Doing The Quickstep: First & Second For Steegmans & Boonen

The 168.5km second stage of the 2007 Tour de France – from Dunkerque to Gent in Belgium – began at 1.25pm. There were 188 riders in the peloton. There were no climbs on the course so Millar (SDV) was assured of maintaining his lead in the climbing classification. Three intermediate sprints offered points for the green jersey classification. The sprints were in Boezinge at the 45km mark, Westende (81.5km) and Aarsele (140.5km). _ _ Sieberg Instigates First Attack _ There were no early escape attempts. The first surge was from Sieberg (MRM) at the 18km mark. He was joined by Perez (EUS) and Herve (AGR). By 21km they built a lead of 45”; 2’40” at the 37km mark. The CSC team was in charge of the peloton and, at the site of the first intermediate sprint its deficit was 2’05” – the points were won by Herve, Perez and Sieberg. The average speed for the first hour was 45.5km/h. At the 65km mark, the trio reached a maximum advantage of 5’55”. At the second intermediate sprint the points were won by Sieberg, Herve and Perez. The peloton was 4’30” behind. The average speed for the second hour was 46.3km/h. _ _ Papa Kashechkin _ While Andrey Kashechkin was racing for the Astana team in the Tour, his wife gave birth to a 3.2kg baby boy called David during the first hour of stage two. _ _ Setting Up The Sprint… _ The CSC team controlled the peloton until the 100km mark. With 63km to go, the advantage of the leading trio had dropped to 2’50”. Rain fell on the race for a brief period but it wasn’t severe and no bad accidents happened because of the wet roads (although Frank Schleck did crash with about in Pittem, at the 127km mark). With 45km to go, the CSC team was joined at the head of the peloton by the Quickstep and Liquigas teams. Shortly afterwards two riders from both Preditor-Lotto and Credit Agricole tapped out the tempo at the head of the peloton. _ Perez led Herve and Sieberg over the intermediate sprint line in Aarsele. The skies opened and rain poured on the peloton with 25km to go. Vansummeren (PRL), Tankink (QSI) and Charteau (C.A) lead the peloton’s pursuit and pulled the advantage back to 2’05”. The bunch was pragmatic with its pursuit: at 20km to go - 1’50”; 15km to go – 1’15”; 10km to go – 40”; 5km to go… just 12”. Perez attacked with 5km to go but it didn’t matter. The escape was over with 2.8km to go and then the sprinters’ squads took control. _ _ Huge Pile-Up Hinders Hopes _ With two kilometers remaining it appeared as though a Milram rider pulled his foot out of his pedal. On a narrow section of road, his slight swerve to the right caught the wheel of another rider. At that pace there’s no room for error and the result was a crash that involved up to 10 riders. Fabian Cancellara was one man caught up but he admitted that he wasn’t badly hurt “but at the time, when you have two kilometers to ride to the line, you have time to think that everything is in pain.” _ _ Steegmans & Boonen Do The Quickstep! _ A selection of about 25 riders escaped the carnage including most of the big-name sprinters. The Quickstep team had at least four representatives in the lead group rushing to the line. While other sprinters jostle for position, Gert Steegmans bolted ahead as part of what was meant to be a lead-out for Tom Boonen. Unsure that it was his colleague behind him, Steegmans insisted with his effort all the way to the line, taking a surprise win while Boonen’s second was enough to put him in the lead of the points classification. _ Cancellara finished 72nd but retained his lead in the general classification and will wear the yellow jersey again in stage three.