Another rider has joined the ranks of those speaking out against doping in the wake of the Armstrong affair. FDJ-Bigmat’s Jérémy Roy posted an open letter on his website on November 5th, talking about the current state of cycling and of doping in the sport. Below is an English version of this letter, translated by myself. You can read the original French letter on his website here.
Following recent events in the world of cycling, reactions and admissions from certain riders, and different movements launched to save cycling and to respond to certain people, I want to express my thoughts today through this open letter.
Of course I won’t say that cycling is moving in the best of worlds, but we need to stop stigmatising it and accusing every cyclist. Yes, there are cheats, and there always will be (in sport and in life), but the noose is tightening little by little thanks to the work of the UCI, of WADA (and its national counterparts) and of the police.
Today everyone is talking about the Armstrong affair (which hasn’t yet finished shedding light on certain shadowy areas regarding the transfer of funds), tomorrow I hope that the Padova affair in Italy will come good and that the Puerto affair in Spain, which will reopen in January, will also reveal its secrets.
I discovered the USADA report just like all of you, and yes, I was shocked by this quasi-collective doping system. No, fortunately not all teams work like that. I’m not stonewalling or influenced by omerta, as has been suggested by some journalists who’ve reproached me for the fact that I discovered the story through the media like any man in the street. I turned professional at the end of 2003 and even though I mix with other riders for a quarter of the year (90 days of racing), that doesn’t mean that I know what’s done away from prying eyes. And even if I speak from time to time to other riders, do you think that the cheaters are going to boast of their chemical prowess? The latest confessions (which, in passing, have been revealed only thanks to the inquiry and thus under oath) attest to that; not even their wife or their family was aware (I think that you share more with your loved ones than with your cyclist colleagues or opponents). It’s too easy today to ask forgiveness, to cleanse the conscience. No, I don’t forgive them.
They have stolen (results, glory, income, contracts…). But on the other hand I would say to them nevertheless, “Thanks for having confessed”, if it can contribute to stopping the scourge by taking into account their methods and by trying to find a solution.
And speaking of solutions, it’s worth knowing that the UCI has indeed put in place some tools, though certainly not perfect, but which have the merit of existing. The Whereabouts system: a location system where a cyclist in the target group (World Tour teams, ProContinental teams applying for WildCards and certain riders chosen by a group of experts) must provide their activities and place of residence for every day with a one-hour time slot in which a control can be performed. (A control can also be performed outside of the hourly slot but will not be counted as a no-show if the rider is not present).
There’s the implementation of the biological passport, more accurately haematological for the time being, because the steroid aspect hasn’t yet been taken into account. This profiling of haematological values allows, in conjunction with a classic antidoping control, to target suspect riders, to suspend and to sanction a rider should the case arise, following a meeting of an expert commission. There have been some riders suspended by the passport but legal restrictions greatly limit the actions of the UCI.
Since June 2011 (unfortunately not retroactively), those convicted of violating the Anti-Doping Code cannot occupy a position as a manager, directeur sportif, coach, doctor or medical assistant, mechanic, driver or rider’s agent. This provision will allow us to gradually clean up the environment of cycling. I encourage teams to apply this sanction without delay.
As a suggestion, in addition to increasing the length of sanctions, I can only support antidoping research to improve the tests further and further. Too often the cheaters are a step ahead. The problem which presents itself on top of the cost of the research is the volume of the sample, which is far from infinite. It’s necessary to understand that a sample can’t be tested for all known substances, meaning a choice has to be made (and you can only find what you look for!). That’s how some riders pass a control one day, but not necessarily another.
Preservation of the B-sample for subsequent tests when research has progressed has been mentioned, but I don’t know when that will be. It still has a cost: storage, analysis, which test to apply?
The economic problem is therefore very much present in the fight against doping. Part of the “prize money” is already withdrawn, so what more can be done? As has been suggested by the President of Française des Jeux, Mr Blanchard Dignac (since 2009), an association of cycling team sponsors needs to be created to support the UCI in its fight against doping. In theory a year’s salary must be paid by an offender. I hope that these funds are intended for the fight against doping.
It would also be desirable for WADA to change its attitude regarding the “liberalised” use of corticosteroids. A work stoppage should be mandatory in the case of its use to avoid risking the health of the rider (due to the risk of falling cortisol levels). Only the member teams of the MPCC (Movement for Credible Cycling) apply a work stoppage internally in the case of an injection to treat an illness.
The personalised power profile (PPP), notably suggested by F. Grappe and which follows the example of the haematological profile, allows a rider to know their physical limits. This then poses the problem of the reliability of the measure, the consideration of fatigue and the recurrent stresses during a stage, the margin of error (it’s not forbidden to beat records…it’s actually the point of training).
Developing the biological passport with the activation of the steroid profile.
I also join Taylor Phinney in his stance against the painkillers that certain riders take during a race. When there is a problem which requires a painkiller I doubt that participating in competitive cycling will help the problem!
Holding a “States General” bringing together WADA and the UCI would also allow progress.
The creation of a commission independent of the UCI to organise controls seems like a necessity to restore faith in the UCI: we will no longer be able to criticise them for being both judge and jury.
Finally, having the police and Customs reviewing general intelligence should continue to help us in the struggle (the fight against doping, trafficking, suspicious monetary transfers (corruption)…). A number of cases have been uncovered through them.
Despite the storms we’ve weathered and the blows we’ve received, I believe and I still want to believe in the sport that I love. I’ve accepted that I’m not as strong as the others but that doesn’t prevent me from achieving good results with my resources and winning races. Admittedly I’ll certainly never win the Tour de France or the World Championships with my abilities but I always hope that it’s in me, the hope of improving, of giving the best of myself and of never having regrets because I’ve put in everything to get there. I’ve made so many sacrifices, as has my family when I’m away 180 days a year, that I don’t want to give up now. It would be a (another) failure in the face of cheaters.
I’ve wanted to write this open letter for some time, but I haven’t wanted to be seen as a whiner, or to receive the usual criticisms (he has no results because he doesn’t know how to train, he’s too big, he’s stonewalling, he’s being idealistic…).
For those who want to continue bad-mouthing cycling, just keep walking…me, I still want to believe in it. For nearly 10 years I’ve been among the pros and for nearly 10 years I’ve heard at the start-of-year briefings, “Boys, don’t lose hope, things change, the cheaters will be caught sooner or later, things are heading in the right direction.” My improvement and the rise of young riders are certainly not due to coincidence. Since the implementation of geolocation and the passport, the room for movement is decreasing.
Finally, a little soapboxing to finish, because I’ve had enough of seeing certain media only talking about cycling in relation to doping scandals. I’m sorry, dear journalists and spectators, that the flat stages at the start of the Tour bore you (and you make it very clear)…yes, there are stages for the sprinters and there always will be; where is the harm in saving a little with three weeks of racing in mind? You need to stop playing CyclingManager!
For those who are frightened by the average speeds of the peloton (and who also complain when the peloton dawdles a little – yes, often they’re the same people), have they ever ridden competitively? What about in a group? Aspiration effect and relay, does that sound familiar? You can’t compare races or eras, as so many factors can influence a performance (weather, wind, condition of the road, profiles of preceding stages…). We are professional cyclists, our job is to be the fastest on a bike and we train every day for that, so don’t compare your Sunday ride or your local hill climb with a professional race.
I’m not the only one to think this. Lots of riders suffer in silence from this insidious disease which eats away from within and is considered as the “system”. Some no longer even dare to say that they’re cyclists, all because of the transgressions of certain riders. And I maintain that the majority of the peloton rides fairly.
I could elaborate further on certain ideas and tackle other subjects that are equally important for the future of cycling (sustainable development, the modernisation of cycling, the format of races…) but I’m afraid I’d lose you along the way (if I haven’t already).
Thank you for reading and thank you for your support. Cycling needs you too.
Showing posts with label Jeremy Roy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeremy Roy. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Friday, 20 July 2012
Stage 18: Blagnac - Brive-la-Gaillarde
Stage 18 was a classic Tour de France stage. Breakaways, excitement, and plenty of plain good riding carried the Tour from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde as the race returns to Paris for the homecoming of the 99th edition of Le Tour.
Once again it took some time for the day’s breakaway to be established. Six riders jumped off the front of the peloton at the 23 kilometre mark, but were brought back to the peloton just 26 kilometres later. It wasn’t for another 10 kilometres that anyone tried again, 14 riders eventually bridging the gap to two escapees ahead to form the day’s successful break after 70 kilometres of racing. The two instigators, Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) and Nick Nuyens (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), had already claimed two sets of King of the Mountain points as they led their pursuers over the Category 3 Cote de Saint-Georges.
The peloton was 3’10” behind the 16 riders as they passed through the feedzone, and though that dipped to 2’45” a short while later due to the pace-making of BMC, the gap began ticking back upwards to 3’30” as the leaders neared the intermediate sprint. With no-one in the breakaway involved in the green jersey competition, and indeed the jersey securely ensconced on the shoulders of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), there was no serious contest for the intermediate sprint. The mountains were of more concern to them in ensuring the break stayed away from the peloton, Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) leading the his 15 breakmates over the next Category 4 climb.
The peloton was having yet another idiot fan moment just two minutes behind. An errant dog in the peloton had unseated 10 or so riders and dumped them unceremoniously on the ground. An involuntarily displaced Philippe Gilbert (BMC) felt the need to have several choice words with the miscreant pooch’s owner before remounting and riding on. Gilbert and the other crashed riders soon caught up with the peloton, which was riding at just over 40km/h in pursuit of the breakaway 2’40” ahead.
As a long, relatively flat stage the drama was chiefly in the stage win and, in a smaller way, the movements of the day’s breakaway. Both peloton and escapees continued to race along through south-eastern France at 45km/h, a little faster than the trio of donkeys dressed in yellow, green and polka-dot coats that watched them race by. Ahead in the breakaway the co-operation was beginning to fray, attacks starting and being pulled back in by the chasing group. As the gap reached 1’30”, the attacks were beginning to have an effect, the group starting to lose riders.
With 25 kilometres to go, that gap was down to just one minute, the heralded breakaway win looking ever less likely. An attack from the Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) finally did the job, imploding the escape group as breakaway specialist Jérémy Roy (FDJ-Bigmat) latched onto his wheel for the trip to the finish line. Two chase groups of three each formed behind them, the six riders a thin buffer between the leaders and the peloton 40 seconds behind. As the rearmost group was caught by the peloton, the middle group on the road caught the two in front, five riders now leading the stage by just a handful of seconds.
The breakaway imploded a second time, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) pulling Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Hansen away from the other two riders, who were quickly caught by the racing peloton. With just 12 kilometres left in the day’s race, a chase group of three which launched from the peloton caught the three stage leaders who were barely 10 seconds ahead, the six of whom were still trying to stay away for the victory. The chase continued through the final few kilometres, the peloton not quite able to catch the six stage leaders who were never more than 10 or 12 seconds away. The sprinters’ teams began rallying anyway, Orica-GreenEDGE, Liquigas-Cannondale and Sky manoeuvring their riders into position.
The six were still there with just 500 metres to go, Irishman Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) and Spaniard Luis Léon Sánchez (Rabobank) trying a desperate sprint for home. At 300 metres to go, the sprint teams had to take a risk. Edvald Boasson Hagen dropped Manx Missile Mark Cavendish off as the sprinters caught the break, leaving Cavendish much further to sprint than usual against the still-racing breakaway. Cavendish proved more convincingly than ever why he’s known as the fastest man in the world, sprinting almost double his usual distance to still come out on top over a bike length ahead of his rivals.
Tomorrow is Stage 19, the final time trial that precedes the last stage into Paris. In the absence of World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin and former World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara, both of whom have withdrawn, expect another 1-2 double from Sky teammates Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Keep an eye out also for BMC’s Tejay van Garderen, who may just be able to repeat his astounding and unexpected performance of Stage 9.
Once again it took some time for the day’s breakaway to be established. Six riders jumped off the front of the peloton at the 23 kilometre mark, but were brought back to the peloton just 26 kilometres later. It wasn’t for another 10 kilometres that anyone tried again, 14 riders eventually bridging the gap to two escapees ahead to form the day’s successful break after 70 kilometres of racing. The two instigators, Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) and Nick Nuyens (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), had already claimed two sets of King of the Mountain points as they led their pursuers over the Category 3 Cote de Saint-Georges.
The peloton was 3’10” behind the 16 riders as they passed through the feedzone, and though that dipped to 2’45” a short while later due to the pace-making of BMC, the gap began ticking back upwards to 3’30” as the leaders neared the intermediate sprint. With no-one in the breakaway involved in the green jersey competition, and indeed the jersey securely ensconced on the shoulders of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), there was no serious contest for the intermediate sprint. The mountains were of more concern to them in ensuring the break stayed away from the peloton, Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEDGE) leading the his 15 breakmates over the next Category 4 climb.
The peloton was having yet another idiot fan moment just two minutes behind. An errant dog in the peloton had unseated 10 or so riders and dumped them unceremoniously on the ground. An involuntarily displaced Philippe Gilbert (BMC) felt the need to have several choice words with the miscreant pooch’s owner before remounting and riding on. Gilbert and the other crashed riders soon caught up with the peloton, which was riding at just over 40km/h in pursuit of the breakaway 2’40” ahead.
As a long, relatively flat stage the drama was chiefly in the stage win and, in a smaller way, the movements of the day’s breakaway. Both peloton and escapees continued to race along through south-eastern France at 45km/h, a little faster than the trio of donkeys dressed in yellow, green and polka-dot coats that watched them race by. Ahead in the breakaway the co-operation was beginning to fray, attacks starting and being pulled back in by the chasing group. As the gap reached 1’30”, the attacks were beginning to have an effect, the group starting to lose riders.
With 25 kilometres to go, that gap was down to just one minute, the heralded breakaway win looking ever less likely. An attack from the Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) finally did the job, imploding the escape group as breakaway specialist Jérémy Roy (FDJ-Bigmat) latched onto his wheel for the trip to the finish line. Two chase groups of three each formed behind them, the six riders a thin buffer between the leaders and the peloton 40 seconds behind. As the rearmost group was caught by the peloton, the middle group on the road caught the two in front, five riders now leading the stage by just a handful of seconds.
The breakaway imploded a second time, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) pulling Luca Paolini (Katusha) and Hansen away from the other two riders, who were quickly caught by the racing peloton. With just 12 kilometres left in the day’s race, a chase group of three which launched from the peloton caught the three stage leaders who were barely 10 seconds ahead, the six of whom were still trying to stay away for the victory. The chase continued through the final few kilometres, the peloton not quite able to catch the six stage leaders who were never more than 10 or 12 seconds away. The sprinters’ teams began rallying anyway, Orica-GreenEDGE, Liquigas-Cannondale and Sky manoeuvring their riders into position.
The six were still there with just 500 metres to go, Irishman Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) and Spaniard Luis Léon Sánchez (Rabobank) trying a desperate sprint for home. At 300 metres to go, the sprint teams had to take a risk. Edvald Boasson Hagen dropped Manx Missile Mark Cavendish off as the sprinters caught the break, leaving Cavendish much further to sprint than usual against the still-racing breakaway. Cavendish proved more convincingly than ever why he’s known as the fastest man in the world, sprinting almost double his usual distance to still come out on top over a bike length ahead of his rivals.
Tomorrow is Stage 19, the final time trial that precedes the last stage into Paris. In the absence of World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin and former World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara, both of whom have withdrawn, expect another 1-2 double from Sky teammates Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Keep an eye out also for BMC’s Tejay van Garderen, who may just be able to repeat his astounding and unexpected performance of Stage 9.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Stage 8: Belfort – Porrentruy
When it comes to exciting in the Tour de France, it’s the mountains that
deliver, and we’ve only just seen the beginning of the hills in the Grande Boucle.
Today’s stage from Belfort to Porrentruy was gripping, exciting and
tantalising, and this was only a taste of what’s to come once the Tour
reaches the Alps and the Pyrenees.
Today was tipped as a day for the breakaways and that certainly turned out to be the case. The race moved east under sunny skies towards the French-Swiss border, 11 riders from various teams jumping off the front of the peloton a few kilometres in. They hovered 20 to 30 seconds off the front of the peloton for almost 10 kilometres, until the peloton managed to reel them in.
Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), however, pre-empting the breakaway’s capture, attacked on his own and began a solo breakaway up and over the first climb of the day. The oldest man in the Tour de France was sitting 30” ahead of the bunch as various groups of riders tried to bridge the gap to the super-domestique. A group of eight and a group of four managed to stay away from the peloton long enough to join forces and begin attempting Voigt’s capture. Before they could achieve it, though, the peloton surged forward to swallow them up, and instead Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Chris Anker Sorenson (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank) had a try.
The theme of fluid breakaways would continue over the course of the day, as a stubborn Jens Voigt refused to be caught. The feat was eventually achieved by a group of six riders that soon swelled to a breakaway of 11, but as the peloton once again threatened to catch them Voigt took off on his own again. Steven Kruijswijk of Rabobank decided to join him, and the pair led a field that was split into four or five groups with riders constantly being tailed off the back. The first few groups on the road amalgamated to form a super-breakaway of 24, still only a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton.
That was when Jérémy Roy, SuperCombative rider of the 2011 Tour, decided the day just wasn’t interesting enough and bridged the gap to the breakaway and passed them, beginning a solo time trial in the lead. The main peloton was having its own kind of excitement, as yet another crash of the kind that has defined this year’s Tour forced Euskaltel-Euskadi’s main man Samuel Sanchez to retire with a broken collarbone and hand. Alejandro Valverde of Movistar also took another tumble, adding to his list of bad luck in this year’s Tour.
Meanwhile Roy had left France behind him altogether and entered Switzerland, leading Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar) and their group of 20 chasers over the fourth climb and into the trilingual country. Roy was soon joined by Fredrik Kessiakoff, who had leapfrogged Kiryienka to take the lead, 3’40” ahead of the peloton. The duo were quickly caught by four other riders, including Roy’s FDJ-Bigmat teammate Thibaut Pinot, as they made their way over the fifth climb of the day, the Category 2 Cote de Saulcy. Having taken maximum points, Kessiakoff decided to go it alone, vaulting off the front of the leading sextet and building up almost a minute’s lead for himself.
The peloton was taking the day off, the number of escapees meaning there were no points up for grabs at the intermediate sprint. The teams kept the pace high, though, continuing to shell riders off the back as they went up and down the Jura mountains. The action was still on out the front, the chase on for lone leader Kessiakoff by the Frenchmen Pinot and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). Pinot soon dropped Gallopin and started coming for Kessiakoff, less than a minute ahead, as the peloton fractured and died, the only group on the road a small collection of the top GC contenders, including yellow jersey wearer Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Cadel Evans (BMC) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
Three minutes ahead, Pinot was bolting for the finish line, FDJ-Bigmat sports director Marc Madiot bellowing at him from the team car with more and more enthusiasm as Pinot raced closer and closer to home. Though he was being chased by the elite group of GC riders and climbers who were coming ever closer, the 22-year-old Frenchman held off the hordes long enough to raise his arms in tired but exultant triumph as he crossed the line in Porrentruy, the first French victory of the Tour. Behind him Evans and Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) were playing mind games with their enemies, Wiggins marking Evans carefully to avoid losing time to his rival. Despite Evans’ attacks, the group crossed the line as one, Evans taking second and the previously dropped Gallopin hanging in for third.
The general classification received another good shake-up today, though nothing has changed between top contenders Wiggins and Evans. Tomorrow’s time trial will certainly keep things interesting, and it’s hard to go past Wiggins or Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Tony Martin may or may not be in the mix, depending on how well his wrist has healed up. Watch out, too, for Cadel Evans. Though not as good a time triallist as the other three, Evans is in superlative form and he may prove a surprise in his attempt to claim the yellow.
Today was tipped as a day for the breakaways and that certainly turned out to be the case. The race moved east under sunny skies towards the French-Swiss border, 11 riders from various teams jumping off the front of the peloton a few kilometres in. They hovered 20 to 30 seconds off the front of the peloton for almost 10 kilometres, until the peloton managed to reel them in.
Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), however, pre-empting the breakaway’s capture, attacked on his own and began a solo breakaway up and over the first climb of the day. The oldest man in the Tour de France was sitting 30” ahead of the bunch as various groups of riders tried to bridge the gap to the super-domestique. A group of eight and a group of four managed to stay away from the peloton long enough to join forces and begin attempting Voigt’s capture. Before they could achieve it, though, the peloton surged forward to swallow them up, and instead Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Chris Anker Sorenson (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank) had a try.
The theme of fluid breakaways would continue over the course of the day, as a stubborn Jens Voigt refused to be caught. The feat was eventually achieved by a group of six riders that soon swelled to a breakaway of 11, but as the peloton once again threatened to catch them Voigt took off on his own again. Steven Kruijswijk of Rabobank decided to join him, and the pair led a field that was split into four or five groups with riders constantly being tailed off the back. The first few groups on the road amalgamated to form a super-breakaway of 24, still only a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton.
That was when Jérémy Roy, SuperCombative rider of the 2011 Tour, decided the day just wasn’t interesting enough and bridged the gap to the breakaway and passed them, beginning a solo time trial in the lead. The main peloton was having its own kind of excitement, as yet another crash of the kind that has defined this year’s Tour forced Euskaltel-Euskadi’s main man Samuel Sanchez to retire with a broken collarbone and hand. Alejandro Valverde of Movistar also took another tumble, adding to his list of bad luck in this year’s Tour.
Meanwhile Roy had left France behind him altogether and entered Switzerland, leading Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar) and their group of 20 chasers over the fourth climb and into the trilingual country. Roy was soon joined by Fredrik Kessiakoff, who had leapfrogged Kiryienka to take the lead, 3’40” ahead of the peloton. The duo were quickly caught by four other riders, including Roy’s FDJ-Bigmat teammate Thibaut Pinot, as they made their way over the fifth climb of the day, the Category 2 Cote de Saulcy. Having taken maximum points, Kessiakoff decided to go it alone, vaulting off the front of the leading sextet and building up almost a minute’s lead for himself.
The peloton was taking the day off, the number of escapees meaning there were no points up for grabs at the intermediate sprint. The teams kept the pace high, though, continuing to shell riders off the back as they went up and down the Jura mountains. The action was still on out the front, the chase on for lone leader Kessiakoff by the Frenchmen Pinot and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). Pinot soon dropped Gallopin and started coming for Kessiakoff, less than a minute ahead, as the peloton fractured and died, the only group on the road a small collection of the top GC contenders, including yellow jersey wearer Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Cadel Evans (BMC) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
Three minutes ahead, Pinot was bolting for the finish line, FDJ-Bigmat sports director Marc Madiot bellowing at him from the team car with more and more enthusiasm as Pinot raced closer and closer to home. Though he was being chased by the elite group of GC riders and climbers who were coming ever closer, the 22-year-old Frenchman held off the hordes long enough to raise his arms in tired but exultant triumph as he crossed the line in Porrentruy, the first French victory of the Tour. Behind him Evans and Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) were playing mind games with their enemies, Wiggins marking Evans carefully to avoid losing time to his rival. Despite Evans’ attacks, the group crossed the line as one, Evans taking second and the previously dropped Gallopin hanging in for third.
The general classification received another good shake-up today, though nothing has changed between top contenders Wiggins and Evans. Tomorrow’s time trial will certainly keep things interesting, and it’s hard to go past Wiggins or Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Tony Martin may or may not be in the mix, depending on how well his wrist has healed up. Watch out, too, for Cadel Evans. Though not as good a time triallist as the other three, Evans is in superlative form and he may prove a surprise in his attempt to claim the yellow.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Roy Will Be Less Combative
Jérémy Roy sets off on the roads of the Tour de France
Last year, Jérémy Roy, inspired columnist in his free time, was designated Super-Combative* rider of the Tour de France thanks in particular to his 735km spent in the lead, the second- highest total behind his teammate, Mickaël Delage. But there’s no need to expect him to win a double like riders before him, such as Laurent Jalabert (2001-02), Jacky Durand (1998-99), Richard Virenque (1996-97), and also Eddy Merckx (1969-70, 74-75).
“Unlike past years, we have a sprinter on the team (Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich),” he says. “It’s more necessary to protect him and perhaps that will be my role, that of breaking the wind, so I won’t be able to join breakaways as much. I will perhaps be less spirited but that will tire me just as much. That’s part of my job. Of course, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at another supercombative title either. But if I get it, it will mean that I’ve had some beautiful breakaways. The Tour that I had last year was fabulous and the hardest is yet to come. I hope to get there in winning a stage.”
* At the end of each, a jury composed of journalists, former cyclists and commissaires selects the Most Combative Rider of the day, rewarded for their spirit. At the end of the Tour, the jury also awards the Super-Combative Rider of the Tour through a separate vote.
On his second place during the French Time Trial Championships
“I’m trying to forget,” he says, half-jokingly. “13 seconds, that’s nothing over fifty kilometres. To come so close to the tricolour jersey… In a year, we will have forgotten that I finished second, we only remember the winner. But I have no regrets, I was at my max. I was a little weakened at the end, unlike Sylvain (Chavanel), but even so, I’ve succeeded in better managing my high-intensity efforts. Before, I perhaps used to go out a little too fast. I’ve always liked this exercise and I’ve always had reasonable results, especially in the time trials over 20kms. I've practised my position, my equipment and above all I’ve gained confidence."
Written by X.C. for L’Équipe at http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Roy-sera-moins-combatif/295003
Translated by Caelli Greenbank
Last year, Jérémy Roy, inspired columnist in his free time, was designated Super-Combative* rider of the Tour de France thanks in particular to his 735km spent in the lead, the second- highest total behind his teammate, Mickaël Delage. But there’s no need to expect him to win a double like riders before him, such as Laurent Jalabert (2001-02), Jacky Durand (1998-99), Richard Virenque (1996-97), and also Eddy Merckx (1969-70, 74-75).
“Unlike past years, we have a sprinter on the team (Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich),” he says. “It’s more necessary to protect him and perhaps that will be my role, that of breaking the wind, so I won’t be able to join breakaways as much. I will perhaps be less spirited but that will tire me just as much. That’s part of my job. Of course, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at another supercombative title either. But if I get it, it will mean that I’ve had some beautiful breakaways. The Tour that I had last year was fabulous and the hardest is yet to come. I hope to get there in winning a stage.”
* At the end of each, a jury composed of journalists, former cyclists and commissaires selects the Most Combative Rider of the day, rewarded for their spirit. At the end of the Tour, the jury also awards the Super-Combative Rider of the Tour through a separate vote.
On his second place during the French Time Trial Championships
“I’m trying to forget,” he says, half-jokingly. “13 seconds, that’s nothing over fifty kilometres. To come so close to the tricolour jersey… In a year, we will have forgotten that I finished second, we only remember the winner. But I have no regrets, I was at my max. I was a little weakened at the end, unlike Sylvain (Chavanel), but even so, I’ve succeeded in better managing my high-intensity efforts. Before, I perhaps used to go out a little too fast. I’ve always liked this exercise and I’ve always had reasonable results, especially in the time trials over 20kms. I've practised my position, my equipment and above all I’ve gained confidence."
Written by X.C. for L’Équipe at http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Roy-sera-moins-combatif/295003
Translated by Caelli Greenbank
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Tour Down Under - Stage 2
You wouldn’t have thought we were in the same country. In a complete contrast to the glaring heat of yesterday, Stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under began with a cold morning half the temperature of the day before. Steele von Hoff (UniSA) was glad of his gloves as he lined up with the 130 other riders at the starting line – Jurgen Roelandts of Lotto-Belisol and Frédéric Guesdon of FDJ-Big Mat both pulled out of the race after yesterday’s crash.
The more clement conditions meant that the attacks began almost as soon as the race did – Martin Kohler of Team BMC and Will Clarke riding for Team UniSA launched themselves off the peloton after barely a kilometre . The pair continued expanding the gap out, reaching around seven minutes from the peloton after the first sprint point, which Kohler won with Clarke second. The three-second time deduction for winning the sprint put Kohler just one second behind Andre Greipel’s overall lead, while three kilometres behind the riders began attacking off the front of the peloton in pursuit of sprint points.
Australian Michael Matthews of Rabobank claimed third in the sprints, but instead of the riders competing for third falling back to the peloton after the sprint point, a chase group of 12 riders formed, trailing six minutes behind the two leaders, with a few more riders 200 metres ahead of the peloton. But their glory was short-lived, quickly reeled back into the peloton , still seven or eight minutes behind Clarke and Kohler.
But Kohler’s moment in the sun seemed to be short-lived, too. As he and Clarke passed the second sprint point the gap went back down to 5:50, and Kohler began to drop back. By the time they reached the finish line in Stirling to begin the first of three laps, Kohler had completely disappeared back into the peloton and Clarke had a 12-and-a-half minute lead on them. He soloed through the finish line for the first time, attracting a huge cheer from the amassed crowd, which then stopped and stared incredulously for 11 minutes, waiting for the peloton.
The circuit took the riders a little longer than expected, around 40 minutes instead of the anticipated half an hour, but Will Clarke appeared to finish his first lap, albeit a little less comfortably than before. The peloton rode by again 11 minutes later, having brought in an attempted break by Movistar rider Angel Madrazo during the lap. It was a minute further back to the green lantern; AG2R La Mondiale’s Boris Shiplevskiy brought up the rear.
Between laps there was plenty to keep the eager public occupied – the Tour Parade, with its funny cars, waving drivers and free giveaways kept the kids entertained, and the arrival of cycling legend Eddy Merckx caused great excitement among the fans. The colourful jerseys of ProTeams and local clubs alike abounded, and every second person seemed to be pushing a bike.
But as Clarke came closer to the end of the race, his laps became slower...and the peloton became faster. Coming round for the third time and receiving the warning bell as he began his last lap, Clarke had lost two to three minutes to the pursuing hordes on his second lap and was down to an eight-minute lead. As the peloton raced past onto their final lap, closing in on their prey, the tension in the crowd became palpable. They were loving the young Tasmanian underdog from the local team.
Except the prospects weren't looking good. The commentators were counting down the gap between the leader and the peloton as they raced around the final circuit of Stirling, the crowd bellowing unheard encouragement for the 26-year-old to hold off his pursuers just a little longer. The noise at the finish line increased dramatically as a lone rider in a convoy of motorbikes came into view just 300 metres from the finish line, the peloton held at bay long enough for Clarke to ride across the finish and claim his well-deserved stage win, along with the sprint classification jersey and the King of the Mountains jersey.
The peloton stormed by a minute later, sprinters like Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky jostling for position. But it was destined to be an all-Aussie peloton for the day - Michael Matthews sprinted up again for second place this time, while Australian National Road Race Champion Simon Gerrans of GreenEDGE rounded out the top three. Justifiably, Martin Kohler's efforts earlier in the day put him two seconds ahead of Andre Greipel to claim the ochre leader's jersey.
On another note, a personal highlight of the day - as the riders began heading back out onto the road to ride back to the Tour village, the traffic being at a standstill, I found Jérémy Roy of Team FDJ-Big Mat, who kindly stopped to speak to me for a minute. He even handed me his bidon (which was nice and cold, by the way) after I gave him a small toy koala for his daughter Julia. Maybe I need an FDJ jersey as well now...Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Tour Down Under - Stage 1
Today was, for Australian cycling fans, a rather exciting day - the beginning of new Aussie ProTour team GreenEDGE's first World Tour race. The Adelaide suburb of Prospect's streets were gratifyingly full, and the crowd was two or three people deep along the fence as the race started, some of cycling's big names rolling off as Eddy Merckx fired the starting gun.
It was a horribly hot day - Marcus Burghardt's description of its effect on human beings was 'boiling' - and as such sitting in Clare waiting 5 hours for the peloton to arrive didn't seem advisable. Instead I offer a selection of photos from today's stage as well as the elite men's road race at the National Championships last weekend.
(In case you don't recognise them, the photos above are: with Stuart O'Grady from GreenEDGE at nationals; Mick Rogers from Team Sky signing on at nationals; GreenEDGE leading the peloton to the KOM at nationals; with Jeremy Roy from FDJ-Big Mat at TDU; with Jens Voigt from Radioshack-Nissan-Trek at TDU; with Hayden Roulston from Radioshack-Nissan-Trek at TDU; with Jesse Sergent from Radioshack-Nissan-Trek at TDU; with Geraint Thomas from Sky at TDU; with Mathew Hayman from Sky at TDU; Jens Voigt and Linus Gerdemann from Radioshack-Nissan-Trek prepping for stage one at the TDU; the beginning of stage one at TDU.)
Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow's post from the stage two finish at Stirling!
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Jérémy Roy, Supercombatif du Tour
Roy a eu une carrière un peu différente que les autres coureurs. Il est devenu pro en 2003, mais son palmarès était virtuellement vierge avant sa victoire du stage sur Paris-Nice il y a deux ans. Ce commencement lent de sa carrière est dû à ses études qu'il a continué après il est passé pro. Il a expliqué dans une entrevue récente qu’il l’a fait car il n’a pas pensé qu’il aurait fini ses études après sa carrière. Malgré les sacrifices cette décision a nécessité sur la course, Roy dit que c’est un choix qu’il «ne regrette pas».
Sur le vélo aussi, Roy ne fait pas la course comme des autres coureurs. Pas un sprinter, un coureur du GC ou même un bon domestique, Roy préfère rouler sa course seule dans une échappée. Ces tactiques de confrontation sont très fatigant et n’est pas des tactiques du vainqueur d’un maillot. «Cavendish a roulé 1 kilomètre en tête sur le TDF et 5 victoires. Euh…moi, j’en ai fait 750…et pas toujours de victoire,» Roy a écrit récemment sur Twitter.
C’est certainement vrai, mais ce travail de Roy n’est pas exactement sans récompense. Roy a porté le dossard rouge du coureur plus combative deux fois dans le Tour 2011, qui l’a occasionné à gagner le prix de la SuperCombativité pour le coureur le plus plein d’entrain pendant le Tour. Il a porté aussi le maillot à pois pendant étape 14 à Plateau de Beille grâce aux points qu’il a gagnés pendant ses échappées.
Et il ne s’arrête pas encore. La Shimano Suzuka Road Race commencera dans 10 jours, après laquelle l’homme de Tours peut passer du temps avec sa femme et sa jeune fille, Julia. Mais comme l’interviewer l'a décrit, Jérémy Roy est un coureur «pas comme les autres».
Lire l'entrevue entière ici.
Photographe grâce à Jeremy Roy à http://www.jeremyroy.fr/
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Stage 21 - Creteil => Paris Champs-Elysees
The final day of the Tour de France. Traditionally uncontested, the ride up the Champs-Elysees is intended as nothing more than a victory lap for the deserving winner and a final chance for the sprinters to do their thing and cement, claim or lose the green jersey.
And what a victory lap it was. Cadel Evans was revelling in the glory of his win, making history in more than one way. Samuel Sanchez and Pierre Rolland were also enjoying their day in the sun, both figurative and literal, as the peloton rolled along the roads from Creteil into central Paris. With another sprint stage still to come Mark Cavendish's hold on the green jersey wasn't certain, but 62 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Movistar's JJ Rojas, the much-coveted maillot was likely to remain his.
The day had a rather sombre start to it, with the peloton all pausing for a minute's silence to commemorate the tragic events in Norway two days earlier. Then it was back on the bikes and pedalling again towards the end of the 98th Tour de France. For the first half of the race no-one was taking the 'race' part very seriously, the jersey winners riding along congratulating each other, Cadel leading the peloton with his team BMC and sharing the traditional glass of champagne with his DS, John Lelangue.
All camaraderie was out the window once they hit the Champs-Elysees, though. The pace began to pick up and there was a subtle shift in the demeanour of the riders leading the peloton down France's most famous street. BMC disappeared back into the main peloton, protecting Cadel from any last-minute mishaps, while the other teams began trying to build a breakaway.
It wasn't until aptly-named British Sky sprinter Ben Swift decided to take his chance that anyone got away. Followed by four others, they took advantage of the peloton's distraction at the intermediate sprint point and bolted away to a 45-second lead with 35 kilometres left to ride. While most of the teams were uninterested in the sprint, HTC-Highroad and Movistar in particular were keen to fight it out, Cavendish and Renshaw taking 7th and 8th to push 9th-placed José Joaquin Rojas further back in the race for the green sprinter's jersey.
Despite BMC's efforts, Cadel didn't entirely manage to avoid trouble, though. It wasn't shown on the broadcast, but he revealed later on that as he slowed down to go around a sharp corner, the motorbike in front of him wasn't quite as considered and went over. Cadel, with the help of his teammates, managed to dodge the toppled motorbike and continued on to finish the stage without trouble.
As the peloton rounded the final corner signalling six kilometres to go the break was still 20 seconds ahead, and it fell to the teams of the sprinters not represented in the break to try and bring it back. Swift and HTC-Highroad's Lars Bak were the last two to be reeled in at three kilometres to go, and after that the HTC-Highroad Express blazoned a path down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the 2011 Tour de France peloton in its wake. With the high pace being set by Tony Martin and Cav's 'pilotfish', Bernie Eisel, it's not surprising that no-one could escape the clutches of the peloton until the Manx Missile was released to take his fifth stage victory of this Tour and his 20th Tour career victory. My cutie Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Greipel came a close third and second, followed by Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar and a surprising fifth in Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
And thus ended another gripping, thrilling, heart-rending and triumphant Tour de France. The first ever winner from both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere stands on the top step of the podium, with the first ever pair of brothers to podium standing to either side. Cadel has finally combined two second places to make a first, while Andy stands one step down for the third year in a row. Samuel Sanchez carried off the polka-dot jersey, Cav has finally won his green one, and Alberto Contador was nowhere to be seen, finishing 3:57 down on the overall winner. French unknown Pierre Rolland stole away with white, Garmin-Cervelo got to stand on the podium with their World Champion as the fastest team, while FDJ's Jeremy Roy (a.k.a. 'our Jeremy') took the prize of 'Supercombativity' - the most aggressive and spirited rider overall. And while as a devoted Leopard Trek fan girl I would love to see the sky blue and black a step higher up the podium next year, I can't help but have a patriotic feeling that my dear Andy will have a helluva time taking that yellow off Cadel next year.
The day had a rather sombre start to it, with the peloton all pausing for a minute's silence to commemorate the tragic events in Norway two days earlier. Then it was back on the bikes and pedalling again towards the end of the 98th Tour de France. For the first half of the race no-one was taking the 'race' part very seriously, the jersey winners riding along congratulating each other, Cadel leading the peloton with his team BMC and sharing the traditional glass of champagne with his DS, John Lelangue.
All camaraderie was out the window once they hit the Champs-Elysees, though. The pace began to pick up and there was a subtle shift in the demeanour of the riders leading the peloton down France's most famous street. BMC disappeared back into the main peloton, protecting Cadel from any last-minute mishaps, while the other teams began trying to build a breakaway.
It wasn't until aptly-named British Sky sprinter Ben Swift decided to take his chance that anyone got away. Followed by four others, they took advantage of the peloton's distraction at the intermediate sprint point and bolted away to a 45-second lead with 35 kilometres left to ride. While most of the teams were uninterested in the sprint, HTC-Highroad and Movistar in particular were keen to fight it out, Cavendish and Renshaw taking 7th and 8th to push 9th-placed José Joaquin Rojas further back in the race for the green sprinter's jersey.
Despite BMC's efforts, Cadel didn't entirely manage to avoid trouble, though. It wasn't shown on the broadcast, but he revealed later on that as he slowed down to go around a sharp corner, the motorbike in front of him wasn't quite as considered and went over. Cadel, with the help of his teammates, managed to dodge the toppled motorbike and continued on to finish the stage without trouble.
As the peloton rounded the final corner signalling six kilometres to go the break was still 20 seconds ahead, and it fell to the teams of the sprinters not represented in the break to try and bring it back. Swift and HTC-Highroad's Lars Bak were the last two to be reeled in at three kilometres to go, and after that the HTC-Highroad Express blazoned a path down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the 2011 Tour de France peloton in its wake. With the high pace being set by Tony Martin and Cav's 'pilotfish', Bernie Eisel, it's not surprising that no-one could escape the clutches of the peloton until the Manx Missile was released to take his fifth stage victory of this Tour and his 20th Tour career victory. My cutie Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Greipel came a close third and second, followed by Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar and a surprising fifth in Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).
And thus ended another gripping, thrilling, heart-rending and triumphant Tour de France. The first ever winner from both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere stands on the top step of the podium, with the first ever pair of brothers to podium standing to either side. Cadel has finally combined two second places to make a first, while Andy stands one step down for the third year in a row. Samuel Sanchez carried off the polka-dot jersey, Cav has finally won his green one, and Alberto Contador was nowhere to be seen, finishing 3:57 down on the overall winner. French unknown Pierre Rolland stole away with white, Garmin-Cervelo got to stand on the podium with their World Champion as the fastest team, while FDJ's Jeremy Roy (a.k.a. 'our Jeremy') took the prize of 'Supercombativity' - the most aggressive and spirited rider overall. And while as a devoted Leopard Trek fan girl I would love to see the sky blue and black a step higher up the podium next year, I can't help but have a patriotic feeling that my dear Andy will have a helluva time taking that yellow off Cadel next year.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Stage 13 - Pau => Lourdes
It was a gloriously triumphant stage and a devastatingly disappointing stage, depending on which way you look at it. One man lifted himself above his limits to a well-deserved stage win, but another lost out at the last-minute on his hard-won stage victory after stretching his limits as well. The Tour de France is always exciting, but it's never quite so heart-breaking and heart-rending as this.
Sadly, but not unsuprisingly, today's stage also began with those who couldn't. Quickstep sprinter Gert Steegmans never made it to the starting line, and three riders didn't get much past it - Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha), Lars Boom of Rabobank, and Team Radioshack's last hope in German Andreas Kloden all felt they couldn't go on. The nasty crashes of the first week are beginning to take their deadly toll on Tour de France hopes. Russian sprinter Denis Galimzyanov was also absent, having finished outside the elimination time on Luz-Ardiden yesterday.
When it came to the day's breakaway it took the riders a while to figure themselves out. In the end FDJ's Jeremy Roy, clearly tired of all the fluffing around, decided that if no-one else was going to break away, he would. Several of the sprinters, realising there was now an echappee, opted to join in, including world champion Thor Hushovd and Italian Lampre sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. But this was Roy's breakaway, and the rules were clear: you keep up with my speed, and don't hold me back, or you can go back to the peloton. Most of the other nine riders were happy to abide by his rules, and some even took turns at the pace-making, such as Sky's young sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen, who is beginning to show some skill in climbing. Boasson Hagen also led the breakaway through the intermediate sprint, no-one bothering to race for maximum points. The peloton did, though, with Movistar's JJ Rojas and a teammate outmanouvering a very annoyed Cavendish for 10th place.
It was Thor Hushovd who eventually decided that he needed to increase the speed. The Norweigan accelerated out from the back of the group of 10, rocketing away up the hill. At first no-one reacted, but after a minute Roy decided that no-one was breaking away from his breakaway without his permission. He began chasing the powerful sprinter down and soon passed him, being a better climber. Cofidis' eccentric climber David Moncoutie also decided to farewell his fellow escapees and set off after Hushovd, for a while with the Tour's other Norweigan Eddy Boasson Hagen in tow. Moncoutie soon caught up to Hushovd on his own, and similarly dropped him later on.
Roy managed to acheive the aim of his breakaway - he crossed the Col d'Aubisque in the lead and took the 20 points for first over the hors-categorie climb, giving him enough points in the King of the Mountains classification to take the polka-dot jersey. But with an eight-minute lead over the peloton and more than a minute ahead of his nearest pursuers, Roy expanded his ambitions - go for the stage win.
And go he did. Roy shot off like a cat with its tail on fire, as did his pursuers, while the peloton was merely out for a Sunday ride, seemingly oblivious to all other considerations. By the time the peloton crossed over the non-categorised Col du Solour, the riders ahead had organised themselves into distinct groups - first there was Roy, doing his own little time-trial in the lead; then Moncoutie and Hushovd, who had caught the Frenchman on the descent of Solour and now had him in his slipstream; and then the trio of Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jerome Pineau (Quickstep) and Lars Bak of HTC-Highroad sitting in positions four through six on the road.
But now it was chase time, Leopard Trek sending some riders to the front of the peloton to up the pace as Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) jumped off the front with Rabobank's Bauke Mollema on his tail. While unconcerned by riders like Hushovd, Roy and Pineau, Gilbert is reasonably high in the overall classification and the leaders were a bit nervous about him getting too far ahead. He finished the stage just under a minute head of the peloton, vaulting him into ninth place in the general classification.
It was chase time for the breakaway too. The massive form of Thor Hushovd, with red-clad Moncoutie in his wake, was now bearing down on raceaway Roy, one and a half minutes ahead. Though the day was classified as a 'mountain' stage because of the HC climb in the middle, the road to the finish was flat, and Roy had to stay ahead if he wanted to win, as neither Frenchman could beat the Norweigan in a sprint finish. As the peloton continued its leisurely pace southwards Hushovd continued to eat away at Roy's lead, until by the 10 kilometres-to-go banner Roy was only 30 seconds ahead.
But 'Jeje' Roy stayed tantalisingly out of reach, stubbornly staying 15 seconds ahead of Hushovd for the next seven-and-a-half kilometres, until Hushovd decided it was time to shut him down once and for all to take the stage. Despite looking like he was flagging, Hushovd suddenly jumped forward, leaving behind Moncoutie (who refused to help with the pace-making so as not to be accused of preventing a French victory) and very quickly came up behind Roy, who didn't even have the energy to jump in Hushovd's slipstream and grab second place. A demoralised Roy rolled over the line 26 seconds behind the leader.
Though earning himself both the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains and the red number of the most combative or "spirited" rider, Roy was extremely disheartened to lose the stage so close to victory. "They [my wife and parents] were disappointed for me, they cried. They believed it too," he said in an article he wrote for French sports paper 'L'Equipe'. This is the heart-rending part - as a sprinter Hushovd was thrilled to take a 'miracle' stage win over the high mountains, but at the cost of "not a champion" man who had worked all day for the same prize. How do you choose who should win?
Nothing to report on the big names; the only major change in the GC is Gilbert's jump to ninth. Tomorrow on the road to Plateau du Beille is when the girls and boys may - or may not - come out to play. Whether Contador decides to attack and make up time or whether everyone waits til the Alps to go for gold (en jerseys) remains to be seen.
And for the record, I chose Jeremy.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Stage 12 - Cugnaux => Luz-Ardiden
There is a saying amongst the riders when they reach the Pyrenees - "Le Tour commence aujourd'hui" ("The Tour starts today"), and they would be right. This is the reason I have been waiting so eagerly for the mountains in the Tour de France - it's where you get to separate the boys from the men, find out who is in good form and who's not, and you can finally tell who's serious about winning the Tour de France.
As expected on such as auspicious day there was a certain amount of chaos from people attacking, falling back, being caught and dropping off, but being the mountains there are only so many riders who can truly handle them, and it wasn't as hard as it sometimes is to keep track of who was where. The drama (and the television coverage!) started at 80 kilometres from the finish. As usual there was a breakaway out the front - this time it was Geraint Thomas from Team Sky leading it, Laurent Mangel from Saur-Sojasun, Blel Kadri of AG2R and Ruben Perez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, as well as Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) and Jeremy Roy (FDJ) for the umpteenth time, all seven or eight minutes ahead of the peloton.
Meanwhile the sprinters were gathering themselves up for the last goodbye - the final green jersey points before the mountains where they would be relegated to the autobus, the group of non-mountain-loving sprinters just trying to get over the finish before the elimination time. Though the highest points had already been taken the breakaway, the sprinters still took their chances, and it was really no surprise to anyone that it was Mark Cavendish who took the maximum remaining points, followed by teammates Gossie and Renshaw. The two picked up more points to increase the gap between Cav and his nearest rivals for the green jersey, Philippe Gilbert and Jose Joaquin Rojas, who followed the HTC boys across the line. After that it was the back of the pack and the autobus for these guys.
It was on the first climb of the day, the Category 1 Hourquette d'Ancizan, that the first move came. King of the Mountains Johnny Hoogerland, soon followed by first Sylvain Chavanel and then Roman Kreuziger, raced on ahead in the hopes of winning enough extra polka-dot jersey points to keep his hold on the KOM jersey. While Hoogerland soon reappeared in the peloton's radar, and even Chavanel eventually came home thanks to the relentless riding of the main bunch, Kreuziger went right off and was at one point within 30 seconds of the leading riders, though he never bridged the gap and fell off the back like all the rest as the climbs reached their steepest.
It was on the first climb of the day, the Category 1 Hourquette d'Ancizan, that the first move came. King of the Mountains Johnny Hoogerland, soon followed by first Sylvain Chavanel and then Roman Kreuziger, raced on ahead in the hopes of winning enough extra polka-dot jersey points to keep his hold on the KOM jersey. While Hoogerland soon reappeared in the peloton's radar, and even Chavanel eventually came home thanks to the relentless riding of the main bunch, Kreuziger went right off and was at one point within 30 seconds of the leading riders, though he never bridged the gap and fell off the back like all the rest as the climbs reached their steepest.
Out the front the lead group was collasping, as Geraint Thomas decided he was better off alone and made it happen. Thomas had been wearing the white jersey of the best young rider until the crash of team leader Brad Wiggins, where the team stopped to see if the injured Brit could continue and Thomas lost several minutes on his rivals. Jeremy Roy soon decided that he didn't like left behind and dragged himself up to form the leading pair, leading the race until part-way up Luz-Ardiden, the final hors-categorie (outside classification) climb of the day.
The peloton were having fun too. Geraint Thomas had earlier had problems on one of the corners - he braked, caused his back wheel to lock and went skidding off the side of the road on a downhill. Thankfully dodging between the parked cars and falling off his bike before the pair took the short cut down the mountain, he remounted and continued the descent, only to go skidding off the road again at the next corner! Swapping bikes (there was mud on his wheels from the first incident that caused the second one), Thomas continued the cautious descent, while team staff advised their riders to beware Thomas' issues. But at that self-same corner Thomas Voeckler also locked his back wheel and crashed gently into one of the parked cars, before turning his bike and heading downhill again. Other riders weren't so lucky, hitting the deck in the middle of the corner and forcing the peloton around them. No injuries more serious than scrapes and bruises, though.
The peloton continued up the first hors-categorie climb of the Col de Tourmalet, Leopard Trek setting a grueling pace, while two or three different breakaway groups formed and faded away, the only one that never came back being that of Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Omega Pharma-Lotto unknown Jelle Vanendert. The peloton slowly grew smaller up the climb, riders like Jens Voigt and Stuey O'Grady sacrificing themselves completely under orders from the Schleck brothers. By the time they were one-third of the way up Luz-Ardiden it had paid off. While Sanchez and Vanendert were still a minute or so ahead, the only other riders left were the Schlecks, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, Damiano Cunego, leader of Team Lampre, Ivan Basso and teammate Sylvester Smyzd, who was likewise ordered to pick up the pace, and yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler and teammate Pierre Rolland (Europcar). The octet paced each other up, watching for the moves, until Andy and Frank pulled the old one-two on the rest, Andy feinting before Frank pulled away and made a move. The second time Frank went none followed, so the Luxembourg national champion chased down the two leaders and finished just behind Jelle Vanendert, who didn't have the legs to beat Sanchez to the stage win. Meanwhile the other six, Sylvester Smyzd now having been dropped, continued on up to the high finish, and everyone was surprised to see Andy, Cadel and Basso round the corner without Contador, who eventually finish eight seconds behind.
The general classification is now in disarray, Thomas Voeckler with less of a gap after finishing 30 seconds behind Frank Schleck, who has now leapfrogged Cadel into second place thanks to his breakaway attempt. Contador, while now ahead of almost everyone else in the GC, is even further behind the riders who really matter - Frank, Andy, Cadel, and even Ivan and Damiano. Cavendish retains the green jersey, as does Voeckler his yellow, while Sanchez stole the King of the Mountains jersey at the top of Luz-Ardiden, and the white jersey is now being sported by young FDJ rider Arnold Jeannesson, who managed to follow the big names right up the mountain to finish in 13th place. Oddly enough, Jeannesson was only trying to improve himself in the general classification, and regarded the maillot blanc as a sort of extra benefit on the side!
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Stage 7 - Le Mans => Chateauroux
What was meant to be another normal, easy day in the Tour has once again turned into tragedy as only the Tour can. It's beginning to prove as it does every year that a normal day in the Tour de France is actually the most abnormal thing that can occur.
It did start off normal, at least - the customary breakaway with the peloton in no hurry to catch up. But 90 kilometres in, after comments to his DS from other riders, numerous trips to the team car, painkillers and struggling the whole way, Tom Boonen (Quickstep) hung up the dossard (race number) for this year's Tour. Suffering a concussion and a lot of grazes and bruises from the stage in coastal Brittany that took down numerous good riders, Boonen felt that he couldn't finish the day's stage. "I was wondering, 'who am I pleasing by continuing?'" Boonen is quoted as saying by Cyclingnews.com. "Not myself, that's for sure."
A few people were surprised when Jeremy Roy from FDJ launched himself off the front of the peloton, thinking that he surely couldn't be trying to bridge the seven-minute gap to the breakaway in front. But the cognoscenti knew that the day's stage would pass by Roy's house, as he'd written in his blog the night before, and as the cameras followed him Roy stopped outside a house on the very outskirts of Saint-Armand-Longpre to hug friends and family.
The feared winds began hitting the peloton soon, and the effect was clear. I guess it was too much to hope that a single stage of the Tour could go without a crash, especially in the first week, and the first one came at 48 kilometres to go. No one was seriously hurt, though several strong riders including Roman Kreuziger from Astana had some hard riding to catch up.
But the worst was yet to come. In another of the gruesome crashes like the one that took out Radioshack's Janez Brajkovic two days ago, a huge fall in the middle of the slow-moving peloton took out a number of well-known riders including Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer from Radioshack, Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Tyler Farrar, the sprinter from Garmin-Cervelo. But the biggest loss of the day was Sky team leader Bradley Wiggins, who also came down in the fall. Wiggins was holding his left arm tenderly and wincing as the team doctor examined him, and it was later confirmed that Wiggins had broken his left collarbone. He was immediately withdrawn from the race and put into a race ambulance, leaving the six-odd Sky riders waiting to pace Wiggins back into the main peloton to try and bridge the almost four-minute gap as they dealt with the huge blow to their team. FDJ rider Remi Pauriol also broke his collarbone and did not finish the stage. Pauriol brings the list of riders no longer competing to eight overall.
That was not the end of matters. The massive crash in the middle of the peloton split it right down the middle. What looked to be only 60 riders made it to the front peloton, while another 80 who had crashed or been blocked by the crash chased them three minutes behind, with many other riders individually or in small groups trying to make it back to one of the pelotons.
And after all that drama the stage had yet to be decided! By this point, however, it was down to what front-pacing team HTC Highroad know best - a straight-out sprint. And after a dubious first few stages the American team had their famous lead-out train in perfect working order. All nine riders, unaffected by the crash, made a perfectly straight, even line at the front of the main peloton, with Mark Cavendish sitting in ninth place and every other sprinter in the world trying to get on his back wheel. But there is never any point trying to compete with the entire HTC lead-out train, and Mark Renshaw and compatriots made it easy for Mark Cavendish to take his 17th Tour de France stage victory, on the same finish line where he took his first victory in 2008. Needless to say, Cav was ecstatic, but "gutted" to hear about fellow Brit Brad Wiggins' withdrawal from the race.
Nothing to report on the top three GC contenders, but as the saying goes, at this point no news is good news. Knowing what separates GC riders from the rest is their climbing ability, it's likely Cadel Evans (BMC), Alberto Contador (Saxobank-Sungard) and Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) will sit tight until the Pyrenees, where no one can ride quite as fast as they can up the mountains. Right now their main job is to stay at the front of the peloton and keep safe, though Cadel Evans is clearly feeling in brilliant form at the moment and may not have ruled out the possibility of another stage win, especially with Contador still giving fans no reason to believe that he is entirely the man who has won this race three times before. Is he still that man, or has Contador peaked already?
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Stage 5 - Carhaix => Cap Frehel
It was a day of misery on the roads of coastal Brittany. What should have been nothing more than a stage in which to be careful turned into utter carnage among the peloton and the riders. Everything from clipped wheels to motorbikes and cars caused cyclists to go flying every which way and in one case, to the hospital.
It started off like every TdF stage - a breakaway, the peloton sitting back, planning to reel them in the appropriate time. There was a familiar name in the breakaway - Jose Ivan Gutierrez from Movistar was up the front again, getting some more prime time for his team's sponsor, along with three other riders.
And that was when the chaos began at the back of the peloton in the first crash of the day. A comparatively minor altercation, Quickstep's Sylvain Chavanel went down, along with Sky team leader Bradley Wiggins and his domestique Christian Knees. The only injury being pride, with 104 kilometres to go the unconcerned riders fixed their bikes and rode on to rejoin the peloton.
The chutes didn't stop there. The next crash was perhaps the most dramatic of the day - Janez Brajkovic (Radioshack) crashed on the side of the road, along with Rabobank's Robert Gesink, both of whom wear number one for their team. On the other side of the road Alberto Contador had also gone down. While Contador simply traded his bike for a new one and kept going with a couple of scrapes and bruises, Robert Gesink was bleeding from knees and elbows, and as soon as he'd caught up to the peloton he went to the white medical car to get patched up a bit and something to keep the pain at bay until he reached the finish. Brajkovic was in much worse shape. Unconscious on the road when the team doctor reached him, he was able to stand after a few minutes but was soon withdrawn from the Tour and loaded into an ambulance bound for hospital. He was later found to have a broken left collarbone as well as a nasty concussion.
The next in the long list of casualties was Tom Boonen (Quickstep), who went down in the back of the peloton with teammate Gert Steegmans. While Steegmans was back in his bike and off in seconds, Boonen was lying in the road for a while with doctors fussing over him. After five minutes of dizziness, Boonen was able to get back on his bike and back in the race, but having lost six minutes after his crash, the challenge was now to finish within the elimination time of 18 minutes. Coming in 13 minutes after the stage finish, Boonen was safe and straight off to hospital for a full damage report.
That wasn't even the last of the crashes. Danish champion from Team Saxobank-Sungard, Nicki Sorenson, was taken out by a press motorbike, which saw him thrown clear of the peloton into a group of suprised spectators, while his bike was dragged under the motorbike for another 400 metres. Thankfully unharmed from a soft landing, Sorenson was handed another bike and kept going.
The breakaway was caught at around 70 kilometres to go, a dangerous distance because of the likelihood of new breakaways. Statistics didn't diappoint, with frequent breakaway rider Jeremy Roy and former French national champion Thomas Voeckler jumping off the front at the 30-kilometre mark. But riders still weren't safe, with Euskaltel-Euskadi's Ivan Velasco crashing into a barrier and ending up in the gutter in the final 50 kilometres. Velasco is likely to withdraw from the Tour, having broken his right collarbone in the fall.
Voeckler and Roy's gutsy breakaway effort almost paid off, with an exhausted Roy pulled in a few kilometres from the finish. Voeckler played hard to get, and was only caught by the peloton with two kilometres to go. After that it was a finish for the sprinters, names like Thor Hushovd and J.J. Rojas present at the front with Mark Cavendish, who showed his trademark super-acceleration to win the stage. For such an unremarkable stage it certainly proved to be rather remarkable.
It started off like every TdF stage - a breakaway, the peloton sitting back, planning to reel them in the appropriate time. There was a familiar name in the breakaway - Jose Ivan Gutierrez from Movistar was up the front again, getting some more prime time for his team's sponsor, along with three other riders.
And that was when the chaos began at the back of the peloton in the first crash of the day. A comparatively minor altercation, Quickstep's Sylvain Chavanel went down, along with Sky team leader Bradley Wiggins and his domestique Christian Knees. The only injury being pride, with 104 kilometres to go the unconcerned riders fixed their bikes and rode on to rejoin the peloton.
The chutes didn't stop there. The next crash was perhaps the most dramatic of the day - Janez Brajkovic (Radioshack) crashed on the side of the road, along with Rabobank's Robert Gesink, both of whom wear number one for their team. On the other side of the road Alberto Contador had also gone down. While Contador simply traded his bike for a new one and kept going with a couple of scrapes and bruises, Robert Gesink was bleeding from knees and elbows, and as soon as he'd caught up to the peloton he went to the white medical car to get patched up a bit and something to keep the pain at bay until he reached the finish. Brajkovic was in much worse shape. Unconscious on the road when the team doctor reached him, he was able to stand after a few minutes but was soon withdrawn from the Tour and loaded into an ambulance bound for hospital. He was later found to have a broken left collarbone as well as a nasty concussion.
The next in the long list of casualties was Tom Boonen (Quickstep), who went down in the back of the peloton with teammate Gert Steegmans. While Steegmans was back in his bike and off in seconds, Boonen was lying in the road for a while with doctors fussing over him. After five minutes of dizziness, Boonen was able to get back on his bike and back in the race, but having lost six minutes after his crash, the challenge was now to finish within the elimination time of 18 minutes. Coming in 13 minutes after the stage finish, Boonen was safe and straight off to hospital for a full damage report.
That wasn't even the last of the crashes. Danish champion from Team Saxobank-Sungard, Nicki Sorenson, was taken out by a press motorbike, which saw him thrown clear of the peloton into a group of suprised spectators, while his bike was dragged under the motorbike for another 400 metres. Thankfully unharmed from a soft landing, Sorenson was handed another bike and kept going.
The breakaway was caught at around 70 kilometres to go, a dangerous distance because of the likelihood of new breakaways. Statistics didn't diappoint, with frequent breakaway rider Jeremy Roy and former French national champion Thomas Voeckler jumping off the front at the 30-kilometre mark. But riders still weren't safe, with Euskaltel-Euskadi's Ivan Velasco crashing into a barrier and ending up in the gutter in the final 50 kilometres. Velasco is likely to withdraw from the Tour, having broken his right collarbone in the fall.
Voeckler and Roy's gutsy breakaway effort almost paid off, with an exhausted Roy pulled in a few kilometres from the finish. Voeckler played hard to get, and was only caught by the peloton with two kilometres to go. After that it was a finish for the sprinters, names like Thor Hushovd and J.J. Rojas present at the front with Mark Cavendish, who showed his trademark super-acceleration to win the stage. For such an unremarkable stage it certainly proved to be rather remarkable.
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