Jul 14 2011

Le Tour- Stage 12

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!

rustymancuso581

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  4. Uses team to freeze Gilbert out of points.

  5. Photobucket

    Photobucket

  6. Putting the move on climbing rivals on the Col du Tormalet.

  7. … Lulu Sanchez drops out of the top 10 into 37th, while Sammy Sanchez slots into 8th in GC with an impressive stage win that makes up 0:30 of the time he lost earlier.

    Voeckler does perhaps the high mountain stage of his life to put a Frenchman on the Yellow Jersey podium on Bastille Day.

    Frank Schleck rides for a strong third, vaulting into a 2nd place that both his team and BMC hope will leave him inheriting the yellow jersey once Voeckler surrenders it, likely on Saturday.

    Ivan Basso looked strong to finish in the top five on the day, same time as Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck.

    And Mark Cavendish adds to his account early in the day, with his team-mates riding smart to soak up one extra point on JJ Rojas and two extra points on PhilGil.

    With a flat finish tomorrow, after a high climb in the middle of the day, tomorrow is most likely to be fireworks in the King of the Mountain competition, but could also be an opportunity for PhilGil to pull himself back up in the Green Jersey competition, with the sprint after a Cat2 climb and with the possibility of rejoining the peleton on the descent even if he does not go over the top with the main field.

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