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.
- 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-
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Another rainy day, 6 of the last 8.
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Paul- Greipel
Phil- Farrar
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We join in progress.
… in the previous system, with multiple intermediate sprint locations with far fewer points available for each one, the breakaway normally soaked up most of the sprint points, and a sprinter team that say itself as disadvantaged by the intermediate sprint could send an attack up the road in advance of the sprint to neutralize the balance.
Now, the difference between finishing “best of the rest” and not contesting the intermediate spring can be from 9 to 11 points, and there are just too many placings earning points for the intermediate sprint to be neutralized. And with most not hidden behind any climbs at all, and only two hidden behind Cat2 or bigger, there are going to be regular fights between HTC, OPL, Garmin and the Spanish teams for those intermediate sprints. 8 intermediate sprints with Cav gaining an average of just 4 points on Gilbert would be +32 points.
Today was the last of the sprinters for a while. It will be the climbers who will be front and center as the race mow moves into the Pyrenees.
Yellow Jersey(overall time)- Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey (points)- Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey (climber)- Johnny Hoogerland
White Jersey (young)- Robert Gensink
Yellow and White (team)- Team Europcar
Overall Standing on Time:
1. Thomas Voeckler
2. Luis-Leon Sanchez
3. Cadel Evans
4. Frank Schlek
5. Andy Schlek
Overall Points Standing:
1. Mark Cavendish – 251 pts.
2. Jose Joachim Rojas – 235 pts
3. Philippe Gilbert – 231 pts
4. André Greipel – 164 pts.
5. Thor Hushovd – 163 pts
Overall Climber:
1. Johnny Hoogerland
2. Thomas Voeckler
3. Tejay Van Garderen
4. Marco Marcato
5. Rui Alberto Costa
Overall Youth:
1. Robert Gesink
2. Rein Taaramae
3. Arnold Jeannesson
Overall Team:
1. Team Europcar
2. Team Leopard Trek
3. Team Radioshack
4. Rabobank Cycling Team
5. Team Garmin-Cevelo