The long straight run in meant that the sprinter’s teams were working hard, with Cancellara staying near the front at the 5k mark to stay out of trouble. 2k to go and T mobile, Quick Step, Husovd and Zabel holding in position.
1k to go and the sprint racked up until 500m when all broke position for the flat out.
Thor takes it. Hunter second for Barloworld.
Julian Dean may be the best leadout-man of them all - fantastic performance by Dean and Hushovd.
IT was a superbly measured effort by Dean. He and McEwen would be a hard, hard team to beat although Robbie usually uses anyone’s lead out man!
“*Robbie usually uses anyone’s lead out man” - *that crazy aussi should ask nicely next time he albows his way forward:)
What was Boonens problem today? - very angry after the finish - what happened?
I had to go ride this AM so didn’t see it (but will tonight). What happened to Robbie? Why wasn’t he up in the mix.
Don’t know, I had to scoot out the door as soon as it finished. This is what he said to Eurosport after the race:
“We tried to do our best to stay in front but at one point we just couldn’t move up any more until there was a little hole that I jumped into. There was a corner at the 500 meters to go mark that wasn’t in the book and that’s where I went wrong, I had to brake completely and get out of the saddle and start sprinting again to get in a good position. It was okay: it was the first sprint that didn’t really go well for us. It was very chaotic today and it was hard to find the right position. It was a nice win for Thor today. He was really impressive. You had to start sprinting at just the right time and that’s exactly what he did. Timing is everything in a nice sprint and he did a really good job today.”
Assuming you mean Mc Ewen and not Hunter (too many Robbies) he was just unable to come through and ended up 7th across the line but with the same time as Thor.
Yes, McEwen. Thanks.