American teams made it three stage wins in a row, as Australian Cadel Evans of Team BMC served notice that he is an overall contender for this year's Tour de France, edging out Spain's Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank-Sungard to win Tuesday.
The stage from Lorient to Mur-de-Bretegne, the highest point in the Brittany region of France, featured a steep two-kilometer climb that had Contador testing the mettle of his strongest opponents, which included Evans, Luxembourg's brothers Andy and Frank Schleck of team Leopard-Trek. The mighty Spanish climber tried to shake loose from the lead group on the final climb with some violent accelerations, only to be denied by the likes of Evans.
Many had predicted the world's No. 1-ranked rider Philippe Gilbert of Belgium to win the stage but it was Evans leading out the group in the final 500 meters with Contador holding his wheel. It was Evan's bike lean that produced the win in a photo finish. Astana's Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan finished third, showing he remains an overall contender, despite his age.
American Chris Horner, a pre-event stage favorite, called the final two-kilometer finish perhaps the "toughest of he ever ridden". Of course, he flatted about 20 kilometers before the base of the climb and had to suffer while speeding to catch back up to the main group on the climb. Due to his efforts, he kept himself in overall contention along with fellow American Levi Leipheimer.
While Evans was the hero of the day, the unsung hero was teammate George Hincapie. The legendary American, riding in his record-tying 16th Tour de France, was the perfect set-up guy for Evans. The 37-year-old from South Carolina weeded out the pretenders from the contenders on the lower slopes of the finishing climb with a well-timed pull at the head of the pack. With the rainy, colder weather and rolling hills, he said it reminded him of the spring Classics he's done well at throughout his career.
The biggest surprise of the day may have come from overall leader Thor Hushovd. A noted sprinter early in his career, the now 33-year-old current world champion has become a strong all-around rider who holds his own on shorter climbs. To see his yellow jersey sprinting up behind the likes of Contador and Evans was a sight to behold. Of course, it's been said by many that when a man dons the yellow leader's jerseys at the Tour de France, he gains the strength of 10 men. (Motivation comes in many forms.) Hushovd kept the overall lead with a scant 1 second over Evans, and by decimals and points over teammate David Millar of Britain.
Stage 5 Predictions: With the bigger hills of the region behind, Wednesday's stage is relatively flat but pre-dominantly along the coastline. The winds, a traditional mainstay of the Atlantic coast, may wreak havoc if the peloton is not attentive and cause a crazy break within the peloton, causing an unpredictable winner. Most likely, however, HTC-Highroad will be super motivated, as will their star Mark Cavendish, to win. With Bernhard Eisel, Matt Goss, and Mark Renshaw, this is a group that seldom misses twice in a row. The fact remains that two days ago, Garmin-Cervelo broke the HTC-Highroad chain by heavy accelerations before HTC could put Cavendish in perfect position. With the way Farrar is sprinting (see intermediate sprint in Stage 4), who's to say the American can't repeat his performance from Sunday. But, even money is with a very motivated Cavendish, who simple hates to loose.
No comments:
Post a Comment