Le Tour 
Sun Jul 24, 2011 at 06:27:57 AM EST
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Créteil to Paris Champs-Élysées 59 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Le sigh.
When an event like this finishes I'm immediately overcome with nostalgia because while it requires a certain amount of energy and discipline to persist, by the end of it your efficiency at the task is improved and you are inured and habituated to the inconvenience.
The absence persists as a phantom limb and the possibility of a next time seems unimaginably distant.
I'm not a particularly good prognosticator but I take solace in the fact most others aren't either. Before the race I didn't even know who Cadel Evans was and like Armando and Jada Yuan thought this would be a duel between the Schlecks and Contador. Hushovd and Voeckler were surprisingly strong performers and I knew it was over for Contador when he passed attacking on the Pyrenees where his advantages were strongest. In the Pyrenees the crowds were rooting for the Spaniard, in the Alps they were chanting "Doper. Doper."
I'd call yesterday's Time Trial by the Schlecks disappointing except that it wasn't really. Cadel Evans had an extraordinary performance, finishing 55:40 only 7 Seconds in 2nd to Tony Martin who set a blistering pace. Contador finished 3rd but nowhere near the time he needed to erode the Schlecks' lead.
This last Stage is a parade so these standings won't change-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 83h 45' 20" | | | 2 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 83h 46' 54" | + 01' 34" | | 3 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 83h 47' 50" | + 02' 30" | | 4 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 83h 48' 40" | + 03' 20" | | 5 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 83h 49' 17" | + 03' 57" | | 6 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 83h 50' 15" | + 04' 55" | | 7 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 83h 51' 25" | + 06' 05" | | 8 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 83h 52' 43" | + 07' 23" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 83h 53' 35" | + 08' 15" | | 10 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | AG2R | 83h 55' 31" | + 10' 11" | | 11 | Pierre Rolland | Europecar | 83h 56' 03" | + 10' 43" | | 12 | Rein Taaramae | Cofidis | 83h 56' 49" | + 11' 29" |
I'm including 11th and 12th places because those are the positions of Pierre Rolland who clinched the White Jersey of the Young Riders champion and Rein Taaramae the runner up.
Remaining to be contested is the Green Jersey of the Sprint champion. It seems highly likely that it will be Cavendish, Rojas, and Gilbert in that order. Fourth will be Cadel Evans and it's interesting to contemplate that if he were behind in the General Classification and a little closer to the lead in the points whether the customs of Le Tour would allow him to put on a move and 'steal' the maillot jaune.
Sportsmanship isn't what it used to be and as Jada reports-
Both the public and Tour organizers have been very vocal about wanting the Tour to get more exciting.
Last year's Tour featured giant pileups seemingly each of the first ten days, and the bruised and bloodied riders slowed down the pace of the peloton several times to allow fallen riders to catch up. That's wonderful and sportsmanlike, but doesn't really make for a good race. With considerable market pressure on the Tour from the fast-gaining-in-reputation Giro d'Italia, officials hope the riders are a little more selfish this year. Race director Christian Prudhomme has also said that he wished Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador had attacked each other more last year, which one assumes he hopes they take as a challenge.
Of course that was the year of the 39 Second Chain which may be avenged in the Court of Arbitration for Sports on August 2nd.
So your final 2011 Vs. coverage starts at 8 am. In the commentators prediction competition only Paul improved his position yesterday and he's mathematically out so unless they pick again today (and they might, there is that final sprint) Phil is the wire to wire winner.
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Sat Jul 23, 2011 at 04:58:32 AM EST
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Grenoble to Grenoble 27 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
So what happened yesterday? It became a 3 person race.
Contador attacked the moment they started going up hill and for the first two climbs seemed well on his way to duplicating Andy Schleck's surprise performance on Thursday. However on the long descent from the Col du Galabier all the prime contenders caught up and it was basically a sprint up the Alpe-d'Huez.
It's not that Contador finished badly (in 3rd, only 23 Seconds off) it's that he needed a spectacular one and didn't get it with Evans and the Schlecks just 34 Seconds behind. The person hurt worst was Voeckler, 3+ Minutes behind, losing the lead he had kept against all expectations for 10 days equaling his 2004 performance.
But there are only 2 Stages left, today's Individual Time Trial and the Sprint and parade up the Champs Elysees-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 82h 48' 43" | | | 2 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 82h 49' 36" | + 00' 53" | | 3 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 82h 49' 40" | + 00' 57" | | 4 | Thomas Voekler | Europcar | 82h 50' 53" | + 02' 10" | | 5 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 82h 52' 14" | + 03' 31" | | 6 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 82h 52' 38" | + 03' 55" | | 7 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 82h 53' 05" | + 04' 22" | | 8 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 82h 53' 23" | + 04' 40" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 82h 55' 54" | + 07' 11" | | 10 | Rolland Pierre | Europcar | 82h 57' 40" | + 08' 57" |
Is it all over but the shouting? Yes and no. Being extremely generous as many as 6 riders still have a shot at the malliot jaune, but the farther down the list you go the more riders have to choke to put you at the top no matter how spectacular a Time Trialist you are.
On the outside fringe of realism is France's hope Voeckler in fourth, but he has to make up over 2 Minutes. This is actually a 3 person race now, Cadel Evans and the Schleck brothers are under 60 Seconds apart. The rap on the Schlecks is that they're terrible trialers, but last year Andy went head to head against Contador who's reputed to be one of the best. Evans has his work cut out for him especially since he'll be starting ahead and the Schlecks will know exactly what time they have to beat.
In the Individual Time Trials what happens is the riders go off individually at intervals in reverse order of standing so that the last placed of the 167 riders remaining starts first. There is overtaking, but no help from your team. As flat as this stage is the 2 bumps are thought to favor the Schlecks.
King of the Mountains (Polka Dot Jersey) is Samuel Sanchez. There are no more Mountains. Garmin is almost certain to be top Team with a 12 Minute advantage over Leopard Trek. The White Jersey (Youth) could be won by Pierre Rolland (boosted by Friday's Stage victory at the Alpe-d'Huez) or Rein Taaramae 1:33 behind.
Sprinting is complicated, I'll let BruceMcF explain it-
Nobody expects Mark (Cavendish) to lose the Green Jersey with 15 points ahead of JJ Rojas, who is not expected to be within three or four places of Mark on the line on Sunday.
However, the Champs Elysee is the last Flat Sprinty Sprint Sprint stage, with the famous bunch sprint still ahead to decide the most prestigious of the stage winners. Though Tyler Farrar and Andre Griepel long ago gave up hopes of the Green (Jersey), they will both be looking for the stage winner of the last day.
The Mad Manx once again finished behind the elimination time of 25 Minutes, but once again so did 83 others (this time including his closest rival JJ Rojas) and once again Tour organizers evoked the escape clause (Santity Clause? You-a doan fool-a me. There ain't no Sanity Clause) and invoked a 20 point penalty rather than drop half the field. An interesting intellectual exercise would be to figure out the Sprint winner had the rule been enforced (hint- Cadel Evans).
Anyway the penultimate coverage starts on Vs. at 8 am conflicting with Nurburgring Qualifying on Speed. Tomorrow I'll be able to pay exclusive attention to the Champs Elysee stroll also on Vs. at 8 am since the tape delayed Formula One will be on Fox at noon.
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Fri Jul 22, 2011 at 06:46:13 AM EST
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Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d'Huez 69 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
As it turns out BruceMcF was quite right to suspect that yesterday the Mad Manx, Mark Cavendish, 4 Stage winner and leader in the points competition by a comfortable 35 would come under tremendous pressure to finish inside the time limit (which yesterday was 33:07) or be dropped from the Tour.
Well he didn't do that, and was part of a group of 88 riders that finished 35:50 back.
But there is safety in numbers and as one can imagine the Tour organizers were kind of embarrassed at the prospect of losing about half the field, including some other high recognition sprinters like Gilbert and Hushovd, so instead they used a loophole in the rules designed for after a spectacular Peloton splitting crash and fined the all the riders in the group 20 points instead.
This did a bit of reshuffling of the sprinter standings from Wednesday to Thursday and instead of a commanding 35 point lead the Mad Manx has a margin of but a bare 15 and is headed to another day in the mountains.
At the front Andy Schleck put on quite a show with an early break away after the Casse Déserte that he maintained all the way up the Galibier and gained more than 4 Minutes over Alberto Contador who has defeated him for the past two years. While the shuffling in the GC was not quite as dramatic there were still a few changes-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 79h 34' 06" | | | 2 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 79h 34' 21" | + 00' 15" | | 3 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 79h 35' 14" | + 01' 08" | | 4 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 79h 35' 18" | + 01' 12" | | 5 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 79h 37' 52" | + 03' 46" | | 6 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 79h 37' 52" | + 03' 46" | | 7 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 79h 38' 50" | + 04' 44" | | 8 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 79h 39' 26" | + 05' 20" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 79h 41' 14" | + 07' 08" | | 10 | Jean-Christophe Peraud | AG2R | 79h 43' 33" | + 09' 27" |
The most important thing is the deltas, the time margin between competitors, because after today it will be very difficult to make up more than a minute, maybe 2, in the Individual Time Trials without a major mistake or a disasterous crash. The route tomorrow is relatively flat and short, only 27 miles.
Today's Stage is the last in the Alps and contains 1 category 1 and 2 Unclassified climbs finishing uphill on the Alpe d'Huez. It's fairly short so you can expect climbing attacks early.
At about 56 miles there is a descent that looks in the profile like you're dropping straight off a cliff. They exaggerate the scale so the elevation changes are more visible but it is still a high speed and twisty bit and people, especially if they are tired and anxious, might make mistakes.
If there are any sprinters left, their checkpoint will be after that.
Tomorrow is a very busy day for me as I'll also have Formula One Qualfying at Nurburgring at 8 am, the same time as Le Tour. Today's Vs. coverage starts at 8 am.
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Thu Jul 21, 2011 at 05:47:04 AM EST
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Pinerolo to Galibier Serre-Chevalier 125 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
The story of yesterday is the group that finished 4:26 back- Frank Schleck, Cunego, Sanchez, Evans, Contador, and Andy Schleck, and the group that finished 4:53 back- Voeckler and Basso.
Contador looked to put on a move in the final descent into Pinerolo and was apparently succeeding when away from the camera and commentary the rest of the major contenders snuck up to be right there at the finish.
Voeckler would have been right there also except that pressing a little too hard he had to take an escape road off into a car park (his second slide off) and lost another 27 Seconds.
A thrilling finish, but not one that shakes up the standings-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 73h 23' 49" | | | 2 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 73h 25' 07" | + 01' 18" | | 3 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 73h 25' 11" | + 01' 22" | | 4 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 73h 26' 25" | + 02' 36" | | 5 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 73h 26' 48" | + 02' 59" | | 6 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 73h 27' 04" | + 03' 15" | | 7 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 73h 27' 23" | + 03' 34" | | 8 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 73h 27' 38" | + 03' 49" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 73h 29' 53" | + 06' 04" | | 10 | Rigoberto Uran | Sky | 73h 31' 25" | + 07' 36" |
My analysis is that it's another missed opportunity for Contador and there aren't too many of them left- today and tomorrow in the High Mountains and the Individual Time Trial on Saturday. BruceMcF thinks there could be an attempt by the sprinters to put the Mad Manx out on time elimination.
Today's Stage has only 3 climbs but they're all unclassified with the sprint checkpoint before any of the tough hills. The finish is uphill after the longest climb (but not steepest) of the day so a repeat of yesterday's bunch finish is unlikely. This is the centenary of the Galabier on the Tour and the highest finish ever.
Vs. starts it's coverage at an early (unless you were already up at 5 am to watch the final landing of the Space Shuttle) 7 am so it's possible we might see the points checkpoint finish.
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Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 06:49:48 AM EST
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Gap to Pinerolo 112 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
The sporting press seems evenly divided over whether Contador or Evans benefitted the most from yesterday's results. At the very least it was a psychological boost to Contador's chances as he aggressively attacked at least 4 times and was suddenly a part of the conversation after 2 weeks.
Looking at the times the results are not so clear. There's no doubt that Andy Schleck was hurt by his cautious descent into Gap, giving up 1:06, and Basso nearly as badly, but riders like Frank Schleck, Cunego, and Voeckler gave up just 18 Seconds and Evans gained 3.
Hushovd's Stage win was also unexpected, and puts him in 4th place of the points competition some 84 behind the Mad Manx and 65 ahead of Greipel in 5th. BruceMcF's analysis of yesterday's competition here.
In any event your adjusted overall times look like this today-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 69h 00' 56" | | | 2 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 69h 02' 41" | + 01' 45" | | 3 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 69h 02' 45" | + 01' 49" | | 4 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 69h 03' 59" | + 03' 03" | | 5 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 69h 04' 22" | + 03' 26" | | 6 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 69h 04' 38" | + 03' 42" | | 7 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 69h 04' 45" | + 03' 49" | | 8 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 69h 04' 57" | + 04' 01" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 69h 07' 00" | + 06' 04" | | 10 | Rigoberto Uran | Sky | 69h 08' 51" | + 07' 55" |
Today's Stage has a category 3 climb before the sprint checkpoint and overall 2 category 3s, 2 category 2s, and a category 1. The descent from Sestrieres is about 29 miles which is expected to be long enough to bunch the field before the final climb and descent into Pinerolo. Since it's not considered particularly difficult the final section is thought by some analysists to favor Evans.
Vs. joins the race in progress at the relatively sane hour of 8 am.
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Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 06:30:33 AM EST
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Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Gap 101 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Today's Stage is pretty much steadily up hill with a dip after the feeding station and a full fledged descent at the finish following the Col de Manse, so theoretically at least there could be huge deltas as back markers struggle up hill and front runners zoom down.
There's also the crash factor that could come into play especially if the winds are tricky or the weather is bad.
After consideration I have no reason to change yesterday's assessment that if you're not in the top ten now it's extremely unlikely you'll get there barring a catastrophic breakdown by a lot of teams and riders. The gap between 10th and 11th is a full 1:37 and it's 8:20 to Voeckler.
Whether he can hang on is, I think, the question of the day. He's not known as a climber though he did pretty good in the Pyrenees so this is probably the last chance for him to put some seconds in the bank on a Stage suited to his style.
Vs. will join the race in progress at 8 am.
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Mon Jul 18, 2011 at 07:09:37 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Had a chance to chat with Armando last night which I've always found very enjoyable despite others having a different experience. Nobody is obligated to treat you any particular way on the Internet and if you're going to expose yourself you just have to get used to that.
His analysis echos the consensus view expressed here which if I might be allowed to summarize is that Contador has missed his best opportunity for a victory and barring a miraculous comeback in the Alps is no longer a contender.
He's a little more skeptical of the Schleck brothers' prospects than I am, perhaps because of their reputation as poor time trialers, and likes Cadel Evan's chances. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy.
I personally think that anyone in the top 8 (well, except for Contador) is close enough to strike and 2 minutes being what it is we could even see a Frenchman (gasp), albeit one with an Alsatian name, cruising down the Champs Elysees in yellow in a little less than a week.
The standings as of the second (and last) Rest Day-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 65h 24' 34" | | | 2 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 65h 26' 23" | + 01' 49" | | 3 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 65h 26' 40" | + 02' 06" | | 4 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 65h 26' 49" | + 02' 15" | | 5 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 65h 27' 50" | + 03' 16" | | 6 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 65h 28' 18" | + 03' 44" | | 7 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 65h 28' 34" | + 04' 00" | | 8 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 65h 28' 35" | + 04' 01" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 65h 30' 20" | + 05' 46" | | 10 | Kevin De Weert | Quick Step | 65h 30' 52" | + 06' 18" |
What type of race do we have remaining? Mountains. Medium tomorrow and Alps for the next 3 days. Then the Individual Time Trial that is supposed to be the Schleck's Achilles' Heel. Finally the big parade to the Champs which is customarily contended only by the sprinters while the GC also rans accept their fate with dignity.
So there's not much race left.
I'm hoping the Vs. coverage at 8 am has a little more recap and a little less yesterday than the first Rest Day did. Limoux to Montpellier was instructive in the points competition but not so much for the overall. If you miss it there are plenty of repeats at 11:30 am, 3 pm, 8 pm, and midnight.
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Sun Jul 17, 2011 at 07:27:08 AM EST
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Limoux to Montpellier 120 miles.
Le. Tour. De. France.
So Alberto gives up another 2 Seconds to Andy. No big deal right? He'll make it up in the Time Trial.
Time ticks on filled with wouldas, shouldas, and couldas.
This was Contador's bread and butter on his home court, there is no reason to expect it gets any better. Who are the best of the rest?
Smart money is on the two Schlecks even though they're not the trialers Alberto is reputed to be. Cadel Evans- Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy! Basso. Sammy Sanchez if you simply must root for a Spaniard (you Alonso fans know who you are). Cunego is not too far behind.
But pretty much everyone else is and though the Alps are not very far away it's the same legs as the Pyrenees.
A person who could surprise is Voeckler, he is after all actually wearing the maillot jaune and did much better than expected in the High Mountains. He's 1:40 clear of the competition and it could be a magical year for the Frenchman even though fairytales are usually found in the fiction section.
Today's Stage is the last flat before Paris with just one piddly category 4 so you can expect a sprinter show. The checkpoint is right before the finish and I expect that someone will gun for the double.
Tomorrow is the second rest day, but I'll be posting on the results and setup for the Alps. At 2:45 ET the U.S. Women's Football Team will be competing for the World Cup against Japan on ESPN and unless some kind and more knowledgeable person posts first I'll be covering that later.
Vs. joins in progress at 8 am.
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Sat Jul 16, 2011 at 06:07:09 AM EST
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Saint-Gaudens to Plateau de Beille 105 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Our last day in the Pyrenees and the last chance for some riders to make a statement.
Not that I'm expecting for Contador to pack it in, just that there are those who will look ahead to the Alps and decide to spare themselves. We had 4 withdrawals yesterday including Kloden of Radio Shack.
Speaking of surprises, I'm not sure who would have predicted a Hushovd Stage win and Gilbert finished unexpectedly high. There was a huge group of 54 that tied for twelfth with another 30 riders 15 Seconds behind so you might argue the deltas don't make a difference.
Today's Stage is all up and down with a category 3, two category 2s, two category 1s and we finish on an unclassified (though the last 100 yards is pretty flat).
After this we have a flat day (last one except the Champs Elysees finish) and then there is no rest for the wicked though there is for the riders before we attack the Alps and finish with the Individual Time Trial and parade.
Too early coverage on Vs. starts at 6:30 am.
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Fri Jul 15, 2011 at 07:02:06 AM EST
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Pau to Lourdes 95 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Yesterday's first Stage in the Pyrenees was not as dominant a day for Contador as might have been predicted on paper. He was awfully lonely at the finish and gave up time to his main rivals in front of the home crowd.
Now 30 Seconds is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, a margin like that over a single rival can be easily made up by a bit of bad luck like a flat, but the truth is that Saxo Bank looked totally feckless in the face of a strong Leopard Trek effort from the first serious climb.
Contador's problem is that it's not just the :30 and it's not just one rider he has to beat.
In the General Classification the standings look like this after the first High Mountain Stage-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 51h 54' 44" | | | 2 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 51h 56' 33" | + 01' 49" | | 3 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 51h 56' 50" | + 02' 06" | | 4 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 51h 57' 01" | + 02' 17" | | 5 | Ivan Basso | Cannondale | 51h 58' 00" | + 03' 16" | | 6 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre | 51h 58' 06" | + 03' 22" | | 7 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 51h 58' 44" | + 04' 00" | | 8 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel | 51h 58' 55" | + 04' 11" | | 9 | Tom Danielson | Garmin | 51h 59' 19" | + 04' 35" | | 10 | Nicolas Roche | AG2R | 51h 59' 41" | + 04' 57" |
Don't be deceived by that even 4 Minutes, while it was a great thing for France to have a Frenchman lead Le Tour de France on Bastille Day, Voeckler is not expected to retain the maillot jaune past Saturday if he can hang onto it that long.
The people to watch are the two Schlecks, Evans, and Basso. Sammy Sanchez is only 11 Seconds behind and could sneak up.
This Stage ramps up with a Category 3 and a category 4 climb before the Sprint checkpoint and then heads for the unclassified Col d'Aubisque and steeply down to the finish. I think team management is going to be a real issue because it will be very difficult to stick together and help your contenders over the Col and after that a serious gap could develop as the back markers struggle up and the leaders zoom to the finish.
Coverage on Vs. starts at 8 am.
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Thu Jul 14, 2011 at 06:29:32 AM EST
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Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden 132 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Our first High Mountains. Lots of uphill, the sprint checkpoint and then 3 climbs- Hourquette d'Ancizan (category 1), Col du Tormalet (unclassified), and the finish at Luz-Ardiden (also unclassified).
The first is actually the steepest, but they range from 7.5% to 7.3% grades so they're all pretty steep.
Contador will be looking to make a statement since he has a 3 day opportunity to put this away. He starts out about 1:30 behind his competition.
Yesterday the Mad Manx took over the points competition with Gilbert and Rojas close behind and Greipel and Hushovd slightly farther back. They'll contest the intermediate checkpoint points but you have to expect the Stage winner to be a climber.
However there are always surprises.
Surprise early coverage on Vs. starts at 6 am!
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Wed Jul 13, 2011 at 06:44:37 AM EST
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Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur 105 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
The 11th Stage is the halfway mark time wise with 10 race days remaining after today including the Individual Time Trial and the Champs Elysees parade on the penultimate and final days.
This Stage is flatter than yesterday with only one category 4 and one category 3 climb. It's the last flat Stage until after the Pyrenees and 1 of 3 (including the Champs Elysees at the very end of Le Tour) left at all.
So you can expect the sprinters to put on a show.
Supposedly the Mad Manx is all pissed that former team mate Greipel beat him out by a wheel to score his first Stage victory ever yesterday (as opposed to Cavendish's 17), but were I him I'd be far more concerned that I was 64 points behind Gilbert in the points competition. Not that you can't make up a lot of ground with a 45 point Stage victory, just that there aren't a lot of opportunities left that suit his style.
Our first High Mountains start tomorrow and I'm not sure if despite all his bad luck Contador can be stopped. He is 4:07 behind the leader Voeckler but Voeckler isn't considered a marquee climber and Contador is reputed to be the best in the world. The deltas to top contenders like Evans and the Schlecks are less than half that and margins in the mountains tend to magnify.
And he's the home town favorite in the Pyrenees so it's like Scuderia Marlboro UPC at Monza.
Despite their woes (3 riders down, Horner out, and Leipheimer mired in 36th) Radio Shack is a respectable 3rd in the team competition, only 1:02 behind Europcar and a mere 30 Seconds behind Leopard Trek.
So if there is going to be change it will be happening soon and then there are always surprises.
Coverage on Vs. starts at 8 am.
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Tue Jul 12, 2011 at 06:34:24 AM EST
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Aurillac to Carmaux 99 miles.
Le. Tour. De. France.
Doping!
No not Contador, though this is a great example of what happens to a 'normal' rider. Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha had a urine sample taken after Stage 5 test positive for Hydrochlorothiazide, a diurectic sometimes used to mask other drugs (though not performance enhancing in and of itself).
Since the news was released yesterday, a mere 4 days after the sample, Kolobnev has withdrawn/was booted (accounts disagree) from Le Tour and fired from his team (or not yet, accounts disagree) and is facing a $3 million fine. Oh, and police tossed his hotel room.
I invite you to compare and contrast.
Today's Stage has what are called 'rolling hills' with 2 category 4 and 2 category 3 climbs. The sprint checkpoint is pretty early and will happen just before or soon after we join the race.
Hoogerland and Flecha are still with us so far but I'll note the withdrawal list doesn't reflect Kolobnev at the moment so perhaps the true toll of Sunday is not yet reflected. Of course standings haven't changed since yesterday.
Today's coverage starts at 8 am.
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Mon Jul 11, 2011 at 07:20:37 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
What did I say about the wicked? Oh... yeah.
Yesterday was hit and run day as a chase car plowed into 2 riders but neither one of them were forced to retire. Yet. It might have been bigger, new GC leader Voeckler was close enough to get whacked in the leg by Flecha as Flecha spun into a barbed wire fence.
The actual big crash happened earlier on a rain slick descent and took out Vinokourov who was a legitimate contender for Yellow in Paris. In all 8 riders retired, nearly doubling the list to 18.
On the Stage Sanchez (Louis-Leon) had the victory with Voeckler and Casar close behind. Almost 4 minutes back was a group including Gilbert, Evans, the 2 Schlecks, Sanchez (Samuel), and Contador. Hushovd finished tied for 79th on the day, 6:47 behind.
In the General Classification the 2 Medium Mountain days have bubbled up some of the usual suspects-
| Rank | Name | Team | ET | delta | | | | | | | 1 | Thomas Voeckler | Europcar | 38h 35' 11" | | | 2 | Luis-Leon Sanchez | Rabo Bank | 38h 37' 00" | + 01' 49" | | 3 | Cadel Evans | BMC | 38h 37' 37" | + 02' 26" | | 4 | Frank Schleck | Leopard Trek | 38h 37' 40" | + 02' 29" | | 5 | Andy Schleck | Leopard Trek | 38h 37' 48" | + 02' 37" | | 6 | Tony Martin | HTC | 38h 37' 49" | + 02' 38" | | 7 | Peter Velits | HTC | 38h 37' 49" | + 02' 38" | | 8 | Andréas Kloden | Radio Shack | 38h 37' 54" | + 02' 43" | | 9 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma | 38h 38' 06" | + 02' 55" | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Leopard Trek | 38h 38' 19" | + 03' 08" | | ... | | | | | | 16 | Alberto Contador | Saxo Bank | 38h 39' 18" | + 04' 07" | | ... | | | | | | 24 | Thor Hushovd | Garmin | 38h 40' 24" | + 05' 13" | | ... | | | | | | 36 | Levi Leipheimer | Radio Shack | 38h 42' 27" | + 07' 16" |
We have raced 989 miles of 2132 or 46%.
BruceMcF's assessment-
When the front of the peleton crashes overcooking a corner going 50mph+ downhill, that defines "a mess". The yellow and green jersey wearers made the decision to neutralize the race until those involved still riding rejoined the peleton ~ despite the fact that it assured the yellow jersey wearer that he would surrender the maillot jeune, though the fact that he had not expected to still be wearing it today may have made the decision easier.
In the race for the Yellow, Voeckler is not considered to be a serious GC threat, so it serves the interests of the main GC contenders for him to be in yellow into the Pyrenees. The three fancied race winners all finished same time, but several podium threats crashed out, while Lulu Sanchez vaulted into second place, so he will have to be taken seriously as long as he holds the time.
In the race for Green, Phillipe Gilbert gained "best of the rest" sprint points at the only part of today's stage close enough to flat to put a sprint point, and "best of the rest" points at the finish, to add 30 points to his Green Jersey talley ~ one more than the difference between winning a flat stage and finishing 8th. Cadel Evans finished "third best of the rest" to add 15 points to his 5th place in the Green Jersey, and Thor Hushovd picked up 7 points at the intermediate sprint just being near the front of the peleton as his team was still driving in an ultimately futile effort to hold the yellow. Thor goes into the rest day without having to worry about defending yellow, so can start thinking about staging an attack to move up in the Green Jersey competition.
Vs. Rest Day coverage starts at 8 am.
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Sun Jul 10, 2011 at 07:01:39 AM EST
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Issoire to Saint-Flour 130 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Well first of all Saint Flour is not for baking. Yes I need more sleep, coffee or both.
Teams were pretty cautious the first day in the Medium Mountains (only one more to go after today) but given Friday's crash fest that's not so surprising. However time is running out for the 'punchers', the not quite climbers, not quite sprinters like Hushovd and Gilbert to make their mark otherwise you'll have to start rooting on the Schleck brothers and Evans if you're not a Contador fan.
He'll be starting his same old 1:42 back from Hushovd who expressed his surprise at being able to hold on as long as he has to the maillot jaune. It's a measure of how the field has thinned though that Contador has moved from 82nd to 20th in rank with no change at all in that margin. On the other hand nobody has been able to put a move on him since Stage 3.
This Stage has 2 category 4 bumps at the end and 3 category 3s and 2s so there are a fair number of 'King of the Mountain' climber points available. The sprint checkpoint is only 19 miles from the end so your guess is as good as mine if the Green Jersey competitors will have caught up by then or been left in the dust.
Whatever happens it will surely be more enlightening than the Sunday Stupid Factory.
Tomorrow is a Rest Day but Vs. will be filling all the regular time slots (8 am, 11:30 am, 3 pm, and 8 pm) with a summary of the action so far. I'll be covering today's results.
Today's coverage starts at 8 am.
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Sat Jul 09, 2011 at 06:32:25 AM EST
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Aigurande to Super-Besse Sancy 118 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Flaming chunks of twisted metal.
Bradley Wiggins is entirely out and Team Sky is in bad shape after his crash. Geraint Thomas forfeited the White (Young Rider) Jersey to fall back and assist Wiggins. Sportsmanship.
It split the Peloton and left only 80 riders in the zero delta (got the same time as the Stage winner, Mad Manx Cavendish) group including Hushovd, Gilbert, Frank and Andy, Evans, and Contador. Everyone else added about 3 minutes or more. Liepheimer of Radio Shack suffered additional indignity with a puncture and Horner finished dead last and barely at that. Broken nose and concussion, unlikely to start after overnight observation and a morning examination by the team physician.
After the carnage BruceMcF evaluates the GC this way-
Contador, the Schleck brothers, Cadel Evans, Kloden, David Millar, Vinokourov are all in a position where what matters is what will happen when they hit the high mountains, with Sammy Sanchez still looking to make up 2:35 on the highest placed GC contender
This Stage is rated Medium Mountain and the first place where we can expect race changing deltas.
They say you can't win Le Tour in the first week, but you can sure lose it. We shall see what we shall see.
Vs. coverage starts at 8 am with your half hour of hype. I'll be concentrating on Silverstone and later- napping.
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Fri Jul 08, 2011 at 06:40:27 AM EST
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Le Mans to Châteauroux 136 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Well, it rained a lot, and hard. Teams were extremely cautious after all the crashes on Wednesday and most of the top riders' positions are unchanged with the exception of Liepheimer who lost a full minute in, what else, a crash.
We had 2 more withdrawals, Ivan Velasco of Euskaltel who did not start and Vasil Kiryienka of Movistar who was outside the time limit.
There were 62 riders in the top group with the same time as the Stage winner, Edvald Boasson Hagen. Matthew Harley Goss was second and Thor Hushovd third. Rojas, Gilbert, Evans, both Schlecks, and Contador also had 0 deltas.
Everyone knows the home of the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency and while tomorrow finishes with a climb into the Massif Central today's Stage is the flatest in this year's Tour. BruceMcF, who understands the points competition for sprinters (Green Jersey) much better than I do, expects two classic bunch sprints- one at the midway checkpoint and again at Châteauroux.
We race through the weekend in medium mountains with a rest day on Monday (no rest for the wicked, I'll be reviewing Sunday's results). After that it's two flat Stages and then 3 days in the Pyrenees where Contador will be looking to put it away if he can.
This weekend is also Silverstone so you can expect your regular Qualifying and race coverage. This will be somewhat distracting for me tomorrow as the live Speed coverage of Qualifying conflicts, today all I'll have to do is drag my ass out of bed at 2 am (did I mention no rest?) to catch up with Valencia on Debrief and the lastest developments with a repeat of today's P2 session. The race itself will be on Fox Sunday which means tape delayed until noon.
Vs. coverage of Le Tour starts at 8 am for your half hour of hype before we join the race already in progress.
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Thu Jul 07, 2011 at 06:05:26 AM EST
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Dinan to Lisieux 141 miles
Le. Tour. De. France.
Flaming chunks of twisted metal!
So the day started out with flats and evolved into crashes of which Contador had 2. Withdrawals doubled, Janez Brajkovic of Radio Shack and Christophe Kern of Europcar got added to Jurgen Van de Walle of Omega Pharma (Stage 4). Brajkovic was involved in Contador's second crash.
The announcing team was pretty close in their predictions with Cavendish barely edging Gilbert and Rojas. Cavendish complains that the new rules make it "harder to have a proper bunch sprint." What I've noticed is that there are fewer break aways.
When there were multiple sprint checkpoints you'd have a leadout group of sprinters form for each one and then swiftly collapse back into the Peloton. Now we're getting 4 or 5 riders out there all day long.
In the GC we have Hushovd in yellow again hanging on to his single Second lead with Evans and Schleck (Frank) close behind. Other likelies Schleck (Andy), Horner, and Liepheimer are in 10th, 13th, and 14th a little less than 18 Seconds back. Contador is still at 1:42 but has advanced to 39th rank. I can't help but feel that margin has to increase a lot before the Pyrenees if he's going down.
Dinan to Lisieux at 141 miles is the longest individual Stage this year and is not exactly Kansas flat with 2 category 3s and a category 4 climb. An uphill finish is expected to favor the same contenders as yesterday.
It's already started and will be about 2 hours in when the coverage on Vs. comes on at 8 am.
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Wed Jul 06, 2011 at 06:30:10 AM EST
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Carhaix to Cap Fréhel (102 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
Getting some exciting now, you betcha.
As I've said right along, my understanding of professional cycle racing is based on watching Le Tour (albeit since Greg LeMond), which is kind of like basing your perceptions of Baseball on the World Series or Throwball on the Super Bowl. I only know what I read in the funny papers.
During the off season it's been all Lance, all the time, with the merest mention of Contador's actual positive doping tests and the implicit assumption that he was going to win in a walk. Since I deal strictly in schadenfreude it's been an agreeable experience so far.
To the extent that rivals were mentioned before Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts it was about 90% Schleck (who only finished 39 Seconds behind) with Leipheimer and Horner thrown in not because they are good but because the sporting press is just as lazy and mendacious as their political counterparts and twice as jingoistic (U.S.A! U.S.A.!).
In fact I'm pretty sure the only reason Hushovd shows up on the radar at all is that his namesake is a crossdressing wedding crasher (you could look it up).
Anyway this is all by way of explanation why I've taken Hushovd's overall chances more seriously than some even though he is basically a sprinter. I'm ignorant and easily influenced.
Yesterday actually was some exciting with many of the name contenders including Contador making a big push for position if not a Stage win at the end. It was really the first chance for climbers to make their mark.
Also in the first group were Evans (the winner by half a wheel), Gilbert (whom I'll have to take more seriously), and Hushovd (who gets to wear the maillot jaune again today).
They all got the same time. Slightly behind were Horner and Leipheimer (who says we're old?) and Andy Schleck who's making his brother look good. In terms of the overall General Classification standings nobody moved up except in rank because of Hushovd's presence in the zero deficit group. Contador remains 1:42 behind, Cadel Evans is the real deal and remains a slight Second out of first.
Today's stage includes the category 4 climb at Cote Gurunhuel which will give us an early indicator of how the day will go. After that it's a descending series of bumps which does not make it easy by any means. Three more race days until serious elevation changes and a week to the Pyrenees where Contador is expecting to put it away.
Coverage starts at 7:30 am on Vs.
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Tue Jul 05, 2011 at 06:32:32 AM EST
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Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne (107 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
Well, that was kind of odd.
I don't mean Thor Hushovd doing leadout at the finish so that Tyler Farrar could get a Stage win on Independence Day. That was kind of classy and arguably a team leadership move.
Nope, I mean what the hell was he doing contesting for 6th place sprinter's points at best (5 riders in the break away) at the mid Stage checkpoint?
Those Green Jersey points don't count a damn in GC. Were I his manager he would have gotten an earful about his role on the Garmin squad in the debrief. Mark Cavendish the Mad Manx took them anyway so what was the benefit?
Today's course ends on a climb up the 'Wall of Brittany', terrain unsuited to sprinting and where the 3 km Turn Left Racing rule does not apply. Fall off your bike and watch the seconds tick away.
Pre-Stage favorites include Philippe Gilbert (his birthday) and Cadel Evans, either of whom could take the maillot jaune (though Evans is much better positioned to do so). On Contador watch the best you can say about yesterday is he moved up in rank from 75th to 69th and didn't lose any more time to the leaders. Frank and Andy Schleck are grouped in a 10 rider tie for 4th a mere 4 Seconds back, unless Hushovd has a great day overall leadership is poised for a change.
Don't count him out though, the last time a similar Stage was contested in 2008 the winner was Thor Hushovd.
Coverage starts at 8 am on Vs.
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Mon Jul 04, 2011 at 05:21:58 AM EST
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Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon (123 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
More exciting than you thought eh? Especially if you are rooting for or against Contador who's team did much better than expected, finishing 8th after starting in last (22nd) position, but still didn't advance his standing materially.
At the end of yesterday's Team Time Trials, Contador advanced from 82nd to 75th by rank but added 22 Seconds to his time deficit. Among the contenders ahead of him are Thor Hushovd (1st), Cadel Evans (3rd) and Andy Schleck (10th).
All the riders that got dropped managed to struggle across the finish under the +30% cutoff time so we will start all 198 of them today with no withdrawals so far. This is actually not so bad as there's usually a lot of early carnage.
Today's stage is considered a sprinter's course so you'll see several attempted break aways most of which will be easily reeled in by the Peloton if they look likely to succeed. There's just the one sprint checkpoint this year so it's barely possible that some team managers will be complacent and let things get out of hand. The expected result is that teams will cut their best sprinters loose to finish as high in the points as they can and use the second stringers to drag their General Classification hopefuls across the line in a bunch.
Bottom line is that barring accidents you'll see movements of 10s of Seconds or so, not earth shattering changes. Saxo Bank might be lured into attempting something (which would be a mistake in my opinion) since they looked pretty desperate yesterday.
I'm extraordinarily pleased we've been joined by BruceMcF as a commenter since he seems to understand cycle racing much better than I do. Here's his explanation of double jerseys for the competition outside the maillot jaune General Classification/Overall lowest time-
Phillipe Gilbert wears the Green Jersey tomorrow ~ it was his today, but if you hold two or three, you wear the highest ranking, so Evans, second in the GC (Yellow) and Points (Green) competition wore the Green Jersey.
That mostly happens in the first week ~ by the time they hit the mountains, the Green Jersey contenders will be half an hour behind on the GC (Yellow) competition, and the serious King of the Mountain (polka dot) contenders will deliberately dump time so they will be allowed to get away on a breakaway through a big mountain stage.
The main "double jersey" situation in the second and third weeks is if a Young Rider (White) holds yellow, since white jersey is counted on time just like the yellow jersey.
Coverage starts at 8 am on Vs.
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Sun Jul 03, 2011 at 06:04:38 AM EST
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Les Essarts to Les Essarts (14 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
Some exciting eh?
Actually I missed the significant part live, but it is clear that people have a hard time keeping their wheels underneath them on the slippery cobbles of that sunken road even when parading and not racing.
Other than that not much of note until the crash at 5.8 miles out which had the effect of spliting the Peloton with Contador caught in the wrong part of it. The second crash a mere 1.5 miles before the finish under Le Tour's Turn Left Racing rules was of no consequence since all the riders in that group get the same time as the first finisher under the 3 km exception.
Still there's no denying that Contador is now 82nd in the General Classification behind by about twice last year's margin of victory and real competitors like Evans, Hushovd, and Schleck.
Today are Team Time Trials which are like Team Pursuit on a road course instead of a Velodrome. These are the events Armstrong used to dominate to the extent that they eliminated them just to reduce his margin of victory and were it U.S. Postal and not Saxo Bank what you could expect would be a soul crushing display that didn't just erase the time deficit, but put the championship effectively out of reach.
Can Contador do that? I suppose we shall see.
Since the course is only slightly longer than 14 miles and elevation changes minimal most teams will be turning in sub 17 minute times so today's action will be quick. Because of the Armstrong induced rule changes which include the reduction of the duration of this event it's highly unlikely tonight's holder of the maillot jaune will not come from yesterday's first finishing group, there's just not enough racing to change things much.
There will be 22 teams contending today. Saxo Bank is ranked right at the bottom, 4:58 in arrears. Coverage starts at 8 am on Vs., 3 pm on NBC.
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Sat Jul 02, 2011 at 00:11:40 AM EST
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Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts to Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers (119 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
As I mentioned during last year's Tour, the departure of Lance Armstrong, the United States holder of a record 7 maillot jaune will separate the jingoist fanboy wannabes from true aficionados of professional bicycle racing at its highest level.
I have to admit that I'm probably closer to a fanboy and what I don't know about the sport is an ocean in which my drop is hardly noticeable. It is on my list of weird sports that are wildly popular in the rest of the world and virtually ignored in the States as are Football (as opposed to Throwball), Formula One Racing, America's Cup, Rugby, Cricket, and Curling.
Ok, so maybe Curling is not so wildly popular but it looks like it would be a hoot to play.
Equally my hands are not clean on the jingoist front though I can at least plead historic interest in the career of Greg LeMond who wore the maillot jaune on an (at the time) record 5 occasions. Unfortunately Greg has shown himself recently the pettiest kind of jealous record holder by lending his vastly diminished credibility to the witchhunting of Lance Armstrong.
I expect that personally Lance is the arrogant jock type that it's painful to hang around with for more than 5 seconds at a time, what I know for a fact is this- he was the most aggressively drug tested athlete in his sport, perhaps in all sports. He never, ever tested positive.
As opposed to Alberto Contador, three time champion, twice consecutive. On July 20th the day before the final rest day of the 2010 Tour they detected traces of blood doping in his urine and on the 21st he tested positive for clenbuterol which he blames on tainted meat.
For once I agree with Armando's prediction (kiss of death, I know) that the likely outcome this year is another Contador victory, followed by an August hearing that strips him of his 2010 title. Other outcomes are possible, it's important to remember Contador only won by 39 seconds over Schleck (who lost his brother who was also his primary leadout guy to an accident in the second or third stage) and a mere 3:40 covered the top 4.
This year they've made some adjustments to the points. They'll start with a fairly long flat stage today, part of it over a bridge that is underwater at high tide. This is intended to be a stately grand entrance, like Monster Trucks parading the Stadium before qualifying. No racing is expected, that will happen tomorrow in the Team Time Trials.
On the other hand one of Lance's keys to success was his Tiger Woods work ethic. He always came to play so there could be some surprises. Race organizers want it to be more exciting than a Prologue which are quite exciting indeed.
My Dad had the experience of visiting along the route of a race in the U.S. that featured Contador last year after Le Tour and the Peloton passed by twice. He said it was a notable event, sucked the air right out of the street.
Coverage starts at 7 am on Vs. Mostly nothing notable happens but there are constant repeats so I'll try and keep track of events you might want to look for.
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Wed Jun 01, 2011 at 05:43:11 AM EST
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 Evidently it's ok for professional bike racers to dope as long as their name isn't Lance Armstrong who has never, ever tested positive for a banned substance despite the testimony of embittered rivals and former team mates.
You see there is no doubt at all that Alberto Contador tested positive for clenbuterol, a steroid given to cattle to promote faster weight (muscle) gain and used in humans to treat asthma by increasing aerobic capacity and improving the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream.
And this was not just some random off season test. He actually tested positive during the Tour.
But because he's not Lance Armstrong the Court of Arbitration for Sport has decided to delay his hearing until safely after this year's Tour (July 2nd to 24th) so he can defend the title he should be stripped of.
Bad beef my ass.
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Sun Jul 25, 2010 at 07:04:22 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
The first thing to remember as you watch today's final stage up and down the Champs Elysees is that it's not a race anymore.
Unless of course you're racing for the Green Sprinting Jersey in which case if you're Alessandro Petacchi all you have to do is finish in the top six, though I expect the Manx Maniac Mark Cavendish to put on a show and push hard for his 5th stage victory.
Another thing to remember is that 39 seconds is not so much over 3 weeks of racing, about 2,263 miles. Andy got within 6 seconds at one point.
There are people who will point to bad luck-
Ironically, it is the exact figure Schleck lost to Contador on stage 15 when the Spaniard counter-attacked him moments before he suffered an untimely mechanical problem with his gears.
He also lost his brother and climbing partner Frank back at Stage 3.
Menchov won the 3rd podium place by overcoming a 21 second deficit to finish the stage 1:39 ahead of Sanchez so there's your 2 minute Time Trial margin.
I stand by yesterday's analysis of Le Tour 2010, but maybe next year we'll be talking about Alberto and Andy again.
In any event I'm open to suggestions about other sport coverage. You'll be hearing from me about Formula One and Baseball for sure, but I'm also open to World Championship Darts (well, it's part of the same package that Vs. is in).
Which brings up some important points. You, as is customary, can write about any sport you want including (shudder) Hockey. If you want me to write about it, it has to be available on Cable TV and it has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. World Championship Poker and Monster Truck Races from 2007 on endless random repeat do NOT qualify no matter how many times I actually watch them.
Nor do Professional Wrestling and Figure Skating because they're just too political.
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Sat Jul 24, 2010 at 07:00:00 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
"I still believe I can do it. It will be decided more in the head than in the legs."
Well...
The margin is still only 8 seconds. As Contador says- "It will be an incredibly hard day, it's not a time trial like the others, it comes after three weeks of racing. It will be more a matter of the strength you have left and Andy is strong."
The proximate reasons most analysts toss up their hands are the prologue results where Andy finished 42 seconds behind Alberto over a mere 5 and a half miles and last year's Time Trial in which, while shorter, Contador finished 1:45 ahead.
On the other hand at 122 Schleck finished 5 places and a full second ahead of the Manx Maniac Mark Cavendish, a pure sprinter who won yesterday's stage (his 4th stage win this Tour) without the assistance of his head butting blocker, Mark Renshaw.
Cavendish has hopes for the Green Sprinter's Jersey as he is only 16 points behind the leader in that category, Alessandro Petacchi, and Thor Hushovd, the second place contender, has virtually given up- "It's over for the green jersey. It's a disappointment but that's life. I can't sprint like Cavendish and Petacchi on this Tour."
In the race for the final podium spot in the General Classification, Sanchez doesn't seem to have been too badly hurt by yesterday's crash. He still leads Menchov by 21 seconds.
Today's stage, 33 miles from Bordeaux to Pauillac, is the last day of racing. By tradition tomorrow's final stage finishing on the Champs Elysees is a victory lap except for the sprinters who have one last chance to improve their standing.
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Fri Jul 23, 2010 at 07:00:32 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
I hope you got a chance to see yesterday's exciting finish. Contador and Schleck dueling up Col du Tourmalet in the fog as if the other riders didn't exist.
Because it's over.
Today is a sprint which means no change. Tomorrow is the time trial where Contador is expected to dominate. Sunday is the final stage ending with the Champs Elysees sprint.
I wouldn't say I'm disappointed because that would be ignoring some realities. Lance is done, if he ever comes back it will be as a commentator (and frankly he's been dead on in his predictive abilities) or as a Team Manager (Radio Shack is largely his creation anyway). The problem is that Le Tour is designed to feature the riders and not the teams so it's not like staying loyal to Ferrari when Schumacher retired.
Without Armstrong Le Tour is much more difficult to get emotionally involved in. I've tried rooting for Schleck but he doesn't seem to have a killer instinct. His difficulties aren't just bad luck and equipment failure, his team is incomplete and his coaches and managers were never able to muster a convincing attack. The 'there's always tomorrow' attitude of sunny optimism may be good sportsmanship, but it sure lacked winning urgency.
Perhaps Contador has a personality I've yet to discover that will excite me in the future, but this Tour struck me as mechanical and emotionless. I have no problem with his standards of 'sportsmanship', they provided the few interesting moments in a ride that was mind numbingly predictable and entirely lacked panache.
But maybe you are a fan who thinks that one perfect moment on the Col with the two top competitors locked in a head to head contest of strength and will, a yellow haze isolating them and turning both their maillot jaune, is worth 21 days of devotion.
Well, they bike through some beautiful countryside too.
Schleck- I'm sure I'll do a good time trial. I can see the yellow jersey in front of me, and I really want it, and I'm not going to give up until Paris.
Today's stage is 123 miles from Salies-de-Béarn to Bordeaux (where they won't produce plonk anymore). Flat, 2 Sprints and the finish.
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Thu Jul 22, 2010 at 05:37:19 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Well, everyone is talking tough-
Schleck- "There's only one way and that is the climb of the Tourmalet... I always said the guy who has yellow tomorrow will have the yellow in Paris... Tomorrow is definitely the queen stage."
"What gives me a lot of confidence is that I just feel I haven't given everything yet, I still haven't spoken my last word on this Tour."
Contador- "(This stage will be) very, very hard... We can have very big gaps in (this) stage, probably more than in the time trial."
Johan Bruyneel (manager of Armstrong's Radio Shack team)- "It's not yet finished... We're going to try again."
You have my analysis from yesterday. The only thing that's changed is the weather. It rained hard last night and as we have seen slippery conditions lead to crashes and unexpected results.
Flaming hunks of twisted metal! Hurray!
I agree that Armstrong put on quite a show, though whether it was really more significant than the equally symbolic 6th French Stage Victory is certainly arguable.
I also agree with Justin Davis that Schleck really didn't challenge Contador Tuesday, though most of the attention was on what was probably Lance's last hurrah. In news I am not covering are the increasingly strident doping accusations of Greg LeMond (I think there's more than a touch of jealousy in them) and the factoid that the disgraced Floyd Landis was dropped from the Bahati Team in Oregon's Cascade Classic and is racing solo in an unmarked jersey.
If you're looking for examples of 'sportsmanship' maybe this piece will warm the cockles of your heart, though to me it reads more like- 'I planned to wait for the last minute all along'.
We'll see.
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Tue Jul 20, 2010 at 07:00:00 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
The reason they call it a recovery day is you get to rest.
So what happened?
If you're looking at the General Classification, not much. Contador still 8 seconds ahead of Schleck. Sanchez and Menchov about 2 minutes behind that. 11 other people you've never heard of (except for Leipheimer) within 10 minutes which is not an impossible margin to make up.
But time is running out.
If you're a big Armstrong fan he made a charge. He threatens the same tomorrow on the last mountain stage, but I don't believe it. Lance was racing hard from the get and he had about as much support from Team Radio Shack as you can expect.
He wasn't able to break away from the break away and got outsprinted at the line. They might try that again but I'm not sure why the results would be different. If you must get your jingoism on, Radio Shack is leading the team standings by 4 and a half minutes and that's unlikely to change for the same reasons that the other standings are- no more time.
Tomorrow is the last mountain stage, 108 miles from Pau to Col du Tourmalet. Two category 1s and then straight up. This is not as good a scenario for making up time as yesterday when you could magnify the margin over the peak on the finishing downhill.
Friday is 124 miles from Salies-de-Béarn to Bordeaux. No climbs worth mentioning, so likely our final 'Sprinter' finish.
Saturday is the big 33 mile Time Trial where Contador buries Schleck. Sunday is Champs day and see you next year.
So whomever you like time to get in your last licks, it will all be over soon.
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Tue Jul 20, 2010 at 05:30:57 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Well, let's chat a little about what happened.
Just as Schleck was about to put a move on Contador at the top of yesterday's big climb (gaining perhaps as much as a minute and maybe more in the downhill) his chain slipped and by the time he was able to continue he was almost 2 minutes behind on the stage.
After resuming the race Schleck made up practically all of that deficit, but he did slip to 2nd in the General Classification and is now 8 seconds behind Contador with 2 mountain stages to go and with Contador presumed to have as much as a 2 minute advantage in Saturday's penultimate sprint.
I think I'll give a pass on Contador's sportsmanship. Frankly I'm not all that comfortable with 'unwritten rules' and I think they move your sport's credibility from the 'Olympian Ideal' side of the scale to 'Professional Wrestling'/'Figure Skating Political Kabuki' just as surely as steroids.
As an athelete your duty is to try as hard as you can to win within the rules all the time, every time.
Anything else is cheating yourself and your fans.
I don't think things are as grim for Schleck as they might be. It's only 8 seconds. There are 2 more mountain stages including today. There is a recovery day tomorrow. I don't think Contador is really 2 minutes faster over 34 miles (that's actually quite a bit of time given the distance).
But there certainly isn't much margin for error and none at all for slacking and what we have seen so far in the mountains is that Saxo Bank (Schleck) is not the team Astana (Contador) is.
Today's 124 mile stage from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau has 2 category 1 and 2 Kute Kuddly Kitty Kat Klimbs and a long high speed descent into the finish. It should be possible to generate huge deltas off the last peak depending on conditions and competition.
We'll see what happens.
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Mon Jul 19, 2010 at 05:55:00 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
I suppose I should try to avoid any sentence that starts- "What really happened yesterday..." especially when it comes to Le Tour because I really don't have any special insight except that which comes from watching each stage about 16 times in preference to the crap that normally infests my TV, particularly the Sunday Morning Beltway Bozo Shows.
It is a shame that I will take to my grave that I ever thought they made me better informed and worse that my persistent addiction infected my parents who have yet to recover.
But back to professional bicycle racing which, even with doping, is so much more legitimate than Wrestling, Roller Derby, or Politics.
Yesterday's subtext is that Astana, Alberto Contador's team, is going to try and drop every other contender by pushing the Peloton. Schleck and Saxo Bank are keeping up so far, but Lance and Team Radio Shack have nothing to race for but pride. My prediction is that unless Saxo Bank puts an a move (which will be quite difficult if Astana stays aggressive), Contador leaves the Pyrenees seconds behind and counts on a blistering Time Trial the penultimate stage Saturday.
Or there could be flaming hunks of twisted metal, that's why you watch anyway isn't it?
Stage 15, Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon, is 117 miles ending with a Kute Kuddly Kitty Kat Klimb. If Astana is serious, and there is no reason to believe they aren't, the Peloton will again be 10 or more minutes ahead of its expected pace before that final climb even begins.
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Sun Jul 18, 2010 at 06:11:20 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Today could be the end, or the beginning of the end, if either Contador or Schleck break down.
The 4 Pyrenees stages are the last places on this year's Tour that large chunks of time are likely to be available. Contador is counting on his time trial superiority for some fractions of a minute in the next to last stage, but it shouldn't come to that and we may know everything by the time the Peloton mounts Port de Pailheres, one of those Kute Kuddly Kitty Kat Klimbs.
I don't expect Leipheimer or Sanchez to put on much of a move but they are positioned, you can make arguments for others and many will. Climbs like this can produce 15 minute deltas (for the quants).
There is that recovery day Wednesday and then one more of climbing and then it's sprinters to the Champs Elysees.
It's still more exciting than golf even at The Royal & Ancient because of the flaming hunks of twisted metal. When was the last time you saw someone break a bone in a pot bunker?
Today is 115 miles from Revel to Ax 3 Domaines. Only 2 climbs, the last one is just a category 1.
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Sat Jul 17, 2010 at 07:35:29 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Well everyone (umm.. is anyone talking about this besides me?) is talking about Contador's 11 second move on Schleck up the New Cross Rib (also called The Jalabert Ascension for you SG-1 Fans).
Disagree with my translations? It's not my fault the French don't speak a sensible language like... oh say Southern US English.
'You all' is just you. 'All you all' is you and your cousins. Yawl is a sail boat with multiple masts the stern most of which is behind the rudder.
I'm glad we've settled that,
So it's age and guile (27) vs. youth and enthusiasm. I'm pretty sure how that works out. Today's stage is even less interesting than yesterday's, 122 miles from Rodez to Revel, 3 category 4s and 2 category 3s, overall descending.
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Fri Jul 16, 2010 at 07:22:06 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Just over the half way point today, one more day to the Pyrenees. Cavendish the Manx Maniac has another controversial stage victory which moves him up in the Sprinter's standings and does nothing at all to change the overall picture. Head butts are an interesting innovation, but I can understand the steward's actions and HTC-Columbia is now less the services of Mark Renshaw.
Umm... what makes them controversial is that they're dangerous. This is not Roller Derby or Hockey where contact is allowed and encouraged, it's more like NASCAR where it's merely expected.
Otherwise there's nothing to watch.
Yawn. 3 Threes and 2 Twos, one of them at the finish in this 131 mile jaunt between Bourg-de-Péage and Mende. Neither Contador nor Schleck are predicting any change in their 41 second gap and they seem well positioned to fend off interlopers.
Tomorrow's stage is even less interesting if that's possible so if there is a move before the mountains it should be today.
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Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 06:57:24 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
Well, Team Radio Shack has a stage victory from Sergio Paulinho. While I congratulate the team and rider, Stage 10 didn't change much though it is interesting that Samuel Sanchez continues to hang with Schleck and Contador.
Your US commentators keep hanging their hats on Leipheimer, but it's not happening. Lance lost time.
Most analysts don't expect anything exciting before Sunday when the Tour hits the Pyrenees for 3 days of climbing, a recovery day, and then a 4th day in the mountains.
And then the moving finger will have writ, and having written moves on; but that's the beauty part of sports, it has at least novelty.
Today's stage is 115 miles from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence and has only one climb, a category 3.
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Wed Jul 14, 2010 at 07:02:12 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
And then there were 2.
The reason these elbow and collarbone injuries are such a big deal is that you actually spend a lot of time with your weight on the handlebars.
Today's 112 mile stage from Chambery to Gap has the one category 1 climb that might change things but is unlikely to since everyone seems to be writing their Champs Elysees scripts and excuses.
Unless Schleck uses it to drop Contador which he keeps threatening to do.
As I mentioned way back a week ago the problem with unlimited racing formulas is that small time gaps tend to magnify and there are not a lot of what NASCAR types call 'passing opportunities'. Now sometimes there are flaming chunks of twisted metal and the prospect of seeing that live may suit your Madam Defarge sensibilities and will certainly cement your revolutionary credentials on sport.
If it were popular like the World Cup everyone would be watching.
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Tue Jul 13, 2010 at 07:00:00 AM EST
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Le. Tour. De. France.
The uptempo singing and dancing is supposed to distract you from the fact that there are only 3 names you need to care about for the next 12 days rest of the Tour-
Evans, Schleck, and Contador.
Oh the announcers will try to get you hooked on Levi Leipheimer, but he's almost as old as Lance and farther away from his dreams of glory.
Or, you know, busses.
127 Miles from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne including 2 category 1s, a category 2, and a category 'K' that I suspect does not stand for 'Kute Kuddly Kitty Kat'.
Especially if you're stiff as a board.
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Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 07:23:50 AM EST
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Say what you like about Lance, he's been more right and honest about his Tour than many. His first 'crash' didn't amount to much, more an off course. Losing a wheel at the bottom of the Col de la Ramaz is the kind of thing that sets you back 11:45, 13:26 from the lead.
Within 2 minutes of each other are Evans and Schleck and Contador and they'd all have to get hit by a bus which hardly ever happens.
So now's the time to think about your loyalty to the Islanders and this sport we call Hockey with it's cups of Stanley. I contend Le Tour is at least as compelling as curling or golf with the additional benefit of lasting 3 weeks covering the All-Star break.
It has it's hypnotoad charms, because it's practically on auto-loop and only the last half hour or so matters (you get plently of repeats of the NASCAR crashes) and you can really loose track of which day you are watching if you don't pay close attention.
Plus there is that Deadhead vibe from the crowd.
In an ideal world you'd now root for the team of you fallen hero, but because the sponsorship changes are harder to follow than those in Formula 1 it's hard to develop the kind of UPC driven Ferrari red loyalty that even so hardly makes a dent on the collective conciousness of the US.
Hear about that "football" game? The score was 1 to nothing.
Relative to the sport, this is a Jordan moment, a sacrifice to the volcano. I suppose we'll get used to entropy, we always do.
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Sun Jul 11, 2010 at 06:15:00 AM EST
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So, everyone is a lot more sanguine about this than I am.
I look at numbers like 3:16 after 2:30 and think- that's 45 seconds I'll never get back, but all is good say the analysts. It was a great ride by Chavanel and he has nearly 2 minutes on everyone else too.
If he keeps this lead through the Alps he could hang on to it for a while (defined as up to 6 days by one commentator) which is quite possible if we get a string of Sprints, but most don't think it will last. Armstrong predicts a 'Selection' today with the road literally melting under the heat and that things could break up as early as the first 9 mile climb up the Col de la Ramaz and it's 10% gradients.
The names you'll get used to hearing after today in addition to Contador will be Cadel Evans (last year's runner up) and Andy Schleck.
Today's 118 mile ride between Station des Rousses and Morzine-Avoriaz has climbs of 4, 4, 1, 3, and 1 severity with an overall downhill run through the first 2/3rds of the course. Tomorrow will be a recovery day so everyone can stiffen up and then another day of Alps on Tuesday.
In other sports the 2010 World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands @ 2:30 pm on ABC and Formula 1 @ noon on Fox (Silverstone, should be a Red Bull romp). Coverage of Le Tour starts at 7:30 am on Vs.
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Sat Jul 10, 2010 at 07:06:06 AM EST
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What did I tell you about these 'Sprint' finishes?
After what are basically 5 of 7 no results, Armstrong and Team Radio Shack are 2:30 out of the race lead and :50 behind his main rival, Alberto Contador of Team Astana (Schleck and Cancellara the race leader of Saxo are also considered contenders to watch).
Justin Davis of AFP thinks Armstrong is looking at week 3 to make his move but I don't know, age and guile may suggest otherwise.
It's not that today's stage is particularly hard climbing, but tomorrow is and then there is a day off Monday and more mountains Tuesday.
And goodbye Alps.
That recovery day sure looks tempting and if I were a team boss I'd have a plan for it I'd have to reveal today- am I going to bring it or keep up and hope for the best?
Today's special extended coverage (wtf?) is 103 miles of Tournus to Station des Rousses with 6 climbing sections, most of them 2s and 3s.
Armstrong- "I think there'll be some guys attacking on Sunday, and Tuesday could be a complicated day, difficult and right after a rest day which is sometimes deceiving for guys.
But this race is so weighted towards the last week that my impression and my opinion would be to wait (to attack)"
I wouldn't wait too long. It's not that Tiger is such a good player, but he's bringing his A game on Thursday not playing for the cut.
The official commentary-
An initial cull
This medium-altitude mountain terrain will be more difficult than Liège-Bastogne-Liège, because the climbs last for between 6 and 12 kilometres, starting at the 40 km mark. Thereafter, there is not even a single centimetre of flat road; it will be up, down, up, down and so on and so forth. At the finishing line, there may still be around thirty riders together. The slopes are not massively difficult, so it is not necessarily a stage for a major climber, more so for a rider like Cadel Evans or David Moncoutié. However, an initial cull will take place and those who are not on form, who will not reach the front of the race, may already be looking at a Tour that is lost.
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Fri Jul 09, 2010 at 07:15:00 AM EST
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Last day before the fireworks begin.
I'm not actually convinced Lance can pull this one out. I've done comeback tours and inertia and entropy are not to be despised. That said he goes out on top as a contender because nobody since Ullrich has put in the scare that he has.
He broke his collar bone last year you know.
The big picture hasn't changed- another Sprinter's finish signifying nothing yesterday and the same to look forward to today. Tomorrow we begin climbing which should tell us a lot.
We will definitely have to start learning other cyclists' names to prove that we're real fans and not merely moved by the Islanders' remarkable streak in the '70s (better than rooting for the Rangers).
Today's 142 mile stage between Montargis and Gueugnon has 4 four rated climbs and climbs from start to finish. It might be possible to make a team time trial break away statement going into the Alps but it's unlikely any one is going to take a gamble like that given how beat up they were on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Thu Jul 08, 2010 at 07:03:01 AM EST
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Whether yesterday could be called a good day depends I guess on if you are rooting for Lance and how hard.
It is easy, as Lance himself suggests, to look at the 17 riders ahead of him in the GC (General Classification or overall standings) and say- that's a lot of people to get past, but it's not really as bad as all that.
First he's only 2:30 behind the race leader, Cancellara, at all; which makes up about 30 seconds of yesterday's 3:+ deficit. Secondly, not all of those 17 are contenders in the overall race. A majority of them are sprinters who have been helped out by the fact that 2 of the 4 stages so far (including yesterday) have had dead classic 'Sprinter' finishes where the Peloton has caught up any break aways and teams have used drafting and team tactics to position their sprinters for a mile or less dash to the line.
The winners of these stages rarely gain more than :30 to :45 over the main body which all get the same time because of the 'neighborhood of second base' NASCAR scoring.
Today's 116.5 mile ride from Epernay to Montargis is fairly flat with 2 climbs rated at 4. It is one of the last 2 Stages before the Alps, where Tours are won and lost.
In related subjects, accusations of doping continue to dog Armstrong (who has never, ever tested positive). He was heckled by a protester at the finish, evidently for the second day in a a row, and the Landis accusations have been taken up by the World Anti Doping Agency.
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Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 07:32:48 AM EST
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As with Formula One, small time margins at the begining can magnify throughout the race into insurmountable advantages. Lance Armstrong is hoping that is not the final story of yesterday's Cobblestone Carnage.
It's not that he fell, there were a lot on equipment failures among the leaders. It's that he was involved in a fall that split the lead pack at the end of the stage and gave his major competitors a significant opening.
The fall was Frank Schleck's (the less famous one, not the one in 6th place) and took him out of the Tour with a broken collar bone. Matter of time really, he was badly beat up in Stage 2 the day before.
From Armstrong's standpoint what happened is that he was all of a sudden a minute and a half behind about 6 contenders including Contador. He drove real hard over the finish to cut that to about 50 seconds, but this is definitely a result after 2 scoreless draws.
Today's stage is an unremarkable 96 miles from Cambrai to Reims.
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Tue Jul 06, 2010 at 07:43:42 AM EST
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NASCAR in the Ardennes!
Well, it appears the major effect of yesterday's crash fest in the rain is to let Chavanel take a 3 minute lead in Yellow and he is a major contender who could easily use this to put on an early move.
Garmin loses Vande Velde, is the most injured team by far, since the Schlecks don't seem as badly hurt as early indications.
Most people will be starting bruised and sore.
There's evidently some controversy about a 'riders strike' that resulted in that 3 minute gap. I don't think it's necessarily that big a deal. Lance is 6th overall and is part of the pack with all the other contenders who settled for the same time.
This happens all the time at the Tour and is generally held to indicate good sportsmanship.
To hear statements like-
"They put on a dangerous stage and so when they put it on like that that's the results they'll get," said Horner.
"They got all their drama on the descent and they lost it all at the finish and they got what they deserved.
There?s no place in the Tour de France for a stage like this."
seems a little strident.
I'm more with Lance on this one- "These hills around here and the Ardennes are legendary, it's part of cycling. Liege-Bastogne-Liege has been around for a hundred years and they do that on the snow."
Cobblestone Carnage today. Seven slippery rutted stages in the sun, not quite so much fun in the damp.
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Mon Jul 05, 2010 at 07:15:48 AM EST
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So you remember yesterday's thrilling finish? The peloton reeled back in the break away and all the teams set up their sprinters for the dash to the line?
Well there was a crash 50 yards from the finish so under Le Tour's NASCAR competition rules everyone in the main body gets the same time as the first sprinter to cross.
Today's stage finishes on a climb, one of 6 in the stage, so we're unlikely to see that kind of action again. 125 miles from Brussles to Spa.
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Sun Jul 04, 2010 at 08:18:23 AM EST
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I don't claim to be the expert Armando is, because I've only been watching the Tour since the year before Lance started his streak and naturally my perspective is distorted from that experience.
Bring on the big bore. Today's 'official' first stage is live now on Vs.
Lance is in 4th place 22 seconds behind.
Stage One-
139 miles of pancake flat Florida.
8:50 start.
Prolog-
Contador / Armstrong head to head on competing teams. Armstrong's last Tour win or lose.
Raining in Rotterdam. Prolog is an individual time trial. A poor performance or crash could end it before it hardly starts.
Stage 3 Cobblestones. Lots of wrecks.
Armstrong launches in good conditions. It's not where he ends up overall, but in relation to Contador. Contador next out of the start house.
At halfway Armstrong only 5 seconds behind fastest so far.
Finishes in 3rd. Now up to Contador- 1 second behind at halfway to Armstrong.
10:27:64. Five seconds behind. Advantage Armstrong.
Tomorrow Sea Wind. Flat.
Ben Stiller interview. I watch this stuff so you don't have to.
Lance thinks he's ahead of last year, didn't have a collar bone crash.
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