Garmin-Slipstream, presented by Chipotle. Who else out there is excited to see them in the driver’s seat at ENECO? Sure, it’s a second-tier ProTour event, likely backed a little harder than it ought to be by the UCI because it’s a non-Grand Tour-owned race, but hey—race leader, two stage wins, Brad Wiggins “layin’ back in the cut” as the kids used to say—that’s solid.
Of course, you could be all Debbie Downer about it, and point out that neither Cav, nor the ever-pinballing Petacchi, nor Hushovd nor a banged-up Robbie McEwen is there to battle Farrar for stage wins. Oh, sure, Boonen’s around, but he hasn’t done jack since winning Roubaix, and then there was that other thing, and well, just look at this photo.
Heck, if I wanted to be a real dick, I could point out that even Jimmy Casper had his day in the sun at a week-long stage race, but I am NOT going to do that, because I am a positive person. At least today I am. Because I have been inspired by Emanuelle Sella, who seems genuinely happy to be back racing.
I’m also inspired by the efforts of Caisse D’Epargne, who were somehow allowed to get a two-man time trial off the front and away for victory at the Tour de Limousin. In the sort of thing that just isn’t supposed to happen in modern racing, David Arroyo took the stage win, while his companion, Mathieu Perget, lept into first on GC.
We need a HTRWW for Eneco stage 3. Tom Boonen had a masterful performance in the final 1K.