Alberto Contador was finally crowned Tour de France champion for 2010 as the three weekend stages went almost perfectly to script. Mark Cavendish cleaned up the last two sprint finishes on Stages 18 and 20, while time trial world champion Fabian Cancellara took Stage 19 in the race against the clock. While Contador had some nervous moments in the time trial (he trailed Andy Schleck after the first time check) in the end he was able to dig deep enough to gain a further 31 seconds on his nearest rival to seal the Tour by 31 seconds. Andy Schleck was heroic in finishing runner up for the second straight year, while Denis Menchov was third at 2:01.
Stage 18 was virtually a dead flat parcours of 198km from Salies-de-Bearn to Bordeaux. And with the race finishing in a bunch sprint there was always only going to be one winner, and that was Mark Cavendish. The Manx man took his fourth stage of this years edition, and it was his easiest win yet. With his lead out man Mark Renshaw currently persona non grata Cavendish tried a new tactic of following Alessandro Pettachi over the final kilometre. And while appearing to be boxed in with only 250m remaining, Cavendish managed to extricate himself from the chaos to jump off Pettachi's wheel and explode away over the final 100m. He won easily, and even had time to look back and taunt his opposition as he crossed the finishing line. Julian Dean finished second while Pettachi finished third which was enough to see him retake the Green Jersey from Thor Hushovd who could only finish a disappointing 14th. With the main bunch finishing together there was no change to the overall standings.
Stage 19 finally saw the riders return to race against the clock on their own with a 52km dead flat time trial from Bordeaux to Paulliac. The race for the stage win was a race in two between time trial specialists Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin and in the end it was the world champion Cancellara who took the win by 17 seconds from Martin. HTC-Colombia also filled third with Bert Grabsch finishing 1:48 back. But the more important battle was for the maillot jaune, and a phenomenal upset looked to be on the cards when Andy Schleck had pulled back 6 seconds on Contador at the first time check. But the young Luxembourger could not maintain that level, and by the second check Contador had overturned the deficit and was increasing the time between himself and Schleck. At the finish, although he was a massive 5:43 behind stage winner Cancellara, he was still 31 seconds ahead of Schleck - taking his overall lead to 39 seconds. Ironically (or perpahs fatefully) that 39 seconds proved the exact margin that Contador had over Schleck after attacking him following Schleck's mechanical in the Alps. The battle for third was just as exciting, but in the end Denis Menchov dragged himself onto the podium in Paris, finishing 11th on the stage and putting over two minutes into Sammy Sanchez who dropped to fourth overall, 1:40 behind Menchov.
Stage 20 was the usual processional, this time a minute 102km parade from Longjumeau to Paris. As always, a break was allowed to go free to have some glory on the Champs-Élysées but with the Green Jersey still on the line they were never a chance of surviving. The sprinters teams reeled them in on the final lap of the Parisian monument setting things up for the ultimate bunch sprint in world cycling. And fittingly the win went to the ultimate sprinter, with Mark Cavendish becoming the first cyclist in history to win back-to-back on the Champs-Élysées. The missile proved far too dominant again in relegating Alessandro Pettachi and Julian Dean to the placings for a second straight sprint stage. However, this time Pettachi also had reason to celebrate as the second placing was enough for him to hold onto the Green Jersey by 11 points from Cavendish. That makes Pettachi the first man since Laurent Jalabert to have won the points classification at all three Grand Tours, and the first Italian since 1968 to wear the Green Jersey in Paris. Alberto Contador finished safely in the main pack to become a three time winner of the Tour de France. Andy Schleck became the first man to win the White Jersey three times and he must be proud of that achievement even though he would have hoped to be wearing a different color in paris. And finally Anthony Charteau went home with the biggest prize of his career, the Polka Dot Jersey for the King of the Mountains.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Stage 17 - Contador Seals Tour, Schleck Steals Hearts
Alberto Contador all but assured he would win the 2010 Tour de France on Stage 17, a 174km battle from Pau to the Col du Tourmalet, when he finished alongside great rival Andy Schleck at the top of the mythical Pyreneean summit. But it is the young Luxemburger who will have won the hearts of cycling fans worldwide, after Schleck recorded the second mountain top stage win of his career in a mano-a-mano battle on the final climb of this years Tour. Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez finished the stage in third.
The final mountains stage of this years Tour lived up to the hype, after Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, first and second on the general classification going in to the days stage, staged a titanic battle on the final ascent of the Tourmalet. Their battle was unmatched by any of the other riders in the peleton, with the two finishing over a minute head of their nearest rival, Joaquin Rodriguez. In the end it was Schleck who got the much deserved victory, ahead of Contador, who all but sealed his third Tour de France crown by conceding no time on the stage. It was Schleck who instigated the attack that devestated all but Contador with just under 10km to go and the two powered away from the rest of the field like angels ascending through the clouds to heaven. Try as he might, Schleck could not get the clean break on Contador he needed to surge ahead and gain the time he required on the great Spaniard before Saturday nights time trial. Contador was happy to sit on Schleck's wheel, although he did try one blistering attack with around 5km to go. Schleck had to dig deep, but he bravely dragged himself up to the Spainards wheel before giving him an almighty stare! That attacked signalled a semi truce of sorts and for the remainder of the climb Schleck led Contador as the two continued to put time into the rest of the field. Given Schleck had done 99.9% of the work, there could only be one winner at the summit, and Alberto graciously allowed Andy (surley the two are on first name basis by now) to take the glory on the day....after all, he had won the war.
So with only the final time trial likely to change things the overall standings are as follows. Alberto Contador leads Andy Schleck by just 8 seconds. But given that Contador is one of the best time-triallers in the world, it will be more than enough for him to hold on to the Yellow Jersey in Paris. Sammy Sanchez (despite apparently injuring his 'sternum' on the stage overnight - seems a tough area to hurt on a bike) is over 3:30 back in third, and has just a 20 second lead to Denis Menchov for the final podium position. Given Menchov's ability in races against the clock the battle for third looks certain to go right down to the last second on Saturday night. Jurgen Van Den Broeck should be able to safely hang on to his spot in the top 5. He is over 5 minutes behind Contador but has an 80 second buffer over Robert Gesink in 6th. The big mover over night was Chris Horner, who suprisingly took the team lead at Radioshack by moving up to 10th, after finishing an excellent 8th on the stage overnight. Andy Schleck's mesmeric performance also saw him increase his lead in the Youth Classification and he now holds the White Jersey by over six and half minutes from Robert Gesink.
With no more classafied climbs to come in this years event the King of the Mountains classification was decided overnight, and as expected Anthony Charteau held on to take the Polka Dot Jersey by 15 points from Christophe Moreau with Andy Schleck finshing third. Honestly Charteau must go down as the worst winner of the jersey in 25 years (potentially ever!) after he was able to garner a lot of his points on early small climbs and by getting into breakaways on the big mountain days. When the real pressure went on on the big climbs he was usually dropped fairly easily. Unsuprisingly, given that the stage finish was located over 2100m above seal level, there was no change in the Points Classification with Thor Hushovd maintaining his slim hold on the Green Jersey. The battle for this particular prize will go all the way to the finish line on the Champs Elysee in Paris.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Back to normality for the Tour tonight as Stage 18 comprises a dead flat 198km run from Salies-de-Bearn to Bordeaux. After suffering through the mountains the sprinters will be keen to warm up their legs for Paris with a bunch sprint here, and with the race for the Green Jersey still very much alive I can't see any result except a sprint finish. Given that, it is hard to go past Mark Cavendish for the win, given that he probably needs to win here and in Paris to have any shot at the points classification. Get ready to watch the missile fire!
The final mountains stage of this years Tour lived up to the hype, after Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, first and second on the general classification going in to the days stage, staged a titanic battle on the final ascent of the Tourmalet. Their battle was unmatched by any of the other riders in the peleton, with the two finishing over a minute head of their nearest rival, Joaquin Rodriguez. In the end it was Schleck who got the much deserved victory, ahead of Contador, who all but sealed his third Tour de France crown by conceding no time on the stage. It was Schleck who instigated the attack that devestated all but Contador with just under 10km to go and the two powered away from the rest of the field like angels ascending through the clouds to heaven. Try as he might, Schleck could not get the clean break on Contador he needed to surge ahead and gain the time he required on the great Spaniard before Saturday nights time trial. Contador was happy to sit on Schleck's wheel, although he did try one blistering attack with around 5km to go. Schleck had to dig deep, but he bravely dragged himself up to the Spainards wheel before giving him an almighty stare! That attacked signalled a semi truce of sorts and for the remainder of the climb Schleck led Contador as the two continued to put time into the rest of the field. Given Schleck had done 99.9% of the work, there could only be one winner at the summit, and Alberto graciously allowed Andy (surley the two are on first name basis by now) to take the glory on the day....after all, he had won the war.
So with only the final time trial likely to change things the overall standings are as follows. Alberto Contador leads Andy Schleck by just 8 seconds. But given that Contador is one of the best time-triallers in the world, it will be more than enough for him to hold on to the Yellow Jersey in Paris. Sammy Sanchez (despite apparently injuring his 'sternum' on the stage overnight - seems a tough area to hurt on a bike) is over 3:30 back in third, and has just a 20 second lead to Denis Menchov for the final podium position. Given Menchov's ability in races against the clock the battle for third looks certain to go right down to the last second on Saturday night. Jurgen Van Den Broeck should be able to safely hang on to his spot in the top 5. He is over 5 minutes behind Contador but has an 80 second buffer over Robert Gesink in 6th. The big mover over night was Chris Horner, who suprisingly took the team lead at Radioshack by moving up to 10th, after finishing an excellent 8th on the stage overnight. Andy Schleck's mesmeric performance also saw him increase his lead in the Youth Classification and he now holds the White Jersey by over six and half minutes from Robert Gesink.
With no more classafied climbs to come in this years event the King of the Mountains classification was decided overnight, and as expected Anthony Charteau held on to take the Polka Dot Jersey by 15 points from Christophe Moreau with Andy Schleck finshing third. Honestly Charteau must go down as the worst winner of the jersey in 25 years (potentially ever!) after he was able to garner a lot of his points on early small climbs and by getting into breakaways on the big mountain days. When the real pressure went on on the big climbs he was usually dropped fairly easily. Unsuprisingly, given that the stage finish was located over 2100m above seal level, there was no change in the Points Classification with Thor Hushovd maintaining his slim hold on the Green Jersey. The battle for this particular prize will go all the way to the finish line on the Champs Elysee in Paris.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Back to normality for the Tour tonight as Stage 18 comprises a dead flat 198km run from Salies-de-Bearn to Bordeaux. After suffering through the mountains the sprinters will be keen to warm up their legs for Paris with a bunch sprint here, and with the race for the Green Jersey still very much alive I can't see any result except a sprint finish. Given that, it is hard to go past Mark Cavendish for the win, given that he probably needs to win here and in Paris to have any shot at the points classification. Get ready to watch the missile fire!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Titans To Clash On The Tourmalet
The battle for the 2010 Tour de France reaches its pinnacle tonight in the form of Stage 17, 174km epic journey from Pau, the gateway to the Pyrenees, 165m above sea level, all the way to the mythical summit of the Col du Tormalet, which tops out at over 2100m. On the way the peleton will also have to deal with the cat-1 climbs of the Col de Marie-Blanque and the Col du Soulor, and the stage makes the final rendezvous before the penultimate day time trial in Bordeaux.
The equation is simple - Andy Schleck must get enough time on Alberto Contador to make up for his inferiority in the race against the clock. The final time trial is 52km so I estimate that Schleck will need at least a one minute advantage over Contador heading into Saturday's stage. Unfortunately for the fans of the White Knight from Luxembourg I don't think he can do it. Now that Contador has the yellow jersey he can afford to follow Schleck around as a duckling follows its mother. Schleck will have to attack Contador in front and will not have the element of surprise, and while he has put the Spaniard into difficulty a couple of times during this years race I don't think he has the ability to put over a minute into him, even on a beast of a climb such as the Tourmalet. To do it, he will have to attack early - no waiting for the closing kilometres to have a crack. In fact he will probably have to reproduce the effort of Carlos Sastre on L'Alpe d'Huez in 2008, when he blew the field away with an attack on the foot of the climb and rode away to the Yellow Jersey. While I would love to see him do it, I just don't think he is capable of a similar feet given the quality of the chasers he has behind him in the likes of Contador, Denis Menchov and Samuel Sanchez.
Sanchez and Menchov will also continue their battle for the final podium place and I would expect Sanchez to look to put some time into the 'Silent Assassin' who is arguably a better time trialler. There head-to-head battle for third may prove to be just as exciting as that between Schleck and Contador for the race lead. I expect the Olympic champion Sanchez to go ballistic at some stage on this climb and put Menchov into real difficulty.
The King of The Mountains crown will also be decided tonight as the Tourmalet represents the last classified climb of the whole tour. It is a race in two with Christophe Moreau needing 23 points to catch the current Polka Dot Jersey of Anthony Charteau. Realistically to gain an advantage either rider will need to get into the day's break as they do not have the climbing ability to finish with the GC guys on a finish like the Tourmalet. Given that, their is some chance that neither man will get into the break and the status quo will be maintained, leaving Charteau to ride with the polka-dot jersey to Paris. That would be my tip.
All in all it should be an amazing night of racing and hopefully it is not as much of an anti-climax as the finish to Mount Vonteux was in 2009. Let the best man win! (As long as it is Andy Schleck).
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Stage 16 - Armstrong Says Goodbye
Lance Armstrong showed that he had one big Tour de France performance left in him when he animated what was otherwise a dull days racing on Stage 16, despite the magnificence of the profile of the 200km slog from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau. In the end Armstrong's brekaway survived, but he could only finish 6th behind Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo, who won the final sprint to the line from Sandy Casar and Ruben Plaza. There was no change to the overall classification with all the GC contenders finishing together in the main group.
And so it was The Queen stage of this years Tour that Armstrong chose to give us his last hurrah, starting and then igniting the early breaks until he and a group of 9 other riders were finally let free on the HC climb of the Col du Tourmalet. The break maintained their advantage onto the final HC climb of the day, the Col d'Aubisque (peaking some 60km from the finish), and it was this climb that Armstrong chose to attack. He initially reduced the break from 10 to 5, but was then himself put under pressure by a series of blistering attacks from San Sebastien winner Carlos Barredo. Initially only Ferdigo could match the Spainard but by the top of the climb Armstrong, Plaza, and Daminao Cunego had all come back together for the descent. However, rather than trying to work together, Barredo was itching to go it alone, and some 45km from the finish, just as the break hit the flatlands he commenced a solo attack. Suprisingly his comapnions let him go and at one stage his lead grew to 45 seconds and it looked as if he would take the day. However, the break finally got its chase sorted over the last 10km, and with Chirstophe Moreau powering them on they tragically reeled in the brave Barredo (who deserved the win) right under the flamme rouge. That left it down to a sprint, and as seems to be the pattern of this years Tour a Frenchman won it, with Fedrigo having too much for his countrymen Casar with Plaza in third. Armstrong tried to come from well back in the sprint and while he got out in time and momentarily looked as if he might challenge for the win, his 38 year old legs simply did not have the power and he faded to finish 6th. Still it was a brave and courageous effort from the 7 time winner who has certainly given us something to remember him by at this years race.
Sadly, on a stage that deserved better, the break was the story of the day as the race resembled more of transitional stage than the Queen stage of the Pyrenees. With 60km from the top of the Aubisque to the finish (absolutely shithouse planning by the director no matter what he claims the stage was trying to emulate) none of the big guns had any incentive to attack as they would not have been able to defend any advantage gained in to Pau. As a result, rather than the battle royal we should have got over some of the famous climbs of the Pyrenees, what we in fact saw was merely a precession of the elite bunch over one climb before moving on to the next. The result was tepid racing and the main bunch finally rolled in to town almost 7 minutes behind the stagewinner. The sad thing is that every Tour fan and his dog could have told Christian Prudhomme (the race director) that this is exactly what was going to happen with so many dead kilometres between the final peak and the finishing line. While Prudhomme should be given credit for including the cobbles in the race this year, the planning of today's stage was poor. At least he has included the final epic mountain finish to the summit of the Tourmalet before the final time trial so we are guaranteed to see fire works on Thursday night. But today, there was no change to either of the time classifications with Alberto Contador holding the Yellow and Andy Schleck holding on the White Jersey by unchanged margins.
One thing is exciting is the battle for the minor jersey's none of which are really yet to be decided. Anthony Charteau would have thought he had wrapt up the King of the Mountains classification after he got into the break and finished in the top 2 over the first two cat-1 climbs of the day. However, he was dropped on the Tourmalet, and after Christophe Moureau joined the break he rode magnificently to crest both the HC Tourmalet and Aubisque in first position. This puts Moreau within striking distance of Charteau, who holds the Polka Dot Jersey by 23 points with three big mountains left to contest on Thursday night. To win, Moreau will have to finish in the top 3 on a couple of these mountains and hope Charteau does not garner any points, a possibility if he can get into the likely early break. Honestly though if Charteau manages to hang on after picking up a hell of a lot of cheap mountain points early on he will have to go down as one of the all time worst winners of the Polka Dot Jersey in my book.
The farce that was the racing of the peleton today was highlighted by the fact that the Green Jersey changed hands on the most epic of mountain stages! The main bunch were so disinterested that Thor Hushovd of all riders managed to stay with them for the entire stage and as a result had no real rivals for the sprint for 10th place when the peleton came into town. 10th was enough to gain 6 points which was plenty more than he needed to overcome his current deficit to Alessandro Pettachi. Hushovd regains the green jersey in this yo-yo battle amongs the sprinters and now has a 4 point lead over Pettachi. It looks to be a battle between those two with Cavendish probably just too far back (as he was at this stage last year), 29 points behind in third.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's stage - Tonight sees the second rest day and many riders (and Australian late night TV fans) will be getting some much needed R&R before the battle resumes with the monumental climb to the Tourmalet on Thursday night. Unlike last night - I can guarantee that this one will be a cracker!
And so it was The Queen stage of this years Tour that Armstrong chose to give us his last hurrah, starting and then igniting the early breaks until he and a group of 9 other riders were finally let free on the HC climb of the Col du Tourmalet. The break maintained their advantage onto the final HC climb of the day, the Col d'Aubisque (peaking some 60km from the finish), and it was this climb that Armstrong chose to attack. He initially reduced the break from 10 to 5, but was then himself put under pressure by a series of blistering attacks from San Sebastien winner Carlos Barredo. Initially only Ferdigo could match the Spainard but by the top of the climb Armstrong, Plaza, and Daminao Cunego had all come back together for the descent. However, rather than trying to work together, Barredo was itching to go it alone, and some 45km from the finish, just as the break hit the flatlands he commenced a solo attack. Suprisingly his comapnions let him go and at one stage his lead grew to 45 seconds and it looked as if he would take the day. However, the break finally got its chase sorted over the last 10km, and with Chirstophe Moreau powering them on they tragically reeled in the brave Barredo (who deserved the win) right under the flamme rouge. That left it down to a sprint, and as seems to be the pattern of this years Tour a Frenchman won it, with Fedrigo having too much for his countrymen Casar with Plaza in third. Armstrong tried to come from well back in the sprint and while he got out in time and momentarily looked as if he might challenge for the win, his 38 year old legs simply did not have the power and he faded to finish 6th. Still it was a brave and courageous effort from the 7 time winner who has certainly given us something to remember him by at this years race.
Sadly, on a stage that deserved better, the break was the story of the day as the race resembled more of transitional stage than the Queen stage of the Pyrenees. With 60km from the top of the Aubisque to the finish (absolutely shithouse planning by the director no matter what he claims the stage was trying to emulate) none of the big guns had any incentive to attack as they would not have been able to defend any advantage gained in to Pau. As a result, rather than the battle royal we should have got over some of the famous climbs of the Pyrenees, what we in fact saw was merely a precession of the elite bunch over one climb before moving on to the next. The result was tepid racing and the main bunch finally rolled in to town almost 7 minutes behind the stagewinner. The sad thing is that every Tour fan and his dog could have told Christian Prudhomme (the race director) that this is exactly what was going to happen with so many dead kilometres between the final peak and the finishing line. While Prudhomme should be given credit for including the cobbles in the race this year, the planning of today's stage was poor. At least he has included the final epic mountain finish to the summit of the Tourmalet before the final time trial so we are guaranteed to see fire works on Thursday night. But today, there was no change to either of the time classifications with Alberto Contador holding the Yellow and Andy Schleck holding on the White Jersey by unchanged margins.
One thing is exciting is the battle for the minor jersey's none of which are really yet to be decided. Anthony Charteau would have thought he had wrapt up the King of the Mountains classification after he got into the break and finished in the top 2 over the first two cat-1 climbs of the day. However, he was dropped on the Tourmalet, and after Christophe Moureau joined the break he rode magnificently to crest both the HC Tourmalet and Aubisque in first position. This puts Moreau within striking distance of Charteau, who holds the Polka Dot Jersey by 23 points with three big mountains left to contest on Thursday night. To win, Moreau will have to finish in the top 3 on a couple of these mountains and hope Charteau does not garner any points, a possibility if he can get into the likely early break. Honestly though if Charteau manages to hang on after picking up a hell of a lot of cheap mountain points early on he will have to go down as one of the all time worst winners of the Polka Dot Jersey in my book.
The farce that was the racing of the peleton today was highlighted by the fact that the Green Jersey changed hands on the most epic of mountain stages! The main bunch were so disinterested that Thor Hushovd of all riders managed to stay with them for the entire stage and as a result had no real rivals for the sprint for 10th place when the peleton came into town. 10th was enough to gain 6 points which was plenty more than he needed to overcome his current deficit to Alessandro Pettachi. Hushovd regains the green jersey in this yo-yo battle amongs the sprinters and now has a 4 point lead over Pettachi. It looks to be a battle between those two with Cavendish probably just too far back (as he was at this stage last year), 29 points behind in third.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's stage - Tonight sees the second rest day and many riders (and Australian late night TV fans) will be getting some much needed R&R before the battle resumes with the monumental climb to the Tourmalet on Thursday night. Unlike last night - I can guarantee that this one will be a cracker!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Team Issues!
It was well known in the past that Cadel Evans was not really the best of friends with some of the boys of the Silence Lotto squad. But at least it never got as serious as things seem to have been getting over at AG2R overnight:
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/i-wanted-to-smash-his-head-in-i-couldnt-stand-to-be-near-him-2264978.html
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/i-wanted-to-smash-his-head-in-i-couldnt-stand-to-be-near-him-2264978.html
Stage 15 - Technical Difficulties
Alberto Contador controversially stole the Yellow Jersey from Andy Schleck on Stage 15, an 187km trip from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon. Thomas Voeckler was the French hereo on the day, taking the stage win to deliver the French their first back-to-back victories in over 5 years. He attacked his breakaway rivals on the final climb, and held his advantage on the descent to win from former world champion Alessandro Ballan and Aitor Perez who were second and third respectively.
But all the debate this morning will surround the transfer of the Yellow Jersey from Schleck to Contador. With the two in the elite group climing the HC Port de Balès, Schleck attacked and seemed to have put Contador into difficulty, getting a 20 metre break on his rival. Just at that moment Schleck dropped his chain, which got caught in his wheel, jamming his bike. He had to pull over to the side of the road to fix the problem. Cycling ettiquete suggests that the race leader should not be attacked when he is suffering from a technical problem, but Contador threw all that in the bin and chose that moment to attack. It was a dog act! With his main rival sitting helpless on the side of the road and unable to respond, Contador surged up the final kilometres putting almost a minute into Schleck while he waited in vain on the side of the road. Once Schleck finally was able to restart riding he maintained the gap to Contador (who was with a group that included Denis Menchov, Samuel Sanchez, and Robert Gesink) but the bird had flown. By the finish on the descent Schleck had lost 39 seconds to Contador, which saw the Spainiard take the lead in the general classification by 8 seconds. Sanchez and Menchov continue to battle for third just under 2 minutes back.
Let's be clear - it was an atrocious attack from Contador that goes against every gentleman's agreement that exists in the sport. His jersey is tarnished and I hope he suffers similar technical problems on the Tourmalet and is absolutley punished for it by Andy. For all his glory and victories I get the feeling Contador is not that well liked in the peleton, and you can see why when he comes up with disgraceful actions like this. It is not suprising he chooses to associate with disgarced former blood dopers such as Alexander Vinokourov. Contador claims he did not see the issue and was unaware that Schleck had been caught up behind. What a load of crap! Surely he would have got a golden view of Schleck's chain problems as he rode past him after Schleck had dropped him fair and square with a blistering attack. Contador may go on to win this Tour easily with a big performance in the last two mountain stages and the time trial. But if the margin is 40 seconds or less to Schleck at the finish it will go down as a Tour win just as tainted as Floyd Llandis effort in 2006.
The one shining light on the day was the heroic performance of French national champion Thomas Voeckler, who rode solo over the final 30km to record the second stage win of his career in wonderful fashion. Voeckler had been part of the days break but attacked the lead group on the final climb up the Port de Balès. He managed to hold his lead on the descent into Bagneres-de-Luchon and had more than enough time to enjoy the final kilometre to the finish line where upon he kissed his national jersey in triumph. In the end Voeckler had 1:20 to spare over the only other two survivors from the breakawy, with Alessandro Ballan just nudging out Aitor Perez in the race for second. Voeckler is a plucky cyclist and the kind of eager opportunist that any team would love to have in their ranks. It was great to see him get yet another reward in a race that has already delivered so much to him over his career (he wore the yellow jersey for almost 2 weeks in 2004).
Again there was no change in the points classification with Alessandro Pettachi continuing to hold onto his green jersey by a slender 2 points. The big mover in the King of the Mountains classification was Thomas Voeckler, who garnered the double point bonus for winning the final HC climb of the day and moved up to third in the race for the Polka Dot Jersey. He trails current wearer Anthony Charteau by 33 points, and with two cat-1 and two HC climbs on tonight's stage I reckon he will be looking for the break again in an attempt to take the jersey from his teammate and countrymen. Despite his mechanical problems Andy Schleck increased his lead in the White Jersey competition for best young rider to almost 5 minutes over Robert Gessink.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador (Dog)
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The Queen of stages! The Grand Daddy of them all! The Tour's high point! A 196km ball burster that passes over the Col de Peyresoude (cat 1), the Col d'Aspin (cat 1), the Col du Tormalet (HC - topping out at over 2115 metres!) and finally the Col d'Aubisque (HC). Unfortunatley the final climb is over 60km to finish so we are not likely to see too many fireworks from the big guns - you wouldn't think. A breakaway may be the way to glory then, and I am going to go for the ultimate fairytale story and tip Lance Armstrong to get into the days break and notch up the final Tour de France stage win of his career! C'mon Lance! Have a crack son!!!!
But all the debate this morning will surround the transfer of the Yellow Jersey from Schleck to Contador. With the two in the elite group climing the HC Port de Balès, Schleck attacked and seemed to have put Contador into difficulty, getting a 20 metre break on his rival. Just at that moment Schleck dropped his chain, which got caught in his wheel, jamming his bike. He had to pull over to the side of the road to fix the problem. Cycling ettiquete suggests that the race leader should not be attacked when he is suffering from a technical problem, but Contador threw all that in the bin and chose that moment to attack. It was a dog act! With his main rival sitting helpless on the side of the road and unable to respond, Contador surged up the final kilometres putting almost a minute into Schleck while he waited in vain on the side of the road. Once Schleck finally was able to restart riding he maintained the gap to Contador (who was with a group that included Denis Menchov, Samuel Sanchez, and Robert Gesink) but the bird had flown. By the finish on the descent Schleck had lost 39 seconds to Contador, which saw the Spainiard take the lead in the general classification by 8 seconds. Sanchez and Menchov continue to battle for third just under 2 minutes back.
Let's be clear - it was an atrocious attack from Contador that goes against every gentleman's agreement that exists in the sport. His jersey is tarnished and I hope he suffers similar technical problems on the Tourmalet and is absolutley punished for it by Andy. For all his glory and victories I get the feeling Contador is not that well liked in the peleton, and you can see why when he comes up with disgraceful actions like this. It is not suprising he chooses to associate with disgarced former blood dopers such as Alexander Vinokourov. Contador claims he did not see the issue and was unaware that Schleck had been caught up behind. What a load of crap! Surely he would have got a golden view of Schleck's chain problems as he rode past him after Schleck had dropped him fair and square with a blistering attack. Contador may go on to win this Tour easily with a big performance in the last two mountain stages and the time trial. But if the margin is 40 seconds or less to Schleck at the finish it will go down as a Tour win just as tainted as Floyd Llandis effort in 2006.
The one shining light on the day was the heroic performance of French national champion Thomas Voeckler, who rode solo over the final 30km to record the second stage win of his career in wonderful fashion. Voeckler had been part of the days break but attacked the lead group on the final climb up the Port de Balès. He managed to hold his lead on the descent into Bagneres-de-Luchon and had more than enough time to enjoy the final kilometre to the finish line where upon he kissed his national jersey in triumph. In the end Voeckler had 1:20 to spare over the only other two survivors from the breakawy, with Alessandro Ballan just nudging out Aitor Perez in the race for second. Voeckler is a plucky cyclist and the kind of eager opportunist that any team would love to have in their ranks. It was great to see him get yet another reward in a race that has already delivered so much to him over his career (he wore the yellow jersey for almost 2 weeks in 2004).
Again there was no change in the points classification with Alessandro Pettachi continuing to hold onto his green jersey by a slender 2 points. The big mover in the King of the Mountains classification was Thomas Voeckler, who garnered the double point bonus for winning the final HC climb of the day and moved up to third in the race for the Polka Dot Jersey. He trails current wearer Anthony Charteau by 33 points, and with two cat-1 and two HC climbs on tonight's stage I reckon he will be looking for the break again in an attempt to take the jersey from his teammate and countrymen. Despite his mechanical problems Andy Schleck increased his lead in the White Jersey competition for best young rider to almost 5 minutes over Robert Gessink.
Yellow Jersey - Alberto Contador (Dog)
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The Queen of stages! The Grand Daddy of them all! The Tour's high point! A 196km ball burster that passes over the Col de Peyresoude (cat 1), the Col d'Aspin (cat 1), the Col du Tormalet (HC - topping out at over 2115 metres!) and finally the Col d'Aubisque (HC). Unfortunatley the final climb is over 60km to finish so we are not likely to see too many fireworks from the big guns - you wouldn't think. A breakaway may be the way to glory then, and I am going to go for the ultimate fairytale story and tip Lance Armstrong to get into the days break and notch up the final Tour de France stage win of his career! C'mon Lance! Have a crack son!!!!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Stage 14 - Tactical Welfare
While Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador played games the rest of the GC contenders raced on Sunday, and managed to put a little bit of time into the two race leaders by the end of Stage 14, a 185km race from Revel to Ax-3-Domaines. However, the win on the day went to little known frenchman Christophe Riblon who was the sole survivor of the days nine-man break. Denis Menchov and Samuel Sanchez finished second and third respectively.
But the day was memorable for the extreme tactical battle between Contador and Schleck, who at times came to a standstill on the final climb a la track-sprinters with neither rider wanting to lead the other. The fear was that as soon as one of the riders slipped to the front, his rival would unleash a blistering attack. As a result, Contador and Schleck watched each other and ignored totally the moves and form of their nearest GC rivals (now Sanchez and Menchov over 2:30 back). At times the two were dropped by the rest of the elite brigade while they played their little games and one may have thought they were both having terrible days and simply could not keep up. You would have to give such two great riders the benefit of the doubt however and presume they were just shadow boxing. As evidence of this Contador did put in a couple of stinging attacks which were easily matched by Schleck, but put everyone else except Menchov immediatley into difficulty, and only Sanchez could also drag himself back up to the lead once the big two had attacked. So in short, this was almost a test stage before the fireworks will surely have to start from either Contador or Schleck in one of the remaining three days in the Pyrenees. With Schleck and Contador finishing together there was no change at the top of the overall standings and Schleck continues to hold onto both the Yellow and White Jersey's.
Up front, Christophe Riblon was the race (as Paul and Phil would say). He dropped his breakaway rivals at the top of the penultimate climb of the Port de Pailhères and descended solo before surviving the final climb up to Ax-3-Domaines to take his first ever stage win and only the 5th race victory of his career! In the end he had just under a minute to spare from the rampaging Denis Menchov and Sammy Sanchez who powered up the climb in an attempt to put time between themselves and Schleck and Contador. But by the finish the two only gained around 14 seconds on their rivals with Schleck leading in the rest of the elite group of five riders (Rodriguez, Gesink, Contador, and Van Den Broeck). Looking at the current general classification you would think the battle for third is down to Sanchez (3rd) and Menchov (4th). They have shown no real weakness in the climbs thus far and are more than compotent at the time trial caper, especially in races against the clock in the final week of a Grand Tour.
Anthony Charteau was able to increase his lead in the King of the Mountains classification to 23 points over Jerome Pineau after he led the peleton over the Port de Pailhères. Still he is more of an opportunist climber than a pure mountain man and with a stack of climbs to come in the Pyrenees I still don't think he will be the final wearer of the Polka Dot Jersey. With the sprinters trailing in in the groupetto there was no change to the standings in the Points classification.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The trek through the Pyrenees continues with the famous climb of the Portet d'Aspet coming halfway through Stage 15, a 187km ride from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon. However the brute of the day is the HC climb of the Port de Bales which peaks just over 20km from the finish. With the stage ending with a descent into Bageneres-de-Luchon I'm not sure whether we will see an attack coming from either Schleck or Contador, but with the climb most likely to thin out the peleton to all but the elite mountain riders I will tip Joaqin Rodriguez to bag his second stage win of this years Tour.
But the day was memorable for the extreme tactical battle between Contador and Schleck, who at times came to a standstill on the final climb a la track-sprinters with neither rider wanting to lead the other. The fear was that as soon as one of the riders slipped to the front, his rival would unleash a blistering attack. As a result, Contador and Schleck watched each other and ignored totally the moves and form of their nearest GC rivals (now Sanchez and Menchov over 2:30 back). At times the two were dropped by the rest of the elite brigade while they played their little games and one may have thought they were both having terrible days and simply could not keep up. You would have to give such two great riders the benefit of the doubt however and presume they were just shadow boxing. As evidence of this Contador did put in a couple of stinging attacks which were easily matched by Schleck, but put everyone else except Menchov immediatley into difficulty, and only Sanchez could also drag himself back up to the lead once the big two had attacked. So in short, this was almost a test stage before the fireworks will surely have to start from either Contador or Schleck in one of the remaining three days in the Pyrenees. With Schleck and Contador finishing together there was no change at the top of the overall standings and Schleck continues to hold onto both the Yellow and White Jersey's.
Up front, Christophe Riblon was the race (as Paul and Phil would say). He dropped his breakaway rivals at the top of the penultimate climb of the Port de Pailhères and descended solo before surviving the final climb up to Ax-3-Domaines to take his first ever stage win and only the 5th race victory of his career! In the end he had just under a minute to spare from the rampaging Denis Menchov and Sammy Sanchez who powered up the climb in an attempt to put time between themselves and Schleck and Contador. But by the finish the two only gained around 14 seconds on their rivals with Schleck leading in the rest of the elite group of five riders (Rodriguez, Gesink, Contador, and Van Den Broeck). Looking at the current general classification you would think the battle for third is down to Sanchez (3rd) and Menchov (4th). They have shown no real weakness in the climbs thus far and are more than compotent at the time trial caper, especially in races against the clock in the final week of a Grand Tour.
Anthony Charteau was able to increase his lead in the King of the Mountains classification to 23 points over Jerome Pineau after he led the peleton over the Port de Pailhères. Still he is more of an opportunist climber than a pure mountain man and with a stack of climbs to come in the Pyrenees I still don't think he will be the final wearer of the Polka Dot Jersey. With the sprinters trailing in in the groupetto there was no change to the standings in the Points classification.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The trek through the Pyrenees continues with the famous climb of the Portet d'Aspet coming halfway through Stage 15, a 187km ride from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon. However the brute of the day is the HC climb of the Port de Bales which peaks just over 20km from the finish. With the stage ending with a descent into Bageneres-de-Luchon I'm not sure whether we will see an attack coming from either Schleck or Contador, but with the climb most likely to thin out the peleton to all but the elite mountain riders I will tip Joaqin Rodriguez to bag his second stage win of this years Tour.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Stage 13 - Cheats Propser
Noted cheat, liar, and blood doper Alexander Vinokourov won the fourth (legal!) Tour stage of his career on Stage 13, a 196km trip from Rodez to Revel. Vinokourov attacked the peleton on the final cat-3 climb of the day to steal the glory from the sprinters. Mark Cavendish led the bunch home for second just ahead of Alessandro Pettachi, whose third place was enough to see him regain the Green Jersey from Thor Hushovd. With the peleton finishing together there was no change in the overall standings.
Let's get things straight - I have no time for Vinokourov, who claimed in 2007, after someone elses blood was found in his body, that it must have mixed in with his blood during a crash a few days earlier. Bulls**it! I hate the fact that this guy is back and racing and his stage win overnight leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Especially the way it was won. It takes a phenomenal effort to ride the peleton off your wheel in the final 10km when the sprinters won't the glory, but Vino appeared to do it easily, mainintaing a 13 second gap over the main field over the final dead flat 5km. Not only that, Vino pulled off this phenonmenal performance just ONE DAY AFTER he was part of a breakaway that led for over 150km of yesterday's stage. Surely he would be a little tired? Especially given the effort he put in on the final finishing climb to Mende? If this win doesn't have a whiff of dodgyness about it then I don't know what does and the sooner Vino dissapears into retirement the better and more enjoyable world cycling will be. The Tour orgainsers took big risks inviting this guy back to the race and if he tests positive at any time over the next 6 months I am going to be massively pissed off!
Anyway, rant over, and back to the real race (which unfortunatley was for second). Mark Cavendish showed the loss of Mark Renshaw will not hold him back when he powered over the top of his sprinting rivals to take second on the stage. He is now up to third in the points classification and trails Green Jersey wearer Alessandro Pettachi by just 25 points. Pettachi got the jump on Cav at the finish but simply had no answer to the power of the Manx man who stormed right over the top of him. Still, he regains the Green Jersey for his efforts after Thor Hushovd weakend in the final straight to finish only 8th on the stage. Personally I think that means his shot at back-to-back points titles is gone and the fight will be between Pettachi (presuming he can get over the Pyrenees) and Cavendish (presuming he wins the last two sprint stages).
Despite the series of small climbs on the days stage, most of the King of the Mountains points were won by the days 3 man break (Sylvain Chavanel, Juan Antoni Flecha, Perrick Fedrigo) meaning there was no change in the race for the Polka Dot Jersey, Anthony Charteau still wears it. And with the main bunch finishing together Andy Schleck continues to wear both the Yellow Jersey and White Jersey for best young rinder.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Perrick Fedrigo
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The peleton finally confronts the brutality of the Pyrenees, begining with the 184km ride from Revel to the ski resort of Ax-3-Domaines. On the way they will also tackle the giant HC climb of the Porte de Pailheres, a giant that rises to over 2000m. That climb should be enough to knock out all but the elite GC boys by the bottom of the final cat-1 clims to Ax-3-Domaines and we should be set for a showdown. I expect Alberto Contador to attack like he did on the road to Mende and by the end of the stage he may have neutralised his current time gap to race leader Andy Schleck. Contador to win for mine.
Let's get things straight - I have no time for Vinokourov, who claimed in 2007, after someone elses blood was found in his body, that it must have mixed in with his blood during a crash a few days earlier. Bulls**it! I hate the fact that this guy is back and racing and his stage win overnight leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Especially the way it was won. It takes a phenomenal effort to ride the peleton off your wheel in the final 10km when the sprinters won't the glory, but Vino appeared to do it easily, mainintaing a 13 second gap over the main field over the final dead flat 5km. Not only that, Vino pulled off this phenonmenal performance just ONE DAY AFTER he was part of a breakaway that led for over 150km of yesterday's stage. Surely he would be a little tired? Especially given the effort he put in on the final finishing climb to Mende? If this win doesn't have a whiff of dodgyness about it then I don't know what does and the sooner Vino dissapears into retirement the better and more enjoyable world cycling will be. The Tour orgainsers took big risks inviting this guy back to the race and if he tests positive at any time over the next 6 months I am going to be massively pissed off!
Anyway, rant over, and back to the real race (which unfortunatley was for second). Mark Cavendish showed the loss of Mark Renshaw will not hold him back when he powered over the top of his sprinting rivals to take second on the stage. He is now up to third in the points classification and trails Green Jersey wearer Alessandro Pettachi by just 25 points. Pettachi got the jump on Cav at the finish but simply had no answer to the power of the Manx man who stormed right over the top of him. Still, he regains the Green Jersey for his efforts after Thor Hushovd weakend in the final straight to finish only 8th on the stage. Personally I think that means his shot at back-to-back points titles is gone and the fight will be between Pettachi (presuming he can get over the Pyrenees) and Cavendish (presuming he wins the last two sprint stages).
Despite the series of small climbs on the days stage, most of the King of the Mountains points were won by the days 3 man break (Sylvain Chavanel, Juan Antoni Flecha, Perrick Fedrigo) meaning there was no change in the race for the Polka Dot Jersey, Anthony Charteau still wears it. And with the main bunch finishing together Andy Schleck continues to wear both the Yellow Jersey and White Jersey for best young rinder.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Perrick Fedrigo
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The peleton finally confronts the brutality of the Pyrenees, begining with the 184km ride from Revel to the ski resort of Ax-3-Domaines. On the way they will also tackle the giant HC climb of the Porte de Pailheres, a giant that rises to over 2000m. That climb should be enough to knock out all but the elite GC boys by the bottom of the final cat-1 clims to Ax-3-Domaines and we should be set for a showdown. I expect Alberto Contador to attack like he did on the road to Mende and by the end of the stage he may have neutralised his current time gap to race leader Andy Schleck. Contador to win for mine.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Stage 12 - Game, Set And Match
Alberto Contador showed why he is a deserved short priced favourite to take his third Tour de France title when he put time into all his opponents on the final climb of Stage 12, a 210km journey from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende. Joaquin Rodriguez was the only man that could match Contador and as a result took his first Tour stage win on debut at the race. Alexander Vinokourov was third on the day as Contador closed to within just over 30 seconds of the Yellow Jersey.
I may be going off slightly early here but last night's stage for me showed that Alberto Contador is an absolute certainty to win the 2010 Tour de France. After showing (slight) signs of weakness in the Alps, Contador put in his real first agressive attack of this years Tour on the final climb up to the aerodrome in Mende. And all importantly, Andy Schleck could not match him! In fact, apart from stage winner Joaquin Rodriguez (now 8th overall) no one could, and by the end of the short climb Contador had put at least 10 seconds into all his major GC rivals in finishing seconds. As a result, Andy Schleck's overall lead over Contador was reduced to just 31 seconds. That will not be enough for the young Luxumburger to hold off Contador in the final time trial, and on today's relative performances you would expect Contador will be looking to make up more time at some stage during the daunting four days in the Pyrenees. I predict he will take the yellow jersey somewhere in the Southern Mountains, and increase his lead in the final time trial to win his third title. Andy Schleck did have the benefit of increasing his lead in the Youth Classification by another five seconds after beating Robert Gesink to the line, and he now has a lead of around four and a half minutes in the White Jersey battle.
Contador and Rodriguez burst away from the peleton on the final climb to real in the remenants of the days break. With Contador looking to put time into all his rivals he virtually dragged Rodriquez to the line, allowing his fellow Spaniard to sprint past him for his first stage win in his first ever Tour. Third placed went to the only member of the day's breakaway to survive the final climb with a time advantage in tact. That was Kazakh blood doper Alexander Vinokourov who was just 4 seconds back in third.
Another member of the days breakaway was Norwegian national champion Thor Hushovd, who grabbed the lead in the extremely exciting Green Jersey competition from Alessandro Pettachi after finishing 2nd and 1st on the two intermediate sprints on the day's stage. With the final climb denting any hopes of a bunch sprint at the finish, Hushovd sat up from the break after the second intermediate sprint and returned to the peleton, happy in the knowledge he would wear the Green Jersey on Stage 13 with a 6 point lead over Pettachi. This battle is sure to go all the way down to the wire in Paris. In sadder news, US sprinter Tyler Farrar abandoned the Tour on the stage. He has suffered big time in this years event after an early crash and we did not get to see his true potential. He will be back bigger and better in future years.
The polka-dot jesrey also continued its yo-yo from one rider to another after Anthony Charteau got into the days break. Charteau won a couple of climbs and was second in another, earning enough points to retake the lead in the King of the Mountains classification from countryment Jerome Pineau. Charteau now leads the classification by 15 points, the biggest margin we have seen in these particular standings for a while.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Stage 13 is a less severe rolling stage over the south of France, over a distance of 195km from Rodez to Revel. With this the only real chance for a last bunch sprint before Paris it is hard to see any breakaways surviving, especially with the race for the Green Jersey so tight this year. If it gets down to a bunch sprint I am still going to tip Mark Cavendish despite the loss of his lead out man in Mark Renshaw. I reckon Cav will want to win here to prove a point, and no doubt he will be dedicating the win to Renshaw if he does.
I may be going off slightly early here but last night's stage for me showed that Alberto Contador is an absolute certainty to win the 2010 Tour de France. After showing (slight) signs of weakness in the Alps, Contador put in his real first agressive attack of this years Tour on the final climb up to the aerodrome in Mende. And all importantly, Andy Schleck could not match him! In fact, apart from stage winner Joaquin Rodriguez (now 8th overall) no one could, and by the end of the short climb Contador had put at least 10 seconds into all his major GC rivals in finishing seconds. As a result, Andy Schleck's overall lead over Contador was reduced to just 31 seconds. That will not be enough for the young Luxumburger to hold off Contador in the final time trial, and on today's relative performances you would expect Contador will be looking to make up more time at some stage during the daunting four days in the Pyrenees. I predict he will take the yellow jersey somewhere in the Southern Mountains, and increase his lead in the final time trial to win his third title. Andy Schleck did have the benefit of increasing his lead in the Youth Classification by another five seconds after beating Robert Gesink to the line, and he now has a lead of around four and a half minutes in the White Jersey battle.
Contador and Rodriguez burst away from the peleton on the final climb to real in the remenants of the days break. With Contador looking to put time into all his rivals he virtually dragged Rodriquez to the line, allowing his fellow Spaniard to sprint past him for his first stage win in his first ever Tour. Third placed went to the only member of the day's breakaway to survive the final climb with a time advantage in tact. That was Kazakh blood doper Alexander Vinokourov who was just 4 seconds back in third.
Another member of the days breakaway was Norwegian national champion Thor Hushovd, who grabbed the lead in the extremely exciting Green Jersey competition from Alessandro Pettachi after finishing 2nd and 1st on the two intermediate sprints on the day's stage. With the final climb denting any hopes of a bunch sprint at the finish, Hushovd sat up from the break after the second intermediate sprint and returned to the peleton, happy in the knowledge he would wear the Green Jersey on Stage 13 with a 6 point lead over Pettachi. This battle is sure to go all the way down to the wire in Paris. In sadder news, US sprinter Tyler Farrar abandoned the Tour on the stage. He has suffered big time in this years event after an early crash and we did not get to see his true potential. He will be back bigger and better in future years.
The polka-dot jesrey also continued its yo-yo from one rider to another after Anthony Charteau got into the days break. Charteau won a couple of climbs and was second in another, earning enough points to retake the lead in the King of the Mountains classification from countryment Jerome Pineau. Charteau now leads the classification by 15 points, the biggest margin we have seen in these particular standings for a while.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Stage 13 is a less severe rolling stage over the south of France, over a distance of 195km from Rodez to Revel. With this the only real chance for a last bunch sprint before Paris it is hard to see any breakaways surviving, especially with the race for the Green Jersey so tight this year. If it gets down to a bunch sprint I am still going to tip Mark Cavendish despite the loss of his lead out man in Mark Renshaw. I reckon Cav will want to win here to prove a point, and no doubt he will be dedicating the win to Renshaw if he does.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Stage 11 - Clash Of Heads In Bourg-les-Valence
Mark Renshaw was sensationally ejected from the Tour de France overnight after being found guilty of headbutting fellow lead out man Julian Dean at the conclusion of Stage 11, a 185km ride from Sisteron to Bourg-les-Valence. However, the ends may have justified the means as Renshaw's teammate Mark Cavendish sped away to his third stage victory defeating Alessandro Pettachi (who inherited the Green Jersey) and Tyler Farrar in the final sprint. There was no change to the overall classification with the main bunch all finishing together.
Renshaw's disqualification will be a major talking point after the Australian rider was thrown out of the race for repeatedly headbutting Julian Dean in the final kilometre in order to make space for Mark Cavendish in the sprint. With Dean pinning Renshaw (and therefore Cavendish) to the barriers, Renshaw repeatedly used his head to move Dean out of the way. Finally he was succesful and opened up a path for the Manx man to get through, but on review of the tape race officials were outraged and disqualified Renshaw. Personally, I think a disqualification is harsh and a relegation to last position on the stage would have sufficied. I question whether the same punishment would have been metred out to one of the glamour sprinters for a similar incicident. Renshaw may have paid the price for being simply a lead out man (I question whether a European would have recieved a similar punishment to be honest). In the end, the results worked, as once Cavendish found daylight he stormed away from rivals to take the stage, his third of this years Tour, and the 13th of his career.
As a result Cavendish is up to fourth in the points classification and now trails new leader Alessandro Pettachi by just 29 points. Pettachi took the jersey off Thor Hushovd's shoulders after the Norwegian could only manage 7th on the stage. He now leads the classification by 4 points and would have to be favoured to take the jersey in Paris now, especially given that Hushovd cannot seem to match it with the big guys in the sprints at the moment. Admittedly their are four big mountain stages that Pettachi must get over in the Pyrenees to get to Paris (and he has never finished the tour before), but he has shown his ability to last a three week tour in the Giro many times. Surely the Green Jersey is incentive enough to get him over the line. You would think Hushovd's best chacne now is to try and pinch some points in the intermediate sprints somewhere, while Cavendish will have to win in Revel and Paris, and hope his rivals slip up and drop big points if he is to take his first Green jersey.
Jerome Pineau increased his hold on the Polka Dot Jersey over Anthony Charteau to 2 points by picking up the last available point on the only climb of the day, the cat-4 Col de Cabre. With the peleton finishing together there was no change to the overall classification with Andy Schleck contiuing to hold onto both the Yellow and White Jersey's.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The big boy's might come back out to play on Stage 12, a 210km roll from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende. The day finishes with the cat-2 climb of the Cote de la Croix-Neuve, a climb which Alberto Contador has already won on twice in Paris-Nice. Given that, and given that Contador still needs to make up time on his great rival Andy Schleck, it is hard to go past the Spaniard for the stage win. This may be only classified a medium mountains stage but there is sure to be fireworks so it is definatley a night to stay up for.
Renshaw's disqualification will be a major talking point after the Australian rider was thrown out of the race for repeatedly headbutting Julian Dean in the final kilometre in order to make space for Mark Cavendish in the sprint. With Dean pinning Renshaw (and therefore Cavendish) to the barriers, Renshaw repeatedly used his head to move Dean out of the way. Finally he was succesful and opened up a path for the Manx man to get through, but on review of the tape race officials were outraged and disqualified Renshaw. Personally, I think a disqualification is harsh and a relegation to last position on the stage would have sufficied. I question whether the same punishment would have been metred out to one of the glamour sprinters for a similar incicident. Renshaw may have paid the price for being simply a lead out man (I question whether a European would have recieved a similar punishment to be honest). In the end, the results worked, as once Cavendish found daylight he stormed away from rivals to take the stage, his third of this years Tour, and the 13th of his career.
As a result Cavendish is up to fourth in the points classification and now trails new leader Alessandro Pettachi by just 29 points. Pettachi took the jersey off Thor Hushovd's shoulders after the Norwegian could only manage 7th on the stage. He now leads the classification by 4 points and would have to be favoured to take the jersey in Paris now, especially given that Hushovd cannot seem to match it with the big guys in the sprints at the moment. Admittedly their are four big mountain stages that Pettachi must get over in the Pyrenees to get to Paris (and he has never finished the tour before), but he has shown his ability to last a three week tour in the Giro many times. Surely the Green Jersey is incentive enough to get him over the line. You would think Hushovd's best chacne now is to try and pinch some points in the intermediate sprints somewhere, while Cavendish will have to win in Revel and Paris, and hope his rivals slip up and drop big points if he is to take his first Green jersey.
Jerome Pineau increased his hold on the Polka Dot Jersey over Anthony Charteau to 2 points by picking up the last available point on the only climb of the day, the cat-4 Col de Cabre. With the peleton finishing together there was no change to the overall classification with Andy Schleck contiuing to hold onto both the Yellow and White Jersey's.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - The big boy's might come back out to play on Stage 12, a 210km roll from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende. The day finishes with the cat-2 climb of the Cote de la Croix-Neuve, a climb which Alberto Contador has already won on twice in Paris-Nice. Given that, and given that Contador still needs to make up time on his great rival Andy Schleck, it is hard to go past the Spaniard for the stage win. This may be only classified a medium mountains stage but there is sure to be fireworks so it is definatley a night to stay up for.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Stage 10 - Portugese Procession
While Stage 10, a 179km journey from Chambery to Gap contained the back-end of the Alps, in reality it was a transitional day come a day early. Portugal's Sergio Paulinho was the winning member of the surviving breakaway, defeating Vasil Kiryienka in a photo finish, with Dries Devenyns third some 90 seconds back. With the peleton finishing together there was no change to the overall standings.
The peleton decided to take it easy on Bastille Day following yesterday's fireworks on the Madeleine, and allowed a break of 6 lucky riders to finish the day almost 15 minutes ahead. The man who made the most of that opportunity was Sergio Paulinho, who counter-attacked the break with Vasil Kiriyienka some 14km from the finish, before defeating that man by just centimetres in the final sprint to deliver Portugal its first stage victory in over 20 years. The best the French could do on the national day was a fourth from Pierre Rolland, who made it into the days break but missed the vital attack in the closing kilometres. The peleton leisurely rolled into town some 14 minutes later, around 30 minutes after the time the stage was expected to end.
As a prelude to the next two day's, the Sprinters renewed their battle with a contest for 9th place which was won by Mark Cavendish from Alessandro Pettachi and Thor Hushovd. As a result Hushovd's lead in the Green Jersey competition has been cut to 7 points. There was however a change in the Polka Dot Jersey which moved from the shoulders of Anthony Charteau back to Jerome Pineau after Pineau won the sprint for 7th place at the top of the days first climb, the cat-1 Cote de Laffrey. As a result he has a 1 point lead in the classification, competition for which will now go on a mini-hiatus until the Pyrenees.
With the peleton finishing as a bunch there was no change in either the overall or youth classifications with Andy Schleck holding on to both teh Yellow and White Jerseys.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight sees the race for the Green Jersey resume in Stage 11, a 185km descent from Sisteron to Bour-les-Valence. And with a breakaway succeeding in Stage 10, and only two real sprint stages left before Paris, it will be hard to see the teams of the sprinters not wanting to close down any breaks here. Given that, and with the recent form he has shown, it is almost impossible to go past Mark Cavendish getting his third stage win of this years Tour here.
The peleton decided to take it easy on Bastille Day following yesterday's fireworks on the Madeleine, and allowed a break of 6 lucky riders to finish the day almost 15 minutes ahead. The man who made the most of that opportunity was Sergio Paulinho, who counter-attacked the break with Vasil Kiriyienka some 14km from the finish, before defeating that man by just centimetres in the final sprint to deliver Portugal its first stage victory in over 20 years. The best the French could do on the national day was a fourth from Pierre Rolland, who made it into the days break but missed the vital attack in the closing kilometres. The peleton leisurely rolled into town some 14 minutes later, around 30 minutes after the time the stage was expected to end.
As a prelude to the next two day's, the Sprinters renewed their battle with a contest for 9th place which was won by Mark Cavendish from Alessandro Pettachi and Thor Hushovd. As a result Hushovd's lead in the Green Jersey competition has been cut to 7 points. There was however a change in the Polka Dot Jersey which moved from the shoulders of Anthony Charteau back to Jerome Pineau after Pineau won the sprint for 7th place at the top of the days first climb, the cat-1 Cote de Laffrey. As a result he has a 1 point lead in the classification, competition for which will now go on a mini-hiatus until the Pyrenees.
With the peleton finishing as a bunch there was no change in either the overall or youth classifications with Andy Schleck holding on to both teh Yellow and White Jerseys.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight sees the race for the Green Jersey resume in Stage 11, a 185km descent from Sisteron to Bour-les-Valence. And with a breakaway succeeding in Stage 10, and only two real sprint stages left before Paris, it will be hard to see the teams of the sprinters not wanting to close down any breaks here. Given that, and with the recent form he has shown, it is almost impossible to go past Mark Cavendish getting his third stage win of this years Tour here.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Stage 9 - Cadel Implodes On The Madeleine
"As they hugged, Evans dropped his head into Santambrogio's chest and cried."
One man soap opera Cadel Evans imploded on the final climb of the Col de la Madeleine on Stage 9 overnight, a 204kmn tough grind from Morzine (Avoriaz) to Saint Jean de Maurienne. (And to think some muppets were thinking of betting on this guy for the overall pre-stage! You know who you are! Ha!) After losing 8 minutes to the stage winner on the day, and forfeiting his yellow jersey, Evans collapsed into the arms of his teammates in tears after crossing the finish line, and revealed he had been riding the entire stage with a broken elbow. Honestly, the story lines surrounding Evans are so fantastical that not even a propaganda master like Joseph Goebels could come up with better plot lines.
Outside of the melodrama that was Cadel, Sandy Casar recorded the second stage victory of his career outsprinting his more fancied breakaway companions Luis Leon Sanchez and Damiano Cunego for the win. The breakaway was caught in the final kilometre by Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador, who put time into all their GC rivals, with Schleck inheriting the Yellow Jersey from Evans.
But the stage will always be remembered from the monumental collapse from Evans to lose the Yellow Jersey, which was sickeningly exquisite in its beauty. Early on the climb of the Madeleine Evans was unhitched from the elite group. That was all the heads of state needed to attack. The pressure went on up the front and Evans had no response. He continually lost time and by the end of the day had lost 8 minutes to Schleck and Contador, and all hope of finishing on the podium at this years Tour. Up front, the repeated attacks from Schleck near the top of the Madeline put everyone into difficulty except Contador, who followed the Luxembourgers wheel everywhere. After a number of powerful attempts to drop the Spaniard, the two men decided on a temporary truce, and chose to work together to put time into every other rider on the general classification. This they achieved beautifully, and the remained ahead of their GC companions on the descent into the finish, finally catching the days break in the final kilometre. The effort told though and they were no match for Casar, Sanchez (LL), or Cunego in the final sprint. However, they put a minute into their closer rival in Samuel Sanchez and at least two minutes into everyone else to rise to one and two on GC following Evans collapse. Schleck inherits the Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career, and leads Contador by 41 seconds. They will finish 1-2 in Paris barring disaster, and it is just a matter of in which order. The battle for the third podium position is well and truly on now with Sammy Sanchez currently in third following a fine ride over night. However, he will be concerned that the silent assassin Denis Menchov is in 4th, only 13 seconds in arrears.
The Polka Dot Jersey also changed hands overnight, and passed to another Frenchman Anthony Charteau, who grabbed the lead in the King of The Mountains classification by leading the field over the Madeleine. Despite being part of the days breakaway and leading the field over three of the four mountains Jerome Pineau lost the jersey despite being tied on points with Charteau (the count back is based on number of HC mountains won - Charteau 1 - Pinaeau 0). The two lead another Frenchman, veteran Christophe Moreau who is third some 23 points back. But with a stack of mountains to come in the Pyrenees this stage is very much still up for grabs.
Thor Hushovd extended his lead in the Green Jersey competition by 6 points by getting into the early break and taking the first intermediate sprint point on the day. He now leads Alessandro Pettachi by 10 points with this competition likely to hot up again in some of the transitional stages this week. As well as receiving the Yellow Jersey, Andy Schleck padded his lead in the White Jersey competition for best young rider to over 4 minutes from Roman Kreuziger.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Bastille Day! Stage 10 is an intriguing medium/high mountains stage over 179km from Chambery to Gap, culminating in the descent of the Rochette which provided one of the most immortal images in Tour history in 2003 when Joseba Beloki hit the tarmac causing Lance Armstrong to ride across a field, unclip, jump a ditch, and carry on (Lance Armstrong you are a star!). After a brutal climb last night I think Contador and Schleck may take it a little easier today and a may be a chance for another breakaway victory. The French would love to win on their national day so I might tip little Tommy Voeckler for the win and hope he can get over the cat-2 climb at the end of the stage.
One man soap opera Cadel Evans imploded on the final climb of the Col de la Madeleine on Stage 9 overnight, a 204kmn tough grind from Morzine (Avoriaz) to Saint Jean de Maurienne. (And to think some muppets were thinking of betting on this guy for the overall pre-stage! You know who you are! Ha!) After losing 8 minutes to the stage winner on the day, and forfeiting his yellow jersey, Evans collapsed into the arms of his teammates in tears after crossing the finish line, and revealed he had been riding the entire stage with a broken elbow. Honestly, the story lines surrounding Evans are so fantastical that not even a propaganda master like Joseph Goebels could come up with better plot lines.
Outside of the melodrama that was Cadel, Sandy Casar recorded the second stage victory of his career outsprinting his more fancied breakaway companions Luis Leon Sanchez and Damiano Cunego for the win. The breakaway was caught in the final kilometre by Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador, who put time into all their GC rivals, with Schleck inheriting the Yellow Jersey from Evans.
But the stage will always be remembered from the monumental collapse from Evans to lose the Yellow Jersey, which was sickeningly exquisite in its beauty. Early on the climb of the Madeleine Evans was unhitched from the elite group. That was all the heads of state needed to attack. The pressure went on up the front and Evans had no response. He continually lost time and by the end of the day had lost 8 minutes to Schleck and Contador, and all hope of finishing on the podium at this years Tour. Up front, the repeated attacks from Schleck near the top of the Madeline put everyone into difficulty except Contador, who followed the Luxembourgers wheel everywhere. After a number of powerful attempts to drop the Spaniard, the two men decided on a temporary truce, and chose to work together to put time into every other rider on the general classification. This they achieved beautifully, and the remained ahead of their GC companions on the descent into the finish, finally catching the days break in the final kilometre. The effort told though and they were no match for Casar, Sanchez (LL), or Cunego in the final sprint. However, they put a minute into their closer rival in Samuel Sanchez and at least two minutes into everyone else to rise to one and two on GC following Evans collapse. Schleck inherits the Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career, and leads Contador by 41 seconds. They will finish 1-2 in Paris barring disaster, and it is just a matter of in which order. The battle for the third podium position is well and truly on now with Sammy Sanchez currently in third following a fine ride over night. However, he will be concerned that the silent assassin Denis Menchov is in 4th, only 13 seconds in arrears.
The Polka Dot Jersey also changed hands overnight, and passed to another Frenchman Anthony Charteau, who grabbed the lead in the King of The Mountains classification by leading the field over the Madeleine. Despite being part of the days breakaway and leading the field over three of the four mountains Jerome Pineau lost the jersey despite being tied on points with Charteau (the count back is based on number of HC mountains won - Charteau 1 - Pinaeau 0). The two lead another Frenchman, veteran Christophe Moreau who is third some 23 points back. But with a stack of mountains to come in the Pyrenees this stage is very much still up for grabs.
Thor Hushovd extended his lead in the Green Jersey competition by 6 points by getting into the early break and taking the first intermediate sprint point on the day. He now leads Alessandro Pettachi by 10 points with this competition likely to hot up again in some of the transitional stages this week. As well as receiving the Yellow Jersey, Andy Schleck padded his lead in the White Jersey competition for best young rider to over 4 minutes from Roman Kreuziger.
Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Bastille Day! Stage 10 is an intriguing medium/high mountains stage over 179km from Chambery to Gap, culminating in the descent of the Rochette which provided one of the most immortal images in Tour history in 2003 when Joseba Beloki hit the tarmac causing Lance Armstrong to ride across a field, unclip, jump a ditch, and carry on (Lance Armstrong you are a star!). After a brutal climb last night I think Contador and Schleck may take it a little easier today and a may be a chance for another breakaway victory. The French would love to win on their national day so I might tip little Tommy Voeckler for the win and hope he can get over the cat-2 climb at the end of the stage.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Stage 8 - Arrivederci Armstrong
Stage 8 finally saw the 2010 Tour turned on its head. The 189km struggle from Station des Rousses to Morzine (Avoriaz) saw Andy Schleck get the win, Cadel Evans take the Yellow Jersey, and Lance Armstrong's quest for an 8th title go up in smoke as he lost almost 12 minutes on the stage.
Despite the thrilling finish the big news of the day was the complete collapse of Lance Armstrong who suffered three crashes, and a horrible day on the bike to finish 11:45 behind stage winner Andy Schleck, in 61st place. As a result of his earlier losses on the cobbles of Norther France Armstrong is over 13 minutes in arears of the new race leader Cadel Evans and has dropped to 39th in the overall classification. His shot at winning the 2010 Tour has totally dissapeared and Armstrong will now have to forefeit his team lead to fellow American Levi Leipheimer who sits in 8th position overall. Still, the Texan has vowed to finish the race to end what will surely be his last tour in Paris. Armstrong's race collapsed when he hit the deck just before the ascent of the penultimate cat-1 climb of the Col de la Ramaz. The majority of the Radioshack team dropped back to assist Armstrong back up to the peleton, and while they rejoined just before the start of the climb the effort clearly told on the 38 year old who was immediately put into difficutly by the infernal pace set by Astana. By the top of the Ramaz he was a minute behind the main group of GC contenders but after suffering a silly crash at Les Gets Armstrong totally compounded on the climb to Morzine. He could barely lift his feet on the pedals and by the summit had lost almost 12 minutes to the big men of the tour.
Just as enthralling as Armstrong's capitulation was the race for the Yellow Jersey up ahead. With Sylvain Chavanel dropped on the Ramaz (he would lose almost 12 minutes by the end) the race to be the new leader hotted up with Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador all in with a host. Evans had the advantage with a 30 second lead over his rivals who marked each other from within an elite group of 10 or so riders that stayed together until the final two kilometres. It was then, after a flurry of attacks, that Andy Schleck jumped, leaving Evans and (very suprisingly!) Contador in his wake. The only man that could match him was the Olympic Champion Samuel Sanchez, and the two waged a man-on-man struggle for the final kilometre before Schleck finally overcame Sanchez right on the line to take the stage victory. Their gap to the Evans and Contador group was only 10 seconds in the end but for the first time in a couple of years at the tour Contador showed weakness on a mountain top finish, when he was unable to match the explosive bursts of Schleck and Sanchez. The gap was not enough for Schleck to grab the jersey off Evans who takes the race lead by 20 seconds, with Contador 1 minute back in third. The elite group now occupy the top 10 spots on the GC and looking down the list the top 20 is likely to be set pretty much in stone from here on in. Although Contador showed weakness at the finish there are still a time trial and plenty of mountains to come for him to overturn his current deficits. And at $1.70 to win the tour now I think he looks a good bet. Schleck's performance has seen him shorten to as much as $3.40 but I think he has been over bet at that price given his disgraceful performance against the clock in the prologue. Evans on the other hand will enjoy his current position with his rivals having to attack him from here on in to take the jersey off his shoulders.
Despite the apperance of the first big mountains in this years tour there was no real movement at the top of the King Of The Mountains competition with Jerome Pinault retaining the Polka Dot Jersey without adding to his overnight total. Similarly, with the sprinters well back in the Groupetto there was no change in the Points Classification with Thor Hushovd retaining his Green Jersey. Andy Schleck's win on the stage saw him increase his lead in the White Jersey competition to 1:25 over Roman Kreuizger.
Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight marks the first rest day so plenty of time to catch some sleep for those who watched this mornings atrocious World Cup final.
Prices courtesy of Betfair.
Despite the thrilling finish the big news of the day was the complete collapse of Lance Armstrong who suffered three crashes, and a horrible day on the bike to finish 11:45 behind stage winner Andy Schleck, in 61st place. As a result of his earlier losses on the cobbles of Norther France Armstrong is over 13 minutes in arears of the new race leader Cadel Evans and has dropped to 39th in the overall classification. His shot at winning the 2010 Tour has totally dissapeared and Armstrong will now have to forefeit his team lead to fellow American Levi Leipheimer who sits in 8th position overall. Still, the Texan has vowed to finish the race to end what will surely be his last tour in Paris. Armstrong's race collapsed when he hit the deck just before the ascent of the penultimate cat-1 climb of the Col de la Ramaz. The majority of the Radioshack team dropped back to assist Armstrong back up to the peleton, and while they rejoined just before the start of the climb the effort clearly told on the 38 year old who was immediately put into difficutly by the infernal pace set by Astana. By the top of the Ramaz he was a minute behind the main group of GC contenders but after suffering a silly crash at Les Gets Armstrong totally compounded on the climb to Morzine. He could barely lift his feet on the pedals and by the summit had lost almost 12 minutes to the big men of the tour.
Just as enthralling as Armstrong's capitulation was the race for the Yellow Jersey up ahead. With Sylvain Chavanel dropped on the Ramaz (he would lose almost 12 minutes by the end) the race to be the new leader hotted up with Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador all in with a host. Evans had the advantage with a 30 second lead over his rivals who marked each other from within an elite group of 10 or so riders that stayed together until the final two kilometres. It was then, after a flurry of attacks, that Andy Schleck jumped, leaving Evans and (very suprisingly!) Contador in his wake. The only man that could match him was the Olympic Champion Samuel Sanchez, and the two waged a man-on-man struggle for the final kilometre before Schleck finally overcame Sanchez right on the line to take the stage victory. Their gap to the Evans and Contador group was only 10 seconds in the end but for the first time in a couple of years at the tour Contador showed weakness on a mountain top finish, when he was unable to match the explosive bursts of Schleck and Sanchez. The gap was not enough for Schleck to grab the jersey off Evans who takes the race lead by 20 seconds, with Contador 1 minute back in third. The elite group now occupy the top 10 spots on the GC and looking down the list the top 20 is likely to be set pretty much in stone from here on in. Although Contador showed weakness at the finish there are still a time trial and plenty of mountains to come for him to overturn his current deficits. And at $1.70 to win the tour now I think he looks a good bet. Schleck's performance has seen him shorten to as much as $3.40 but I think he has been over bet at that price given his disgraceful performance against the clock in the prologue. Evans on the other hand will enjoy his current position with his rivals having to attack him from here on in to take the jersey off his shoulders.
Despite the apperance of the first big mountains in this years tour there was no real movement at the top of the King Of The Mountains competition with Jerome Pinault retaining the Polka Dot Jersey without adding to his overnight total. Similarly, with the sprinters well back in the Groupetto there was no change in the Points Classification with Thor Hushovd retaining his Green Jersey. Andy Schleck's win on the stage saw him increase his lead in the White Jersey competition to 1:25 over Roman Kreuizger.
Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Andy Schleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight marks the first rest day so plenty of time to catch some sleep for those who watched this mornings atrocious World Cup final.
Prices courtesy of Betfair.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Stage 7 - Redemption For Chavanel
On a Tour of doubles so far Sylvain Chavanel again pulled a rabbit out of the hat, surviving solo from a breakaway to take the stage win and regain the Yellow Jersey following Stage 7, a 165km trek over medium mountains from Tournus to Station des Rousses. Chavanel took the victory from his fellow breakaway companions Rafaeal Valls Ferri and Juan Manuel Garate who finished second and third respectively. The first taste of the mountains saw the peleton split apart, and while this shook up the overall classification to some extent almost all of the big GC riders finished in the leading bunch.
But the plaudits on the day will definatley go to Chavanel who first counter-attacked to join the leading breakaway before attacking his companions on the final climb to power away to his second solo victory of this tour, this time by also a minute. And with Fabian Cancellara cracking big time on the final ascent of the Cote de Lamoura (he had lost over 14 minutes by the end of the day!) there was a double reward on offer for Chavanel, as he took the Yellow Jersey for the second time. He now holds a lead of almost one and half minutes over Australian Cadel Evans following Cancellara's capitulation. It will take a big effort to hold onto the jersey tomorrow however, as the peleton tackles the first cat-1 climbs of this years Tour. Still, no one deserves to hold onto the Jersey more than Chavanel who has twice braved solo attacks to win himself the golden fleece. Chavanel was one of many riders who were able to take advantage of the peleton's decision to let the break stay away on the stage with fellow placegetters Rafael Valls Ferrri and Juan Manuel Garate taking advantage of their freedome on the day.
The three cat-2 climbs in the last 60km seperated the men from the boys in the peleton with only an elite group of around 30 or so together by the end. The big loser on the day was Cancellara who, after doing a pile of work over the first week, cracked on the final climb of the day and eventually finished 14 minutes back. As a result Cadel Evans and Ryder Hesjedal are up to second and third overall trailing Chavanel by around 1:30, after Geriant Thomas also had a tough day in the saddle - losing over five minutes to the stage winner. He has forfeited his White Jersey to Andy Schleck (up to fourth overall), and Schleck will now likely be wearing it all the way to Paris. His leads the classification by just over a minute from young Czech star Roman Kreuziger. The only real loser for the main top 10 contenders was Andreas Kloden who lost four minutes to Chavanel and now sits about 5 minutes of the rest of the main favourites on GC.
Jerome Pinault increased his lead in the King Of The Mountains competition to 8 points over teammate Chavanel. Pinault cleverly put himself in the days break and led over all but the last climb of the day to tighten his grip on the Polka Dot Jersey. And with Chavanel unlikely to contest the jersey he has a virtual 16 point lead over his nearest challenger Mathieu Pergot. However, this classification could get a shake up tonight with two cat-1 climbs on the cards. Pinault may be looking for the early break again in order to boost his lead in the classification.
With plenty of climbs on the cards there was change in the race for the Green Jersey with Thor Hushovd still holding a slender 4 point lead over Alessandro Pettachi.
Yellow Jersey - Sylvain Chavanel
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Andy Shleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight sees the first real rendezvous of the 2010 Tour with the 189 km route from Station des Rousses to Morzine (Avoriaz). The route concludes with the two biggest climbs of the race so far in the form of the cat 1 ascents of the Col de La Ramaz and the final finishing climb to Morzine. Given this is one of few summit finishers on the parcours this year, and that Alberto Contador currently trails rivals like Cadel Evans and Andy Shleck by over a minute, I expect the Spaniard to stamp his mark on this years Tour with a big win tonight.
But the plaudits on the day will definatley go to Chavanel who first counter-attacked to join the leading breakaway before attacking his companions on the final climb to power away to his second solo victory of this tour, this time by also a minute. And with Fabian Cancellara cracking big time on the final ascent of the Cote de Lamoura (he had lost over 14 minutes by the end of the day!) there was a double reward on offer for Chavanel, as he took the Yellow Jersey for the second time. He now holds a lead of almost one and half minutes over Australian Cadel Evans following Cancellara's capitulation. It will take a big effort to hold onto the jersey tomorrow however, as the peleton tackles the first cat-1 climbs of this years Tour. Still, no one deserves to hold onto the Jersey more than Chavanel who has twice braved solo attacks to win himself the golden fleece. Chavanel was one of many riders who were able to take advantage of the peleton's decision to let the break stay away on the stage with fellow placegetters Rafael Valls Ferrri and Juan Manuel Garate taking advantage of their freedome on the day.
The three cat-2 climbs in the last 60km seperated the men from the boys in the peleton with only an elite group of around 30 or so together by the end. The big loser on the day was Cancellara who, after doing a pile of work over the first week, cracked on the final climb of the day and eventually finished 14 minutes back. As a result Cadel Evans and Ryder Hesjedal are up to second and third overall trailing Chavanel by around 1:30, after Geriant Thomas also had a tough day in the saddle - losing over five minutes to the stage winner. He has forfeited his White Jersey to Andy Schleck (up to fourth overall), and Schleck will now likely be wearing it all the way to Paris. His leads the classification by just over a minute from young Czech star Roman Kreuziger. The only real loser for the main top 10 contenders was Andreas Kloden who lost four minutes to Chavanel and now sits about 5 minutes of the rest of the main favourites on GC.
Jerome Pinault increased his lead in the King Of The Mountains competition to 8 points over teammate Chavanel. Pinault cleverly put himself in the days break and led over all but the last climb of the day to tighten his grip on the Polka Dot Jersey. And with Chavanel unlikely to contest the jersey he has a virtual 16 point lead over his nearest challenger Mathieu Pergot. However, this classification could get a shake up tonight with two cat-1 climbs on the cards. Pinault may be looking for the early break again in order to boost his lead in the classification.
With plenty of climbs on the cards there was change in the race for the Green Jersey with Thor Hushovd still holding a slender 4 point lead over Alessandro Pettachi.
Yellow Jersey - Sylvain Chavanel
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Andy Shleck
Tonight's Stage - Tonight sees the first real rendezvous of the 2010 Tour with the 189 km route from Station des Rousses to Morzine (Avoriaz). The route concludes with the two biggest climbs of the race so far in the form of the cat 1 ascents of the Col de La Ramaz and the final finishing climb to Morzine. Given this is one of few summit finishers on the parcours this year, and that Alberto Contador currently trails rivals like Cadel Evans and Andy Shleck by over a minute, I expect the Spaniard to stamp his mark on this years Tour with a big win tonight.
Stage 6 - Missle Mk II
Mark Cavendish showed he was well and truly back to his best when he dominated the final sprint in Stage 6, a 227km journey from Montargis to Gueugnon. Cavendish was far too strong over the final 200m for his rivals, winning easily from Tyler Farrar with Alessandro Pettach in third. The peleton again all finished together leaving the overall standings unchanged.
The return to form of the Manx man over the last two days has been superb, and he has again put an exclamation mark on his mantle as the world's best sprinter after his won today, the longest stage of this years Tour. The win is Cavendish's 12th Tour stage win of his career, equalling the number of wins of the likes of Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen. But while those riders notched up their wins over careers spanning more than a decade, Cavendish has done so in only his fourth tour, an amazing achievement. Cavendish showed his versatility in this particular finish, after his HTC Columbia lead out train was swaped by the likes of Garmin and Lampre. This left Cavendish with a lone helper in the finish in Mark Renshaw. Renshaw, easily the best lead out man in the world, ignored the confusion being caused by the other teams, to deliver Cavendish perfectly to the lead with just over 200m to go. And when Cavendish hit the front he went BANG and it was race over! Tyler Farrar trailed Cavendish over the final kilmoetre but could not match the kick of the champion and had to settle for second on the day. Alessandro Pettachi remained in the hunt for the Green Jersey (although he is unlikley to finish the Tour) with third placing in the stage.
With Thor Hushovd only finishing 10th on the stage the race for the Green Jersey has really hotted up. Pettachi now trails the Norwegian by only 2 points with Robbie McEwen a further 9 points back after finishing 4th on the day. Cavendish's second win in just two days now has him up to 5th in the classification, some 33 points behind Hushovd.
The race for the Polka Dot Jersey also hotted up after Frenchman Mathieu Perget, a member of the days breakaway, garnered full points on all four of the cat-4 climbs on offer on the days stage. As a result he gained himself 12 points in the King of The Mountains classification to trail the current wearer of the Polka Dot Jersey Jerome Pinault by just one point.
With the bunch finishing together there was no change to the overall classifcations. Fabian Cancellara retains his overall lead and his hold on the Yellow Jersey while Geriant Thomas still holds the White Jersey for best young rider.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Geriant Thomas
The return to form of the Manx man over the last two days has been superb, and he has again put an exclamation mark on his mantle as the world's best sprinter after his won today, the longest stage of this years Tour. The win is Cavendish's 12th Tour stage win of his career, equalling the number of wins of the likes of Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen. But while those riders notched up their wins over careers spanning more than a decade, Cavendish has done so in only his fourth tour, an amazing achievement. Cavendish showed his versatility in this particular finish, after his HTC Columbia lead out train was swaped by the likes of Garmin and Lampre. This left Cavendish with a lone helper in the finish in Mark Renshaw. Renshaw, easily the best lead out man in the world, ignored the confusion being caused by the other teams, to deliver Cavendish perfectly to the lead with just over 200m to go. And when Cavendish hit the front he went BANG and it was race over! Tyler Farrar trailed Cavendish over the final kilmoetre but could not match the kick of the champion and had to settle for second on the day. Alessandro Pettachi remained in the hunt for the Green Jersey (although he is unlikley to finish the Tour) with third placing in the stage.
With Thor Hushovd only finishing 10th on the stage the race for the Green Jersey has really hotted up. Pettachi now trails the Norwegian by only 2 points with Robbie McEwen a further 9 points back after finishing 4th on the day. Cavendish's second win in just two days now has him up to 5th in the classification, some 33 points behind Hushovd.
The race for the Polka Dot Jersey also hotted up after Frenchman Mathieu Perget, a member of the days breakaway, garnered full points on all four of the cat-4 climbs on offer on the days stage. As a result he gained himself 12 points in the King of The Mountains classification to trail the current wearer of the Polka Dot Jersey Jerome Pinault by just one point.
With the bunch finishing together there was no change to the overall classifcations. Fabian Cancellara retains his overall lead and his hold on the Yellow Jersey while Geriant Thomas still holds the White Jersey for best young rider.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Geriant Thomas
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Stage 5 - The Missle Strikes Back
A day after putting in possibly the worst sprint of his career, Mark Cavendish silenced his critics with a sprint victory in Stage 5, a 187km trek from Epernay to Montargis. Canvendish showed his customary finishing burst to easily hold of Gerald Ciolek and Ed Boasson Hagen who finished second and third respectively. There was no changes in the overall classification.
The story of the day was the big return to form of Mark Cavendish who looked to be shadow of his former self when finishing outside the top 10 in Stage 4. Delieverd a similarly perfect lead out by Mark Renshaw on the finish into Montargis on Stage 5, the Missile showed he was back in business with his trademark power in the sprint delivering him the 11th Tour stage victory of his career. The win was an emotional one for the Manx man who cried tears of joy on the podium, after he has been lambasted in the press for his dissapointing start to this years Tour. And while he may have thrown too many points away already in the race for the Green Jersey, a return to form could see a couple more stage victories for Cavendish at this years tour. Ciolek and Boasson Hagen continue to sprint consistently without breaking through for the big stage win, but if there is a slip up from the big names any time soon they will certainly be thereabouts to pounce on it.
As a result of the win Cavendish has moved up to 9th in the points classification, although he still trails leader Thor Hushovd by over 50 points (35 points are garnered for winning a flat stage). Hushovd has extended his lead at the top of the classification to 14 points (over Alessandro Pettachi) after he finished 5th on the days stage.
With the majority of the peleton finishing together there was no change to the overall standings with Fabian Cancellara retaining the Yellow Jersey and Geraint Thomas the white. And with only two small cat-4 climbs on the day Jerome Pineau easily maintaind his hold on the Polka Dot Jersey.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jereome Pinault
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonight's Stage - The trevails over the flatlands of central France continue and while there a few cat-4 bumps along the way they shouldn't be big enough to stop the stage ending in a sprint finish for a third straight day. And now that Cavendish has shown he has got his legs back it would take a brave man to tip against him taking back-to-back victories. I certainly won't be.
The story of the day was the big return to form of Mark Cavendish who looked to be shadow of his former self when finishing outside the top 10 in Stage 4. Delieverd a similarly perfect lead out by Mark Renshaw on the finish into Montargis on Stage 5, the Missile showed he was back in business with his trademark power in the sprint delivering him the 11th Tour stage victory of his career. The win was an emotional one for the Manx man who cried tears of joy on the podium, after he has been lambasted in the press for his dissapointing start to this years Tour. And while he may have thrown too many points away already in the race for the Green Jersey, a return to form could see a couple more stage victories for Cavendish at this years tour. Ciolek and Boasson Hagen continue to sprint consistently without breaking through for the big stage win, but if there is a slip up from the big names any time soon they will certainly be thereabouts to pounce on it.
As a result of the win Cavendish has moved up to 9th in the points classification, although he still trails leader Thor Hushovd by over 50 points (35 points are garnered for winning a flat stage). Hushovd has extended his lead at the top of the classification to 14 points (over Alessandro Pettachi) after he finished 5th on the days stage.
With the majority of the peleton finishing together there was no change to the overall standings with Fabian Cancellara retaining the Yellow Jersey and Geraint Thomas the white. And with only two small cat-4 climbs on the day Jerome Pineau easily maintaind his hold on the Polka Dot Jersey.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jereome Pinault
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonight's Stage - The trevails over the flatlands of central France continue and while there a few cat-4 bumps along the way they shouldn't be big enough to stop the stage ending in a sprint finish for a third straight day. And now that Cavendish has shown he has got his legs back it would take a brave man to tip against him taking back-to-back victories. I certainly won't be.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Stage 4 - Petacchi Doubles Up
Alessandro Pettachi won his second stage at this years Tour after the race finally returned to normalcy after a hectic three days. Stage 4, a 153km journey from Cambrai to Reims ended in a regulation sprint finish with no change to the overall classification after the majority of the peleton finished together.
The big talking point of the day is the relative sprinting form of Pettachi, who took his second stage win from two genuine sprint finishes, and pre-Tour Green Jersey favourite Mark Cavendish. Cavendish looked to be in prime position to unleash one of his famous finishing bursts with a kilometre to go, but he faded badly in the straight and could only finish 12th on the day. Instead, it was Pettachi who again burst clear of the pack to charge to another victory, and in doing so move within 10 points of Thor Hushovd (9th) in the race for the Green Jersey. New Zealander Julian Dean was second on the stage, while Sky sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen finished third.
The form of Cavendish will definatley be of concern for HTC Columbia after the squad did almost all the work in brining the days break to the peleton, before setting up Cavendish in the closing kilometeres for a sprint victory. With a similar stage on the cards tonight, it will pay to give Cavendish one more chance at glory, but another poor perofmance may mean it is time for HTC to refocus their attentions - perhaps towards helping Michael Rogers into a top 10 spot in the General Classification.
With only one category four climb on the day there was no change to the KOM classification, with Jerome Pineau reamining in the Polka Dot Jersey. And with the Peleton finishing the stage together Fabian Cancellara and Geraint Thomas held on to their Yellow and White Jersey's respectively.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonight's Stage - Stage 5 is a similarly flat affair over 185km between Epernay and Montargis. The win is likely to be decided in the domain of the sprinters again, and with Cavendish looking hopelessly out of form it is hard to go past Alessandro Pettachi for a third stage win in just 6 days.
The big talking point of the day is the relative sprinting form of Pettachi, who took his second stage win from two genuine sprint finishes, and pre-Tour Green Jersey favourite Mark Cavendish. Cavendish looked to be in prime position to unleash one of his famous finishing bursts with a kilometre to go, but he faded badly in the straight and could only finish 12th on the day. Instead, it was Pettachi who again burst clear of the pack to charge to another victory, and in doing so move within 10 points of Thor Hushovd (9th) in the race for the Green Jersey. New Zealander Julian Dean was second on the stage, while Sky sprinter Edvald Boasson Hagen finished third.
The form of Cavendish will definatley be of concern for HTC Columbia after the squad did almost all the work in brining the days break to the peleton, before setting up Cavendish in the closing kilometeres for a sprint victory. With a similar stage on the cards tonight, it will pay to give Cavendish one more chance at glory, but another poor perofmance may mean it is time for HTC to refocus their attentions - perhaps towards helping Michael Rogers into a top 10 spot in the General Classification.
With only one category four climb on the day there was no change to the KOM classification, with Jerome Pineau reamining in the Polka Dot Jersey. And with the Peleton finishing the stage together Fabian Cancellara and Geraint Thomas held on to their Yellow and White Jersey's respectively.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pinault
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonight's Stage - Stage 5 is a similarly flat affair over 185km between Epernay and Montargis. The win is likely to be decided in the domain of the sprinters again, and with Cavendish looking hopelessly out of form it is hard to go past Alessandro Pettachi for a third stage win in just 6 days.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Stage 3 - Classic Stage Signals Game On!
Stage 3 of the 2010 Tour de France, a 213km epic from Wanze in Belgium to the Arengburg forest in France is what the sport of cyclying is all about. If you didn't get a chance to see it you must watch the highlights - this stage, based on the style of a Spring Classic, was a classic in itself. In the end, after all the crashes and carnage of a ride over the cobbles, Thor Hushovd was victorious. But the big winners on the day were Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans who put time into all their GC rivals, most importantly Alberto Contador.
This stage was so sensational it had more plot twists than an Ocean's Eleven movie. Let's start with the impact on the General Classification. First - Frank Schleck is out after busting his collarbone when hitting the deck on the pave. This crash coincided with Saxo bank ramping up the pressure via Fabian Cancellara, the best power rider I have ever seen. Cancellara, with the help of the crash behind him, tore the peleon to shreds on the cobbles. Only 4 men could go with him. Hushovd, Geriant Thomas, and importantly Andy Schleck, and the current World Champion Cadel Evans. Behind them the peleton splintered. Armstrong was in the second group back on the road, and Contador was originally a further group back before couragesouly pulling himself up to the Armstrong group. Just at that moment, Armstrong punctured - GAME OVER! No one was waiting on a stage like this and with his team car minutes behind he was caught in no mans land. With the help of Yaroslav Popovych he bravely pulled himself back to the third group on the road but by the end of the day he was over 2 minutes behind the stage winners and almost a minute behind Contador. With Armstrong and Contador in trouble, Cancellera, Evans and the remaining Schleck put the hammer down to maximise their time gains. By the end of the stage they had put over a minute into Contador. As a result Evans now leads the defending champion by over a minute while Shleck has 30 seconds to spare. These are probably not big enough gaps to make the difference come Paris but they sure will make the race interesting. Amrstrong now lies 50 seconds behind Contador and surely his chances at an 8th title have gone. Cancellara also grabbed the Yellow Jersey back from Sylvain Chavanel who had a horror day. Three bike changes saw him come in almost 4 minutes down and he has to kiss the maillot jaune goodbye after only one day.
The race for the stage win was partly an anti-climax. Hushovd was always going to win the stage after doing no work in the elite bunch that powered off the front. He had far too much in reserve and now takes a stranglehold on the green jersey competiotn which he leads by 14 points. Plucky Brit Geriant Thomas did a mammoth job to stay with the big boys and ended up finishing second on the stage ahead of Evans. Thomas reward is takign the White Jersey off of the shoulders of Tony Martin as the best young rider.
And if anyone deserves a shoutout on this stage (outside Cancellara) it is Evans. This guy is an absolute star! Evans once again showed that he is made for the classics and one day races with a superb performance where he never looked to be in difficulty. For man who has never raced Paris-Roubaix to put in a performance like this was simply stunning. He did the rainbow jersey proud. It is a shame Evans has such good alround a ability because if he had focused on becoming a classics rider rather than a Grand Tour rider he may have turned out to be one of the best one-day racers of all time. Ryder Hesjedal also deserves mention for his gutsy effort to attempt to go solo for victory over the last 30km. He won a big mountain stage of the Vuelta last year and a performance like that overnight marks him as a big race rider of the future, be it in the classics or the grand tours.
There was little change to the mountains classification on a fairly flat stage.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Husvhod
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonights Stage - We are back to the flatlands today for an extremely short 153km journey from Cambrai to Reims. The elevation barely gets above 200m above sea level and the riders will be most likely looking for a breather after yesterday's chaos. That may mean a breakaway could succeed, but if it ends in a bunch sprint my money is on Mark Cavendish to finally make his mark on the 2010 tour with a win.
This stage was so sensational it had more plot twists than an Ocean's Eleven movie. Let's start with the impact on the General Classification. First - Frank Schleck is out after busting his collarbone when hitting the deck on the pave. This crash coincided with Saxo bank ramping up the pressure via Fabian Cancellara, the best power rider I have ever seen. Cancellara, with the help of the crash behind him, tore the peleon to shreds on the cobbles. Only 4 men could go with him. Hushovd, Geriant Thomas, and importantly Andy Schleck, and the current World Champion Cadel Evans. Behind them the peleton splintered. Armstrong was in the second group back on the road, and Contador was originally a further group back before couragesouly pulling himself up to the Armstrong group. Just at that moment, Armstrong punctured - GAME OVER! No one was waiting on a stage like this and with his team car minutes behind he was caught in no mans land. With the help of Yaroslav Popovych he bravely pulled himself back to the third group on the road but by the end of the day he was over 2 minutes behind the stage winners and almost a minute behind Contador. With Armstrong and Contador in trouble, Cancellera, Evans and the remaining Schleck put the hammer down to maximise their time gains. By the end of the stage they had put over a minute into Contador. As a result Evans now leads the defending champion by over a minute while Shleck has 30 seconds to spare. These are probably not big enough gaps to make the difference come Paris but they sure will make the race interesting. Amrstrong now lies 50 seconds behind Contador and surely his chances at an 8th title have gone. Cancellara also grabbed the Yellow Jersey back from Sylvain Chavanel who had a horror day. Three bike changes saw him come in almost 4 minutes down and he has to kiss the maillot jaune goodbye after only one day.
The race for the stage win was partly an anti-climax. Hushovd was always going to win the stage after doing no work in the elite bunch that powered off the front. He had far too much in reserve and now takes a stranglehold on the green jersey competiotn which he leads by 14 points. Plucky Brit Geriant Thomas did a mammoth job to stay with the big boys and ended up finishing second on the stage ahead of Evans. Thomas reward is takign the White Jersey off of the shoulders of Tony Martin as the best young rider.
And if anyone deserves a shoutout on this stage (outside Cancellara) it is Evans. This guy is an absolute star! Evans once again showed that he is made for the classics and one day races with a superb performance where he never looked to be in difficulty. For man who has never raced Paris-Roubaix to put in a performance like this was simply stunning. He did the rainbow jersey proud. It is a shame Evans has such good alround a ability because if he had focused on becoming a classics rider rather than a Grand Tour rider he may have turned out to be one of the best one-day racers of all time. Ryder Hesjedal also deserves mention for his gutsy effort to attempt to go solo for victory over the last 30km. He won a big mountain stage of the Vuelta last year and a performance like that overnight marks him as a big race rider of the future, be it in the classics or the grand tours.
There was little change to the mountains classification on a fairly flat stage.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Thor Husvhod
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Geraint Thomas
Tonights Stage - We are back to the flatlands today for an extremely short 153km journey from Cambrai to Reims. The elevation barely gets above 200m above sea level and the riders will be most likely looking for a breather after yesterday's chaos. That may mean a breakaway could succeed, but if it ends in a bunch sprint my money is on Mark Cavendish to finally make his mark on the 2010 tour with a win.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Stage 2 - Cancellara Neutralises Stage of Carnage
Fabian Cancellara was happy to hand over his yellow jersey in order to neutralise Stage 2 after almost a quarter of the peleton crashed on the descent of the Côte de Stockeu, some 30km from the finish. After a number of GC contenders hit the deck for the second straight day, Cancellara went to the head of the peleton and slowed the race down. He negotiated for the points on offer for the final sprint to be withdrawn, virtually ending the days race as a contest.
The sole beneficiary (and sole man who raced to the finish) was the last remnant of the days break, Sylvain Chavanel, who avoided the carnage up front and outstayed his breakaway rivals to power home almost 4 minutes in front of the main field. The reward is not only his second ever stage win at the Tour, but the Yellow Jersey, with the time gaps between riders not neutralised by the race officials. Chavanel now leads the overall classification by 2:57 from Cancellara, with Tony Martin dropping to third.
The farcical end to the stage was the result of a series of major crashes on the Côte de Stockeu, the roads made icy by a combination of rain and fuel which turned the roads into a virtual ice rink. After Armstrong, Andy Schleck, Contador, and Wiggins (amongst others) all crashed on the descent of the climb Cancellara had had enough, and it was his presence at the front of the peleton that slowed the race down and resulted in the stage being neutralised. While a lot of the GC contenders will be sore this morning, at this stage there seems to be no serious injuries amongst them, apart from the terribly unlucky Chrstian Van de Velde. Van de Velde is out of the race after breaking two ribs in some of the many crashes during the stage.
Personally I find the decision of the riders to neutralise the stage like this be a complete farce. It is either too dangerous to ride, and the whole stage should be scrapped, or it should be game on. Just because a couple of big GC guys go down does not mean the race comes to a complete standstill. Had the same thing happened to a couple of domestiques they would have been left behind soaking in their blood stained knicks. Last years Tour was boring as hell as everyone followed Contador around France like lap dogs. Face it, while the riders might not like them, the crowd loves a crash! And if a GC rider loses 5 minutes then boy we can expect to see some action from him in the mountains! Ever heard of animating the race guys?!
As well as the getting the win and the yellow jersey, with the final sprint neutralised, Sylvain Chavanel farcically takes the lead in the Green Jersey competition as well. He leads Alessandro Pettachi by 9 points, with Jurgen Roelandts a further point back after collecting all three intermediate sprints on the days stage.
Once competition that was fully contested on the day was the King of the Mountains jersey. Frenchman Jerome Pineau jumped out to an early 5 point lead in the race for the polka-dot jersey after topping 4 of the 6 mountains on offer in Stage 2. Chavanel and young Estonian Rein Taaramae are equal second, while Matthew Lloyd will be disappointed he did not pick up more points in this classification after featuring in the days break.
With the stage neutralised there was no change in the White Jersey competition.
Yellow Jersey - Sylvain Chavanel
Green Jesrey - Sylvain Chavanel
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Tony Martin
If you can believe it, tonight's stage could lead to even more carnage than that we saw overnight. Stage 3 covers the 213km between Wanze and the Arenberg forest and contains 7 sections of cobblestones totaling just over 13km in length. That spells absolute mayhem, with punctures and crashes likely to be a regular feature. Given last nights farce, tipping a winner will be close to impossible, but given Fabian Cancellara's two wins over the cobbles early this spring (Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix) he may just be the man to beat - that's if he wants to race of course.
The sole beneficiary (and sole man who raced to the finish) was the last remnant of the days break, Sylvain Chavanel, who avoided the carnage up front and outstayed his breakaway rivals to power home almost 4 minutes in front of the main field. The reward is not only his second ever stage win at the Tour, but the Yellow Jersey, with the time gaps between riders not neutralised by the race officials. Chavanel now leads the overall classification by 2:57 from Cancellara, with Tony Martin dropping to third.
The farcical end to the stage was the result of a series of major crashes on the Côte de Stockeu, the roads made icy by a combination of rain and fuel which turned the roads into a virtual ice rink. After Armstrong, Andy Schleck, Contador, and Wiggins (amongst others) all crashed on the descent of the climb Cancellara had had enough, and it was his presence at the front of the peleton that slowed the race down and resulted in the stage being neutralised. While a lot of the GC contenders will be sore this morning, at this stage there seems to be no serious injuries amongst them, apart from the terribly unlucky Chrstian Van de Velde. Van de Velde is out of the race after breaking two ribs in some of the many crashes during the stage.
Personally I find the decision of the riders to neutralise the stage like this be a complete farce. It is either too dangerous to ride, and the whole stage should be scrapped, or it should be game on. Just because a couple of big GC guys go down does not mean the race comes to a complete standstill. Had the same thing happened to a couple of domestiques they would have been left behind soaking in their blood stained knicks. Last years Tour was boring as hell as everyone followed Contador around France like lap dogs. Face it, while the riders might not like them, the crowd loves a crash! And if a GC rider loses 5 minutes then boy we can expect to see some action from him in the mountains! Ever heard of animating the race guys?!
As well as the getting the win and the yellow jersey, with the final sprint neutralised, Sylvain Chavanel farcically takes the lead in the Green Jersey competition as well. He leads Alessandro Pettachi by 9 points, with Jurgen Roelandts a further point back after collecting all three intermediate sprints on the days stage.
Once competition that was fully contested on the day was the King of the Mountains jersey. Frenchman Jerome Pineau jumped out to an early 5 point lead in the race for the polka-dot jersey after topping 4 of the 6 mountains on offer in Stage 2. Chavanel and young Estonian Rein Taaramae are equal second, while Matthew Lloyd will be disappointed he did not pick up more points in this classification after featuring in the days break.
With the stage neutralised there was no change in the White Jersey competition.
Yellow Jersey - Sylvain Chavanel
Green Jesrey - Sylvain Chavanel
Polka Dot Jersey - Jerome Pineau
White Jersey - Tony Martin
If you can believe it, tonight's stage could lead to even more carnage than that we saw overnight. Stage 3 covers the 213km between Wanze and the Arenberg forest and contains 7 sections of cobblestones totaling just over 13km in length. That spells absolute mayhem, with punctures and crashes likely to be a regular feature. Given last nights farce, tipping a winner will be close to impossible, but given Fabian Cancellara's two wins over the cobbles early this spring (Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix) he may just be the man to beat - that's if he wants to race of course.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Stage 1 - Petacchi Turns Back The Clock
Alessandro Pettachi turned back the clock in Brussels, taking his first Tour victory since 2003 in winning Stage 1 a 223km flat affair from Rotterdam to Brussels. In a crash filled stage, Australia's Mark Renshaw finished second (Robbie McEwen was fourth), while Thor Husvhod avoided all the pile ups to finish third.
The first open road stage of this years Tour was marred not by wind, but by a series of crashes in the final three kilometres that resulted in a small group of 30 contesting the final sprint. Luckily, with a multitude of sprinters and GC contenders caught up in the spills, there was no major injuries, with the worst for the day being a broken collarbone suffered by Australia's Adam Hansen in an earlier crash. With the crashes coming in the last three kilometres, all the riders received the same time on the day, allowing Fabian Cancellara to keep his Yellow jersey.
But there were still a handful of quality sprinters that survived all the tumbles to contest the sprint finish, and the fastest off them was the Italian giant Pettachi, who finally added to his four stage wins in 2003 by easily holding off Australia's Mark Renshaw. Renshaw is usually the key lead out man for Mark Cavendish, but with the Manx Man hitting the deck with about 2km to go he was left to fight for himself. He proved an admirable back up finishing second as he did in Paris in the final stage last year. Mr Consistency, Thor Hushovd, showed why he is such a danger in the green jersey competition, as he also avoided the carnage to finish third on the day and garner himself a golden 26 points in the points competition on a day when the likes of Cavendish, Oscar Freire, and Tyler Farrar all missed the boat. He would now be close to favourite to wear the Green jersey in Paris.
Tonight's Stage - Stage 2 sees the riders travel just over 200km through Belgium from Brussels to Spa, in a stage with a profile that looks remarkably like that of a spring classic. In fact many of the roads used in Liege-Bastogne-Liege feature here. Given that, a good tip for the win would be a classics specialists such as Fabian Cancellara, who would love nothing more than to take a stage victory while wearing the golden fleece.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
White Jersey - Tony Martin
The first open road stage of this years Tour was marred not by wind, but by a series of crashes in the final three kilometres that resulted in a small group of 30 contesting the final sprint. Luckily, with a multitude of sprinters and GC contenders caught up in the spills, there was no major injuries, with the worst for the day being a broken collarbone suffered by Australia's Adam Hansen in an earlier crash. With the crashes coming in the last three kilometres, all the riders received the same time on the day, allowing Fabian Cancellara to keep his Yellow jersey.
But there were still a handful of quality sprinters that survived all the tumbles to contest the sprint finish, and the fastest off them was the Italian giant Pettachi, who finally added to his four stage wins in 2003 by easily holding off Australia's Mark Renshaw. Renshaw is usually the key lead out man for Mark Cavendish, but with the Manx Man hitting the deck with about 2km to go he was left to fight for himself. He proved an admirable back up finishing second as he did in Paris in the final stage last year. Mr Consistency, Thor Hushovd, showed why he is such a danger in the green jersey competition, as he also avoided the carnage to finish third on the day and garner himself a golden 26 points in the points competition on a day when the likes of Cavendish, Oscar Freire, and Tyler Farrar all missed the boat. He would now be close to favourite to wear the Green jersey in Paris.
Tonight's Stage - Stage 2 sees the riders travel just over 200km through Belgium from Brussels to Spa, in a stage with a profile that looks remarkably like that of a spring classic. In fact many of the roads used in Liege-Bastogne-Liege feature here. Given that, a good tip for the win would be a classics specialists such as Fabian Cancellara, who would love nothing more than to take a stage victory while wearing the golden fleece.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Alessandro Pettachi
White Jersey - Tony Martin
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Prolouge - Advantage Armstrong
The early rounds of the 2010 Tour de France went to Lance Armstrong on a points decision, after he finished five seconds ahead of his chief rival for the Yellow Jersey Alberton Contador. As expected, Fabian Cancellara was the winner on the day, taking the opening day prologue for the fourth time in his career.
The race for the first Yellow Jersey of this years tour was in reality a race in two, between two riders starting just under 3 hours apart. Tony Martin was the 11th rider to leave the starthouse and flew around the course in Rotterdam to just 10 minutes and 10 seconds. Nobody seriously challenged the time until the World and Olympic Champion, the second last rider to leave, Fabian Cancellara, attacked the course. Their is a reason this guy is nicknamed Spartacus - as there is simply no body more powerful than him on a bike. Cancellara burned around the course, leading by 5 seconds at the first check, and doubling that by the end of the 8km course to finish in 10 minutes flat, and grab the yellow jersey by 10 minutes from Martin. Brtian's David Millar turned back the clock with a superb prologue of his own to finish third.
Of the GC conteders it was Armstrong who showed the best form of the Yellow Jesrey hopefuls to finish 4th some 22 seconds behind Cancellara. It will be a good morale boost for the Texan who was smashed by Contador in the final time trial of the 2009 Tour. Still, Contador will not be too worried having finished only a handful of second behind Armstrong, as he would back himself to put minutes rather than seconds into Armstrong come the mountains. The big dissapointment of the day was Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, the man previously viewed as most likely to topple Contador. He had a dog of day finishing 122nd on the stage and losing almost 50 seconds to Armstrong and Contador. Not only did he lose time to his brother Frank, he finished behind Robbie McEwen!?! I am happy to declare already that Andy Schleck cannot and will not win the Tour de France in 2010.
Of the Aussies, Michael Rogers put in a decent performance to finish 14th, 35 seconds behind Cancellara, while Cadel Evans would be slightly dissapointed in finishing 23rd, around 20 seconds behind likes of Armstrong and Contador. He cannot afford to lose time to the likes of those two in time trials if he is thinking of a podium position in Paris.
Tonight's stage is a dead flat affair that travels 223km from Rotterdam to Brussels. The only issue for the peleton will be the fierece winds they are likley to encounter along the dykes of the Dutch lowlands. This could cause havoc in the bunch, causing echelons to firm, and may result in some decisive time gaps as occured on a similar stage at the start of this years Giro. Still, the finish will most likely end in a bunch sprint, and given that it is hard to go past Mark Cavendish for the stage win.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
White Jersey - Tony Martin
The race for the first Yellow Jersey of this years tour was in reality a race in two, between two riders starting just under 3 hours apart. Tony Martin was the 11th rider to leave the starthouse and flew around the course in Rotterdam to just 10 minutes and 10 seconds. Nobody seriously challenged the time until the World and Olympic Champion, the second last rider to leave, Fabian Cancellara, attacked the course. Their is a reason this guy is nicknamed Spartacus - as there is simply no body more powerful than him on a bike. Cancellara burned around the course, leading by 5 seconds at the first check, and doubling that by the end of the 8km course to finish in 10 minutes flat, and grab the yellow jersey by 10 minutes from Martin. Brtian's David Millar turned back the clock with a superb prologue of his own to finish third.
Of the GC conteders it was Armstrong who showed the best form of the Yellow Jesrey hopefuls to finish 4th some 22 seconds behind Cancellara. It will be a good morale boost for the Texan who was smashed by Contador in the final time trial of the 2009 Tour. Still, Contador will not be too worried having finished only a handful of second behind Armstrong, as he would back himself to put minutes rather than seconds into Armstrong come the mountains. The big dissapointment of the day was Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, the man previously viewed as most likely to topple Contador. He had a dog of day finishing 122nd on the stage and losing almost 50 seconds to Armstrong and Contador. Not only did he lose time to his brother Frank, he finished behind Robbie McEwen!?! I am happy to declare already that Andy Schleck cannot and will not win the Tour de France in 2010.
Of the Aussies, Michael Rogers put in a decent performance to finish 14th, 35 seconds behind Cancellara, while Cadel Evans would be slightly dissapointed in finishing 23rd, around 20 seconds behind likes of Armstrong and Contador. He cannot afford to lose time to the likes of those two in time trials if he is thinking of a podium position in Paris.
Tonight's stage is a dead flat affair that travels 223km from Rotterdam to Brussels. The only issue for the peleton will be the fierece winds they are likley to encounter along the dykes of the Dutch lowlands. This could cause havoc in the bunch, causing echelons to firm, and may result in some decisive time gaps as occured on a similar stage at the start of this years Giro. Still, the finish will most likely end in a bunch sprint, and given that it is hard to go past Mark Cavendish for the stage win.
Yellow Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
Green Jersey - Fabian Cancellara
White Jersey - Tony Martin
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
2010 Preview - A Pyrenean Adventure
The 2010 edition of the Tour de France kicks off on Saturday night (Australian time) with an 8km prologue in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This years tour coincides with the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the high mountains to the Tour, and as a result this years edition has a very Pyrenean feel to it. The riders will be completing the grand loop in a clockwise direction, starting in the Netherlands, moving through Belgium to France, then to the Alps followed by the Pyrenees. As a monument to the great climbs of the French-Spanish border a number of the regions famous mountains will be tackled this year including Ax-3 Domaines, the Portet-d'Aspet, the Peyresourde, the Col d'Aspin, the Aubisque, the Marie-Blanque, and the mythical Col du Tourmalet.....twice!
Yellow Jersey
As has been the case for many preceding editions, their is a hot favourite for the Yellow Jersey in Alberto Contador (1/2 F) and unlike last year I am not stupid enough to tip against him. The sad fact is that, barring a complete catastrophe, he should take his third title with ease in an edition packed full of climbs. The quinella is most likely to be a repeat of last year with Andy Schleck (10/1) my tip to finish second. He lacks the ability in the time trial to defeat Contador but his pure climbing ability will be more than enough to hold off the rest of the field. For third, I am going to outside the obvious (Lance!) and plump for the up and coming Dutchman Robert Gesink (50/1). Gesink has always been touted as a future tour winner and after crashing out in the first week last year he will be keen to make amends in 2010. For those looking for a massive outsider, why not try Samuel Sanchez (230/1). The Olympic road race champion has finished on the podium in the Vuelta before and was a credible 6th when he last contested the race in 2008.
Green Jersey
Personally I think Mark Cavendish (5/4 F) is a certainty to win this after controversially missing out last year. The man with the speed of an F1 car (and the personality of a petulant child) will be gunning for green after being nosed out by just 13 points in 2009. His main challenger is the up and coming American Tyler Farrar (6/1) who finally broke through for his first stage win in a grand tour at the Vuelta last year. He was close up in a number of sprints in the 2009 Tour and if Cav is having an off day he will be the man to beat. Two time Green Jersey winner Thor Hushovd (6/1) can also not be discounted. He uses his consistency to remain high up in the classification rather than amassing tons of victories a la Cav. He is a hardened veteran who knows how to accumulate points in this competition and will be there or thereabouts come Paris. Best of the outsiders is the triple World Champion and winner of the jersey in 2008, Oscar Freire (20/1).
Polka Dot Jersey
An absolute lottery of a classification and usually the domain of the dopers with the last two winners copping bans for doping and blood manipulation respectively. So the cynical amongst you might just like to back the person you think is most likely to be drugged up. The Mountains competition seems as open as I can ever remember this year so feel free to take your pick from Aussie Matthew Lloyd (30/1) who took the equivalent title in the Giro earlier this year. In a Tour packed with mountains we might see Alberto Contador (20/1) do the rare (these days) double of wearing both the yellow and polka dot jersey into Paris (hopefully he is not diagnosed with measles and hepatitis along the way). An I may be showing him too much love but Samuel Sanchez (60/1) must at least be a hope for this classification as well given his climbing ability. For a mega outsider, someone like Edvald Boasson Hagen (100/1) may be able to get into a break on an early mountain stage and garner enough points to hold on to the jersey all the way to Paris.
And a Falcon's preview of the Tour would not be complete with out a mention of the great man himself, the current road race CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cadel Evans.Has any athlete in the history of the world ever provided us with so much joy, despair, hope, sadness, and sheer hilarity.
Cadel - listen mate - face it, just like Alejandro Valverde, you just don't have what it takes to win the Tour. You just don't have the patience or concentration for it. You always stuff up somewhere - a crash, a mountain stage, a poor time trial. Forget about the yellow Cadel and focus on stage victories. You are a classics rider! The World Championships, Fleche-Wallonne, you win in Stage 7 of the Giro this year - you are a frigging one day specialist for God's sake! So forget about the podium and focus on ripping the race apart on one or two days to get the Tour recognition your ability deserves.
Prices courtesy of Betfair.
Yellow Jersey
As has been the case for many preceding editions, their is a hot favourite for the Yellow Jersey in Alberto Contador (1/2 F) and unlike last year I am not stupid enough to tip against him. The sad fact is that, barring a complete catastrophe, he should take his third title with ease in an edition packed full of climbs. The quinella is most likely to be a repeat of last year with Andy Schleck (10/1) my tip to finish second. He lacks the ability in the time trial to defeat Contador but his pure climbing ability will be more than enough to hold off the rest of the field. For third, I am going to outside the obvious (Lance!) and plump for the up and coming Dutchman Robert Gesink (50/1). Gesink has always been touted as a future tour winner and after crashing out in the first week last year he will be keen to make amends in 2010. For those looking for a massive outsider, why not try Samuel Sanchez (230/1). The Olympic road race champion has finished on the podium in the Vuelta before and was a credible 6th when he last contested the race in 2008.
Green Jersey
Personally I think Mark Cavendish (5/4 F) is a certainty to win this after controversially missing out last year. The man with the speed of an F1 car (and the personality of a petulant child) will be gunning for green after being nosed out by just 13 points in 2009. His main challenger is the up and coming American Tyler Farrar (6/1) who finally broke through for his first stage win in a grand tour at the Vuelta last year. He was close up in a number of sprints in the 2009 Tour and if Cav is having an off day he will be the man to beat. Two time Green Jersey winner Thor Hushovd (6/1) can also not be discounted. He uses his consistency to remain high up in the classification rather than amassing tons of victories a la Cav. He is a hardened veteran who knows how to accumulate points in this competition and will be there or thereabouts come Paris. Best of the outsiders is the triple World Champion and winner of the jersey in 2008, Oscar Freire (20/1).
Polka Dot Jersey
An absolute lottery of a classification and usually the domain of the dopers with the last two winners copping bans for doping and blood manipulation respectively. So the cynical amongst you might just like to back the person you think is most likely to be drugged up. The Mountains competition seems as open as I can ever remember this year so feel free to take your pick from Aussie Matthew Lloyd (30/1) who took the equivalent title in the Giro earlier this year. In a Tour packed with mountains we might see Alberto Contador (20/1) do the rare (these days) double of wearing both the yellow and polka dot jersey into Paris (hopefully he is not diagnosed with measles and hepatitis along the way). An I may be showing him too much love but Samuel Sanchez (60/1) must at least be a hope for this classification as well given his climbing ability. For a mega outsider, someone like Edvald Boasson Hagen (100/1) may be able to get into a break on an early mountain stage and garner enough points to hold on to the jersey all the way to Paris.
And a Falcon's preview of the Tour would not be complete with out a mention of the great man himself, the current road race CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cadel Evans.Has any athlete in the history of the world ever provided us with so much joy, despair, hope, sadness, and sheer hilarity.
Cadel - listen mate - face it, just like Alejandro Valverde, you just don't have what it takes to win the Tour. You just don't have the patience or concentration for it. You always stuff up somewhere - a crash, a mountain stage, a poor time trial. Forget about the yellow Cadel and focus on stage victories. You are a classics rider! The World Championships, Fleche-Wallonne, you win in Stage 7 of the Giro this year - you are a frigging one day specialist for God's sake! So forget about the podium and focus on ripping the race apart on one or two days to get the Tour recognition your ability deserves.
Prices courtesy of Betfair.
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