Race report: stage seven
Published by Halverde on 7/08/2006 at 22:58.
There were no opportunities for Robbie McEwen to get a sly hand sling from a team mate in today's time trial, and he happened not to win. COINCIDENCE? Well yes, actually. We just wanted to draw attention to the fact that McEwen is a cheat as well as a vinegar-faced self-aggrandising whinger.
In fact, it generally wasn't a good day for those beloved "English-speaking-riders" to which our media is so fond of referring. Just two riders from Anglicised countries made it into the top ten, despite the pre-race hype picking out mountains of English, Aussie and American riders as favourites. Sebastian Lang set the long-standing fastest time AGAIN, and eventually finished third on the stage, before Serguei Honchar won by a minute from the absurd looking Praying Landis, both of whom suffered in the final third of the course. It was all rather interesting for a little while, if only for the entertainment value of watching all the race favourites crash and burn (with the emphasis on the "crash" in Bobby Julich's case).
The best bit of the day was when Boonen caught McEwen, then they both looked as though they'd decided to sprint for the checkpoints as they rode around shoulder to shoulder. Apparently McEwen was actually psyching Boonen out, which probably would've been more effective if Boonen hadn't just put two minutes into him in twenty kilometres of racing.
Actually scrap all of that, the whole stage was pretty dull again. But at least it wasn't another sprint.
Mayo watch:
82nd on the stage, losing five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The way we see it, Iban has two options now: don't lose any more time and attack on the Izoard on stage 15 to take a lone stage win by seventeen minutes on the race favourites; OR give up and pack before the Alps. We're kind of expecting the latter.
In fact, it generally wasn't a good day for those beloved "English-speaking-riders" to which our media is so fond of referring. Just two riders from Anglicised countries made it into the top ten, despite the pre-race hype picking out mountains of English, Aussie and American riders as favourites. Sebastian Lang set the long-standing fastest time AGAIN, and eventually finished third on the stage, before Serguei Honchar won by a minute from the absurd looking Praying Landis, both of whom suffered in the final third of the course. It was all rather interesting for a little while, if only for the entertainment value of watching all the race favourites crash and burn (with the emphasis on the "crash" in Bobby Julich's case).
The best bit of the day was when Boonen caught McEwen, then they both looked as though they'd decided to sprint for the checkpoints as they rode around shoulder to shoulder. Apparently McEwen was actually psyching Boonen out, which probably would've been more effective if Boonen hadn't just put two minutes into him in twenty kilometres of racing.
Actually scrap all of that, the whole stage was pretty dull again. But at least it wasn't another sprint.
Mayo watch:
82nd on the stage, losing five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. The way we see it, Iban has two options now: don't lose any more time and attack on the Izoard on stage 15 to take a lone stage win by seventeen minutes on the race favourites; OR give up and pack before the Alps. We're kind of expecting the latter.
