Stage 5

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Stage 5

Day 5 Chambord - Montargis 179 km

Results

As expected Dekker and Bodrogi both attacked several times along with other riders trying to get the break up the road. Voeckler was absent in the attacking so he probably decided to save his energy for tomorrow's stage for good reasons I will explain later.

The sprinter teams kept the breaks in until after the first road prime with Boonen, Hushovd, and O'Grady taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively. Immediately after the first road prime, Flecha got up the road alone. Bodrogi attacked with two other riders and eventually bridge to Flecha. Dekker had tried to bridge to Flecha earlier but Voeckler's team wouldn't let him up the road with only a one point lead for KOM.

Starting the day seventh on Points, Flecha kept wanting to take the road primes and stage win to move himself up for the Points Title. Mean while, Bodrogi got the KOM points and move up into the top four on KOM.

The break never did open too much of a lead because the peloton had too much of a tail wind and was moving too fast too easily. After the feed, the sprinter teams started working to pull the break back in and did so a little sooner than they should have. Then it became a drag race to the finish for the sprinter teams.

McEwen took the win putting an end to any hopes of Boonen taking another consecutive road stage win and moving McEwen back into the top five for the Points Title. It looks like the Points Title is going to be settled between Boonen, Hushovd, O'Grady, and McEwen with Boonen having a fair lead in points. As the road goes more verticle, watch for riders like Boonen, Hushovd, and O'Grady, who have shown they can climb well, to extend their lead over most other riders.

Be sure to keep track of the riders who drop out so you can tell at a glance what the relative team strengths are. Today was the first rider to drop out of the race.

Also, you should be able to tell what different teams are racing for by their actions in the flat stages. The teams which are after subtitles and stage wins are very active especially with their top riders when the rest of the teams seem asleep For Example, you should know now that Credit Agricole is racing more for stage wins and subtitles than for GC with Bodrogi going up the road twice in the first five stages.

Did you notice Hincapie protecting Discovery's leaders for both the Yellow and White Jerseys to keep them out of crashes? I told you that White Jersey will be a valuable tool for Discovery. Watch them use it tactically later in the race to protect the Yellow Jersey. Interestingly, the person writing the news flashes for the Tour site thought it was Hincapie AND Popovych protecting Lance but it was actually Hincapie protecting both Lance and Popovych.

Keep those standings sheets at hand when reading or watching the Tour so you know what is really going on. I tell you in my 2002 Tour analysis what you need to have at hand to be able to read a stage race right. Also read my e-book Strategy section. You will be able to follow and understand the race much better.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow's stage will be a little bit longer at 199 km with four KOM primes and the first road prime will be 50 km into the stage. They won't wait for that prime to let the break go up the road but tomorrow will be a more significant battle to make the break. With the increased climbing, it will be easier for the break to stay off longer to win the stage. This will be the best stage so far for a win by a break group.

There will be a much more heated battle to get riders into this break and keep a break from going up the road with riders in it a team doesn't want up the road. Expect to see a pretty heated fight between the teams for Dekker and Voeckler to get their rider into the break and keep the other rider out because of the four KOM primes. This fight alone could get interesting.

Then watch the sprinters who can climb well like Boonen, Hushovd, and O'Grady try to make this break. That should be an interesting fight. Both Hushovd and O'Grady have won such stages in the past with breaks.

Then there will be other riders and teams wanting to make the break just for a stage win. This is also one of those stages where the break will occasionally get so far up the road they will gain up to 17 minutes and keep it to the line causing a domestique to take the Yellow Jersey and keep it well into the mountains. The domestiques trying to hold the Yellow Jersey one more day in the mountains against the big GC riders are sometimes the best efforts in the Tour.

The fight will be strong enough that you can expect to see the more complex team attack tactics I teach in my e-book. Expect teams to work out deals in the pack to where, if you let my rider make the break, I will let your rider make the break. For example, Dekker's team may work with O'Grady's team to get them both into the break and keep their competitors out.

One reason why the break is more likely to stay off and win tomorrow is because, if the sprinter teams force the pace to bring the break back in over the hilly terrain, some of them will put their sprinters out the back of the pack and they won't be able to win the stage anyway. Therefore, they will just save their legs for another day. Today was the last really flat stage for seven more stages.

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