2009 ENECO Tour

[Cartesian Centaur]

Wrong stage. Pancake flat and a real snooze.....

Sadly the interesting stages are always on days when I have places to be...ah well.

 

[Anonymous]

Good stage going on now, anyone else watching?

 

[ingsve]

Aye, watching now...

 

[Anonymous]

Chavenal wants the win pretty badly. Good luck to him. I have always liked the guy.

 

[ingsve]

Really nice riding now, riders spread out over the course...

 

[Anonymous]

Farrar in the front group. I would love to see him keep the lead. Wiggins there too. Looks like Garmin's race to lose.

 

[ingsve]

Ya, Boonen still there as well and he has Chavanel in the lead group so QS won't have to work which could be in Boonens favour.

Itlooks like the finish is pretty hard though so it probably wont be a big sprint...

 

[Anonymous]

Ya, Boonen still there as well and he has Chavanel in the lead group so QS won't have to work which could be in Boonens favour.

Itlooks like the finish is pretty hard though so it probably wont be a big sprint...

Yea, and I didn't realize the front group wasn't caught when I wrote that. Looks like Chavenal has a shot for overall, but Boss Hog is there too, so in a sprint, he takes the stage.

 

[ingsve]

Yea, and I didn't realize the front group wasn't caught when I wrote that. Looks like Chavenal has a shot for overall, but Boss Hog is there too, so in a sprint, he takes the stage.

In the front group you mean? That's Mick Rogers...

The break looks to be losing time now so they might get caught.

 

[Anonymous]

In the front group you mean? That's Mick Rogers...

The break looks to be losing time now so they might get caught.

Dang, I'll just shut up. The commentators were talking about Bos Hog being in the front group I thought? Either way, I think they are getting caught also, but that pretty much just doomed the peloton's chances.

I am running from room to room because the Track World Championships is on too, so I am missing things about the race I wouldn't otherwise.

 

[ingsve]

Dang, I'll just shut up. The commentators were talking about Bos Hog being in the front group I thought? Either way, I think they are getting caught also, but that pretty much just doomed the peloton's chances.

Ya, looking at the profile on CN again it does look like the final kms are slightly uphill as well so a great chance for people with good legs to do something.

 

[Anonymous]

Long sprint. Boss Hog took it?

Dang, I am 0'fer today. Farrar JUST takes it.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Great sprint.
Farrar
Hagen
Gavazzi
V Avermaet

 

[ingsve]

Ya, finish wasn't as steep as the profile might suggest so it was pretty sprintable. Still great sprint by EBH though. Tyler is the faster sprinter but the thoughness of the sprint made it closer than normal.

Tyler had a better wheel to start the sprint from as well. EBH had to take more wind and come more from behind.

 

[Anonymous]

Ya, finish wasn't as steep as the profile might suggest so it was pretty sprintable. Still great sprint by EBH though. Tyler is the faster sprinter but the thoughness of the sprint made it closer than normal.

Tyler had a better wheel to start the sprint from as well. EBH had to take more wind and come more from behind.

Long sprint by both though for an uphill. I actually thought Tyler was going to get caught. He almost did.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Three weeks of cycling cold turkey.....shame Farrar didn't do a bit better in my Tour team.

 

[knorensnor]

the eneco tour needs a real queen stage in the future. a race of 9 stages isn't made for sprinters to take the overall. I hope today things change, otherwise the race will be decided with a time trial, that would be a shame. we need a battle!!!

 

[ak-zaaf]

the eneco tour needs a real queen stage in the future. a race of 9 stages isn't made for sprinters to take the overall. I hope today things change, otherwise the race will be decided with a time trial, that would be a shame. we need a battle!!!

i agree, farrar winning the 'mini-liege' isn't right.

why not do the first (flat) stages in holland and after that really make use of belgium in the last stages. a 220km flanders stage, a really tough 220km ardennes stage and a 15km time trial finishing on muur van hoei, the redoute, the muur van geraardsbergen or the kemmel or something like that.

 

[ingsve]

Interesting stage today. A break with 3 riders chased by a bigger group with lots of good riders also ahead of the peloton.

Chavanel, Boasson Hagen, Monfort, Rogers, Van Goolen, Bak, Nibali, Van Den Broeck, Van Avermaet, Vansummeren, Flecha, Langeveld, Posthuma, Gavazzi and Bakelants.

The big group has a minute on the peloton...

 

[ak-zaaf]

wow, peloton seems to be coming back after all

 

[ingsve]

Still a few more bumps to go so we'll see what happens if a few of the breakers attack.

 

[ak-zaaf]

bakelants is really impressive.

 

[ak-zaaf]

gerrans beats fedrigo, martin and boom.

awesome final

 

[aarnold517]

lars bak takes a great win

boasson hagen gets six more bonus seconds at the line and looks good for the overall

poor nibali was almost up to bak when he crashed on a descent

 

[ingsve]

Really a great race today. The peloton was as close as 15-16 seconds with 8-9 km to go but never managed to close the gap and after that the gap stayed between 20-30 seconds.