th, Friere had no excuse and managed 10th, and O'Grady got a disappointing 7th. This was a (mostly) honest sprint and the big names got beat like a drum. Bennati and Paolini aren't exactly Green Jersey contenders either, but there they were.
The one guy with an excuse is Hushovd. He got hemmed in against the barriers and was apparently struck by a fan. I blame those big green fake hands everyone gets. His big cushion from the prologue is already used up, and Hincapie's cheeky move cost him the yellow. He never got a chance to open things up on the final sprint, and he ended his day being carried off in an ambulance. That's an all-around lousy day.
It's not as bad as it looks, though. He's still in second in the Green Jersey standings, and the injury is said not to be serious. But it was the cherry on top of a pretty crappy day for Thor.
posted by Poseur at 1:54 PM
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