Dean excels in 'Red, White, Black and Blue Summer'

	Julian Dean was the true hero behind Thor Hushovd's victory in the fourth stage of the Tour de France. Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
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I know today's stage went to Thor Hushovd, the ripped Norseman whose Christmas-ham-sized quads quivered under the green Lycra of Credit Agricole as he accepted bouquets from the podium girls in Joigny.

Thus did Hushovd, who had yet to win a stage this season, earn the 52nd victory of his career. The "God of Thunder," as he is known, appears to be finding his form when it matters most.

Finding his form, in this case, had everything to do with finding the wheel of his trusted manservant, Julian Dean, who found a crease in the chaos, jumped into it, then led his leader to glory. As lead-out man, Dean's job description is something like this: I'll take the risks, and expend the major effort so that Thor can ride in my slipstream until we're four seconds from the finish line, at which point I'll peel off, and he'll take the glory.

For that reason, I am here today to salute Dean, a 32-year-old Kiwi who wears the black and white jersey of the New Zealand national road champion. Dean had high hopes for the Prologue, only to have -- as his wife, Carole, wrote on JulianDean.Co.NZ -- "a sh---- day in the office." (The word rhymes with "kitty.")

More from Carole: "Stage 1 was a pretty successful one for the team. Julz managed to lead out Thor ok and Thor got 2nd which is a cool enough way to start the Tour. Julz said he wasn't feeling overly flash."

Stage 2, Carole continues, "was a disaster for Julz and Thor. No doubt you've already heard or seen the state of the race at the 2km banner. Some dude dropped it right in the middle of the lead-out riders and 'boomfa'....guys were dropping like flies, including Julz and Thor. I haven't managed to talk to Julz since the mass bingle but he looked ok as he puttered across the finish line."

That was the day Gert Steegmans decided to improvise on a time-honored script. Steegmans is to Quickstep-Innergetic's Tom Boonen as Dean is to Hushovd as Waylon Smithers is to Montgomery Burns. After eluding the mass crash, Steegmans led out Boonen with such authority that Tornado Tom couldn't catch him.

Boonen thrust his arms up, celebrating Steegman's win, which led to a bit of confusion in the broadcast booth. Versus' Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen spent five minutes analyzing Boonen's "victory" until someone handed them the official results.

Today, they got it right. Both broadcasters were in superb form during the long run-in to the line in Joigny, an interval of splendid anarchy that had the dueling Brits in full throat:

"There are the mauve jerseys of Mark Cavendish and his T-mobile team!" (T-Mobile does NOT appreciate having their kit described as "pink.")

"Look at this now, Johan Van Summeren, the big steam engine of Predictor-Lotto!"

"Liquigas want Filippo Pozzato to come through ... "

"Still no appearance at the front of the blue train of Tom Boonen!"

"Boonen's a little too far to the front, he doesn't have any lead out men!"

Boonen was, indeed, a non-factor today. Speaking to Craig Hummer of Versus, he lamented the presence, 500 meters from the finish, of "a little corner" that wasn't in the racer's handbook. "We had to brake, and that was what killed us."