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Stage 14
Analysis
carcassone-Nimes 192.5 km
As predicted, the racing to get in the break was very aggressive
with breaks of from 10 to 20 riders going up the road repeatedly.
The teams couldn't get a break off for which everyone was satisfied
until relatively late in the stage. At point the break was
reeled back in so that Dekker could represent their team in the
break by bridging to the break. But that ultimately resulted
in the break being caught even after Dekker had bridged.
Finally, a break of ten riders got off and worked together very
well. As a matter of fact, they continued working together
later then was expected to make sure they didn't get caught by the
peloton.
There were no changes on any of the standings and the most
interesting and exciting part of this stage was all the efforts to
get a break off and trying by the different teams to make sure they
had a rider in that break. I think everyone except US Postal
tried to get a rider in a break today. The final break had
nine of the 21 teams represented and there were breaks for which
almost all of the teams were represented.
The best placed rider in the final break was so far down on GC that
finishing almost eleven minutes ahead of the peloton didn't pose a
threat to Voeckler so his team never tried to bring the break back
for any of the time. It was also obvious that the sprinter
teams didn't want to contend for the win and never tried to bring
the break back in. Their legs must have been very tired from
all the climbing the last two days with two consecutive mountain top
finishes.
They did have a lead out of sorts for the remaining points but no
one was able to gain enough points to change relative position for
the Points Title.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow will be a rest day and I will have my regular coach's
analysis as a recap for the first part of the Tour. I hope you
all had a good ride today.
