Man, when will the break stick? These pack finishes are almost as tiresome as those Bowflex ads ...
The golden rule is the pack can chase back a minute every 10 kilometres, and Dumoulin and Schroder had almost exactly one minute with 10 km to go, but the speed differential between a tired pair who have spent 200 km up the road and a charging peloton is simply too great. This time Oscar Freire picked up the stage in a wild and woolly sprint, marking a welcome change from Robbie M., and Boonen nipped home in second, bringing him within a point of McEwen in the green jersey chase. Otherwise, no change to the overall.
Status quo in the Tour Pool too, with the top contenders matching one another stage for stage -- though they were beaten to the line by The Cyclery and Ian Dalling, who tied for first (when's the last time that happened, Vince?)
Metuzals still sits a point ahead of Helena DeVeer, a further 20 points back sit Crowley and Gilligan, and another 10 points back Bryan leads a little pack including Sander, Campbell, Chiang, Proulx and classy-as-ever Orange Scheisse. Glenn Robinson is in no man's land, and then there is a steady progression all the way back to Phil Brun del Re in 85th. I won't mention Mr. Glen and Il Gatto, still stuck at 0 and -5 points respectively, because I don't want to publicly humiliate them.
The sprinters get to play again tomorrow before the first real shuffle of the Tour, the 52 km time trial from St-Gregoire to Rennes.
The update tomorrow might be a bit late because I have another working trip (to Bromont this time). So, if you want the standings before I can get them to you, sharpen your pencils!
Cheers,
-- KW
Date: 6-Jul Stage: 5 Start/Finish: Beauvais > Caen Distance 225,0 1st FREIRE Oscar ESP RAB 2nd BOONEN Tom BEL QSI 3rd ISASI Inaki ESP EUS 4th KOPP David GER GST 5th MC EWEN Robbie AUS DVL 6th BALLAN Alessandro ITA LAM 7th HUSHOVD Thor NOR C.A 8th VENTOSO Francisco ESP SDV 9th ZABEL Erik GER MRM 10th EISEL Bernhard AUT FDJ Mountains SCHRÖDER Björn GER MRM Young rider VENTOSO Francisco ESP SDV Aggressive DUMOULIN Samuel FRA A2R Teams COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE Overall: Yellow BOONEN Tom BEL QSI Team DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM Green MC EWEN Robbie AUS DVL Polka dots PINEAU Jérôme FRA BTL Young rider FOTHEN Marcus GER GSTPosted by kriswestwood at July 6, 2006 10:56 PMTDF Pool standings
RANK TOT Stage rank Stage points 4
1 279 3 43 Peter Metuzals
2 278 3 43 Helena DeVeer
3 258 5 41 Paul Crowley "Team Blood Wash"
4 256 5 41 Linda Gilligan
5 246 5 41 Jamie Bryan
6 243 5 41 Stefan Sander
7 239 11 39 Spencer Campbell "Texless"
8 237 5 41 Markus Chiang
9 234 5 41 Steve Proulx
10 228 19 36 Orange Scheisse
11 216 20 34 Glenn "My Team is Clean" Robinson
12 204 12 37 Blaine Penny
12 204 12 37 John Fee / Cynthia Phelan
14 201 29 32 Lori Meyers
15 199 20 34 Chris & Storm
16 198 20 34 Meylina Kandoy
17 197 1 45 The Cyclery
18 196 20 34 Natasha Elliott
18 196 12 37 Nat Faulkner
20 193 20 34 Eva Ortega "VillaEva"
21 192 20 34 Grimpeur George
22 187 12 37 Team D.O.P.E.- Downplaying Operation Puerto Evidence
23 183 29 32 Tyler Lawlor
24 182 20 34 Craig Hawkes "Sith Riders"
24 182 20 34 Chris Holzauer
26 181 20 34 Sean O'Donnell "The Ruse is Up"
27 179 12 37 "Barnet CC"
28 178 12 37 Mhairi Gilmore
29 176 34 30 Josh Hall
30 174 34 30 Dave Thomas
30 174 12 37 Sandy Fulton
32 172 34 30 Doug Hinan
33 169 1 45 Ian Dalling
34 166 34 30 J to the U
35 164 29 32 "Mr. Stevens Picks"
36 163 34 30 Ross Knight
37 162 34 30 Deb Hine's Most Excellent Picks
38 161 34 30 Derrick St. John
38 161 62 22 Matt Toulouse
40 158 56 23 "Dick und Doof"
41 157 34 30 Ed Makarchuk
42 156 51 28 Musky Ninja
43 155 65 20 Julie Deschenes-Furry
44 151 34 30 Jeffrey Furry
44 151 34 30 Courtnay Romkey
44 151 29 32 Kris "Can't win" Westwood
47 150 29 32 Kevin Field "Fev"
48 148 56 23 Team Boyz on Bikes
49 145 34 30 Paul Scafel "Team Venga Venga Venga"
50 137 56 23 Jennifer Garrett
50 137 55 25 Wilby McKnight
52 132 34 30 Rob Grondin
52 132 34 30 Alex Lai
52 132 34 30 Gordon Dalling
52 132 56 23 Yellow Dopes "Grubby Rabbit"
56 131 34 30 Marc Boudreau
56 131 34 30 Vicki Thomas
56 131 74 15 SUPERFAN
59 130 34 30 Neil la Plante
60 126 52 26 Sheri Jay
61 124 52 26 Jay "Son of Rudy" Heins
61 124 72 18 Julie Jay
63 120 56 23 Team Damdom
64 119 56 23 Team Oro Rocks
65 113 52 26 Richard and Catherine
66 112 72 18 Mike Larochelle
67 101 77 11 Kiwi Mike
68 95 77 11 Donelli
69 92 77 11 Team 18 Wheeler
70 90 66 19 Rob Kerr
70 90 63 21 Larginski
72 89 66 19 "Team Wheelywotten"
73 87 63 21 Adrian Das
74 81 66 19 Reed Archer
75 72 66 19 Shawn Clarke
76 67 66 19 Chris White
77 62 66 19 Kate Scallion
78 60 80 7 Les Boyz
79 58 82 4 Dave Shirley
80 40 74 15 Los Spics
81 38 74 15 Operation Spain
82 37 83 0 Luise Sander "No Euros Here"
83 28 81 5 Team OK
84 22 83 0 Remi "Team MTB + Frenchies" Berube
85 11 83 0 Phil Brun del Re "The Lucky Lucky Nine"
86 0 83 0 Mr. Glen
87 -5 83 0 Il Gatto
Kris,
i think it's a very respectful gesture of you to not mention Mr. Glen and Il Gatto in hopes of not humiliating them. i applaud you. the fact that their positions and scores already speak volumes emphasizes that they do not need the spotlight to shine on them to further exagerate their poor performance. in fact, if anything, we could even appreciate the efforts of Il Gatto to actually be worse off now than when he started, nevermind that he did not heed my advice on some of his picks, or that his intention wasn't to win the lanterne rouge, that in fact he actually tried to put together a team in hopes of scoring high points...ah what a ruse! what cleverness! it just goes to show, that i should not be fooled by appearances, that indeed, some cats are much smarter than they look or act. i would extend my congratulations to Il Gatto, but i will follow your lead, Kris, in not wanting to further publicly humiliate Marco -- oops, i mean, "Il Gatto".
Markus
Posted by: Markus Chiang at July 7, 2006 09:17 AM