Tour de France - Stage 4 Update (Spoiler Alert)

Word Press ^ | July 7, 2010 | Todd Kinsey

[Todd Kinsey]

Ale-Jet Rockets to Second Stage Win Posted on July 7, 2010 by Todd Kinsey

Ale-Jet Rockets to Second Stage Win - photo by: Laurent Rebours The only surprise in today’s stage 4 was that Alessandro Petacchi took a decisive stage win out sprinting the likes of Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd. At 36 years of age, Ale-Jet appears to have found the fountain of youth.

With about 200 meters to go, Cavendish was being lead out by Mark Renshaw. As Renshaw pulled off to let Cavendish take it to the line, Alessandro Petacchi had launched his attack down the left side. Once Cavendish was gapped by two bike lengths and saw that he could not close the gap he sat up finishing in a disappointing 12th place.

Thor Hushovd still leads the points competition with Petacchi in second followed by another elder statesmen Robbie McEwen. Obviously HTC is feeling the effects of last year’s defections by George Hincapie and Edvald Boasson Hagen. Couple that with Cavendish’s feud with teammate Andre Greipel who did not make the Tour roster and things are clearly not okay at Columbia HTC.

The General Classification remains unchanged with Cancellara in yellow as all the favorites hid in the peloton and nursed their wounds from the previous two days of battle. Team Radio Shack was taking no more chances with Lance’s hopes as they sat on the front most of the day.

Tomorrow’s stage 5 appears to be another tailor-made day for the sprinters, let’s hope that the riders continue to avoid the carnage that plagued stages 2 & 3.

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[Todd Kinsey]

Team Radio Shack was taking no more chances with Lance’s hopes as they sat on the front most of the day.

[databoss]

Whats the buzz? Does Lance have a chance?

[Todd Kinsey]

He's riding far stronger than he did last year and I think he'll finish in the top 4. The flat tire he suffered yesterday came at the worst possible time causing him to lose big time to most of the other overall favorites. We'll have a good idea after this weekend after they hit the first mountain stages. He'll need to break away like the Lance of old if he stands a chance of winning. If the opening prologue was an indicator, he still stands a fighting chance. As a phone that's what I'm hoping for plus you never know when someone else will have a wreck or mechanical problem.

[databoss]

What kind of ‘phone’ are you? Cellular? Land line? Or maybe a satellite phone? Can phones be cycling fans? Hmmm?

[Todd Kinsey]

I don’t know how the heck I did that...

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

We’ll know if Lance has got it come Sunday, when they get into the serious Alps, but if he does, it probably won’t get settled until the 17th when they do the Col de Tourmalet, the last and biggest of the mountain stages. Andy Schleck is looking pretty good this year. I just want it to be anyone but Contador.