Jaun Miguel Mercado was in a breakway, and attacked with 12 km to go, and Garcia-Acosta followed. Garcia-Acosta was expected to win because he was stronger and more experienced, but the Quick Step drafted him to the line and outsprinted him. This is the third stage victory for the Belgian Quick Step-Davitamon team.
Earlier in the race, Italian Filippo Simeoni (Domina Vacanze) bridged the gap to the breakway and Armstrong followed because of personal tension between the two. T-Mobile or CSC (Lance's main challenger's teams) would definitely not let Lance go, and the break knew that, so they asked him to leave, but he said he would only leave if Simeoni left, so he did.
Not the easiest route, but nothing serious.
Tomorrow is the Final TT, which Lance has always won in the past except for last year. Jan Ullrich could also make a splash.
What is the personal tension?
ReplyDeleteThus states VeloNews:"Simeoni - who has given testimony against Dr. Michele Ferrari in the ongoing investigation into the controversial Italian sports doctor - has sued Armstrong for defamation for comments the Texan allegedly made questioning Simeoni's honesty and good name.
ReplyDeleteAnd ever since the French newspaper L'Equipe published an interview with Simeoni in the first week of the Tour, in which the Italian voiced his ill feelings about Ferrari, a flare-up between the two riders was expected."
Dr. Ferrari was on a team with riders that took EPO (stands for erythropoieten), and I guess Lance thinks he's innocent, but Simeoni says he's not. I guess Simeoni was on that team, and Armstrong thinks Simeoni was the one to blame instead of Dr. Ferrari, or something like that.