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July 07, 2006
McEwen launched to third stage win
Tom Boonen was denied again, as Gert Steegmans launched Robbie McEwen like a booster rocket today straight up to his 3rd stage.
Boonen was in perfect position for the sprint, trailing a couple of leading teammates coming up the left side of the road, with the field stretching out behind him. But the field sprint launched before he did, swamping Boonen and holding him against the rail, so that by the time he kicked hard, he had to work through traffic to finish 3rd.
Boonen retains the yellow jersey, but honestly might just as soon be rid of it, and he will be tomorrow night. Tomorrow is the first long time trial of the Tour, where we'll finally separate the pretenders and contenders. I think that will make for better organized sprints on Sunday and Tuesday (rest day Monday), as it's likely one team will be defending the yellow jersey, and others trying to set up the sprint, instead of QuickStep doing both, as we've had the last couple of days.
Wednesday, the race hits the mountains.
Top 10:
1) Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto
2) Daniele Bennati, Lampre, same time
3) Tom Boonen, QuickStep, s.t.
4) Bernhard Eisel, Française des Jeux, s.t.
5) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole, s.t.
6) Oscar Freire, Rabobank, s.t.
7) Erik Zabel, Milram, s.t.
8) Luca Paolini, Liquigas, s.t.
9) Gert Steegmans, Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
10) Inaki Isasi, Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
Full Stage 6 results
Overall:
1) Tom Boonen, QuickStep, in 29:21:00
2) Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto, at :12
3) Michael Rogers, T-Mobile, at :21
4) Oscar Freire, Rabobank, at :25
5) George Hincapie, Discovery Channel, at :25
6) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole, at :27
7) Paolo Savoldelli, Discovery Channel, at :35
8) Floyd Landis, Phonak, at :36
9) Vladimir Karpets, Caisse d'Epargne, at :37
10) Sergei Honchar, T-Mobile, at :37
Full GC standings
Posted by Frank Steele on July 7, 2006 in Erik Zabel, Floyd Landis, George Hincapie, Michael Rogers, Oscar Freire, Paolo Savoldelli, Robbie McEwen, Sergei Honchar, Stage results, Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen, Top Stories, Tour de France 2006, Vladimir Karpets | Permalink
Comments
I have a question regarding 2 riders in the GC. I've been tracking total times in a spreadsheet based on the individual stage data from letour.com. Every rider currently matches their current GC time except for 2.
Walter Beneteau is showing up 1 minute slower than I have him calculated to be and Egoi Martinez is showing up 10 seconds slower.
I'm wondering if there are penalties being added to their times that aren't clearly published. Otherwise, I have trouble believing that the official standings are wrong, and I've triple-checked my calculations. Any insight would be appreciated.
For Beneteau, I have times of 38, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0 and 0, for a total of 43 seconds. He had a 16 second bonus in stage 1, for a total of 27 seconds. Add to it 22 seconds to make it relative to Boonen's total time (which is currently at -22 seconds) and you end up with 49 seconds, but the standings show him at 1'49.
Similarly Martinez adds up to 1'47, but they show him at 1'57. The times are 21, 0, 0, 5, and 1'17, for a total of 1'43. Minus the 18 second bonuses from stage 3 for 1'25. Add in Boonen's 22 seconds and you get 1'47, not the 1'57 that he's listed at.
Anyone have any answers to this?
Much Thanks
-Doug
Posted by: Doug W at Jul 7, 2006 2:42:05 PM
Wooo! Played like a master.
Congrats to Robbie Mcewen and his blocker/slingshot Gert Steegmans. I love how Gert was as happy as Robbie to help him get the win.
Posted by: Devans00 at Jul 7, 2006 4:20:24 PM
