For most two-year-olds, Daddy is the man in the suit who walks through the door at 6 o’clock each night. For Alan Gilbert, ‘Daddy’ is the man who wears a rainbow-striped jersey and rides a bike to work every day. What Alan can’t tell you is that Daddy’s rainbow jersey and BMC racing bike are the hallmarks of his profession – Daddy is better known as the current World Champion, Philippe Gilbert.
For father Philippe, the past two years on the bike have been as much of a rollercoaster ride as they have at home. Philippe was the rider of 2011, winning what seemed to be every single Classic in Europe in an incredible show of dominance and making himself the man to watch in 2012. Moving to BMC Racing Team at the start of the year, Philippe caused consternation when he failed to defend any one of his previous victories and added only one title to his palmarès, albeit the prestigious one of World Champion. The question on everyone’s lips is, therefore, what happened?
“My season was not that bad,” Philippe downplays the implications. “Sometimes I was a bit less than normal level, but often not that bad. I mean, I had some problems, some health problems,” he acknowledges. “I was sometimes sick with my Tours and everything and I lost a lot of power in this.”
His expression is almost hard-done-by as he explains the difficulties of his profession. “It’s never easy to keep cycling at a high level when you have some little problems.” Then his tone changes. “But now I’m lucky, everything is fine.”
Unfortunately, while Philippe’s words are telling one story, his face is telling another. There’s no hint of his trademark sense of humour in his eyes. He takes every question seriously, answers it fully. He downplays, but he doesn’t dismiss. The journalists are quick to notice and keep pressing him on the subject. Though his expression doesn’t change, Philippe’s tone becomes defensive, and his words carry a reprimand.
“I think we’re here to talk about the new season. We talked enough about this last year.”
It’s hard to say whether he’s disappointed or simply over it, but clearly, Philippe doesn’t want to talk about it. We move on.
On the topic of the new season, Philippe happily outlines his off-season and his lead-up to his first race of the year, the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
“First, I stopped the season earlier, so I have a good base of training ‘cause I had good three months training in the winter,” he explains. “I had good endurance training behind me and now a lot of intensity of the last weeks. I’m feeling ready for this.”
“You need a good winter to make a big season, and a strong season,” he tells us emphatically. “I think I had a good winter so I can go for another nice season.”
Someone asks Philippe if he spent the whole winter in his new home base of Monaco. “Always in the sun,” Philippe replies. “I’m following the sun.” For the first time we see the characteristic grin – for that’s the only word for it – that has made him known as a real joker within the peloton. The journalists chuckle along and enjoy the lighter mood of the conversation.
Philippe’s chief focus is, as always, Ardennes Week, the brutal triplicate of Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in eight days. He’s not concerned by rumours on changes in the race route of the opening Ardennes Classic, colloquially known as just ‘Amstel Gold’. “Yeah, I mean, it’s the same,” he points out. “The big goal, it’s still the same, controlling the race until the bottom of the last time up the Cauberg, and then the strongest wins.”
The other Classics are on his radar, too, and he’ll take whichever one comes his way. “For me the Classics are all big and all important, and it’s what I’m racing for, so if I can win one of those it will be nice,” he reflects. He deliberates a bit more. “It’s not easy to say one race.”
But someone wants to know if you can actually ride all the cobbled and Ardennes Classics in one year. “It’s one race a week if you do this, so I think it’s possible,” Philippe says without any wavering. “Of course, long race, like more than six hours, but I think it’s possible to recover and to ride every weekend for weeks. I’m sure it’s possible,” he nods. “The only problem is if you do Paris-Roubaix in the rain, maybe you’re more tired.”
With Ardennes Week beginning only a week later, Philippe thinks that a rainy Paris-Roubaix might prove the undoing of a rider bound for the Ardennes, but it doesn’t cast doubt on the overall concept. “I’m still convinced that it’s possible.” The fervour with which he asserts this makes it sound almost like he wants to be the one to prove it.
To begin with, though, Philippe is focussing his attention on Milano-San Remo, despite the amount of competition he predicts he’ll face. “We will be like, maybe…15 potential winners, it’s harder to win this race,” he stresses. “In Liege, if you’re on the top level, maybe two, three guys who can win, but,” he pauses once more, “San Remo, it’s a lot of guys.”
So, when you’re racing 15 other guys for the title at Milano-San Remo, what does the Classics specialist say are the key skills needed to win? “Just having good timing and sometimes having a little bit of luck also; having a good feeling but having also the right reaction behind from the other riders.” Philippe could be summing up the entire sport. He has a model for the perfect victory too - “Like we saw Simon Gerrans,” he says, referencing the Australian’s unexpected Milano-San Remo win of 2012. “He won, perfect.”
Though he mentions one of last year’s Classics winners in Gerrans, Philippe isn’t yet ready to make a call on who are the contenders in the Classics for 2013. “It’s hard to say, I think that I should wait like one or two months, to see the level of the other guys,” he says evenly. “See who can establish a high level and who can keep it to Liege. Last year from Qatar, I was there for the first race, I could see which riders were ready or not and just like that to Roubaix or to Liege.”
He doesn’t really even want to speculate which of last year’s top-10 finishers might step it up a few rungs on the finishers list or onto the podium. “I don’t know, it’s always hard to say,” Philippe vacillates. “Maybe some young guys, like [Peter] Sagan,” he says with sudden inspiration. “No-one expected Sagan last year to be that good on the Classics, and he was there.” It sounds like Sagan took Philippe by surprise just as much as everyone else, and it’s clear that he respects the prodigal youngster. “[John] Degenkolb was there also,” Philippe notes. “Maybe they can win.”
“What about Bauke Mollema?” one of the Dutch journalists presses. There’s a long pause. “…yeah?” Philippe replies. Everyone laughs at his confused expression, unable to avoid being backed into a corner. Then someone mentions the Classics rider of 2012, Tom Boonen, and the praise is instantly genuine. “He’s a hard competitor,” Philippe says, willingly acknowledging that Boonen will be his main rival in the Classics this year. “He’s fast, he’s smart, he’s strong, hard to beat.”
An Italian journalist mentions the Italian riders who once dominated that Classics, and Philippe doesn’t even let him finish his question before he answers it. “I’m already more complete, I think,” he tells the journalist candidly. “I’ve won all the Classics, just not Roubaix, I’m minimum on the podium of each Classic, Flanders two times on the podium and San Remo two times on the podium, so that’s already something good but I can do better.”
In cycling, the word ‘better’ can only mean the Tour de France. Last year Philippe was simply a workhorse for Cadel’s defence of his yellow jersey, but in previous years he’s ridden for himself, sights set on the sprinter’s green jersey.
“I saw in 2011 the energy you need to fight for the green jersey,” he says strongly. “You need all your power on this and if I’m going in the Tour it’s to help Cadel or Tejay. When you help somebody else it’s not possible to fight for a jersey or for winning a stage or something. It’s or you give everything for the team, or you go for your own chance,” he says emphatically, punctuating his English with French grammar in his intensity. “Not both together.”
Philippe’s equally clear when it comes to his own chances in the GC. “No,” he says unequivocally. “Mentally I cannot do this, it’s too hard. I don’t think so, no.”
“I’m always ambitious and I don’t want regrets when I stop my career,” he repeats the canonical words of the peloton’s older riders. “I’m going for every race just for me, the pleasure it starts for me and for family and friends, and then it’s coming out for the public and the sponsors.” But as a new and hopefully better season dawns, Philippe remains primarily self-motivated.
“I go first for myself, and then of course for my sponsors and for the team, but first is for myself.”
Showing posts with label Philippe Gilbert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philippe Gilbert. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 February 2013
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.
Friday, 6 July 2012
Stage 5: Rouen – Saint-Quentin
The flat stages in the Tour de France are usually the least
action-packed of the Tour, but that’s not to say that they’re boring.
Far from it, in fact – Stage 4 kept us guessing right up until the last
minute and had us jumping out of our seats at the very end. The classic
French scenery, some very clever tactics and some truly world-class
riding showed us why we stay up until all hours of the morning for this
magnificent race.
Today’s stage left the town of Rouen, rolling across the Somme valley of central northern France to Saint-Quentin, a region of great significance to many Australians because of its World War I connections. Frenchman Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Bigmat) had other things on his mind today than history, setting up the day’s successful break soon after the départ réel with Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) and Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) for company.
The quartet of the day disappeared into the distance, building up a nice little lead of nearly six minutes after 30 kilometres, the peloton having a leisurely ride at 39km/h. For the third day in a row there was a birthday in the bunch – BMC’s Philippe Gilbert turned 30 as he rode along with teammates in the peloton.
But not everyone was having such a happy day. Marcel Kittel, the Argos-Shimano sprinter who was expected to be the revelation of this year’s Tour, finally pulled out of the race after a nasty bout of gastroenteritis left the German too physically drained to continue. Despite Kittel’s indisposition, Argos-Shimano has remained competitive in the sprints, Kittel’s chief leadout man Tom Veelers managing to claim a few top-10 finishes in his friend’s absence.
The peloton – and the breakaway, cruising three minutes ahead – continued to roll through the greenified Somme, passing any number of beautiful historical buildings dating far beyond the First World War. The peloton left the escapees alone for a while, focusing on the sprint point, which the unconcerned breakaway rolled right through. Sadly, though, the intermediate sprint point was becoming fairly predictable, and despite the various sprint trains establishing themselves, FDJ-Bigmat weighing in this time for Yauheni Hutarovich, it was once again Mark Cavendish (Sky) who took a very narrow victory over Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss.
Intermediate sprint over, the peloton could focus on bringing in the breakaway, former teammates Stuart O’Grady (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) conferring at the front of the peloton on how to bring the escapees home. With the help of Lotto Belisol the pair continued to chip slowly away at the quartet’s lead, down to 2’15” at 50 kilometres from Saint-Quentin. It seemed likely that the peloton would be caught well within the next 40 kilometres, allowing plenty of time for the usual posturing between teams preparing for the sprint.
But it wasn’t the case. As Stéphane Augé, sports director of Ghyselinck’s Cofidis squad, had said, around 25 kilometres from the end of the stage the four breakaway riders suddenly turned up the gas and kept on moving. As they raced through a series of small French towns, streets packed five-deep with cheering locals and fans, the four wily escapees kept the racing peloton at bay with their high speed, five kilometres faster than their average for the rest of the day.
At first the peloton appeared annoyed that the leading four were forcing them to prolong the inevitable, but as the clock continued to tick down and the distance counter ticked down faster, irritation turned to concern. The peloton began to turn into a rainbow as teams grouped together for a sprint that might or might not eventuate – Team Sky on the left in the black-with-blue-stripe was leading out for Cavendish (while keeping leader Bradley Wiggins out of trouble), on the right in red and black was BMC protecting Cadel Evans, in between splodges of orange for Euskaltel-Euskadi, navy for Movistar, and a line of hot pink for the Lampre-ISD boys readying Petacchi for the sprint. The breakaway was just keeping hold of its advantage as the rainbow quilt bore down, but when the leaders still had one minute at the 10 kilometre banner, things suddenly started looking very interesting. FDJ breakaway rider Ladagnous had led a nearly-successful breakaway in the Tour before and claimed 11th – was this his belated take-two?
Four kilometres from the finish and the breakaway was barrelling down a dead straight road, the peloton breathing down their necks just 25 seconds behind. Loyalties in the break were beginning to fracture when they were given the distraction they needed. A crash in the front part of the peloton took off the pressure for just a few seconds as teams established where their leaders and sprinters were and tried to regroup. The serious contenders were clear of the drama, though, Sky, BMC and the sprint trains holding the key front positions that spared them involvement, and the diminished peloton continued at a rip-roaring pace down the rue de Paris.
But the tenacity in today’s lead group was at a premium, Jan Ghyselinck launching a perfectly-timed attack 1.4 kilometres from the end, flying away from his companions and towards the finish as though he had wings, dreaming of the stage victory. But the five-or six-second gap wasn’t going to keep him safe, the peloton rounding the second-last corner and appearing on his heels. Even a last-ditch dash by Pablo Urtasun Perez couldn’t salvage a breakaway stage win, and suddenly the escapees were absorbed by the peloton just 600 metres from the finish, and suddenly the sprint was on.
Though their train seemed to be invisible, Orica-GreenEDGE once again managed to deliver Matt Goss to a perfectly-lined-up stage win, the Tasmanian going hell-for-leather towards his first Tour de France victory. But perfect just wasn’t good enough on this stage, Lotto Belisol’s André Greipel managing to pip him by a bike length for a second consecutive stage win, leaving Gossy in second with Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Juan José Haedo claiming third.
Stage 6 will be the final flat stage before some serious hills kick in on Stage 7, meaning we can expect another good sprint tomorrow. This is likely Cavendish’s last sprint stage of this year’s Tour, and he’ll be looking to go out with a bang, but green jersey Peter Sagan has missed the last two sprints from delays in crashes and will be equally hungry. Right now, though, it’s André Greipel who dominates the sprints, and there’s also Matt Goss, desperately trying to find the power to convert thirds, seconds and intermediate firsts into a stage win. This may well be the deciding stage in a fierce green jersey competition, so definitely one not to be missed.
Today’s stage left the town of Rouen, rolling across the Somme valley of central northern France to Saint-Quentin, a region of great significance to many Australians because of its World War I connections. Frenchman Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ-Bigmat) had other things on his mind today than history, setting up the day’s successful break soon after the départ réel with Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis), Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) and Pablo Urtasun Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) for company.
The quartet of the day disappeared into the distance, building up a nice little lead of nearly six minutes after 30 kilometres, the peloton having a leisurely ride at 39km/h. For the third day in a row there was a birthday in the bunch – BMC’s Philippe Gilbert turned 30 as he rode along with teammates in the peloton.
But not everyone was having such a happy day. Marcel Kittel, the Argos-Shimano sprinter who was expected to be the revelation of this year’s Tour, finally pulled out of the race after a nasty bout of gastroenteritis left the German too physically drained to continue. Despite Kittel’s indisposition, Argos-Shimano has remained competitive in the sprints, Kittel’s chief leadout man Tom Veelers managing to claim a few top-10 finishes in his friend’s absence.
The peloton – and the breakaway, cruising three minutes ahead – continued to roll through the greenified Somme, passing any number of beautiful historical buildings dating far beyond the First World War. The peloton left the escapees alone for a while, focusing on the sprint point, which the unconcerned breakaway rolled right through. Sadly, though, the intermediate sprint point was becoming fairly predictable, and despite the various sprint trains establishing themselves, FDJ-Bigmat weighing in this time for Yauheni Hutarovich, it was once again Mark Cavendish (Sky) who took a very narrow victory over Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss.
Intermediate sprint over, the peloton could focus on bringing in the breakaway, former teammates Stuart O’Grady (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) conferring at the front of the peloton on how to bring the escapees home. With the help of Lotto Belisol the pair continued to chip slowly away at the quartet’s lead, down to 2’15” at 50 kilometres from Saint-Quentin. It seemed likely that the peloton would be caught well within the next 40 kilometres, allowing plenty of time for the usual posturing between teams preparing for the sprint.
But it wasn’t the case. As Stéphane Augé, sports director of Ghyselinck’s Cofidis squad, had said, around 25 kilometres from the end of the stage the four breakaway riders suddenly turned up the gas and kept on moving. As they raced through a series of small French towns, streets packed five-deep with cheering locals and fans, the four wily escapees kept the racing peloton at bay with their high speed, five kilometres faster than their average for the rest of the day.
At first the peloton appeared annoyed that the leading four were forcing them to prolong the inevitable, but as the clock continued to tick down and the distance counter ticked down faster, irritation turned to concern. The peloton began to turn into a rainbow as teams grouped together for a sprint that might or might not eventuate – Team Sky on the left in the black-with-blue-stripe was leading out for Cavendish (while keeping leader Bradley Wiggins out of trouble), on the right in red and black was BMC protecting Cadel Evans, in between splodges of orange for Euskaltel-Euskadi, navy for Movistar, and a line of hot pink for the Lampre-ISD boys readying Petacchi for the sprint. The breakaway was just keeping hold of its advantage as the rainbow quilt bore down, but when the leaders still had one minute at the 10 kilometre banner, things suddenly started looking very interesting. FDJ breakaway rider Ladagnous had led a nearly-successful breakaway in the Tour before and claimed 11th – was this his belated take-two?
Four kilometres from the finish and the breakaway was barrelling down a dead straight road, the peloton breathing down their necks just 25 seconds behind. Loyalties in the break were beginning to fracture when they were given the distraction they needed. A crash in the front part of the peloton took off the pressure for just a few seconds as teams established where their leaders and sprinters were and tried to regroup. The serious contenders were clear of the drama, though, Sky, BMC and the sprint trains holding the key front positions that spared them involvement, and the diminished peloton continued at a rip-roaring pace down the rue de Paris.
But the tenacity in today’s lead group was at a premium, Jan Ghyselinck launching a perfectly-timed attack 1.4 kilometres from the end, flying away from his companions and towards the finish as though he had wings, dreaming of the stage victory. But the five-or six-second gap wasn’t going to keep him safe, the peloton rounding the second-last corner and appearing on his heels. Even a last-ditch dash by Pablo Urtasun Perez couldn’t salvage a breakaway stage win, and suddenly the escapees were absorbed by the peloton just 600 metres from the finish, and suddenly the sprint was on.
Though their train seemed to be invisible, Orica-GreenEDGE once again managed to deliver Matt Goss to a perfectly-lined-up stage win, the Tasmanian going hell-for-leather towards his first Tour de France victory. But perfect just wasn’t good enough on this stage, Lotto Belisol’s André Greipel managing to pip him by a bike length for a second consecutive stage win, leaving Gossy in second with Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Juan José Haedo claiming third.
Stage 6 will be the final flat stage before some serious hills kick in on Stage 7, meaning we can expect another good sprint tomorrow. This is likely Cavendish’s last sprint stage of this year’s Tour, and he’ll be looking to go out with a bang, but green jersey Peter Sagan has missed the last two sprints from delays in crashes and will be equally hungry. Right now, though, it’s André Greipel who dominates the sprints, and there’s also Matt Goss, desperately trying to find the power to convert thirds, seconds and intermediate firsts into a stage win. This may well be the deciding stage in a fierce green jersey competition, so definitely one not to be missed.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Stage 4: Abbéville – Rouen
The stage started out in the sunshine today, a good omen for the race
that was to come. The stunning scenery of northern France lent a
beautiful backdrop to a much calmer, happier stage than we’ve seen
recently with a thoroughly exciting finish to round things out.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Stage 3: Orchies – Boulognes-sur-Mer
It was a stage of drama this time. Stage 3 of the Tour, from Orchies
to Boulognes-sur-Mer, had all the pains and troubles of the past few
days but without the redeeming features. Crashes, abandons, myriad
punctures and some rainclouds lent a distinctly gloomy air to the day’s
racing which stayed right up to the tense finish.
Ironically, it wasn’t until this fourth day of racing that the Tour de France finally reached France. Unlike yesterday, the riders were eager to get away today, the successful breakaway forming just four or five kilometres in. The apparent breakaway specialist of the 2012 Tour, Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Michael Morkov, was quick to jump on the escape attempt of Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), along with AG2R La Mondiale’s Sebastien Minard, Europcar’s Giovanni Bernardeau and Andriy Grivko of Astana. Some fast riding saw the quintet reach a maximum gap of 5’40” after half an hour, before settling into the three-minute lead it would remain for much of the stage.
In the unfortunate characteristic of the stage, the next decisive event was a crash. Janez Brajkovic of Astana was the biggest name sitting on the road, thankfully needing no more than a flying visit to the race doctor’s car for a leg wound to continue on. Going through the feed zone, the tense peloton began to calm down again, gradually directing its energies towards the next event – the intermediate sprint point.
Suddenly the GreenEDGE express appeared at the front of the peloton, intimidating in their determination to put sprinter Matt Goss over the line first. The sprint train which the Australians had been practising was working like a charm, pulling the peloton along like a cat on a ball of string, until a slower turn by one of the riders allowed Lotto Belisol to sprint up alongside and the train fell apart. All turned to chaos as other sprinters saw their chance and bolted for the sprint line, Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) controversially swerving to block Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) as they went for the line. Cavendish wasn’t too adversely affected, leading van Hummel, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-Bigmat) over the line to fill the top 10 places.
Sprint over, the peloton began to relax again, while out the front the breakaway was approaching the first climb of the day, the Category 4 Côte l’Éperche with one point on offer, which Morkov was eager to claim in defence of his polka-dot jersey. A few minutes behind, the peloton had followed the five riders over the climb before disaster struck again. A second crash with 54 kilometres to go left more riders on the ground, one of Bradley Wiggins’ Sky teammates quickly attracting attention. Hurt and struggling, Kanstantin Sivtsov was forced to abandon the Tour on just the 3rd stage, leaving Wiggins and Team Sky already one man short.
Oblivious to the carnage behind, the breakaway began the next climb of the day, Grivko upping the pace just enough that Bernardeau, riding his first Tour de France, couldn’t follow and fell off the back of the group. Morkov led the remaining three escapees over the Category 3 to bolster his lead in the King of the Mountains classification, but back in the peloton the carnage just kept coming. Yet another crash left Orica-GreenEDGE stage hopeful Simon Gerrans brushing off his knicks after a cannonball into a barbed-wire fence, while Movistar sprinter José Joaquín Rojas became the second abandon of the Tour. Meanwhile the crash at the peloton’s rear had fractured the peloton into several groups on the road, with Gerrans and BMC stage favourite Philippe Gilbert trapped in the group almost a minute behind the rest of the bunch.
Up the front Grivko and Morkov had left their companions for dead on the next Category 4 climb, racing each other to the top for the KOM points, again added to Morkov’s burgeoning total. The pair continued to go it alone as the shrunken peloton behind them swallowed first Bernardeau and then Minard and Perez Moreno, reducing the gap to less than a minute. The leading duo made it over the fourth climb of the day, Morkov collecting the point again and earning himself the Fighting Spirit award for his tenacity, before Grivko dropped him on the second-last climb and went it alone, leaving Morkov to the mercy of the peloton.
But the peloton could smell a chance at the stage now, hunting down Grivko to have its own shot at stage win glory. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) led the select group of riders over the penultimate climb, before French time trial champion Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma – Quickstep shot off the front of the group and began a solo ride to the finish. A skilled descender, Chavanel built up a small lead, but the peloton weren’t giving away the victory that easily, hauling him back just a kilometre from the finish.
Despite the crashes of earlier in the day, not all riders were paying attention on the sweep into the finish, heading straight into the fence as they missed a corner or crashing on the final uphill approach to the finish. Amongst the chaos Peter Sagan brought his newfound uphill sprinting abilities into play, making another unique salute as he rolled across the line for another stage victory. The 22-year-old Slovak tightened his lead on the green jersey, now 42 points ahead of nearest challenger, yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). In a nice twist, 7th place on the stage went to AG2R La Mondiale’s Nicolas Roche, a good present for the Irishman, who turns 28 today.
Stage 4 is another flat stage for the sprinters which could turn out to be yet another Sagan Playground or could instead bring Mark Cavendish out to play. Here’s to hoping the course profile belies the mood of the day and we have an ‘up’ day instead of a flat one.
Ironically, it wasn’t until this fourth day of racing that the Tour de France finally reached France. Unlike yesterday, the riders were eager to get away today, the successful breakaway forming just four or five kilometres in. The apparent breakaway specialist of the 2012 Tour, Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Michael Morkov, was quick to jump on the escape attempt of Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), along with AG2R La Mondiale’s Sebastien Minard, Europcar’s Giovanni Bernardeau and Andriy Grivko of Astana. Some fast riding saw the quintet reach a maximum gap of 5’40” after half an hour, before settling into the three-minute lead it would remain for much of the stage.
In the unfortunate characteristic of the stage, the next decisive event was a crash. Janez Brajkovic of Astana was the biggest name sitting on the road, thankfully needing no more than a flying visit to the race doctor’s car for a leg wound to continue on. Going through the feed zone, the tense peloton began to calm down again, gradually directing its energies towards the next event – the intermediate sprint point.
Suddenly the GreenEDGE express appeared at the front of the peloton, intimidating in their determination to put sprinter Matt Goss over the line first. The sprint train which the Australians had been practising was working like a charm, pulling the peloton along like a cat on a ball of string, until a slower turn by one of the riders allowed Lotto Belisol to sprint up alongside and the train fell apart. All turned to chaos as other sprinters saw their chance and bolted for the sprint line, Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM) controversially swerving to block Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) as they went for the line. Cavendish wasn’t too adversely affected, leading van Hummel, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Brett Lancaster (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Yauheni Hutarovich (FDJ-Bigmat) over the line to fill the top 10 places.
Sprint over, the peloton began to relax again, while out the front the breakaway was approaching the first climb of the day, the Category 4 Côte l’Éperche with one point on offer, which Morkov was eager to claim in defence of his polka-dot jersey. A few minutes behind, the peloton had followed the five riders over the climb before disaster struck again. A second crash with 54 kilometres to go left more riders on the ground, one of Bradley Wiggins’ Sky teammates quickly attracting attention. Hurt and struggling, Kanstantin Sivtsov was forced to abandon the Tour on just the 3rd stage, leaving Wiggins and Team Sky already one man short.
Oblivious to the carnage behind, the breakaway began the next climb of the day, Grivko upping the pace just enough that Bernardeau, riding his first Tour de France, couldn’t follow and fell off the back of the group. Morkov led the remaining three escapees over the Category 3 to bolster his lead in the King of the Mountains classification, but back in the peloton the carnage just kept coming. Yet another crash left Orica-GreenEDGE stage hopeful Simon Gerrans brushing off his knicks after a cannonball into a barbed-wire fence, while Movistar sprinter José Joaquín Rojas became the second abandon of the Tour. Meanwhile the crash at the peloton’s rear had fractured the peloton into several groups on the road, with Gerrans and BMC stage favourite Philippe Gilbert trapped in the group almost a minute behind the rest of the bunch.
Up the front Grivko and Morkov had left their companions for dead on the next Category 4 climb, racing each other to the top for the KOM points, again added to Morkov’s burgeoning total. The pair continued to go it alone as the shrunken peloton behind them swallowed first Bernardeau and then Minard and Perez Moreno, reducing the gap to less than a minute. The leading duo made it over the fourth climb of the day, Morkov collecting the point again and earning himself the Fighting Spirit award for his tenacity, before Grivko dropped him on the second-last climb and went it alone, leaving Morkov to the mercy of the peloton.
But the peloton could smell a chance at the stage now, hunting down Grivko to have its own shot at stage win glory. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek) led the select group of riders over the penultimate climb, before French time trial champion Sylvain Chavanel of Omega Pharma – Quickstep shot off the front of the group and began a solo ride to the finish. A skilled descender, Chavanel built up a small lead, but the peloton weren’t giving away the victory that easily, hauling him back just a kilometre from the finish.
Despite the crashes of earlier in the day, not all riders were paying attention on the sweep into the finish, heading straight into the fence as they missed a corner or crashing on the final uphill approach to the finish. Amongst the chaos Peter Sagan brought his newfound uphill sprinting abilities into play, making another unique salute as he rolled across the line for another stage victory. The 22-year-old Slovak tightened his lead on the green jersey, now 42 points ahead of nearest challenger, yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan-Trek). In a nice twist, 7th place on the stage went to AG2R La Mondiale’s Nicolas Roche, a good present for the Irishman, who turns 28 today.
Stage 4 is another flat stage for the sprinters which could turn out to be yet another Sagan Playground or could instead bring Mark Cavendish out to play. Here’s to hoping the course profile belies the mood of the day and we have an ‘up’ day instead of a flat one.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Eneco Tour of Benelux
Normalement, avec le Tour d’Espagne et l’USA Procycling Challenge maintenant, je ne m’intéresse pas beaucoup à l’Eneco Tour of Benelux. Mais après le Tour de France cette année, je m’intéresse aux coureurs qui ont roulé l’Eneco Tour of Benelux. Et, comme résultat, je me suis intéressée à l’Eneco Tour of Benelux.
La course, qui va entre la Belgique et le Pays-Bas, dure une semaine et comprit un prologue, une contre-la-montre et cinq stages en ligne. Bien sûr, la plupart d’équipes du Tour l’ont couru, avec un ou deux équipes sans licence WorldTour.
Mais c’était les coureurs des équipes fameux qui ont gagné les victoires. Le prologue a devenu la première victoire dans la carrière professionnelle de Taylor Phinney, le jeune américain de l’équipe BMC. Le lendemain, le sprinteur André Greipel (Omega-Pharma-Lotto), et encore le lendemain! À ce point, Taylor Phinney portait le maillot leader aussi. Puis un étape et le maillot leader pour Philippe Gilbert, champion de la Belgique. Il avait devenu comme le Tour de France une fois encore!
Le quatrième étape a été le contre-la-montre, gagné par Jesse Sergent, le jeune coureur Radioshack de Nouvelle Zélande, après lequel il a était un nouveau leader – Edvald Boasson Hagen, mon beau-mec! Et bien que Matteo Bono ait gagné le cinquième et avant-dernier étape, il a était Eddy «The Boss» qui a gagné le dernier étape et les trois maillots de leader, coureur jeune et sprint!
La course, qui va entre la Belgique et le Pays-Bas, dure une semaine et comprit un prologue, une contre-la-montre et cinq stages en ligne. Bien sûr, la plupart d’équipes du Tour l’ont couru, avec un ou deux équipes sans licence WorldTour.
Mais c’était les coureurs des équipes fameux qui ont gagné les victoires. Le prologue a devenu la première victoire dans la carrière professionnelle de Taylor Phinney, le jeune américain de l’équipe BMC. Le lendemain, le sprinteur André Greipel (Omega-Pharma-Lotto), et encore le lendemain! À ce point, Taylor Phinney portait le maillot leader aussi. Puis un étape et le maillot leader pour Philippe Gilbert, champion de la Belgique. Il avait devenu comme le Tour de France une fois encore!
Le quatrième étape a été le contre-la-montre, gagné par Jesse Sergent, le jeune coureur Radioshack de Nouvelle Zélande, après lequel il a était un nouveau leader – Edvald Boasson Hagen, mon beau-mec! Et bien que Matteo Bono ait gagné le cinquième et avant-dernier étape, il a était Eddy «The Boss» qui a gagné le dernier étape et les trois maillots de leader, coureur jeune et sprint!
Photo grâce à Eneco Tour à http://sport.be.msn.com/enecotour/2011/fr/
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