CyclingRevealed's First Impressions '05

Stage 2 - Challans to Les Essarts, 181.5 km

No Guts, No Glory

Last year little Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) slipped into a break early in the Tour and took the Yellow Jersey. For ten days all of France reveled in his plucky and gutsy spirit while he refused to relinquish the lead. Even Lance Armstrong applauded his tenacity and willingness to suffer. To the French fans Richard Virenque has been their “darling” for many years. That mantel slipped across to Voeckler last year.

Thomas Voeckler [ Image ©: CyclingRevealed.com ]

Today he was one of four riders that rode away from the field and stayed out there for just over 135km's. Together with Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole), David Canada (Saunier Duval) and Sylvain Calzati (Ag2r-Prevoyance) they gained a maximum of 4mins 30secs. However on this mostly flat stage it was clear that the sprinters would not let this one get away. On the run in to Les Essarts there was a modest Cat 4 climb and the first one to count towards the Polka Dot mountains jersey. At that point the sprinters trains were driving the peloton hard and only about 30secs behind the doomed break. Canada attacked hard on the climb and it looked as though he would take the prime having opened a sizeable gap. Voeckler, who is a local and knows the roads around here very well, counter-attacked and claimed the climber's points.

Even after the climb the break ( now down to three after Bodrogi dropped back on the climb) refused to give in. Predictably their gutsy ride came to an end with about 5km to go. The sprinters teams took control and it was Tom Boonen (Quick.Step) who got the better of Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) and Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) on the line.

At the awards ceremony Voeckler donned the Polka Dot jersey. Seeing how he hung on to his Yellow Jersey last year we can be sure that he will do everything in his power to hang on to it. This is the stuff of great racing.

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