TDF Recap: Stage 2
Category: Sports (Pro/College/HS)...
Posted Monday, July 07, 2003 at 01:40 PM [GMT-6]

Another day, another crash...and another Australian stage victory. Baden Cooke won the sprint at the end of today's 204.5km race, ensuring that his Aussie teammate, Brad McGee, will wear the yellow jersey of the overall Tour leader in tomorrow's stage.

For a while, it looked like a French rider might claim a rare stage victory, as Frédéric Finot and fellow Frenchman Lilian Jegou broke from the peloton at the 5km point in the stage. Jegou couldn't hang on, but Finot stayed in front of the pack for almost 120 miles, an amazing feat of strength and determination. However, a solo rider is almost never a match for the aerodynamic advantage of a paceline, and Finot was swallowed up a couple of kilometers from the finish. He still finished with the peloton, in the 58th position but not losing any time. Contrast that with poor Jegou, who finished 187th and lost more than 7 minutes. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor (although, in his defense, he did tangle with a TV motorcycle and took a spill during the stage).

And, speaking of valor, it was amazing to see Jimmy Casper and Tyler Hamilton still riding in this stage, albeit at the back of the pack. Tyler is riding with a fractured collarbone from yesterday's crash. Casper was one of the first men down in yesterday's spill, and he was fitted with a cervical collar when he was loaded into an ambulance. But there he was today...still wearing the neck brace. American Levi Leipheimer was also injured yesterday and couldn't make it back onto the bike. Can't understand that; how badly could a fractured hip affect your cycling, anyway?

One interesting trivia note: Finot's team is Jean Delatour, the French jewelry chain. The team's bike? Scott USA. OK, so the bike's built in Europe. Still...

The overall standings are little changed after today's stage. McGee keeps the maillot jeune, 4 seconds ahead of David Millar of Great Britain. But Baden Cooke moves into the third spot. (I'm trying hard to keep politics out of this, but how grating is it to the French to have two Aussies and a Brit in the top three?) Lance is tenth, 11 seconds out of the lead (and Tyler Hamilton hangs onto eighth). The USPS team continues to lead the team competition, moving toward the critical team time trial on Wednesday.

Tomorrow's stage is a little shorter than today's -- only 167.5km. It's got one pretty good climb near the beginning, but overall is rolling hills and should be another fast race.