Cancellara Still in Yellow after Dramatic Stage
[12.07 17:57] Team CSC managed to defend Fabian Cancellara's yellow leader's jersey during a very dramatic 5th stage of Tour de France. The 184-kilometer stage from Chablis to Autun was won by Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), but only after some serious problems for the main favorites.
"Tactically it went well for us, because we'd agreed that we wouldn't pull all the weight in the peloton today, which we didn't. Several other teams stepped up and did their fair share of the work and when the gap to the break was getting smaller we thought we'd better do our bit as well," explained Kim Andersen.
It was a pretty chaotic day for the favorites and Team CSC's Carlos Sastre was only one of many, who lost touch with the peloton as a result of flats or crashes. Also riders like Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), Andreas Klöden (Astana), Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval), Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) ended up chasing the peloton during this stage. For Vinokourov the price was a one minute 19 second time loss, while the rest made it home with the peloton.
After a lengthy pursuit the break was reeled in during the final 10 kilometers. Several attempts were made towards the end, which meant quite a few riders were dropped and others never made it up front again.
Liquigas and Rabobank had done most of the work in catching the break so Pozzato's victory and Oscar Freire's second place were well deserved. In the general classification Fabian Cancellara increased his lead down to Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), who was dropped in the chaos at the end of the stage.
Chablis -> Autun, 184km; Results |
