Sprinters Rule 3rd & 4th Eneco Stages

By Ashton | Permalink |

No Comments | August 26th, 2007 | Trackback

Awesome Aussie Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) sprinted to win the third stage, both after and before complaining that his team had elected not to enter him in next month’s Veulta.

I’ve still not seen the end of the stage because I had to attend a meeting and the hi lites link was not posted until late this morning. I definitely will watch the stage, however, because I always enjoy watching Robbie win. Apparently satisfied with one stage win, McEwen stayed near the back of the pack as the riders approached the finish line of Stage 4.

Belgian Wouter Weylandt (Quickstep-Innergetic), the nemesis of Stage Two who was relegated to last place after cutting off the Skil-Shimano rider Van Hummel, clipped the bars of Credit-Agricole’s Thor Hushovd’s (Norway) and cut off CSC rider Matthew Gosson his way to winning the Stage Four Sprint. I would like to be a fly on the wall if Huschovd encounters Weylandt in a dark alley on the streets of Terneuzen tonight. It is unlikely Weylandt will be penalized again by the judges, but he is not doing anything to endear himself to the other sprinters or their teams.

The peleton was quite jittery today after experiencing at least two nasty spills shortly after the video coverage commenced. The surfaces on the Belgian roads and the constant expanding and contracting of the width and number of lanes lent itself to frequent problems by those riding on the outside fringes or trying to move up to the front. Everyone wanted to ride on the front after those early spills, so the constant jumping forward caused unrest in the entire peleton and influenced them to race a bit faster than otherwise might have been expected.

There was no change in the GC. Cofidis’ Nick Nuyens remains in the lead and likely will stay there at least until the time trial.