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%.
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.
- Jada Yuan Previews the Hell Out of the Tour de France in the New Yorker, 7/1/11 at 2:00 PM
- Le Tour 2011 official site
- Your The Stars Hollow Gazette Le Tour coverage tags-
3 comments
Author
Author
Vs. coverage is a heavy on the hindsight recap of yesterday’s activity. Not a bad choice actually as the Stage had an enormous impact on the current position before tomorrow’s start.
You’d have to go back to Stages 1 & 2 for more significant moments I think.
… the driver of that car, either bringing VIP’s from one viewing location so they could get to the finish, or taking commentators to a still camera position further forward was told on race radio not to pass the breakaway at that location, and ignored the instructions.