TdF Commentary 7/5

Stage 2 Recap

Chavanel takes breakaway win, Plague of crashes continues, Peloton protests

Crashes today along the wet and narrow roads of Belgium  caused an ugly stage that many riders have to be unhappy with.  A breakaway of eight riders formed early on, and as riders tired, only Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) would hold on for victory.  Back in the peloton, the narrow and slippery descent on the Col de Stockeu caused many riders to crash, and also resulted in huge splits in the peloton as riders slowed down to avoid the fallen.  Among the least fortunate was Andy Schleck, who went down and at first seemed to have been severely injured.  Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador also fell and found themselves in a group that split off from the main group and had to make up time.

Before the crash, the peloton seemed intent on catching Chavanel to set up a sprint and retain Fabian Cancellara's yellow jersey.  However, much to the dismay of Thor Hushovd, Cancellara would slow down the lead peloton to wait for all the contenders to catch up, essentially conceding the stage win and the yellow jersey to Chavanel.  Such is the etiquette of the Tour - it's an unwritten rule to not attack if a contender has crashed and is working to catch up, as the race should be decided by skill and not road conditions.  However, today was an extreme case, with the peloton giving up a stage win as a result, and even going so far as to protest by not contesting the bunch sprint at the finish.

Thor Hushovd must be very irritated at this decision because this stage would have been a great opportunity for him to get ahead, and it was clear that he wanted to push the pace of the peloton instead of waiting for the lagging contenders.  However, after the chaotic events of Stage 1 which saw some of Hushovd's rivals in Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar fail to get on the board because of crashes, it would be kind of against the spirit of competition to first take advantage of one unfortunate situation in Stage 1 and then leave others in the dust after another unfortunate situation in Stage 2.  It should be noted, however, that Cavendish and some other sprinters had already been dropped by the peloton before all the chaos.  While I believe that at the very least riders should have been able to contest the bunch sprint, I have no problem with the green jersey situation as it stands, as the events of yesterday and today kind of cancel out a positive and a negative for Hushovd.

Sylvain Chavanel would eventually win by a large margin, earning him the yellow jersey and the day's combativity award.  His stage win, intermediate sprint points, and Stage 1 points would eventually give him the green jersey as well.  The race organizers decided not to award any points at the finish except to Chavanel, as part of a prearranged agreement with the peloton as part of their protest.  Thus, despite an actual finish that would have given the green jersey to Robbie McEwen, instead Alessandro Petacchi remains in second place and will wear Chavanel's green jersey tomorrow.  Jürgen Roelandts moves up to third in the green jersey standings for his Stage 1 points and today's intermediate sprint points.

Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) was part of the stage's breakaway and will hold the Tour's first polka-dot jersey, with his total of 13 points in today's stage.  With the next several days have very few mountains points up for grabs, Pineau should be holding on to the jersey until the race reaches the Alps.  Today was a huge win for Quick Step, which is racing without its star Tom Boonen.  With their riders now holding all three major jerseys, and with a stage win and two combativity awards under their belt, it can already be considered a successful tour for the team.

Many riders struggled to rejoin the peloton, and among them was Christian Vande Velde, who eventually lost nearly 6 minutes to the GC contenders.  This essentially removes him from GC contenders, and Garmin-Chipotle should at this point focus their efforts entirely on Tyler Farrar.  Speaking of Farrar, the young American arrived with a heavily bandaged arm in the last bunch to arrive at the finish today, which may have arrived after the time limit.  Judging from the stage conditions and the peloton's protest, the race organizers will most likely be lenient and allow the riders to continue even if they didn't make the time limit.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to see the aftermath of this disastrous stage.  Many riders already knew that the Col de Stockeu's descent would be very dangerous, especially in the rain, and feel that it should have never been included on the Tour's route in the first place.  I would have to agree with them, judging from the ridiculous number of crashes on a single descent today, with even a motorcycle losing traction and going down on the slippery slope.  To make things worse, the riders will have yet another day that could be filled with crashes coming up tomorrow.  It would be a shame if the field is severely thinned out after just three stages - already after today many riders didn't look so good.

*****

Update: The cause of all the crashes on the descent of the Stockeu (from VeloNews.com): "It all started when Lampre rider Francesco Gavazzi crashed out of the breakaway on the Stockeu. A TV motorcycle then crashed while avoiding hitting Gavazzi, and the bike spilled oil on the road. The oil had time to run down the hill by the time the peloton came through a few minutes later, setting off a dangerous domino effect that saw over 60 riders sliding across the road." So in the end, it may have just been really bad luck and not poor judgment on the Tour organizers' part.  Ironically, Yahoo Sports says that the oil spilled onto the road was BP oil.

We have also learned that Christian Vande Velde has abandoned the Tour after sustaining rib injuries following his crash.  Robert Gesink also suffered a broken arm and is expected to abandon.  All other riders who crashed seem to have just gotten abrasions and should be good to go for tomorrow.  We'll want to keep an eye on Andy Schleck though, who didn't look good at all following his crash.  Check out the VeloNews link for all the info on the aftermath of the crashes.

*****

Notable GC Standings

1	Sylvain Chavanel	Quick Step	10h01'25"
2	Fabian Cancellara	Team Saxo Bank	+ 02'57"
3	Tony Martin	Team HTC-Columbia	+ 03'07"
5	Lance Armstrong	Team RadioShack	+ 03'19"
7	Alberto Contador	Astana	+ 03'24"
8	Levi Leipheimer	Team RadioShack	+ 03'25"
15	Andreas Klöden	Team RadioShack	+ 03'33"
16	Alexandre Vinokourov	Astana	+ 03'35"
17	Roman Kreuziger	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 03'35"
19	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	+ 03'36"
51	Carlos Sastre	Cervélo TestTeam	+ 03'51"
53	Ivan Basso	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 03'52"
54	Denis Menchov	Rabobank	+ 03'53"
57	Bradley Wiggins	Team Sky	+ 03'53"
59	Frank Schleck	Team Saxo Bank	+ 03'54"
85	Andy Schleck	Team Saxo Bank	+ 04'06"

*****

Notable Points Standings

1	Sylvain Chavanel	Quick Step	44 pts
2	Alessandro Petacchi	Lampre-Farnese	35 pts
3	Jürgen Roelandts	Omega Pharma-Lotto	34 pts
5	Thor Hushovd	Cervélo TestTeam	26 pts
6	Robbie McEwen	Katusha	24 pts
23	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Team Sky	10 pts
31	Tyler Farrar	Garmin-Transitions	4 pts
-	Mark Cavendish	Team HTC-Columbia	0 pts
-	Oscar Freire	Rabobank	0 pts
-	Gerald Ciolek	Milram	0 pts

*****

Stage 3 Preview

Seems like danger is the name of the game for the beginning of this year's Tour.  Stage 3's profile looks innocent enough, yet for the peloton and especially team leaders, the stage will be incredibly stressful.  Seven cobblestone sections totaling 13.2 km line the second half of the stage and can easily result in crashes, flat tires, or splits in the peloton.  In 2004, a crash on a cobblestone section of a flat stage spelled the end of Tour contention for Iban Mayo and Tyler Hamilton.  This year's course is even more dangerous.

The last four cobbled sections are all within the last 30 km of the stage, so should the peloton split, the front group won't be able to increase the time gap as much as, say, a split with 70 km to go.  This is relatively good news for the GC contenders.  However, for the sprinters, the high concentration of cobbles near the end means that they will have to put themselves in a lot of danger if they want to set up a bunch sprint.

This stage would have been perfect for sprinter Tom Boonen, who has excelled in the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders - both single-day races heavily littered with cobblestones.  However, Boonen recently sustained a knee injury that has kept him out of the Tour.  Fabian Cancellara is also outstanding on the cobbles, but his top priority will be protecting his teammates Andy and Frank Schleck.  If Cancellara finds himself in the lead peloton towards the end of the stage, we may see him launch an attack for the stage win.

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect in tomorrow's stage, as it's really unusual to see this kind of stage in a stage race.  If I had to guess, I would say that the peloton will play it safe and allow a breakaway victory.  As the peloton reaches the cobbles, it will probably shatter into pieces as if on a mountain stage.  We will probably see many of the GC contenders losing time, and this stage can actually be a good opportunity for some of the GC contenders who are stronger on the cobbles (like Armstrong) to get some time over rivals.  Other than that, I won't make any particular predictions.

*****

For full Stage 2 results and overall standings, more complete info on Stage 3, and live newsflashes on race day, visit the official TdF website.  Footage of tomorrow's stage can be seen on the Versus channel live in the morning or on tape delay in the evening.  The stage will start at 6:35 AM (ET), and TV coverage on Versus starts at 8:30 AM (ET).  By 10:45 AM (ET), the riders will be approaching the most dangerous part of the course, which should provide the most intense drama of the day.