McEwen Encore!

Two climbs: Cote de Peu d’Eau (category-3 at 13km) & Cote de Falaen (category-4, 57.5km) _ Intermediate sprints: Beaumont (at 103.0km), Sains-du-Nord (135.5km) and Bernot (188.0km). _ Weathe: Hot with temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius in the air and 37 degrees at road level. _ There were 172 riders at sign-on with no overnight retirements. The start time was 12.18pm. _ _ The Progress Report _ The Bouygues Telecom team controlled the peloton until the first climb when Pineau added to his tally of climbing points by leading De la Fuente (SDV) and Wegmann (GST) over the summit. At the 18.5km mark, the first successful escape of the day came from Martinez (DSC). He was joined at the 20km mark by four others: Wiggins (COF), Mengin (FDJ), Lefevre (BTL) and Coutouly (AGR). The five cooperated well, covering 38.1km in the first hour. By this time their advantage on the peloton was 3’10”. At the 2nd climb, the points were won by Lefeve. The peloton was behind by 4’20”. Quickstep riders set the pace of the pursuit group. After 69km, the deficit was 4’35”. The maximum gain of the lead was 4’55” when the peloton was at the 87km mark. _ _ Boonen’s Boys In Charge All Day… _ The Quickstep-Innergetic Express refused to allow the five escapees too much of an advantage. After the feedzone (91km), they picked up the pace of the chase. At the site of the first intermediate sprint (in Beaumont), the lead was down to 4’00”. The points were won by: Martinez (6pts), Lefevre (4pts) and Coutouly (2pts). The average speed for the third hour was 39.6km/h. The Davitamon-Lotto team started to cooperate with Quickstep at the 136km mark. After just 5km of collaboration by the teams of McEwen and Boonen, the advantage of the escapees dropped to 3’00”. At 152km, the peloton was 2’40” behind. Milram also joined in the chase with 45km to go. With 35km to go, the leaders were 2’00” ahead of the peloton; 28km to go 1’45”. At the site of the 3rd sprint, the peloton was 1’15” behind. The points were won by Martinez. The lead group split with 12km to go. Wiggins and Mengin were dropped. With 10km to go Martinez, Lefevre and Coutouly led the peloton by 38”; 5km to go, the advantage over the peloton that was led by Liquigas was 25”. _ _ McEwen Wins His 10th Tour Stage! _ A last-minute attack attempt by Lefevre could not hold off the peloton that swallowed up all the escapees with 2km to go. A Quickstep rider led the bunch under the one-kilometer to go banner, then Dean (C.A) took control. The New Zealander pulled foot from the pedal with about 400m to go and crashed heavily but didn’t not bring anyone else down. By this stage, McEwen (DVL) was already at the front and winding up his sprinting legs. He darted down the left side of the road and easily won the sprint for stage honours. Boonen (QSI) finished fifth in the stage and will retain the yellow jersey for stage five.