Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg): Sprinters seized the spotlight at the Tour de France and took the yellow jersey from George Hincapie.
The American was far from concerned. Hincapie is counting on his new training regimen to give him an edge later in the three-week race.
''We rode and we hoped that we'd have a little luck and be able to keep it today, but that wasn't the case - the sprinters were obviously trying real hard to get it back, and they got it back,'' he said.
Thor Hushovd got the shirt back Monday in the same way that Hincapie had taken it off him Sunday - by sprinting for time bonuses along the 137-mile route from Obernai in eastern France on tarmac made hot by the blazing sun.
''I never had it before, so I'm happy,'' Hincapie said after the stage, insisting that his team has started off strong in the Tour even if the yellow jersey was gone.
The 33-year-old veteran, out from the shadow of Lance Armstrong, is trying to establish himself as a potential leader of a Discovery Channel team with several strong riders. Hincapie took over the race lead Sunday with a combination of quick wits and luck to edge out Hushovd, who had taken a first-day lead by winning the Tour prologue a day earlier.
Since the Armstrong era, Hincapie has been doing a lot more training for time-trials and mountain stages that are often crucial to gain seconds against rivals and help win the Tour.
''Before, I didn't work so much on that - and now it's pretty much all I do,'' Hincapie said.
To get ahead on time-trials, Hincapie's workout regimen has included wind-tunnel tests and changing his seat position to maximize speed. Getting an upper hand for the grueling climbs ahead in the Pyrenees and Alps have called for practice, practice, practice.
''The mountains are actually quite hard. I've done them and they're very difficult,'' Hincapie said. ''I trained well on them and I hope they suit me.''
PAGE_BREAK
Hincapie insists he's no Armstrong, but he's beginning to sound a bit like the Texan.
''For us, it was just important to stay out of trouble, stay in the front,'' said Hincapie of the second stage, echoing a strategy Armstrong often had in flat stages.
Robbie McEwen of Australia won the second stage in a sprint finish after the 137-mile trek from Obernai, in northeastern France, to Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, under intense sunshine. Road temperatures climbed nearly to 122 degrees.
''It makes a long hard day. You have to drink a lot,'' McEwen said.
Hincapie, only the fourth American to don the yellow jersey in the 103-year history of the Tour, dropped to fourth overall. Belgium's Tom Boonen was second, and McEwen third.
Hushovd rebounded from an accident Sunday, when his right arm was sliced open by a large cardboard hand-shaped souvenir that a fan was holding over the safety barriers. Hushovd needed stitches and said it was still hard to move his arm Monday.
But in the final sprint ''you forget the pain,'' he said. ''I've got the yellow jersey. I can't complain.''
Hushovd got it back Monday by collecting bonus seconds in sprints along the route and for his third-place finish. He hoped to keep it at least until the first long time trial Saturday.
Hushovd isn't likely to be wearing the yellow jersey on the ride into Paris when the Tour ends July 23, largely because he struggles to hoist his powerful frame over mountain passes featured later in the race.
Instead, he, McEwen and Boonen are expected to be among the riders who slug it out for the green jersey, awarded to the Tour's best sprinter.
Tuesday's rolling third stage offers breakaway riders a chance to make their mark by sneaking into the lead on several small hills along the rolling 134.53-mile trek from Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg in the Netherlands.
Comments
0 comment