Alexandre Vinokourov was beaten by his own team mate on Stage 12, but gained his revenge in Revel, thanks to a late attack that was bold and opportunistic but has always been his trademark. He looked the winner on the climb to Mendes 24 hours prior before Contatdor blew past, but here he showed his enigmatic brilliance by breaking away - and staying away - from a charging peloton led by the sprinters teams. They missed by just 13 seconds with Cavendish winning the bunch sprint, Petacchi 3rd and back into the Green jersey. Cav proved on a hilly stage that even without Renshaw, he is is still the one to beat on the flat.
The Contador haters have been out in force saying that he 'stole' stage 12 from Vino and that he should have let him win there. The Contador haters are also Lance lovers let me remind you. I can't remember a time when Lance gave up seconds in the yellow jersey race to let a teammate take a stage. That i because it never happened, because Lance, like Contador and Vino, know that the yellow jersey is the number one team goal.
There are no gifts in cycling. And if Contador hadn't attacked yesterday, Vino probably would have been beaten by Rodriguez anyway.
Vinokourov now has redemption with this stage win coming after his 2 year ban for blood doping. The guy has shown on the last two stages he is in scintillating form and post race seemed to pledge that, with the stage win in the bag, Contador would now have his full support in the Pyrenees. But he didn't rule out a second stage win. "I have a chance on the Champs Elysees," he said, remembering his win there in 2006 with a similar late attack. Contador might be needing Vinokourov more than ever after his two Spanish sidekicks crashed in the stage, with Dani Navarro – who has proven to be the strongest of the Astana fleet so far – and Jesus Hernández hitting the deck on the eve of the showdown in the Pyrénées. Neither were injured but I now think that Astana - easily - have the strongest climbing team as we hit the Pyrénées.
No comments:
Post a Comment