CyclingRevealed's First Impressions '06
Stage 3, July 4th, Esch sur Alzette (Lux) to Valkenburg (Hol), 216.5 km
Redemption and Reward
Valkenburg has been the venue for the World Road Race Championships four times (1938, 1948, 1979 and 1998). In the 1998 edition the pro race was won by Oscar Camenzind. Every year the town hosts the Amstel Gold classic and its famous Cauberg climb (rated Category 3) came just 2km before the finish of today's stage.
With another very hot day ahead of them riders faced a challenging and hilly route with almost no flat road. In fact the last half of the course included three Category 3 and three Category 4 climbs.
With such a tough route those with designs on a high GC placing needed to keep their wits about them. This was perfect break country and the winding, hilly roads allowed escapees to quickly get out of sight. And five riders did just that until they were finally reeled in with about 16km to go. However José Luis Arrieta (AG2R-Prevoyance) decided to leave his former break companions at that point and quickly looked all set for a lone victory. The feared climb of the Cauberg was his undoing as the bunch pulled him back. Suddenly Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile) exploded off of the front with a repeat performance of his effort at the end of yesterday's stage. This time he was able to crest the climb (the Cauberg) alone and time trial the final 800m to victory. Barely 50m behind him his team mate Michael Rogers took the bunch sprint with Tom Boonen a couple of places further back.
Stage winner Matthias Kessler [ Image ©: www.gazzetta.it ]
With the expulsion of Jan Ullrich from the race, T-Mobile looked to be a team without a mission. However the men that were to have sacrificed everything for their leader have faced adversity square in the face. In an act of elegant redemption for their sponsors and fans they have thus far achieved a stage win and placed three riders in the top ten on GC (Rogers 2nd, Gonchar 9th, and Kessler 10th).
Meanwhile the Discovery team is also discovering that there is life after Lance. In previous Tours George Hincapie and Paolo Savoldelli were no more than domestiques for Armstrong. Now, riding with great intelligence and obviously great form, Hincapie is currently 3rd on GC and Savoldelli is 5th .
Another former Armstrong domestique, Floyd Landis now heads up the Phonak squad and is himself well positioned on GC at 7th . In fact throughout the bunch we are seeing an interesting phenomenon as former domestiques have suddenly found themselves free to race for themselves and prove that they too have champion qualities.
A few days ago the prospects for the sport of cycling looked very bleak. With great courage and superb racing the Tour peloton is creating an act of redemption. Many riders are already tasting the rewards in this new heady atmosphere. But most importantly of all it appears that the general public has lost none of it passion for Le Tour and cycling. The sheer size of the crowds lining the roads to Valkenburg was simply astounding. The sight was one to make us all feel proud to be cyclists.
Boonen takes the race lead [ Image ©: www.gazzetta.it ]
Tomorrow: the race heads of in a westerly direction as it starts its trek across northern France to Lorient in Brittany . Starting in Huy, tomorrow's stage takes in some of the roads familiar to the Fleche Wallone classic. Huy (Bel) to Saint Quentin (Fra), 215 km. Come back here for our report.
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