2008 Tour de France: Thor Hushovd: The Bear from Grimstad
Cristophe Moreau, Sylvain Chavanel, Thomas Voeckler and David Lelay seemed to have a good chance of winning with the strong winds keeping the chasing peloton in check. But like the Cavalry, the sprinter’s teams caught the escapees just in the nick of time, or 1.4km to go. In the flat stages, the peloton always has this uncanny ability to catch the break in this manner and their sense of timing is short of impeccable! The rule of the thumb in catching breakaways is the “1 minute per 10km rule”, meaning the chasers can get back one minute for every 10kms. In other words, a 3 minute lead can be easily overhauled in the last 30k.
There was a nasty climb in the last 300m but Norwegian Thor Hushovd, a big guy from the town of
Yellow Jersey Alejandro Valverde was still in the mix when a rider in front of him slowed him down when the action started. The short, uphill finish should have favored Erik Zabel but I think that age has really crept into his legs the past 3 years.
Tomorrow’s Stage 3 from
NOTES
Chris Froome of team BARLOWORLD is the first rider from
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