Stage 3: Well, well, well
I was all set to write a post about how the first stages of the Tour always lack any real drama, and how it is hard to get up for the same cycle of breakaway, pursuit, catch, and then a sprint finish. Up until the last 25 km, that’s exactly how this stage was panning out. Maybe I was gonna say a few words about Cavendish and his pursuit of green, but it was not exactly a riveting stage.
Then the last 25 km happened. A pursuit group broke off the peloton and swallowed up the breakaway. No big deal, as that sort of thing happens all the time. Except that this pursuit group had three Astana riders in it: Lance, Popovych, and Zubeldia.
Even better for Lance was the presence of THOR! and almost the entire Columbia team in the break group. Cavendish’s team then had all of the incentive to pull their weight for the break. It was just like old times, seeing Hincapie leading a break group with Lance in it, even if they were on different teams. It was a logical alliance and the break group kept the 30 second gap despite the efforts of the peloton. Cavendish beat THOR! in a sprint to the line, and further solidified his early points lead.
But that’s not the story.
Armstrong, and two Astana riders, participated in a break and put time into their team captain. Armstrong, not Contador, is now the highest placed Astana rider in the GC. The split in Astana is becoming even more clear. This is not a united team by any stretch.
So what happens now? A divided team can absolutely crush even the most talented teams. Just ask Kloden, he used to ride for T-Mobile, so he has experience with this. On the flip side, its not like Contador and Armstrong don’t share the same goals. They can tenuously ride each other’s wheels while burning up the same domestiques until they both decide to pull out the long knives on Mount Ventoux. If neither rider shows weakness until then, it will probably come down to a free for all on the penultimate day.
Boys and girls, this just got interesting.
Then the last 25 km happened. A pursuit group broke off the peloton and swallowed up the breakaway. No big deal, as that sort of thing happens all the time. Except that this pursuit group had three Astana riders in it: Lance, Popovych, and Zubeldia.
Even better for Lance was the presence of THOR! and almost the entire Columbia team in the break group. Cavendish’s team then had all of the incentive to pull their weight for the break. It was just like old times, seeing Hincapie leading a break group with Lance in it, even if they were on different teams. It was a logical alliance and the break group kept the 30 second gap despite the efforts of the peloton. Cavendish beat THOR! in a sprint to the line, and further solidified his early points lead.
But that’s not the story.
Armstrong, and two Astana riders, participated in a break and put time into their team captain. Armstrong, not Contador, is now the highest placed Astana rider in the GC. The split in Astana is becoming even more clear. This is not a united team by any stretch.
So what happens now? A divided team can absolutely crush even the most talented teams. Just ask Kloden, he used to ride for T-Mobile, so he has experience with this. On the flip side, its not like Contador and Armstrong don’t share the same goals. They can tenuously ride each other’s wheels while burning up the same domestiques until they both decide to pull out the long knives on Mount Ventoux. If neither rider shows weakness until then, it will probably come down to a free for all on the penultimate day.
Boys and girls, this just got interesting.
posted by Poseur at 11:21 AM
1 Comments:
Yeah, I'd say that got interesting. The post race interviews were interesting too. Cavendish is just a monster trash talker, calling his competitors who missed his breakaway "junior" cyclists who get "junior" results. This guy is so arrogant it's entertaining. Lance Armstrong is a horrible liar. His comments about the race unfolding a certain way seemed as though he was trying to suggest 40 seconds just fell in his lap accidentally today. Then he said, that, well, everyone should have seen it coming...at least he wasn't as bold as Cavendish. Then he even suggested it changes the dynamic of the team time trial...but does it? The team still needs the same result it needed anyway, only Astana is a few seconds more behind Cancellara if they intend to take yellow, thanks, in part, to the work some Astana riders did to keep the gap between the Armstrong/Cavendish/Cancellara group and the Contador group.
The commentators are excited about Lance taking yellow tomorrow, but both of the guys ahead of him are on teams that can put together a really great time trial. How good of a team is Astana?
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