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Cycling NewsTour de France - Stage 3: Saint Malo to Nantes - 208km
08 July 2008
By Simon Gerrans
There are days in the Tour de France when despite all the speculation, expectation and logic appearing rock solid, the end result is the opposite - as stage three showed us all on Monday. We - at Credit Agricole - were one of the sprinters' teams caught by the effectiveness of a four man breakaway that formed and stayed away early in the 208km stage three from Saint Malo to Nantes. Some teams - us included - finally tried catching the break; but it still finished more than two minutes clear of the peloton that was made up of all Tour favourites - except for Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank). Many who watched the Tour on SBS television in Australia may ask how we even allowed the four man breakaway that was headed by Frenchman Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) to ride away like it did. Truth be known, we were caught out ... as simple as that. The maths were not right. Our chase was too little too late. We put guys in the front with 140km to go when the break was 14 minutes up, and normally for a chase by the peloton to work we would need to gain a minute every 10km to bring it back. The problem was that not all the sprinters were committed to putting guys out front early because there was a long way to go. While that is what we needed, we didn't bring it back quite quick enough. Probably in the last 50-60km, the break stepped it up again and they accelerated. It was hard to bring back, especially in that last 25 -30km with the tail wind. Furthermore, at best we were going to need to ride 5-10km faster than a breakaway. It was pretty much impossible to shut down the gap at that point. We should be more alert now to riders making moves. But that will depend on who takes the lead after the time trial. The important thing for our team is that Thor Hushovd plugs away for those green jersey points. We haven't got anyone shooting for 'GC' (overall). That means we can relax a little and freshen up. I have nothing to gain by making a full-out effort in the time trial, other than a bit of condition or power to lose if I tap into my reserves which is not necessary - unless you need to put in an effort to finish within the designated time limit. |
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| © Simon Gerrans 2008 Professional Cyclist Credit Agricole | ||||
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