McEwen takes mountain points in Mallorca

It's just unusual to see so I'll repeat it - Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen takes points on a mountain.
Coll de Claret
1 Bram Schmitz (Ned) Van Vliet EBH Elshof 10 pts
2 Rafael Serrano (Spa) Contentpolis - AMPO 7
3 Alejandro Paleo (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 5
4 Jesús Rosendo (Spa) Andalucia Cajasur 3
5 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha 2 6 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Team Katusha

Mind you, I don't think he stuck around to the bitter end... nor did his lead out man Steegmans for that matter. Bigger fish to fry.

A shake up on Paris-Nice GC

Climbs! A bit of a change after Gert Steegmans' 2 sprint wins in a row. An early break got away and went all of the way. McGee dropped off on the last climb but played his part in the successful break, leaving Carlstrom to take the win. An extract from the CyclingNews report:Something must have changed in cycling: long lasting breakaways can now succeed. Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) and Clement Lhotellerie (Skil-Shimano) were well inspired to go clear after only eight kilometres with Bradley McGee (Team CSC). The duo lost the Australian on the day's final climb, and battled for the stage win in Saint-Etienne at the end of another hard day of racing. Lhotellerie was stuck on the front in the finale and managed to keep 43 seconds lead over the chasing group in which Sylvain Chavanel took the lead over from Thor Hushovd, but could not prevent Carlstrom from coming past at the line.

Big gains today for Chavenal, Sanchez, Moreau, Cunego and Popovych. Evans (supporting Popovych, the latter now moving into the Top 10 on GC) and Millar are now at over 7 minutes back from the new overal leader, Chavenal. Lowe (who fell) is over 4minutes back on GC. Slightly better, Gerrans is at 3:10. McGee himself is now 24mins off the lead but taking mountains points, which has to be a good sign of a return to past form - and hopefully no back pain. Keep away from hefting those potted plants, Brad.

The Top 10 on GC (via CN):
1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis 12.37.01
2 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.03
3 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.08
4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 0.14
5 Juan Manuel Gárate (Spa) Quick Step 0.18
6 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Silence-Lotto 0.19
7 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale 0.21
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
9 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC 0.22
10 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quick Step 0.34

Bad weather mars shortened Paris-Nice stage

It's hard enough just racing without the weather competing for attention as well. Bad weather. Wind and rain. Lots of wind and rain. Still, Gert Steegmans got through OK and took the win. Thor still leads and the top 15 looks like this (via CN):
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 2.26.55
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick Step 0.06
3 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.12
4 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC
5 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 0.17
6 Trent Lowe (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle - H30 0.18
7 David Millar (GBr) Slipstream Chipotle - H30 0.20
8 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step 0.21
9 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.22
10 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence-Lotto 0.24
11 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram 0.25
12 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux
13 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas 0.26
14 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Crédit Agricole
15 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank

Full ASO results here.

The winner had this to say (from the ASO site):Yes. I thought 10 kms to take some of my clothes off, which was a good choice ; When a sprint is a little uphill, every gram can count. In Belgium we’re used to cold and rain but it was really hard today. I was a little lucky, but it’s mission accomplished. One or two other stages might finish in sprints but the rest is probably too hard. The Ventoux will just be a nice leisurely ride for me.

Nice to see Lowe and Millar still up there and equally good to see Sanchez and Gerrans coming through. Flecha and Van Summeren have crept up as well. It's worth noting that the field spilt in the bad weather and inevitable crashes, forcing riders like Evans and Voigt to lose time. No confirmation yet on who has fallen or dropped from the race, however Brad McGee is currently not figuring in the results. (Update: ASO reports he came in at 42nd place.) It will be interesting to see these riders climb back up the GC... if they can.

As the season winds down... Steegmans wins again

Gert Steegmans is certainly proving his worth as a sprinter - not that we doubted that, having seen his explosive lead-out work for McEwen and Boonen in the past. He's done it again in the Circuit Franco-Belge with 2 wins and the overall (results via Cyclingnews.com):
1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 16.58.00 2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile Team 0.04 3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 0.14 4 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 0.16 5 Marco Marcato (Ita) Team L.P.R. 6 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole 0.17 7 Allan Davis (Aus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.18 8 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 9 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 0.20 10 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick.Step - Innergetic 0.21 11 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 0.23 12 Hervé Duclos Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 13 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 14 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick.Step - Innergetic 15 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen 16 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0.24 17 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 18 Aliaksandr Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance 0.25 19 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Landbouwkrediet - Tönissteiner 20 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.26

Plenty of Aussies in that list, too.

Steegmans: the Boonen you have when you don't have Boonen

Gert delivered, Graeme missed it - just. Tour de Rijke. From CN: 1 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 4.24.30 (44.915 km/h) 2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 3 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) Team Wiesenhof Felt 4 Borut Bozichz (Slo) Team LPR 5 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank 6 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 7 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 8 Frederic Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 9 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 10 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana

Le Tour de France 2007 - Stage 2 - And they all fell down

I forgot to mention that Aussie Brett Lancaster fell on stage 1 as well... and now just about everyone managed to fall or be blocked by the pile-up at the finish in Gent. No real surprise that home-town-boy Steegmans won, he looked like a future winner last year with his awesome, rocketing leadouts for McEwen and here he was arriving centre stage in front of his home crowd. It was just a matter of timing - let him go late enough and no-one's going to get past - not even Tom Boonen.

McEwen looked sore after his Stage 1 prang, and that uphill finish can't have been good for the wrist or the knee. What he didn't need was to lose his lead out man, Fast Freddy, who appeared to get tangled up in the big smash. McEwen himself was hit by a flying bike and only just escaped - at first I thought he went down when Zabel pulled his foot and caused the following rider to veer hard right. But it was the green Liquigas jersey of Quinziato instead. In comparison Quickstep seemed to escape damage, clearly a help to Steegmans and Boonen in in the end. That's bike racing.

We'll have to see who wakes up fresh and who wakes up sore to judge the full impact. Cancellara looked OK but he may have lost some domestiques - but then again, which team hasn't? Some will be battered and bruised but will hang in there at less than 100%, which will open up possibilities for the riders who are unscathed and can ride without (additional) pain. It's a long, long 236km stage so having a rest could be on some riders' minds. So expect breakaway action and another chase - but how complete and motivated to chase will the sprinters' teams be? Hey, it's their job - of course they'll chase.