Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / Annonay Davézieux (140.4 miles)
Le. Tour. De. France.
You see, it’s not just the 1:26. You can think of scenarios where you could make that time back. Nope, it’s the fact that you now need 3 buses and Cadel Evans has demonstrated that he’s not even close to finding a solution to any of the other contenders.
Yes, we have Medium Mountains today. Two category 1s and a category 3 with the Award point after the two category one climbs. However much the commentators and organizers may wish it however, it doesn’t seem like that’s any kind of advantage for Evans. He can’t out climb, out sprint, or out trial them, what exactly is he supposed to do?
Mark Renshaw, Bauke Mollema, Rob Ruijgh, Gustav Larsson, and Lieuwe Westra had to withdraw yesterday, Fabian Cancellara did not start so he could visit his wife and newborn. Alessandro Petacchi and Yuriy Krivtsov were outside the time limit. Jean-François Pescheux, the official site analyst, thinks that many more Sprinters will be forced out today.
General Classification
| Place | Rider | Team | Time/Delta |
| 1 | WIGGINS Bradley | SKY PROCYCLING | 48:43:53 |
| 2 | FROOME Christopher | SKY PROCYCLING | +02:05 |
| 3 | NIBALI Vincenzo | LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE | +02:23 |
| 4 | EVANS Cadel | BMC RACING TEAM | +03:19 |
| 5 | VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen | LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM | +04:48 |
| 6 | ZUBELDIA Haimar | RADIOSHACK-NISSAN | +06:15 |
| 7 | VAN GARDEREN Tejay | BMC RACING TEAM | +06:57 |
| 8 | BRAJKOVIC Janez | ASTANA PRO TEAM | +07:30 |
| 9 | ROLLAND Pierre | TEAM EUROPCAR | +08:31 |
| 10 | PINOT Thibaut | FDJ-BIGMAT | +08:51 |
Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 6:30 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
- Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / Annonay Davézieux (140.4 miles)
- Wikipedia
- Geek Guide (very basic)
- Guardian Interactive Guide
The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-
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The oldest possessions of the Counts of Savoy were the countships of Maurienne, Savoy proper (the district between Arc, Isère, and the middle course of the Rhone), and Belley, with Bugey as its chief town.
The Duchy of Savoy, which had been a French-speaking province under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, was invaded by Revolutionary France, but restored to Piedmont in 1815. It became part of France in 1859, after the Second Italian War of Independence.
The town was reached by the Aix-les-Bains-Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne railway in 1857.
A paradise for grimpeurs, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne finds itself at the heart of the most presitgious cycling area: the Galibier, the Madeleine, the Glandon, the Croix-de-Fer, the Telegraphe…it is at the crossroads of all the mythical cols and the famous climbs, like that of La Toussuire. All cyclists, whether touring, casual or bikers are guaranteed to find happiness here. Gateway to the Sybelles, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne allows access to many winter resorts and to the discovery of the flora and fauna of the Vanoise National Park nearby. Historic capital of the valley, Saint-Jean also offers a rich heritage as a Pays d’Art et d’Histoire: gothic cathedral and cloisters, crypt where you can see roman art, costume museum, the Museum of Mont Corbier (liquour made from plants picked in the surrounding mountains), and of course, the Opinel Museum, the famous knife invented more than 120 years ago a few steps away from the town. Its cultural programme is as equally busy: spectacles, concerts, open air cinema and on Thursday 2nd August the traditional Saint-Jean Bread Festival.
At the heart of the green Ardeche, Annonay Davezieux has given birth to world recognised inventors and industrialists. Who would think that here, north of the Ardeche, you would find the cradle of air and space conquest or suspension bridges? On the 14th December 1782, the Mongolfier brothers, Joseph and Etienne, created the first aerostat in the garden of their paper mill in Vidalon; their great nephew Marc Seguin, talented engineer, followed in their footsteps in designing bridges and in developing trains whilst their descendants would prove themselves with aeroplane engines. Annonay is also a town with narrow lanes packed with history and of the memory of the statesman Boissy d’Anglas, father of the Constitution of the Year III. It still resounds with the noises of the tanneries and paper mills, of the well known Canson and other captains of industry. But the economic capital of the Ardeche, situated less than an hour from Lyon and Valence doesn’t just live in the past. Full of savoir-faire the city has attracted new dynamic activites notably in the fields of mechanics, medicine and food processing.
Result of the col du Grand Cucheron
1. Robert Kiserlovski (AST) 10pts
2. Peraud (ALM) 8pts
3. Popovych(RNT) 6pts
4. Gautier (EUC) 4pts
5. Millar (GRS) 2pts
6. Koren (LIQ) 1pt
Results for Col du Granier
1. Kiserlovski (AST) 10pts
2. Peraud (ALM) 8pts
3. Martinez (EUS) 6pts
4. Millar (GRS) 4pts
5. Gautier (EUC) 2pts
6. Popovych (RNT) 1pt
… what Evans can do is the same as what Nibali, Van Den Broek, and Zubeldiah can do … attack Wiggins and Sky in the high mountains, and take advantage if he cracks.
Obviously, if he doesn’t crack, there’s nothing to take advantage of, and the Tour of 2012 is his.
That’s Grand Tour bike racing. Evans was never going to get back 1:30 20sec at a time, it was always going to be one attack that works, exposes Wiggins and allows Evans to make up big time.
Obviously what you do if the first one doesn’t work is you try again on another stage.
As far as “but what difference will it make” … this is stage racing in a Grand Tour, not one week stage race.
The fact that there were two strong domestiques to pace Wiggins up to the top of the second HC of the day on Thursday, after different domestiques had already finished their day pacing the team and the peleton up the first HC, leaving both Wiggins and Froome protected and as well rested as its possible to be after going over two HC climbs … those same domestiques led the peleton today, will lead the peleton for most of the day tomorrow, and etc. … they have the yellow jersey, the whole team has to work hard every day to defend it.
BMC spent today in the slip stream cut by Sky riders, except for a little work with 3km to go. It’ll be the same tomorrow: keep Cadel and Tejay well sheltered from the wind, Sky has to lead the peleton, be attentive if there is a cross win near the finish and an opportunity to attack Sky when they are slacking off trying to force sprinter’s teams to take up the chase of the breakaway.
It not a one week stage race, its a three week stage race. Sky and Wiggins has claimed the lead in the Alps. They have to defend that lead through the South of France and in the Pyrenees. And people do not just race for first they race for a place on the podium, for a top five finish, for a top ten finish … so there will be attacks. Whether any of the attacks will stick … nobody can say. The odds are against each one, but if one works and Wiggins cracks, that’s all it takes. Otherwise there’d be no point running the race.