Freire's first

World champion sprints to glory in stage two

Until a week ago, Oscar Freire wasn’t going to ride the Tour, but a sprint to victory at Sarrebruck for his first Tour stage win will have made the world champion glad he changed his mind, report Cycling Weekly magazine.

Not for 21 years has a reigning world champion won a stage of the Tour, but that was exactly what Oscar Freire (Mapei) achieved when he romped home in first place at Sarrebruck, beating Robbie McEwen (Lotto) by a bike length, with Telekom’s Erik Zabel a hugely disappointed third.

Not only was this the Spaniard ’s first ever Tour de France -- which he had been saying, up to a week ago, that he did not want to race because of poor form – but there was the added satisfaction of beating Zabel on German soil. And, with the Mapei company ending its team sponsorship this year, Freire will no longer be seen as “just” a Worlds specialist by any team that wants to have the Spaniard on their books.

The sight of a Spaniard winning a Tour stage in a sprint is equally unusual. The last to achieve that was Manuel Dominguez in 1987 after Italian Guido Bontempi was disqualified from the bunch gallop at Troyes, and the last to win one outright was Mikel Mari Lasa in 1978 in Biarritz.

The Mapei rider was typically modest about his achievements. “My form has not been as hot as it should have been in the last few weeks, but sometimes you can win with a bit of luck and being in the right place at the right time,” he said. “Beating Zabel here isn’t so special for me, I’ve already done that in the Tour of Germany,” the 26-year-old pointed out.

What it meant Try as top Telekom domestiques Udo Bölts and Bobby Julich might, it was virtually impossible for them to hold the peloton together en route to Sarrebruck and a crucially important bunch sprint for the team. With the Jan Ullrich scandal uppermost in the minds of many German sports fans, a victory would have eased the pressure on the entire squad. But it was not to be: perhaps because they are demoralized after so many body blows in the last weeks, the German team are looking weak and are going to have a tough job keeping Zabel in green. That the Tour’s most powerful sprinter lacks support could have several implications for the Tour, first and foremost that the pressure of keeping the race together will continue to be Lance Armstrong’s team’s top responsibility, especially as Lampre’s Rubens Bertogliati will topple soon as leader. Lotto and Mapei -- particularly for the Italians with the maillot jaune so close for Freire -- could work with them at first, but so far neither squad has been up there in the final kilometers. Then, as the first week grinds on, unless the sprinters’ teams suddenly gain in strength, the race could become dangerously open.

Freire’s success came after he had sat close behind McEwen’s wheel as the peloton pounded into the streets of Sarrebruck. When Zabel lunged to the left, the Australian avoided an elbow pushed in his direction by Telekom domestique Gian Matteo Fagnini and accelerated past the German team leader.

But it was Freire who managed to put on another burst of power to squeeze round between McEwen and the barriers in the last 10 meters. Asked if he now wanted to aim for the maillot jaune, still held by Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre) by a tiny margin, Freire answered: “It’s possible. But I haven’t really had time to think about that yet -- I came here to prepare for the August Classics!”

Freire’s unusual victory apart, it was very much a normal stage for the first week of the Tour. The day’s action began early on with an attack by Sylvain Chavanel of Bonjour, with Stéphane Berges (Ag2r) and Crédit Agricole’s Norwegian, Thor Hushovd, quickly joining him after just 20 kilometers of racing. Despite the high speed of the race, an average of 44.6kph in the first two hours, the three worked well together in the warm weather, taking a maximum lead of five minutes by the feed zone.

Lampre were determined not to let the trio get too far away, given that this was the first time the Italian team had ever taken the yellow jersey during its 10 years of sponsorship of a cycling squad, but it was more thanks to Hushovd’s near-collapse from cramp two-thirds of the way into the stage that the three didn’t stay away longer.

The brave Norwegian was overtaken by the peloton after he sat up, and all but stopped on three occasions, bent over his bike with the pain. Emergency massage from directeur sportif Roger Legeay eventually enabled him to continue,although he was blocked in by spectators who thought the race had finished, and eventually finished last, 19-22 back.

He was not the only stage two victim: flying Dutchman Erik Dekker (Rabobank) had joked that the pin in his hip (from Milan-San Remo) was the only thing that had remained undamaged in yesterday ’s crash, but he was in no mood for humor after taking yet another tumble. Marc Wauters guided him back, and he eventually finished more than eight minutes down.

While Hushovd was desperately trying to recover from his cramp, with some 30 kilometers left to race teammate Jens Voigt (Crédit Agricole) took off to try to reach the two breakaways, who had all but given up by this point. The German powerhouse, egged on by his countrymen, gave it everything, quickly passing Chavanel and Berges and maintaining a lead over the peloton, driven by Telekom.

But it was no good: Lotto eventually put a couple of riders on the front, and the rolling terrain eventually saw Voigt reeled in with 11 kilometers to go.

Once again, things looked nicely set up for Zabel: Telekom more or less in control, and the German managed to avoid a crash in the last kilometere which saw a Bonjour rider go flying into the right-hand barriers on a 90-degree bend. But he had not counted on Freire’s inspired charge and, despite hanging onto green, Zabel ended the day with no yellow jersey and no stage win.

Not the best of homecomings.

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