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.
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