Stage 3: Everyone Is a Contender
We have a mantra here: You cannot win the Tour in the first week, but you can lose it. Today was the sort of day in which people lose the Tour. Today was the first rolling stage, not a serious climb, but not a flat stage either. There were six categorized climbs, three Cat. 4's and three Cat. 3's. We're not talking about Alpe d'Huez.
I really like these sort of stages. It's early enough that fairly minor riders are duking it out for the polka dots. Jerome Pineau is not going to finish the race in dots, but I do like how guys aggressively compete for the jersey they could only hold until the real climbing begins. I also like the rolling stages because they are perfectly designed for breakaways. And while today's break didn't work in the end, it was a viable bid.
But today's stage was marred by two crashes, knocking out three riders: Fred Rodriguez, Erik Dekker, and Alejandro Valverde. This is Dekker's last Tour, and we've poked a lot of good natured fun at him over the years, mainly due to his penchant for crashes. So I feel bad that he won't be able to finish this Tour, but perhaps its fitting he ends his Tour de France career with a DNF. I'm going to miss him. But the big news is Valverde breaking his collarbone. Yet another prerace favorite is out of the Tour (DiLuca dropped yesterday). There's not much to say other than we're running out of contenders, and we haven't hit the mountains yet.
Kessler's late move failed yesterday, so why not try again? Today's move had a much greater chance of working because the peloton was not nearly as organized given the late climbs, and some of the top sprinters weren't even in the front group. Why work to catch a lone rider when your sprinter won't benefit? He gets his well-deserved stage win which he probably should have won yesterday.
But many sprinters were a no-show at the end of the stage. Hushovd was caught in the back half of a split peloton, as was McEwen. Neither participated in the final sprint. O'Grady somehow finished 11 minutes back, begging the question how he'll handle the mountains. Now, every sprinter has had a stage in which they have been a no-show, leading to a ridiculously close Green Jersey standing. The top six are all within ten points. And Friere is only 13 points back in 7th. The top three are all separated by a single point: Boonen at 67, Bennati at 66, and McEwen at 65. And maybe it's time to start considering Bennati a real sprinting threat. He's a classics rider, so I'm not sure what he's doing in all of these bunch sprints, but he's been at the front every single day. Since Boonen is in yellow, Bennati will get to wear green tomorrow.
So far, this has been a very close Tour. Only one rider has held any jersey on back-to-back days, Benoit Vaugrenard in white. And he lost the jersey today. The only other rider to hold a jersey for two days is Hushovd and the yellow, and his reign was broken up by Hincapie. And look at the team distribution of awards so far:
CREDIT AGRICOLE 1 stage win, 2 days in yellow, 1 in green (all Thor)
QUICKSTEP 1 day in yellow, 1 in green
COFIDIS 1 stage win, 1 day in green
DISCOVERY 1 day in yellow
DAVITAMON-LOTTO 1 stage win, 1 day in green
FDJ 2 days in white
TMOBILE 1 stage win
GEROLSTEINER 1 day in dots, 1 day in white
BOUYGUES TELECOM 1 day in dots
RABOBANK 1 day in white
SAUNIER DUVAL 1 day in dots
Of the 20 teams in the Tour, 11 have already won a jersey or a stage. That's not counting Bennati getting to wear green for Lampre tomorrow. And we're only 3 stages in. That's remarkable parity so far.
We're missing the stars, but we're not missing the action. The GC race is yet to heat up, but there's some big names lurking at the top of the standings. Tomorrow is a pretty flat stage, so its another day for the sprinters. Are you excited yet?
I really like these sort of stages. It's early enough that fairly minor riders are duking it out for the polka dots. Jerome Pineau is not going to finish the race in dots, but I do like how guys aggressively compete for the jersey they could only hold until the real climbing begins. I also like the rolling stages because they are perfectly designed for breakaways. And while today's break didn't work in the end, it was a viable bid.
But today's stage was marred by two crashes, knocking out three riders: Fred Rodriguez, Erik Dekker, and Alejandro Valverde. This is Dekker's last Tour, and we've poked a lot of good natured fun at him over the years, mainly due to his penchant for crashes. So I feel bad that he won't be able to finish this Tour, but perhaps its fitting he ends his Tour de France career with a DNF. I'm going to miss him. But the big news is Valverde breaking his collarbone. Yet another prerace favorite is out of the Tour (DiLuca dropped yesterday). There's not much to say other than we're running out of contenders, and we haven't hit the mountains yet.
Kessler's late move failed yesterday, so why not try again? Today's move had a much greater chance of working because the peloton was not nearly as organized given the late climbs, and some of the top sprinters weren't even in the front group. Why work to catch a lone rider when your sprinter won't benefit? He gets his well-deserved stage win which he probably should have won yesterday.
But many sprinters were a no-show at the end of the stage. Hushovd was caught in the back half of a split peloton, as was McEwen. Neither participated in the final sprint. O'Grady somehow finished 11 minutes back, begging the question how he'll handle the mountains. Now, every sprinter has had a stage in which they have been a no-show, leading to a ridiculously close Green Jersey standing. The top six are all within ten points. And Friere is only 13 points back in 7th. The top three are all separated by a single point: Boonen at 67, Bennati at 66, and McEwen at 65. And maybe it's time to start considering Bennati a real sprinting threat. He's a classics rider, so I'm not sure what he's doing in all of these bunch sprints, but he's been at the front every single day. Since Boonen is in yellow, Bennati will get to wear green tomorrow.
So far, this has been a very close Tour. Only one rider has held any jersey on back-to-back days, Benoit Vaugrenard in white. And he lost the jersey today. The only other rider to hold a jersey for two days is Hushovd and the yellow, and his reign was broken up by Hincapie. And look at the team distribution of awards so far:
CREDIT AGRICOLE 1 stage win, 2 days in yellow, 1 in green (all Thor)
QUICKSTEP 1 day in yellow, 1 in green
COFIDIS 1 stage win, 1 day in green
DISCOVERY 1 day in yellow
DAVITAMON-LOTTO 1 stage win, 1 day in green
FDJ 2 days in white
TMOBILE 1 stage win
GEROLSTEINER 1 day in dots, 1 day in white
BOUYGUES TELECOM 1 day in dots
RABOBANK 1 day in white
SAUNIER DUVAL 1 day in dots
Of the 20 teams in the Tour, 11 have already won a jersey or a stage. That's not counting Bennati getting to wear green for Lampre tomorrow. And we're only 3 stages in. That's remarkable parity so far.
We're missing the stars, but we're not missing the action. The GC race is yet to heat up, but there's some big names lurking at the top of the standings. Tomorrow is a pretty flat stage, so its another day for the sprinters. Are you excited yet?
posted by Poseur at 3:14 PM
1 Comments:
I had Valverde 3rd before the scandal, then 1st by default. I was feeling good about that pick after the prologue, now I don't know what's gonna happen now that he's gone. Will it be an American? One of the Russians/Ukranians? Could a climber like Mayo, Sastre, or Rujano get hot and steal this one? Should be fun.
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