Contenders rise, contenders fall, punctured tires, punctured dreams, teammates saving, teammates betraying, Spartacus back in yellow, and the God of Thunder roars again. That is just a days work in a phenomenon that can only be referred to as Chaos on the Cobbles. Yes, when it was announced that the Tour would return to the cobblestones after a 5 year absence, it sent a frenzy through the media and the riders. It would be nothing compared to the frenzy that occurred on the actual race course. The day started with an early breakaway that slowly dwindled down to only Ryder Hesjedal. In pursuit of Hesjedal, an elite chase group containing world champion Cadel Evans, strong favorite Andy Schleck, eventual yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara, eventual white jersey Geraint Thomas, and eventual stage winner Thor Hushovd. After this group went clear on one of the earlier sectors of cobbles, a second chase group containing Wiggins, Armstrong, and Contador quickly formed to pull them back. Unfortunately for Armstrong was dropped from the group due to a tire puncture and was losing time quickly. Teammate Yaroslav Popovych rushed back to help pace him as much as he can, but Armstrong was not able to pull back enough to catch Contador.
It was still a valiant effort from Lance, who looked more like a coal-miner after he was finished due to the dust flying off the old cobblestones. Another great teammate was Cancellara himself. He initially joined the breakaway with no intentions of regaining yellow (though he ended up doing so), but to help teammate Andy Schleck pull back some of the time he lost on the opening prologue. Cancellara, a winner at the brutal Paris-Roubaix and great classics rider, set the pace for most of the day in that group and accomplished his mission. In the "not so great" teammate column goes Alexander Vinokourov. After spending most of the chase protecting Contador in the chase group, he rapidly paced them away from Alberto on the final stretch while Contador struggled across with a puncture. It may not have been a picture-perfect day for Contador or Armstrong, but nobody had a worse day than Frank Schleck.
After riding incredibly well all morning, Schleck was caught up in an unfortunate accident on the cobblestones. He was unable to get up from the spill and was forced to forfeit the stage and the rest of the race. Brother Andy said in a post-race interview that it was a broken collarbone. Saxo Bank lost a great rider in Schleck and also a GC contender, and my best wishes to Frank for a speedy recovery. Former yellow jersey holder and winner of stage 2 Sylvain Chavanel had an unfortunate day as well, suffering multiple punctures on the road into Arenberg and losing his yellow and green jerseys. While Cancellara took the yellow, Thor Hushovd put his claim on the green points jersey. The "God of Thunder" quietly pounded his way through the cobbles and hung in the leading group before easily outsprinting them to the line for the stage victory. He hopes to accumulate possibly another stage or two, and more importantly hold on to the green jersey for as long as possible.
Cancellara also looked incredibly surprised to be in yellow again, after losing it yesterday due to a series of crashes and a peloton protest.
Contenders rise, contenders fall, punctured tires, punctured dreams, teammates saving, teammates betraying, Spartacus back in yellow, and the God of Thunder roars again. That is just a days work in a phenomenon that can only be referred to as Chaos on the Cobbles. Yes, when it was announced that the Tour would return to the cobblestones after a 5 year absence, it sent a frenzy through the media and the riders. It would be nothing compared to the frenzy that occurred on the actual race course. The day started with an early breakaway that slowly dwindled down to only Ryder Hesjedal. In pursuit of Hesjedal, an elite chase group containing world champion Cadel Evans, strong favorite Andy Schleck, eventual yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara, eventual white jersey Geraint Thomas, and eventual stage winner Thor Hushovd. After this group went clear on one of the earlier sectors of cobbles, a second chase group containing Wiggins, Armstrong, and Contador quickly formed to pull them back. Unfortunately for Armstrong was dropped from the group due to a tire puncture and was losing time quickly. Teammate Yaroslav Popovych rushed back to help pace him as much as he can, but Armstrong was not able to pull back enough to catch Contador.
It was still a valiant effort from Lance, who looked more like a coal-miner after he was finished due to the dust flying off the old cobblestones. Another great teammate was Cancellara himself. He initially joined the breakaway with no intentions of regaining yellow (though he ended up doing so), but to help teammate Andy Schleck pull back some of the time he lost on the opening prologue. Cancellara, a winner at the brutal Paris-Roubaix and great classics rider, set the pace for most of the day in that group and accomplished his mission. In the "not so great" teammate column goes Alexander Vinokourov. After spending most of the chase protecting Contador in the chase group, he rapidly paced them away from Alberto on the final stretch while Contador struggled across with a puncture. It may not have been a picture-perfect day for Contador or Armstrong, but nobody had a worse day than Frank Schleck.
After riding incredibly well all morning, Schleck was caught up in an unfortunate accident on the cobblestones. He was unable to get up from the spill and was forced to forfeit the stage and the rest of the race. Brother Andy said in a post-race interview that it was a broken collarbone. Saxo Bank lost a great rider in Schleck and also a GC contender, and my best wishes to Frank for a speedy recovery. Former yellow jersey holder and winner of stage 2 Sylvain Chavanel had an unfortunate day as well, suffering multiple punctures on the road into Arenberg and losing his yellow and green jerseys. While Cancellara took the yellow, Thor Hushovd put his claim on the green points jersey. The "God of Thunder" quietly pounded his way through the cobbles and hung in the leading group before easily outsprinting them to the line for the stage victory. He hopes to accumulate possibly another stage or two, and more importantly hold on to the green jersey for as long as possible.
Cancellara also looked incredibly surprised to be in yellow again, after losing it yesterday due to a series of crashes and a peloton protest.
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