Despite the climbs at the beginning of the stage, the 208 kilometres from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Annonay-Davizieux were essentially flat, meaning a calm day. That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments of excitement – that, and the heated battle for the green jersey today became an open flame as the race heads towards Paris.
Compared to the past few days, Stage 12 was much more relaxed, the peloton having a day off as they rolled across south-eastern France. It was tipped as a stage for breakaways, and the successful one went off the front around 10 kilometres from the end of the neutral zone, another big bunch of 19. The failure of the peloton to react after the break reached one minute was the signal that they didn’t plan to and the breakaway was free to go.
They didn’t go very far, though, never quite reaching two minutes before riders began being spat out on the Col du Grand Cucheron. Soon enough there was an 11-man lead one minute ahead of a three-man chase group, which was a further 1’10” ahead of the idle peloton. Of course, it was destined not to last. By the time the lead group began the ascent of the second climb, the Col Du Granier, the chase group had collapsed and a series of attacks from the peloton meant there were riders all over the road.
There were soon fewer riders on the road than had started the day. Argos-Shimano’s leadout man-cum-secondary sprinter Tom Veelers abandoned the stage after 65 kilometres of racing, while Cofidis climber David Moncoutié was shattered at having to abandon his farewell Tour de France with a possible broken collarbone after crashing on the descent of the Col du Grand Cucheron. But the Tour de France doesn’t wait for abandons, the now-five leaders approaching the King of the Mountains point atop the Col du Grand Cucheron and sprinting for the 10 points on offer.
Behind them at the peloton a third chase group was forming, Liquigas-Cannondale sprinter Peter Sagan obviously hoping to beat the peloton to the sprint point. Orica-GreenEDGE definitely didn’t like that, chasing the green jersey for their sprinter Matt Goss, and the Australian team began leading the charge to bring in the latest breakaway. Their work paid off, Sagan and his breakaway companions returning to the main field as they reached the feed zone in Saint-Joseph-de-Rivière, 35 kilometres from the sprint point.
With 119 kilometres to go the breakaway had finally settled into a stable group of five – Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale), Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and David Millar (Garmin-Sharp). The group began working together to build up a lead that went right out to 11 minutes as the peloton approached the intermediate sprint, making it seem unlikely that the breakaway would be caught.
The peloton had other cares at this point, the intermediate sprint dominating their thoughts. Team Sky continued to lead the peloton right into the final kilometre as the sprint trains prepared to launch their sprinters. Matt Goss decided to leap out with a few hundred metres to go and managed to hold off the ‘Tour-minator’ Peter Sagan to take sixth place, gaining three more precious points over his green rival.
Despite the wind out the front of the stage making pace-making difficult, the breakaway was holding a 12 minute lead over the peloton at 40 kilometres to the finish. They managed to maintain most of their advantage for the remainder of the stage, the gap still 10 minutes as the leaders reached the five kilometre mark and prepared themselves for the inevitable attacks. It was Peraud who finally made the serious move, bolting towards the finish with just a couple of kilometres to go, Millar quickly on his wheel. The pair worked together tentatively to stay away from the trailing trio, each waiting for the other to start the sprint. In the end Peraud leapt out from behind the wheel of the Scotsman, but though Millar took a few seconds to respond his speed soon surpassed that of Peraud and the Frenchman was pipped on the line for first place. A few moments later Martinez appeared, leading Gautier and Kiserlovski in the sprint for third.
It was a further nine minutes before the peloton arrived, the sprint trains already doing their work again out the front. The green jersey of Sagan was once again prominent next to that of Matt Goss, sprinting for sixth and seventh place. Though Goss crossed the line first, Sagan protested that the Australian had deviated from his line, and the subsequent decision from the race judges ruled in his favour, relegating Goss to the back of the group and leaving Sagan to collect the points for sixth and keep his green. The fiery rematch will likely take place tomorrow, with a dead flat Stage 13 promising some fun for sprinters such as Sagan and Goss as well as Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.
Showing posts with label David Moncoutié. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Moncoutié. Show all posts
Friday, 13 July 2012
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Stage 4: Abbéville – Rouen
The stage started out in the sunshine today, a good omen for the race
that was to come. The stunning scenery of northern France lent a
beautiful backdrop to a much calmer, happier stage than we’ve seen
recently with a thoroughly exciting finish to round things out.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
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