2005 Tour de France - Stage 7

Ok, the big moment for the Germans has come. Maybe we will get to see Zabel come out on the course and kick some butt in the sprint finish. Unfortunately, this won?t happen. But wait, world famous Fabian Wegmann has opened up a gap of 8min 35 sec. He?s going to take the yellow, green, and polka dot jerseys. The suspense is killing me. More on that later.

For the more mundane news, the peloton is only down 2 riders since the start even after yesterday?s skating fest. Poor Mengin - he?s in the race but just going backwards. It would have been a great moment for him yesterday to win. Instead, he had a great moment of another kind.

There are a scattering of meaningless escapes to try and get a point here and there. McEwen spurts out a bit when he hears Boonen goes down in a crash but both blend back into the peloton. Wait, McEwen goes again and he and Wegmann are setting the escape pace. It only took McEwen about 15 minutes to realize that staying out front is pretty stupid. He goes back to the peloton to rest and save himself for the last few seconds of the race. Postal, err, I mean Discovery seems to be relaxed while they pace and protect Lance even though Wegmann is the leader on the road. Credit Agricole later decides to bring Wegmann in. As the peloton closes the gap, a strategically placed rail crossing causes a crash and blockage. Poor Zabriskie is one of them who goes down.

There seems to be a little calm before the storm of the final sprint. Organization starts to take place while Discovery seems content to stay out of the way. McEwen?s earlier decision to go back pays off as he has the energy to take the win! I?m glad he?s focusing on winning rather than blocking. But wait, another crash! This didn?t turn out to be as bad as it could have considering it was in the middle of the field. Good thing the domestiques had already done their lead outs and the sprinters were ahead.

Poor Germany, nothing to celebrate. I wish we could have seen Zabel.

Check out our Tour section.