Alexandre Vinokourov couldn't help but feel that his teammate stole the stage away from him yesterday when Contador helped Joaquin Rodriguez pass him on the final stretch. Today, he stole one from the sprinters. Vinokourov stayed in the peloton and timed his attack perfectly on the final climb to jump from the pack and grab himself a stage win a long time coming. The day started off rather ordinary, with a 3 man breakaway that formed early.
Stage 2&7 winner Sylvain Chavanel once again found himself setting the pace, along with Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha and Bbox rider Pierrick Fedrigo. The peloton (lead mainly by Columbia, Milram, and Lampre) did not let them come even close to escaping and caught them before the field even started the final cat 3 climb. BMC's Alessandro Ballan tried to escape, but Vinokourov launched himself over the top and of everyone and began to set his own pace. He held off the charging peloton throughout the entire descent, and cruised into the finish holding a 13 second lead that nobody thought he would keep. The sprinters still had business to take care of, and sprinted emphatically for 2nd.
Cavendish won the sprint, but Alessandro Petacchi finished 3rd and took back the green jersey from Hushovd. He will likely keep it throughout the Pyrenees (unless he drops out) because neither of them will be doing much sprinting in the mountains. Vinokourov was very emotional after his win.
He continues to be grateful to the race officials to let him compete after he was punished for doping a few years ago. He was choked up on the podium after receiving his prize, and also received a hug from teammate Contador at the finish line.
This win obviously meant a lot to Vinokourov, who also gained a bit of ground and is alone at 12th overall in the GC. Beyond Vinokourov's small time jump, the only other change in the GC was Lance Armstrong losing more ground to the leaders (not that it means much at this point). Andy Schleck kept his yellow easily for one more day, as he will need to do some work defending it over the next few days.
Alexandre Vinokourov couldn't help but feel that his teammate stole the stage away from him yesterday when Contador helped Joaquin Rodriguez pass him on the final stretch. Today, he stole one from the sprinters. Vinokourov stayed in the peloton and timed his attack perfectly on the final climb to jump from the pack and grab himself a stage win a long time coming. The day started off rather ordinary, with a 3 man breakaway that formed early.
Stage 2&7 winner Sylvain Chavanel once again found himself setting the pace, along with Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha and Bbox rider Pierrick Fedrigo. The peloton (lead mainly by Columbia, Milram, and Lampre) did not let them come even close to escaping and caught them before the field even started the final cat 3 climb. BMC's Alessandro Ballan tried to escape, but Vinokourov launched himself over the top and of everyone and began to set his own pace. He held off the charging peloton throughout the entire descent, and cruised into the finish holding a 13 second lead that nobody thought he would keep. The sprinters still had business to take care of, and sprinted emphatically for 2nd.
Cavendish won the sprint, but Alessandro Petacchi finished 3rd and took back the green jersey from Hushovd. He will likely keep it throughout the Pyrenees (unless he drops out) because neither of them will be doing much sprinting in the mountains. Vinokourov was very emotional after his win.
He continues to be grateful to the race officials to let him compete after he was punished for doping a few years ago. He was choked up on the podium after receiving his prize, and also received a hug from teammate Contador at the finish line.
This win obviously meant a lot to Vinokourov, who also gained a bit of ground and is alone at 12th overall in the GC. Beyond Vinokourov's small time jump, the only other change in the GC was Lance Armstrong losing more ground to the leaders (not that it means much at this point). Andy Schleck kept his yellow easily for one more day, as he will need to do some work defending it over the next few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment