Cycling fans might have been close to despair this week. Contador’s news was an earthquake and Mosquera and others were big aftershocks. On top of this we’ve seen UCI bumbling and Armstrong’s case continues to attract headlines for the wrong reasons. It’s been a terrible week.
But the sun also shone this weekend. First up was the great news that the Bbox-Bouygues Télécom is saved. Thomas Voeckler had even signed a contract with Cofidis, all that was needed was the signature of Cofidis DS Eric Boyer. You could almost hear the life support machine beep and flatline. But Europcar appeared and the team is now able to plan and rebuild for 2011.
Similarly many viewers of today’s World Championships probably gave up on Thor Hushovd. A lot of riders had certainly given up. After a group of 32 riders containing many favourites had pulled out a gap with five laps to go several big names decided to quit the race. From this group the favourites began to jump, further thinning the race and in time arch-favourite Gilbert made his move, pulling out 20 seconds with 4km to go and he looked set to win solo. But he found the headwind too much and his chasers brought him back.
After almost six and a half hours of racing the last of move of the day with Niki Terpstra was hauled back and it was gruppo compatto for the last 14 seconds as Hushovd launched his sprint to win.
Never say die!
Photo: L’Equipe.fr and cyclingnews.com
That is really nice to see that for once loyalty pays off in professional sports.
And too bad they caught Terpstra. He is a fine lad and definitely the even bigger outsider, that would have been grand!