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ysobelleStage Two
Dunkerque, France to Gent, Belgium - 168.5km
Holy flippin’ G –d, what a finish.
Today’s stage ran 168.5km from Dunkerque (aka Dunkirk), France to Gent (aka Ghent or Gand), Belgium, from whence came the good news. A long, mostly flat stage, the first move of interest came from three riders: Ruben Perez of Euskatel-Euskadi, Cedric Herve of Agritubel, and Marcel Sieberg of Milram took off a mere 18km from the start and stayed out through sun, cloud, and, inevitably, a nasty rain. The three worked together for hours, holding to the sporting code to share the prizes for each intermediate sprint and bringing their lead up to over five minutes.
For the most part, an uneventful stage, with peloton riders chatting and joking as they ate up the long flat miles in the misty Belgian drizzle. David Zabriskie seemed to be living up to his lighthearted reputation, goofing off and waving to the camera while maintaining a strong position at the very front of the field. Unfortunately, a minor foul-up in a traffic circle toppled his CSC teammate Frank Schleck, giving him a nasty little abrasion on his elbow and knee, and shredding and bloodying a patch of his arm warmer. His teammate Inigo Cuesta (oldest rider in the race, at 38) stopped for him, however, and got him back to the peloton in excellent time. Which brings up an interesting point: why, exactly, did T-Mobile fail to do the same thing when Mark Cavendish, their hope to win the stage, was throwing a perfectly justified tantrum on the roadside yesterday after his crash?
Inevitably, and crushingly, the peloton got down to business and reeled in the breakaway riders. They didn’t go down without a fight, each of them dashing forward for a bit, trying to pull the others on, but as almost always happens, caught they were, less than three kilometers from the end: swallowed by the whirr of gears and blur of team jerseys after 140km on their own.
And then mere seconds from the end, with the leaders’ speed rising past 33mph, as Quick-Step set up their train for Tom Boonen and T-Mobile tried to push their sprinter and Robbie McEwen started to move up and Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin started to shout, a Milram rider’s foot clicked loose from its pedal, causing him to swing wildly to the right. With most of the peloton behind him, the inevitable result was a devastating domino effect that splashed violently across the road, taking down almost 90% of the entire field. Several riders smashed into the metal spectator barriers, skewing them out several feet with the force of impact. Discovery took not one but two hits: Lithuanian Tomas Vaitkus, riding in his first Tour, broke his thumb, and is out of commission, with surgery scheduled Monday to pin his broken bones back together. George Hincapie went down on his knee heavily, but the team says he will start tomorrow. Fabian Cancellara, unmissable in his brilliant Maillot Jaune, toppled awkwardly onto a pile of men and machines and sat there looking dazed.
Tour rules state that anyone crashing within the final three km of the stage will receive the same finishing time as the group they were with when they fell, so for 160 riders, the stage was over. Slowly picking themselves up and sorting themselves out, most of them simply turned around to watch on the huge television screens in the crowd while the surviving twenty or so riders—including the Milram rider who’d started the whole mess—sprinted for the end. And perhaps fueled by the home field advantage, Belgians Gert Steegmans and Tom Boonen, both of Quick-Step, sweep ahead towards the line. Steegmans is there to lead out Tom, but with a pounding pack of the sport’s best snapping at his heels, he seems unable to slow (or perhaps Tom left it too late to swing out of his slipstream), and sweeps over the line half a wheel ahead. Tom is, however, the first to cheer and pat his lead-out man on the back for a job well done.
I have to say, it’s pretty bizarre to watch the peloton watching the race on TV. I’d find it gut-wrenching, but most of them seem pretty complacent, the other Quick-Step riders breaking into cheers as their teammates take one-two. Soon, they all start to move out, trickling in in groups, some looking the worse for wear. Fabian Cancellara, who’ll keep the Yellow Jersey, rolled in cradling his left arm like a puppy with a hurt paw, though he seemed recovered by the time he stood on the podium to accept his prize. Alexandre Vinokourov arrived looking grim, crossing himself and kissing his ring, seemingly thankful to have emerged unscathed. But worst perhaps, was Freddie Rodriguez of Predictor Lotto, instrumental in Robbie McEwen’s spectacular surprise win yesterday. Rodriguez pedaled in dead last, looking utterly exhausted, his left arm curled tight to his body, his helmet nowhere in sight, and the medic car right on his heels. No news yet on what, exactly he’s injured—wrist, arm, collarbone—or if he’ll start tomorrow.
So not a pleasant end to the stage, but certainly a very exciting one. Tomorrow, another flat stage from Waregem, Belgium to Compiegne, France, covering 236.5km, with three sprints and one Categorie 4 climb at the end.
As I said last year, any questions, just ask. If I don’t know the answer, I’m more than happy to geek out—as if I haven’t already-- and look it up. And I hope you’re all enjoying this at least a little as much as I am.
Trivia of the Day: The mostly European riders are so used to riding on the right that even in England, where one drives on the left, they didn’t.
In the old days, it used to be that if the Tour went through a rider’s home town, the peloton would sit up and coast for a while, giving the rider time to swing by home, stop for five minutes with the family, perhaps have a cup of coffee, then rejoin the race. Now? Not so much. The field will give you about a hundred metres out in front—enough to grab a cookie or a gulp of champagne—but that’s it.
Saturday marked not only the beginning of the 2007 Tour de france, but the return to racing of Saul Raisin, of Credit Agricole, in a minor race in the States. Why is this news? Because 14 months before, his parents had to consider funeral arrangements and organ donation for him. A crash in an April ‘06 tune-up race for the Giro d’Italia caused severe brain damage, affecting both motor skills and cognition. Even after he emerged from a coma, they were told he’d probably never be able to move again. A portion of his right temporal lobe had had to be removed, which seemed to ensure he’d be paralysed on his left side. But it didn’t take long before he was powering through intensive therapy, and back on a bike. In Saturday’s race, he didn’t even list to the left. At 24 years of age, his best professional years are still before him. And he insists he’ll be back at 110% and racing for CA, the team that’s stood behind him all this time. So why is this relevant to the Tour? Because in December, he’ll marry Aleeza Zabriskie—sister to CSC’s David.
Dunkerque, France to Gent, Belgium - 168.5km
Holy flippin’ G –d, what a finish.
Today’s stage ran 168.5km from Dunkerque (aka Dunkirk), France to Gent (aka Ghent or Gand), Belgium, from whence came the good news. A long, mostly flat stage, the first move of interest came from three riders: Ruben Perez of Euskatel-Euskadi, Cedric Herve of Agritubel, and Marcel Sieberg of Milram took off a mere 18km from the start and stayed out through sun, cloud, and, inevitably, a nasty rain. The three worked together for hours, holding to the sporting code to share the prizes for each intermediate sprint and bringing their lead up to over five minutes.
For the most part, an uneventful stage, with peloton riders chatting and joking as they ate up the long flat miles in the misty Belgian drizzle. David Zabriskie seemed to be living up to his lighthearted reputation, goofing off and waving to the camera while maintaining a strong position at the very front of the field. Unfortunately, a minor foul-up in a traffic circle toppled his CSC teammate Frank Schleck, giving him a nasty little abrasion on his elbow and knee, and shredding and bloodying a patch of his arm warmer. His teammate Inigo Cuesta (oldest rider in the race, at 38) stopped for him, however, and got him back to the peloton in excellent time. Which brings up an interesting point: why, exactly, did T-Mobile fail to do the same thing when Mark Cavendish, their hope to win the stage, was throwing a perfectly justified tantrum on the roadside yesterday after his crash?
Inevitably, and crushingly, the peloton got down to business and reeled in the breakaway riders. They didn’t go down without a fight, each of them dashing forward for a bit, trying to pull the others on, but as almost always happens, caught they were, less than three kilometers from the end: swallowed by the whirr of gears and blur of team jerseys after 140km on their own.
And then mere seconds from the end, with the leaders’ speed rising past 33mph, as Quick-Step set up their train for Tom Boonen and T-Mobile tried to push their sprinter and Robbie McEwen started to move up and Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin started to shout, a Milram rider’s foot clicked loose from its pedal, causing him to swing wildly to the right. With most of the peloton behind him, the inevitable result was a devastating domino effect that splashed violently across the road, taking down almost 90% of the entire field. Several riders smashed into the metal spectator barriers, skewing them out several feet with the force of impact. Discovery took not one but two hits: Lithuanian Tomas Vaitkus, riding in his first Tour, broke his thumb, and is out of commission, with surgery scheduled Monday to pin his broken bones back together. George Hincapie went down on his knee heavily, but the team says he will start tomorrow. Fabian Cancellara, unmissable in his brilliant Maillot Jaune, toppled awkwardly onto a pile of men and machines and sat there looking dazed.
Tour rules state that anyone crashing within the final three km of the stage will receive the same finishing time as the group they were with when they fell, so for 160 riders, the stage was over. Slowly picking themselves up and sorting themselves out, most of them simply turned around to watch on the huge television screens in the crowd while the surviving twenty or so riders—including the Milram rider who’d started the whole mess—sprinted for the end. And perhaps fueled by the home field advantage, Belgians Gert Steegmans and Tom Boonen, both of Quick-Step, sweep ahead towards the line. Steegmans is there to lead out Tom, but with a pounding pack of the sport’s best snapping at his heels, he seems unable to slow (or perhaps Tom left it too late to swing out of his slipstream), and sweeps over the line half a wheel ahead. Tom is, however, the first to cheer and pat his lead-out man on the back for a job well done.
I have to say, it’s pretty bizarre to watch the peloton watching the race on TV. I’d find it gut-wrenching, but most of them seem pretty complacent, the other Quick-Step riders breaking into cheers as their teammates take one-two. Soon, they all start to move out, trickling in in groups, some looking the worse for wear. Fabian Cancellara, who’ll keep the Yellow Jersey, rolled in cradling his left arm like a puppy with a hurt paw, though he seemed recovered by the time he stood on the podium to accept his prize. Alexandre Vinokourov arrived looking grim, crossing himself and kissing his ring, seemingly thankful to have emerged unscathed. But worst perhaps, was Freddie Rodriguez of Predictor Lotto, instrumental in Robbie McEwen’s spectacular surprise win yesterday. Rodriguez pedaled in dead last, looking utterly exhausted, his left arm curled tight to his body, his helmet nowhere in sight, and the medic car right on his heels. No news yet on what, exactly he’s injured—wrist, arm, collarbone—or if he’ll start tomorrow.
So not a pleasant end to the stage, but certainly a very exciting one. Tomorrow, another flat stage from Waregem, Belgium to Compiegne, France, covering 236.5km, with three sprints and one Categorie 4 climb at the end.
As I said last year, any questions, just ask. If I don’t know the answer, I’m more than happy to geek out—as if I haven’t already-- and look it up. And I hope you’re all enjoying this at least a little as much as I am.
Trivia of the Day: The mostly European riders are so used to riding on the right that even in England, where one drives on the left, they didn’t.
In the old days, it used to be that if the Tour went through a rider’s home town, the peloton would sit up and coast for a while, giving the rider time to swing by home, stop for five minutes with the family, perhaps have a cup of coffee, then rejoin the race. Now? Not so much. The field will give you about a hundred metres out in front—enough to grab a cookie or a gulp of champagne—but that’s it.
Saturday marked not only the beginning of the 2007 Tour de france, but the return to racing of Saul Raisin, of Credit Agricole, in a minor race in the States. Why is this news? Because 14 months before, his parents had to consider funeral arrangements and organ donation for him. A crash in an April ‘06 tune-up race for the Giro d’Italia caused severe brain damage, affecting both motor skills and cognition. Even after he emerged from a coma, they were told he’d probably never be able to move again. A portion of his right temporal lobe had had to be removed, which seemed to ensure he’d be paralysed on his left side. But it didn’t take long before he was powering through intensive therapy, and back on a bike. In Saturday’s race, he didn’t even list to the left. At 24 years of age, his best professional years are still before him. And he insists he’ll be back at 110% and racing for CA, the team that’s stood behind him all this time. So why is this relevant to the Tour? Because in December, he’ll marry Aleeza Zabriskie—sister to CSC’s David.