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.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Stage 2: Visé – Tournai
It was a stage of injuries, of sprinters, of chateaux and long
breakaways, and a stage of rising above. Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de
France from Visé to Tournai saw all the things we’ve come to expect from
the paramount race of the world – pain, triumph, inhuman achievement
and a gripping finish to keep us all guessing.
After the crashes and dramatic finish of yesterday’s stage into Seraing, the peloton started off slowly, savouring the beautiful panoramas and elegant cathedrals of central Belgium. It was 22 kilometres into the stage before Anthony Roux of FDJ-BigMat attempted a breakaway and was quickly joined by Europcar’s Christophe Kern and Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Michael Morkov, wearer of the polka-dot jersey after his participation in yesterday’s breakaway. The three rode rapidly away from the peloton to build up a lead that reached around eight minutes, Roux leaning on his handlebars as though for a time trial to avoid using his broken left hand, the result of one of yesterday’s crashes.
The young Frenchman wasn’t the only rider putting on a brave face for the stage. World time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) was also in considerable pain from a fractured scaphoid in his left hand which had caused temporary doubt as to whether he would start the stage. The German’s Tour de France certainly hadn’t improved, with a puncture in the prologue time trial preceding the Stage 1 crash which left him in a plastic brace.
The breakaway trio’s lead had dropped down to 6’15” as they passed through the city of Namur and began the climb up to the King of the Mountains point at the Côte de la Citadelle de Namur, a Roman-era fortress sitting at the top of the winding cobbles. Morkov dashed ahead of Kern and Roux to take the single point on offer, extending his lead over the polka-dot jersey competition to three points. Objective achieved, Morkov assumed a position at the back of the leading group and let the French pair do the work for the rest of the stage.
The gap quickly receding, the idle peloton realised they’d left it too late to catch the breakaway before the sprint point at Soignies, allowing Kern, Roux and Morkov respectively to take top points, and instead prepared to sprint for 4th place. The teams of the sprinters, already with a rider each at the front to do the pacemaking, sent up their leadout trains to contend for the vital green jersey points. Liquigas-Cannondale’s train was pulling for Peter Sagan, but Australian outfit Orica-GreenEDGE once again slipped sprinter Matthew Goss up the side to take the win ahead of Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Mark Cavendish (Sky).
Intermediate sprint aside, the race continued west across Belgium as the lead group’s advantage slowly ticked down. As the peloton loomed behind, Roux decided that the attitude of the day was ‘never say die’ and attacked again with 31 kilometres to go, an action that earned him the Combative Rider award for the day, while Kern and Morkov were swallowed up by the quickly-moving peloton and promptly spat out at the back end. As the pace increased, the hopeful teams of the sprinters moved to the front of the peloton for a second time and began preparing their sprint trains for the battle royale that was to be the stage finish.
At the rear of the peloton, though, Argos-Shimano’s sprinter Marcel Kittel was having trouble. While his team led the peloton charging towards Tournai, Kittel was falling off the back of the main field, his expression strained. Despite the help of teammates Kittel was unable to keep in touch any longer and dropped off, victim of a stomach bug, surrendering his chance at the day’s stage win.
The front of the peloton barely noticed his absence, flying towards the finish at nearly 70kph, scooping up the still-fighting Roux along the way. The key sprint teams of Liquigas-Cannondale, Lotto Belisol, Orica-GreenEDGE and Sky Procycling were jostling for position as King Albert II of Belgium, as keen a cycling fan as his countrymen, waited for the riders at the finish. Though Lotto Belisol appeared to have the win lined up neatly for Andre Greipel, Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan clinging to his back wheel, the aptly-named ‘Manx Missile’ of Mark Cavendish shot past Greipel to take his 21st Tour de France stage win, Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss again slipping up the side to take third.
The win has done little for the overall standings, Peter Sagan taking the green sprinter’s jersey the only change in the classifications. Tomorrow the Tour heads into northern France and more medium mountains, a newfound battleground for Sagan which may enable him to consolidate his lead on the maillot vert.
After the crashes and dramatic finish of yesterday’s stage into Seraing, the peloton started off slowly, savouring the beautiful panoramas and elegant cathedrals of central Belgium. It was 22 kilometres into the stage before Anthony Roux of FDJ-BigMat attempted a breakaway and was quickly joined by Europcar’s Christophe Kern and Saxobank-Tinkoff Bank’s Michael Morkov, wearer of the polka-dot jersey after his participation in yesterday’s breakaway. The three rode rapidly away from the peloton to build up a lead that reached around eight minutes, Roux leaning on his handlebars as though for a time trial to avoid using his broken left hand, the result of one of yesterday’s crashes.
The young Frenchman wasn’t the only rider putting on a brave face for the stage. World time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) was also in considerable pain from a fractured scaphoid in his left hand which had caused temporary doubt as to whether he would start the stage. The German’s Tour de France certainly hadn’t improved, with a puncture in the prologue time trial preceding the Stage 1 crash which left him in a plastic brace.
The breakaway trio’s lead had dropped down to 6’15” as they passed through the city of Namur and began the climb up to the King of the Mountains point at the Côte de la Citadelle de Namur, a Roman-era fortress sitting at the top of the winding cobbles. Morkov dashed ahead of Kern and Roux to take the single point on offer, extending his lead over the polka-dot jersey competition to three points. Objective achieved, Morkov assumed a position at the back of the leading group and let the French pair do the work for the rest of the stage.
The gap quickly receding, the idle peloton realised they’d left it too late to catch the breakaway before the sprint point at Soignies, allowing Kern, Roux and Morkov respectively to take top points, and instead prepared to sprint for 4th place. The teams of the sprinters, already with a rider each at the front to do the pacemaking, sent up their leadout trains to contend for the vital green jersey points. Liquigas-Cannondale’s train was pulling for Peter Sagan, but Australian outfit Orica-GreenEDGE once again slipped sprinter Matthew Goss up the side to take the win ahead of Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Mark Cavendish (Sky).
Intermediate sprint aside, the race continued west across Belgium as the lead group’s advantage slowly ticked down. As the peloton loomed behind, Roux decided that the attitude of the day was ‘never say die’ and attacked again with 31 kilometres to go, an action that earned him the Combative Rider award for the day, while Kern and Morkov were swallowed up by the quickly-moving peloton and promptly spat out at the back end. As the pace increased, the hopeful teams of the sprinters moved to the front of the peloton for a second time and began preparing their sprint trains for the battle royale that was to be the stage finish.
At the rear of the peloton, though, Argos-Shimano’s sprinter Marcel Kittel was having trouble. While his team led the peloton charging towards Tournai, Kittel was falling off the back of the main field, his expression strained. Despite the help of teammates Kittel was unable to keep in touch any longer and dropped off, victim of a stomach bug, surrendering his chance at the day’s stage win.
The front of the peloton barely noticed his absence, flying towards the finish at nearly 70kph, scooping up the still-fighting Roux along the way. The key sprint teams of Liquigas-Cannondale, Lotto Belisol, Orica-GreenEDGE and Sky Procycling were jostling for position as King Albert II of Belgium, as keen a cycling fan as his countrymen, waited for the riders at the finish. Though Lotto Belisol appeared to have the win lined up neatly for Andre Greipel, Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan clinging to his back wheel, the aptly-named ‘Manx Missile’ of Mark Cavendish shot past Greipel to take his 21st Tour de France stage win, Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matt Goss again slipping up the side to take third.
The win has done little for the overall standings, Peter Sagan taking the green sprinter’s jersey the only change in the classifications. Tomorrow the Tour heads into northern France and more medium mountains, a newfound battleground for Sagan which may enable him to consolidate his lead on the maillot vert.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Roy Will Be Less Combative
Jérémy Roy sets off on the roads of the Tour de France
Last year, Jérémy Roy, inspired columnist in his free time, was designated Super-Combative* rider of the Tour de France thanks in particular to his 735km spent in the lead, the second- highest total behind his teammate, Mickaël Delage. But there’s no need to expect him to win a double like riders before him, such as Laurent Jalabert (2001-02), Jacky Durand (1998-99), Richard Virenque (1996-97), and also Eddy Merckx (1969-70, 74-75).
“Unlike past years, we have a sprinter on the team (Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich),” he says. “It’s more necessary to protect him and perhaps that will be my role, that of breaking the wind, so I won’t be able to join breakaways as much. I will perhaps be less spirited but that will tire me just as much. That’s part of my job. Of course, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at another supercombative title either. But if I get it, it will mean that I’ve had some beautiful breakaways. The Tour that I had last year was fabulous and the hardest is yet to come. I hope to get there in winning a stage.”
* At the end of each, a jury composed of journalists, former cyclists and commissaires selects the Most Combative Rider of the day, rewarded for their spirit. At the end of the Tour, the jury also awards the Super-Combative Rider of the Tour through a separate vote.
On his second place during the French Time Trial Championships
“I’m trying to forget,” he says, half-jokingly. “13 seconds, that’s nothing over fifty kilometres. To come so close to the tricolour jersey… In a year, we will have forgotten that I finished second, we only remember the winner. But I have no regrets, I was at my max. I was a little weakened at the end, unlike Sylvain (Chavanel), but even so, I’ve succeeded in better managing my high-intensity efforts. Before, I perhaps used to go out a little too fast. I’ve always liked this exercise and I’ve always had reasonable results, especially in the time trials over 20kms. I've practised my position, my equipment and above all I’ve gained confidence."
Written by X.C. for L’Équipe at http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Roy-sera-moins-combatif/295003
Translated by Caelli Greenbank
Last year, Jérémy Roy, inspired columnist in his free time, was designated Super-Combative* rider of the Tour de France thanks in particular to his 735km spent in the lead, the second- highest total behind his teammate, Mickaël Delage. But there’s no need to expect him to win a double like riders before him, such as Laurent Jalabert (2001-02), Jacky Durand (1998-99), Richard Virenque (1996-97), and also Eddy Merckx (1969-70, 74-75).
“Unlike past years, we have a sprinter on the team (Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich),” he says. “It’s more necessary to protect him and perhaps that will be my role, that of breaking the wind, so I won’t be able to join breakaways as much. I will perhaps be less spirited but that will tire me just as much. That’s part of my job. Of course, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at another supercombative title either. But if I get it, it will mean that I’ve had some beautiful breakaways. The Tour that I had last year was fabulous and the hardest is yet to come. I hope to get there in winning a stage.”
* At the end of each, a jury composed of journalists, former cyclists and commissaires selects the Most Combative Rider of the day, rewarded for their spirit. At the end of the Tour, the jury also awards the Super-Combative Rider of the Tour through a separate vote.
On his second place during the French Time Trial Championships
“I’m trying to forget,” he says, half-jokingly. “13 seconds, that’s nothing over fifty kilometres. To come so close to the tricolour jersey… In a year, we will have forgotten that I finished second, we only remember the winner. But I have no regrets, I was at my max. I was a little weakened at the end, unlike Sylvain (Chavanel), but even so, I’ve succeeded in better managing my high-intensity efforts. Before, I perhaps used to go out a little too fast. I’ve always liked this exercise and I’ve always had reasonable results, especially in the time trials over 20kms. I've practised my position, my equipment and above all I’ve gained confidence."
Written by X.C. for L’Équipe at http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme-sur-route/Actualites/Roy-sera-moins-combatif/295003
Translated by Caelli Greenbank
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)