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Stage 3
Day 3 - La Chataigneraie - Tours 208 km
Race Analysis
As expected, Voeckler went for the first KOM prime but only got
second forcing his team to help with the end of the stage chase or
lose the lead for KOM. They didn't give chase soon enough,
realized they couldn't catch the break before the last two KOM
primes, and gave up the chase to the sprinter teams refusing to
waste energy beating a dead horse. Smart move.
The peloton then let a break of three riders go up the road right
after the first KOM prime and just before the road prime telling me
the sprinter teams don't want their sprinters to waste energy going
for the intermediate sprints at this time. CSC let the break
quickly gain time to settle the pack down to a moderate, steady pace
to conserve their energy in protecting the Yellow Jersey. I
assume CSC wanted to keep the Yellow Jersey until tomorrow's team
time trial so they can start last and know everyone else's splits
when they reach the split marks giving them a tactical advantage in
the team time trial. Smart move.
As expected, the sprinter teams and Voeckler's team started
the chase at about mid point and just after the feed zone. In
spite of this, Dekker and Portal almost made it to the finish ahead
of the peloton being caught in the last few kilometers. They
definitely gave it a great try and you have to love them for it.
Dekker also managed to take the last two KOM primes giving him the
KOM jersey for the next stage. Good move.
Just before Dekker was caught, Cancellara attacked to try and get a
last minute break for the stage win. It brought Dekker back in
and Cancellara was also caught permitting the sprinting teams to set
up for the Sprint. Boonen won his second stage win and the
battle for the Points Title firmed up even more. A question
here is will Boonen try to beat Cipo's record for consecutive stage
wins?
Nothing significant changed on the standings for the Yellow Jersey,
White Jersey, and Team GC except that Boonen has moved into third
for the White Jersey. The biggest change came in the Points
Title when McEwen was relagated to last in the peloton for cutting
off O'Grady in the sprint and dropped out of the top five for that
title moving O'Grady to second. This battle is firming up
nicely with Boonen, O'Grady, and Hushovd in the top five where
expected.
The battle for KOM is firming up with Dekker, Voeckler, Bertogliati,
and others being very close and Dekker taking the lead from Voeckler.
This fight will intensify until the mountains when the big climbers
will take control of the title. It is important to understand
that, even with the fact that the big climbers will eventually win
this title, it is very important for these riders to wear this
jersey even just one day because it increases salaries, show money,
and other opportunities for the riders.
Fortunately, they have made the Combativity Title cumulative again
as I have been saying they should for years. Unfortunately,
they are not posting the standings so we fans can enjoy the battle
and see how this race is impacting the rest of the fights.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow will be the most significant remaining day between now and
the mountains. It will be the next sorting of GC riders, this
time based on team strength. The main strategy for most teams
will be to not lose much time because their team leader will also
lose that much time up to a maximum to the other GC riders. It
will be a 67.5 km drag race between the teams that will show
relative team strengths.
It should be pointed out that the top teams will want to try and
gain time on Discovery in the team time trial in an effort to regain
a little of the time that was lost to Lance in the first stage
individual time trial. Any time the teams can regain for their
team leaders will be helpful when they reach the mountains.
The most important rule for tomorrow is don't lose time.
I expect a big battle between Discovery, CSC, T-Mobile, and Phonak.
I expect Galdeano, Beloki, Heras, and Mayo to lose time because
their teams don't seem as strong for time trialing right now though
we could see a surprise or two. Popovych could move into the
lead for the White Jersey if Discovery beats Fassa, Illes, and Quick
Step by only 16 seconds so expect to see Fassa Bortolo, Illes
Balears, and Quick Step try to beat Discovery to keep that lead for
Cancellara, Karpets, or Boonen. personally, I expect Popovych
to take that lead.
It will be interesting to see which team will have to defend the
Yellow Jersey until the mountains. If Discovery takes the
Yellow Jersey, expect them to make the announcement the next
morning, Wednesday, that they will not defend the Yellow Jersey at
this time. Good move.
