Archives
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Sunday, September 3, 2006
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USA Cycling Professional Road
Race Championship
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Note: Coming up later today, links for live coverage
of today's U.S.A. Cycling Pro Road Race Championship. Dave Zabriskie
won the Time Trial, so the stars and stripes jersey will be seen in time
trial events in Europe next season. Will the road race stars and stripes
be seen in Europe's biggest races next season? Depends on who wins
today.
Note: According to the Eurosport online schedule,
their broadcast coverage of today's stage of the Vuelta begins at 17:05
CET (11:05am U.S. Eastern Time)
Vuelta: Quick glance at some of the contenders
How far can he go?
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2. Alejandro Valverde
(Caisse d'Epargne - Illes Balears)
(0:05)
The favorite
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3. Carlos Sastre
(Team CSC)
(0:10)
Riding his third Grand Tour of the year
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4. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante
(Saunier Duval - Prodir)
(0:22)
Edged out Valverde in final time trial and overall at April's 6-day Tour
of the Basque Country
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5. Andrey Kashechkin
(Astana Team)
(0:23)
Key Vinokourov teammate with promising future
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6. Manuel Beltran
(Discovery Channel)
(0:51)
On his way to Liquigas next season
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8. Bernhard Kohl
(T-Mobile Team)
(01:37)
One of the season's revelations, made it to the podium in the Dauphiné
Libéré
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9. Danilo Di Luca
(Liquigas)
(01:47)
Stage 5 winner, "Killer" is targeting World Championships later this
month
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10. Alexandre Vinokourov
(Astana Team)
(02:07)
Stage 8 winner, "Vino" is targeting World Championships but remains dangerous
in this Vuelta
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16. Tom Danielson
(Discovery Channel)
(04:15)
Great White Hope or Great White Hype?
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Photos Copyright ©
2005-2006 Pete Geyer unless otherwise noted
Reminder: You can refresh the News Ticker
window separately from this home page. (In Windows, right-click
on News Ticker window and select Refresh.)
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(German)
(select alternative language stream below)
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Saturday, September 2, 2006
Note: The
Tour de Pologne
(Tour of Poland) starts Monday, September 4 and runs through
September 10. This is a ProTour event. Kim Kirchen is defending
champion and should be joined on the start line by, among others, Linus
Gerdemann, Frank Schleck, Jens Voigt, Robert Hunter, Victor Hugo Pena, Jose
Ivan Gutierrez, Alessandro Ballan, Thomas Dekker, Juan Antonio Flecha, Alberto
"The Accountant" Contador, Jose "The Ace" Azevedo, Yaroslav Popovych, Cadel
Evans, Stefan "Barrier hugger" Schumacher, Sylvain Chavanel, Bradley Wiggins,
Alexandre Botcharov, Stefano Garzelli, Vincenzo Nibali, Manuel Quinziato,
and Tomas Vaitkus. You'll find the full preliminary start list
here
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Like last year, it looks like there will be
live video streaming
. (Thanks for this tip to Michal, a cycling fan
from Poland but living in Austria! Michal says that "The first 4 stages
are flat, the fifth touches the mountains and the stages on Saturday and Sunday
(September 9/10) are the most crucial for the race (mountains and TT)." Note
that in addition to the live internet video streaming, the Tour de Pologne
will be broadcast live on Eurosport 2.
Vuelta live video flash:
We have a new Eurosport live video link that is working today. (Thanks
again to our friends in Denmark for the tip!) This new link now replaces
the previous one in our programme which was the same as the Eurosport Russian
live audio stream (which happened to be playing video with German commentary
for a few days). Like before, commentary is in German so if that's
not your language, then mute the sound for the video and select an alternate
live audio stream from our programme.
Reminder: You can refresh the News Ticker
window separately from this home page. (In Windows, right-click
on News Ticker window and select Refresh.)
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(German)
(select alternative language stream below)
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Friday, September 1, 2006
Note: Yes, Eurosport Russia seems
to have, for the moment anyway, returned to streaming live audio...in
Russian...instead of live video in German...
Note:
Live audio streaming
for today's U.S.A. Cycling Pro Championships Time Trial begins
at 10am U.S. Eastern Time (16:00 CET).
Chris Wherry and George Hincapie
by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
There are photos from yesterday's USA Cycling Pro Championships
press conference
here
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Note: According to their online schedule, Eurosport's
live broadcast of the Tour of Spain will begin shortly after 16:00 CET
(10am U.S. Eastern Time), in time for the battle up the final climb to
the finish at El Morredero.
Note: Today is the
U.S.A. Cycling Pro Championships
Time Trial event in Greenville, SC. The link to the official
race web site has been in our News Ticker for a couple of days.
(Note that the News Ticker works best with Internet Explorer
and the latest versions of Netscape. It should also work pretty well
with the latest versions of alternative browsers. Javascript/"scripts"
must be enabled in your browser.) Today's time trial coverage is
being broadcast live over the internet in the form of
live streaming audio
. (Link includes schedule for coverage today and Sunday.
Thanks, Steve in Greenville, SC!) We briefly had the link
to yesterday's pre-race press conference live audio in our News Ticker
and listened along ourselves to George Hincapie, a hilarious as always
David Zabriskie (Dave Z has a conversational style just made for the era
of silent movies) and Race2Replace winner A.J. Smith (he will depart 5
minutes ahead of the first pro rider, which according to A.J. means "Hopefully
I won't be passed on the road.") Quality was crystal clear but there
were some interruptions. So not sure how smooth the race coverage
will be for today's Time Trial and Sunday's road race.
Reminder: You can refresh the News Ticker
window separately from this home page. (In Windows, right-click
on News Ticker window and select Refresh. Can
a Mac user out there let us know how this is done on a Mac? Our
Mac SE is, uh, pre-web.)
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(German)
(select alternative language stream below)
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Thursday, August 31, 2006
Note: Assuming there is a Eurosport
live video stream today,
it should go live when Eurosport's TV broadcast begins, or at 15:55 CET
(9:55am U.S. Eastern Time) according to the online schedule (schedule
subject to change, link under the live audio stream links).
Di Luca Wins Stage, Grabs Leader's Jersey
in Vuelta
2005 ProTour Champion Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) entered the 2006
season with a single focus: to improve upon his 4th overall in the 2005
Giro d'Italia and win the event this year. However, he struggled
throughout the Giro with illness and was out of form, finishing 23rd and
nearly an hour behind race winner Ivan Basso. Yesterday, he atoned
for his underperformance in Italy with a strong display to win the uphill
finish of Stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana, outsprinting Janez Brajkovic
(Discovery Channel). With a forceful attack in the final 3kms, Di
Luca was able to breakaway from the main group of overall contenders including
Carlos Sastre, Alejandro Valverde, Tom Danielson, and Andrey Kashechkin.
Only Brajkovic was able to respond to Di Luca's attack, as Sastre initially
tried to match the acceleration but ran out of gas. In the final kilometer,
Brajkovic, knowing of Di Luca's superior sprint speed, attempted a late
attack, but Di Luca responded and was able to sprint past the Slovenian to
win the stage.
Behind the race leaders, Kashechkin was able to get away from Sastre
and Valverde to narrow the gap between him and Di Luca to only 7 seconds.
Sastre and Valverde managed to limit their losses as well, losing only
22 seconds, while Danielson lost a further 20 seconds. However,
other pre-race contenders were not as lucky at damage control. Big
losers on the day included Iban Mayo (1'44 behind), Alexandre Vinokourov
(2'13 behind), Denis Menchov (3'37 behind), and Oscar Pereiro (5'38 behind).
Their chances for overall victory are now essentially over after only
5 stages in this grand tour, such is the early decisiveness that characterizes
this Vuelta.
Di Luca now holds a 4 second overall lead ahead of the surprising
Brajkovic, one of the brightest up and coming stars in cycling.
However, such a strong performance by Brajkovic at this point exceeds all
expectations. There is some concern about his ability to hold up
over an entire 3 week stage race, but he came to the Vuelta to ride in support
of Danielson. Di Luca, meanwhile, is not quite ready to claim the
mantle of potential Vuelta winner after today's win, insisting that his
end of the season goal is the world championships and that he will use
the Vuelta to aid in his preparations for that. However, if he continues
to ride as he did yesterday, he cannot help but become a contender in this
race. With Valverde, Sastre, Kashechkin, and Danielson all within
a minute of him, this race remains wide open.
Today's Stage 6 is a flat stage that features no mountains, a brief
respite before the race resumes in the mountains for Stage 7. Robbie
McEwen, the best sprinter of the Giro and the Tour, is out after missing
the time cut in Stage 5. His absence will leave the door open for
another sprinter to claim the honor of fastest man in a grand tour this
year. With a different rider winning each stage so far in this Vuelta,
as well as sprinting stars like Thor Hoshovd and Alessandro Petacchi winless,
it is unclear as of now as to who this will be. Today's stage will
likely be another opportunity for one of these men to claim glory. -Chris
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(German)
(select alternative language stream below)
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Note: We have a new link to
LIVE video streaming of the Vuelta, now in our
programme. Commentary is in German but if that is not your language
you should be able to mute the audio and play the Eurosport live audio
stream (also in our programme) of your choice. Riders will be
on the Covatilla before too long! (Thanks to a reader from Denmark
for this tip! Please visit Denmark on your next trip. Spend
money.)
Note: Any eventual news, during the race, regarding
live race coverage of today's stage will be posted here and/or in our
scrolling News Ticker. Note that the News Ticker can be refreshed
separately from this page. (In Windows, right-click mouse on News
Ticker window and select Refresh.)
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Can Danielson Deliver the
Goods?
Tom Danielson, 2006 Tour of Italy
Photo Copyright ©
2006,
Pete Geyer
Today's stage 5 to the ski station at La Covatilla represents
the first real test of the 2006 Vuelta a Espana for those riders aiming
for the overall. Tom Danielson of Discovery Channel is among them.
The race won't be won today, of course, but it could be lost
for some. (30-minute gifts are always a possibility later on
though. -Ed.) Danielson has another year of experience under his
belt since his 7th place overall finish (after the disqualification
of Roberto Heras who tested positive for EPO) in last year's Vuelta.
Since, Danielson has done a lot of training in the mountains trying
to raise his "threshold power". He has worked on improving his positioning
in the peloton. He is smarter about conserving his own efforts
and should be prepared to use his teammates better. He is a solid
time trialist.
But can he put it all together in this year's Vuelta and do
so effectively enough to get within striking distance of the podium
in a race featuring Valverde, Sastre, Menchov, Vinokourov, Kashechkin?
Today we should begin to get a better idea of how to answer that
question.
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(German)
(select alternative language stream below)
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The
2006 Tour de l'Avenir
("Tour of the future", open to men's elite riders aged 25
or under) gets underway on Thursday, August 31, and runs through Saturday,
September 9. The 10-day event saves the best for the final three
days, including two mountain stages and a 24.5 km individual time trial
from the base of Mont Blanc. The final day should be total pandemonium
with no fewer than 10 rated climbs (eight cat 2, including the final climb
to the finish, and two cat 1), in a race that is already difficult to control
because teams only have six riders. Rumor has it race organizer
A.S.O. has hired a fire-eating man and a dog that juggles, and will rent
a canon so that they can fire 5-time Tour champion and current A.S.O.
employee Bernard Hinault over the heads of spectators in order to ensure
a spectacle just in case the riders disappoint.
2005 Dauphiné Libéré
at the foot of Mont Blanc
Photo Copyright ©
2006,
Pete Geyer
Among the riders expected on the
start line
: Evgeni Popov (Russia, Rabobank), Nicholas Roche (Ireland,
Cofidis), Tyler Farrar (U.S.A., Cofidis), Matthieu Sprick (France, Bouygues
Telecom), and Dominique Cornu (Belgium, riding for Team Belgium in
this race).
Lars Bak (CSC) of Denmark won this race in 2005. American
Saul Raisin
(Credit Agricole), hoping to make it back to the sport after
a serious accident in the Circuit de la Sarthe in April that almost
ended his life, won the mountains jersey in 2005.
Winners
since the race was created in 1961 include Felice Gimondi,
Joop Zoetemelk, Greg Lemond, Charly Mottet, Miguel Indurain, Marc Madiot,
Laurent Fignon, Johan Bruyneel, and Denis Menchov. Egoi Martinez,
currently with Discovery Channel, won in 2003 and Sylvain Calzati of
AG2R won in 2004.
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(Currently shows still
photos from the stage in progress. Live video only available
in Spain? We continue to look for alternatives available to
everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Monday, August 28, 2006
Ekimov Retires
Viatcheslav Ekimov on the Galibier Pass, 2003 Dauphine Libere
Photo Copyright ©
2003, Pete Geyer
Russian
Viatcheslav Ekimov
(40 years young!) of Discovery Channel competed in his last
race as a professional yesterday in France, at the GP Ouest-France
Plouay, a ProTour event.
Ekimov turned pro in 1990 and had a fantastic career, individually
and as a team player. An early rival of Lance Armstrong, Ekimov
won the 1994 Tour DuPont in the U.S. (Armstrong was second), only to
see Armstrong get revenge in 1995 (with Ekimov second). He also
grabbed the Olympic gold (twice) that eluded Armstrong but he was also
there sacrificing himself in five of Armstrong's seven Tour victories.
When a young USPS Pro Cycling Team in 1997 needed some respect
(as well as a wild card entry to the Tour de France, the team's ultimate
goal), they brought Ekimov to the team. And though he left the team
before Armstrong's first Tour win in 1999, he was immediately brought
back in 2000. (He retired after the 2001 season, then changed his
mind and was back without missing a beat.) He then helped Armstrong
to five more consecutive Tour wins from 2000 to 2004. Only a serious
injury kept him off of Armstrong's final victorious Tour team in 2005,
for Discovery Channel.
When team leader George Hincapie crashed in Paris-Roubaix a
few years ago, there was Ekimov salvaging a podium spot for USPS.
Ekimov won three stages in the Tour de France, including as
a member of both of USPS's Team Time Trial winning teams, in 2003 and
2004. (He also won stage 20 of the 1991 Tour.) He also won
stages in, among others, the Tour of Switzerland, Four Days of Dunkerque,
Tour of Holland, Tour of China, Paris-Nice, Dauphiné Libéré,
and Tour of Spain. His overall stage race victories included the
Tour of China and Three Days of the Panne.
It is no wonder that Discovery Channel has asked "Eki" to stay
on with the team as a directeur sportif. Good things tend to
happen when Ekimov is around.
We'll do an Ekimov photo essay later in the season. (And
we won't forget Erik Dekker and others retiring this season...)
Note: While we wait hopefully for live video streaming
from the official site, the link in our programme does display photos
from the stage in progress.
Note: We are hoping the "TV streaming" announced
on the official Vuelta web site will become available, and for everyone.
We are monitoring it and will let you know when we know more.
Note: The Vuelta is being broadcast on Eurosport
in various markets (thus the live audio streams listed in our Vuelta
Programme). For those that have cable or other access to it,
Spanish TVE International (TVEI) is also broadcasting the race.
You can find broadcast times at the following links:
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(Will this link go live?
At this time, we do not know. We continue to look for
alternatives available to everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
Note: While we wait hopefully for live video streaming
from the official site, the link in our programme does display photos
from the stage in progress.
Note: We are hoping the "TV streaming" announced
on the official Vuelta web site will become available, and for everyone.
We are monitoring it and will let you know when we know more.
Note: The Vuelta is being broadcast on Eurosport
in various markets (thus the live audio streams listed in our Vuelta
Programme). For those that have cable or other access to it,
Spanish TVE International (TVEI) is also broadcasting the race.
You can find broadcast times at the following links:
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2006 Tour of Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Live video streaming:
(Will this link go live?
At this time, we do not know. We are also looking for
alternatives available to everyone worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
Note: Velonews has gone live with their ticker, map
and pics.
Note: Eurosport's
various live TV broadcasts of today's stage have begun, so live audio
streams are now available. Select your language in our programme
below.
Note: Below is our
"short programme" for stage 1 of the 2006 Tour of Spain. More
links to come during today's stage...and because it takes a couple
of days to find out who all is providing live coverage freely available
to everyone on the internet, more links are coming in the days ahead
and we will soon have an expanded Vuelta a Espana programme.
Denis Menchov, 2005 winner
(file photo: 2005 Dauphiné Libéré)
(photo Pete Geyer)
Note: Today's stage 1 is
a 7.3km Team Time Trial in the streets of Malaga. The Relax
Gam team is the first team to go, at 19:12 CET (1:12pm U.S. Eastern
Time).
Starts times of all 21 teams:
-Relax Gam (ESP) 19:12 h.
-Lampre (ITA) 19:16
-Davitamon (BEL) 19:20
-Phonak (SUI) 19:24
-Francaise des Jeux (FRA) 19:28
-Credit Agricole (FRA) 19:32
-T. Mobile (ALE) 19:36
-Bouygues (FRA) 19:40
-Liquigas (ITA) 19:44
-Ag2r (FRA) 19:48
-Cofidis (FRA) 19:52
-Milram (ITA) 19:56
-Quick Step (BEL) 20:00
-Gerolsteiner (ALE) 20:04
-Saunier Duval (ESP) 20:08
-Euskaltel Euskadi (ESP) 20:12
-Discovery (USA) 20:16
-Astana (KAZ) 20:20
-Illes Balears (ESP) 20:24
-CSC (DIN) 20:28
-Rabobank (HOL) 20:32
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2006 Tour of
Spain
August 26-September 17
(Vuelta a España)
(Tour d'Espagne)
Official Site
Teams/Start list
Live video streaming:
Official site live streaming?
(Will this go live with streaming once the race begins?
At post time, we do not know. We are also looking for
alternatives available worldwide.)
Live audio streaming:
Live tickers:
News and photos:
(cycling news)
Yahoo photo gallery
(AP/AFP)
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Friday, August 25, 2006
Note: Our guide to LIVE
internet coverage of the 2006
Vuelta a Espana
will be up before the start of the first stage, Saturday's
7.3km Team Time Trial. The Vuelta official site gives two
different start times for the first team, 18:30 CET (12:30pm U.S.
Eastern Time) and 19:00 CET (1:00pm U.S. Eastern Time), with teams
leaving at 4-minute intervals. Either way, the Team Time Trial
which opens this edition of the Tour of Spain will indeed be held Saturday
evening local time.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Eneco Tour Stage 7: Chaos, Glory, and Heartbreak
Yesterday's Stage 7 of the Eneco Tour promised
excitement, with the incorporation of the parcours of Liege
Bastogne Liege, plus a general classification that was separated
by mere seconds. The fireworks that occurred, though, were
greater than anyone could imagine. In the final sprint to the
line, Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner), who was leading the peloton
at the time, hit a spectator, causing him to swerve right. George
Hincapie (Discovery Channel), the overall leader of the race, who up until
that point had ridden an intelligent race and was in the perfect position
on Schumacher's wheel, had his front wheel bumped into by Schumacher,
the man who trailed him by a mere 3 seconds. As a result, Hincapie
crashed to the ground 50 meters from the finish line, although he was
given the same time as the rest of the group. Schumacher managed
to stay upright, however, to take the third place time bonus of 4 seconds,
claiming the overall victory of the Eneco Tour by a single second over
the stunned Hincapie. Although Schumacher was clearly not at fault
for causing the crash, he nevertheless swerved out of his line during
the sprint, which is against the rules and would cause him to be disqualified,
giving Hincapie the win. After a 20 minute debate by the race judges
as to what to do, they decided to rule in favor of Schumacher and give
him the overall title because he was not at fault for what happened.
A clearly downtrodden Schumacher appeared on the podium to accept his
award in possibly one of the most stoic podium celebrations in quite
some time.
Lost in all the drama was the rest of the exciting
stage. Phillipe Gilbert (FD Jeux) won the stage with an
attack 4km from the finish, holding onto his advantage by 2 seconds
to win the day and move up to 4th overall in classification.
The 2006 Het Volk winner, who lives in the Ardennes area, showed
his class that is usually displayed for the one day classics.
The race was also animated by many attacks. The most active
rider was Axel Merckx (Phonak), who attacked twice to form a breakaway
and repeatedly attacked in the breakaway before getting washed away
by the peloton in the finale. Vincenzo Nibali, 3rd on GC and
only 11 seconds back, also put in a couple of attacks late in the race
to add to the drama, although he would gain no ground and simply end
up maintaining his 3rd place overall.
As for Hincapie, this result has to be the strangest
and most unfortunate of what has been a very unlucky year.
In addition to his near misses in time trials, he crashed out
of this year's Paris-Roubaix after his stem broke off completely.
Although he was in top form for that race and had made the decisive
breakaway along with two teammates, this stroke of bad luck is that
much more painful. Hincapie did everything right in this race.
He was poised yesterday to sprint past Schumacher to guarantee his
overall victory (or at least maintain his 3rd position on the stage
and collect a large enough time bonus to prevent Schumacher from winning).
However, 50m from the line that would guarantee him victory, fate intervenes.
The worst image of the day was a solitary Hincapie riding away from
the podium, the crowd, and the cameras, after hearing the judges' decision,
to wonder what might have been. It should be mentioned that Discovery
Channel did a brilliant job of controlling the stage and showing their
strength at the key moments to keep Hincapie protected. Hincapie
was never alone during the race, so to see him riding away alone afterwards
was a sobering and unfamiliar image.
All in all, a very exciting Eneco Tour.
Tom Boonen wins 3 stages, including the important stage into his
hometown of Balen. George Hincapie finally breaks his unlucky
streak in time trials. And Stefan Schumacher puts in a great
performance to claim overall victory. Although the circumstances
were controversial, he nevertheless deserves the victory. In
the finale, Schumacher had no teammates to support him and to control
the dangerous attacks like Hincapie did; he had to do everything on his
own. And yet, he was always well positioned during the race and
put in the efforts where he needed to win the race. He didn't want
it to end the way it did end, but he shouldn't let it take away from the
fact that he is a deserved winner. Schumacher has definitely shown
that he is a rider for the future as he adds this, the Eneco Tour, as his
best ever result. -Chris
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