Pieter Weening Winning ... T-Mobile on the attack.
What a stage and finale! Pieter Weening of Rabobank rode incredible. Very impressive and for sure we will see more of this guy in the future. There were several moments he could have looked over his shoulder and been content to get swallowed up by the small pack behind. The way he attacked his breakaway companions showed commitment on his behalf. I have to confess I was rooting for Andreas Kloden to take the stage. We were teammates and he showed his form of last year by attacking and riding to the line today.
Kloden did a great interview with Frankie Andreu on OLN. Frankie asked if he was upset with not winning and having pulled the last bit on his own. He commented something to the fact that he understood Weening was out all day and that he himself was on a quest for time and that it was okay. I thought that was cool. He could have sat up and played around with Weening and complained he didn't pull at the end. Weening did the right thing and it was probably all he could do having put in such an effort.
T-Mobile was the team of the day. They had their top riders present in the final group and Vinokourov's attacks broke apart the front of the field. His first attack was particularily strong. Did any of you note that Vinokourov was seated during his attacks while the riders behind look as if they're sprinting to the line to try and catch him?
Discovery team had an off day. You would've expected at least one rider other than Lance to make that select group at the end. We won't have to guess long if Discovery is showing a kink in the armor. Tomorrow is another hard stage and it will be very interesting to see how they recover. The first mountain day is always hard transitioning out of the flatter stages. Azevedo and Rubiera are more suited for steep climbs vs. fast strongman climbs. You have to bet they will come around.
I think it's good the contenders are attacking. On these first two mountain stages they have nothing to lose. We've seen in past years that if you just wait until the mountain top finishes, then Lance's team will eat up all attempts with their fierce tempo and Lance will win the stage because he is going after time on his rivals and, in some cases, has picked days he would like to win. Today's tactics were interesting. On one hand Kloden and T-Mobile are looking to put Lance in crisis. On the other, Iles Balears and Liquigas are trying to set up their climber for a stage win. If the sole objective were to put Lance in trouble then that whole group should have looked at him to chase Kloden. But there are races within the race and this can play out in Lance and Discovery team's favor. So today -- even though Discovery struggled a little -- Iles Balears and other teams wanted the stage and kept Kloden's move within check. Another situation is CSC and T-Mobile battling for podium places behind Lance and they end up helping Discovery in the end because one is not willing to risk losing let's say 2nd or 3rd en route to risking they could beat Armstrong.
Stage 9: With mountains throughout this route, we will see another suspenseful day. Discovery will have to control early and will want to let an "approved" group get up the road so things settle down until the later climbs. I say approved because you can be sure Johan Bruyneel will be listening to the race radio and the numbers of riders trying to get up the road. He will let the Discovery train know whether it's a go or not. Lance will be quiet ... biding his time for the day after tomorrow to Courchevel.
A quick note about Chris Horner -- great ride today showing his face when it counts in the toughest selection so far of this year's Tour de France. Now we've seen a little bit of all the Americans!
Kloden did a great interview with Frankie Andreu on OLN. Frankie asked if he was upset with not winning and having pulled the last bit on his own. He commented something to the fact that he understood Weening was out all day and that he himself was on a quest for time and that it was okay. I thought that was cool. He could have sat up and played around with Weening and complained he didn't pull at the end. Weening did the right thing and it was probably all he could do having put in such an effort.
T-Mobile was the team of the day. They had their top riders present in the final group and Vinokourov's attacks broke apart the front of the field. His first attack was particularily strong. Did any of you note that Vinokourov was seated during his attacks while the riders behind look as if they're sprinting to the line to try and catch him?
Discovery team had an off day. You would've expected at least one rider other than Lance to make that select group at the end. We won't have to guess long if Discovery is showing a kink in the armor. Tomorrow is another hard stage and it will be very interesting to see how they recover. The first mountain day is always hard transitioning out of the flatter stages. Azevedo and Rubiera are more suited for steep climbs vs. fast strongman climbs. You have to bet they will come around.
I think it's good the contenders are attacking. On these first two mountain stages they have nothing to lose. We've seen in past years that if you just wait until the mountain top finishes, then Lance's team will eat up all attempts with their fierce tempo and Lance will win the stage because he is going after time on his rivals and, in some cases, has picked days he would like to win. Today's tactics were interesting. On one hand Kloden and T-Mobile are looking to put Lance in crisis. On the other, Iles Balears and Liquigas are trying to set up their climber for a stage win. If the sole objective were to put Lance in trouble then that whole group should have looked at him to chase Kloden. But there are races within the race and this can play out in Lance and Discovery team's favor. So today -- even though Discovery struggled a little -- Iles Balears and other teams wanted the stage and kept Kloden's move within check. Another situation is CSC and T-Mobile battling for podium places behind Lance and they end up helping Discovery in the end because one is not willing to risk losing let's say 2nd or 3rd en route to risking they could beat Armstrong.
Stage 9: With mountains throughout this route, we will see another suspenseful day. Discovery will have to control early and will want to let an "approved" group get up the road so things settle down until the later climbs. I say approved because you can be sure Johan Bruyneel will be listening to the race radio and the numbers of riders trying to get up the road. He will let the Discovery train know whether it's a go or not. Lance will be quiet ... biding his time for the day after tomorrow to Courchevel.
A quick note about Chris Horner -- great ride today showing his face when it counts in the toughest selection so far of this year's Tour de France. Now we've seen a little bit of all the Americans!
1 Comments:
Kevin - glad you mentioned Chris Horner, who had a great ride yesterday. Chris is already 33, but he is a grand tour rookie. It seems like it used to be that riders peaked at 31 or so. But now Americans like Lance, Hamilton (well, last year anyway), Julich, Horner, and even a guy like Kloden who emerged after turning 30, are showing that they can get it done at 33 or 34. What are your thoughts on a grand tour rider's prime years? Thanks as always for the great blogs -- it's cool to get the story from someone who has done the race!
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