Two wins in three days for Team Barloworld! Robert Hunter took away the first South African victory in the history of Tour de France on Thursday's stage in Montpellier, after a troubled bunch sprint in which some riders went down on a bad bend due to a dangerous roundabaout. That's a great ride by Hunter! Cancellara was a close second, then Fischer, Pozzato and Ballan. It is a great day for South Africa and the whole African continent, since Robert Hunter is the first rider to have ever won a Tour de France stage, something both Hunter and Barloworld must be really proud of.
Montpellier seems to be a good place for Team Barloworld: in 1989, being him a rider at that time, Directeur Sportif Valerio Tebaldi managed to win after a long breakaway. "For me - Tebaldi said - it was like watching a movie again, the same setting, the same feeling as 18 years ago. On Tuesday, when Soler won, I was about to cry, today I have a stomach-ache for too much happyness".
Today, Robert Hunter achieved the second win for Team Barloworld in 94th Tour de France, two day's later the impressive Mauricio Soler's performance in Briancon. Tom Boonen remained out of the first positions even though he was not in the fall: he nearly hit the barriers but got the foot down in time. The Belgian missed the opportunity to build a big lead in the points ranking: Hunter moves to within 11 points of him in the green jersey classification.
It was an interesting day despite a completely flat course: really hot pace from the very beginning and several breakaway attempts (one of the first drappels to attack included Barloworld Kanstantin Siutsou) happened. But today the wind was the main protagonist of the stage: Team Astana took the chance to elevate the tempo and caused difficulties to many riders, such as Christophe Moreau and experienced sprinter Erik Zabel, who finished 3.20 behind the main bunch.
A great work by Team Barloworld, Caisse d'Epargne and Liquigas led the peloton on the finish line in huge advance on the timetable, and a regal sprint by Robert Hunter gave him his first ever Tour de France success and an important place in the history of this race.
"Ten years ago I moved to Europe from SA, it was a big jump at the time - a joyful Rob Hunter stated after the race - but today many things have changed and cycling, and sport in general, moved many steps ahead in my country. I'm really proud to represent a team supported by an important South-African company: now we deserved more respect, we are a greatly professional team, and I'm sure we'll become one of the best teams all over the world in the next few years". |
