Stage 8

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Stage 8

Lamballe - Quimper 168 km

Before we begin the stage analysis, I need to point out that I became aware today that the top riders in the Tour have become so concerned about the increasing numbers of crashes that Tyler Hamilton has confront Le Blanc about the issue. It is very apparent that they are getting tire of hitting the asphalt and something will be done about this in the near future.

I believe that what they should do is to start by monitoring the crashes gathering information about which riders and which riding habits are causing most of the crashes. As soon as they have gathered enough information, they will be able to begin developing a program to decrease the number of crashes. This will be a constant and on going process that should never really end.

Analysis

As should have been expected, the attacking started early and Voigt tried at least twice to make the break. A number of breaks were attempted before the peloton finally let one go up the road. As expected, the teams did control the peloton until the first road prime where McEwen managed to obtain enough points to take the Green Points Jersey from O'Grady. Following that prime, the control break finally managed to get away.

As expected, Piil tried and did make the control break. At first, BLB started to chase this break in but then changed their minds and let it go. The reason they started to chase the break in is that Piil is fifth on GC but they changed their minds because he is still 6'58" down on their rider, Voeckler. They realized that all they had to do to keep Voeckler in the Yellow Jersey was to make sure that the break didn't get more than six minutes up the road. So they let the break go until it had about five and a half minutes and started bringing it back in.

By that time, it was late enough in the race that the sprinter teams began helping and eventually took over the pursuit. Even with that, the last rider from the break was caught in the last few kilometers of the race. The break almost succeeded.

At the first KOM prime, the news flash writer for the Tour made a little friendly fun of Verinque for working so hard for the one point still available to the peloton on the only Cat 3 climb of the stage. It should be noted that Verinque has been doing his job to protect Bettini's lead for the KOM Jersey by taking left over points so Tomback, Voigt, and the other KOM contenders couldn't get them.

As a team, you have to have a two ended strategy for any points title you are pursuing in a stage race. First, you have to work for your contending rider to get as many points as possible. Second, when points are available and your contending rider can't try for them or shouldn't because the points are not worth the energy required to get them, then you make sure a non-contending rider on your team gets those points so a competitor doesn't get them. The latter job has been Verinque's so far this Tour.

Also, keep track of the riders who don't need to worry about their GC time and are racing for subtitles or stage wins. Notice that, on days when they are not in a break or working for a stage win, they will finish in a small pack just a little behind the main peloton. This does several things. First, it saves energy for the days when they need to work by keeping them out of the faster moving peloton especially during the really fast sprint finishes when they would have to work much harder.

Second, it helps them avoid getting hurt in crashes caused by the charging peloton. You can't win anything lying in a hospital bed. Their only concern is to make cut off time so they don't get eliminated from the race. Learning to be a much better rider often means learning the little tricks the pro's use to increase your chances of winning or just doing well. You have to know when to go hard and when and how to rest.

Today, the most significant changes took place in the race for the Points Title. McEwen took the lead from O'Grady and Hondo fell behind Zabel and Hushovd. I hope you are noticing that Hushovd is riding this Tour very differently than previous Tours. He is sprinting much better and can win sprints against the best so he doesn't have to go on the long breaks that he became known for in previous Tours. As your fitness changes, you need to change your strategies and tactics.

The other significant changes that took place in today's stage are that Scholz moved ahead of Voigt in the KOM race and Piil moved into fifth place for that race. There were no significant changes for the time based titles because the top contenders all finished together.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a rest day and I will do my usual Coach's Analysis for you. We will look back at some of the most significant events and look ahead at some things you should expect and watch for. It will be one of two recap times in this Tour.

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