Hushovd enjoyed the benefit of a lead-out man, in Ryder Hesjedal, with the Canadian the only remaining member of the original breakaway. Boasson Hagen looked to go to the left, of his more experience compatriot, but changed his mind. It seems the change in mind lost him the chance to take his second stage, of 2011.
The Norwegian pair set out to catch Hesjedal, who was out front with Mikhail Ignatyev, and used their impressive descending skills to catch the Garmin-Cervelo rider. Hushovd hasn’t had much to brag about in his usual hunting ground of the sprint, but a second victory in the rainbow jersey will prove a good enough replacement.
Despite the flatter nature of the profile, stage 16 proved to divide some of the major GC contenders. Cadel Evans is the biggest winner of the day, after he gained 21 seconds on the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler and moved himself in to second. The BMC rider currently lies 1:45 behind the Frenchman and a slim four seconds in front of Frank Schleck. Alberto Contador and Samuel Sanchez also gained some time on their closer competitors. The Spanish pair rolled in three seconds after Evans and moved themselves in to fifth and sixth. Ivan Basso was the big loser, after the Italian lost almost a minute on the main bunch and dropped in to seventh.
The riders seemed to be ready and raring to go, after the rest day, with the average speed over the first hour a whopping 51.4 KPH. With the peloton really going for it, any riders fancying their chance in the breakaway were finding it very difficult. It wasn’t until Lieuwe Westra tried his luck, after 84km of riding, that one finally stuck.
He was soon joined by a group of 20 riders, which was almost immediately whittled down to 13 riders. Despite being flung in to a barbed wire fence last week, after a crash with a car, Johnny Hoogerland joined in.
The initial breakaway looked to cause ripples in the peloton, as it begun to split in to smaller groups. Any chance of reeling the breakaway riders back in were ended with the rain rolling in, as the gap increased to over 6 minutes. With the breakaway, almost certainly successful at this stage, it was time for damage limitation for some other riders.
With the GC contenders finally making their move, Stage 17 could prove to be vital for anyone who wishes to stay in contention. There are tougher stages ahead, but the undulating nature of the profile will allow for successful attacks. Contador has to pull back some major time, before the big mountains, while Voeckler will be hoping to hang on to yellow for another day.
No comments:
Post a Comment