[Tour 2004]Stage 7 - Chateaubriant to Saint-Brieuc

[tour-junkie]

Stage 7 - Chateaubriant to Saint-Brieuc - 204 km
Into the home area of Bernard Hinault - the tough Breton who also won the
Tour 5 times.  The stage will actually finish at his hometown on the coast.
Probably another for the sprinters, with only two Categorized climbs on the
day.  Nothing sharp or terribly long - the 1 km at 6% Cote de Saint-Aide
climb comes with about 50 km to go when the peleton will take a sharp left
turn to follow the coastline - probably not steep enough or close enough to
the finish to cause a selection, so the sprinters should come out to play.

================

Gerolsteiner's Rene Hasselbacher has regained noteriety and a few enemies
with his crash yesterday.  After clipping the barriers in a sprint and
causing a horrific crash in last year's Tour, he's did the same yesterday.
Lotto's Robbie McEwen had a few choice words for his tactics on the runup to
Angers, but Hasselbacher probably didn't hear them, as he was lying around
the hospital with a broken nose and 2 or 3 cracked ribs.  He will not be
starting today's stage.

The list of the "roughed-up" from that crash...well, it reads like pretty
much everybody - Robbie McEwen, Tyler Hamilton, Bobby Julich and many, many
more.

Of course, the weather will always influence the race in addition to poorly
executed tactics.  Winds from the Channel have brought less than optimum
racing conditions.  As the teams make a sweeping left at the English
Channel, rain dampens the riders and the speed creeps up.  They are trying
to eat into the lead of 4:21 which two riders have been holding.

Erik Dekker - Rabobank - 154
Thierry Marichal - Lotto - 184

The rains intensify as the CSC team practices for next year's Team Time
Trial.  They have raised the pace and strung out the peleton as the riders
suffer from stong crosswind.  They have caused a definitely gap in the
bunch.  Armstrong, Hamilton, Leipheimer and Ullrich have their teams well
positioned, and the Liberty riders are visible, so Heras must have made the
split. There too is the Yellow Jersey on Thomas Voeckler

Catching the breakaway becomes almost a secondary issue.  It looks like
Stuart O'Grady has missed the split, Christophe Moreau and possibly Gilberto
Simoni as well. Clearly, the leaders' teams were ready, as USPS and T-Mobile
had been well positioned before the split.  They now have nearly a minute,
though the second half of the peleton turns themselves inside out to regain
the front bunch. 

We glimpse the devil for the first time today as he runs alongside the
riders at the side of the roadway - the climbs must be looming.

The rains have lessened, though the roads are still drenched.  The gap to
the two breakaway riders have been chopped to under a minute.  The chasing
riders in the split have gained a few seconds, but they seem to be working
extremely hard - efforts which will come back to haunt them as the race
continues to exert its toll.

The motorcycles are pulled out, and with little ceremony Dekker and Marichal
are scooped up by the bunch.  CSC still is hammering at the front, dolling
out big scoops of whup-ass to the chasers. O'Grady has marshalled all the
teammates at the front, and with Ag2R riders they are going through all
kinds of pain to get back on.

The sun breaks through to remind everyone they are still riding during the
day.  The peleton spreads across the roadway, perhaps a bit content that
they have made their point. They are now a bit more contented perhaps, and
they have moved away from the cliff-hanging coastal roads.

Jakob Piil of CSC and Evgeni Petrov from Saeco have moved away, and they are
reasonably quickly joined by Fassa Bortolo's Fabian Cancellara and Iles
Baleares' Vicente Garcia-Acosta

With 20 km to go, the 2nd large chase group finally gains the end of the
lead bunch.  Moreau finds himself actually breaking the wind in the last
bits, perhaps a fitting punishment for his inattention at the coast.
O'Grady heaves an audible sigh of relief as he will at least have a chance
to maintain the Green Jersey. McEwen had pulled to dead even by taking the
day's first sprint points.

Still off the front is the breakaway group of Piil, Cancellara, Petrov and
Garcia-Acosta.  They have stretched out their advantage to just around 30
seconds.  15 km to go has their lead chipped back a bit.  T-Mobile and
Quik-Step riders .

The speed of the peleton begin to slow as they encounter another of the
series of rolling hills that stand between them and the finish.

The gang of four get summarily caught with about 5 km to go. No fanfare as
the attention shifts back to how to win the stage.

Again the bunch hits one of these rollers, and a string of rides try to
scream away - Davide Etchebarria of Euskatel tries to wiggle away, but he's
strongly marked by a number of riders including USPS rider George Hincapie.

Polka-Dot Jersey wearin' Paolo Bettini from Quik-Step takes a stab at the
stage, bringing an Euskatel rider Iker Flores, plus Ag2R short breakaway
specialist Laurent Brochard.

Bettini makes a hard solo accelleration under the 5 km to go banner - the
others move along with him, knowing a strong wheel when it appears. Othes
have joined on - Francisco Mancebo of Iles Baleares is in the bunch, plus
Daniello Scarponi of Domina Vacanza, Sebastian Hinault of Credit Agricole
(no relation to Bernard), Fassa Bortolo Filippo Pozzato and Iker Flores from
Euskatel

The sprinters' teams remain a bit unorganized, and can't quite organize a
decent chase.  Of course, it's a hellish approach to town, as when they
aren't negotiating one of a series of rolling hills, the riders dive right
and left to avoid big chuncks of concrete used to divide traffic. Padded
though they are, they seem to appear out of nowhere, and many riders twitch
away seemingly a notch past the last second.

Brochard makes a powerful moves on a slight downhill at just over 2 km to go
- It does not come to fruition as the others move hard to contain him, but
it does add to the gap they have over the peleton, who has now disappeared
behind a corner.

Pozzatto rolls away after catching a quick breath, followed closely by
Flores.  Mancebo rejoins them to make a threesome.

Under the 1 km to go banner - Mancebo and Pozzato accellerate - Flores
suddenly drops off slightly. Again the undulations toward the finish
complicate the tactics.

Mancebo and Pozzato roll up towards the line - still around a corner or two
- Pozzato behind in the stronger position.  The tactical maneuvering has
given Flores the chance and he tags back on.

Pozzatto wrenches the bike goes a what seems to be a bit early, Flores moves
immediately onto his wheel but has no power to come around while Mancebo
strains not to be left behind.  Pozzatto continues his accelleration.  No
one can match the young Spanish riders speed and he crosses the line, arms
up and open water between him and the trailing riders.

>From behind, the trailing members of the last minute breakaway are suddenly
swept up by the bunch - right on their heels with
O'Grady/Zabel/Boonen/McEwen/Cooke all pushing across the line with no
daylght between them.  Though O'Grady has been forced to make a strong
chasing effort to regain the bunch, he manages to hold his Green Points
Jersey for another day by crossing the line ahead of McEwen.

Thomas Voeckler gains another stuffed lion, living the dream of every French
rider as he trades his National Tricolore Jersey for the Yellow.

Stage Results - 
1 - Fillipo Pozzato - Fassa Bortolo 4:31:34
2 - Iker Flores - Euskatel - s.t.
3 - Francisco Mancebo - Iles Baleares - s.t.
4 - Laurent Brochard - Ag2R - @:10
5 - Sebastien Hinault - Credit Agricole - @ :10

General Classification -
1 - Thomas Voeckler - La Boulangerie - 29:09:14
2 - O'Grady - @3:13
3 - Casar - @4:06
4 - Backstedt - @6:03
5 - Piil - @ 6:58 

Tomorrow's Stage - 
Lamballe to Quimper - 168 km
A shorter stage may sound like blessed releif, but this one has a few stings
for the legs along the way.  After a quick sprint point at the 14 km mark,
the riders have two climbs in quick succession - the nasty little Cote de
Mur de Bretagne - a 1.6 km climb averaging 8.4% - and the Cote de Saint
Mayeux which is not quite as steep, but almost as long.  The rolling
topography of the Breton region continues, with two more short but
categorized climbs and a bunch of rolling hills between the rides and the
finish.  If the teams had to be alert today, wait'll tomorrow.

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