Stage 5: The No-Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day
It was a bad day for the Tour. First off, whoever designed the course route for the day needs to be dragged out into the street and beaten severely. What the hell was that? Some organizer's idea of a sick joke?
ORGANIZER #1: "Hey, I know. Let's have an undulating stage in which the final five km is all downhill on a narrow road with tons of switchbacks and s-curves?"
ORGANIZER #2: "What if the peloton is still together? It's not like the climbs are so tough as to absolutely splinter the field. These are professionals, after all."
ORGANIZER #1: "Eh... screw 'em."
It was an unnecessarily dangerous descent, and one in which we were pretty lucky not to have a horrific crash. That many riders still bunched together, all going full speed downhill, and without room to maneuver? It was just a poorly conceived stage. But the course designers weren't the only ones to have a bad day.
THE SPRINTERS
McEwen finished over ten minutes back. He's never been a great climber, but he was completely dropped on what can hardly be classified as the toughest of ascents. I think Jason's right, his wrist is worse than he's letting on. Boonen also got dropped, though he finished only about a minute back. However, what's the difference between one minute and ten when you need to finish top twenty to earn any points on the day? Both of the top sprinters left the door open for the rest of the field...
...and Erik Zabel walked right in. Zabel took enough points to leapfrog past the leaders and he finds himself back in a familiar place, wearing the green jersey. When do we start taking him seriously as a legit threat to win it? Look at the standings after today's stage:
Zabel(MIL): 102 pts
Boonen(QSP): 98
McEwen(LOT): 84
Freire(RAB): 84
Hunter(BAR): 83
Hushovd(CA): 79
Boonen is probably still the favorite, but they have put some distance between themselves and the pack. And Hushovd has to have another big stage. Just saying.
THE CLIMBERS
OK, Auge knew he was just keeping the polka dots warm, so he can't be too upset to see someone else on the podium today. But if you're gonna lose a jersey, it's nice to lose it to a teammate. Sylvain Chavanel has been all over the place in these early stages, so its nice to see him get some recognition. This is his second straight day pushing the break, and this time he gets to wear dots for his troubles. Chavanel's on his seventh Tour, and he's always put forth a solid effort, so he gets some well deserved glory with his first jersey. Sebastian Chavanel, if you haven't noticed, is doing pretty well in the green jersey chase.
But, as a reason for concern, Rasmussen picked up eight points on the climbs today. No big deal. He's still way back in the standings. but he has announced his presence. He will contest this jersey. He's not gonna let Chavanel build up to big of a lead. All the climbers need to worry. Rasmussen's out here to win his third straight title.
ASTANA
What a craptacular day for Astana.
Kloden crashed in the early going, and his team dropped back to work him back in the peloton. OK, so the team used up some strength, and got one of its contenders back in the race. Big deal, right?
Well, Vinokourov would then crash, even tearing his pants (leading to a visual I could have lived without, Vino riding with his ass literally hanging out). But Astana had already burned itself working Kloden back in. Salvodelli, for example, 7:04 back. He wasn't alone among Astana riders finishing well back. Vino was on his own, and he fought valiantly, but lost 1:20 to the field. That's a lot of time to lose before we have hit the Alps.
Which opens up the worst case scenario for Astana. They are about to do their best T-Mobile impression, even with some of the same characters. Kloden has got to think he's the team's best chance to win. Vino's not gonna concede his shot to win the Tour on his first bad day, especially since the damage is only a minute. And Kashechkin is still lurking in the wings. At least Salvodelli is clearly a domestique. We're not quite at the level of Telekom dysfunction we've seen in previous Tours, but this has got to be the story to watch headed to the Alps.
Edited to Add:
Apparently the day for Astana just got worse. Kloden has a fractured coccyx and may withdraw from the Tour. Well, at least that clears up the leadership picture.
ORGANIZER #1: "Hey, I know. Let's have an undulating stage in which the final five km is all downhill on a narrow road with tons of switchbacks and s-curves?"
ORGANIZER #2: "What if the peloton is still together? It's not like the climbs are so tough as to absolutely splinter the field. These are professionals, after all."
ORGANIZER #1: "Eh... screw 'em."
It was an unnecessarily dangerous descent, and one in which we were pretty lucky not to have a horrific crash. That many riders still bunched together, all going full speed downhill, and without room to maneuver? It was just a poorly conceived stage. But the course designers weren't the only ones to have a bad day.
THE SPRINTERS
McEwen finished over ten minutes back. He's never been a great climber, but he was completely dropped on what can hardly be classified as the toughest of ascents. I think Jason's right, his wrist is worse than he's letting on. Boonen also got dropped, though he finished only about a minute back. However, what's the difference between one minute and ten when you need to finish top twenty to earn any points on the day? Both of the top sprinters left the door open for the rest of the field...
...and Erik Zabel walked right in. Zabel took enough points to leapfrog past the leaders and he finds himself back in a familiar place, wearing the green jersey. When do we start taking him seriously as a legit threat to win it? Look at the standings after today's stage:
Zabel(MIL): 102 pts
Boonen(QSP): 98
McEwen(LOT): 84
Freire(RAB): 84
Hunter(BAR): 83
Hushovd(CA): 79
Boonen is probably still the favorite, but they have put some distance between themselves and the pack. And Hushovd has to have another big stage. Just saying.
THE CLIMBERS
OK, Auge knew he was just keeping the polka dots warm, so he can't be too upset to see someone else on the podium today. But if you're gonna lose a jersey, it's nice to lose it to a teammate. Sylvain Chavanel has been all over the place in these early stages, so its nice to see him get some recognition. This is his second straight day pushing the break, and this time he gets to wear dots for his troubles. Chavanel's on his seventh Tour, and he's always put forth a solid effort, so he gets some well deserved glory with his first jersey. Sebastian Chavanel, if you haven't noticed, is doing pretty well in the green jersey chase.
But, as a reason for concern, Rasmussen picked up eight points on the climbs today. No big deal. He's still way back in the standings. but he has announced his presence. He will contest this jersey. He's not gonna let Chavanel build up to big of a lead. All the climbers need to worry. Rasmussen's out here to win his third straight title.
ASTANA
What a craptacular day for Astana.
Kloden crashed in the early going, and his team dropped back to work him back in the peloton. OK, so the team used up some strength, and got one of its contenders back in the race. Big deal, right?
Well, Vinokourov would then crash, even tearing his pants (leading to a visual I could have lived without, Vino riding with his ass literally hanging out). But Astana had already burned itself working Kloden back in. Salvodelli, for example, 7:04 back. He wasn't alone among Astana riders finishing well back. Vino was on his own, and he fought valiantly, but lost 1:20 to the field. That's a lot of time to lose before we have hit the Alps.
Which opens up the worst case scenario for Astana. They are about to do their best T-Mobile impression, even with some of the same characters. Kloden has got to think he's the team's best chance to win. Vino's not gonna concede his shot to win the Tour on his first bad day, especially since the damage is only a minute. And Kashechkin is still lurking in the wings. At least Salvodelli is clearly a domestique. We're not quite at the level of Telekom dysfunction we've seen in previous Tours, but this has got to be the story to watch headed to the Alps.
Edited to Add:
Apparently the day for Astana just got worse. Kloden has a fractured coccyx and may withdraw from the Tour. Well, at least that clears up the leadership picture.
posted by Poseur at 3:21 PM
1 Comments:
I doubt Kloden can continue with a broken ass. How can he sit on his bike for several hours like that? Anyway, I think you overestimate the drama within Astana. When Kloden crashed, they sent one guy to help him. When Vino crashed, they sent 5, so it's pretty clear who they think is their #1. However, they did a poor job of getting Vino back to the peloton. Vino spent more than half of his struggle without his teammates. They definitely didn't earn their paydays today. As for Vino's chances, I think he should be more concerned with his injury than his 80 second deficit. That hurts a lot, and it may cost him the race when it's all over, but it's not a disaster.
It has been 5 years since Erik Zabel last wore the green jersey. Things like this make my dad say old age and treachery always overcome youth and a bad haircut. It's not true, but it sounds cool.
I don't expect Chavanel to beat Rasmussen, but he's definitely no chump with a lead like that. Chavanel has been on long mountain breakaways before. Rasmussen can't give him anything else from now on.
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