Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (121 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
So can Cadel Evans come back? If he does it will be on stages like today’s. It starts flat enough, but has category 3, 2, and un-categorized climbs. The Award point is at the end of the decent from the initial category 2 and just before the uncategorized ascent. Evans could show climbing chops, Wiggins could show weakness, there could be a bus.
Today and tomorrow are the best days short term to create some kind of climbing get away and keep in mind that Evans doesn’t just have to erase his 1:43 deficit, but also a build lead of about 2:00 o he doesn’t get crushed in the 19th stage.
I’m getting overflow errors in my larger consolidated General Classification and Points tables and I haven’t quite solved that problem yet. Here are the top contenders starting out today-
General Classifiction
Place | Rider | Team | Time/Delta |
1 | WIGGINS Bradley | SKY PROCYCLING | 39:09:20 |
2 | EVANS Cadel | BMC RACING TEAM | +01:53 |
3 | FROOME Christopher | SKY PROCYCLING | +02:07 |
4 | NIBALI Vincenzo | LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE | +02:23 |
5 | MENCHOV Denis | KATUSHA TEAM | +03:02 |
6 | ZUBELDIA Haimar | RADIOSHACK-NISSAN | +03:19 |
7 | MONFORT Maxime | RADIOSHACK-NISSAN | +04:23 |
8 | VAN GARDEREN Tejay | BMC RACING TEAM | +05:14 |
9 | VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen | LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM | +05:20 |
10 | ROCHE Nicolas | AG2R LA MONDIALE | +05:29 |
11 | COSTA Rui Alberto | MOVISTAR TEAM | 3+05:46 |
12 | TAARAMAE Rein | COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE | +05:56 |
13 | GALLOPIN Tony | RADIOSHACK-NISSAN | +05:59 |
Points
Place | Rider | Team | Points |
1 | SAGAN Peter | LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE | 217 |
2 | GOSS Matthew Harley | ORICA GREENEDGE | 185 |
3 | GREIPEL André | LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM | 172 |
4 | CAVENDISH Mark | SKY PROCYCLING | 129 |
5 | PETACCHI Alessandro | LAMPRE – ISD | 109 |
6 | BOASSON HAGEN Edvald | SKY PROCYCLING | 95 |
7 | CANCELLARA Fabian | RADIOSHACK-NISSAN | 89 |
8 | EVANS Cadel | BMC RACING TEAM | 82 |
9 | WIGGINS Bradley | SKY PROCYCLING | 78 |
10 | VEELERS Tom | TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO | 76 |
Team, Hill Climbing, and Youth in yesterday’s piece.
Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 8 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, and midnight. There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.
Sites of Interest-
- 2012 Le Tour
- Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (121 miles)
- Wikipedia
- Geek Guide (very basic)
- Guardian Interactive Guide
The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-
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Yesterday’s rest day and today’s start are in the town of Mâcon a small city (commune) in central France, in the region of Bourgogne, and the capital of the Mâconnais district. Mâcon is home to over 35,000 residents, called Mâconnais.
The city lies on the western bank of the Saône river, between Bresse in the East and the Beaujolais hills in the South. Mâcon is the southernmost city in the region of Burgundy. It is located 65 kilometres north of Lyon and 400 kilometres from Paris. The Saône river runs through the town.
Mâcon was a major crossroads in Roman times, and grapes would have been brought by the Romans if they were not already cultivated by the Celts. Viticulture was further encouraged by local religious foundations; the province was dominated by the bishopric of Mâcon during the Dark Ages.
The region formed the border between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire from 843-1600 and grew rich on customs duties in that time. A secular Count of Mâcon is not recorded until after 850; from 926 the countship became hereditary. The last Count of Mâcon and of Vienne died in 1224 and the lands passed to his daughter, Alix de Bourgogne (Alice of Burgundy); when her husband died in 1239, she sold the Mâconnais to Louis IX of France. The 1435 Treaty of Arras saw Charles VII of France cede it to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, but in 1477 it reverted to France, upon the death of duke Charles the Bold. Emperor Charles V definitively recognized the Mâconnais as French at the Treaty of Cambrai in 1529.
After the fall of the Bastille in 1789, the mountain peasants of Mâconnais revolted. Many were executed by the urban militias of Mâcon, Cluny and Tournus after much brigandage.
The area west and north of Mâcon produces well-known wines from the Chardonnay grape. The best known appellation of the Mâconnais is Pouilly-Fuissé. Almost all the wine made in the Mâconnais is white wine. Chardonnay is the main grape grown, in fact there is a village of that name in the far north of the region. Some plantations of Gamay and Pinot Noir is made into red and rosé Mâcon, making up no more than 30% of the total wine production. Gamay is grown in the Beaujolais cru of Moulin-à-Vent which extends into the Mâconnais, but has little in common with the wines north of the border.
After 194.5 km, including a 17.4 km climb up the Col du Grand Colombier, the race ends in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, a commune in the Ain department in eastern France, located at the confluence of the Valserine and the Rhone.
The New York Times featured an article on this small industrial town nestled in the Jura Mountains:
Author
of a cascade from a rocky outcrop as the bikers ride by on the road above.
followed by Hutaraovich. They get 20 and 17 points respectively, while green jersey-wearer Peter Sagan only managed 15.
The lead groups is dwindling, 19 & dropping, and the rides are more scattered over the route
This is the 1st time the tour has ever climbed this mountain
and takes the lead
The King of the Moutain title will shift today. “Kess” has drooped back behind the peloton
and down a hairpin turn descent
after the descent from Columbier
and is now the “King of the Mountains”
He is the oldest rider in this year’s Le Tour
and mountain climb honors
General classification after Stage 10:
1. Bradley Wiggins
2. Cadel Evans 1′ 53”
3. Christopher Froome 2′ 07”
4. Vincenzo Nibali 2′ 23”
5. Denis Menchov 3′ 02”
6. Haimar Zubelda 3′ 19”
7. Maxime Monfort 4′ 23”
8. Jurgen Van den Broeck 4′ 48”
9. Nicolas Roche 5′ 29”
10. Tejay Van Garderen 5′ 31”
Stage 10, first five:
1. Thomas Voeckler
2. Michele Scarponi 3″
3. Jens Voigt 7″
4. Luis Leon Sanchez 23″
5. Dries Devenyns 30”
Tejay van Garderen keeps the White jersey but slips from 8th to 10th.
Green stays with Peter Sagan
… of the three Alps stages, the most likely stage to see multiple all out assaults on Sky.