Wednesday, 7th July, 2010

Fabian Cancellara makes cobblestones look easy

Cancellara back in yellow, Evans third

THE cobbles on the mini Paris-Roubaix stage at the Tour de France today did their job and shook up the general classification. The third stage gave us everything we had asked for and more. It was an awesome spectacle.

Thor Hushovd won another incident stricken stage and Fabian Cancellara took back the yellow leader's jersey.

A small group was allowed to get up the road early and in the peloton the Quick Step team of the yellow jersey wearer Sylvain Chavanel, took the responsibility not to let the seven leaders in the breakaway get more than a five- minute lead.

With 50km to go, Saxo Bank, through the likes of Stuey O'Grady and Jens Voigt, with the help of Brett Lancaster on the Cervelo squad, put the hammer down and took control of the main chasing group.

Entering the first of the last four challenging cobblestone sections, we saw the peloton breathing down the neck of the leaders.

 
While the youngest of the Schlecks lost his brother's company for the rest of the Tour, he gained a lot of time on his major competitors for the overall win. Andy Schleck and Evans were definitely the big movers of the day as far as the current general classification is concerned.
 
With Cadel's resilient ride over the cobbles, I think he has given himself a very good chance for a spot on the podium in Paris. Evans looked very comfortable and self-assured and maybe this year he has all the ingredients to make the Tour his own.
 
Last year's Tour winner Alberto Contador (Astana) lost a minute to Andy Schleck, so did Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky). But among the biggest losers of the day were Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) who had the misfortune to puncture in the last 15 km and lost two minutes, Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso (Liquigas) along with 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) lost 2 minutes 25 seconds on the stage.
 
With 17 stages to go, Paris is still a long way off and a lot can happen still and as we saw again last night, there's a fine line between joy and tears.
 
The battle over some of the cobbles of the Hell of the North made for excellent viewing pleasure.
We all knew Cancellara, a two time winner of the Paris-Roubaix Classic, took to the cobbles with some relish and he didn't disappoint.
 
Hushovd was upset after Monday's stage was neutralised by his colleagues.
Thor, the God of Thunder, was left angry.
His motivation to increase his lead in the hunt for the sprinter's green points jersey was fuelled by that emotion.
 
Hushovd took out his anger the only way he knows best by winning the very next day in impressive style.
 
 
*Scott Sunderland won the Australian road championship at 19, before heading to Europe to race professionally for 15 years. He competed at two Tours de France in 1996 and 2004 before turning his hand to management with CSC, Cervelo Test Team and Team Sky.