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Date Posted: 03:01:01 09/10/04 Fri
Author: nobodysperfect
Subject: Re: Menchov/Rabobank speculation
In reply to: Jonathan 's message, "Menchov/Rabobank speculation" on 02:31:14 09/10/04 Fri

>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?

I think they they had a plan to make sure that Pettachi couldn't get back. Whether IB were working with them, I don't know, but I'm sure that everyone would want to keep the Fassa train away, as when it is absent things are of course a lot more open.

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