Posted on 07/07/2006 9:52:43 PM PDT by nutmeg
Course: With a week of racing in their legs, the GC contenders finally get their day in the sun with this critical 52km time trial. The counterclockwise circuit has two distinct halves: narrow, hilly back roads at first and long, straight flat highways at the end. The final 15km are likely to be very fast with a tail wind.
History: A total of 13 Tour stages have finished in Rennes, the unofficial capital of the Brittany region, the most recent in 1994 when a massive 270km stage from Cherbourg was taken by Italian Gianluca Bortolami from a seven-man break that contained Motorola's Sean Yates - who took over the yellow jersey. That same day, Greg LeMond ended his career when he pulled out halfway through the long day. This was in sharp contrast to his victory in the 1989 time trial that finished in Rennes: LeMond used clip-on aerobars for the first time, winning the 73km TT from Dinard by 24 seconds over defending champion Pedro Delgado and 56 seconds on main rival Laurent Fignon.
Favorites: Dave Zabriskie will be the clear favorite on a course with long straightaways that could enable him to gain the maximum time in a bid to take over the yellow jersey. With Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso not starting the Tour, the Americans Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie and Australian Cadel Evans will all be close to the stage win; but perhaps the most interesting statistic will be the amount of time lost by the "climber" favorites, Valverde, Damiano Cunego and José Rujano.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
Has anyone heard what went wrong with Leipheimer? Also, word on Julich's injuries?
It was a somewhat dissapointing TT.
I have to say that I am really looking forward to the mountain stages.
Better than soccer?
Blasphemy :-)
Broken wrist is all I've so far re: Julich.
"Ronaldo"...hmm, I don't know of any real sportsmen who use only their first name. Are you sure that's a real sportsman's name?
Thanks, Baynative!
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.