I wonder if the Tour de France has ever had such a dramatic or traumatic start as it did today. To begin with, this year's Tour went straight to the first stage of racing, without a time trial prologue the day before as it usually does. This meant there was an inordinate amount of pressure and prestige associated with today's stage - for once the stage winner was guaranteed the maillot jaune, and due to the type of stage and the new points system, the green jersey and the polka-dot jersey as well. How are you meant to wear them all? Layer them like tank tops, maybe?
Anyway, it began like any old Tour de France stage, a breakaway leaping off at the 0-kilometre mark and pulling away from the peloton, who were happy to take it easy today. The three at the tete de la course, Perrig Quemener of Europcar, Jeremy Roy of Francais des Jeux and Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil, had an excellent run, sitting up to 7 minutes ahead of the main peloton for almost four hours, until the peloton finally reeled them in at the 20 kilometres to go mark. And that was when the chaos began. Around the 13-kilometre mark an errant spectator on the side of the road caused Astana's Maxim Iglinsky to swerve and crash into the rider next to him, causing a domino effect right across the road, bringing down several riders and building a roadblock that stopped all but 30 riders in the main peloton. Taken to the front of the peloton by their teams, top GC contenders Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans both escaped the carnage, but not so for defending champion, Spaniard Alberto Contador. Contador was caught up in the chaos and while thankfully unharmed, he finished the stage one minute and 20 seconds behind his two main rivals.
Anyway, it began like any old Tour de France stage, a breakaway leaping off at the 0-kilometre mark and pulling away from the peloton, who were happy to take it easy today. The three at the tete de la course, Perrig Quemener of Europcar, Jeremy Roy of Francais des Jeux and Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil, had an excellent run, sitting up to 7 minutes ahead of the main peloton for almost four hours, until the peloton finally reeled them in at the 20 kilometres to go mark. And that was when the chaos began. Around the 13-kilometre mark an errant spectator on the side of the road caused Astana's Maxim Iglinsky to swerve and crash into the rider next to him, causing a domino effect right across the road, bringing down several riders and building a roadblock that stopped all but 30 riders in the main peloton. Taken to the front of the peloton by their teams, top GC contenders Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans both escaped the carnage, but not so for defending champion, Spaniard Alberto Contador. Contador was caught up in the chaos and while thankfully unharmed, he finished the stage one minute and 20 seconds behind his two main rivals.
Ahead of the crash zone, 30 lucky riders were still racing towards the finish line in Les Herbiers. Despite being touted as a good stage for Omega-Pharma Lotto's Phillipe Gilbert or one of the sprinters, chances had suddenly opened up for the other teams with most of the sprint lead-out trains still caught up back at the 13-k mark. Then remarkably, half the front group of riders crashed again just inside the 3-kilometre mark, and while Andy Schleck went down this time, Cadel was still up the front of the pack, being protected by BMC teammate George Hincapie and waiting for the finish line to appear. At 1 kilometre to go Phillipe Gilbert was getting in position when time-trial world champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) shot out like a bullet, forcing Gilbert to go for the sprint earlier than planned. Cancellara disappeared from sight at 400 metres to go, and suddenly Cadel Evans had broken off the front and was chasing down Gilbert for the stage victory. Though making up ground rapidly, Cadel hit the finish line before he could catch Gilbert, and had to settle for second place three seconds behind Gilbert and 3 seconds ahead of the rest of the main group, as well as Gilbert's green jersey the following day (as Gilbert will be wearing the yellow jersey and Cadel is second on the green jersey points table). The main peloton limped in over a minute later, Contador looking rather glum.
Despite going down in the second crash and losing time, Andy Schleck recorded a finishing time 6 seconds behind Gilbert along with the rest of the front group of riders, thanks to a rule that ensures that anyone who crashes within the final three kilometres is given the same finishing time as the group with whom they were riding. Pretty dramatic day overall. Question is now - can Contador recover?
Despite going down in the second crash and losing time, Andy Schleck recorded a finishing time 6 seconds behind Gilbert along with the rest of the front group of riders, thanks to a rule that ensures that anyone who crashes within the final three kilometres is given the same finishing time as the group with whom they were riding. Pretty dramatic day overall. Question is now - can Contador recover?
No comments:
Post a Comment