Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support Fans Focus by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content

Tour de London

NotTheRealSteveWest
 Share

Recommended Posts

NotTheRealSteveWest Newbie

NotTheRealSteveWest

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Lampre sprinter Daniele Bennati has been taken to hospital with a suspected hip injury following a crash that left dozens of riders sprawled over the tarmac in the second stage of the Tour de France.

 

Wet roads played their part over the final few fraught kilometres as one rider fell in the centre of the pack, bringing down others either side of him, including Bennati.

 

"He is to have a scan on his hip this evening," medical staff announced.

 

The crash left a group of 20-30 riders on their own to fight for the stage win, with the rest blocked by the mass of bodies and bicycles across the road.

 

Bennati is currently Lampre's leader in the sprints. Should he be unable to continue the race, his role would be passed on to Danilo Napolitano, who won stage nine of this year's Giro d'Italia.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NotTheRealSteveWest Newbie

NotTheRealSteveWest

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Stephen Roche said Gert Steegmans' victory in stage two of the Tour de France justified his decision to join Quick Step.

 

Steegmans, who last year piloted Predictor-Lotto's Robbie McEwen to two victories in the world's greatest cycle race, pipped compatriot Tom Boonen to the line in Monday's second stage after leading out the sprint for his team leader.

 

1987 champion Roche said: "Team-mates can become leaders like when Sean Kelly was the leadout man and one day he looked under his arm, waiting for Freddy Maertens to come past and he never came past, Sean won the stage and became a full-time sprinter.

 

"You see Steegmans looked right across to the right hand side of the road and he sees that Boonen is coming through and then holds his head down.

 

"It's for Boonen to come through not for Steegmans to put the breaks on. Boonen just didn't have the legs to come past.

 

"When Steegmans came into the team from McEwen's Lotto team. everybody was saying it was a bad move as he had a future as a sprinter.

 

"They were saying what was the point of him leaving a team where there is a sprinter as equally good as McEwen - but a lot younger - to be his leadout runner.

 

"But he has helped Boonen a lot this year and it's great to see him coming out and winning a stage.

 

"The Belgian press is like the British one and they will always try to put their own against their own so rather than making the most of Steegmans' victory and Boonen taking the green jersey, they will be saying will it create tension in the Quickstep team."

 

A mass pile-up had caused havoc within the final two kilometres of the rain-plagued 168.5km stage and the Irishman said the fact that the weather had eased had lulled the riders into relaxing.

 

"There were difficult conditions all the way in and the riders were nervous and tense when the rain came down and it was very slippy," he commented.

 

"But when the crash happened there was no corners, no wet, the rider just hit a wheel in front of him and at some 45mph, there is very little room.

 

"With the helicopter hovering above you can't hear the brakes or the riders saying stop so all of sudden you run into each other.

 

"You've got a 700m straight line to the finish and it's not wet anymore so the riders sit back and relax a bit.

 

"It was the first time I've ever seen riders sitting down, watching the finish on the big screen."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NotTheRealSteveWest Newbie

NotTheRealSteveWest

Posted
  • Author
Posted

IN THE JERSEYS:

 

Yellow - Fabian Cancellara (CSC)

Green - Tom Boonen (Quickstep)

Polka Dot - David Millar (Saunier Duval)

White - Vladimir Gusev (Discovery)

 

FAVOURITE WATCH:

 

2nd - Andreas Kloden (Astana)

10th - Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) @ 17 seconds to Kloden

18th - Alberto Contador (Discovery) @ 22"

19th - Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) @ 22"

20th - Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) @ 23"

30th - Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) @ 27"

31st - Denis Menchov (Rabobank) @ 27"

34th - Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Épargne) @ 29"

92nd - Carlos Sastre (CSC) @ 43"

95th - Frank Schleck (CSC) @ 44"

 

THE BRITS:

 

3rd - David Millar (Saunier Duval) @ 21" on GC

5th - Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis) @ 23"

45th - Geraint Thomas (Barloworld) @ 47"

91st - Charly Wegelius (Liquigas) @ 56"

185th - Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) @ 3:37" (S1 + 2:45)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NotTheRealSteveWest Newbie

NotTheRealSteveWest

Posted
  • Author
Posted

A quick reminder of the situation with the jerseys. Fabian Cancellara is still our race leader in the yellow jersey. Tom Boonen's second-place finish in yesterday's stage gave him the green jersey, one point ahead of arch-rival Robbie McEwen. Vladimir Gusev wears the white jersey as he heads the young rider's classification, while Britain's David Millar is in the unfamiliar position of being the holder of the King of the Mountain's jersey.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...