13:57 - Oss Following Similar Progression To Renshaw...[absent the head-butting, one wonders...]
When he was still a junior, Daniel Oss was a versatile rider capable of winning medals at the national level in Italy in a wide variety of disciplines. In 2004, he was the gold medalist in the individual pursuit (3,000m for juniors), 3rd in the team pursuit, 3rd in the scratch race, 2nd in the road time trial... and 3rd in the team sprint at the European championships. These days his role is a lead-out man but he may become a sprinter in his own right...
13:52 - Oss A Force For The Future...
At the end of March the young Italian from Liquigas who is in the escape today, Daniel Oss, made a big impression with his work as a lead-out man. The 23-year-old was the last lead-out man for Daniele Bennati in the one-day Classic, Milan-San Remo... he led the peloton under the ’flamme rouge’ and paced his team’s sprinter for over 500m as the pack charged towards the line. He has a history as a track pursuiter and is riding his first Tour this year. He was sixth in stage one.
14:40 - McEwen Optimistic...
“I basically suffered all the way this year,” McEwen told LeTour.fr earlier today. “My injuries made me go much deeper into my reserves than I otherwise would have so I’ve gotten through those. I’m suffering from not sitting straight on the bike, and the pain from the wounds themselves. I had to hurt myself a lot just to get to the finish so I’ll see how I come up today and hopefully in the final I’ll have decent legs and will be able to push out a good sprint.”
14:38 - McEwen’s Commentary Continued...
“You don’t always have the ability to manage who is in the break. There’s a lumpy [hilly] start to the stage and there are plenty of attacking opportunities early and if a group of more than five or six get away, it can be more than a handful to manage. And at this end of the race, it’s hard to feel good. Some guys are super, some are absolutely on their hands and knees… it depends on who goes up the road and who is chasing.”
14:37 - McEwen: Sprint Not Certain...
“It’s one of those days that, on paper, everyone thinks is a day for the sprinters but you still have to control everything so that it all comes together,” said McEwen about the 198km stage to Bordeaux. “I remember the last time we finished in Bordeaux, [Servais] Knaven won solo and he was in an escape that went from kilometer zero.”
14:35 - McEwen: Continued...
There are still many teams that haven’t won at this Tour and they’ll surely go out on the attack. It’ll be very tactical today because the green jersey is also up for grabs between Hushovd and Petacchi and, who knows, maybe even Cavendish,” McEwen told LeTour.fr earlier today. “There’ll be two teams that will want to bring it together for a sprint to get the points: HTC and Lampre. Cevelo will NOT want it to come down to that… and there’ll be plenty of teams on the attack.”
14:34 - Comments From McEwen
“I’m still in the race so everything is possible,” Robbie McEwen responded to LeTour.fr when asked if he could win today. “The reason I’ve tried so hard to stay in the race is to get to this stage and to Sunday. First, it’s got to come to a sprint and, secondly, I’ve got to be able to manage it well. “It’s not that obvious that a stage like this will end in a sprint and at the tale end of a three week race, when we’ve just had hard mountain stages, it’s not easy to keep it all together.”