Boonen's the sprinter to Beat, looking forward to TTT
Tom Boonen wins the sprint again. He is now the man to beat with two victories in a row.
It got interesting as McEwen and O’Grady butted heads in the final meters. I was anxious to see how the commissaries would handle that one. It did look a bit more than just accidental contact but both felt it was their spot. That could be a problem under such tight quarters. Had the finish line not been right there they would have taken their battle to the ground and that would’ve left a mark. The fact that these guys can handle their bikes so well at such a high speed and right on top of one another is amazing. Not to mention after hours in the saddle.
Warning to recreational cyclists -- don’t try this on your city limit sprint line. Your buddies might not appreciate it and there won't be a replacement bike, clothing and team doctor waiting in your driveway.
The Tour has quickly gotten underway. We got a nice glimpse into the form of the overall contenders within the opening 20 minutes or so of racing and had two exciting sprint finishes. Some swapping of the polka dot climber’s jersey and green points jersey and we’re ready for the Team Time Trial.
It has to have been a great couple of days for David Zabriskie in the yellow jersey. CSC has a real chance of retaining it for a few more to come. I look for CSC to give the Discovery Team a real run for it in the TTT. Remember you have similar anchors for each team in terms of time trial horsepower if you match Zabriskie against Armstrong.
Down the line both teams had riders finish high up in the standings of Stage 1. Lance does bring more leadership and experience on the road along with Johan Bruyneel’s expertise. CSC can count on Julich, Voigt, and Basso with Bjarne Riis as their conductor.
Phonak and Gerolsteiner will also turn nice rides. T-Mobile is strong. The question is whether they worked their team time trial technique in comparison to Discovery and CSC. It takes 100% commitment and concentration from each rider to ride as one unit. The key word here is “team” time trial. Let’s hope for drier roads than last year. It should be an exciting stage.
It got interesting as McEwen and O’Grady butted heads in the final meters. I was anxious to see how the commissaries would handle that one. It did look a bit more than just accidental contact but both felt it was their spot. That could be a problem under such tight quarters. Had the finish line not been right there they would have taken their battle to the ground and that would’ve left a mark. The fact that these guys can handle their bikes so well at such a high speed and right on top of one another is amazing. Not to mention after hours in the saddle.
Warning to recreational cyclists -- don’t try this on your city limit sprint line. Your buddies might not appreciate it and there won't be a replacement bike, clothing and team doctor waiting in your driveway.
The Tour has quickly gotten underway. We got a nice glimpse into the form of the overall contenders within the opening 20 minutes or so of racing and had two exciting sprint finishes. Some swapping of the polka dot climber’s jersey and green points jersey and we’re ready for the Team Time Trial.
It has to have been a great couple of days for David Zabriskie in the yellow jersey. CSC has a real chance of retaining it for a few more to come. I look for CSC to give the Discovery Team a real run for it in the TTT. Remember you have similar anchors for each team in terms of time trial horsepower if you match Zabriskie against Armstrong.
Down the line both teams had riders finish high up in the standings of Stage 1. Lance does bring more leadership and experience on the road along with Johan Bruyneel’s expertise. CSC can count on Julich, Voigt, and Basso with Bjarne Riis as their conductor.
Phonak and Gerolsteiner will also turn nice rides. T-Mobile is strong. The question is whether they worked their team time trial technique in comparison to Discovery and CSC. It takes 100% commitment and concentration from each rider to ride as one unit. The key word here is “team” time trial. Let’s hope for drier roads than last year. It should be an exciting stage.
2 Comments:
Will the weather, in particular the wind, play an important factor in tomorrow's ttt?
nordicskiguy says: What are the rules this yr for the ttt, last yr if I recall, a new rule was introduced that only allowed a team a 1 or 2 minute advantage, regardless of how much they won by, (either a diversity, or politically correct thing run amok, in my estimation), is that rule still in effect,and if,or/if not, what is the rule?
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