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
Saturday, July 10, 2010
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
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