Thor Hushovd led his team-mates over the line in Les Essarts to give the Garmin-Cervélo squad its first win in the Tour de France.
Ten years after the Norwegian stood on the podium alongside his Crédit Agricole team-mates in Bar-le-Duc – when Jonathan Vaughters was still a rider, and part of that line-up – he again celebrates a victory in the Tour.
Vaughters is now the manager of the team that has been a formidable force in recent years. The US-registered squad beat BMC by four seconds and put two riders into first and second in the overall rankings. Hushovd took the yellow jersey for a third time in his career and now has a lead of just one second over the world champion from last year, Cadel Evans.
The 23km team time trial of stage two that started and finished in Les Essarts began at 2.30pm with Alberto Contador’s Saxo Bank-SunGard squad the first to start. Teams departed at seven-minute intervals and the time at the finish was taken from the fifth rider across the finish line. The conditions were mild with temperatures of about 24 degrees Celsius and a westerly breeze of about 15-20km/h. Despite numerous crashes in stage one, all 198 riders who started the Tour were still in the race.
Although some riders who did a reconnaissance of the course early in the day suggested that the record average speed for a team time trial could be under threat on this short, relatively flat course, the first team home covered the 23 kilometres in 25’16” (54.616km/h). Saxo Bank finished with six riders, with Richie Porte the first across the line.
Rabobank was the sixth team to start and it set the best times at both intermediate checks and beat Saxo Bank’s effort by 16” (finishing with eight riders). It was Garmin-Cervélo, however, that lived up to pre-race favouritism by setting the best time: six seconds ahead of Rabobank at 9km, 13” better at 16.5km and 12” ahead at the finish. Zabriskie pulled some long turns in the final kilometers – spending around 45” in the wind, while others led the paceline for around 20-25 seconds.
In the closing metres the US champion lost contact with five of his team-mates but Hushovd led four others from his team across the line to post an average speed of 55.6km/h.
The new regulations for the climbing classification allot just one point for category-four climbs. This means that only Gilbert (OLO) earned anything for the polka-dot jersey in stage one. With Cadel Evans (2nd on Mont des Alouettes) in the green jersey, it meant that Hushovd (GRM) would wear the polka-dot top for the team time trial today.
Team Sky was first by just 0.98 seconds (ahead of Garmin at the first check) and Wiggins did at least one one-minute turn to try and maintain their winning advantage. The British squad wasn’t able to maintain it’s leading position and finished four seconds slower than their US rivals.
HTC-Highroad was one of the only teams to suffer a crash, with Eisel falling on a left turn inside the first kilometer. The winning team of stage one in the Giro d’Italia still rode a strong race but finished five seconds behind the Garmin.
At the first time check (9km), Omega Pharma-Lotto was already 26” behind the time of Sky which translated to the reality that Gilbert’s stint in yellow would last only one day.
Cadel Evans and his BMC colleagues rode a strong stage, earning the third best time at the 9km and 16.5km checks and, at the finish, they were just four seconds behind Garmin to take second place. This means that the 2010 world champion will take the yellow jersey, with his team-mate David Millar in second overall.
The 2009 world champion Cadel Evans is ranked third after finishing second two stages in a row.
Philippe Gilbert’s team finished 39” behind Garmin. The former yellow jersey is now ranked 30th overall. This is the third Tour that Hushovd has led the general classification (after 2004 and 2006).
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