I am just putting it out there. I do not like Andre Greipel. It may be due to his former abrasive relationship with ex-teammate Mark Cavendish. It may be the fact he looks like he would have been a concentration camp guard in the early 40s. In short, when he wins a stage because the greatest sprinter in the history of the world crashes out, I am less than enthused. (It would be a bit like getting excited over a NSW SOO victory in a game where Billy Slater wasn’t even playing – oh wait – they couldn’t even manage that!)
Griepel was victorious in Stage 4, a 214.5km dead pan route from Abbeville to Rouen after a huge pile up inside the last 3km totally destroyed the peleton. Of those that were left, Gripel took the chocolates from Alessandro Pettachi and Tom Veelers. Matty Goss finished in 4th, and must be disappointed with that effort. At this stage it, while it looks like he can get himself in to winning positions, he just does not have the form to finish things off for a win. As the crash occurred inside the last 3km there were no time losses so there was no change in the GC.
All the action was in the final 5km of the race so there is not much more to add. Cavendish showed his true superiority over the rest of the field by winning the intermediate sprint, while Peter Sagan extended his lead in the point’s classification by finishing 5th on the day. He now leads that classification by a massive 55 points. It looks an unassailable lead unless Cav can pull out 4-5 wins on the remaining sprint days.
Yellow Jersey – Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey – Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey – Michael Morkov
White Jersey – Tejay Van Garderen
Brock McLean tweet of the day
@liam_mchugh – #TDF12 Stage 4 is over. Time to celebrate July 4th by shooting a firecracker through a beret & wrapping a croissant around a hot dog
Yer well manks missile is alright but if you knew it youd see that he wasnt doing it for them anyway. either way tho its kindaa clear that andy shlek will not be int the race this year. wat that means, who knows ay? but im sure it culd hav some impact on the race.
ReplyDeletemate ill tell ya what tho, look out for hoogerland this year i reckon its his turn to have a crack at the win. see ya in paris.