The most interesting thing about today’s time trial was the absence of the favourites. With riders like Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin and Sylvain Chavanel out, we got to see some of the riders who are usually only second-best stepping up to the plate on the second-last stage before the Tour reaches Paris.
A much-reduced field began Stage 19 from Bonneval to Chartres, only 153 men left in the race from the 198 who started in Liège. As always the lanterne rouge left the starting house first, Saur-Sojasun’s Jimmy Engoulvent once again holding the unenviable title. The next 44 riders started one minute apart, 45th-placed Rubén Plaza Molina (Movistar) the first rider to start after a two-minute interval. Argos-Shimano’s Patrick Gretsch claimed the early lead, leading through both time checks at the 14 kilometre and 30.5 kilometre marks to finish in a time of 1h06’41”.
Gretsch continued to lead after American time trial Dave Zabriskie finished, the man known as ‘Captain America’ coming in 44” behind Gretsch to claim second place. The German’s reign wouldn’t last much longer, though. Despite Gretsch having bested the American champion in Zabriskie, Spanish national time trial champion Luis Léon Sánchez posted a time three seconds better than that of Gretsch at the first time check, following this up with a time 16 seconds faster at the second time check. An average speed of 48.6km/h helped Sánchez to finish in the leading time of 1h06’03”.
Sánchez was destined to spend quite some time in the ‘hot seat’ of the time trial’s leading rider, none of those following quite able to dislodge the Spaniard. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) finished just 12 seconds behind, and Team Sky’s Richie Porte also slotted into third place, just ahead of early leader Gretsch. The big guns were yet to come out to play, though, the day’s fastest times expected from the GC contenders who would be the last out of the blocks.
The final 14 riders of the day began their time trials three minutes apart. Young BMC rocket Tejay van Garderen had all eyes on him as he set out after his unexpected impressive fourth place performance in the Stage 9 time trial. The 23-year-old American was the first to knock Sánchez down to second place at the first time check, but the youngster had started too fast, three places down from Sánchez after 30 kilometres, finally finishing almost three minutes down from the Spaniard.
By this point the big names were out on the course, riders like Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) making one last attempt to move up in the general classification. The weeks of racing seemed to have taken their toll, however, and in the end only two riders mattered – Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, Sky’s deadly duo.
Froome left the starting house first, topping the times at every checkpoint and finally displacing Sánchez from the hot seat by 34 seconds. History was repeating itself; thus far the stage mimicked the earlier time trial in Besancon, and that wasn’t about to change. Following the example set by his teammate, Wiggins became the first rider to pass inside 17’ at the first time check and 37’ at the second. It came as no surprise to anyone that he topped the leaderboard on his arrival in Chartres, 1’16” ahead of Froome in a time of 1h04’13”. The yellow jersey wearer showed the first signs of emotion in this year’s Tour, pumping his fist in the air as his Tour de France victory was assured.
Wiggins remains in the yellow jersey for tomorrow’s stage into Paris, his lead now 3’21” over Froome in the general classification, the stage set for the first British winner of the Tour de France. Thomas Voeckler will keep the King of the Mountains jersey in the absence of any more points in the classification, while Peter Sagan has an unassailable lead in the green jersey competition, regardless of the outcome of the Champs-Élysées sprint. Radioshack has also retained its lead over Sky in the teams classification, while Tejay van Garderen has a secure lead over Thibaut Pinot in the young riders’ classification that doesn’t look to be disturbed on Stage 20. Tomorrow, the final stage of the Tour, will arrive in Paris with a sprint finish. Mark Cavendish will be looking to claim a third victory for Sky, and Matt Goss will be seeking Orica-GreenEDGE’s elusive stage win one last time, while Andre Greipel and Peter Sagan will be hoping to add to their Tour stage totals as well. Whichever way the sprint goes, it’s guaranteed to be one worthy of the occasion of rounding out the 99th Tour de France.
Showing posts with label Jurgen van den Broeck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jurgen van den Broeck. Show all posts
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Stage 17: Bagnere-de-Luchon - Peyragudes
Today was what can only be termed an interest day. Perhaps ‘interesting’ is a little mild, but it covers a stage in which there were surprises, no drama, and nothing shocking, but merely interesting. It seems fairly safe to say that the Tour de France is now effectively over, and the days to come nothing more than filler until the race arrives in Paris.
Stage 17 was the final day of mountains for the Tour, traversing the Pyrénées from Bagnère-de-Luchon to Peyragudes. This Tour seems to have been characterised by breakaways, even in the mountains, for the attacks began as soon as the stage did yet again. It wasn’t until the 24 kilometre mark that a group managed to stay away, another large group containing around 20 riders including a few strong riders. The group held a slim lead over the peloton as they approached the top of the first climb for the day, the Category 1 Col du Mente.
Pierre Rolland (Europcar) sprinted away from the group as they approached the col’s King of the Mountain point, but he was chased down and caught by the two rivals for the polka-dot jersey, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), Voeckler managing to outsprint the Swede for the 10 points. There was a lot of shuffling of the breakaway on the way down the Col du Mente, which eventually left seven riders with a 40’ advantage over the Sky-led peloton. A counter-attack soon formed, 10 riders sitting 30’ ahead of the peloton and one 1’00” behind the leading seven.
The positions on the road hadn’t changed as the leaders reached the second climb of the day. Voeckler sprinted out from behind Kessiakoff to lead the race over the second category climb around the 55 kilometre mark of the stage. Chasing them over the top were the 10 poursuivants, 40 seconds behind, with the pursuing peloton another 50 seconds behind them. It wasn’t long before the race referees called all the cars out from between the first two groups on the road, their premonition being fulfilled 68 kilometres in, swelling the leading group to 17.
The number of riders made no difference to Voeckler and Kessiakoff, still locked in their silent battle for polka-dot points. Kessiakoff began the sprint for the points on offer atop the Cote des Burs, but Voeckler surprised him from behind and outsprinted him again. The peloton passed over the top a solid 3’00” behind the leaders, but that advantage was down to 2’15” as they approached the intermediate sprint. The breakaway was disinterested in the sprint points, sweeping through without any fuss and cleaning up all the points on offer, leaving the peloton nothing to sprint for when they swept through two minutes later.
The feed zone five kilometres on caused some trouble, World Champion Mark Cavendish and Sky teammate Richie Porte taking a tumble. Neither was seriously hurt and, mechanical troubles solved, both rejoined the race quickly without incident. The race was already beginning the ascent of the hors catégorie Port de Balés, the climb splintering the leading group into a fluid group of two or three riders leading two smaller chases further on down the climb.
Then Rui Costa (Movistar) leapt into a solo ride at the front of the stage, sitting a few hundred metres ahead of the next group on the road. The reason soon became clear: teammate Alejandro Valverde similarly leapt off the front and easily bridged the gap to Costa, leaving his teammate behind when Costa could no longer pace him onwards up the mountain. With a 2’20” lead over the peloton, Valverde scooped up the 25 points at the top of the Port de Balés and began racing the 32 kilometres towards the stage finish.
The peloton continued bearing down on the remainder of the breakaway, slowly picking up riders one by one as the yellow jersey group continued towards Peyragudes. Soon it was just Valverde in his time trial up the front, followed by Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 2’00” and Costa at 2’18” ahead of the peloton, with only 20 or so kilometres to go in the stage. Costa was the next to go, the peloton sweeping past with riders dropping out the back, unable to keep up with Team Sky and Liquigas-Cannondale’s pacemaking.
One of those soon to go was defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC). The 35-year-old was unable to keep up with the pace in the mountains yesterday due to stomach problems and still seemed to be unwell today, disappearing discreetly to leave young teammate Tejay van Garderen to continue on without him.
An attack from Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) got a response from Bradley Wiggins (Sky), the yellow jersey wearer stepping up the pace so much that the leading group was reduced to just eight riders. Chris Froome (Sky) kept the pace so high that everyone was dropped except for his team leader, the only rider ahead of them on the road being Valverde, one minute ahead with three kilometres to go. Froome seemed to be feeling in excellent form, because he appeared to be wanting to leave Wiggins and chase down Valverde for the stage win. Whether Wiggins denied permission or Froome decided against it, the two Britons finished the stage together, just 19 seconds behind the Spaniard.
Stage 18 is a medium mountains stage, with a few Category 4 climbs breaking up the flats. This could be a stage for a breakaway (think Albasini, Scarponi and even Pinot or Rolland) or it could equally be pulled in by Lotto Belisol to allow for another Greipel-Sagan showdown.
Stage 17 was the final day of mountains for the Tour, traversing the Pyrénées from Bagnère-de-Luchon to Peyragudes. This Tour seems to have been characterised by breakaways, even in the mountains, for the attacks began as soon as the stage did yet again. It wasn’t until the 24 kilometre mark that a group managed to stay away, another large group containing around 20 riders including a few strong riders. The group held a slim lead over the peloton as they approached the top of the first climb for the day, the Category 1 Col du Mente.
Pierre Rolland (Europcar) sprinted away from the group as they approached the col’s King of the Mountain point, but he was chased down and caught by the two rivals for the polka-dot jersey, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) and Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), Voeckler managing to outsprint the Swede for the 10 points. There was a lot of shuffling of the breakaway on the way down the Col du Mente, which eventually left seven riders with a 40’ advantage over the Sky-led peloton. A counter-attack soon formed, 10 riders sitting 30’ ahead of the peloton and one 1’00” behind the leading seven.
The positions on the road hadn’t changed as the leaders reached the second climb of the day. Voeckler sprinted out from behind Kessiakoff to lead the race over the second category climb around the 55 kilometre mark of the stage. Chasing them over the top were the 10 poursuivants, 40 seconds behind, with the pursuing peloton another 50 seconds behind them. It wasn’t long before the race referees called all the cars out from between the first two groups on the road, their premonition being fulfilled 68 kilometres in, swelling the leading group to 17.
The number of riders made no difference to Voeckler and Kessiakoff, still locked in their silent battle for polka-dot points. Kessiakoff began the sprint for the points on offer atop the Cote des Burs, but Voeckler surprised him from behind and outsprinted him again. The peloton passed over the top a solid 3’00” behind the leaders, but that advantage was down to 2’15” as they approached the intermediate sprint. The breakaway was disinterested in the sprint points, sweeping through without any fuss and cleaning up all the points on offer, leaving the peloton nothing to sprint for when they swept through two minutes later.
The feed zone five kilometres on caused some trouble, World Champion Mark Cavendish and Sky teammate Richie Porte taking a tumble. Neither was seriously hurt and, mechanical troubles solved, both rejoined the race quickly without incident. The race was already beginning the ascent of the hors catégorie Port de Balés, the climb splintering the leading group into a fluid group of two or three riders leading two smaller chases further on down the climb.
Then Rui Costa (Movistar) leapt into a solo ride at the front of the stage, sitting a few hundred metres ahead of the next group on the road. The reason soon became clear: teammate Alejandro Valverde similarly leapt off the front and easily bridged the gap to Costa, leaving his teammate behind when Costa could no longer pace him onwards up the mountain. With a 2’20” lead over the peloton, Valverde scooped up the 25 points at the top of the Port de Balés and began racing the 32 kilometres towards the stage finish.
The peloton continued bearing down on the remainder of the breakaway, slowly picking up riders one by one as the yellow jersey group continued towards Peyragudes. Soon it was just Valverde in his time trial up the front, followed by Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 2’00” and Costa at 2’18” ahead of the peloton, with only 20 or so kilometres to go in the stage. Costa was the next to go, the peloton sweeping past with riders dropping out the back, unable to keep up with Team Sky and Liquigas-Cannondale’s pacemaking.
One of those soon to go was defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC). The 35-year-old was unable to keep up with the pace in the mountains yesterday due to stomach problems and still seemed to be unwell today, disappearing discreetly to leave young teammate Tejay van Garderen to continue on without him.
An attack from Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) got a response from Bradley Wiggins (Sky), the yellow jersey wearer stepping up the pace so much that the leading group was reduced to just eight riders. Chris Froome (Sky) kept the pace so high that everyone was dropped except for his team leader, the only rider ahead of them on the road being Valverde, one minute ahead with three kilometres to go. Froome seemed to be feeling in excellent form, because he appeared to be wanting to leave Wiggins and chase down Valverde for the stage win. Whether Wiggins denied permission or Froome decided against it, the two Britons finished the stage together, just 19 seconds behind the Spaniard.
Stage 18 is a medium mountains stage, with a few Category 4 climbs breaking up the flats. This could be a stage for a breakaway (think Albasini, Scarponi and even Pinot or Rolland) or it could equally be pulled in by Lotto Belisol to allow for another Greipel-Sagan showdown.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Stage 13: Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux - Le Cap d'Agde
It was almost not the stage we were expecting. Stage 13 from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Le Cap d’Agde was meant to be a transitional stage, nothing more than an interlude as the Tour went from the Alps to the Pyrenees. But the flat-finish sprinters stage was nearly highjacked in a series of events which ensured that a ‘boring’ stage was anything but.
As always the stage began with a breakaway, Marcus Burghardt (BMC) initiating the attack which turned into a five-man leading group, of which Burghardt was somehow not a member. Instead the job of leading the race went to Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Bigmat), Michael Morkov (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank) and Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano), who were doing so admirably with a lead of 27” over the chase group and 2’00” over the peloton at the five kilometre mark. The lead wasn’t enough to hold off Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) and Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale), who caught the quintet two kilometres further on.
It didn’t hold off Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) either, and the lead of the now eight-strong breakaway was at four minutes with the arrival of the fifth Frenchman. The gap kept expanding, though, none of the leaders high enough on GC to threaten the peloton, and after just 35 kilometres of racing the break was over nine minutes ahead of the Orica-GreenEDGE-led peloton, which decided to bring them in just a little bit closer. Just over 35 kilometres later, the gap had halved to 4’40”, enough for the peloton to ease up just a little.
It still wasn’t easing enough for Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), who became the Tour’s 35th withdrawal, an illness proving too much for him to continue. He wasn’t the only one having a bad day. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) crashed into the barrier just outside the sprint point, but was thankfully able to pick himself up and keep going with the help of a teammate. Ahead of Velits the peloton were sprinting for the minor placings at the intermediate, Sagan edging out Greipel and Goss to take the seven points still on offer.
Out in front the breakaway were still pedalling away at over 40km/h, the gap to the peloton having been pulled back to less than three minutes. As the number became less than two, Pineau attacked in an attempt to keep the breakaway alive. He was quickly pulled back in and then superseded as Morkov went on the attack, managing to keep a few seconds between himself and the chasing breakaway. Being the fifth anniversary of his father’s death to cancer, Morkov wanted to honour his memory, and with that wish in mind the Dane was gunning for the stage win.
With 60 kilometres to go, Morkov was looking at a very long and lonely time trial in the lead to maintain his advantage and take the victory. But the attempt was going relatively well, the breakaway slowly slipping back second by second and handing Morkov a bigger and bigger lead. Almost 20 kilometres into his solo ride, the former track rider had built a gap of almost a minute, with the peloton a further two minutes back. The gap continued increasing as Morkov was officially voted the most aggressive rider of the stage, already fulfilling his wish for the day’s racing.
BMC stepped up to the front of the peloton as the race hit almost 50km/h. The American team of Cadel Evans was trying to split the race with the help of the crosswinds that were buffeting the riders. The effort succeeded, those riders not dropped by the effort being divided into two smaller pelotons, though unfortunately for BMC, all the riders at whom the attack was aimed made it into the first of the two pelotons. The increase in tempo was also doing damage to Morkov’s lead, the Dane sitting just 1’48”as he entered the 40th kilometre of his solo ride.
The race hit the ascent of Mont Saint-Clair with Morkov still in the lead and a number of riders behind him, either being dropped from the original breakaway or attacking to make up the gap. The peloton was bearing down, caring less about catching Morkov and more about marking each other as Bradley Wiggins (Sky) tried to stick close to Evans, who was leading them hell-for-leather up the climb and not quite dropping the yellow jersey in the process. Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Evans led the group of around 25 riders over the top of Mont Saint-Clair, just 23 kilometres from the finishing line.
The peloton had caught Michael Morkov and was around 15 kilometres from the finish when the attack came. Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov, chased by Orica-GreenEDGE’s Michael Albasini, jumped off the front of the bunch and began working together to build a small lead of no more than 30 seconds off the front of the bunch. Lotto Belisol were making them work for their gains, the sprinter’s train of Andre Greipel keeping the duo in close contact as they reached the 4 kilometre mark. Hauled in at 2.7 kilometres to go, Luis Léon Sánchez (Rabobank) and Mathieu Sprick (Argos-Shimano) made their own sprint for the line, but they couldn’t withstand the power of leader Bradley Wiggins as he barrelled through the flamme rouge with teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen on his tail.
Wiggins’ effort was in vain, though, as Boasson Hagen was quickly overtaken by Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Andre Greipel battling for the line. Greipel was too fast for the young Slovakian, taking a third stage win for the Tour to make him equal with the three of Sagan. Stage 14 is the beginning of the Pyrenees, with a couple of Category 1 climbs towards the end and a Cat 2 near the start. In short, watch the GC riders – Evans, Vincenzo Nibali, Jurgen van den Broeck. Stages like tomorrow are critical for these riders to take back a few precious seconds if they want to have a chance at a podium finish.
As always the stage began with a breakaway, Marcus Burghardt (BMC) initiating the attack which turned into a five-man leading group, of which Burghardt was somehow not a member. Instead the job of leading the race went to Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Bigmat), Michael Morkov (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank) and Roy Curvers (Argos-Shimano), who were doing so admirably with a lead of 27” over the chase group and 2’00” over the peloton at the five kilometre mark. The lead wasn’t enough to hold off Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) and Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale), who caught the quintet two kilometres further on.
It didn’t hold off Jerome Pineau (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) either, and the lead of the now eight-strong breakaway was at four minutes with the arrival of the fifth Frenchman. The gap kept expanding, though, none of the leaders high enough on GC to threaten the peloton, and after just 35 kilometres of racing the break was over nine minutes ahead of the Orica-GreenEDGE-led peloton, which decided to bring them in just a little bit closer. Just over 35 kilometres later, the gap had halved to 4’40”, enough for the peloton to ease up just a little.
It still wasn’t easing enough for Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), who became the Tour’s 35th withdrawal, an illness proving too much for him to continue. He wasn’t the only one having a bad day. Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) crashed into the barrier just outside the sprint point, but was thankfully able to pick himself up and keep going with the help of a teammate. Ahead of Velits the peloton were sprinting for the minor placings at the intermediate, Sagan edging out Greipel and Goss to take the seven points still on offer.
Out in front the breakaway were still pedalling away at over 40km/h, the gap to the peloton having been pulled back to less than three minutes. As the number became less than two, Pineau attacked in an attempt to keep the breakaway alive. He was quickly pulled back in and then superseded as Morkov went on the attack, managing to keep a few seconds between himself and the chasing breakaway. Being the fifth anniversary of his father’s death to cancer, Morkov wanted to honour his memory, and with that wish in mind the Dane was gunning for the stage win.
With 60 kilometres to go, Morkov was looking at a very long and lonely time trial in the lead to maintain his advantage and take the victory. But the attempt was going relatively well, the breakaway slowly slipping back second by second and handing Morkov a bigger and bigger lead. Almost 20 kilometres into his solo ride, the former track rider had built a gap of almost a minute, with the peloton a further two minutes back. The gap continued increasing as Morkov was officially voted the most aggressive rider of the stage, already fulfilling his wish for the day’s racing.
BMC stepped up to the front of the peloton as the race hit almost 50km/h. The American team of Cadel Evans was trying to split the race with the help of the crosswinds that were buffeting the riders. The effort succeeded, those riders not dropped by the effort being divided into two smaller pelotons, though unfortunately for BMC, all the riders at whom the attack was aimed made it into the first of the two pelotons. The increase in tempo was also doing damage to Morkov’s lead, the Dane sitting just 1’48”as he entered the 40th kilometre of his solo ride.
The race hit the ascent of Mont Saint-Clair with Morkov still in the lead and a number of riders behind him, either being dropped from the original breakaway or attacking to make up the gap. The peloton was bearing down, caring less about catching Morkov and more about marking each other as Bradley Wiggins (Sky) tried to stick close to Evans, who was leading them hell-for-leather up the climb and not quite dropping the yellow jersey in the process. Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Evans led the group of around 25 riders over the top of Mont Saint-Clair, just 23 kilometres from the finishing line.
The peloton had caught Michael Morkov and was around 15 kilometres from the finish when the attack came. Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov, chased by Orica-GreenEDGE’s Michael Albasini, jumped off the front of the bunch and began working together to build a small lead of no more than 30 seconds off the front of the bunch. Lotto Belisol were making them work for their gains, the sprinter’s train of Andre Greipel keeping the duo in close contact as they reached the 4 kilometre mark. Hauled in at 2.7 kilometres to go, Luis Léon Sánchez (Rabobank) and Mathieu Sprick (Argos-Shimano) made their own sprint for the line, but they couldn’t withstand the power of leader Bradley Wiggins as he barrelled through the flamme rouge with teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen on his tail.
Wiggins’ effort was in vain, though, as Boasson Hagen was quickly overtaken by Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Andre Greipel battling for the line. Greipel was too fast for the young Slovakian, taking a third stage win for the Tour to make him equal with the three of Sagan. Stage 14 is the beginning of the Pyrenees, with a couple of Category 1 climbs towards the end and a Cat 2 near the start. In short, watch the GC riders – Evans, Vincenzo Nibali, Jurgen van den Broeck. Stages like tomorrow are critical for these riders to take back a few precious seconds if they want to have a chance at a podium finish.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Stage 9: Arc-et-Senans – Besançon (ITT)
A time trial usually provides some good variety in the middle of a three-week race. In this race,
though, a time trial becomes a battleground, a chance for one or other
of the favourites to stamp their authority on the yellow jersey. That’s
exactly what it became, the 41 kilometre 9th stage from Arc-et-Senans to
Besançon turning into a huge game of tug-o’-war as the world’s best
time triallists tugged on the advantage of the maillot jaune.
The early starters provided no real surprise, Vacansoleil’s Lieuwe Westra holding the early lead before it was claimed by World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep). The German had another jinxed run, a flat tyre ending his chances at a stage win, but still managing to top the leaderboard in a time of 53’40”. Martin’s reign lasted until the ride of four-time former World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), who ousted his younger successor with a time 1’19” faster.
The locals of the département of Doubs were providing the entertainment of the day with several Nazca Lines-style patterns carved into the fields surrounding the race. A particularly elaborate one featured one of the renowned local clocks as the rear wheel of a time trial bike complete with rider, massive in comparison to the pro cyclists passing along the road beneath. It wasn’t until the final two and a half hours of racing that things really got exciting; the better time triallists hitting the course in the final 30 riders. Riders like Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Denis Menchov (Katusha) lived up to their reputations, putting in top 10 performances, while Radioshack’s riders filled in the gaps, with six riders in the top 20.
The real surprise of the day came from Cadel Evans’ young American teammate, Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who caused a stir when he raced through the first time check three seconds ahead of Cancellara. The 23-year-old was still going strong at the second time check, two seconds ahead of the dominant Swiss, and managed to maintain enough of a lead to cross the line just eight seconds behind ‘Spartacus’ and reclaim his white jersey from Cofidis’ Rein Taaramae.
Naturally it was the last few riders of the day who generated the most interest, the focus on the battle for yellow raging between Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Cadel Evans (BMC). Evans had more to worry about than just the Briton in the yellow jersey, with Wiggins’ Sky teammate Chris Froome posting a 23-second best time at the first time check. Evans was unable to keep up, falling outside of the top 10 at the 16 kilometre mark, but he found his rhythm in the second third of the race and placed 6th at the 31 kilometre time check.
It wasn’t going to be enough, though, Froome second at each time check and Wiggins dominating in 1st place, over a minute ahead of the Tour de France defending champion. Not only was Evans sacrificing precious seconds in the race for yellow, but Froome was now jeopardising Evans’ hold on second place as well. Though Evans managed to reach Besançon just 1’08” behind Froome, Wiggins was showing why he’s known as a specialist in the discipline, storming over the line in a stage-winning 51’24”, solidifying his lead on yellow.
The GC has been turned upside down yet again as the time triallists are catapulted up the ranking, Wiggins still leading the classification ahead of Evans at 1’53” and Froome at 2’07”. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Denis Menchov round out the top 5. Tomorrow is a rest day before the race heads into the mountains again, so watch the top 5 riders as well as riders like Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Team Radioshack-Nissan-Trek. Cadel Evans in particular needs to make up time on Wiggins, so Stage 10 could be where we see if the Australian can seriously defend his title.
The early starters provided no real surprise, Vacansoleil’s Lieuwe Westra holding the early lead before it was claimed by World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep). The German had another jinxed run, a flat tyre ending his chances at a stage win, but still managing to top the leaderboard in a time of 53’40”. Martin’s reign lasted until the ride of four-time former World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), who ousted his younger successor with a time 1’19” faster.
The locals of the département of Doubs were providing the entertainment of the day with several Nazca Lines-style patterns carved into the fields surrounding the race. A particularly elaborate one featured one of the renowned local clocks as the rear wheel of a time trial bike complete with rider, massive in comparison to the pro cyclists passing along the road beneath. It wasn’t until the final two and a half hours of racing that things really got exciting; the better time triallists hitting the course in the final 30 riders. Riders like Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Denis Menchov (Katusha) lived up to their reputations, putting in top 10 performances, while Radioshack’s riders filled in the gaps, with six riders in the top 20.
The real surprise of the day came from Cadel Evans’ young American teammate, Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who caused a stir when he raced through the first time check three seconds ahead of Cancellara. The 23-year-old was still going strong at the second time check, two seconds ahead of the dominant Swiss, and managed to maintain enough of a lead to cross the line just eight seconds behind ‘Spartacus’ and reclaim his white jersey from Cofidis’ Rein Taaramae.
Naturally it was the last few riders of the day who generated the most interest, the focus on the battle for yellow raging between Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Cadel Evans (BMC). Evans had more to worry about than just the Briton in the yellow jersey, with Wiggins’ Sky teammate Chris Froome posting a 23-second best time at the first time check. Evans was unable to keep up, falling outside of the top 10 at the 16 kilometre mark, but he found his rhythm in the second third of the race and placed 6th at the 31 kilometre time check.
It wasn’t going to be enough, though, Froome second at each time check and Wiggins dominating in 1st place, over a minute ahead of the Tour de France defending champion. Not only was Evans sacrificing precious seconds in the race for yellow, but Froome was now jeopardising Evans’ hold on second place as well. Though Evans managed to reach Besançon just 1’08” behind Froome, Wiggins was showing why he’s known as a specialist in the discipline, storming over the line in a stage-winning 51’24”, solidifying his lead on yellow.
The GC has been turned upside down yet again as the time triallists are catapulted up the ranking, Wiggins still leading the classification ahead of Evans at 1’53” and Froome at 2’07”. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Denis Menchov round out the top 5. Tomorrow is a rest day before the race heads into the mountains again, so watch the top 5 riders as well as riders like Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) and Team Radioshack-Nissan-Trek. Cadel Evans in particular needs to make up time on Wiggins, so Stage 10 could be where we see if the Australian can seriously defend his title.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Stage 7: Tomblaine – La Planche des Belles Filles
There is a saying amongst the riders when the race enters the
mountains – ‘The Tour begins today’. That it certainly did, Stage 7
providing the first serious mountain climbing challenge and giving us a
good idea of who will be seriously competitive in this year’s Tour de
France.
It was another beautiful day in northern France, the gentle sunshine belying the carnage of the day before as the peloton rolled along from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles. The crashes certainly took their toll, a further eight riders failing to start the day’s stage in addition to the four who withdraw during the race yesterday. A 13th rider, Saur-Sojasun’s Anthony Delaplace, withdrew early on in the stage after being unable to continue with a broken wrist.
With the much-reduced peloton racing along at the fastest opening speed of this year’s Tour de France, going 44km/h, the race was nearly 20 kilometres in before the day’s breakaway was formed, the biggest of the Tour so far. Seven different teams were represented in the nine-man escape group, Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank). As we’ve come to expect, the septet raced away to build themselves a lead of up to six minutes by the 35 kilometre mark.
BMC Racing Team and Katusha Team were leading the peloton through the stunning mountain countryside of forests and lakes as the bunch approached the intermediate sprint, passed by the breakaway nearly five minutes hence with Albasini in the lead. Orica-GreenEDGE put together their sprint train and raced away from the peloton, Peter Sagan sitting on Matt Goss’s wheel. Unfortunately for the Australian team, Goss suffered mechanical trouble as Sagan began to sprint for the line, leaving Sagan to take eighth place along before waiting several minutes for the peloton to catch up after his huge acceleration.
BMC continued to lead the peloton as the breakaway began heading up through the mountains. Luis Léon Sanchez had some problems with fans getting too close as they headed up the hills, appealing to the commissaires to intervene, to no avail. Chris Anker Sorenson, teammate of points classification leader Michael Morkov, claimed the King of the Mountain points available on the first climbs to protect the Dane’s lead as the peloton began making their mountains as well. It wasn’t long before the peloton began shedding riders; sprinters and those injured in crashes the first to go. BMC, Team Sky and Garmin-Sharp were taking turns leading the peloton at an ever-increasing pace, trying to haul back the breakaway and set up the peloton for a stage win all in one go.
The first objective was achieved sooner than the second, but it still took a while to break the spirit of the breakaway. As the peloton continued fracturing and some of the big names like Jurgen van den Broeck of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Alejandro Valverde from Movistar punctured, the breakaway riders began attacking again, Fofonov and Albasini trying to escape their less mountain-inclined companions. The final climb finished off the peloton’s job, though, the seven escapees unable to cope with the high gradient of the final climb.
Riders continued going off the back as the peloton went up, some of the key GC contenders and notable climbers being the next to go. Soon enough the ‘peloton’ was reduced to 10 or 15 riders who were able to keep up with the tempo that Sky were stamping out over the final few kilometres. One by one the Sky riders emptied their tanks and trailed off the back, leaving both Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome alone with Cadel Evans and a handful of others, including Liquigas-Cannondale’s Vincenzo Nibali and Cofidis’s Rein Taaramae. Froome continued to put the pressure on the leaders until the final kilometre, when Cadel Evans jumped out from behind Wiggins’s wheel and began leading towards the finish. Wiggins was doing all he could to stay on Evans’s wheel as the Australian raced away towards the finish, allowing Froome to power up alongside him and leave both Wiggins and Evans in the dust to take the stage win. Fabian Cancellara came over the line a little more than a minute later, putting Wiggins in yellow for Stage 8 with Cadel in second place on the general classification, just 10 seconds behind him.
Tomorrow is a lumpy stage with one Category 4, one Category 3, four Category 2s and a Category 1 climb leading into a downhill finish. This is a perfect stage for a breakaway to stay the distance and take the stage, but with so many riders injured, the move may well come from Team Astana, which has the most uninjured climbers. Simon Gerrans from Orica-GreenEDGE and Nicki Sorenson from Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank are other possibilities for mountain breakaways that can hold out against the peloton. It will also be worth watching Team Sky to see how they go defending Bradley Wiggins and the yellow jersey.
It was another beautiful day in northern France, the gentle sunshine belying the carnage of the day before as the peloton rolled along from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles. The crashes certainly took their toll, a further eight riders failing to start the day’s stage in addition to the four who withdraw during the race yesterday. A 13th rider, Saur-Sojasun’s Anthony Delaplace, withdrew early on in the stage after being unable to continue with a broken wrist.
With the much-reduced peloton racing along at the fastest opening speed of this year’s Tour de France, going 44km/h, the race was nearly 20 kilometres in before the day’s breakaway was formed, the biggest of the Tour so far. Seven different teams were represented in the nine-man escape group, Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank). As we’ve come to expect, the septet raced away to build themselves a lead of up to six minutes by the 35 kilometre mark.
BMC Racing Team and Katusha Team were leading the peloton through the stunning mountain countryside of forests and lakes as the bunch approached the intermediate sprint, passed by the breakaway nearly five minutes hence with Albasini in the lead. Orica-GreenEDGE put together their sprint train and raced away from the peloton, Peter Sagan sitting on Matt Goss’s wheel. Unfortunately for the Australian team, Goss suffered mechanical trouble as Sagan began to sprint for the line, leaving Sagan to take eighth place along before waiting several minutes for the peloton to catch up after his huge acceleration.
BMC continued to lead the peloton as the breakaway began heading up through the mountains. Luis Léon Sanchez had some problems with fans getting too close as they headed up the hills, appealing to the commissaires to intervene, to no avail. Chris Anker Sorenson, teammate of points classification leader Michael Morkov, claimed the King of the Mountain points available on the first climbs to protect the Dane’s lead as the peloton began making their mountains as well. It wasn’t long before the peloton began shedding riders; sprinters and those injured in crashes the first to go. BMC, Team Sky and Garmin-Sharp were taking turns leading the peloton at an ever-increasing pace, trying to haul back the breakaway and set up the peloton for a stage win all in one go.
The first objective was achieved sooner than the second, but it still took a while to break the spirit of the breakaway. As the peloton continued fracturing and some of the big names like Jurgen van den Broeck of Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Alejandro Valverde from Movistar punctured, the breakaway riders began attacking again, Fofonov and Albasini trying to escape their less mountain-inclined companions. The final climb finished off the peloton’s job, though, the seven escapees unable to cope with the high gradient of the final climb.
Riders continued going off the back as the peloton went up, some of the key GC contenders and notable climbers being the next to go. Soon enough the ‘peloton’ was reduced to 10 or 15 riders who were able to keep up with the tempo that Sky were stamping out over the final few kilometres. One by one the Sky riders emptied their tanks and trailed off the back, leaving both Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome alone with Cadel Evans and a handful of others, including Liquigas-Cannondale’s Vincenzo Nibali and Cofidis’s Rein Taaramae. Froome continued to put the pressure on the leaders until the final kilometre, when Cadel Evans jumped out from behind Wiggins’s wheel and began leading towards the finish. Wiggins was doing all he could to stay on Evans’s wheel as the Australian raced away towards the finish, allowing Froome to power up alongside him and leave both Wiggins and Evans in the dust to take the stage win. Fabian Cancellara came over the line a little more than a minute later, putting Wiggins in yellow for Stage 8 with Cadel in second place on the general classification, just 10 seconds behind him.
Tomorrow is a lumpy stage with one Category 4, one Category 3, four Category 2s and a Category 1 climb leading into a downhill finish. This is a perfect stage for a breakaway to stay the distance and take the stage, but with so many riders injured, the move may well come from Team Astana, which has the most uninjured climbers. Simon Gerrans from Orica-GreenEDGE and Nicki Sorenson from Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank are other possibilities for mountain breakaways that can hold out against the peloton. It will also be worth watching Team Sky to see how they go defending Bradley Wiggins and the yellow jersey.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Stage 6: Épernay – Metz
The Tour de France
ended today. For a lot of riders, it did, in one way or another.
Stage 6 from Épernay to Metz takes the Drama Award for the Tour de
France so far – and maybe the Decisive Stage Award as well, mixing up
the race in a way that really wasn’t expected and could be telling in
the days to come.
The day started before it started, so to speak. A crash in the neutral zone took out Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck and Sky’s Richie Porte. With no serious injuries, everyone was soon back on their bikes and heading towards the official start of the stage. Today’s ‘eager beaver’, hovering off the front of the peloton, was the American David Zabriskie, famously the first man to ride the Tour de France on a vegan diet. He was soon joined David Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), the quartet making slow but steady progress into the distance.
The peloton was not destined to have a good day. Though the time of the breakaway only seemed to concern the leading Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team, the four-minute lead of the escapees putting Malacarne in virtual yellow, what concerned the other riders far more was the crash at 35 kilometres from the start. André Greipel headlined a short list of names that hit the tarmac at the very beginning of the stage, none too damaged to continue riding, though the race doctor was forced to ply his trade on a few bleeding knees and elbows. The crash took the pressure off the chase for a while, allowing the breakaway to stretch their gap to a peak of 6’50”.
The weather seemed content to play along as the peloton rode along at a leisurely 42km/h, no sun, but only a few spots of rain to disturb the day’s ride. Lotto Belisol and Orica-GreenEDGE were leading the chase, promising another exciting showdown between Lotto Belisol’s sprinter Greipel and the Australian, Matthew Goss. The average pace of the peloton slowly increased as they passed through the feed zone, the approach of the intermediate sprint clearly enforcing that they wanted to catch the breakaway before the final kilometre this time.
For once the intermediate sprint brought some surprises. The teams set up as usual, Sky providing a small train for Mark Cavendish. As the final Sky leadout man swung off, Matt Goss launched himself into the sprint from behind Cavendish. The green colours of Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan were visible behind the pair, but the real battle was just between Goss and Cavendish, Goss holding half a wheel’s advantage on Cavendish as they crossed the line.
Today’s King of the Mountain point passed without incident, ‘Captain America’ of the time trial, Dave Zabriskie, taking the single point on offer as they rode under the trees. It wasn’t so uneventful for the peloton, who seemed to have learnt nothing from the crashes of the past few days. Another crash sent André Greipel to the ground for the second time today, along with Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar. As a result of his injuries, Lotto Belisol team manager Herman Frison said Greipel wouldn’t sprint for the stage race, as the German was still trying to rejoin the peloton. Things were definitely looking up for Matt Goss, itching for the stage win.
The focus was on a few riders beginning to drop off the back of the peloton, notably Katusha fastman Oscar Freire, when the big drama of the day occurred. Yet another crash rocked the peloton, but this one looked to be a lot more decisive than the previous ones. Only 50 or so riders escaped the carnage just 26 kilometres from the end of the stage, and if you weren’t part of Orica-GreenEDGE, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Team Sky then chances were you weren’t one of the lucky ones. A number of the big names faltered, including Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish, and ended up losing between two and eight minutes to the front peloton. Some riders were destined never to see the front peloton again, riders like Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp, Davide Viganò of Lampre-ISD and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out of the race for good.
Meanwhile the front group were oblivious to the drama they’d avoided, all concentration on catching the renegades ahead of them in time for the sprint finish. Simon Gerrans, pulling for GreenEDGE on the front, was having a hard time recouping those last 15 seconds as the breakaway and its chasers raced under the banner of 10 kilometres to go. As soon as Lotto Belisol stepped up to help the pacemaking, however, the numbers began ticking down and heartrates began ticking up. Was Lotto Belisol lining up for Greipel’s leadout man Greg Henderson to take a shot at the victory, or was the effort for Greipel himself?
Lampre-ISD also jumped on the front and lent a hand with the pulling, hauling in two of the three riders, Zingle having dropped off long ago after a flat tyre. Zabriskie, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the hero of the day, and with two kilometres to go he was attempting a solo time trial 150 metres ahead of the bunch. A racing peloton, however, is as inevitable as karma, and Zabriskie was caught with a kilometre left for the sprinters. Lotto Belisol were powering down the straight as usual, Peter Sagan’s green jersey on Greipel’s wheel and Goss on the end of his own train. For a moment or two it looked like it was between Goss and Greipel, but just as Goss fell behind Greipel’s wheel, a green bullet shot up the side and across the line before anybody could say ‘Sagan’, leaving Greipel with another second and Goss with another third.
The rest of the riders filtered through over the next hour, in varying spirits and states of shabbiness with assorted amounts of skin still attached to elbows and backsides. The jersey wearers remain the same, with Zabriskie claiming the red number for Fighting Spirit, but the GC has certainly received a shake-up today, one which will likely decide the Tour de France. As for tomorrow, we’ve left the sprinters’ stages behind, but with Stage 7 finishing on the never-before-seen climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, we’ve entered the stages of medium mountains, where breakaways have the chance to succeed. Orica-GreenEDGE are becoming desperate for a stage win, so keep an eye out for Simon Gerrans or Michael Albasini, who’ll be looking to join any moves that form, as well as climbers like Alejandro Valverde, who lost a lot of time today that he’ll be looking to get back.
The day started before it started, so to speak. A crash in the neutral zone took out Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen van den Broeck and Sky’s Richie Porte. With no serious injuries, everyone was soon back on their bikes and heading towards the official start of the stage. Today’s ‘eager beaver’, hovering off the front of the peloton, was the American David Zabriskie, famously the first man to ride the Tour de France on a vegan diet. He was soon joined David Malacarne (Europcar), Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Karsten Kroon (Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank), the quartet making slow but steady progress into the distance.
The peloton was not destined to have a good day. Though the time of the breakaway only seemed to concern the leading Radioshack-Nissan-Trek team, the four-minute lead of the escapees putting Malacarne in virtual yellow, what concerned the other riders far more was the crash at 35 kilometres from the start. André Greipel headlined a short list of names that hit the tarmac at the very beginning of the stage, none too damaged to continue riding, though the race doctor was forced to ply his trade on a few bleeding knees and elbows. The crash took the pressure off the chase for a while, allowing the breakaway to stretch their gap to a peak of 6’50”.
The weather seemed content to play along as the peloton rode along at a leisurely 42km/h, no sun, but only a few spots of rain to disturb the day’s ride. Lotto Belisol and Orica-GreenEDGE were leading the chase, promising another exciting showdown between Lotto Belisol’s sprinter Greipel and the Australian, Matthew Goss. The average pace of the peloton slowly increased as they passed through the feed zone, the approach of the intermediate sprint clearly enforcing that they wanted to catch the breakaway before the final kilometre this time.
For once the intermediate sprint brought some surprises. The teams set up as usual, Sky providing a small train for Mark Cavendish. As the final Sky leadout man swung off, Matt Goss launched himself into the sprint from behind Cavendish. The green colours of Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan were visible behind the pair, but the real battle was just between Goss and Cavendish, Goss holding half a wheel’s advantage on Cavendish as they crossed the line.
Today’s King of the Mountain point passed without incident, ‘Captain America’ of the time trial, Dave Zabriskie, taking the single point on offer as they rode under the trees. It wasn’t so uneventful for the peloton, who seemed to have learnt nothing from the crashes of the past few days. Another crash sent André Greipel to the ground for the second time today, along with Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar. As a result of his injuries, Lotto Belisol team manager Herman Frison said Greipel wouldn’t sprint for the stage race, as the German was still trying to rejoin the peloton. Things were definitely looking up for Matt Goss, itching for the stage win.
The focus was on a few riders beginning to drop off the back of the peloton, notably Katusha fastman Oscar Freire, when the big drama of the day occurred. Yet another crash rocked the peloton, but this one looked to be a lot more decisive than the previous ones. Only 50 or so riders escaped the carnage just 26 kilometres from the end of the stage, and if you weren’t part of Orica-GreenEDGE, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi or Team Sky then chances were you weren’t one of the lucky ones. A number of the big names faltered, including Frank Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish, and ended up losing between two and eight minutes to the front peloton. Some riders were destined never to see the front peloton again, riders like Tom Danielson of Garmin-Sharp, Davide Viganò of Lampre-ISD and Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out of the race for good.
Meanwhile the front group were oblivious to the drama they’d avoided, all concentration on catching the renegades ahead of them in time for the sprint finish. Simon Gerrans, pulling for GreenEDGE on the front, was having a hard time recouping those last 15 seconds as the breakaway and its chasers raced under the banner of 10 kilometres to go. As soon as Lotto Belisol stepped up to help the pacemaking, however, the numbers began ticking down and heartrates began ticking up. Was Lotto Belisol lining up for Greipel’s leadout man Greg Henderson to take a shot at the victory, or was the effort for Greipel himself?
Lampre-ISD also jumped on the front and lent a hand with the pulling, hauling in two of the three riders, Zingle having dropped off long ago after a flat tyre. Zabriskie, on the other hand, apparently wanted to be the hero of the day, and with two kilometres to go he was attempting a solo time trial 150 metres ahead of the bunch. A racing peloton, however, is as inevitable as karma, and Zabriskie was caught with a kilometre left for the sprinters. Lotto Belisol were powering down the straight as usual, Peter Sagan’s green jersey on Greipel’s wheel and Goss on the end of his own train. For a moment or two it looked like it was between Goss and Greipel, but just as Goss fell behind Greipel’s wheel, a green bullet shot up the side and across the line before anybody could say ‘Sagan’, leaving Greipel with another second and Goss with another third.
The rest of the riders filtered through over the next hour, in varying spirits and states of shabbiness with assorted amounts of skin still attached to elbows and backsides. The jersey wearers remain the same, with Zabriskie claiming the red number for Fighting Spirit, but the GC has certainly received a shake-up today, one which will likely decide the Tour de France. As for tomorrow, we’ve left the sprinters’ stages behind, but with Stage 7 finishing on the never-before-seen climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, we’ve entered the stages of medium mountains, where breakaways have the chance to succeed. Orica-GreenEDGE are becoming desperate for a stage win, so keep an eye out for Simon Gerrans or Michael Albasini, who’ll be looking to join any moves that form, as well as climbers like Alejandro Valverde, who lost a lot of time today that he’ll be looking to get back.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Stage 9 - Issoire => Saint-Flour
I wrote on Facebook a few days ago that we'd probably have the final standings of the Tour by day 10, and that the winner this year would be the one guy still on his bike by the time we reached Paris. It's beginning to look scarily like it's coming true, and for the most horrible of reasons.
It seems all I write about these days is crashes in the Tour de France, but this year's race has really and truly been defined by these incidents. While crashes are normal - indeed, expected - in any bike race, this year seems to have been particularly bad. With the death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro and Team Movistar rider Juan Mauricio Soler left in a coma after a crash in the Tour de Suisse, the horrific accidents at the Tour are made all the more scary. Three teams (Sky, Astana and Omega-Pharma Lotto) are now left without their main GC contendors, two other teams (Quickstep and Radioshack) look set to go the same way, and the only team that seems to have been no riders who've hit the asphalt is Team Leopard Trek, of the Schleck brothers.
So today was no different - after the peloton crossed the first of the 7 climbs of the stage, the Category 3 Cote de Massiac, a breakaway finally managed to form, sprinting off the front to build up a lead of around about five minutes. It was almost surprising that the peloton let this six-man breakaway escape, given the strength of the riders in it - Spanish time-trial champion Luis Leon Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), former yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), former polka dot-jersey wearer Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil), as well as Niki Terpstra (Quickstep), Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Sandy Casar (FDJ).
The six men raced away and began to climb mountains, Voeckler and Hoogerland originally fighting it out for King of the Mountains points as they crossed each climb, until the pair made a controversial and technically illegal agreement that Voeckler would let Hoogerland take maximum KOM points if Hoogerland would help Voeckler towards the yellow jersey and the stage win. The breakaway were so pre-occupied with trying to stay ahead of the peloton that they heard nothing of the destruction behind them.
Coming down the Col du Pas de Peyrol (Le Puy Mary on the south side), Team Astana were descending fast on the outside, so fast that when they hit the corner a rider ahead of them went down and Team Astana were forced off the road into a deep ditch. Teammates soon carried Alexandre Vinokourov out of the ditch and straight into the back of a waiting Tour ambulance, which took him to hospital to be treated for his fractured femur head. Meanwhile, Omega Pharma-Lotto's leader Jurgen van den Broeck was lying on the road looking sorry for himself, and when placed back on his bicycle by team staff, van den Broeck kicked his leg back over the bike and collapsed onto the ground again, in a clear gesture of 'I'm not doing it, guys. Just get me out of here.' It was a good call by van den Broeck, who will spend several days in the Intensive Care Unit with a collapsed lung, three broken ribs and a broken shoulderblade. Teammate Frederik Willems also pulled out with a broken collarbone, as did Garmin-Cervelo's Dave Zabriskie with a broken wrist.
By agreement at the front of the peloton, a truce was called to allow those affected by the crash who could still ride to catch up to the main peloton. 20 kilometres or so later it was back to work as the peloton now had to try and reel in the breakaway, whose lead had ballooned out to five minutes again when the peloton crashed.
But the breakaway was having trouble of its own. A French TV car, swerving into the road to dodge a tree on the shoulder, drove straight into the breakaway and cleaned up two of the riders, causing Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha to kiss the asphalt and sending Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland flying into a barbed wire fence. The remaining three riders in the breakaway, Niki Terpstra long having been dropped, continued riding, now with diminshed capacity to stay off the front. Flecha was soon back on the bike and being bandaged up by the medics as he tried to return to the breakaway, but his injuries won over and he was soon caught by the peloton.
It took a lot longer before anyone could get eyes on Hoogerland, but a sorrier sight never was seen at the Tour de France. Rips, tears, gashes and gouges all over him, blood flowing from inumerable cracks in the hide and with token white bandages all over, Hoogerland was more than happy to take it easy, falling off the back of the peloton but still managing to finish the stage so as to validate his King of the Mountain points and claim his hard-won jersey. Then it was off to hospital for 33 stitches, even as Flecha was taken in for an X-ray, just to be on the safe side - presuming such a thing really exists in this Tour.
While Flecha and Hoogerland tried to be bigger than their injuries, the breakaway was still flying along and managing to keep a solid five minutes clear of the peloton, a gap which was greater than that separating breakaway leader Voeckler from the yellow jersey-wearer Hushovd, making Voeckler the virtual wearer of the sunny garment. Inspired by this idea, Voeckler pushed on, receiving no help from Casar, struggling to keep up, or even Sanchez, who was conserving energy for his own move.
That move came within 500 metres of the finish, after Voeckler, who had hauled the trio up the final climb unassisted, ducked behind his two companions before darting around to try and win the stage. Sanchez saw him coming and went, and, having more in his legs than the man who had done all the day's pace-making, raced on to win three seconds ahead of the exhausted Voeckler, Casar dragging himself across the line three seconds after.
Garmin-Cervelo soon resigned themselves to the fact that Thor had lost the jersey to Thomas Voeckler and surrendered the pace-making, instead taking it easy and conserving energy for later on. But despite the best efforts of BMC and Leopard Trek, trying to keep their GC riders within a good time gap, they couldn't bridge the gap to the breakaway and instead the front section of the peloton finished almost four minutes behind, leaving Cadel Evans 2:26 down on yellow and Frank and Andy Schleck 2:29 and 2:37 down, respectively. Alberto Contador is now 16th in the general classification, 4:07 from donning the maillot jaune, and with injuries to boot. Contador has a lot of work to do if he wants glory again this year.
It seems all I write about these days is crashes in the Tour de France, but this year's race has really and truly been defined by these incidents. While crashes are normal - indeed, expected - in any bike race, this year seems to have been particularly bad. With the death of Wouter Weylandt in the Giro and Team Movistar rider Juan Mauricio Soler left in a coma after a crash in the Tour de Suisse, the horrific accidents at the Tour are made all the more scary. Three teams (Sky, Astana and Omega-Pharma Lotto) are now left without their main GC contendors, two other teams (Quickstep and Radioshack) look set to go the same way, and the only team that seems to have been no riders who've hit the asphalt is Team Leopard Trek, of the Schleck brothers.
So today was no different - after the peloton crossed the first of the 7 climbs of the stage, the Category 3 Cote de Massiac, a breakaway finally managed to form, sprinting off the front to build up a lead of around about five minutes. It was almost surprising that the peloton let this six-man breakaway escape, given the strength of the riders in it - Spanish time-trial champion Luis Leon Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), former yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), former polka dot-jersey wearer Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil), as well as Niki Terpstra (Quickstep), Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) and Sandy Casar (FDJ).
The six men raced away and began to climb mountains, Voeckler and Hoogerland originally fighting it out for King of the Mountains points as they crossed each climb, until the pair made a controversial and technically illegal agreement that Voeckler would let Hoogerland take maximum KOM points if Hoogerland would help Voeckler towards the yellow jersey and the stage win. The breakaway were so pre-occupied with trying to stay ahead of the peloton that they heard nothing of the destruction behind them.
Coming down the Col du Pas de Peyrol (Le Puy Mary on the south side), Team Astana were descending fast on the outside, so fast that when they hit the corner a rider ahead of them went down and Team Astana were forced off the road into a deep ditch. Teammates soon carried Alexandre Vinokourov out of the ditch and straight into the back of a waiting Tour ambulance, which took him to hospital to be treated for his fractured femur head. Meanwhile, Omega Pharma-Lotto's leader Jurgen van den Broeck was lying on the road looking sorry for himself, and when placed back on his bicycle by team staff, van den Broeck kicked his leg back over the bike and collapsed onto the ground again, in a clear gesture of 'I'm not doing it, guys. Just get me out of here.' It was a good call by van den Broeck, who will spend several days in the Intensive Care Unit with a collapsed lung, three broken ribs and a broken shoulderblade. Teammate Frederik Willems also pulled out with a broken collarbone, as did Garmin-Cervelo's Dave Zabriskie with a broken wrist.
By agreement at the front of the peloton, a truce was called to allow those affected by the crash who could still ride to catch up to the main peloton. 20 kilometres or so later it was back to work as the peloton now had to try and reel in the breakaway, whose lead had ballooned out to five minutes again when the peloton crashed.
But the breakaway was having trouble of its own. A French TV car, swerving into the road to dodge a tree on the shoulder, drove straight into the breakaway and cleaned up two of the riders, causing Sky's Juan Antonio Flecha to kiss the asphalt and sending Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland flying into a barbed wire fence. The remaining three riders in the breakaway, Niki Terpstra long having been dropped, continued riding, now with diminshed capacity to stay off the front. Flecha was soon back on the bike and being bandaged up by the medics as he tried to return to the breakaway, but his injuries won over and he was soon caught by the peloton.
It took a lot longer before anyone could get eyes on Hoogerland, but a sorrier sight never was seen at the Tour de France. Rips, tears, gashes and gouges all over him, blood flowing from inumerable cracks in the hide and with token white bandages all over, Hoogerland was more than happy to take it easy, falling off the back of the peloton but still managing to finish the stage so as to validate his King of the Mountain points and claim his hard-won jersey. Then it was off to hospital for 33 stitches, even as Flecha was taken in for an X-ray, just to be on the safe side - presuming such a thing really exists in this Tour.
While Flecha and Hoogerland tried to be bigger than their injuries, the breakaway was still flying along and managing to keep a solid five minutes clear of the peloton, a gap which was greater than that separating breakaway leader Voeckler from the yellow jersey-wearer Hushovd, making Voeckler the virtual wearer of the sunny garment. Inspired by this idea, Voeckler pushed on, receiving no help from Casar, struggling to keep up, or even Sanchez, who was conserving energy for his own move.
That move came within 500 metres of the finish, after Voeckler, who had hauled the trio up the final climb unassisted, ducked behind his two companions before darting around to try and win the stage. Sanchez saw him coming and went, and, having more in his legs than the man who had done all the day's pace-making, raced on to win three seconds ahead of the exhausted Voeckler, Casar dragging himself across the line three seconds after.
Garmin-Cervelo soon resigned themselves to the fact that Thor had lost the jersey to Thomas Voeckler and surrendered the pace-making, instead taking it easy and conserving energy for later on. But despite the best efforts of BMC and Leopard Trek, trying to keep their GC riders within a good time gap, they couldn't bridge the gap to the breakaway and instead the front section of the peloton finished almost four minutes behind, leaving Cadel Evans 2:26 down on yellow and Frank and Andy Schleck 2:29 and 2:37 down, respectively. Alberto Contador is now 16th in the general classification, 4:07 from donning the maillot jaune, and with injuries to boot. Contador has a lot of work to do if he wants glory again this year.
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