THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Steegmans takes Stage 2 as crash fractures peloton
If things had gone as scripted, Quick Step’s Tom Boonen would have burst out of a huge, fast-moving peloton into Ghent, in front of thousands of adoring fans, as the Tour de France made its sole foray into Belgian territory on Monday.
And it almost worked out that way, save for the fact that Boonen charged out of a small pack, decimated by a last-minute crash, and that his lead-out man Gert Steegmans got the day’s victory. Neither Boonen nor the Belgians seemed to mind one bit, either. For his part, Boonen moved into the lead of the Tour’s points competition, so the green jersey seemed more than ample compensation.
It was the 26-year-old Steegmans’ first Tour de France win, a milestone celebrated by both Quick Step men as they crossed the line ahead of an elite group of top sprinters, the lucky ones who escaped a mass pile-up on narrow roads just 2.5km from the finish.
The fast-twitch crowd escaped the chaos, triggered by a single rider pulling out of his pedal on narrow roads in Ghent. The unfortunate man from Milram hit the deck about 25 riders from the front of the peloton, causing a score of others to crash and stopping the rest of the field in its tracks.
One of the most notable crash victims was CSC’s Fabian Cancellara, who managed to hold on to the leader’s jersey because the mishap occurred within the final three kilometers of the stage. Under UCI rules, therefore, everyone riding with the peloton at the time of the crash was credited with the winners’ time for the stage.
Time, however, wasn’t Cancellara’s biggest concern as he limped across the finish line holding his arm in a way that would suggest that he suffered some sort of injury. The reigning world time trial champion was later able to climb the podium for the yellow-jersey presentation and seemed in good form.
"The pile-up gave me a fright. At the time I hurt myself, but now I feel better," said the Swiss, who retained his 13-second lead over Astana's Andreas Klöden.
Others may not have been so lucky and teams hustled several riders off for closer medical checks.
After two days in England, Monday’s stage offered something of a rest, with a later-than-usual start and just 168.5km of pan-flat roads from Dunkirk, France, to Ghent. The trip across the channel also marked a change in weather, with two days of sunny skies replaced by clouds and an omnipresent threat of rain.
The peloton rolled out of Dunkirk at 1:30 Monday afternoon and the bunch enjoyed a moderate pace until Milram’s Marcel Sieberg jumped out of the field at 18km. He was soon joined by Cedric Hervé (Agritubel) and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and the trio worked to build up a lead that maxed out at around 6:00 at the 70km mark.
Behind, a vigilant CSC team put in much of the day’s chase work, monitoring the gap and keeping it manageable at least until the sprinters’ teams smelled the finish line approaching. Indeed, with sporadic rain, that second, usually more serious chase never really developed until about the 40km-to-go mark. CSC eased off, and duties fell to Boonen’s Quick Step team, the Predictor-Lotto squad of stage 1 winner Robbie McEwen and Thor Hushovd’s Crédit Agricole crew.
Still, narrow roads, rain and increasingly common “traffic furniture” that includes roundabouts, speed bumps and road dividers, gave something of an advantage to a small break. It wasn’t until the escapees had passed the 3km-to-go banner that the peloton finally swept them up.
Almost on cue, Boonen’s Quick Step men formed up a lead-out train, intent on keeping the pace high until the finish and delivering their man to the line. Other sprint specialists, too, were working their way up the ranks, when suddenly the mishap occurred with but 2.5km remaining.
The crash caused a big split and the lead group moved ahead, as the rest of the field was left to pick through the carnage.
What emerged at the front, though was a group composed of most of the peloton’s top sprinters and a healthy selection of their lead-out riders. McEwen was in the mix, as were Hushovd and Milram’s Erik Zabel.
Weaving through the final kilometer, Boonen seemed set to take the stage, getting a strong pull from Steegmans with 200 meters to go. But Boonen never came around and Steegmans took the win with his team leader pointing to him as the two crossed the line, taking first and second on the day. Behind, Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) and Agributel’s Romain Feilu rounded out the top five.
"I don't know if Tom let me win. Maybe, but the most important thing is that we finished one and two today," said Steegmans, who until last year was one of the lead-out men for Robbie McEwen.
"We missed out on yesterday's stage because of a tactical error, and today we wanted to wait as long as possible before really hitting the accelerator. It went to perfection."
Added Boonen: "If you get the chance to give a gift to a teammate, you take that chance," Boonen said. "All year he does work for me. I wasn't going to pass him on the line and rob him of his chance for glory. It's the perfect end for our team." —Agence France Presse contributed to this report.
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Stage 2
1. Gert Steegmans (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 168.5km in 3:48:22
2. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, same time
3. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas, s.t.
4. Robert Hunter (RSA), Barloworld, s.t.
5. Romain Feillu (F), Agritubel, s.t.
6. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor - Lotto, s.t.
7. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, s.t.
8. Heinrich Haussler (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
9. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, s.t.
10. Chavanel Sébastien (F), Française Des Jeux, s.t.
Overall standings
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, 8:36:13
2. 2. Andréas Klöden (G), Astana, at 0:13
3. David Millar (GB), Saunier Duval-Prodir, at 0:21
4. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, at 0:23
5. Bradley Wiggins (GB), Cofidis, s.t.
6. Vladimir Gusev (Rus), Discovery Channel, at 0:25
7. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, at 0:26
8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse D’Epargne, s.t.
9. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, at 0:29
10. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Astana, at 0:30
To see how the stage developed, simply CLICKHERE.
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