Dean: ‘Champs-Elysées is perfect for Farrar’
- By Andrew Hood
- Published Jul. 8, 2009
Julian Dean says it’s only a matter of time before Tyler Farrar wins a stage at the Tour de France.
The New Zealand veteran sprinter said Farrar might just be the man who gets past dominant sprinter Mark Cavendish.
“I think he can win a stage at the Tour,” Dean said after Wednesday’s stage. “It won’t be easy. We just started working together at the Giro, but if we get our timing right, we can win.”
So far through the Tour, Cavendish has been unbeatable in the sprints, winning twice and taking the bunch sprint Wednesday into Perpignan behind winner Thomas Voeckler and Mikhail Ignatiev.
Cavendish’s Columbia-HTC lead-out train is working to perfection, but Dean believes that Farrar has what it takes to notch a bunch sprint victory during what is Farrar’s Tour debut.
“(Farrar’s) strongest characteristic is his strength,” Dean said. “Once he gets more confidence, he can go earlier in the sprint and he’ll start to win more.”
It’s Dean’s job to steer Farrar through the bunch and put him on Cavendish’s wheel. The Garmin-Slipstream rider says the key to beating Cavendish is taking longer sprints.
“We saw when Petacchi beat him in the Giro or when Tyler beat him (at Tirreno-Adriatico), it was when they started a long sprint,” he said. “I think (Farrar’s) stronger than Cavendish in a longer sprint.”
Fourth into Perpignan, Farrar might have to wait a few more days before he gets another chance.
Thursday’s stage to Barcelona finishes atop the Montjuic hill and perhaps will be a little too steep for the pure sprinters and then the Tour turns into the Pyrénées for three stages before the first of two rest days on July 13.
Even after that, pure bunch sprints might be fairly infrequent. The transition stages between the Pyrénées and Alps will see stage-hunters heading out in breakaways.
Dean said if Farrar can make it to Paris, the final sprint is ideal for his pupil’s characteristics.
“The Champs-Elysées is perfect for him. Tyler is very good over the stones and it’s always a long sprint there,” he said. “It suits him good. It’s not for pure sprinters. You see guys like Steegmans, Bennati or Hushovd winning there.”
Those words just might give Farrar the extra motivation to suffer through the mountains to make it to Paris.
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FILED UNDER: News / Road / Tour de France TAGS: Tour de France
Andrew Hood
Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood's covered every Tour since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002. He lives in Leon, Spain, when he's not chasing bike races.