Case in point, the battle for the 3rd step on the gc podium. Going into the final stage circuit race, Saunier-Duval's David Canada had that spot with a scant 1 second lead over Dominique Rollin of Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada (KGSN).
The final stage was essentially flat and would likely end in a field sprint. The only way Rollin could move into 3rd was to get bonus time in the intermediate sprints (3, 2, and 1 seconds) or the final. Of course Saunier-Duval, a top Pro Tour team, would be trying hard to keep Canada in 3rd.
Very early in the stage, a three-man break escaped and was being driven by one of David Canada's teammates. His hope, of course, was to keep the break away and eat up the time bonuses. Nobody in the break was in gc contention, so if they stayed away for the bonus sprints, the gc order would not change.
The break quickly got 20-25 seconds and was really motoring before KGSN was able to find the front and begin their chase. But when they did get there, the battle was on!
KGSN got organized with a little over 5 km to the first intermediate bonus sprint, and they had to close down ~20 seconds to a very motivated and strong group of three. It was their responsibility alone, and no other teams needed to help. Plus, if they succeeded in reeling in the break, they still had to deliver Rollin to the sprint in good position. No easy task after such a hard chase!
I watched this scenario live yesterday, thanks to streaming internet video. Perhaps you didn't see it. Well, it's your lucky day because I snagged five minutes worth and embedded it below for you to see. If you want to hear the race radio, and the finish-line announcers (inc. Dave Towle), then you'll need to turn up the volume a bit. Don't forget to turn it back down after! For the SB locals, watch for Cody...
So yeah, KGSN pulled it out. Did you see Cody driving it from within the last km?! So fast that his teammate couldn't make the final turn and had to hop the curb! Freakin' awesome! So Rollin won that sprint but Canada got 2nd. That left them tied on gc. The next two bonus sprints were absorbed by a break but the field was all together for the final. Rollin got 3rd in the field sprint, so with that extra bonus, he moved into 3rd on gc. Very impressive!
Not boring at all!!
7 comments:
Thanks for the Tour De-Marco race Info - Very cool video.
The otherSteve
show off
Interesting. Question, what was the motivation for the other two riders in the break to kill it???
Steve- Those of us bike-racing fans who've been around for awhile, like since the '70s, remember getting Velonews coverage of races a month or two after the event. That was standard. Now I can turn on my computer, have my coffee, and watch live (LIVE!!!) video on the internet. Incredible!
OV- Show off??? Moi??
Gary- The Tecos team and Navigators seemed to be really aggressive and active in all the breaks the whole week. From what I've observed, that's just the way Tecos races. Lots of reasons I suppose. Sometimes, rarely for sure, but sometimes the early break survives. And TV time is always great, even for a doomed break. Plus, teammates get to rest and be fully charged to counter attack when the break gets caught. But anyway, in the video, it certainly looked like the Saunier-Duval guy was doing most of the work since they had the most to gain.
Awesome race for 3rd, thanks for capturing and posting.
how did you manage to capture the video?
> how did you manage to capture
> the video?
I used Snag It.
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
BTW, note from Cody... he said he went around that last corner for the bonus sprint at 60 kph. He also mentioned that you can go to WCSN.com to find extensive video coverage of stages 2-6.
Wicked crash by Brad Huff in the final sprint of stage 6! Glad he's ok.
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