Tag: Le Tour

Jul 16 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 15

Samatan / Pau (98.5 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Perhaps you have wondered what would happen if you ran out into the middle of the course and dumped a box of tacks.

Well now you know.

Everyone stops as soon as they can’t pretend not to have heard about it anymore and waits around until they fix all the flats and clean up the tacks.

Sportsmanship of the misplaced sort you get in contests where you’re packing your bag for the quick get away.

The breakway was 18 minutes ahead and made no difference in the standings.

Today is short and bumpy with the possibility of a Sprint finish.  Two category 3s and a category 4 stand between the Award point and the finish which could screw that up.

Robert Kiserlovski was forced to withdraw yesterday.  Luis León Sánchez won the stage.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 64h 41:16
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 8 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, midnight, 8 am, 11:30 am, and 3 pm.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Tomorrow is a rest day in Pau which accounts for the extended repeats.  My Rest Day 2 piece will be up some time before the Rest Day Recap on Vs. (NBC Sports) at 8 pm.

Getting right to those tables, ayup.

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Jul 15 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 14

Limoux / Foix (119 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

So Wiggins rode point for Boasson Hagen (Geipel won anyway) and the commentariat can’t wait to proclaim him the new “boss”. Le Tour has reached that gossipy point where Vilager Idiots are talking about “respect” and not wanting to be too dominant.

Fools.  Tiger Woods is already coming to win on Thursday and your quaint 20th century notions of “sportsmanship” are obsolete.  This race is just little over half over but it’s already done.

I suppose a bus.  First day of the Pyrenees and someone could put it away or back in contention over the one 2 and two category 1 climbs.  The Point award is well after the initial category 2, but even in Point competition the margins are all in favor of the current leaders and it’s unlikely here shall be much change unless someone gets caught out on the time limit.

Tom Veelers and David Moncoutie withdrew Friday and Robert Gesink did not start.  Tony Gallopin withdrew yesterday.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 59:32:32
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 Thibau FDJ-BIGMAT +08:51

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-

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Jul 14 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 13

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux / Le Cap d’Agde (135 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Oh I’m sure it looked exciting with the 5 rider break away and the 4th British stage winner and all, but it was much less than it seemed and the last Mountain stage before the Pyrenees.

This is a Sprinter’s stage, a hot, flat, humid ride by the Med punctuated by an Award point and a category 3 climb at the end.  I can’t see that it will change much anymore than yesterday’s results did.

Today is Bastile Day, a traditional time for French riders to try and make some noise.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 54:34:33
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 RAJKOVIC 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 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.

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Jul 13 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 12

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-

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Jul 12 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 11

Albertville / La Toussuire – Les Sybelles (92 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Special 7 am Edition (to get you ready for tomorrow’s 6:30 am edition, no- I am not kidding).

Tony Martin, Rémy Di Gregorio, and Matthew Lloyd were unable to start yesterday.  Rémy Di Gregorio was arrested at his hotel for trafficking in doping substances.

At the finish it was Thomas Voeckler, Scarponi, Voigt, and Sanchez.  In the overall GC the top 5 changed not at all.  Another missed opportunity for Evans.

That was Medium Mountains, today they are High.  There are 2 un-classified climbs, a 2 and a 3.  The Award point is just before the start of the second unclassified climb.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 43:59:02
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 DEN BROECK Jurgen LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM +04:48
9 ROCHE Nicolas AG2R LA MONDIALE +05:29
10 VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC RACING TEAM +05:31
11 COSTA Rui Alberto MOVISTAR TEAM +05:46

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 7 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-

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Pretty tables-

Jul 11 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 10

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.

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Jul 11 2012

2012 Le Tour – Rest Day 1

Mâcon

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

I won’t wast your time with any silly ‘race of truth’ metaphors.  There is no doubt that Cadel Evans lost ground in the Individual Time Trial in exactly the same way and proportions he did in the Prologue and while I wouldn’t tear up my tickets yet I will point out once again how difficult it is to make up because of the ‘Same Time’ rules.

Like it or not Le Tour has become a race of trialists.

Now the good news is there are not a lot of bodies between Evans and the lead which mean a single bus will suffice for now, though Froome is uncomfortably close.

Now the Tables below are so you can track rider position change by category by stage.  It’s long but the organization is simple-

  • Category
    • Stage
    • …
    • Stage n

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-

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Jul 09 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 9

Arc-et-Senans / Besançon (26 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Thibaut Pinot, the youngest competitor this year, put the French back in Le Tour yesterday chasing down Fredrik Kessiakoff who led a solo breakaway for much of the latter part of the stage and holding off a pack of GC contenters at the finish for the victory.

Samuel Sanchez had to withdraw with a broken hand after an early crash, joined on the day by Johannes Frohlinger and Gorka Verdugo.

Another one of those Individual Time Trials that I hate.  I really dig the Team Trials because of the teamwork, the Individual ones are boring which is why they don’t have Rally Racing on TV even though it is in fact bloodier than Turn Left.  Likewise you can see this very year how 10 seconds picked up after 4 miles has stood up for 8 days.

Really Evans needs to put on a show and it may net just a second or 2, but this and getting away on a climb (or avoiding an accident) are the only ways to make time directly against your opponent, everything else being absorbed into Same Time black hole.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is a rest day, but they will have a recap show.  I’ll be attempting to detangle the stage winner predictions and clear up my dvr as well as put together the Master GC List for the first third of the tour.  Expect a diary before the Rest Day Recap at 8 pm and midnight tomorrow.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 38:17:56
2 EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM +00:10
3 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:16
4 MENCHOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM +00:54
5 ZUBELDIA Haimar RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +00:59
6 FROOME Christopher SKY PROCYCLING +01:32
7 MONFORT Maxime RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +02:08
8 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM +02:11
9 ROCHE Nicolas AG2R LA MONDIALE +02:21
10 TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +02:27

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 8 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, midnight, 8 and 11:30 am and 3 pm tomorrow.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Sites of Interest-

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Pretty tables-

Jul 08 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 8

Belfort / Porrentruy (98 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Yay!  We defeat the evil David Gregory and Meet the Press.  That almost makes up for tape delayed Silverstone.

Or as Scarecrow puts it-

NBC implicitly concedes that the people it typically invites as guests on Meet the Press are less important to it’s viewers than the 8th stage or so of a French bicycle race.

The carnage from Friday’s crash was much larger than originally reported.  Local hospitals said as many as 23 riders were treated (not including those under the care of trainers and Team Doctors) and in addition to the withdrawals I reported yesterday there were 8 non-starters- José Ivan Gutierez, Imanol Erviti, Maarten Wynants, Oscar Freire, Hubert Dupont, Robert Hunter, Amets Txurruka, and Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal.

Hesjedal was a dark horse contender and the leader of the Garmin team which has been pretty much devastated and now has ‘Tipsy’ Tyler Ferrar as the top prospect.  Other hard hit teams are Rabobank and Movistar.  Anthony Delaplace was unable to complete the stage..

In the GC there’s quite a bit of shake up, but the principal details are that Wiggins, Evans, Nibali,  Taarame, and Froome duked it out at the finish with Froome taking the stage win.  This group put a big move on the field and same timed between them so net win in the first Mountain stage to Wiggins.  Among the bigs who lost time were Menchov, Schleck, Sanchez, Scarponi, and Valverde.

Gone are the poseurs in the Climbing category too.

Today’s stage is going to be the first big Mountain stage with 4 category 2s and a 4, 3, and 1.  The Awards point is at about the only semi flat place after 5 climbs and the finish is at the end of a long, high speed downhill which should amplify any final climbing lead.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 WIGGINS Bradley SKY PROCYCLING 34:21:20
2 EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM +00:10
3 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:16
4 TAARAMAE Rein COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE +00:32
5 MENCHOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM +00:54
6 ZUBELDIA Haimar RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +00:59
7 MONFORT Maxime RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +01:09
8 ROCHE Nicolas AG2R LA MONDIALE +01:22
9 FROOME Christopher SKY PROCYCLING +01:32
10 ROGERS Michael SKY PROCYCLING +01:40
11 CANCELLARA Fabian RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +01:43

Today live coverage will be on NBC proper at 8 am.  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-

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Pretty tables-

Jul 07 2012

2012 Le Tour – Stage 7

Tomblaine / La Planche des Belles Filles (123.7 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

So Le Tour has 2 dual stage winners, Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel  Take that Formula One.

Also plenty of flaming chunks of twisted metal which is why Sprinters can’t be trusted.

On the other hand you can’t say that among the front runners they’ve had much material effect.  Of the “name” dark horses Frank Schleck has been hurt the worst, losing 2:02 by getting involved in yesterday’s 26 km crash.  Mark Cavendish lost a similar amount, but he’s a Sprinter so his total time doesn’t matter as much.

Alessandro Valverde, Pierre Rolland, Robert Gesink and Janez Brajkovic lost over 2:30 each.  Thomas Voeckler and Ryder Hesjedal much more.

Wouter Poels, Thomas Danielson, Davide Vigano, and Mikel Astarloza are already withdrawn, many people are pretty beat up.

The good news is that today we have a nice, safe, sane Mountain stage where the all-rounder GC contenders may be able to put on a move or two.  There are two category 3s and a category 1.  The Points award is just before the first peak.

General Classification

Place Rider Team Time/Delta
1 CANCELLARA Fabian RADIOSHACK-NISSAN 29:22:36
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 MENCHOV Denis KATUSHA TEAM +00:13
6 EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM +00:17
7 NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:18
8 SAGAN Peter LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE +00:19
9 KLÖDEN Andréas RADIOSHACK-NISSAN +00:19

Today and Sunday 8 am live coverage will be on NBC proper.  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-

The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-

Pretty tables-

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