2012 Le Tour – Stage 4

Abbeville / Rouen (133 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Narrow roads and crosswinds meant a big day for crashes yesterday with at least 3 major ones at the tail end of the stage and 2 retirements including Jose Rojas.  Perhaps more significant is Konstansin Sivtsov who’s departure from Sky leaves the team even more oriented to supporting Bradley Wiggins’ General Classification run and less to the Points competition of stage 3 winner Mad Manx Mark Cavendish.

Rookie Peter Sagan claimed a second stage victory with a funny finish sprint that left people talking.  Mike Morkov dominated the climbing checkpoints.

Today’s racing takes place along the Channel coast which can mean slippery damp sea breezes.  There are 4 category 4 climbs and a points award right after the major descent before the last hill.  This is one of 2012’s longest stages.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 CANCELLARA Fabian RADIOSHACK-NISSAN 14:45:30
2 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING +00:07
3 CHAVANEL Sylvain OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP +00:07
4 VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC RACING TEAM +00:10
5 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald SKY PROCYCLING +00:11
6 MENCHOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM +00:13
7 EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM +00:17
8 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:18
9 HESJEDAL Ryder GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA +00:18
10 KLÖDEN Andréas RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +00:19

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 8 am with repeats at 8 pm, and midnight.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Sites of Interest-

The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-

Pretty tables-

Points

Place Rider Team Points
1 SAGAN Peter LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 116
2 CANCELLARA Fabian RADIOSHACK-NISSAN 74
3 CAVENDISH Mark SKY PROCYCLING 73
4 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald SKY PROCYCLING 67
5 GOSS Matthew Harley ORICA GREENEDGE 55
6 GREIPEL André LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM 42
7 MORKOV Michael TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK 40
8 RENSHAW Mark RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 36
9 GILBERT Philippe BMC RACING TEAM 33
10 VELITS Peter OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 32
11 MOLLEMA Bauke RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 31
12 PETACCHI Alessandro LAMPRE – ISD 28
13 VAN HUMMEL Kenny Robert VACANSOLEIL-DCM 26
14 VEELERS Tom TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 26
15 HUTAROVICH Yauheni FDJ-BIGMAT 24
16 CHAVANEL Sylvain OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 23
17 LANCASTER Brett Daniel ORICA GREENEDGE 23
18 HESJEDAL Ryder GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA 21
19 KERN Christophe TEAM EUROPCAR 20
20 MINARD Sébastien AG2R LA MONDIALE 20
21 GENE Yohann TEAM EUROPCAR 20
22 VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM 20
23 EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 18
24 GESINK Robert RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM 18
25 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 17
26 GRIVKO Andriy ASTANA PRO TEAM 17
27 ALBASINI Michael ORICA GREENEDGE 17
28 BERNAUDEAU Giovanni TEAM EUROPCAR 17
29 ROUX Anthony FDJ-BIGMAT 17
30 URTASUN PEREZ Pablo EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 17
31 MARTIN Daniel GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA 16
32 HAEDO Juan Jose TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK 16
33 EDET Nicolas COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 15
34 VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC RACING TEAM 13
35 ROCHE Nicolas AG2R LA MONDIALE 13
36 PEREZ MORENO Ruben EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 13
37 DELAPLACE Anthony SAUR-SOJASUN 13
38 DEVENYNS Dries OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 12
39 FARRAR Tyler GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA 12
40 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 11
41 SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 11
42 BOUET Maxime AG2R LA MONDIALE 11
43 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM 10
44 GRETSCH Patrick TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO 9
45 MENCHOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM 8
46 HINAULT Sébastien AG2R LA MONDIALE 8
47 BOECKMANS Kris VACANSOLEIL-DCM 7
48 IMPEY Daryl ORICA GREENEDGE 7
49 GERRANS Simon ORICA GREENEDGE 6
50 POELS Wouter VACANSOLEIL-DCM 5
51 FROOME Christopher SKY PROCYCLING 5
52 COOKE Baden ORICA GREENEDGE 5
53 KLÖDEN Andréas RADIOSHACK-NISSAN 4
54 DUMOULIN Samuel COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE 4
55 KISERLOVSKI Robert ASTANA PRO TEAM 3
56 HONDO Danilo LAMPRE – ISD 3
57 VANENDERT Jelle LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM 2
58 ARASHIRO Yukiya TEAM EUROPCAR 2
59 BOZIC Borut ASTANA PRO TEAM 2
60 SORENSEN Nicki TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK 1

Team

Place Team Time/Delta
1 SKY PROCYCLING 44:17:04
2 RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +00:04
3 BMC RACING TEAM +00:06
4 OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP +00:13
5 LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:29
6 KATUSHA TEAM +00:38
7 VACANSOLEIL-DCM +00:50
8 ASTANA PRO TEAM +00:52
9 RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM +01:01
10 EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI +01:51
11 FDJ-BIGMAT +01:59
12 COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +02:23
13 ORICA GREENEDGE +02:34
14 AG2R LA MONDIALE +02:49
15 TEAM EUROPCAR +03:08
16 LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM +03:38
17 MOVISTAR TEAM +03:56
18 TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK +07:04
19 GARMIN-SHARP-BARRACUDA +07:34
20 SAUR-SOJASUN +08:52
21 LAMPRE – ISD +14:06
22 TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO +19:26

Hill Climbing

Place Rider Team Points
1 MORKOV Michael TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK 9
2 BASSO Ivan LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 2
3 SAGAN Peter LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 2
4 URTASUN PEREZ Pablo EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 1
5 GALLOPIN Tony RADIOSHACK-NISSAN 1
6 MINARD Sébastien AG2R LA MONDIALE 1

Youth

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC RACING TEAM 14:45:40
2 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald SKY PROCYCLING +00:01
3 TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +00:12
4 SAGAN Peter LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:13
5 POELS Wouter VACANSOLEIL-DCM +00:14
6 PINOT Thibaut FDJ-BIGMAT +00:37
7 KRUIJSWIJK Steven RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM +00:43
8 VALLS FERRI Rafael VACANSOLEIL-DCM +00:51
9 GALLOPIN Tony RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +01:28
10 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI +02:30
11 MALACARNE Davide TEAM EUROPCAR +03:24
12 BOECKMANS Kris VACANSOLEIL-DCM +03:53
13 VICHOT Arthur FDJ-BIGMAT +05:50
14 NERZ Dominik LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +07:53
15 GAUTIER Cyril TEAM EUROPCAR +08:25
16 ZINGLE Romain COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +09:47
17 OSS Daniel LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +10:47
18 DELAPLACE Anthony SAUR-SOJASUN +10:57
19 GHYSELINCK Jan COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +11:28
20 EDET Nicolas COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +12:04
21 ROUX Anthony FDJ-BIGMAT +15:46
22 GRETSCH Patrick TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO +19:31
23 KITTEL Marcel TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO +27:35

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    • on 07/04/2012 at 12:40
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 14:01
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 14:11
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 15:29
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 15:32

    Abbeville

    LocationAbbeville is located on the Somme River, 20 km (12 mi) from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and 45 km (28 mi) northwest of Amiens

    History

    Abbeville first appears in history during the ninth century. At that time belonging to the abbey of Saint-Riquier, it was afterwards governed by the Counts of Ponthieu. Together with that county, it came into the possession of the Alençon and other French families, and afterwards into that of the House of Castile, from whom by marriage it fell in 1272 to King Edward I of England. French and English were its masters by turns till 1435 when, by the treaty of Arras, it was ceded to the Duke of Burgundy. In 1477 it was annexed by King Louis XI of France, and was held by two illegitimate branches of the royal family in the 16th and 17th centuries, being in 1696 reunited to the crown. In 1514, the town saw the marriage of Louis XII of France to Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England.

    Abbeville was fairly important in the 18th century, when the Van Robais Royal Manufacture (one of the first major factories in France) brought great prosperity (but some class controversy) to the town. Voltaire, among others, wrote about it. He also wrote about a major incident of intolerance in which a young impoverished lord, the Chevalier de la Barre, was executed there for impiety (supposedly because he did not salute a procession for Corpus Christi, though the story is far more complex than that and revolves around a mutilated cross.)

    Abbeville was the birthplace of Rear Admiral Amédée Courbet (1827-85), whose victories on land and at sea made him a national hero during the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). Courbet died in June 1885, shortly after the end of the war, at Makung in the Pescadores Islands, and his body was brought back to France and buried in Abbeville on 1 September 1885 after a state funeral at Les Invalides a few days earlier. Abbeville’s old Haymarket Square (Place du Marché-au-Blé) was renamed Place de l’Amiral Courbet in July 1885, shortly after the news of Courbet’s death reached France, and an extravagant baroque statue of Courbet was erected in the middle of the square at the end of the nineteenth century. The statue was damaged in a devastating German

    Rouen

    Rouen

    Rouen, in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe], it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. It was here that Joan of Arc was executed in 1431. People from Rouen are called Rouennais.

    Main Sights

    Rouen is known for its Notre Dame cathedral, with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower). The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet, some of which are exhibited in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

    Gros-Horloge The Gros Horloge is an astronomical clock dating back to the 16th century, though the movement is considerably older (1389). It is located in the Gros Horloge street.

    Other famous structures include the Gothic Church of St Maclou (15th century); the Tour Jeanne d’Arc, where Joan of Arc was brought in 1431 to be threatened with torture (contrary to popular belief, she was not imprisoned there); the Church of Saint Ouen (12th-15th century); the Palais de Justice, which was once the seat of the Parlement (French court of law) of Normandy and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics which contains a splendid collection of faïence and porcelain for which Rouen was renowned during the 16th to 18th centuries.

    Rouen is noted for its surviving half-timbered buildings.

    There are many museums in Rouen: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, an art museum with pictures of well-known painters such as Claude Monet and Géricault; Musée maritime fluvial et portuaire, a museum on the history of the port of Rouen and navigation; Musée des antiquités, an art and history museum with antic or gothic works; Musée de la céramique, Musée Le Secq des Tournelles…

    The Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is a notable botanical garden dating to 1840 in its present form. It was previously owned by Scottish banker John Law and was the site of several historic balloon ascents.

    In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché (the site of Joan Of Arc’s pyre) is the modern church of Saint Joan of Arc. This is a large, modern structure which dominates the square. The form of the building represents an upturned viking boat and fish shape.

    Rouen was also home to the French Grand Prix, hosting the race at the nearby Rouen-Les-Essarts track sporadically between 1952 and 1968. There was a campaign in 1999 by Rouen authorities to obliterate remainders of Rouen’s racing past. Today, little remains beyond the public roads that formed the circuit.

    • on 07/04/2012 at 15:51

    The Fécamp Abbey was the first producer of Bénédictine, a herbal liqueur, based on brandy.

    History

    It was founded in 658 by Waningus, a Merovingian count, for nuns. Another convent he founded in 660, near the site of the Precious Relic, was destroyed by the Vikings in 842. Around the Ducal palace, the foundations of two chapels have been found.

    After more Viking raids in 851, Richard I of Normandy rebuilt the church. It was Richard II who invited Guillaume de Volpiano (Guglielmo da Volpiano) in 1001 to rekindle the life of the abbey, under Benedictine rules.

    These two Norman rulers, who were originally buried outside, were later interred in the southern transept of the gothic abbey church, where we can still see them nowadays. Guillaume de Volpiano is buried in one of the northern chapels.

    Bénédictine

    Bénédictine is a herbal liqueur beverage developed by Alexandre Le Grand in the 19th century and produced in France.

    It is claimed that at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, monks had developed a medicinal aromatic herbal beverage which was produced until the abbey’s devastation during the French Revolution, but in fact Alexandre Le Grand invented the recipe himself, helped by a local chemist, and he told this story to connect the liqueur with the city history and to sell his liqueur the best as possible.[1].

    He began production under the trade name “Bénédictine”, using a bottle with an easily recognizable shape and label. The family eventually sold the company to Martini and Rossi, which was in turn bought by Bacardi.

    The recipe is a closely guarded trade secret, ostensibly known to only three people at any given time. So many people have tried to reproduce it that the company maintains on its grounds in Fécamp a “Hall of Counterfeits” (Salle des Contrefaçons) The bottle and label have been imitated, as has the name Bénédictine. The company prosecuted those it felt to be infringing on its intellectual property. It lost in litigation against the Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey in Spain,[citation needed] after it was demonstrated that the monks there had been making their liqueur for a longer time.

    The manufacturing process involves several distillations which are then blended.

    The same company also produces “B & B” (or Bénédictine and Brandy), which is Bénédictine diluted with brandy, making it less sweet than Bénédictine. B & B was developed in the 1930s when consumers began a trend of mixing Bénédictine with brandy to produce a drier taste. Both Bénédictine and B&B are 40% alcohol (80 proof) by volume. Until recently, both Bénédictine and B & B were 43% alcohol (86 proof). In 1977, the company introduced a 60 proof (30% alcohol) coffee liqueur, Café Bénédictine, a blend of Bénédictine and a coffee-flavoured liqueur, however, Café Bénédictine is no longer produced or available. Additionally, the company produces a Bénédictine Single Cask. Bénédictine Single Cask comes in a unique black bottle and is only available at the Palais de la Bénédictine’s store in Fécamp, Normandy, France.

    Every bottle of Bénédictine has the initials D.O.M. on the label. Mistakenly thought by some to refer to “Dominican Order of Monks”[citation needed], it actually stands for “Deo Optimo Maximo”; “For our best, greatest God”. (The Dominican Order uses the designation O.P., which refers to “Order of Preachers”.).

    • on 07/04/2012 at 16:10
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 16:39
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    • on 07/04/2012 at 17:40

    Cavendish down

    • on 07/04/2012 at 17:41

    Great aerial shots as the riders cross the Seine to the finish

    • on 07/04/2012 at 17:46

    Cavendish finishes and will be awarded time lost because of the crash, so he will keep the yellow jersey

    • on 07/04/2012 at 17:47
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