lotek 

Happy 4th of July
202.5 km

don d.

.....

brent_dube

Comes down to a bunch sprint. The strongest group of 'pure sprinters' the Tour has ever seen, and Petacchi puts them all to shame. McEwen gets penalized for an infraction, after finishing 5th.

Three sprint points?? What the...?
Three sprint points for the viking to try to take the overall lead.

don d.

It's hard to say exactly how the teams will play the sprints out, but I strongly suspect that with Petacchi as strong as he is, the intermediate sprints will play a larger role this year for sprinters like McEwen, Hushovd, O'Grady, et al as they try to get points and time bonuses anywhere they can. Possibly even Zabel may start contesting the intermediates.

Hushovd is a pretty good sprinter, but he was always leadout man and 2nd to O'Grady at CA. He's gonna have to kick some a$$ to get that jersey, and then he's gonna have to fight for it every day to keep it. But it will be worth it to him and CA if he can do it. You never know, we may see Fdjeux work for McGee at the intermediates to try and get him into the yellow.

pgreene

loads of crashes so far. mario, tyler (no word on what he broke, but it must be something . nasty conditions. but the breaks are being shut down. strange (but not unexpected) to see heras' team come to the front. cancellara's putting in a good ride too. took second in an intermediate sprint.

i'd love to see someone other than petacchi take the sprint. maybe fassa will be too tired from setting tempo all day to give him a proper leadout...

don d.

According to Cyclingnews.com, Tyler was back at the team car for a mechanical problem when a teammate of his crashed. Tyler has not crashed(yet) and is not hurt. Case of mistaken identity.

Laggard

Kirsipuu! I was really hoping Hushovd would take it.

The Fassa train looked a bit tired, yes? Maybe the Giro took too much out of them?

Jalaber was the downed Phonak rider.

And I doubt we'll see McGee tomorrow.

don d.

That would be a huge loss for Fdjeux and Cooke's chances at the green if he can't continue.

Cyclingnews.com is reporting that Hushovd is now even with Cancellara but Cancellara should keep the yellow because of his stage win and a few hundredths of a second lead.

Maybe tomorrow Thor will drop the hammer.

brent_dube

Cyclingnews probably missed the intermediate sprints. Officially, Hushovd is shown at 2seconds down.

He still has two stages to get it though

don d.

Now they've updated the GC and show him two secs down. He had a good day. And check out the top four finishers. Kirsipu, McEwen, Hushovd, and HONDO. Good to see Kirsipu and Hondo doing so well.

Laggard

I saw Gerolsteiner towards the front trying to get Hondo in the mix. I was a bit bummed that they left Pollack at home.

531Aussie

Bugger!! Accidentaly saw the stage winner on Velo News -- I didn't think it finished so early.

In Australia, we have a 25min daily highlights package that is shown a whopping 16 (or so) hours after the end of each stage, so I spend that whole time avoiding every news sevice, so as not to diminish the enjoyment. Now I've blown it

Nam

I don't understand why the top 2 let the pack catched them. Because they were tired? not the same team? intend to wait?

Don't you think if those two are in the same team, would the make the finish line first?

girl27

Ahhh. VeloNews. The Great Spoiler.

A good win for Kirsipuu! Was it just me, or did that sprint seem to go on forever?

After his great ride in the Giro, it was tough to watch Macca way out the back of the group like that. He's got some serious recovery to do - both mental and physical - if he wants to continue tomorrow. Let's go Bradley!

Laggard

Two riders alone for how many kilometers trying to hold off Fasa, Lotto and Quickstep? That's a tough job.

brent_dube

What probably happened is, when they knew they were going to get caught, they let up so they wouldn't get the legs killed in trying to stay with the pack.

I thought they were working well together (as good as if they were on the same team). But I was flipping between the race and tennis, so I don't know

belfast-biker

Why did you go anywhere near a cycling news website if you didn't want to know about the race?

531Aussie

yeah, i know...stooopid. I thought I had another couple of hours up my sleeve

lotek 

Geez that finish was exhausting.

Have you ever seen so much confusion between race radio and
Phil and Paul? weird.
If the entire race is like today (mix of players at the finish) it could be
a very interesting ride. I have to admit I got kinda tired of watching
Alejet in the Giro.

Marty

don d.

My man Mirko, a rare smiling Gibo, and Salvatore Commesso.

don d.

"I'm just wearing this for Virenque."