« London edges Paris for 2012 Olympics | Main | More on the yellow jersey disruption »
July 06, 2005
McEwen gets a stage win
Robbie McEwen found the right wheel today, shadowing Quick Step's Tom Boonen almost to the line, then outpowering Boonen to a stage win.
McEwen's victory salute may not go down with Juan Antonio Flecha's archer, as he repeatedly pointed with both hands at his chest. Yes, we get it, Robbie, you won a stage, even after the mean judges said you didn't work and play well with others.
Boonen was 2nd and Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole 3rd on the stage. Stuart O'Grady continues to be near but not quite in on the action, taking 4th on the day.
Flecha himself, now riding for Fassa Bortolo, was in the day's longest breakaway, along with Lampre's Salvatore Commesso, Credit Agricole's Laszlo Bodrogi, and Liquigas-Bianchi's Kjell Carlstrom.
McEwen, twice the Tour's green jersey overall winner, said earlier this week that he thinks he's out of that competition after being relegated to the back of the field when he interfered with Stuart O'Grady at the end of Stage 3. He sits 4th in the points competition with today's win, 45 points behind Boonen.
Top 10 (all in 3:46:00):
1) Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto
2) Tom Boonen, Quick Step
3) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole
4) Stuart O'Grady, Cofidis
5) Angelo Furlan, Domina Vacanze
6) Allan Davis, Liberty Seguros
7) Bernhard Eisel, Française des Jeux
8) Baden Cooke, Française des Jeux
9) Jens Voigt, CSC
10) Robert Förster, Gerolsteiner
I still don't get what's going on with FdJ: You don't get bonus points for having extra guys near the front of the sprint.
Saunier Duval-Prodir's Constantino Zaballa withdrew today, the first rider out of the 2005 Tour.
No significant changes in the GC, but we have a new lanterne rouge, the imaginary competition for the last-placed rider: After Janeck Tomback of Cofidis rode into the hay bales with 4 kilometers to ride, he lost 2:21 on the stage, and took over last place, 13:13 behind Lance Armstrong.
Posted by Frank Steele on July 6, 2005 in Baden Cooke, Jens Voigt, Robbie McEwen, Stage results, Stuart O'Grady, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen, Top Stories | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bf6df53ef00d8344c446953ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference McEwen gets a stage win:
Comments
According to Robbie, he is pointing to his team not himself in the photo. Of course, he also said he was trying to stay upright in the head butting of a few days ago. My guess, his pointing was a little of both. Revenge is sweet. Good show Robbie.
Posted by: Trée at Jul 6, 2005 1:00:25 PM
When you work that hard day in and day out, you can point at yourself, or anyone else for that matter...because when all is said and done, Lance will still win #7.
Posted by: Jeff at Jul 6, 2005 3:00:17 PM
[Speculation Alert]
Boonen has the most impressive acceleration I've seen in a long time, so in most situations where he's able to conserve a little for that final sprint he'll win or come close to winning. Even after a very fast chase Robbie only won by a fraction of a foot. I guess the issue is whether Boonen has enough endurance in the long haul to preserve something for the later sprints, but if he does he's going to be tough to beat for the green jersey. Right now he looks like he has everyone else outclassed, in spite of McEwen's win.
[/Speculation Alert]
Posted by: Demosophist at Jul 7, 2005 12:14:07 AM
I wondered, too, if Boonen's TTT, where he took his turns and finished strongly, taking Quick Step's last pull across the line, might not have taken 2 feet out of his sprint.
McEwen, on the other hand, was off the back in Davitamon-Lotto's TTT, so he had a little extra rest yesterday.
Posted by: Frank at Jul 7, 2005 12:20:03 AM
The first long range shots of McEwen making motions to his chest looked like he was doing a King Kong move. I thought he was beating his chest to say "I'm a bad mother******" until the close-up showed he was pointing.
Posted by: Devans at Jul 8, 2005 9:09:46 AM
