Race report: stage one
Published by Halverde on 7/02/2006 at 23:15.
This is why we love the Tour -- even in times of trouble they're not afraid to scrimp on flat stages. This year there isn't so much as a railway bridge for the riders to climb until stage ten, so we're going to try not to use up all our jokes about flat stages too early.
Today's was designed for someone like Thomas Voeckler to go on the attack in a medium sized breakaway before being caught again, with points for a fourth category climb as an incentive. We said as much on the stage preview, which we then completely forgot to upload. A breakaway of seven did get away, but it didn't contain Voeckler so we were only half right.
From within the group Fabian Wegmann picked up the mountain jersey, and Walter Beneteau picked up 16 of the 18 sprint points available on the road, and the peleton came back together with 7Km to go. George Hincapie jumped out of the peleton for the time bonus on the third sprint of the day and managed to pick up two seconds to make himself leader on the road, a move that perplexed those who suspected him of being an overall contender and infuriated those who just plain dislike him.
Favourite for the stage Tom Boonen was way behind in the lead up to the sprint finish, and his team displayed some wince-worthy tactics by dragging him to the front and dumping him in the lead position with a kilometer to go. He stopped pedalling and left the other rivals to contest the victory. Cipollini mark two?
Of all people, Jimmy Casper nabbed the stage with a well timed sprint. McEwen and Zabel took second and third places. Yellow jersey wearer Hushovd crossed the line then took up position on the floor, bleeding. His arm had been sliced open by a giant cardboard hand, which must be the most needless injury we'll see in this year's Tour.
Valverde watch:
29th on the stage, he stayed towards the front to avoid crashes but didn't contest the sprint. Just like a true champion.
Stage top five
1 Jimmy Casper
2 Robbie McEwen
3 Erik Zabel
4 Daniele Bennati
5 Luca Paolini
Overall top ten
1 George Hincapie 4.18.15
2 Thor Hushovd +0.02
3 David Zabriskie +0.06
4 Sebastian Lang
5 Alejandro Valverde
6 Stuart O'Grady
7 Michael Rogers +0.08
8 Paolo Savoldelli +0.10
9 Floyd Landis +0.11
10 Benoît Vaugrenard
Points: Jimmy Casper
Mountains: Fabian Wegmann
Young rider: Bernhard Eisel
Today's was designed for someone like Thomas Voeckler to go on the attack in a medium sized breakaway before being caught again, with points for a fourth category climb as an incentive. We said as much on the stage preview, which we then completely forgot to upload. A breakaway of seven did get away, but it didn't contain Voeckler so we were only half right.
From within the group Fabian Wegmann picked up the mountain jersey, and Walter Beneteau picked up 16 of the 18 sprint points available on the road, and the peleton came back together with 7Km to go. George Hincapie jumped out of the peleton for the time bonus on the third sprint of the day and managed to pick up two seconds to make himself leader on the road, a move that perplexed those who suspected him of being an overall contender and infuriated those who just plain dislike him.
Favourite for the stage Tom Boonen was way behind in the lead up to the sprint finish, and his team displayed some wince-worthy tactics by dragging him to the front and dumping him in the lead position with a kilometer to go. He stopped pedalling and left the other rivals to contest the victory. Cipollini mark two?
Of all people, Jimmy Casper nabbed the stage with a well timed sprint. McEwen and Zabel took second and third places. Yellow jersey wearer Hushovd crossed the line then took up position on the floor, bleeding. His arm had been sliced open by a giant cardboard hand, which must be the most needless injury we'll see in this year's Tour.
Valverde watch:
29th on the stage, he stayed towards the front to avoid crashes but didn't contest the sprint. Just like a true champion.
Stage top five
1 Jimmy Casper
2 Robbie McEwen
3 Erik Zabel
4 Daniele Bennati
5 Luca Paolini
Overall top ten
1 George Hincapie 4.18.15
2 Thor Hushovd +0.02
3 David Zabriskie +0.06
4 Sebastian Lang
5 Alejandro Valverde
6 Stuart O'Grady
7 Michael Rogers +0.08
8 Paolo Savoldelli +0.10
9 Floyd Landis +0.11
10 Benoît Vaugrenard
Points: Jimmy Casper
Mountains: Fabian Wegmann
Young rider: Bernhard Eisel
