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Date Posted: 02:31:14 09/10/04 Fri
Author: Jonathan
Subject: Menchov/Rabobank speculation

Ofcourse it was nice to see Rabobank working (for a change) and later Freire taking the stage, but as he was completely alone in the final kms, it is very arguable to say that Freire owed his win to his teammates. I think they did deliver him to the front at the right time, but they certainly did not form the perfect leadout train, and neither did they keep the group together just before the finish.

So why was Rabobank doing all that work relatively early (too early to prepare a sprint) in the race? Did it have something to do with the fact that the team of their future teammate Menchov took over when the last climb started? Perhaps the common interest was Menchov's GC aspirations and Freire's interest in the stage win. Both would want to discourage attacks on the climb, which was very likely given the fact that US Postal isn't going out of its way to keep the group together. Delegating a bit of work to Rabobank might be the way for Illes Baleares to save some strength for the rest of the tour. Still I don't see how the Spanish team could have helped Freire win, so what would be in it for the Dutch?

For the Belgian commentators on VRT, the alliance was clear, but is it really so obvious?

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