CyclingRevealed's First Impressions '06
Stage 4, July 5th, Huy (Bel) to Saint Quentin (Fra), 207 km
Flat is Relative
Most commentators and observers have described today's route as a flat sprinters stage and compared to the Pyrenees or the Alps , today's stage is flat. Having ridden these roads a couple of years ago I can appreciate that under today's hot sun, and with over 200 km ahead of them, many of the riders are going to have a tough time. Right from the start the road out of Huy is fairly hilly. As the road approaches the French border open farming countryside and small forests is the primary feature on rolling terrain. These are the types of roads that drain your energy. It depends upon your definition of flat, but today the road is not flat. In cycle racing flat is relative to your point of view.
Heading off in a westerly direction the Tour now starts its trek across northern France to Lorient in Brittany . The GC shuffling will probably continue until the TT in Rennes on Stage 7. However between now and then there are still a lot of riders harboring high hopes and we can be assured of continued aggressive racing.
As the road approached France the route passed close to the southern Ardennes town of Florennes. This region has seen Napoleon's and Hitler's armies pass this way. In fact during the WWII “Battle of the Bulge” the allies were nearly overrun by the Germans at an airfield outside Florennes that they had recently captured. In Tour history Florennes was home to three great Tour Champions (Philippe Thys 1913, 1914, 1920; Firmin Lambot 1919 and 1922; Leon Scieur 1921). Obviously these local roads hold enough training challenges for three Tour champions to win six Tours between them. [ Read their story here. ]
Unless you live in Belgium it is almost impossible to understand the adulation heaped on Tom Boonen in his home country. It is no exaggeration to say that he is treated like a rock star. He is hounded wherever he goes and everyone wants a piece of him. The price of such stardom is that expectations are elevated to unreasonable levels. With 17 wins this year, including the Tour of Flanders, he is certainly not suffering from the legendary curse of the World Road Race Champions jersey. Yesterday he claimed his first Yellow Jersey (he is also leader of the Points Competition Green Jersey). Today as reigning World Champion he leads the Tour through his own country resplendent in his Yellow Jersey. With all of these trophies draped across his broad shoulders one would think that life is as perfect as it gets for a professional racing cyclist. Boonen, his fans and race commentators are bemoaning the fact that he has not yet won a stage. He may be unaccustomed to being beaten in big bunch finishes but that's life. Suck it back and appreciate what has been achieved!
Boonen mobbed by fans [ Image ©: CyclingRevealed.com ]
SPECIAL NOTE: Tom Boonen is the first reigning World RR Champion to wear the Yellow Jersey since Greg LeMond in 1990.
A solid break of five riders was out front for much of the day and we at last saw the peloton in a somewhat more orderly formation. Tom Boonen was out for blood and his Quick.Step team was in their familiar line-astern formation at the head of the peloton to both keep the break in check and eventually to neutralize it. With Egoi Martinez (Discovery) in the break we perhaps saw an element of Johan Bruyneel's long term strategy playing out as it was incumbent on the other teams to work at bringing the break back. As Martinez claimed the precious intermediate sprint bonus seconds along the way (he won every sprint and with them a total of 18 bonus seconds), Hincapie, Savoldelli and the rest of the team enjoyed an armchair ride.
Right on cue the break split with about 11km to go as three of the strongest riders attempted to out run the bunch. They put in a tremendous effort as behind them the sprinters teams failed to cooperate amongst themselves. Tom Boonen's Quick.Step boys were nowhere to be seen having spent themselves chasing all day. For the break it was all over with 2kms to go. Another hectic bunch sprint ensued with no sprinters trains to be seen. The perfect chaotic scenario for Robbie McEwen who comfortably claimed his second stage win in this Tour. Along with his stage win Robbie took ownership of the Green Points Jersey while Boonen retained his Yellow Jersey. Without a stage win it is another day of failure for the World Champion? It's all relative!
Another solid stage win for McEwen [ Image ©: www.gazzetta.it ]
Tomorrow: Another “flat” stage with rolling terrain that should again appeal to the sprinters. Beauvais to Caen, 219 km. Come back to CyclingRevealed.com for our daily impression.
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