Stage 9

image from www.letour.com

The bunch sprint.

There were several things to notice in the sprint for Stage 9 today. Tom Boonen may be fast, but his timing is off. That’s why he hasn’t won a stage yet. It looked like he was so eager to win today that he jumped the gun. The 3 guys who beat were all riding in his line in the final 200 meters. First came Zabel, who was well-positioned, but simply lacks the firepower in his legs to ride away from everyone. Next came Freire, who probably had the best timing of everyone on this sprint, hence the win. Third was McEwen, who was boxed in, but shot the gap as soon as Zabel & Freire opened it. It was too late by then, but McEwen had such a quick acceleration that he almost overtook Freire. But take another look at the replay. McEwen made a very wide cut to get around the other 3. It’s the type of cut that gets sprinters disqualified for riding into anther cyclist’s line—it’s illegal because it’s a great way to cause a crash. Fortunately for McEwen, he was too fast to cut anyone off.

And if you think Boonen took off too soon, don’t even look for Thor Hushovd.

13 seconds.

It doesn’t really qualify as a shake-up in the GC, but Denis Menchov was caught napping in the rush to the finish line and finished behind the lead pack. He lost 13 seconds to the likes of Gonchar, Kloden, Savoldelli, Landis, Sastre, Hincapie, et al. Not a big deal, but it makes things a tiny bit tighter for Menchov.

Levi Leipheimer finished 159^th, but was given a time of 26 seconds behind Freire, which I presume means he was caught in a crash or flat in the last 3 km, it’s just that kind of Tour for Levi.

Iban Mayo was also in Menchov’s group, so he lost 13 seconds too. It’s not surprising that Mayo lost track of the peloton.

The road goes up.

Finally, we’re headed to the mountains. The first big climbs often catch guys when they are not ready, but since the last climb is 40 km from the finish, there probably will not be a big GC showdown in stage 10. Of course, the last 40 km are descent, and there’s one 2-time Giro champions who excels at the downhill in this race. The stage is ideal for Disco to set tempo up the mountains and then let Savoldelli fly downhill. It’s more likely that they’ll play it safe and conserve energy for Stage 11.

But it’s a lock that someone will make a dash for the polka dot jersey tomorrow.