Stage 5: The Sprinters Look at McEwen In Awe

Hey, didn’t you used to be Oscar Friere? The former world champ, who has been quietly sitting just behind the leaders in every bunch sprint, finally made his move today and won a stage. Which means Tom Boonen just missed out on winning his first stage this year, making McEwen today’s big winner again.

McEwen is a bad man. He’s the best sprinter in the field, and I really love his almost arrogant style. His team doesn’t lead him out, he just shows up in the last 500 meters out of a thin air, and then kicks your ass. He eschews those points available in the intermediate sprints, as if to tell everyone he’s sure he’s not going to need those points because he’s going to win the stage. And he’s usually right. Boonen, meanwhile, works hard, gets his team to set him up perfectly, even beats McEwen to the line, only to still finish second. With Boonen, it seems like work. With McEwen, it seems easy.

Thor Hushovd has probably lost the green jersey. Not so much for his relegation yesterday, but because of his response to it. Losing 20 points hurts, but its not a critical blow. But Thor’s had a pretty bad run of luck in this year’s Tour: suffering a severe gash, losing his toehold on a final sprint and having to power home on one leg, and now getting a mysterious penalty for irregular sprinting. I think he threw in the towel today. He was in the sprint but finished in 7^th, a very un-Hushovd kind of performance. I think the bad luck has taken its mental toll: it’s not his year.

A final word on Erik Dekker. Here is a description of his injuries, courtesy of cyclingnews.com:

Erik Dekker suffered a concussion and “serious facial injuries: abrasions, facial trauma, a contusion, a ripped upper lip, as well as a couple of broken teeth. He was kept unconscious on Tuesday night so that his face could be cleaned.”

Now THAT’S an injury. These guys are tough.