Stage 6: Boonen wins, Cancellara's last day in the lead
Would someone please tell T-Mobile that Erik Zabel is no longer on their team?
I'm at a loss to explain why the team has spent so much time at the front of the peloton these last few days, but there they are. Everyday, reeling in breaks and making things easy for their green jersey contender... oh, that's right, they don't have one. Or maybe they are defending their yellow jersey... nope, wait... yeah Cancellara still rides for rival CSC. I don't get it.
McEwen, after looking so dominant on Stage One, tumbled even further down the points standings to sixth place and 44 points out. Boonen took back his green jersey from Zabel with a terrific sprint, not to mention the points he gobbled up on the road. Could this finally be the year that the black cloud lifts from Boonen? It's looking that way, but you know what they say about counting chickens. He's got 11 points on Zabel and 27 on Freire. Now he has to make it through the mountains in one piece.
To follow up on Astana, both Kloden and Vino started today's stage. The question is how they will ride in the mountains, and we will have our answer tomorrow. I would like to clarify that I wasn't saying yesterday the team had lapsed into dysfunction, just that the potential was there. It's easy to mouth platitudes, it's much more diffiuclt to carry someone else's water when you think you can win the yellow. It's worth watching to see how the Astana dynamic develops.
This is Cancellara's last day in yellow, which even he concedes. He has said he will support his teammates in the mountains and he graciously thanked everyone for keeping him in yellow for the best week of his racing life. And so the race for the GC truly begins.
I'm at a loss to explain why the team has spent so much time at the front of the peloton these last few days, but there they are. Everyday, reeling in breaks and making things easy for their green jersey contender... oh, that's right, they don't have one. Or maybe they are defending their yellow jersey... nope, wait... yeah Cancellara still rides for rival CSC. I don't get it.
McEwen, after looking so dominant on Stage One, tumbled even further down the points standings to sixth place and 44 points out. Boonen took back his green jersey from Zabel with a terrific sprint, not to mention the points he gobbled up on the road. Could this finally be the year that the black cloud lifts from Boonen? It's looking that way, but you know what they say about counting chickens. He's got 11 points on Zabel and 27 on Freire. Now he has to make it through the mountains in one piece.
To follow up on Astana, both Kloden and Vino started today's stage. The question is how they will ride in the mountains, and we will have our answer tomorrow. I would like to clarify that I wasn't saying yesterday the team had lapsed into dysfunction, just that the potential was there. It's easy to mouth platitudes, it's much more diffiuclt to carry someone else's water when you think you can win the yellow. It's worth watching to see how the Astana dynamic develops.
This is Cancellara's last day in yellow, which even he concedes. He has said he will support his teammates in the mountains and he graciously thanked everyone for keeping him in yellow for the best week of his racing life. And so the race for the GC truly begins.
posted by Poseur at 12:33 PM
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