Posted on 06/30/2006 10:13:41 PM PDT by nutmeg
Stage 1 - Sunday, July 2: Strasbourg - Strasbourg, 183 km
Sunday's Stage 1 flat sprinters' stage starts and finishes in Strasbourg, with a 30km incursion into Germany midway through the stage. It will be a tight, tense day with plenty of crashes and a big battle between Boonen's Quick.Step, McEwen's Davitamon-Lotto and Zabel's Milram teams to win the first en ligne stage at Le Tour 2006.
Looks like a deep cut - how the heck did that happen? I wonder if he scraped a barrier on the final sprint in - he was pushed way out to the edge of the street...
Looks as though (hopefully) inadvertant contact with a spectator may have caused the cut.
That was a bit sad.
Hopefully Hushovd can still compete tomorrow.
On the bright side, this gives Big George the yellow.
Some of us go to Church, and are just getting home to check on things
Pos. | No. | Name | Nat. | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 003 | HINCAPIE, George | USA | DSC | 04:18:15.000 | 00:00:00.000 |
2 | 118 | HUSHOVD, Thor | NOR | C.A | 04:18:17.000 | 00:00:02.000 |
3 | 018 | ZABRISKIE, David | USA | CSC | 04:18:21.000 | 00:00:06.000 |
4 | 044 | LANG, Sebastian | GER | GST | 04:18:21.000 | 00:00:06.000 |
5 | 091 | VALVERDE, Alejandro | ESP | CEI | 04:18:21.000 | 00:00:06.000 |
6 | 013 | O'GRADY, Stuart | AUS | CSC | 04:18:21.000 | 00:00:06.000 |
7 | 026 | ROGERS, Michael | AUS | TMO | 04:18:23.000 | 00:00:08.000 |
8 | 009 | SAVOLDELLI, Paolo | ITA | DSC | 04:18:25.000 | 00:00:10.000 |
9 | 071 | LANDIS, Floyd | USA | PHO | 04:18:26.000 | 00:00:11.000 |
10 | 159 | VAUGRENARD, Benoît | FRA | FDJ | 04:18:26.000 | 00:00:11.000 |
11 | 096 | KARPETS, Vladimir | RUS | CEI | 04:18:27.000 | 00:00:12.000 |
12 | 023 | HONCHAR, Serhiy | UKR | TMO | 04:18:27.000 | 00:00:12.000 |
13 | 101 | BOONEN, Tom | BEL | QSI | 04:18:28.000 | 00:00:13.000 |
14 | 169 | QUINZIATO, Manuel | ITA | LIQ | 04:18:29.000 | 00:00:14.000 |
15 | 061 | EVANS, Cadel | AUS | DVL | 04:18:30.000 | 00:00:15.000 |
16 | 031 | MOREAU, Christophe | FRA | A2R | 04:18:30.000 | 00:00:15.000 |
17 | 139 | WIGGINS, Bradley | GBR | COF | 04:18:30.000 | 00:00:15.000 |
18 | 146 | MILLAR, David | GBR | SDV | 04:18:31.000 | 00:00:16.000 |
19 | 072 | GRABSCH, Bert | GER | PHO | 04:18:31.000 | 00:00:16.000 |
20 | 064 | HORNER, Christopher | USA | DVL | 04:18:32.000 | 00:00:17.000 |
Looks as though (hopefully) inadvertant contact with a spectator may have caused the cut.
I heard an announcer say that it might have been one of those cardboard hands..... cardboard? If so, I wonder if the much stiffer material than the US foam ones would cause more damage when hit at 30+mph and if they have cardboard for environmental reasons. The spectator situation of the entire TdF is not for the faint of heart. These guys are tough.
He was way out to the left of the screen - I noticed the yellow jersey all the way against the barriers, and thought for a minute he was going to crash.
Hopefully he'll be able to continue as to lose a good rider only detracts from the overall race quality. From one source comes the following;
------
A few minutes later, in the mad dash to the finish, Hushovd sliced open his right arm when he brushed against an outsized green cardboard hand that a fan had thrust out over the safety barriers that line the final straightaways.
The cut bled profusely and needed stitches in a hospital. Tour organizers announced that from now on, the giant hands freebies from a race sponsor no longer would be distributed in the final stretches of flat stages which, as on Sunday, often finish with a mass sprint.
-----
Thanks for changing the date in the title. :o)
photo: Graham Watson
Hushovd's injury not serious -- Tour will ban giant PMU hands near finish
Hushovd will make it to Monday's start.
photo: Graham Watson
I'll do my best to put up the Stage 2 live thread tonight (I'll be offline most of tomorrow).
I've added you to my TDF 2006 ping list as you requested.
Hey, that pic looks familiar. :o)
Thanks for that article and pics in #50, cc! Nice win for Thor Hushovd.
Don't forget this is "4th of July" (US Independence Day) weekend. Many people go away for the long weekend, or just aren't inside at home on the computer as much.
Also, in the US, the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) runs the Tour several times during the day (live in the morning, and again in the afternoon and evening), so FReepers in the various US time zones are watching each stage at any given time... not necessarily live.
Hubby and I watched the Prologue yesterday and Stage 1 live this morning, but I didn't have time to get on the computer. We had to go to a graduation/July 4th party on Saturday, and we had other "outdoor stuff" to do today.
I thought I would get a lot of requests from FReepers to be taken off my TDF ping list this year because of Lance's retirement and the doping controversy... instead I've gotten many additions.
Prologue and Stage 1 news, results and pics in #50, 66 and 72.
NOTE: Do not read if you don't want to learn the results!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my Tour de France 2006 list.
Has the Discovery Team announded their team leader yet? It seems to me that George Hincapie is looking pretty good to me. Maybe the glass slipper is about to be worn. If he can climb as good as the top riders he could win it all. The team is leading in its class if I am not mistaken.
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