Tour de France - Stage One
Seeing as I would never come close to attempting a 38km time-trial it only made sense to wake up early and watch the Tour on OLN. Quite a few people were in the Sparta/McMinville area on Sunday morning racing their lungs out in the Tennessee State Time-Trial Championship. I love racing bike, but time-trials are not my idea of fun.
Stage one of the Tour proved to be another fantastic finish with a lot of excitement in the last 5k of the race. An early breakaway was perfectly caught with not many kilometers left, and for George Hincapie it offered the chance to go after some sprint time bonuses.
The pack appeared to not be too interested in setting up a sprint battle for the last time bonus opportunity, but then Hincapie attacked and broke away from the pack. There was still one rider off the front who took first place in the time bonus, so a four and two second bonus was still on the table for 2nd and 3rd. Hincapie was chased down by a Credit Agricole rider who took 2nd with Hincapie taking 3rd. The two second bonus for 3rd put Hincapie in the Yellow Jersey as none of the top GC riders finished the race in the top three spots that award even more time bonuses.
As Phil and Paul said during the race, this was a very cheeky move by Hincapie. Why Thor Hushovd didn't get on Hincapie's wheel is a mystery considering two things, Hushovd wants to keep the Yellow Jersey and he'd like to win the overall Green Jersey competition. At the least you'd think that more Credit Agricole riders would go after Hincapie to take all the spots awarding a time bonus, thereby keeping their man Hushovd in Yellow.
The last 5km of the race was quite chaotic. Not since Mario Cipollini retired has there been a team strong enough to take over a race in the last 5 to 10km before the sprint. Cipo's squads would be motoring so fast that it was impossible for anyone to come around them, but sprints the last few years lack an organized effort by one or two teams. Maybe more riders are just plain stronger, who knows, but the disorganization makes for some all out exciting sprints at the line.
As the sprint was building I picked Robbie McEwen to win. When Robbie has zero teammates leading out he's proven to be the master at picking his way through and using other teams for a victory. It was Milram, Quik-Step, Phonak and Credit Agricole that appeared to have the most riders sacrificing at the end. Robbie came close, but it was Jimmy Casper of Cofidis edging him on the line with Erik Zabel finishing a very close 3rd. See results from Velonews HERE.
While I'm sure Hushovd is disappointed in losing Yellow he's got to be more frustrated with the bizarre cut he sustained during the sprint. As you watch the sprint everything looked a-ok, chaotic yet safe, but then a few minutes later they're showing Hushovd on the ground bleeding profusely all over the Yellow Jersey. It's a moment you are sure to see in cycling photos for years to come. Hushovd got cut by one of those big green hands you see waving along the finish line. As OLN showed the replay you can see it hitting him and stunning him for a brief second. Then as he's coming through the line he's looking down at his arm. Go HERE to see the daily videos from OLN, one of which is this incident.
The question now is does Discovery Channel work to keep the jersey, or relinquish it to someone like Dave Zabriskie of CSC who is only 6 seconds off the pace? Who knows, maybe Thor Hushovd will recover and be able to win back a few seconds in sprint bonuses. While Hincapie will be all smiles in stage two with Yellow his team will not want to waste valuable energy this early in the Tour.
Read what Stuart O'Grady has to say about stage one in his diary. As he says, it's quite ironic that Hushovd is cut by a promo item from the company PMU that sponsors the Green Jersey sprints competition.
Stage one of the Tour proved to be another fantastic finish with a lot of excitement in the last 5k of the race. An early breakaway was perfectly caught with not many kilometers left, and for George Hincapie it offered the chance to go after some sprint time bonuses.
The pack appeared to not be too interested in setting up a sprint battle for the last time bonus opportunity, but then Hincapie attacked and broke away from the pack. There was still one rider off the front who took first place in the time bonus, so a four and two second bonus was still on the table for 2nd and 3rd. Hincapie was chased down by a Credit Agricole rider who took 2nd with Hincapie taking 3rd. The two second bonus for 3rd put Hincapie in the Yellow Jersey as none of the top GC riders finished the race in the top three spots that award even more time bonuses.
As Phil and Paul said during the race, this was a very cheeky move by Hincapie. Why Thor Hushovd didn't get on Hincapie's wheel is a mystery considering two things, Hushovd wants to keep the Yellow Jersey and he'd like to win the overall Green Jersey competition. At the least you'd think that more Credit Agricole riders would go after Hincapie to take all the spots awarding a time bonus, thereby keeping their man Hushovd in Yellow.
The last 5km of the race was quite chaotic. Not since Mario Cipollini retired has there been a team strong enough to take over a race in the last 5 to 10km before the sprint. Cipo's squads would be motoring so fast that it was impossible for anyone to come around them, but sprints the last few years lack an organized effort by one or two teams. Maybe more riders are just plain stronger, who knows, but the disorganization makes for some all out exciting sprints at the line.
As the sprint was building I picked Robbie McEwen to win. When Robbie has zero teammates leading out he's proven to be the master at picking his way through and using other teams for a victory. It was Milram, Quik-Step, Phonak and Credit Agricole that appeared to have the most riders sacrificing at the end. Robbie came close, but it was Jimmy Casper of Cofidis edging him on the line with Erik Zabel finishing a very close 3rd. See results from Velonews HERE.
While I'm sure Hushovd is disappointed in losing Yellow he's got to be more frustrated with the bizarre cut he sustained during the sprint. As you watch the sprint everything looked a-ok, chaotic yet safe, but then a few minutes later they're showing Hushovd on the ground bleeding profusely all over the Yellow Jersey. It's a moment you are sure to see in cycling photos for years to come. Hushovd got cut by one of those big green hands you see waving along the finish line. As OLN showed the replay you can see it hitting him and stunning him for a brief second. Then as he's coming through the line he's looking down at his arm. Go HERE to see the daily videos from OLN, one of which is this incident.
The question now is does Discovery Channel work to keep the jersey, or relinquish it to someone like Dave Zabriskie of CSC who is only 6 seconds off the pace? Who knows, maybe Thor Hushovd will recover and be able to win back a few seconds in sprint bonuses. While Hincapie will be all smiles in stage two with Yellow his team will not want to waste valuable energy this early in the Tour.
Read what Stuart O'Grady has to say about stage one in his diary. As he says, it's quite ironic that Hushovd is cut by a promo item from the company PMU that sponsors the Green Jersey sprints competition.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 7/02/2006 06:53:00 PM
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