The Four Horsemen
By JoE Silva

199 men may have started the second stage of the Tour, but everyone knew that the race would probably come down to a handful of sprinters at the end of the day. Mark Cavendish the invincible, Thor Hushovd the 2005 Green jersey winner, Tom Boonen the troubled rock star of Roubaix, and new kid in town Tyler Farrar were all to be in the spotlight.

The script would play at as follows: a break would go, a break would be caught, and the cavalry would begin the sprinters charge for the finish. Four riders; Stef Clement (Rabobank), Cyril Dessel (Ag2r), Jussi Veikkanen (Française des Jeux), Stéphane Augé (Cofidis) got up the road early on the 187km trek from Monaco to Brignoles. It was a predictable set of circumstances but considering that there were four categorized climbs en route, that meant that one of those men would receive the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains for their trouble. Veikkanen, who launched the break, was obviously the most motivated throughout the day, and scooped up the most point towards taking that prize.

And even though the four-man break was never really out of their sites, the nerves inside the peloton were clearly on display. There was more than one incident of riders hitting the deck, most notably GC contender Frank Schleck. Not good? No, not good. Frank has already had his fair share of injuries this season and silly early Tour jitters are not what heavy hitters want to have ruin their chances at a shot at the overall.

When things settled down representatives from the Russian Katusha squad and Cavendish’s Columbia-HTC team appeared near the front of the peloton to help Team Saxo Bank pick up the pace. 12.9km away from the finish, the caravan was removed from the gap and the pack had their prey in sight. The final little bump on the road seemed to have sealed their fate but then Mikhail Ignatiev decided he didn’t want to wait any further and leapt out of the field. Ignatiev motored straight past the break and became the first man to go under the 10km to go banner. 5km later, Ignatiev’s TV time was brought to an end, and Columbia-HTC, Milram, and Garmin-Slipstream whistled past him.

Boonen, clearly visible in the Belgian road champion’s jersey, was right up at the front, but as they group closed in on the finish line no one team was clearly in control. Columbia and Garmin weren’t having it though, and fought their way to the front. As they entered the finishing strait, things were getting messy, and indeed some riders went down when they went too wide in the last kilometer. Columbia, as they have virtually every time in this situation brought Cavendish into perfect position. Behind him, sitting in Cav’s slipstream was Tyler Farrar. But the 25 year-old American has yet to realize what he should have learned several times in this year’s Giro d’Italia. Farrar does not have the power to come around Cavendish. If he continues to slot himself behind Cavendish at the finish, all he’ll do is get more and more familiar with the sponsors of the Englishman’s jersey. Farrar has to go earlier, and has to have more teammates up there with him keeping the pace high if he wants to win a sprint of this caliber. Hushovd managed a fourth place but Boonen, a last minute addition to Quickstep’s Tour roster, was nowhere to be seen. Considering what the team, the race organizers and the sport as a whole have gone through to see him participate, he will have to do better. 

For Cavendish though, it’s one down and who knows how many more to go. The Boy Racer, whose goal is to arrive in Paris in the Green Points jersey has just taken the first step towards making that happen.