Posted on 07/05/2006 10:28:39 PM PDT by nutmeg
Stage 5: Beauvais to Caen 225km
Course: The fourth long stage in a row, this one (225km) starts on the open, windswept roads of Picardy, tackles a series of short climbs across the Seine Valley, and concludes with more undulations across Normandy. It's likely that only seconds will separate the race leaders on GC going into this stage, and the yellow jersey could change hands with time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, the last of which is at Pont l'Evêque with 50km to go. A fast, tricky run-in to sprawling Caen, population 113,000, will make it hard for a sprinter's lead-out train to succeed, and perhaps favor a late, solo attack.
History: There have been 33 stage finishes at Caen in the past 100 years. The last visit here was in 1978 when the great Dutch squad TI-Raleigh won a marathon 153km team time trial, but by just seven seconds over the Belgian C&A team of that year's final winner Lucien Van Impe. The last road stage to end here was in 1976, when Italian Giovanni Battaglin took a solo flyer to win by 10 seconds ahead of a 90-strong pack led in by the day's top sprinters, Pierino Gavazzi of Italy, Jan Raas of the Netherlands and Freddy Maertens of Belgium.
Favorites: With both the yellow and green jerseys in play, the sprinters should again be going for time bonuses at the three intermediate sprints and the finish. The flat, wide finish straightaway favors Boonen over McEwen, while wild cards like Austrian Bernhard Eisel and Italian Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) might play a role.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
Thanks. I hope they stay out of trouble tomorrow, too, and have a good TT on Saturday. Saturday will finally give us a hint who the contenders will be. As of now, the Discovery team is looking real strong, as are Landis and Leipheimer.
To be honest, I'm not sure how much of Caen was destroyed in the Brit/Canadian-German fight, versus Allied naval bombardments & air attacks prior to the landings. Caen was a crucial crossroads town that had to be captured to protect the landings' flanks.
As of now, the Discovery team is looking real strong...
I've recently started riding again, and I might briefly hit 30-35 mph on a downhill stretch, so it's amazing to me that the winner of the TDF - and most of the top finishers - will AVERAGE 25-27 mph over 2,300 miles, including major mountain climbs.
Is Zabriskie considered a GC rider, or a specialist?
Usually on the descent of those major mountain climbs they can touch 50 mph.
You might be able to get close to that, you never know, you just have to go find yourself a mountain.
Zabriskie is a time trial specialist.
Thanks.
Armstrong said that Hincapie has what it takes, and I don't think he was just being nice. Especially with Basso/Ullrich/Valverde/Vinokourov/Mancebo out, all the Americans (Hincapie/Landis/Leipheimer) have a real shot.
Boonen got a 12 second time bonus, so his lead increased over everyone by that amount. There are now only 50 other riders in the field within a minute of Boonen.
Maillot Jaune (Overall Leader)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL - 25:10:51
2 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 00' 13"
3 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 00' 17"
4 003 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 00' 17"
5 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 00' 19"
6 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS 00' 24"
7 009 SAVOLDELLI Paolo DSC ITA 00' 27"
8 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 00' 28"
9 096 KARPETS Vladimir CEI RUS 00' 29"
10 023 HONCHAR Serhiy TMO UKR 00' 29"
11 024 KESSLER Matthias TMO GER 00' 29"
12 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 00' 32"
13 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 00' 32"
14 146 MILLAR David SDV GBR 00' 33"
15 027 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 00' 35"
16 018 ZABRISKIE David CSC USA 00' 35"
17 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 00' 36"
18 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 00' 37"
19 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 00' 37"
20 011 JULICH Bobby CSC USA 00' 37"
Maillot Vert (Sprint Points)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS 122
2 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 121
3 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 115
4 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 86
5 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 81
6 181 ZABEL Erik MRM GER 76
7 168 PAOLINI Luca LIQ ITA 72
8 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 69
9 133 CASPER Jimmy COF FRA 63
10 149 VENTOSO Francisco SDV ESP 61
11 125 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 54
12 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 51
13 094 GALVEZ Isaac CEI ESP 50
14 043 KOPP David GST GER 46
15 003 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 44
16 013 OGRADY Stuart CSC AUS 43
17 173 BROCHARD Laurent BTL FRA 36
18 162 ALBASINI Michael LIQ SUI 31
19 048 WROLICH Peter GST AUT 31
20 025 MAZZOLENI Eddy TMO ITA 28
Maillot à Pois Rouges (King of the Mountains)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 177 PINEAU Jérôme BTL FRA 26
2 143 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP 17
3 047 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER 15
4 124 HERNANDEZ Aitor EUS ESP 10
5 188 SCHRÖDER Björn MRM GER 9
6 123 ETXEBARRIA Unai EUS VEN 7
7 032 ARRIETA Jose Luis A2R ESP 6
8 196 LAURENT Christophe AGR FRA 6
9 036 DUMOULIN Samuel A2R FRA 6
10 017 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 6
11 176 LEFEVRE Laurent BTL FRA 5
12 024 KESSLER Matthias TMO GER 4
13 154 GILBERT Philippe FDJ BEL 3
14 174 FEDRIGO Pierrick BTL FRA 3
15 052 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 2
16 004 MARTINEZ Egoi DSC ESP 2
17 179 SPRICK Matthieu BTL FRA 2
18 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 1
19 175 GESLIN Anthony BTL FRA 1
20 193 COUTOULY Cédric AGR FRA 1
Maillot Blanc (Overall Leader under 25)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER - 25:11:28
2 159 VAUGRENARD Benoît FDJ FRA 00' 03"
3 154 GILBERT Philippe FDJ BEL 00' 11"
4 157 LÖVKVIST Thomas FDJ SWE 00' 17"
5 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 00' 20"
6 147 RICCO Riccardo SDV ITA 00' 23"
7 106 RUJANO José QSI VEN 00' 25"
8 081 CUNEGO Damiano LAM ITA 00' 35"
9 184 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 00' 35"
10 185 IGLINSKIY Maxim MRM KAZ 00' 51"
11 195 GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo AGR ESP 00' 52"
12 059 WEENING Pieter RAB NED 00' 55"
13 194 DUENAS NEVADO Moises AGR ESP 00' 58"
14 186 KNEES Christian MRM GER 01' 00"
15 127 LOPEZ GARCIA David EUS ESP 01' 52"
16 149 VENTOSO Francisco SDV ESP 01' 55"
17 179 SPRICK Matthieu BTL FRA 03' 16"
18 057 POSTHUMA Joost RAB NED 05' 41"
19 167 MUGERLI Matej LIQ SLO 12' 16"
20 069 VANSUMMEREN Johan DVL BEL 13' 25"
Nombres Jaune (Best Team: Top 3 Time for each stage)
Pos. Team Gaps
1 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM - 75:33:55 (combined)
2 TEAM CSC 00' 01"
3 T-MOBILE TEAM 00' 02"
4 CAISSE DEPARGNE-ILLES BALEARS 00' 07"
5 GEROLSTEINER 00' 18"
6 PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS 00' 26"
7 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 00' 37"
8 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 00' 42"
9 RABOBANK 00' 42"
10 CREDIT AGRICOLE 00' 43"
11 AG2R PREVOYANCE 00' 44"
12 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 01' 03"
13 BOUYGUES TELECOM 01' 10"
14 DAVITAMON - LOTTO 01' 12"
15 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 01' 15"
16 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 01' 27"
17 TEAM MILRAM 01' 28"
18 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 01' 40"
19 LIQUIGAS 01' 56"
20 AGRITUBEL 01' 59"
Nombres rouge (Most Combative)
#036 DUMOULIN Samuel (A2R,FRA)
Steve, Bay touched upon it a couple of times, but what it boils down to is wind - they can only stay out front for so long. Note that when the 2 escapees today stopped, the dude with the call of nature could have taken off long before the other's bike was fixed. He stuck for 2 reasons - one, because it's tradition, but also because he'd be all alone at the front w/ no one to work with, and they would have been swallowed up that much quicker had they been alone.
Watch the front of the peloton closely - individuals w/in a team take their turns at the front, and you'll see entire teams switching places in cooperation w/ one another (as well as for the competitive reasons that Bay explained so well).
A Team TT is the purest example of it - the teams set an order, and they take their turn at the front, 1 by 1, switching every few minutes or less. I can't imagine the energy it takes to move up to the front, even tho you've had 8 turns to draft behind an increasingly larger # of riders as you move down the pack...
Thank you, BaBa! I was trying to do the math, and see how Freire moved to 3rd (8" bonus for the final sprint?).
The names that jump out at me - apart from the Americans - are Evans, Karpets, Kloden, Sinkewitz, and Savoldelli. T-Mobile may survive the loss of Ulrich much better than CSC survives the loss of Basso. In fact, CSC might be the big flop of this tour. Sinkewitz is an up-and-comer who hasn't gotten a lot of publicity, and he might be very well known before this is over. I wonder if/when T-Mobile will have to choose between Kloden/Sinkewitz as their main man. Kloden has been there, done that, but Sinkewitz may be the man of the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.