Schumacher's Special Surprise!

The 29.5km time trial that started and finished in Cholet began at 11.02am when the two-time ‘Lanterne Rouge’ of the Tour de France, Wim Vansevenant (SIL) rolled out of the start house. The roads were dry at the start of the stage even though the conditions were overcast. Riders departed at two minute intervals throughout the day. There were 178 riders at the sign-on. _ _ Christophe Riblon (A2R) set the early standard but his time was eclipsed by the Dutch time trial champion Stef Clement (BTL) who posted 37 minutes 18 seconds. This was the mark to beat and the first to go faster was the 2001 time trial world champion in the ‘espoirs’ category, Danny Pate (TSL). The American was fastest at 19.5km and 29.5km (with an average speed of 48.0km/h) until Sylvain Chavanel of the Cofidis team. The French time trial champion covered the first 19.5km at an average of 45.6km/h and then powered home with the wind at his back to set a time that was two seconds better than Chavanel. _ Jens Voigt then bolted over the course to obliterate the previous best marks: 14’09” at 11km, 25’05” at 19.5km and 36’19” at the finish. Denis Menchov made up for the disappointment of losing time in stage three by beating Voigt’s mark by one second. And that’s when the real race for stage honors began. _ _ Schumacher Smashes Into The Lead… _ Before the start of the stage there was almost universal agreement that the course was perfect for a Fabian Cancellara win. The dual time trial world champion wasn’t fastest at any check but he sprinted home to beat Menchov’s time by two seconds. It was an imposing ride but nothing like what was yet to come from the leader of the Gerolsteiner team Stefan Schumacher. Clocking the fastest time at each check – 13’54” at 11km, 24’42” at 19.5km and 35’44” at the finish – he beat Cancellara’s time by 33”! _ Schumacher has won 31 races during his seven year pro career including stage races (such as the Tour of Poland and Benelux Tour) and Classics (such as Amstel Gold) but this is the biggest time trial victory he’s achieved since turning pro in 2001. _ _ Favorites Falter Slightly _ Valverde failed to find the form he had in the time trials at the start of June when he won the Dauphine Libere title and finished 23rd in the stage, 1’34” behind Schumacher. Evans admitted at the start of the stage that he thought Cancellara would be unbeatable, but the Australian finished five seconds ahead of the Swiss CSC rider. Then came Millar and Kirchen, both putting in phenomenal performances but failing to eclipse the time set by Gerolsteiner’s captain who turns 27 on 21 July. _ The stage winner has also inherited the overall lead after four stages of the Tour de France. Schumacher has a 12 second advantage over Kirchen and Millar and is 21” ahead of Evans. The former yellow jersey, Valverde slipped to 17th overall at 1’27” and Roman Feillu’s stint in yellow ended after 24 hours. He finished 169th in the stage, losing 4’59” to Schumacher and slipping down the rankings to 41st overall.