For those of you with lives, here's a report from Stage 1 of the Tour de France, which ran from London to Canterbury (don't ask): Sprinter Robbie McEwen just logged one of the most dramatic stage wins I've ever seen -- and if you take out mountain stages, then this one has to rank among the all-time classics.
The stage was mostly flat (although today's game-within-a-game revolved around competition for the King of the Mountains jersey) and scenic in a very British way, which is to say that the country lanes were narrow and lovely. At least, that is, until there's a pile-up. Today's race featured a big chain-reaction accident late in the day, and it sent McEwen over his handlebars and left him far behind the peloton, limping along with a stiff leg and a sore wrist.
Which is where it got interesting. His team -- Predictor/Lotto -- sent back several of its domestiques to help propel McEwen back into the peloton. Riding as if in a team time-trial, his teammates did the heavy work required to close the gap. McEwen hung tough, recovered from his injuries in the saddle, and conserved his energy despite making a dramatic chase to catch the accelerating main group. Yet with just six kilometers left to the finish, McEwen still hadn't quite rejoined the main group, and his prospects of cutting through all that clutter looked bleak.
The team finally caught up, but at the kilometer mark McEwen was nowhere to be seen in the mass clot of peloton Lycra. The broadcasters turned their attention to the big teams at the front as they muscled for position to launch their final sprints. And the closing sprints were well underway, with big-name riders going all out, before anyone even noticed McEwen.
Somehow, the little guy from Australia and Belgium had managed to thread his way through the pack and spurt through a gap on the left with only meters remaining. Once clear, McEwen put on an amazing kick-burst that pushed him past the stunned front-runners right before the finish. The helicopter footage of his final drive is jaw-dropping.
That's just... well, you've just got to love that. It's why I've become such a fan of the flat stages of the tour. Climbers tend to win the Tour, but teams propel gutsy riders to flat-stage victories.
(Photo: BBC.com)
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