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.
Showing posts with label Yukiya Arashiro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yukiya Arashiro. Show all posts
Friday, 20 July 2012
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Stage 4: Abbéville – Rouen
The stage started out in the sunshine today, a good omen for the race
that was to come. The stunning scenery of northern France lent a
beautiful backdrop to a much calmer, happier stage than we’ve seen
recently with a thoroughly exciting finish to round things out.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
Stage 4 from Abbéville to Rouen saw the Tour leave coastal Normandy and head inland towards the river Seine, which will greet the riders again when they roll into Paris. The peloton had a much slower start to the day than anticipated at an average 37km/h, perhaps enjoying the views as they rode along the sheer cliffs of the ‘Alabaster Coast’, reminiscent of the cliffs of Dover in their pure white colour. Europcar rider Yukiya Arashiro clearly wasn’t watching the countryside, attacking as soon as the peloton was clear of the neutral zone. He was soon joined by David Moncoutié of Cofidis and Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun, the trio rocketing away to a lead of 8’40” within 20 kilometres.
Though the peloton was taking the morning off to have a more relaxing ride, even celebrating Vladimir Gusev’s (Katusha) 30th birthday, it was a flat stage with plenty of sprint finish potential and the peloton wasn’t going to let a breakaway ruin it. Lotto Belisol, the team of André Greipel, jumped on the front and began pulling, reducing the escapee trio’s lead to seven and a half minutes. They relaxed a bit too soon, though, and when the gap went out to 8’35” again the team of yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara, Radioshack-Nissan-Trek, stepped up to do their turn of defending the maillot jaune – Arashiro’s time gap was enough to put him in virtual yellow.
Up the front in the breakaway, Arashiro and his companions had been making their way over the first three of four Category 4 climbs for the day, climber Moncoutié taking the King of the Mountain points on offer each time. The beautiful coastal views continued to flash by the riders, a cool sea breeze sweeping in from the clear blue ocean keeping the temperature down. The race route finally turned away from the cliffs and headed inland, straight for the day’s intermediate sprint point, which the breakaway, unconcerned with the green jersey, passed without incident.
The peloton was certainly concerned with the green jersey, however, and Orica-GreenEDGE began setting up the win for their rider, Matt Goss. Today’s train certainly seemed better than yesterday’s, but in the end Mark Cavendish (Sky) proved once again that he is indeed the fastest man on two wheels, narrowly taking fourth place ahead of Gossy, Rabobank’s Mark Renshaw and Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan.
A little spot of rain further on down the road caused the peloton to take just a little more care on the newly-soaked roads, but if a crash is going to happen in a bike race then it seems no force in the world can stop it. Australian neo Jonathan Cantwell from Team Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank clipped his wheel on the edge of the road with 45 kilometres to go and took a tumble, taking a handful of other riders down with him. Luckily there was no damage done apart from some bumped bodies and bruised egos, and all riders were soon continuing on their way to Rouen.
Over the next few kilometres the lead group’s break continued ticking down as the race began passing through typical French countryside, brilliantly green and full of grand, ancient chateaux and cathédrales. Arashiro definitely didn’t want to be caught, even trying a solo break at one point and earning the day’s Fighting Spirit Award, but he was the first rider to falter and fall when the peloton came knocking. Delaplace and Moncoutié took a little longer, initially being joined by a series of riders sprinting out from the front of the peloton, the most notable being Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert of BMC. But the peloton was hungry for the sprint, and the race came back together with about five kilometres to go, 195 riders all barrelling towards the final few kilometres of the stage.
The sprint trains were setting themselves up, Orica-GreenEDGE, Lotto Belisol and Lampre-ISD preparing to deliver their men to the line for victory, Mark Cavendish floating on the nearest wheel as a makeshift leadout train. But nothing complicates or livens things up like a crash less than three kilometres from the finish, especially when the rainbow jersey of Mark Cavendish is sitting on the ground with pieces scraped off his back.
The front section of the peloton continued on, leaving those behind to pick themselves up, focussing instead on the sprint finish to be won. Australia’s Adam Hansen and New Zealand’s Greg Henderson led the Lotto Belisol sprint train powering down the final straight with the same implacability once seen in the HTC-Highroad express. Though the Lampre-ISD train kept pulling for Alessandro Petacchi, and Orica-GreenEDGE’s Daryl Impey did his best to bring Matt Goss forward, no-one could stand in the way of the ‘Gorilla’ André Greipel, Petacchi and Goss sliding into second and fourth respectively with Argos-Shimano’s Tom Veelers rounding out the podium. Cavendish rolled over the line a few minutes later, looking very much the worse for wear but mostly unhurt, the same as his fellow victims.
As the crash happened within the last three kilometres, all those affected had their time gaps neutralised and received the same time as the group they were riding in prior to the crash. As such Peter Sagan maintains his green jersey, and with the time gaps neutralised Fabian Cancellara maintains his yellow into tomorrow’s stage, as does Bradley Wiggins his second place on GC. Tomorrow’s stage to Saint-Quentin is as flat as today’s, but after missing out on a chance at the win today, it will be a safe bet to keep your eyes on Mark Cavendish gunning for a second chance to be on the podium.
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