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Other Junk => Ya Want Classless ? => Topic started by: cyclist on May 11, 2012, 06:07:32 PM
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The organisers of the Tour de France have completed selection of the teams for thenext edition of the event, which will start from the Province of Liege on Saturday30th June and finish in Paris Champs-Elysées on Sunday 22nd July.
In accordance with International Cycling Union rules, the following eighteen “ProTeams†are systematically selected:
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Astana Pro Team (Kaz)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Euskaltel – Euskadi (Esp)
FDJ – Big Mat (Fra)
Garmin – Barracuda (USA)
Greenedge Cycling Team (Aus)
Katusha Team (Rus)
Lampre – ISD (Ita)
Liquigas – Cannondale (Ita)
Lotto Belisol Team (Bel)
Movistar Team (Esp)
Omega Pharma – Quickstep (Bel)
Rabobank Cycling Team (Hol)
Radioshack – Nissan (Lux)
Sky Procycling (Gbr)
Team Saxo Bank (Dan)
Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team (Hol)
In addition to these eighteen teams, the organisers have issued four invitations, meaning twenty-two teams will be present at the start of the 99th edition of the Tour de France. They are:
Argos – Shimano (Hol)
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne (Fra)
Saur – Sojasun (Fra)
Team Europcar (Fra)
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Route of the 2012 edition:
(http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/img/lacarte.jpg)
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Some more info:
The route
Running from Saturday June 30th to Sunday July 22th 2012, the 99th Tour de France will be made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,479 kilometres.
These stages have the following profiles:
•9 flat stages
•4 medium mountain stages - one with a summit finish
•5 mountain stages - two with a summit finish
•2 individual time-trial stages
•1 prologue
•2 rest days
Distinctive aspects of the race
The 2012 Tour de France will have 25 mountain level two, level one or highest level mountain passes or summit fi nishes.
They will be divided up geographically in the following way:
•1 in the Vosges
•3 in the Jura
•4 in the Swiss Jura
•6 in the Alps
•11 in the Pyrenees
9 new stage towns
Abbeville, Annonay Davézieux, Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, La Planche des Belles Filles, Peyragudes, Porrentruy, Samatan, Tomblaine, Visé
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I remember last year you said was the hardest on record, how does this one compare?
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Lynch,
At this point I don't have enough data to make a good comparison.
I will say this. The organizers have put several new climbs in the Pyrennes and the Alps as well as a couple other places. That will make it more interesting. Also there is 100km total of time trial stages. The 'race of truth' makes for good drama.
As usual, the sprinters will have the first week or so to play, then we get the Alps, then the Pyrennes. A possibly determining time trial the day before the Champs Elysees and the laps between the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde on the final day could get real interesting.
Once we get past the Giro d'Italia, a lot more analysis will come out. I hope to impart some of that with my own opinions.
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From VeloNews:
BMC Racing announces Tour squad built around Evans
By VeloNews.com
(http://velonews.competitor.com/files/2011/07/EvansTDF21_711-014-632x421.jpg)
It's all-in for Evans at BMC Racing. Photo: Casey B. Gibson | www.cbgphoto.com
PARIS (AFP) — Tour de France champion Cadel Evans will head into his title defense next week with five riders in his BMC Racing team that helped him to success last year.
American George Hincapie, German Marcus Burghardt, Frenchman Amael Moinard, Italian Manuel Quinziato and Swiss rider Michael Schar were all present last July as Australian Evans won Australia’s first Tour de France.
BMC will this year boast three new recruits in Philippe Gilbert, Tejay van Garderen and Steven Cummings, who replace Brent Bookwalter and Steve Morabito, named as substitutes, and Ivan Santaromita.
“We have one objective: to defend Cadel’s title and bring him to the podium in Paris,†said director John Lelangue. “Everyone will know clearly what their job is during the three weeks of racing. Our roster has a really good balance, especially considering the parcours.â€
The 35-year-old Evans added: “I know now that I can win it and my lead-up this year is nearly identical to what we did last year… We’re bringing an even stronger team to the Tour this year and the route would seem to favor me. But the time trials will change the dynamics of the race and some of the tactics of my rivals. But like last year, I’ll go to the Tour with my own plan, to ride my own race.â€
Hincapie, who will be 39 on June 29 — a day before the Tour starts in Liège, Belgium, will take part in his 17th edition of the Tour de France, currently sharing the record number of participations with Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk.
BMC Racing 2012 Tour de France roster
Marcus Burghardt (GER)
Steve Cummings (GBR)
Cadel Evans (AUS)
Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
George Hincapie (USA)
Amael Moinard (FRA)
Manuel Quinziato (ITA)
Michael Schar (SUI)
Tejay van Garderen (USA)
Reserves: Brent Bookwalter (USA), Steve Morabito (SUI)
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From Bicycling:
Going To Miss Andy Schleck in France
Teammate writes about dropping out of 2010 champion, 2009 runner-up
(http://nbcsportsmedia1.msnbc.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120619-schleck.nbcsports-story-612.jpg)
Andy Schleck of Luxembourg will not compete in the Tour de France this year because of injury.
By Jens Voigt
updated 3:22 p.m. ET June 19, 2012
This week Andy Schleck, my longtime team leader, announced he wouldn’t ride the Tour de France because of injuries sustained in a crash at the Dauphiné. I’ve been asked what it’s like to lose my leader and what it means for my RadioShack team.
But my very first thought was, “What the hell! Forget about losing our leader! I only care about Andy — my friend.â€
I’ll just plain miss Andy, for being Andy.
I’ll miss Andy, the man who went ballistic on the stage up the Galibier in last year’s Tour. We talked about that attack before the stage, and he agreed to it, knowing full well that if he failed the fans and the media would butcher him for making such a “stupid†move.
But he straightened his back, took responsibility like a true champ, and went along with our beautiful and risky plan. And he went out there and ignited the fireworks.
I love Andy’s devil-may-care attitude.
I’ll miss the man who, after his dropping chain and then was attacked by Contador, got back on his bike and chased all alone. And after the stage, when the press asked him about what happened, he said not one bad word. He took that hit like a man.
Andy showed character beyond his age. He acted with class, even though I knew he was furious about what had happened.
I’ll miss Andy the boy too. The boy who comes through the team bus 20 minutes before the start of a stage in the Tour saying, “Have you seen my cycling shoes?†Generally he is joking, but he loves our shocked faces, not to mention those of our sport directors.
He can do that because we all know that every now and then Andy is not joking. Once in a while somebody has to race back to the hotel Formula 1 style to get his shoes …
I’ll miss Andy in the Tour for being relaxed on the rest days. Like last year, when he came with me to chill out by the river and watch some locals fishing. Andy’s a great outdoorsman. At the Tour he’s always coming up to me asking if I brought a new fishing magazine or a diving or hunting magazine, and then we talk about our latest fishing experiences. It was Andy who showed me how to catch big pike. He explained where to put the knots and where to place the hooks.
And then later, when his brother Franky’s wife and their little daughter, Leah, came to visit us, I enjoyed watching Andy being totally in love with his little niece, carrying her and laughing with her.
I’ll miss Andy, the little brother in the Tour, who always has these discussions with his big brother Franky in Luxembourgish. Franky still feels responsible for his little brother, and the little brother tries to tell his older brother, “I’m OK. I’m grown up now.â€
If nothing else, it’s a very entertaining part of our long bus transfers.
I’ll miss Andy the great bicycle racer, the racer who saved our asses in so many Tours with stage wins, white jerseys, podiums—the Andy who won a Tour for us.
I’ll miss one of our leaders, miss his positive attitude, and how he says with total calmness and self-confidence before some killer hard stage in the Pyrenees or Alps, “No worries, boys. Today’s gonna be a good day for us!â€
So yes, Andy’s absence is going to change our plans in the Tour quite a bit. But I believe that Franky and Klöden are both hitting their form perfectly about now, so I think we still have two great chances to go for the podium. OK, maybe we won’t start as top favorites, but such a situation has advantages too. Like this, we can hide and wait a little, maybe surprise a few people one day.
This situation may force us to ride with more improvised tactics than in previous years. And if somebody would come up to me and ask, “Hey, Jens. Feel like going into the break today?†Well, you know the answer I’ll give.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?â€
But mostly I love Andy, and it hurts me to see him suffering. All I can say to him is what older and wiser men have said. “Shape comes and goes, but class always stays with you.â€
And there’s no arguing whether Andy has class.
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From VeloNews:
The 2012 Tour de France opens with the June 30 prologue in Liège, Belgium. Among the 198 riders signing into the 99th edition of the Tour will be defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), and American Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). But former green jersey winner Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma) and double 2011 stage winner Thor Hushovd (BMC) won’t take part.
Over the coming days, the 22 teams expected to toe the line will announce their nine-man rosters. Here, we have listed the riders we know are confirmed to be in or out of the race, as well of those sitting on the bubble. We’ll update this list as team announcements emerge, so check back for the latest.
AG2R-La Mondiale
*Confirmed: Maxime Bouet (FRA), Mickaél Chérel (FRA), Hubert Dupont (FRA), Blel Kadri (FRA), Sébastien Minard (FRA), Lloyd Mondory (FRA), Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA), Christophe Riblon (FRA), Nicolas Roche (IRL)
Argos-Shimano
*Confirmed: Roy Curvers (NED), Koen de Kort (NED), Johannes Froehlinger (GER), Patrick Gretsch (GER), Yann Huguet (FRA), Marcel Kittel (GER), Matthieu Sprick (FRA), Albert Timmer (NED), Tom Veelers (NED)
Astana
*Confirmed: Janez Brajkovic (SLO), Borut Bozic (SLO), Dmitry Fofonov (KAZ), Andriy Grivko (UKR), Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ), Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ), Fredrik Kessiakoff (SWE), Robert Kiserlovski (CRO), Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ)
BMC Racing
*Confirmed: Marcus Burghardt (GER), Steve Cummings (GBR), Cadel Evans (AUS), Philippe Gilbert (BEL), George Hincapie (USA), Amaël Moinard (FRA), Manuel Quinziato (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Tejay van Garderen (USA)
Cofidis le credit en ligne
*Confirmed: Jérôme Coppel (FRA), Anthony Delaplace (FRA), Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA), Brice Feillu (FRA), Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA), Cyril Lemoine (FRA), Guillaume Levarlet (FRA), Jean-Marc Marino (FRA), Julien Simon (FRA)
Europcar
*Confirmed: Thomas Voeckler (FRA), Pierre Rolland (FRA), Christophe Kern (FRA), Cyril Gautier (FRA), Yukiya Arashiro (JAP), Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA), Yohann Gène (FRA), Vincent Jérôme (FRA), Davide Malacarne (ITA)
Euskaltel-Euskadi
*Confirmed: Egoi Martinez (SPA), Samuel Sánchez (SPA), Gorka Verdugo (SPA), Mikel Astarloza (SPA), Ruben Perez (SPA), Pablo Urtasun (SPA), Gorka Izagirre (SPA) Jorge Azanza (SPA), Amets Txurruka (SPA)
FDJ-BigMat
*Confirmed: Sandy Casar (FRA), Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA), Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR), Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA), Cedric Pineau (FRA), Thibaut Pinot (FRA), Anthony Roux (FRA), Jérémy Roy (FRA), Arthur Vichot (FRA)
Garmin-Barracuda
*Confirmed: Ryder Hesjedal (CAN), Christian Vande Velde (USA), David Millar (GBR), Robbie Hunter (RSA), Dan Martin (IRL), Johan Vansummeren (BEL), David Zabriskie (USA), Tom Danielson (USA), Tyler Farrar (USA)
Katusha
*Confirmed: Giampaolo Caruso (ITA), Oscar Freire (SPA), Vladimir Gusev (RUS), Joan Horrach (SPA), Aliaksandr Kuchynski (BLR), Denis Menchov (RUS), Luca Paolini (ITA), Yuriy Trofimov (RUS), Eduard Vorganov (RUS)
Lampre-ISD
*Confirmed: Grega Bole (SLO), Danilo Hondo (ITA), Yuriy Krivtsov (UKR), Matthew Lloyd (AUS), Marco Marzano (ITA), Alessandro Petacchi (ITA), Michele Scarponi (ITA), Simone Stortoni (ITA) and Davide Viganò (ITA)
Liquigas-Cannondale
*Confirmed: Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Peter Sagan (SVK), Ivan Basso (ITA), Daniel Oss (ITA), Kristijan Koren (SLO), Alessandro Vanotti (ITA), Sylvester Szmyd (POL), Federico Canuti (ITA), Dominik Nerz (GER)
Lotto-Belisol
*Confirmed: André Greipel (GER), Jurgen Van den Broeck (BEL), Jelle Vanendert (BEL), Greg Henderson (NZL), Marcel Sieberg (GER), Lars Bak (DEN), Francis De Greef (BEL), Adam Hansen (AUS), Jürgen Roelandts (BEL)
Movistar
*Confirmed: Alejandro Valverde (SPA), Juanjo Cobo (SPA), José JoaquÃn Rojas (SPA), Rubén Plaza (SPA), Vasil Kiryienka (BLR), Iván Gutiérrez (SPA), Imanol Erviti (SPA), Vladimir Karpets (RSA) and Rui Costa (POR)
Omega Pharma-Quick Step
*Confirmed: Sylvain Chavanel (FRA), Kevin De Weert (BEL), Dries Devenyns (BEL), Bert Grabsch (GER), Levi Leipheimer (USA), Tony Martin (GER), Jerome Pineau (FRA), Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL), Peter Velits (SVK)
Orica-GreenEdge
*Confirmed: Michael Albasini (SUI), Baden Cooke (AUS), Simon Gerrans (AUS), Matt Goss (AUS), Daryl Impey (RSA), Brett Lancaster (AUS), Sebastian Langeveld (NED), Stuart O’Grady (AUS), Pieter Weening (NED)
Rabobank
*Confirmed: Bauke Mollema (NED), Robert Gesink (NED), Steven Kruijswijk (NED), Laurens Ten Dam (NED), Mark Renshaw (AUS), Luis Leon Sanchez (SPA), Bram Tankink (NED), Maarten Tjallingii (NED), Maarten Wynants (BEL)
RadioShack-Nissan
*Confirmed: Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Tony Gallopin (FRA), Chris Horner (USA), Andreas Klöden (GER), Maxime Monfort (BEL), Yaroslav Popovych (UKR), Fränk Schleck (LUX), Jens Voigt (GER), Haimar Zubeldia (SPA)
Saur-Sojasun
*Confirmed: Jérôme Coppel (FRA), Anthony Delaplace (FRA), Jimmy Engoulvent (FRA), Brice Feillu (FRA), Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA), Cyril Lemoine (FRA), Guillaume Levarlet (FRA), Jean-Marc Marino (FRA), Julien Simon (FRA)
Saxo Bank
*Confirmed: Juan José Haedo (ARG), Jonathan Cantwell (AUS), Nick Nuyens (BEL), Chris Anker Sørensen (DEN), Nicki Sørensen (DEN), Michael Mørkøv (DEN), Anders Lund (DEN), Karsten Kroon (NED), Sergio Paulinho (POR)
Sky
*Confirmed: Bradley Wiggins (GBR), Mark Cavendish (GBR), Richie Porte (AUS), Chris Froome (GBR), Michael Rogers (AUS), Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR), Bernard Eisel (AUT), Kanstantsin Siutsou (BEL), Christian Knees (GER)
Vacansoleil-DCM
*Confirmed: Johnny Hoogerland (NED), Gustav Larsson (SWE), Marco Marcato (ITA), Wout Poels (NED), Rob Ruijgh (NED), Lieuwe Westra (NED), Rafael Valls (ESP), Kenny Van Hummel (NED)
* Final roster announced
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A little bit of analysis...
First off, Cadel Evans of BMC is the defending TDF champ. He will be in the thick of it. Bradley Wiggins of Sky will challenge.
BMC and Cadel have Georger Hincapie in his final TDF. He was there for all seven of Lance Armstrong's victories, one of Alberto Contador's and Cadel's last year. He is a rider you want on your team.
Sky and Bradley Wiggins are having a great season thus far. Bernard Eisel is a legitimate GC rider, so everyone will have to make sure he doesn't go AND watch out for Wiggins.
Radio Shack will offer up Andreas Kloden for GC and he is good. Frank Schleck might get more support with brother Andy not in the TDF. They have a great team with Cancellara, Horner, Popovych, Voigt and Zubeldia. I don't think they take the Yellow, but if they get it, they are more than able to defend.
Garmin will have Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal and decent support with Christian Vande Velde (also a good GC man) and David Millar (this team's road captain), Zabriskie (time trial guy) and Tyler Farrar (sprinter). It is really hard to do a Giro/TDF duo, since the Giro wasn't that long ago and it is hard to be on form for two Grand Tours. The last to do the duo was Marco Pantani in 1998.
Moviestar has dark horse GC rider Alejandro Valverde. I'm not sure if the supporting cast is up to defending the Yellow Jersey.
The Tour this year has two long individual time trials (and the prologue) so that would favor Wiggans, although Evans is good at time trialling and is a better alrounder.
More to come...
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PEZ Previews: The 2012 Tour de France
by Edmond Hood
Like it or not, the sport of professional cycle racing is largely defined by one race – the Tour de France. To aficionados the Primavera, Ronde, Hell of the North and Classic of the Falling Leaves are eagerly awaited then devoured and endlessly analysed. But mention any of these races to the ‘man in the street’ and you’ll be met with a blank stare. The Giro and Vuelta will elicit a similar response - Paris-Nice? Forget it. But tell a ‘lay person’ you’re going to the Tour de France and in response you’ll get; ‘Lance, Cav, yellow jersey’ – and ‘drugs,’ naturally. Let's take a closer look...
It’s the biggest annual sporting event in the world and in a world where the purse strings become ever tighter, sponsors are still fighting to throw money at ‘le Grande Boucle’ – the ‘Big Loop’ around the hexagon of France.
And for the first time in nearly 30 years there’s a British rider who is perfectly capable of winning the race – indeed, he’s favourite.
Bradley Wiggins is that man – but before we look at the skinny Londoner’s chances, let’s look at the other names which will feature in the world’s media in July.
Andy Schleck’s (Radio Shack & Luxembourg) won’t – one suspects it’s as much damage to his fragile morale as much as any bones which has prompted his withdrawal; maybe next year?
‘Tommy Voeckler’ (Europcar & France) may pull off an exploit once he rides into form but a top placing isn’t likely after a season disrupted by knee problems
As Vuelta winner, Juan Jose Cobo (Movistar & Spain) should be a name to conjure with – but cycling doesn’t work like that, any more.
We’ve taken the dozen names which we think will make the race and looked at them, one by one.
We believe that the top five names we mention will fill the top five spots, more or less in that order – from sixth to twelfth it’s more of a lottery, but her goes:
12) Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel & Spain) 34: The reigning Olympic champion won the king of the mountains and was sixth on GC in the 2011 race.
Euskaltel is more than a team; it’s a statement of loyalty to an ideal, a dream.
Despite not being of Basque origin – he’s from Oviedo in Asturias – ‘Sammy’ has been loyal to Euskaltel for his entire career, 13 seasons.
This season has seen him win the team’s home race – the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, take second and a stage win in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and go top ten in the Amstel Gold and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-sammy.jpg)
In other words, his form has been good, and he’s still the most demonic of descenders – his downfall will be the time trials.
The 2012 parcours are a dream for the chrono men with a 6.4 kilometre prologue in Liege, a 41.5 K test around Besancon and a 53.5 K drag race stage 19 from Bonneval to Chartres.
Sanchez will know that any chance of a good GC place will founder amongst the discs, skin suits and tri-bars.
It’s more likely he’ll use these stages as ‘active rest’ and harbour his strength for a mountain stage win and the polka dot jersey.
11) Alejandro Valverde (Movistar & Spain) 32: Despite being out for 2011 for ‘mixing with the wrong sort,’ Valverde has come back with a bang.
He opened the season Down Under with a stage win and second on GC, then there was a stage and the GC in the Ruta del Sol, a stage and third on GC in Paris-Nice and a top ten in the Tour de Suisse on GC.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-alejandro.jpg)
His Movistar team have had an excellent season – both Suisse and the Route du Sud fell to them recently; with Valverde having a large hand in Rui Costa’s win in the former.
But despite the success of rider like Costa, the squad is selected on an ‘all for Alejandro’ basis – this is a cannily managed team and backing no hopers isn’t their way
Stage one of the Tour is made for Valverde with nasty Ardennes parcours and a tough finish – a top placing is unlikely, but time in yellow is possible.
10) Denis Menchov (Katusha & Russia) 34: I once said that the ‘big diesel’ that is Denis couldn’t win the Giro – he proved me wrong on that count.
This is a man who has won the Tour de l’Avenir, been best young rider in le Tour, won Pais Vasco, the Vuelta on two occasions, the Giro and stood on the podium of the Tour.
In other words, he’s a quality rider – but it may be that Old Father Time is hot on his heels?
Renowned for his ability to ‘just keep going’ he was eighth in the Giro and fifth in the Vuelta last year in Geox colours.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-denis.jpg)
This year he’ll enjoy the much stronger Katusha formation around him and also the 100 kilometres of time trials – he’ll ride those in the Russian champion’s skinsuit, having recently won the championship in Voronezh.
The top six looks unlikely – but old Denis has proved me wrong before.
9) Robert Gesink (Rabobank & Holland) 26: A pure climber, the skinny Dutchman was sixth in the 2010 Tour and won the recent Tour of California.
That he can get up the hills isn’t a topic for debate, but the trouble with the Tour is that you have to be ‘complete.’
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-robert.jpg)
There are the nasty transition stages in the rain, the crazy last 10 K of the sprinter stages and the time trials – all 100 K of them.
But Gesink rode a good time trial on the way to his California win, fourth to David Zabriskie over 30 K; it’s more his bad luck which makes us think he won’t be up there - and three weeks are much longer than one.
8) Andreas Klöden (Radio Shack & Germany) 37: The unsmiling German seems to have been around forever – it was 1996 when he took bronze in the World U23 time trial championships – whilst he hasn’t sparkled this year, he’s an enigma, as liable to spring a surprise win as he is to finish in 47th place.
Last year he won stages in Paris-Nice, the Criterium International and Pais Vasco – also taking the GC in the last named.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-andreas.jpg)
We name him because of the 100 K of time trials – where he’s still very strong - the fact that there are only two mountain top arrivals and because he usually looks cool and inscrutable in pictures.
7) Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin & Canada) 31: It would be easy to say ‘he can’t do it’ – but ‘can’t’ isn’t a word which features in the former mountain biker's vocabulary.
Allowed to build his whole season around a Grand Tour for the first time, the big man from British Columbia won the best Giro in years on a combination of strength, guile and sheer grinta.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-ryder.jpg)
His big build means he’s not intimidated when the pushing starts, he can time trial just below the very highest level, hangs on to the very best grimly in the mountains and if an opportunity to gain time presents itself, he doesn’t hesitate.
But at the back of our minds we can’t help but think that if ‘Alberto couldn’t do it, Ryder can’t.’
But this is one occasion where we’d love to be proved wrong.
6) Levi Leipheimer (QuickStep & USA) 38: A desperately unlucky Paris-Nice landed the Californian in hospital; but third spot in the recent Tour de Suisse confirms that he’s back on course.
His season started well, on a new, high profile, successful team he took a GC win in the ever more competitive San Luis tour in Argentina and was well in the mix in Paris-Nice until that nightmare stage of crashes shattered his hopes.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-levi.jpg)
It may be five years ago, but Leipheimer time trialled himself to a podium in 2007, beating Evans and Karpets to take the final time trial and finishing just 31 seconds behind GC winner Contador and 12 behind second placed Evans.
It would be easy to say that was as good as it gets for him, and he’s no spring chicken anymore – but retired pros will tell you; ‘it’s always the head which goes first.’
Leipheimer’s head is still very strong; and he’ll love all those chrono kilometres – he won’t be far away.
5) Frank Schleck (Radio Shack & Luxembourg) 32: Don’t believe the hype that he’s peaked and won’t be expecting much from this Tour.
Forget the Giro debacle – he didn’t want to ride and bailed out at the first opportunity.
He was third in Luxembourg and second in Suisse – form and peaks aren’t his problem.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-frank.jpg)
The real problems he as are those 100 K where’s there are no team mates around him and no gradient to fight.
‘Alone and unpaced,’ was how the English Road Time Trials Council used to phrase it.
His other negative is the Machiavellian nature of his team’s inner workings.
Sports psychologists will tell you that the ‘hungry fighter’ is a myth in most cases; a top athlete needs harmony and calm around him to perform at his best – not tabloid headlines.
Nor should we think that lack of Brother Andy is a problem – many would argue that it should improve his focus.
If only there weren’t all those damn time trials . . . .
4) Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto & Belgium) 29: Big, strong, quiet and easing his way nicely up the Tour rankings year on year until last year’s crash.
A PR man’s nightmare, he prefers to let his Ridley do the talking for him.
Hailing from Rik Van Looy’s home town of Herentals, his 2012 campaign has been solid rather than spectacular – fourth on GC in the Algarve, third in Catalunya, 12th in the Pais Vasco and fifth in the Dauphine.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-jurgen.jpg)
That’s his way – and what you don’t see are the endless kilometres notched up in training camps, a method which he places much store in.
He’s not going to win the Tour, but a podium is possible, if for no other reason than his sheer solidness and reliability.
If he has a weakness, then it’s his team – not that they’re not strong riders; but Greipel will need support, and Vanendert knows he can win in the high mountains, will he be willing to through away personal glory for Jurgen?
We’ll know soon enough.
3) Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas & Italy) 27: Let’s not pay too much attention to his lowly place in the recent Dauphine – rather let’s remember podiums in the Primavera and Doyenne and his GC win in Tirreno.
He’s won the Vuelta and been second in the Giro – but to become a ‘Great’ you have to perform on the biggest stage of all.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-vincenzo.jpg)
A good time trial rider (with junior and U23 Worlds medals to confirm that) a strong climber, a deranged descender and backed by one of the best disciplined squads in the world – he’s not day dreaming of Tour podiums, to use Team Sky parlance; ‘he ticks a lot of the boxes.’
It’s conceivable that if Nibali shows weakness then the men in green and blue will turn their support to the phenomenal Peter Sagan and chase stage wins.
Especially given that Nibali is alleged to be heading for Astana on a mega-euro contract.
Rather, we think that Nibali will rise to the occasion and the Liquigas Legion will ride until they drop for him, as they did for Basso in the Giro.
Basso is slated to ride in support for Nibali at le Tour – he could have no finer support.
2) Cadel Evans (BMC & Australia) 35: The fact that the man won the race in 2011 says it all; and if you need further endorsement, he’s also finished eight, fifth and second twice.
Evans has been around a long time and has proved his versatility time and time again – a world junior time trial championship medallist; World Cup mountain bike race winner; stage race rider par excellence with the Tours of Austria and Romandie and Tirreno-Adriatico to his credit; a classic winner in Fleche-Wallonne – and a World elite road title.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-cadel.jpg)
He’s been on the best teams and winning at the highest level for more than a decade.
It’s unlikely therefore that he’ll have got his preparation wrong for the 2012 Tour de France - the Criterium International and a Dauphine stage don't come easily.
One of the cornerstones of Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador’s Grand Tour wins was the total focus of the teams on one goal – overall victory.
BMC follow that model, no sprinters or baroudeurs to cloud the waters – ‘all for Cadel!’
He can climb, time trial, descend and isn’t afraid to take risks – those factors and that devoted team mean that it’s entirely possible for Evans to win his second Tour.
1) Bradley Wiggins (Sky & GB) 32: Bradley Wiggins has been around a long time.
Always a gifted track rider - he was world junior pursuit champion – he rose to become a dominant figure in the steam roller GB individual and team pursuit machines, winning the 2004 and 2008 individual Olympic titles and was a key member of the winning team pursuit squad in 2008 at Beijing.
But on the road his career was decidedly sketchy; there were few high profile wins as took the notorious, ‘from one under achieving French team to another’ route - Francais des Jeux, Credit Agricole then Cofidis.
(http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/races12/tdf12/preview-bradley.jpg)
There was a sojourn at High Road/Columbia whilst the world track titles kept coming but it wasn’t until 2009 and he moved to Garmin that the breakthrough came.
An unexpected but hard fought and thoroughly deserving fourth place in the Tour saw Wiggins become hot road property – with the new Team Sky winning an untidy mud wrestling match to win his loyalty for 2010.
Tour-wise, the season was a disaster, a Giro prologue win couldn’t mitigate that – but it was hardly surprising given the theatrics surrounding the transfer.
To the man’s credit, last year we saw a ‘new’ Wiggins; there was a win in the Dauphine and the British road race championship.
But his Tour ended on a wet, hard French hairpin bend with a broken collarbone.
But to the surprise of many, he bounced back to take podium spots in the Vuelta and Worlds time trial – and it was his last lap effort in Denmark, as much as anything, which won the road race for Cavendish.
His new found maturity won him many new admirers.
This year has been a dream as far as palmares go – Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie and the Dauphine all fell to Wiggins and his Sky team.
When not dominating the best stage race riders in the world, he’s been living the life of a monk, high on Mount Teide in Tenerife, riding thousands of high altitude kilometres - eating, breathing and sleeping cycling.
Little wonder then that he’s number one favourite for the world’s biggest bike race.
Palmares, dedication, a strong team, the best back up and bikes – it seems that all stars align.
If there’s one negative, it’s his former world madison championship partner, Mark Cavendish.
As we’ve already seen, Evans's team is built 100% around him, full stop.
Wiggins has to surrender two of his team to the sprint cause – ‘Cav’ and the Manxman’s talisman, Bernard Eisel.
In addition, riders like Edvald Boasson-Hagen will have to work for Cav in the closing stages.
Sky can ‘spin’ it all they want that this work for Cav will help keep Brad at the front and out of trouble, but the fact remains that this work will require watts which would be best saved for the high mountains.
If there’s a fatal flaw in the Sky battle plan, it’s trying to win a war on two fronts.
****
But we still say: Brad, Cadel and Vincenzo.
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Tomorrow the Tour de France starts with a prologue - a 6.4 km individual time trial.
Look for time trial specialists like Fabian Cancellara, David Millar, Dave Zabriski to take the first Yellow Jersey. Bradley Wiggins is another to watch as well.
6.4 km is not far and only a few seconds will separate most of the contenders.
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2012 Tour de France Prologue results
Prologue – Liege to Liege ITT 6.4 km
Cancellara wins Tour prologue, Wiggins second
Stage results
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 7:13
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
• 8. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 13. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 15. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 16. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 18. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 19. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 22. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at :20
• 30. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at :21
• 35. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at :22
• 41. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at :23
• 42. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at :23
• 45. Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :23
• 69. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at :26
• 81. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :28
• 88. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 100. Vladimir KARPETS, Movistar, at :31
• 101. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at :32
• 110. Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano, at :34
• 113. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :34
• 119. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 138. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 198. Roy CURVERS, Argos-Shimano, at 1:06
GC Standings:
Same…
Next Stage: July 1: STAGE 1 - Liège Seraing 198 km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: 20 points
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky: 17 points
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: 15 points
Polka Dot: None
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 7:23
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Patrick GRETSCH, Argos-Shimano, at :2
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 22:13
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Roy CURVERS, Argos-Shimano
Withdrawals:
All Riders in the race.
Prologue Review:
Cancellara wins Tour prologue, Wiggins second
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jun. 30, 2012
• Updated 5 hours ago
Fabian Cancellara won the prologue at the Tour de France Saturday. Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) became the first rider to win five times in the Tour opener when he bested Bradley Wiggins (Sky) in Liège, Belgium.
Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) finished third, with American Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) fourth.
"Today was like a velodrome because there were so were many crowds," said Cancellara. "I am very proud of this. This is a big victory for me. People were wondering about me after I had my crash (at the Tour of Flanders), if I could come back."
Cancellara came back and more, starting second-to-last and doing just as he did on much the same course in 2004, beating all previous times and holding off the defending Tour champ. Then it was Lance Armstrong. Today, it was Cadel Evans (BMC Racing).
After a lackluster first half of the season for RadioShack, highlighted by Chris Horner's second overall at Tirreno-Adriatico and Jakob Fuglsang's Tour of Luxembourg win, Cancellara said the win relieved some of the weight resting on his shoulders.
“I have memories today of winning eight years ago and that was very special," said Cancellara. "When you are 23 and win, then eight years later do it again, it’s a very special thing for me, my family and especially for the team. This is a great opening for our Tour. A lot of pressure went away with this win. But we all want success and success is never easy. The whole team did a big effort.â€
Evans finished 17 seconds behind Cancellara and 10 seconds off the pace set by Wiggins, his top rival for the three-week tour.
"It's not good, but not bad. Of course I'd rather lose less seconds, you never want to lose time," said Evans. "One GC rider ahead of me, but I was half expecting that... that's what Wiggins' background is, these short hard efforts.
"The real racing starts tomorrow."
Wearing the French tricolor as national TT champion, birthday boy Sylvain Chavanel was a revelation in the opener. More known as a gutsy attacker in the hilly intermediate stages, Chavanel started 113th and bested Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky). Boasson Hagen, Cancellara, Wiggins — these are names expected to show on the front page of a prologue results sheet.
"I did a great race," said Chavanel. "I wanted to make a good performance. From the beginning of the season I'm doing good in the time trials. I knew that the specialists could have beat me, but I'm super happy in any case. I have no regrets. I really did my best to honor my brand new French champion jersey. It's a third place in a prologue of the Tour against the best time trialists of the world."
GC implications
Wiggins' ride, during which he closed six seconds on previous leader Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in the final 3km, was the first shot over the bow in what should be an intense GC battle fought over the race's 101km of time trials and three mountaintop finishes.
"Fair play to Fabian, he's the best in the world at what he does and I think he proved that again today," said Wiggins.
The biggest loser on Saturday was Juanjo Cobo, the 2011 Vuelta a España champ, who entered the day with a shot at Movistar's leadership, but finished in 7:57, 37 seconds behind Wiggins and nine seconds off of teammate Alejandro Valverde.
Denis Menchov (Katusha) rode quietly to a 7:26, inserting himself into the overall conversation, while Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Giro d'Italia champ Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) tucked in at 7:31.
Americans Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma) and Chris Horner (RadioShack) finished in 7:41 and 7:47, respectively.
Van Garderen pulled on the white jersey as the race's best young rider. The Boulder, Colorado, resident was second to Cancellara in the prologue at the 2011 in the Tour de Suisse. He enters this Tour in support of Evans.
"It was crazy, just the adrenalin rush being in the Tour. This is the start of three weeks. It's an incredible feeling. I got chills," he said. "I cannot wait to get up there and get it. I haven't had this white jersey in a while. Normally I have a good prologue, so I wanted to give it a go. To be honest, the team has a great spirit. We are serious, but we joke around at the team dinner. Cadel said, 'Guys, do not stress. We had a lot of fun winning the Tour last year and let's have fun again this year.'"
Sagan and Martin run into trouble
Two men who hoped to contend for the stage win, world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma) and Slovak strongman Peter Sagan (Liquigas) ran into trouble on the course.
Sagan did not get the start he expected and lost more time when his foot came out of his pedal as he negotiated a left hand bend. He eventually finished 52nd at :24 behind.
Martin, who succeeded Cancellara as world time trial champion in 2011, was firing on all cylinders until he suffered a puncture, which probably cost him the yellow jersey. He was on-time to contend with Cancellara before the mishap. Martin ended up finishing 44th at just :23 behind the Swiss winner.
"I was on a good time, but after my puncture I had to change bike. Without that I would have had an even better time," he said. "I'm disappointed, of course. I've been planning for this for a long time."
For Cancellara, the win was a return to where his record-breaking Tour career began.
Gilbert (BMC Racing), who finished ninth on Saturday and grew up just outside of Liège, said he would "try everything for the win tomorrow."
With a seven-second barrier and now time bonuses on offer, Cancellara's jersey is likely not on the line, but a sharp attack from Chavanel could see the Frenchman in yellow two days before the race moves to his home country.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 1 results
July 1: STAGE 1 - Liège Seraing 198 km
Sagan wins stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de France; Cancellara leads
Stage results
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:58:19
• 2. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 3. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at 0
• 4. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at 0
• 5. Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank, at 0
• 6. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 0
• 9. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 12. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 16. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 0
• 20. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 0
• 21. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 0
• 32. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 34. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 35. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 36. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 42. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 0
• 44. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 0
• 54. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :17
• 56. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :21
• 77. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at :45
• 95. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 1:25
• 128. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:07
• 132. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:07
• 142. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:07
• 143. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:01
• 155. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 3:01
• 172. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 3:41
• 181. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 3:41
• 198. Guillaume LEVARLET, Saur-Sojasun, at 8:52
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 5:05:32
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
• 6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 7. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at :13
• 8. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 10. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 15. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at :22
• 23. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :24
• 34. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 36. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at :33
• 39. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 45. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 54. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 62. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :57
• 75. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 1:21
• 84. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 1:41
• 102. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 106. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:30
• 107. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:30
• 144. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 3:19
• 145. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:20
• 156. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 3:53
• 166. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 4:07
• 167. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 4:07
• 198. Guillaume LEVARLET, Saur-Sojasun, at 9:43
Next Stage: July 2: Stage 2 Vise - Tournai 207.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: 55 points
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 49 points
• 3. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky: 42 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 3 points
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 1 point
• 3. Pablo URTASUN PEREZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: 1 point
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 5:05:42
• 2.. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 15â€17:101
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Guillaume LEVARLET, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
All Riders in the race.
Stage 1 Review:
Sagan wins stage 1 of the 2012 Tour de France; Cancellara leads
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 1, 2012
• Updated 1 hour ago
Peter Sagan won stage 1 of the Tour de France Sunday in Seraing, Belgium. Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) went away on the finish climb with overall leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) and stomped away on the finish straight for his first Tour win.
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) was third.
All three finished on same time with the chase group and Cancellara maintained his seven-second lead in GC over Bradley Wiggins (Sky).
"I would like to thank all of my teammates for this victory this afternoon... Vincenzo Nibali looked after me in the run-in to the finish and put me in a good place," said Sagan. "The finish today was extremely difficult."
Cancellara said attacking on the final climb was the best way to defend his maillot jaune and repay his teammates for a full day of work on the front of the peloton.
"I said in the end to myself, probably attacking is the best defense," said Cancellara. "When I saw (Sylvain) Chavanel was attacking with Albasini, I just went up steady. When the cobblestones came, that's my thing, and I attacked."
As he did at Milan-San Remo in March, Cancellara lost out to a rider that couldn't come around him until the final moment of the stage.
Six up the road
After a protest stopped the peloton momentarily in the neutral zone, the racing got underway immediately.
The top prize the escapees were hunting was clear early on as Mørkøv and Urtasun split the single point on offer at each of the stage's first two Cat. 4 climbs, the Côte de Cokaifragne and Côte de Francorchamps. Mørkøv, Urtasun and Bouet looked the strongest of the six escapees all day. The Dane took top honors, however, at the next two climbs, the Côte de Lierneux and the Côte de Barvaux in fierce sprints against the Basque Euskaltel rider.
Meanwhile, back in the bunch, RadioShack patrolled the front all day.
“We had to do it, because with this finish, nobody wanted to take responsibility of this the race," RadioShack director Alain Gallopin told VeloNews. "With the yellow jersey, we have to do it.â€
The break built a maximum advantage just shy of five minutes, but with the stage halfway gone, RadioShack's Jens Voigt and Yaroslav Popovych turned up the chase for Cancellara. They dropped the gap to 1:08 with 32km remaining and after a lull — and two crashes around 25km to go — Lotto-Belisol, BMC Racing and Orica-GreenEdge took to the front.
Caught in the first crash were one of Sky's top domestiques, Michael Rogers, and Vladimir Karpets (Movistar), among a few others. The second crash involved roughly 12 riders, with Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) among those caught out. A long, straight run through an open field and left-to-right crosswinds heading into Seraing appeared as though it would keep the crash-delayed riders, now echeloned from the left gutter across the road, from rejoining the peloton, but the chasers jumped on-board on the outskirts of the finish town.
Lotto was full-gas at the front with sprinter André Greipel leading three teammates over the top of the breakaway with 8km to go. The German led the catch after Bouet tried a last-ditch effort to earn the most aggressive rider's prize, and the bunch was set for a run-in at the Côte de Seraing finish climb.
Behind the Lotto train, George Hincapie brought BMC Racing teammate Cadel Evans up the left side of the strung-out bunch, with Sagan in-tow. Hincapie dropped them off a few wheels from the front just in time for a series of left- and right-hand corners leading to the ramp.
Chavanel, then Cancellara, then Sagan
Orica took control onto the base of the 2.4km, partially cobbled climb with Stuart O'Grady, Michael Albsasini, Matt Goss and Simon Gerrans there. But Sylvain Chavanel, just seven seconds behind Cancellara after a surprise third-place ride in Saturday's prologue, launched around the left side of the Aussie train as the road steepened 2km from the line.
Albasini and Cancellara jumped out in pursuit of Chavanel and the Swiss laid down a brutal acceleration that only Sagan could follow.
"I tried to attack in the steepest part of the climb," said Chavanel. "I knew that it was more or less impossible to wait for the end for the sprint. Guys like Boasson Hagen and Sagan are better than me in a finish like that. So I tried to attack a bit early. When Cancellara jumped on my wheel and attacked, I thought maybe someone else could take the wheel of Cancellara. So I stopped a little bit, but when I started again the race was away."
Resplendent in yellow, Cancellara led the young Slovak champion onto the lower-angle upper reaches of the climb and, much like at Milan-San Remo in March, it was the RadioShack man pulling a Liquigas rider toward the finish. Then it was Nibali. Today it was Sagan, the winner of nine stages between May's Amgen Tour of California and June's Tour de Suisse.
"I waited to see if I could attack and I wanted to hold on because I knew it was a long finish," said Sagan. "I couldn't ride with Cancellara. I know he's very strong."
Evans tried to match the pace on the climb, but could not.
“It was very intense,†said Evans. “It was a short, sharp finish to a relatively calm day.
“I tried (to follow the attacks), but they are specialists on these kinds of finishes. I had to think of my GC as well.â€
As Cancellara looked back constantly at Sagan, Boasson Hagen shot up from the chase in his yellow helmet signifying Sky's lead in the teams classification. He closed an eight-plus-second gap on the cobbled upper reaches of the climb. The trio came onto the finishing straight together, the yellow jersey on the front, the yellow helmet on the back.
Boasson Hagen stood to gain a second on Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) and steal the best young rider's white jersey. Sagan was in it for the finish and the green points jersey. But Cancellara, in yellow, was out for more time to pad his overall lead and the pace-making fell on his shoulders.
Cancellara stood and opened the sprint on the right barriers, the chase group, which included Wiggins, Evans and van Garderen, bearing down on the leaders. Sagan opened it up inside 100 meters, shot out to the left, and won easily.
"I'm very happy, especially after yesterday's incident at the prologue," said Sagan, who unclipped a pedal in the opener and lost any chance at repeating his Tour de Suisse prologue win late last month.
The Slovak will wear the green points jersey on Monday, on loan from Cancellara, who will again be in yellow. Some good advice before the stage on Sunday had Sagan on alert for the Swiss on the finish climb.
"Before the race today I spoke with my team coach and manager, and they said I had to look out for only one rider: Cancellara.
"He had a great prologue, and that showed he's got good condition. Also, this stage suited him."
Sagan got one over on Cancellara today. And when the race jury awarded the same time to the chase group, it meant Cancellara's effort was essentially for naught — other that the honor of attacking in yellow.
"This play of poker is maybe where I lost in the end, but I think I won a lot of confidence and that's really important," he said.
"I thought attacking would be the best defense and 500 meters from the line I wasn't going to slow down. If I go for something, I go all the way. I'm not going to give up, that's not me.
"Maybe Sagan, eight years from now, will do the same thing."
Local hero Philippe Gilbert (BMC), winner of all three Ardennes classics in 2011, topped the chase group sprint for fourth, with Rabobank's Bauke Mollema fifth.
Overall contenders Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) finished sixth, seventh and ninth, respectively. Sky's GC backup, Chris Froome lost more than a minute and plummeted down the standings.
“Froomey was unlucky to puncture just at the wrong moment as we hit the waterfront along the river," said Sky director Sean Yates. "It was lined out going 70K an hour. Richie (Porte) waited along with Christian (Knees). By the time they came back to the convoy, riders were getting shelled. It was not possible to get back on. Riders were all over the place."
Valverde was caught in the second late crash with teammate Rui Costa — making it four Movistar riders to go down in the final 10km — but chased back on in time to blaze up the finish climb.
“After three years without riding the Tour, I barely remembered how dangerous this race is during the first week, with much more tension than any other," said Valverde. "We rode at the front for almost all day, but we suffered a couple of crashes in the finale and we had to put a feet a feet on the ground at the second one. We did a huge effort to come back in and we made it just before the climb."
Also losing time on the stage were Americans Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma), who dropped 17 seconds after being caught in traffic behind the peloton on the finish climb.
"The final was dangerous and we were riding very fast," said Leipheimer. "Mayby at 3km to go, just before the climb, we were a little bit too far from the head of the bunch. The I passed a lot of riders on the climb, but it was impossible to catch the first part of the group. In any case, the legs are good and my priority in this first part of the Tour is to stay safe and out of trouble."
Tomorrow's stage
The 99th Tour de France continues Monday with the 207.5km second stage, from Vise to Tournai. It should be a day for the pure sprinters, as Sagan will face off with the likes of world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky), André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and more.
The Tour will honor the late Wouter Weylandt, whose last win before his death in the 2011 Giro d'Italia took place in Tournai during the 2010 Circuit Franco-Belge.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 2 results
July 2: Stage 2 Vise - Tournai 207.5km
Cavendish exposes his one-stage bluff in Tournai
Stage results
• 1. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, in 4:56:59
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, at 0
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 4. Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano, at 0
• 5. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 0
• 6. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 10. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 41. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 0
• 45. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 49. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 54. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 56. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 0
• 66. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 0
• 68. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 0
• 78. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 0
• 83. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 87. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 96. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 132. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 135. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 136. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 138. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 148. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at :20
• 160. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at :20
• 170. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at :20
• 179. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at :51
• 198. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 9:55
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 10:02:31
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
• 6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 7. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at :13
• 8. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 10. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 15. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at :22
• 33. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 36. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 42. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 50. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 58. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at :53
• 60. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :57
• 98. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 101. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:30
• 102. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:30
• 138. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:20
• 151. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 4:10
• 164. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 4:27
• 165. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 4:27
• 198. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 13:37
Next Stage: July 3 Orchies - Boulogne-sur-Mer 197km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 78 points
• 2. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky: 63 points
• 3. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: 55 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 4 points
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 1 point
• 3. Pablo URTASUN PEREZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: 1 point
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 10:02:41
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 30:08:07
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
All Riders in the race.
Stage 2 Review:
Cavendish exposes his one-stage bluff in Tournai
• By Matthew Beaudin
• Published 1 hour ago
TOURNAI, Belgium (VN) — Oh come on. It couldn’t really have been possible that Mark Cavendish could show up at the Tour de France and not be a favorite, could it?
That is exactly how the world champion played it before the Tour started on Saturday. He didn’t have a leadout train. He was too light to be as quick as normal. It was a solid bluff… until the finish line in Tournai, the Tour’s first bunch finish.
After his roommate and close friend Bernhard Eisel dropped him off with 500 meters to go, Cavendish (Sky) freelanced the final 500 meters, finally grabbing André Greipel’s (Lotto-Belisol) wheel and jumping the big German for the win at the line. It was an absolutely clinical example of how to win a sprint without a leadout; he skipped from wheel to wheel and came around Greipel with under 25 meters to the line to win by half-a-wheel. It was as if he was climbing a ladder.
“Mark showed today why he is the world champion, why, when you put him in that two or three kilometers, he’s the master. How he got on Greipel’s wheel, I don’t know. Who knows? But he did. That’s what makes him the champion that he is,†said Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford.
“He just makes more right decisions than wrong decisions and more often than not finds himself in the right position to sprint. And when he is in that position, he doesn’t really lose.â€
Cavendish did it without the vaunted leadout train that he’s had in years past. Without the extra weight he usually carries for more power. Without, if it’s possible, heavy expectation. The team that lines up in the morning for Sky isn’t here to help Cav’ in the sprints; it’s here to put Bradley Wiggins into yellow, plain and simple.
The win, Cavendish said, meant no more and no less because it came largely alone.
“A win at the Tour de France is the win at the Tour de France,†Cavendish said. “They don’t come easy. This is the most important race of the year for me. It’s what my season is normally based around, you know? It just gives me an extra drive, an extra determination.â€
It’s evident Cavendish is pulling on the strength of his world champion stripes. He mentions the jersey in interviews, and said he looks down at the bands on his sleeves in training and races.
“Every race since I’ve won this jersey, I’ve wanted to wear this jersey and show why I wanted to wear it. I have massive respect for this jersey. I have massive respect for every rider who’s ever worn it,†he said Monday. “I really wanted to do it an honor this year… That doesn’t mean winning a stage at the Tour de France. It means wherever I go.â€
Just before this year’s Tour started, Cavendish sat down with reporters and broke down his chances in the sprints. He said he’d lost weight for the Olympics, and that it would be hard to win without a dedicated train. It was almost as if he didn’t expect to win at all. He was subdued. It was all very Un-Cav’.
“I’m realistic. When I know I’ve done everything I know I’m better than everyone else. Fear of failure is a big thing,†Cavendish said before the Grand Départ. “So, if I fail, I know I’ve done something wrong. So, right now I’m realistic. I know I have limited support… when I’ve lost in the past, it’s because I’ve failed.â€
Since he showed up for the 2012 Tour, it’s been about all about Wiggins, Cavendish’s madison partner on the track at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I’m in the world champion’s jersey, riding for a British team. We’ve got the favorite in the Tour de France, a British rider and good friend of mine. It’s an honor to be here,†he said.
Ah, yes. An honor. But the Tour is Cavendish’s stomping grounds. The “Manx Missile†has won 21 Tour de France stages since 2008, including Monday’s. The win draws him within one win of the all-time Tour record for sprinters.
“For sure it’s nice to come in with less pressure, with less expectation to win multiple stages,†he said. “I think now if I don’t win five stages it’s seen as a failure to some people… On the other hand, we come in with the favorite for the yellow jersey, and that brings a heightened sense of responsibility, a heightened sense of pressure, a heightened sense of tension.â€
There has also been speculation that Cavendish would leave the Tour early in order to recover and focus on the Olympic road race in London. To that, he said he planned to ride to Paris.
“It’s (the Champs Élysées) the most beautiful boulevard in the world. It’s my favorite place to sprint. I’ve won there the last three run-ins,†he said.
Eisel, a rival-turned-mentor to Cavendish since they began working together at High Road in 2007, said the stage 2 win comes as relief.
“It’s like we expected it. I was pretty sure we weren’t going to have the leadout train like in the past years, but he showed he’s able to win this sprint without a train, just floating around and moving up in the last moment,†Eisel said. “I’m happy for him. Really happy for Mark that he won this stage. Now, I think it’s easier for him.â€
With a cheeky dance through his rivals in the final half-kilometer Monday, Cavendish certainly made it look easy.
-
2012 Tour de France Stage 3 results
July 3 Orchies - Boulogne-sur-Mer 197km
Many trains jostling for one track: A dominant sprint leadout has yet to appear at the 2012 Tour de France
Stage results
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:42:58
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Peter VELITS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :1
• 4. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at :1
• 5. Michael ALBASINI, Orica-GreenEdge, at :1
• 6. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :1
• 11. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :1
• 13. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :1
• 16. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :1
• 20. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :1
• 23. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :1
• 30. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :1
• 31. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :1
• 35. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :1
• 53. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :47
• 56. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :47
• 59. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at :47
• 61. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at :58
• 65. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 1:15
• 94. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 3:54
• 106. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 5:27
• 148. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 7:27
• 171. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 8:02
• 172. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 9:00
• 173. Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Barracuda, at 9:00
• 174. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 9:00
• 190. Simone STORTONI, Lampre-ISD, at 16:26
• 191. Pablo URTASUN PEREZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 16:26
• 192. Patrick GRETSCH, Argos-Shimano, at 16:29
• 193. Roy CURVERS, Argos-Shimano, at 16:29
• 194. Albert TIMMER, Argos-Shimano, at 16:29
• 195. Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano, at 16:29
• 196. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 16:29
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 14:45:30
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
• 6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 9. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 10. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 15. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :23
• 25. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 26. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 30. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 37. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 43. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :57
• 57. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 58. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 2:29
• 86. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 5:24
• 91. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 6:23
• 110. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 8:19
• 117. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:46
• 130. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 9:56
• 159. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 12:11
• 165. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 12:52
• 172. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 13:26
• 196. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 30:05
Next Stage: July 4 Abbeville — Rouen 214.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 78 points
• 2. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky: 63 points
• 3. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: 55 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 9 points
• 2. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 14:45:40
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 44:17:04
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 3 Review:
• Many trains jostling for one track: A dominant sprint leadout has yet to appear at the 2012 Tour de France
• By Andrew Hood
• Published 46 mins ago
BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France (VN) – One of the more interesting story lines in the first half of the Tour de France will be the battle for supremacy among the sprint trains.
With Team Sky riding for the yellow jersey, world champion Mark Cavendish is “freelancing†this year’s Tour, leaving a vacuum inside the peloton in the bunch sprints.
Monday’s barnstorming stage into Tournai, with Cavendish pulling off the win despite Lotto-Belisol’s otherwise perfect lead-out for André Greipel, was just a appetizer of what the Tour can expect between now and next weekend’s climbing stages in the Vosges.
“There is no train hierarchy at the moment,†Team Sky sport director Sean Yates told VeloNews. “Only one train can actually succeed. In HighRoad days, Cav’ had it good. They built that train and they made it very intimidating for everyone else. Now there is a fight to see who can fill that void.â€
Lotto-Belisol, Orica-GreenEdge and Argos-Shimano are among the main contenders to fill the space left by the dissolution of Cavendish’s former train at HighRoad at the end of last season.
Argos-Shimano is only racing its first Tour and will not be trying to completely dominate the sprints. Behind them are scores of sprinters who will be also looking to hitch rides in the finales, among them Oscar Freire (Katusha), green-jersey contender Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp), Mark Renshaw (Rabobank), Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD), J.J. Rojas (Movistar) and J.J. Haedo (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank).
Lotto and GreenEdge are fighting an arms race. Both teams bring squads loaded with sprinters and riders to position and catapult their respective captains toward the line.
In Monday’s first “real†sprint, Lotto demonstrated it was ready to take the initiative. Greipel, who won his first Tour stage in last year’s edition, has five riders dedicated to helping him arrive at the sharp end of the action in the mass gallops.
On Monday, it worked out perfectly, except for one small detail — Cavendish was able to squirt around the “Gorilla†to snatch the win.
“Of course I wanted to win, but I am very pleased with how we rode the sprint. The team did everything perfect. We have the most horsepower in the sprints and I am sure we will achieve our goal of winning a stage,†Greipel said stoically. “Cavendish was in my slipstream. It’s like he was riding behind a truck.â€
Lotto is taking a page from some classic set-up trains out of cycling’s past, with each rider receiving an assigned role.
Adam Hansen and Lars Bak have the job of doing the hard chasing in the closing 10km to reel in late breakaways and keeping the pace high enough to prevent late-stage counterattacks.
If things go to plan, Marcel Sieberg then surges forward with 2km to go, generating huge watts to ramp the speed up to 60kph.
Behind him, Jurgen Roelandts takes over next, sprinting at full speed at the front of the peloton under the red kite. Kiwi sprinter Greg Henderson then goes balls to the wall from about 400 meters to go to drop Greipel off at top-end sprinting speed within the final 200 meters or so from the line.
Lotto came excruciating close in Monday’s battle, with only Cavendish’s aerodynamic tuck taking advantage of the work on a slightly rising finale against headwinds.
“We’ve been working together and we are confident we’ll get some victories during this Tour,†Roelandts said. “It was perfect (Monday). You have to remember who beat us — Cavendish. He’s the best in the world.â€
Cavendish has gallantly accepted his role as a freelancer in what could be an historic opportunity to help a British team win the Tour in an Olympic year with London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
Cavendish said the chance to be a part of Bradley Wiggins’ yellow-jersey effort overrides his personal ambitions in this year’s Tour.
“The chance to help the team win the Tour is something special,†Cavendish said. “I know I can still win stages without a full train. I’ve done it before and I’ve shown it again.â€
In fact, Cavendish waved off the two riders who are designated to help him in the sprints during this Tour. With about 5km to go, he read the race and decided he didn’t need the help of Bernard Eisel and Edvald Boasson Hagen.
“It’s difficult to move up in the Tour and if I had to do that every day, I’d be killed by the end of the week. It’s easier just to do it on your own,†Cavendish said. “When I am weaving between Denis Menchov and Pierre Rolland, there’s too much going on, too many people. It’s better just to be alone.â€
On Monday, Cavendish proved that he doesn’t need a train to win, but the fact that he lacks helpers is giving his rivals their best hope ever of at least reducing his Tour haul while augmenting their own.
Like Lotto, GreenEdge has also brought a team loaded with firepower for the sprints. Sport director Matt White said this year’s Tour opens a unique opportunity to out-run Cavendish.
“Cav’s shown that he’s beatable at the moment and he’s going to have to rely more on his own ability than rely on his teammates than in the past,†White told VeloNews. “It’s a lot easier to win when he has the train, but it’s easier to beat Cav’ without his train, but when you look at the sprints over the past couple years, nine times out of 10, when he got to the finish line, he won.â€
Beyond the hilly-stage attackers such as Simon Gerrans and Michael Albasini, the entire GreenEdge lineup will be at the disposal for world runner-up Matt Goss.
Stuart O’Grady takes over with about 2km to go to organize the train. Baden Cooke and Brett Lancaster drive the bunch to within the final kilometer before Daryl Impey surges forward as Goss’s final set-up man.
Or at least that’s what they’re hoping for. It didn’t work that way Monday, when Cavendish muscled onto Impey’s wheel before crossing over to the surging Henderson on rival Lotto.
Despite getting upstaged by Lotto and Cavendish, White insisted he was satisfied with Goss’s third-place sprint.
“We knew that Lotto would take control of the race. They’re in Belgium and they have a specialized team for that,†White said. “The plan was to try to come over the top in the last 2kms, but our guys were not quite able to stick together. Daryl came over the top and dragged Cavendish with him. Gossie was a little too far back when the sprint started.â€
Behind those two powerhouses, other squads will be trying their luck in the coming stages.
Teams such as Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, Rabobank and Lampre will be putting a few men into the battle to try to position their fast men for a shot at victory.
Many are probably quietly hoping that one sprint powerhouse emerges to take control of the final kilometers in the bunch-sprint stages. These are already nervous enough, but things go from dicey to downright dangerous when more than a dozen sprinters believe they have chances to win.
Add nervous and inexperienced GC riders bumping elbows to stay near the front, and the chaos of a train-less peloton only heightens the danger and risk of devastating crashes.
“It’s not only Cavendish searching for the right wheel, right? It’s not as easy as it looks. It showed that there is a lot of competition out there,†Yates said. “When there is no clear train, too many others try their luck.â€
With at least three more sprint opportunities likely between Wednesday and Saturday’s first taste of the climbs in the Vosges.
Whether Lotto, GreenEdge or someone else can take firm control of the highly unpredictable bunch remains to be seen.
-
2012 Tour de France Stage 4 results
July 4 Abbeville — Rouen 214.5km
Greipel wins stage 4 of the 2012 Tour de France; Cancellara retains yellow
Stage results
• 1. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, in 5:18:32
• 2. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 0
• 3. Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano, at 0
• 4. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 5. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 21. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 26. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 27. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 0
• 45. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 47. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 58. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 0
• 63. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 64. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 67. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 76. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 0
• 89. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 118. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 119. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 120. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 121. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 0
• 122. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 0
• 133. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 0
• 144. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 0
• 145. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at 0
• 154. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 0
• 155. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 159. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 0
• 185. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 4:13
• 188. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 4:19
• 189. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 4:19
• 195. Sebastian LANGEVELD, Orica-GreenEdge, at 7:01
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 20:04:02
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :11
• 6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 8. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :18
• 9. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Barracuda, at :18
• 10. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 15. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :23
• 26. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 27. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 31. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 38. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 43. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :57
• 47. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:29
• 56. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 57. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 2:29
• 86. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 5:24
• 91. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 6:23
• 109. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 8:19
• 116. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:46
• 117. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 8:47
• 128. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 9:56
• 156. David MILLAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 12:11
• 162. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Barracuda, at 12:52
• 169. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Barracuda, at 13:26
• 170. David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis, at 13:38
• 195. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 35:03
Next Stage: July 5 Rouen — Saint-Quentin 196.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 147 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 92 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 87 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 9 points
• 2. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 20:04:12
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 60:12:40
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 4 Review:
Greipel wins stage 4 of the 2012 Tour de France; Cancellara retains yellow
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 4, 2012
Emerging unscathed from a high-speed, late-race pileup, German André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won the Tour de France’s stage 4 bunch sprint in Rouen Wednesday, finishing ahead of Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) and Dutch rider Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano).
Aussie Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) finished fourth, with two-time stage winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) in fifth.
Conspicuously absent from the final sprint, however, was world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky), winner of stage 2, who, along with his leadout man Bernhard Eisel, went down hard in a crash with 2.6km remaining.
TV pictures did not provide a clear image of what, or who, caused the crash. Leading out American Tyler Farrar, South African national champion Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) was the first to go down, setting off a chain reaction of top sprinters hitting the deck.
After the finish, Eisel claimed that he’d crashed first; the Austrian had a significant cut over his eye that required stitches.
Led by Kiwi sprinter Greg Henderson, Greipel was in front of the crash, as was Petacchi; Sagan narrowly squeezed past the carnage, which split the peloton.
Approaching the finish line it was Greipel’s to lose, with Lotto’s Marcel Seiberg and Jurgen Roelandts at the front ahead of Henderson. It looked as though the big German might have started his sprint a bit too early, with Petacchi closing in on him late, but the Italian simply ran out of road, bringing Greipel his first stage win of this Tour, and his second career Tour stage win.
“I’m just so happy to have those guys on my side,†Greipel said moments after giving Henderson an enthusiastic embrace. “We have such strong riders leading me out. It’s what we wanted to reach, winning a stage.â€
Japan in the break
Wednesday’s 214.5km stage traveled from Abbeville to Rouen, starting 81km south of Tuesday’s finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer and following the coastline until turning inland for the final approach.
Japan’s Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar) attacked as soon as the flag fell to signal the start of stage 4. Arashiro was followed by Frenchmen David Montcoutie (Cofidis) and Anthony Deplace (Saur-Sojasun).
The trio opened up a maximum advantage of 8:40 just 18km into the stage, with Moncoutie, a two-time winner of the King of the Mountains crown at the Vuelta a España, beginning his quest for the polka dot jersey over the stage’s four Cat. 4 climbs.
The breakaway crossed the day’s intermediate sprint in Fécamp with a 6:45 lead and 71km remaining. Behind, Cavendish narrowly outkicked Goss for the 13 points available to the fourth-place finisher, with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) sixth, Sagan seventh and Petacchi eighth. Greipel did not contest the intermediate sprint.
The fight for the intermediate sprint picked up the pace considerably, as RadioShack, defending Fabian Cancellara’s race lead, shared the pace-making with the sprint teams.
With 25km to go, as a light rain began to fall, the three leaders had only a two-minute advantage; Sky, Lotto, FDJ-BigMat, Lampre and Orica-GreenEdge began dialing up the speed for the sprint into Rouen.
Inside 15km to go, the breakaway riders began to ease off the pace, prompting attacks on the uncategorized Saint-Martin de Boscherville climb from Andriy Grivko (Astana), Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing), Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Samuel Dumolin (Cofidis), but none were able to hold the hard-charging peloton at bay.
With just under 10km remaining, the three escapees were finally reeled in. Arashiro was named the day’s most aggressive rider.
“The team said have a go if you’d like to, and I said I’d like to,†Arashiro said. “It would have been nicer to climb up on the podium, to be honest, but I’m happy to get my red number for tomorrow.â€
Dumoulin, Chavanel and Wouter Poels (Vacansoleil-DCM) forged ahead briefly, but with Orica and Lotto driving the pace, a field sprint was inevitable.
The crash
Just after the peloton crossed the 3km to go mark, the worst-case scenario became reality — a massive pileup at maximum speed. Eisel told Eurosport that he accepted the blame.
“That’s sprinters for you, isn’t it?†Eisel said. “It was going really, really fast. I touched Goss. I tried to correct it. I tried to stay on the wheel of Petacchi, but I lost my front wheel and that was it.â€
After the crash both Eisel and Cavendish sat on the ground appearing dazed. Cavendish later rolled across the line alone, his white world champion’s jersey covered in black road grime and his yellow helmet broken.
At the front of the bunch, Henderson led out Greipel behind Lotto’s Marcel Seiberg and Jurgen Roelandts. Petacchi and Goss tucked in on Greipel’s wheel, but none could match the strong German.
“It was chaotic, the finale, to be honest,†Greipel said. “I was just focusing on what was going on, and for me, it’s fantastic.â€
Cancellara finished without incident, maintaining his overall race lead.
“Today went how we thought it might, other than the crash, obviously,†Cancellara said. “I’m proud of the way I handled myself, with how I got away, and I’m just sorry for those that were on the ground.â€
Beyond any potential injuries, and missing the opportunity for the stage win, the crash was devastating for Cavendish as his fight for the green points jersey took a substantial turn for the worse. By virtue of his fifth-place finish, Sagan now has 147 points; Goss sits second with 92, with Greipel third at 87 and Cavendish fourth at 86.
Cavendish got back to his team bus an angry man, but will live to fight another day according to Sky principal Dave Brailsford. “I can’t repeat what he said when he came into the bus,†Brailsford told French television. “Mark’s lost a bit of skin but it’s not bad. He’s in a little pain but he’s ok.â€
Cavendish wrote on Twitter after the stage:
Ouch….. Crash at 2.5km to finish today. Taken some scuffs to my left side, but I’ve bounced pretty well again. Congrats to @AndreGreipel.
Sagan also offered his sympathy for Cav’s plight: “I’m disappointed for him. Every day someone can fall and I hope that he can get on and finish the Tour de France. I hope nothing like that happens to any of my teammates.â€
For his part, Sagan was satisfied with a top-five result and another day in the green points jersey.
“I’m very happy,†Sagan said. “I’m happy that I’ve managed to get two stages so far and managed to stay up there and get points for the green jersey on a day like this. I was the last to make my way through the crash, I was really close to those guys. I just hope I stay on the bike and don’t fall off before I get to Paris.â€
Tomorrow’s Stage
The 99th Tour de France continues Thursday with stage 5, a 214.5km affair from Rouen to Saint-Quentin that should result in another bunch finish. Hopefully, with less skin lost for the fast men.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 5 results
July 5 Rouen — Saint-Quentin 196.5km
Greipel wins stage 5 of the Tour de France; Cancellara retains overall lead
Stage results
• 1. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, in 4:41:30
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 3. Juan José HAEDO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 0
• 4. Samuel DUMOULIN, Cofidis, at 0
• 5. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 0
• 7. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at 0
• 8. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 0
• 18. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 0
• 19. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 22. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 26. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 0
• 32. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 35. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 37. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 0
• 40. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 0
• 42. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 43. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 0
• 45. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 50. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 69. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 0
• 71. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 81. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 91. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 0
• 103. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 0
• 165. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 0
• 177. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 179. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 0
• 180. Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 182. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 190. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 194. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 24:45:32
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :9
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :9
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :12
• 5. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :13
• 6. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :15
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :19
• 9. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp, at :20
• 10. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :21
• 15. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :23
• 26. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 27. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :35
• 31. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :38
• 38. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 43. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at :57
• 47. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:29
• 56. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 57. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:29
• 86. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 5:24
• 91. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 6:23
• 109. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 8:19
• 116. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:46
• 117. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 8:47
• 123. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 8:59
• 128. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 9:56
• 156. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:11
• 169. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:26
• 194. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 39:10
Next Stage: July 6 Épernay — Metz (128.9 miles/207.5km)
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 155 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 137 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 132 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 9 points
• 2. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 24:45:42
• 2. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at :1
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 74:17:10
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 5 Review:
Greipel wins stage 5 of the Tour de France; Cancellara retains overall lead
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 5, 2012
• Updated 5 hours ago
For the second day in a row, a high-speed crash in the final kilometers of a sprint stage took out several top sprinters at the Tour de France, and for the second day in a row, German André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) was the fastest to the line.
Aussie Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) finished second, with Argentinean J.J. Haedo (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) taking third.
Unlike Wednesday’s stage, when Mark Cavendish (Sky) went down in a nasty crash, in Saint-Quentin the world champion was in the fight for the finish line this time, though the best he could summon on a slightly uphill drag was fifth.
Those caught up in the crash included American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp), who hit the deck for the fourth time in six stages, Aussie Jonathan Cantwell (Saxo Bank) and green jersey leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale).
Farrar was the first to hit the deck after Italian Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) cut in front of Farrar, coming right, just as Farrar was being squeezed on the left by Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano).
After the stage, a bloodied Farrar went to the Argos team bus to confront Veelers, who finished sixth.
Also absent from the sprint was Veelers’ Argos teammate Marcel Kittel, who abandoned the stage 40km in after suffering from a stomach bug and knee tendonitis.
The late stage crash happened just as the peloton was about to catch the day’s four-man breakaway, giving hope to the escapees.
First, Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis) attacked solo from the breakaway with 1.1km to go, and gave concern to the sprint teams; next was Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Pablo Urtasun, also from the breakaway. The bunch, led by Lotto’s Greg Henderson, finally caught Urtasun inside 500 meters to the line. Goss launched his sprint off that catch, but with 300 to go, it was too early, allowing Greipel to pass in the final 50 meters.
“With the lead-out he’s got and the acceleration he has, he’s [Greipel] super hard to come around. The way I’ve got to try and beat him is do what we did today — get the jump on him and go,†Goss told Agence France Presse. “Unfortunately the jump was just a little bit too far for me to make it uphill.â€
The break that nearly went the distance
Along with Ghyselinck and Urtasun, the other two men in the breakaway on the flat 196.km stage from Rouen to Saint-Quentin were Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) and Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ-BigMat). Ladagnous, who attacked in the opening kilometer, was best placed in the group, 8:04 behind race leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan).
RadioShack, Lotto-Belisol, Orica-GreenEdge shared the pace-making and finally, in the final 30km, Sky chipped in to position Cavendish and its overall contender, Bradley Wiggins.
“To be honest, I was quite sad at the end,†Simon said. “When [Ghyselinck] attacked, it was too much for me. It was a good day for us. I have no regrets. To be honest with you, I never expected to make it all the way, but you get some belief right at the end… If one of the other guys I was with had won it, I think I would have been sad.â€
Noteworthy was that Greipel did not contest the day’s intermediate sprint in the town of Breteuil, won by Cavendish (following the escape taking the top four spots). Goss was second in the field at the intermediate sprint, followed by Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Sagan.
With 25km to go, the bunch was 1:30 behind the break, and at 15km to go the gap was 1:12 — all signs pointed to the inevitable catch in the final 5km. However, Ghyselinck’s attack lit a fire in the break and Farrar’s crash disrupted the chase; the bunch only caught the breakaways inside the final kilometer.
Greipel rides close call to a win
Greipel’s win was especially impressive considering that he miraculously dodged Farrar’s tumble, braking into a near track stand and putting a foot out to deflect Farrar’s somersaulting body.
“It was a bit crazy because I was behind the crash with 3km to go. Greg Henderson was there, waiting for me, and brought me back in,†Greipel said. “It was one of the hardest sprints I’ve ever had.â€
For the second day in a row there was a nasty crash, and for a second day in a row, Greipel emerged the winner.
“I’m very happy with this second win and I want to say thank you to my teammates for all their hard work,†said Greipel. “I don’t know why everyone believes I can’t beat [Cavendish]. I already beat him last year and I have the best team around me. Yesterday he crashed, but today he was there. I’m very happy to win my second stage in this Tour de France.â€
As for Cavendish, he blamed his fifth-place result on poor positioning in the run-up to the sprint, writing on Twitter:
“Shit, tried to drop back a bit with 1km to go to get a run-up. Didn’t work, as I left myself too much ground to gain. Congrats @AndreGreipel.â€
Though he missed the sprint, Sagan continues to lead the points competition, with 155 points; Goss sits second, with 137, and Greipel third, with 132. Cavendish is fourth, with 119, and Petacchi is fifth, with 91.
“In the images it is clear that a rider is determined to go, and his move is what brought us all down,†Sagan said. “This should not happen at this point in the race. I am angry because I lost points. When I came to the finish I was not scared. What’s there to be afraid of? I was just angry. One of my teammates, Sylvester Szmyd, lent me a wheel in order to race again. But it was too late to participate in the sprint.â€
Cancellara held onto the leader’s yellow jersey by seven seconds from Wiggins with Australia’s defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) in seventh, at 17 seconds. The RadioShack rider will spend his 27th day in the yellow jersey on
Friday, overtaking Rene Vietto’s record for the record number of days in the maillot jaune for a rider that has not won the overall title.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 6 results
July 6 Épernay — Metz 207.5km
‘Metz Massacre’ rips through the Tour’s GC ranks
Stage results
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, in 4:37:00
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, at 0
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 4. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 0
• 5. Juan José HAEDO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 0
• 7. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 0
• 14. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :4
• 15. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at :4
• 18. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :4
• 21. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :4
• 29. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at :4
• 37. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at :4
• 38. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :4
• 39. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :4
• 44. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :4
• 46. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :4
• 51. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :4
• 54. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :4
• 61. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at :4
• 72. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at :55
• 77. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 1:22
• 82. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:09
• 130. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 6:02
• 135. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at 6:02
• 161. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 13:24
• 172. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:24
• 181. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:24
• 182. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:24
• 183. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:24
• 190. Johan VAN SUMMEREN, Garmin-Sharp, at 16:12
GC Standings:
• 1. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, in 29:22:36
• 2. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :7
• 3. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :7
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :10
• 5. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :13
• 6. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :17
• 8. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :19
• 9. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :19
• 18. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :29
• 22. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :45
• 24. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:29
• 32. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 2:27
• 34. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 2:40
• 37. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:43
• 62. Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha, at 6:55
• 66. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 7:41
• 73. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 8:43
• 74. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 8:44
• 75. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:46
• 77. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 8:59
• 108. Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:38
• 114. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 14:17
• 115. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 14:17
• 127. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 15:49
• 128. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 15:54
• 142. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 18:44
• 174. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 25:31
• 175. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 26:12
• 190. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 52:30
Next Stage: July 7 Tomblaine — La Planche des Belles Filles 199km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 209 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 178 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 167 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 9 points
• 2. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 2 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 29:22:46
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :9
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :12
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 88:08:22
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at :4
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at :6
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 6 Review:
‘Metz Massacre’ rips through the Tour’s GC ranks
• By Andrew Hood
• Published Jul. 6, 2012
METZ, France (VN) – There are always crashes in the first week of the Tour de France, but this year seemed a little more forgiving.
Going into Friday’s stage, most of the major GC riders had avoided a disastrous crash, accident or mishap that would torpedo his yellow jersey dreams.
Just as the Tour was poised to shift gears with a tidy little sprint into Metz before turning into the first climbing stages of the 99th edition, disaster struck just 25km from the finish line.
No one quite knows who caused it, but the reasons were the same and the aftermath cruel.
“Someone doesn’t know how to ride their bike!†cursed Valverde, who had cuts and scrapes to his left side. “Someone fell in front of me and then people plowed into my back and I got knocked off my bike. Today was not a day to lose time.â€
That was the verdict among a party of GC candidates that ceded valuable time Friday, all but sinking their maillot jaune ambitions even before the Tour enters the decisive stages.
Joining Valverde with GC hopes in the ICU were Frank Schleck (RadioShack), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Janez Brajkovic (Astana) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp). Outsiders Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Jean-Cristophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) were licking wounds as well, while Tom Danielson (Garmin) abandoned.
None of those were five-star favorites for victory, but the benign brutality of the crash confirmed the old idiom that the Tour can be lost in an instant.
“Some of those guys lost a couple of minutes and that’s not where you want to be,†said Sky manager David Brailsford. “When you see those guys behind you, losing time, you realize the importance of spending that little bit extra more of energy to be at the front.â€
While the likes of Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Bradley Wiggins (Sky), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Denis Menchov (Katusha) dodged the bullet, others were not so lucky.
Garmin-Sharp was among the worse of the bunch, seeing eight of its nine riders crashing, including Giro d’Italia champion Hesjedal, who lost more than 13 minutes.
Johan Van Summeren was knocked unconscious in the crash and finished last, at 16:12 back.
“One second I was on my bike and the next, I was sliding, sliding, sliding across the road. There were bikes and bodies all over me,†Van Summeren said. “It was awful. I am really cut up. I hope to start tomorrow.â€
About 75 riders made it through with the lead group. Behind that, riders were picking up the pieces to try to salvage their Tours.
Teams will have to reassess their GC ambitions and, in some instances, ditch them altogether.
Some saw their GC hopes erased, meaning that there will be less riders trying to crowd onto the final podium in Paris.
Here’s a run-down of the major GC victims:
Rabobank: All three of the Dutch outfit’s GC options lost time. Amgen Tour of California champion Robert Gesink crashed early in the stage at 35km, but was not seriously affected. He went down again in the pileup and then couldn’t hold pace with the main chase group, losing 3:31 to drop to 51st at 4:13 back.
“Greipel took my wheel out when he slipped on wet roads in roundabout, but that was not a big deal,†Gesink said. “In the second crash, someone crashed in front of me and I couldn’t do anything but go over the handlebars. My bike was broken and I waited a long time for a new bike, and finally used the bike of (Luis Léon Sanchez). I am not hurt. What hurts is the time I lost.â€
Stephen Kruijswijk stayed with Gesink to finish on the same time while Bauke Mollema finished in the group at 2:09 back.
RadioShack: Fränk Schleck stood impatiently at the side of the pile-up waiting for a new bike, knowing his GC chances were disappearing up the road with the chasing peloton that included teammates Andreas Klöden, Haimar Zubeldia and Chris Horner, none of whom lose time. Schleck lost 2:09.
“Now that I have lost time, it changes things,†said last year’s third-place man. “I wasn’t one of the top favorites to win, but this is untimely. We’ll see with the team if we change my strategy.â€
Lampre: Michele Scarponi also crossed the line in shock and disbelief that he had lost 2:09 with the lead chasing group. The 2011 Giro d’Italia champion was knocked off his bike in the melée.
“Losing two minutes in a sprint stage is certainly not what I had planned today,†Scarponi said at the line. “In an instant, suddenly everyone was on the ground. There was nothing especially interesting about the road. It was straight, slightly downhill. We were going fast and then – boom! – I am tangled up with someone on top of me.â€
Movistar: Alejandro Valverde was livid at the line after finishing with the big chase group at 2:09 back.
Valverde, who is racing his first grand tour since 2009, wasn’t the only Movistar rider to crash. In fact, all nine members of the team fell, including 2011 Vuelta champion Juanjo Cobo and Tour de Suisse winner Rui Costa, who landed hard on his back. Their teammate Imanol Erviti abandoned with what the team called a “deep wound in his right leg with loss of muscular mass that will require surgery — probably.†Ivan Gutierrez is also likely to withdraw before Saturday’s stage, leaving Movistar with six riders in the race.
Garmin: Among the worst off of the peloton, Garmin-Sharp lost Tom Danielson, who abandoned, and saw Giro champ Ryder Hesjedal lose 13:24. It’s unsure if Hesjedal will be able to start tomorrow (see “Black day for the black and blueâ€).
Europcar: It looks like there will not be a repeat of last year’s miracle rider for the French team. Pierre Rolland, who won the best young rider’s jersey and the Alpe d’Huez stage and finished 10th overall, lost 2:09 and dropped to 40th, at 2:50 back. Thomas Voeckler, last year’s fourth-place man, lost 6:02.
Astana: Janez Brajkovic crashed for the second time this week, pulling the group at 2:09 across the line, while team captain Alexander Vinokourov lost 13:24. Vinokourov is not riding for GC, but he hopes to be able to contend for a stage win. Brajkovic, however, dipped to 31st, at 2:27 back.
-
2012 Tour de France Stage 7 results
July 7 Tomblaine — La Planche des Belles Filles 199km
Froome wins stage 7 of the Tour; Wiggins takes the overall lead
Stage results
• 1. Christopher FROOME, Sky, in 4:58:35
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :2
• 3. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :2
• 4. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :7
• 5. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :19
• 6. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at :44
• 9. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :50
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:09
• 20. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:52
• 24. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 2:05
• 26. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 2:17
• 27. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 2:19
• 30. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:19
• 32. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:19
• 33. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:24
• 40. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:53
• 46. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 3:08
• 48. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 3:11
• 88. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 8:00
• 103. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:48
• 107. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 10:18
• 133. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 12:25
• 142. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 13:21
• 146. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 14:21
• 180. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 20:29
• 181. Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 20:29
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 34:21:20
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :10
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :16
• 4. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :32
• 5. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :54
• 6. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at :59
• 9. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 1:32
• 11. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:43
• 14. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:22
• 16. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:29
• 18. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 3:09
• 20. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 3:13
• 24. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:39
• 26. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:43
• 27. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 3:47
• 35. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 4:50
• 46. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 10:18
• 51. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 12:11
• 65. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 16:13
• 75. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 18:25
• 84. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 19:57
• 87. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 20:52
• 130. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 27:29
• 146. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 30:06
• 159. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 35:40
• 178. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 46:32
• 181. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 55:24
Next Stage: July 8 Belfort — Porrentruy (97.9mi / 157.5km)
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 217 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 185 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 172 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Christopher FROOME, Sky: 20 points
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing: 16 points
• 3. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky: 12 points
White:
• 1. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, in 34:21:52
• 2. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 2:37
• 3. Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:41
Teams:
• 1. Sky Procycling, in 103:05:23
• 2. Radioshack-Nissan, at 1:37
• 3. Katusha Team, at 5:54
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 7 Review:
Froome wins stage 7 of the Tour; Wiggins takes the overall lead
• By VeloNews.com
• Published 7 hours ago
LA PLANCHE DES BELLES FILLES (VN) — Bradley Wiggins took command of the Tour de France on Saturday as Sky teammate Christopher Froome secured a deserved maiden victory on stage 7.
Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) finished second on the day, with Wiggins third only seconds behind, as Sky’s pace on the final 5.9km climb to the race’s first hilltop finish levied a costly toll on some contenders for the overall title in Paris.
“It’s something we practice a lot as a group,†said Froome. “I knew the finish. I thought, ‘I’m there, why not give it a nudge?’ And when I saw Cadel wasn’t there, I was surprised.â€
The team reconnoitered the climb after the Dauphiné Libéré, Froome added.
“This is one of the principal GC days, so it was important for us,†he said.
As for the new race leader, Wiggins said he knew a kilometer from the line that his teammate could win the stage. He himself was after the maillot jaune.
“My first objective was to take this jersey,†he said. “In the Tour, it’s never too early to take the yellow jersey. It’s enormous to have it. I do not know if I will have in two weeks’ time but it’s great to have it now.â€
Evans, who made a futile bid for the stage win only to be passed by Froome in the final 100 meters, is now second overall at 10 seconds behind Wiggins.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), perhaps now the biggest challenger to Evans and Wiggins, is third at 16 seconds with Rein Taaramae of Cofidis in fourth at 32 seconds.
Team Sky came to the race with a number of talented climbers and their strong pace-setting from the bottom of the steep climb to the ski-station finish line was too much for some.
Former podium finisher Fränk Schleck was among the RadioShack-Nissan riders dropped relatively early, along with Andreas Klöden, Chris Horner and, as expected, the now-former race leader Fabian Cancellara, who nonetheless put up a strong defense of his yellow jersey. Not known as a climber, he nevertheless managed to finish 20th on the day at 1:52 and slipped to 11th overall, 1:43 down on Wiggins.
RadioShack’s best-placed rider now is veteran Haimar Zubeldia in fifth at 59 seconds.
Nairobi-born Froome’s victory, his first on the world’s biggest bike race, comes less than a year after a runner-up place at the Vuelta a España.
“To be honest, it was a real fight to be at the front of the peloton,†said Froome. “I am really happy — it wasn’t about sending messages, I just saw an opportunity there.â€
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2012 Tour de France Stage 8 results
July 8 Belfort — Porrentruy 157.5km
Pinot wins stage 8 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
Stage results
• 1. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, in 3:56:10
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :26
• 3. Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :26
• 4. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :26
• 5. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :26
• 7. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at :26
• 8. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :26
• 9. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at :26
• 10. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at :30
• 11. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :30
• 18. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 1:25
• 20. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:25
• 22. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:25
• 24. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:25
• 30. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:21
• 31. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 2:21
• 42. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 4:58
• 45. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 4:58
• 52. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 4:58
• 54. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 4:58
• 55. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 4:58
• 74. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 10:17
• 79. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:19
• 88. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:19
• 90. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:19
• 92. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:19
• 117. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 16:41
• 148. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 22:19
• 149. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 22:19
• 165. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 23:31
• 178. Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha, at 23:31
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 38:17:56
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :10
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :16
• 4. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :54
• 5. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at :59
• 6. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 1:32
• 14. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:43
• 15. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:47
• 17. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 4:08
• 18. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 4:12
• 19. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 4:24
• 21. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 4:46
• 28. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 6:45
• 29. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 6:54
• 36. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 13:36
• 39. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 16:00
• 40. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 16:43
• 50. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 20:09
• 52. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 20:45
• 54. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 22:47
• 61. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 24:29
• 81. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 29:56
• 83. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 30:18
• 108. Alessandro PETACCHI, Lampre-ISD, at 35:49
• 120. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 39:22
• 135. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 47:33
• 177. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:09:37
• 178. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 1:11:39
Next Stage: July 9 Arc-et-Senans — Besancon 41.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 217 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 185 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 172 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 21 points
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky: 20 points
• 3. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing: 18 points
White:
• 1. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, in 38:20:23
• 2. Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 46
• 3. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:14
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 114:56:52
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 2:51
• 3. Liquigas-Cannondale, at 10:06
Lanterne Rouge: Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 8 Review:
Pinot wins stage 8 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
• By Agence France Presse
• Published Jul. 8, 2012
• Updated 4 hours ago
PORRENTRUY, Switzerland (AFP) — Sky’s Bradley Wiggins defended his yellow jersey on the second day in the hills after seeing his lead come under attack for the first time in the Tour de France.
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Big Mat) won stage 8, his maiden win on what is his debut, after 157.5km of racing over several short but steep climbs in the Swiss Jura that exacted a toll on the peloton. His victory also gave him the polka-dot jersey of best climber.
Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) finished second at 26 seconds, leading home a select group after a failed attempt to shake off Wiggins on the way to the last summit and on the 16km descent to the finish.
Among those finishing with Evans were race leader Wiggins with teammate Chris Froome; Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale); Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol); Denis Menchov (Katusha); and RadioShack-Nissan riders Fränk Schleck, Chris Horner, Tony Gallopin and Haimar Zubeldia.
Wiggins, spending his first day in the yellow jersey after his third-place finish on Saturday at La Planche des Belles Filles, retained his 10-second lead on second placed Evans with Nibali still third at 16.
Pinot, a climbing specialist who at 22 years old is the youngest rider in this year’s race, had pressured team manager Marc Madiot to take him to the three-week epic.
And despite starting the day with instructions to stay in the peloton, he seized his chance after teammate Jérémy Roy, who had been in an earlier breakaway, was reeled in but did plenty of the groundwork for him.
Pinot eventually went off on his own and caught Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) on the seventh and final climb of the day, the 3.7km Col de la Croix.
He came over the summit with a small lead and rode hard on the 16km descent to claim the first French win of this year’s race.
“It’s a dream come true,†said Pinot, who is from the nearby Franche-Comte region. “I just did the longest 10km of my life, I’ll never forget it. I was quite scared when I heard the peloton had closed the gap to 50 seconds.
“But a lot of this is down to Jérémy (Roy). He did a lot of the preparation work for me, I can’t thank him enough.â€
Earlier in the stage Spain’s Olympic road race champion Samuel Sánchez crashed, suffering shoulder and hand injuries that could rule him out of the London Olympics later this month.
Monday’s ninth stage is the first of two long time trials in the race, a 41.5km race against the clock around Besancon.
-
2012 Tour de France Stage 9 results
July 9 Arc-et-Senans — Besancon 41.5km
Time trial specialists Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin upstaged by Sky speedsters
Stage results
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 51:24
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at :35
• 3. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at :57
• 4. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 1:06
• 5. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:24
• 6. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 1:43
• 9. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 2:08
• 10. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:09
• 16. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:44
• 30. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 3:47
• 32. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 3:48
• 34. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 4:01
• 36. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 4:14
• 44. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 4:32
• 53. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 4:50
• 56. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 4:54
• 62. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 5:16
• 66. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 5:22
• 67. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 5:24
• 87. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 6:08
• 104. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 6:46
• 161. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 8:43
• 166. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 8:55
• 178. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 11:10
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 39:09:20
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 1:53
• 3. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:07
• 4. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 5. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 3:02
• 8. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 5:14
• 15. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 6:33
• 16. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 8:18
• 17. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:19
• 19. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 8:34
• 22. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 9:06
• 23. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:07
• 28. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 10:46
• 32. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 14:33
• 41. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 23:29
• 49. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 25:25
• 52. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 26:07
• 54. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 26:34
• 61. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 30:37
• 72. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 33:02
• 81. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 36:16
• 116. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 44:12
• 132. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 51:47
• 153. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 1:00:42
• 177. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:18:32
• 178. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 1:19:33
Next Stage: July 10 Rest Day; July 11 Mâcon — Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 217 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 185 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 172 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 21 points
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky: 20 points
• 3. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing: 18 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 39:14:34
• 2. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :42
• 3. Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :45
Teams:
• 1. RADIOSHACK-NISSAN, in 117:36:25
• 2. SKY PROCYCLING, at 1:25
• 3. OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP, at 13:25
Lanterne Rouge: Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 9 Review:
Time trial specialists Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin upstaged by Sky speedsters
• By Agence France Presse
• Published Jul. 9, 2012
• Updated 1 hour ago
BESANCON, France (AFP) — Time trial specialists Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara found themselves upstaged on Monday as Team Sky scored another impressive result on the Tour de France.
In the first of two long time trials race leader Bradley Wiggins tightened his grip on the yellow jersey by claiming a maiden stage victory that piled more time on defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who now sits second overall at 1 minute and 53 seconds behind the Team Sky captain.
Wiggins, a three-time Olympic pursuit champ on the track, clocked a winning time of 51:24 for the rolling, slightly technical 41.5km course between Arc-et-Senans and Besancon.
The icing on the cake for Sky was Chris Froome’s runner-up finish, just 35 seconds slower than Wiggins, two days after the Kenyan-born Briton claimed his maiden stage at the first hilltop finish at La Planche des Belles Filles.
Martin, the reigning world champion from Germany, set the early pace but by the end his time of 53:40 was over two minutes slower than Wiggins.
The Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider, who is hoping to challenge for Olympic gold in London later this month, did not expect to win. He has been racing with a broken scaphoid in his wrist since a crash early last week and lost time thanks to a puncture near the start.
“I felt not too bad, but I had a flat tire after about four or five kilometers, so I really lost my rhythm after that,†said the German. “But I know it wasn’t a good time for me.
“I suffered, but my hand was only really sore when I went over a hole in the road.â€
Cancellara eventually took over as provisional leader. But first Froome, then Wiggins pushed him down a place each to third.
The RadioShack rider, who won the prologue on June 30 and wore the yellow jersey until handing it to Wiggins on Saturday, said the demands of Sunday’s hilly eighth stage in the Swiss Jura did not do him any favors.
“Yesterday was a really hard stage,†said Cancellara, another favorite for Olympic gold in London.
“Today I was totally focused and gave it everything I had. I’m happy because it was a difficult course for me, a typical Tour de France time trial.â€
-
Taking Stock: Halfway through the Tour, Sky is in the driver’s seat
By Andrew Hood
Published 9 hours ago
MACON, France (VN) – “You put two and two together, and it’s not going to be easy for Cadel.â€
Those are the words of Sky sport director Sean Yates, stating the obvious moments after Bradley Wiggins knocked it out of the park in Monday’s decisive time trial.
Wiggins surpassed expectations in the race of truth, tightening his grip on the maillot jaune to secure perhaps an insurmountable lead of 1:53 to Cadel Evans (BMC Racing).
With 10 days of racing still to go, Yates knows better than to say the Tour’s already a wrap, but he’s also smart enough to know that Sky could not be in a better position.
“When you look at the course, and at Cadel taking that time back, the possibilities are relatively limited,†Yates told VeloNews. “In this day and age, especially when you have a strong team, it’s not on the climbs that you make the difference.â€
The Tour’s main protagonists took stock on Tuesday’s rest day and punched the reset button on goals, ambitions and tactics going into the second half of the Tour.
Still ahead are the Tour’s hardest climbs across the Alps and Pyrénées and one long time trial, but many think the Tour is all but over.
Only Evans, second at 1:53 back, is within two minutes of Wiggins. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Denis Menchov (Katusha), fourth at 2:23 and fifth at 3:02, respectively, will now be fighting to get on the podium. Everyone else will be looking to take something out of the race to salvage a Tour thus far dominated by Sky.
BMC tried to put up a brave face despite the disappointment of ceding time to Wiggins that everyone admits will be extremely difficult to extract.
Evans and Wiggins are largely equal on the climbs, and with a flatter, 53.5km time trial still to come on the Tour’s penultimate stage, BMC knows there’s only one tactic.
“We have to go on the attack, that’s obvious,†said BMC sport director John Lelangue. “Cadel didn’t have his best time trial, but there is still terrain left to be aggressive. All is not lost.â€
There’s some quiet optimism that Evans can still unnerve Wiggins, both on the grinding climbs still to come and on the harrowing descents. Evans will have to try something in the coming stages in the Alps if he holds any hope of becoming the first repeat Tour winner since Lance Armstrong in 2005.
Wednesday’s 10th stage heads over the Col du Grand Colombier for the first time in Tour history and Thursday’s 11th stage over the HC climbs at the Madeleine and Croix de Fer ends atop the La Toussuire finish climb.
Evans managed to ambush Wiggins at the Dauphiné on more technical descents, including that of the Grand Colombier, but those within Sky say that mistake will not happen again. Wiggins did not want to risk a crash in June on roads he was not completely familiar with.
With everything at stake in July, Sky will play the numbers game to snuff out any aggression from Evans.
For Yates, a former pro, who took the lead sports director slot at Sky in 2010, the final half of the Tour is all about control and measuring the efforts.
“There are still many days left in the Tour de France. There are still ‘X’ amount of stages to be won, either by a sprinter, by a breakaway or by a climber,†Yates said. “We have a team to control the situation.â€
While Evans was licking his wounds, Nibali and the Liquigas squad left Monday’s time trial quietly optimistic.
Like everyone else, Nibali lost time to Wiggins and teammate Chris Froome, but gave up very little to Evans (24 seconds) and gained on all of his other GC rivals.
The 2010 Vuelta a España champion says there are still plenty of chances to attack in the coming days in the Alps and Pyrénées.
“It’s too early to throw in the towel,†Nibali said. “We will have to try to invent some action in the mountains. Evans will have to attack, too. There’s still some terrain to do it.â€
Nibali will probably like the narrower, steep roads in the Pryénées to try to make a serious move. The race moves there in the middle of the final week.
Stage 16 ends with a descent off the Col de Peyresourde that favors Nibali’s downhill prowess, while stage 17 features a challenging final 50km, packed with three climbs and two technical descents to put Wiggins and Froome under pressure. The Peyragudes summit finish is new to the Tour and follows the race’s second ascent of the Peyresourde.
In fact, Nibali and Evans could become natural allies on the road. Both have strong teams and both have shared interests of unsettling Sky’s stranglehold on the GC.
Evans needs to get rid of Wiggins and Nibali needs to push past Froome if he hopes to earn his first-ever Tour podium.
Nibali can count on the help of Ivan Basso and Sylvester Szmyd, while Evans can lean on Steve Cummings, Amael Moinard and a resurgent Tejay van Garderen, who punched back into the top 10 with a great TT on Monday. But both team leaders were isolated under Sky’s pressure on the race’s first summit finish, at La Planche des Belles Filles.
With only two summit finishes remaining between Wednesday’s push into the Alps and Paris, Nibali knows he has to make the most of favorable terrain.
“At the Tour, you have to search for the right moment,†Nibali said. “It’s not like Lombardia or Liège, when you can blindly attack with no thought of the consequences. Here, you have to be more calculating.â€
So far, Sky has proven quite adept at handling what’s been an explosive race.
Wiggins and Froome both avoided disastrous crashes in the first week that took out the likes of Giro d’Italia champion Ryder Hesjdal (Garmin-Sharp) and Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), though Froome did lose 1:25 when he punctured with 15km to go in stage 1 in Liège.
Sky’s dominance blew up the race unexpectedly Saturday on the road to Belles Filles and controlled a frenetic run across the Jura Mountains on Saturday that saw the peloton to come completely unglued.
The longer, grinding climbs looming in the Alps suit Wiggins and Froome even better, meaning that Evans, Nibali or anyone hoping to tip the Sky boat will have to pull something out of the hat. Sky, however, will not be taking it sitting down. Team principal David Brailsford said the best defense could be going back on the offensive.
“This is a long way from being a formality,†Brailsford said. “We cannot just sit back and wait for them to come at us. We are not afraid to stick our nose in the wind and we’ve shown we’ve been willing to do that all season.â€
Froome, at least publicly, is committed to helping Wiggins win the yellow jersey. How that dynamic plays out over the coming days remains to be seen.
If someone like Nibali or van Garderen attacks, will Sky keep Froome with Wiggins, or send him up the road? The latter would provoke a move from Evans, so Sky will have to try to play a balancing act to keep Wiggins in yellow and his rivals at bay. That means they might have to sacrifice Froome’s podium spot.
“Our tactic is to try to win the Tour de France – full stop. You do not have to be Einstein to figure that out,†Yates said. “In all due respect, we are doing a good job. We are looking after Bradley, and we are doing it in the most economical way, with the long-term goal of winning in Paris.â€
The opening 10 days of racing proved one thing: Wiggins is the strongest in the race and Sky is ready to back him in his historic bid to become the U.K.’s first Tour winner.
One question mark that remains, however, is Wiggins’ ability to carry the pressure of the yellow jersey for nearly two more weeks.
Wiggins has proven he can go the distance in a grand tour, finishing fourth in the 2009 Tour and earning his first grand tour podium with third last year at the Vuelta. But it’s a massive leap from following the wheels to defending yellow for more than two weeks at the Tour de France.
His major victories this season have come in week-long stage races, but during each of those wins, Sky worked hard to protect Wiggins through a variety of scenarios. Yates says the team is up to the task of carrying Wiggins victorious to Paris.
“You can never discount a bad day, can you?†Yates said. “Time will tell. This is what Bradley’s been training for. The plan all season long has been for Bradley to be at his strongest during the Tour. We have the team to protect him.â€
In fact, that inevitable “bad day†could be the only hope that the likes of Evans and Nibali have to knock him off his game. A crash, a bonk, an illness or a loss of concentration have derailed greater men in the Tour’s past.
Wiggins says he’s trying to stay focused on the process of racing without letting himself get swept up with the euphoria that’s building across the English Channel. With half the Tour to go, Wiggins knows he’s still a very long way from Paris.
“I am not trying to get too carried away with the emotions,†Wiggins said. “I didn’t sleep that night after taking the jersey. I let that slightly get to me, but that’s why I do sport, that’s why I love it. I need to stay focused and check off the boxes one day at a time.â€
Nothing’s won in cycling until crossing the finish line and Wiggins wants to keep reminding himself of that every day as he pedals closer to an historic win still nearly two weeks away in Paris.
If he can roll out of the Pyrénées with the yellow jersey still on his back, then the British can put the champagne on ice.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 10 results
July 11 Mâcon — Bellegarde-sur-Valserine 194.5km
Voeckler wins stage 10 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
Stage results
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, in 4:46:26
• 2. Michele SCARPONI, Lampre-ISD, at :3
• 3. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at :7
• 4. Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL, Rabobank, at :23
• 5. Dries DEVENYNS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :30
• 6. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 2:44
• 12. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 3:16
• 13. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 3:16
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 3:16
• 17. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 3:16
• 18. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 3:16
• 24. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:16
• 26. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:16
• 27. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 3:33
• 31. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 3:40
• 33. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 3:40
• 34. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:54
• 43. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 9:07
• 49. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 11:41
• 54. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 11:41
• 56. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 12:25
• 59. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 15:04
• 81. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 19:05
• 107. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 27:27
• 109. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 27:27
• 146. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 31:55
• 162. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 31:55
• 175. Gorka IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 31:55
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 43:59:02
• 2. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 1:53
• 3. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:07
• 4. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 5. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 3:02
• 10. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 5:31
• 14. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 6:33
• 16. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:19
• 19. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 8:58
• 21. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 9:30
• 22. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:45
• 23. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 10:46
• 31. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 22:51
• 32. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 24:07
• 37. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 29:53
• 40. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 32:25
• 41. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 32:38
• 43. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 33:50
• 52. Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan, at 38:44
• 81. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 52:05
• 84. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 52:37
• 87. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 54:48
• 103. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:03:35
• 157. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 1:29:21
• 174. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:47:11
• 175. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 1:48:12
Next Stage: July 12 Albertville — La Toussuire-Les Sybelles 148km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 232 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 205 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 172 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 28 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 21 points
• 3. Michele SCARPONI, Lampre-ISD: 21 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 44:04:33
• 2. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at :25
• 3. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:22
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in132:02:22
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 4:58
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 22:06
Lanterne Rouge: Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 10 Review:
Voeckler wins stage 10 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 11, 2012
• Updated 2 hours ago
Thomas Voeckler won stage 10 of the Tour de France on Wednesday in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine from the day’s long breakaway. Voeckler (Europcar) rode a wave of late attacks by the escape’s final five survivors and topped Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) and Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) in the uphill finish.
Voeckler and company rode away from a 25-man breakaway on the hors categorie Col du Grand Colombier. Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank) and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) were the other riders to survive the first ascent of the 17km climb in Tour history.
A late counter-attack by Voigt threatened to steal Voeckler’s thunder, especially when the German went off in pursuit of Devenyns after the Belgian attacked with 3.5km to race. But on the small rise leading to the finish line Voeckler somehow found the strength to leave Scarponi and Sanchez in his wake to overtake both Voigt and Devenyns.
“I’m 33 years old and in my 10th Tour de France. I fully appreciate what’s happening to me,†said Voeckler. “It’s hard for me to recount. My knees hurt, everything hurts. Before this Tour started, Europcar was not in a great place. I saw my little boy and saw it in his eyes. I couldn’t give up.â€
Bradley Wiggins and his Sky teammates Chris Froome and Richie Porte fended off a series of attacks to defend the yellow jersey. Second overall Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), fourth overall Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and fifth overall Denis Menchov (Katusha) finished with Wiggins to maintain their GC rankings ahead of Thursday’s 11th stage.
Nibali and Jurgen Van de Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) were among the riders to attack the yellow jersey group on the descent from the Grand Colombier, with the Sicilian building over a minute’s advantage at one point after catching teammate Peter Sagan, who dropped off the breakaway. Just has they did in a nearly identical fifth stage at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, Wiggins and company caught the Italian near the summit of the Col de Richemond, 20km from the finish.
“I didn’t panic when he attacked,†said Wiggins. “He’s over two minutes behind me and I knew he’d have to be really strong in the valley if he was to stay away.â€
But in a change from that Dauphiné stage, Evans did not attack on the descent, saying he “was a little bit hesitant.â€
“Maybe it was a missed opportunity or something,†said Evans. “Sky really has the team for this course and this situation… So it leaves the opportunities few and far between. And with the wind and the climb that far from the finish, it was a bit difficult today.â€
Van den Broeck attacked again over the top of the Richemond and took half-a-minute on the Wiggins group at the finish, taking back time in the race for the best young rider’s jersey from Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who struggled on the day’s final two climbs. Evans led the group to the finish after putting in a dig on the final ramp to the line.
“It was a tough day,†said van Garderen. “I was struggling out there, got dropped, trying to be there for Cadel, just give him a gel, do what I can, then dropped on the final kilometer of the climb. I thought I was dropped on descent, but saw the cars, and knew I could close it down.
Sagan launched the 25-man breakaway inside the stage’s first 5km, and Cyril Lemoine (Saur-Sojasun) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) quickly joined him. The move quickly ballooned in numbers, with Scarponi the best man on GC, at 10:27 back. The move built up a lead of seven minutes by the stage’s halfway point and carried more than six minutes onto the Grand Colombier. That’s where Voeckler unhitched 21 of the attackers, including Voigt, who chased for more than 35km before rejoining the front of the race inside 10km to go.
Devenyns set out, then Voigt, and finally Voeckler countered them.
“Today was a stage where, in this moment I have mixed feelings,†said Devenyns. “I don’t know if I should be happy for the performance or a little bit disappointed because I didn’t win. But honestly, I think I did the best I could with some of the best guys in the peloton.â€
Voeckler cracked inside the final 300 meters and looked to be losing control as Scarponi surged up the right barriers. The Frenchman held on, however, and crossed the line in pieces.
“I was in extreme pain at the end. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew the others were feeling the same,†he said.
His efforts over the climbs won him the polka dot jersey, but Voeckler admitted his stage win had been hard to come by.
“I suffered a cramp when I went for the points at the summit of the Grand Colombier, but I thought ‘well at least that’s the jersey in the bag,’†he said. “I also wanted to contest the stage win but in the breakaway I felt like I was being marked. When Devenyns attacked, I said to the others ‘go after him.’
“If the finale had been on a flat stretch, it would have been over. Thankfully for me it was that little bit harder.â€
Thursday’s 148km 11th stage takes the peloton from Albertville over 73km of climbing to the summit of La Toussuire ski station. Wiggins said he expects more of the same from his rivals.
“We knew coming into the Tour it was going to be like that. The leader’s jersey gets attacked, so I expect it really,†he said. “It would be a pretty poor mountain stage on the telly if everyone rode along all day and no one attacked.â€
Evans agreed.
“You have to make opportunities for yourself,†he said. “Tomorrow, I think the attacking riders will be more rewarded. But we’ll have to see how the other teams react to the race.â€
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2012 Tour de France Stage 11 results
July 12 Albertville — La Toussuire-Les Sybelles 148km
Questions dog Sky after Froome backs off late attack
Stage results
• 1. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar in 4:43:54
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat +55
• 3. Christopher FROOME, Sky +55
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol +57
• 5. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale +57
• 6. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky +57
• 10. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan +2:23
• 11. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing +2:23
• 12. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing +2:23
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan +3:53
• 14. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan +3:53
• 22. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar +8:21
• 24. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana +10:21
• 41. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha +14:15
• 49. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale +18:31
• 51. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing +18:31
• 58. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp +23:48
• 59. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step +23:58
• 74. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar +28:10
• 91. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge +33:20
• 112. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale +33:20
• 137. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step +33:20
• 154. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky +33:35
• 164. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp +34:26
• 167. Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM +36:35
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky in 48:43:53
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky +2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale +2:23
• 4. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing +3:19
• 5. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol +4:48
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing +6:57
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan +9:29
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan +9:45
• 15. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan +12:41
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha +16:20
• 18. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar +18:10
• 23. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale +27:04
• 27. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat +30:46
• 30. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step +31:59
• 35. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana +41:49
• 38. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar +50:04
• 40. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing +51:24
• 42. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step +56:30
• 52. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan +1:02:16
• 58. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale +1:05:01
• 92. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp +1:25:00
• 93. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp +1:26:26
• 94. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge +1:27:11
• 153. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky +2:01:59
• 167. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp +2:20:40
Next Stage: July 13 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne — Annonay Davezieux 226km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 232 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 205 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 172 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 66 points
• 2. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar: 55 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 39 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing in 48:50:50
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat +1:54
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis +23:50
Teams:
• 1. RADIOSHACK-NISSAN in 146:24:13
• 2. SKY PROCYCLING +12:31
• 3. ASTANA PRO TEAM +31:59
Lanterne Rouge: Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp
Withdrawals:
State 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 11 Review:
Questions dog Sky after Froome backs off late attack
• By Matthew Beaudin
• Published 46 mins ago
LA TOUSSUIRE, France (VN) — Two seconds. That’s all the time Chris Froome took from Bradley Wiggins, his teammate and maillot jaune, in the ski village of La Toussuire on Thursday. But he took much more than time.
The moment was there, for everyone to see. Froome attacked the yellow jersey group, his teammate’s group, four kilometers from the finish, 14km into the last of four categorized climbs. He established a gap and then tapped his ear.
It was Sky director Sean Yates telling the flying Froome to slow down and wait for Wiggins.
He looked behind him to see nobody. And then he sat up. Never mind what could have happened on the road in front of him. Froome’s leash was stretched.
“I follow orders at all costs,†Froome said. “I’m part of the team, and I have to do what the team asks me to do.
“He’s just as strong as me, I think, and stronger in the time trials. We’ve still got a 50-kilometer time trial coming… Our plan is to look after Bradley.â€
Froome said he knew he’d ridden everyone — including Wiggins — off his wheel. Yates said he under no circumstances told Froome to attack, and that the plan was for Froome to open it up with 500 meters to the line. But make no bones about it: Froome delivered a proper dig high on the day’s final slopes, after being dropped earlier.
“I don’t know if he had a verbal conversation with Bradley not over the radio. I certainly didn’t hear anything,†Yates said at he team bus. “It wasn’t my instruction to attack.â€
So this begs the question: what was Froome doing? When asked at the finish line initially, he said he wasn’t going to stop attacking until he realized the GC riders behind him weren’t together, and that Wiggins didn’t have a wheel to hold. The logic on that is unclear.
Froome knew — everyone knew, at that point — he could take time from Nibali and Evans; the voice in the radio, it seemed, worried he’d take too much time from Wiggins. Froome, at one point, slipped off the Sky message, indicating he had a certain “we’ll see†approach.
Yates doesn’t see it any other way than Wiggins.
“There’s no point in gambling. We don’t want to spin the roulette wheel, you know?†Yates said.
The moment was reminiscent of the Angliru climb at the Vuelta a España last year. Froome and Wiggins were together, but Wiggins was over-geared and couldn’t stay with his Kenya-born countryman and an attacking Juan Jose Cobo, who eventually won.
Froome left Wiggins on the road and ended up leapfrogging his captain on GC to move into second, where he finished. Wiggins ended up third overall.
Asked by VeloNews if Froome could win this Tour if he rode for a different team, Yates said, “I don’t know the answer… We basically, won’t know, will we? And we don’t know, because he’s on our team.â€
Froome, for the time being, is toeing the line. He was asked if, in five year’s time, he would wonder about the races he could have won, like the 2012 Tour and the 2011 Vuelta. He was even told he was strong enough to win the Tour, so why not have a go?
“Thank you for the compliment,†he said. “But I think Bradley’s in a better position to win the Tour than I am, to be honest.
“That’s a thing I’m going to have to see in five or six years time. But I’m happy with the work I’m doing here. I think I’m doing a really good job. And what more can I say? I’m doing my job.â€
Froome is now 2:05 back to Wiggins on GC. It could be much closer.
Froome suffered a flat tire late on stage 1 and wasn’t able to catch back on before the peloton attacked the steep finishing ramp at Seraing, Belgium. Without that, the Sky is awfully cloudy, and Yates has said as much.
“You can never have too much of a good thing, I reckon. Obviously, the fact that we’ve got such a strong rider on our team is great. The fact that he lost one-and-a-half minutes in Liége is really unfortunate for him, you know? Obviously, if he hadn’t it’d be a lot closer.â€
Certainly, it’s something being discussed in the Sky bus. Normally, Sky manager Dave Brailsford is happy to chat with reporters before or after stages. But not this day. At the end of the stage, Brailsford spent long minutes in the bus, and came out and gave only a few short answers. The team roles, he said, were clarified by the time trial, and then ended the interviews.
“The fact of the matter is, your job is to make as much out of this as you can, isn’t it?†Brailsford asked a TV reporter, who said that in fact it was.
“We’re first and second in the Tour de France, and let’s look for a scandal. Let’s look for something that doesn’t work.â€
And with that, Brailsford ducked back into the bus.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 12 results
July 13 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne — Annonay Davezieux 226km
Millar wins stage 12 of the Tour de France; Wiggins retains yellow
Stage results
• 1. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, in 5:42:46
• 2. Jean-Christophe PERAUD, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 0
• 3. Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at :5
• 4. Cyril GAUTIER, Europcar, at :5
• 5. Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana, at :5
• 6. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 7:53
• 9. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 7:54
• 12. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 7:54
• 15. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 7:54
• 17. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 7:54
• 21. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 7:54
• 28. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7:54
• 30. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7:54
• 31. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7:54
• 36. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7:54
• 52. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 8:39
• 57. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 8:54
• 58. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 8:55
• 64. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 9:08
• 84. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 10:15
• 85. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 10:15
• 129. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 11:59
• 132. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 11:59
• 136. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 11:59
• 142. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 11:59
• 157. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 11:59
• 161. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 11:59
• 164. Christophe KERN, Europcar, at 19:15
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 54:34:33
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 4. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 3:19
• 5. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 4:48
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 6:57
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:29
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:45
• 15. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:41
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 17:21
• 19. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 18:55
• 26. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 31:09
• 30. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 33:13
• 36. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 45:54
• 39. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 52:24
• 40. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 54:09
• 44. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 59:11
• 50. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:02:16
• 55. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:05:00
• 67. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:11:03
• 79. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:18:32
• 91. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:29:05
• 92. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 1:29:32
• 152. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:06:04
• 164. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:24:45
Next Stage: July 14 Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux — Le Cap d’Agde 217km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 252 points
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 198 points
• 3. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 181 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 66 points
• 2. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar: 55 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 39 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 54:41:30
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:54
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at 27:55
Teams:
• 1. RADIOSHACK-NISSAN, in 163:56:13
• 2. SKY PROCYCLING, at 12:38
• 3. ASTANA PRO TEAM, at 24:33
Lanterne Rouge: Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp
Withdrawals:
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 12 Review:
Millar wins stage 12 of the Tour de France; Wiggins retains yellow
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 13, 2012
• Updated 5 hours ago
ANNONAY DAVÉZIEUX, France (VN) — David Millar turned Garmin-Sharp’s fortunes around on Friday, winning stage 12 of the Tour de France from a breakaway in Annonay Davezieux. Millar outwitted Jean-Cristophe Péraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) after the pair left behind their three breakaway mates in the final kilometers.
Millar’s fourth career Tour stage comes in the wake of a “horrific†Tour campaign for his Garmin team, which has lost several riders, including team leader Ryder Hesjedal.
“It’s been a horrific Tour for our team,†said Millar. “I wanted to prove that we’re still here. I wanted to prove that Garmin-Sharp is still one of the strongest teams in the world.â€
Bradley Wiggins’ Sky teammates controlled the peloton most of the day, allowing the escapees to ride with a gap of 10-12 minutes over the second half of the stage. Wiggins came through with the peloton, led by a points-chasing Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), and kept his edge of more than two minutes over teammate Chris Froome.
The race jury relegated Goss for irregular sprinting, giving Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) a 56-point advantage in the race for the green jersey.
“He didn’t stay in his line. He changed his line, then made quite a big mistake, it’s clear to see,†said race director Jean-Francois Pescheux. â€He has been relegated to last place on the stage.â€
Getting established
A day after the toughest stage in the Alps and with the only two major climbs coming within the first 80km, the breakaway contenders were primed from the start of the race’s longest stage. After 20km of attacks and counter-attacks a 19-strong group that included the first five finishers managed to pull itself free of the peloton to begin the 12.5km climb to the summit of the Cucheron.
On the way to the summit the frontrunners split as the demands of the Cat. 1 climb took their toll.
Eleven leaders went over the summit with a lead of 53 seconds on the main peloton containing the yellow jersey and the big favorites and they would go on to increase their lead further. Millar was part of a five-man group that finally broke free of the other six riders on the descent of the day’s second climb with around 120km to race.
By then, Millar was already considering his options.
“When it whittled down to the five riders I didn’t expect to be at the front but I was feeling great,†he said. “Once we were in the group of five I knew I was the fastest sprinter there so I decided my tactics about 120km out, and that was to win the sprint.â€
The five leaders went on to build a significant lead on the peloton, taking their advantage to nearly 13 minutes.
“They didn’t let us go, we really had to fight hard to build that advantage!†he said.
Millar for the sprint?
After collaborating all day, Spaniard Egoi Martinez of the crash-hit Euskaltel-Euskadi team began the hostilities with a brief attack 4km from the finish. But it was Peraud’s acceleration 2.7km from the slightly uphill finish that proved decisive.
“That was my best chance there,†explained Peraud. “Because I knew that I wouldn’t have the sprint finish to match Millar.â€
Millar fought hard to get back on the wheel, and his efforts allowed the pair to open up a decisive gap on Martinez, Frenchman Cyril Gautier (Europcar) and Croatian Robert Kiserlovski (Astana).
At the end, Millar collapsed on the ground to soak up a victory that comes 45 years to the day after the death of British cycling giant Tom Simpson on Mont Ventoux.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 13 results
July 14 Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux — Le Cap d’Agde 217km
Andre Greipel edges Peter Sagan to win stage 13 of the 2012 Tour de France
Stage results
• 1. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, in 4:57:59
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 3. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at 0
• 4. Sébastien HINAULT, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 0
• 5. Daryl IMPEY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 11. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 12. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 0
• 15. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 0
• 16. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 0
• 18. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 20. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 0
• 30. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 36. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 0
• 39. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 40. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 45. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at :46
• 49. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 1:45
• 54. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:36
• 63. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 8:36
• 67. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 8:36
• 91. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 12:31
• 96. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 12:31
• 97. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:31
• 108. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 12:31
• 121. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 14:04
• 130. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 14:04
• 133. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 14:04
• 140. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 14:04
• 151. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 14:04
• 163. Christophe KERN, Europcar, at 14:12
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 59:32:32
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 4. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 3:19
• 5. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 4:48
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 6:57
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:29
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:45
• 15. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:41
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 17:21
• 24. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 32:59
• 28. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 44:31
• 30. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 45:13
• 31. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 46:40
• 32. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 47:17
• 35. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 55:54
• 41. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:04:55
• 42. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:05:00
• 46. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:07:47
• 49. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:10:52
• 50. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:11:03
• 83. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:32:36
• 95. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 1:42:03
• 99. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:43:09
• 150. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:14:40
• 163. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:37:16
Next Stage: July 15 Limoux — Foix 191km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 296 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 232 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 203 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 66 points
• 2. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar: 55 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 39 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 59:39:29
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:54
• 3. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at 41:59
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 178:50:10
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 12:38
• 3. Astana Pro Team, at 25:19
Lanterne Rouge: Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp
Withdrawals:
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 13 Review:
Andre Greipel edges Peter Sagan to win stage 13 of the 2012 Tour de France
• By Agence France Presse
• Published 5 hours ago
LE CAP D’AGDE, France (AFP) — Germany’s Andre Greipel claimed his third victory of this year’s Tour de France as Bradley Wiggins of Britain held on to the yellow jersey at the end of the 13th stage.
Greipel, who rides for Lotto, finished just ahead of Slovakian sprint rival Peter Sagan (Liquigas) in a tight finish in which Wiggins astonishingly tried to set up Sky teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen.
“Edvald’s done a lot of work for me in the mountains, so we tried to pay him back by setting him up there at the finish,†said Wiggins.
But Boasson Hagen could only finish third on the 217km stage, which began in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux.
“I’m really happy with this victory,†said Greipel, one of the few sprinters able to successfully negotiate the Mont Saint Clair climb, whose summit was 20km from the finish.
“The team did a great job for me today. It’s amazing. You can be really happy with just one victory in the Tour de France, but this one is a bit special because of the Mont Saint Clair being there near the finish.
“We deserved this.â€
Despite a potentially treacherous finale due to crosswinds leading to Cap d’Agde, Wiggins stayed out of danger to retain his lead of two minutes and five seconds over teammate Chris Froome.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is still third at 2:23 while defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) is fourth at 3:19.
Greipel won stages 4 and 5 in this year’s race and now has four in total, having claimed his maiden Tour stage in 2011.
World champion Mark Cavendish (Sky), the winner of 21 stages on the Tour but only one this edition, was one of a large bunch of riders left behind on the slopes of the Mont Saint Clair.
After an eight-man breakaway formed in the opening kilometers, they were allowed to go on and build a maximum lead of nine minutes on the peloton.
But with the stage win and points for the green jersey at stake, and the potential danger to the overall victory contenders, it wasn’t long before the peloton upped the pace.
The Orica-GreenEdge team of sprinter Matt Goss hit the front and with 70km to race the leaders’ gap had dropped to just over two minutes.
Minutes later, Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) jumped away in the hope of taking his attack all the way to the finish in remembrance of his father, who died six years ago to the day.
But the first slopes of the Saint Clair ended his hopes and the peloton, which had also reeled in his seven companions, soon powered past.
Evans surged ahead in a bid to distance Wiggins and his Sky team. The move failed, but caused a split that left a select group at the front and Goss among those off the back.
Wiggins said the move had not scared him: “I don’t know if it was an attack, but it was far from the finish and I knew the climb because I’d raced it on the Midi Libre.â€
With 16km remaining Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) launched his attack, joined by GreenEdge’s Michael Albasini.
Their two-man bid was doomed by the sustained efforts of Greipel’s Lotto team.
Although the Belgian outfit came apart in the closing kilometer when Wiggins made a rare appearance to lead out Boasson Hagen, Greipel finished the job off in style thanks to a timely lift of his front wheel at the finish.
Even Sagan, who has also won three stages, had to applaud.
“He lifted his bike faster than me, but that’s the way it is. He deserved it,†said Sagan.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 14 results
July 15 Limoux — Foix 191km
Luis Leon Sanchez solos to victory in stage 14 of the 2012 Tour de France
Stage results
• 1. Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL, Rabobank, in 4:50:29
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :47
• 3. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at :47
• 4. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at :47
• 5. Gorka IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at :47
• 15. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 18:15
• 16. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 18:15
• 17. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 18:15
• 20. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 18:15
• 41. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 18:15
• 44. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 18:15
• 50. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 18:15
• 51. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 18:15
• 55. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 18:15
• 58. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 18:15
• 61. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 18:15
• 68. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 18:15
• 69. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 18:27
• 70. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 21:19
• 97. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 28:18
• 130. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 28:18
• 143. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 28:18
• 144. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 28:18
• 147. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 28:18
• 148. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 28:18
• 151. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 28:18
• 162. Christophe KERN, Europcar, at 31:53
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 64:41:16
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 4. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 3:19
• 5. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 4:48
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 6:57
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:29
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:45
• 15. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:41
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 17:21
• 25. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 32:59
• 28. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 45:13
• 30. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 47:17
• 31. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 47:32
• 34. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 56:06
• 36. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 56:43
• 41. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:04:55
• 52. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:13:56
• 61. Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:17:50
• 66. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:21:06
• 86. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:42:39
• 100. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 1:52:06
• 103. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:53:12
• 115. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, at 2:03:38
• 149. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:24:43
• 162. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:47:29
Next Stage: July 16 Samatan — Pau 158.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 333 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 236 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 203 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 69 points
• 2. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar: 55 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 39 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 64:48:13
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:54
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 40:35
Teams:
• 1. RADIOSHACK-NISSAN, in 194:16:22
• 2. SKY PROCYCLING, at 12:38
• 3. BMC RACING TEAM, at 17:46
Lanterne Rouge: Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp
Withdrawals:
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 14 Review:
• Luis Leon Sanchez solos to victory in stage 14 of the 2012 Tour de France
• By Agence France Presse
• Published 4 hours ago
FOIX, France (AFP) — Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez handed his stricken Rabobank team a welcome boost by soloing to victory on Sunday in stage 14 of the Tour de France.
Sanchez, whose team has been decimated by crashes, had been part of an 11-man break that built a 16-minute lead on the peloton well before the end of the 191km stage from Limoux to Foix.
And after counter-attacking Sandy Casar (FDJ-Big Mat) on the 38km descent towards the finish, the Spaniard made a decisive move with just over 11km to race.
Sanchez went on unchallenged to finish 47 seconds ahead of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)) with Casar in third. The main peloton, including race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky), finished 18 minutes in arrears.
“I started the day with victory in mind but given the company I was in I knew I’d have to attack from far out to have any chance,†said Sanchez, whose team has only four remaining members from nine starters.
Although the early breakaway had built a significant lead that never looked under threat, they were given further room by the dramatics going on in their wake —and which showed Wiggins’ sense of fair play.
Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) started the day three minutes and 19 seconds adrift, but could have finished it far worse off after falling victim to a series of flats said to have been caused by tacks on the road.
First, he was left waiting at the summit of the last, brutal climb, the Peguere, for nearly two minutes. Looking flustered and gesturing in despair as he held his bike minus its back wheel, a teammate pulled alongside — but he, too, had a flat. After Evans finally got a serviceable wheel he suffered another puncture on the descent, during which time the yellow jersey group sat up and waited for him to catch back on as his BMC squad ran a team time trial to regain the bunch.
Wiggins, who took the yellow jersey after stage 7 last Saturday, will take a 2:05 lead over teammate Chris Froome into Monday’s mainly flat stage from Samatan to Pau.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) is still third overall at 2:23 with Evans fourth at 3:19.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 15 results
July 16 Samatan — Pau 158.5km
Fedrigo wins fourth career Tour stage as Wiggins defends yellow
Stage results
• 1. Pierrick FEDRIGO, FDJ-BigMat, in 3:40:15
• 2. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 3. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at :12
• 4. Nicki SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at :12
• 5. Dries DEVENYNS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :21
• 7. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, at 11:50
• 8. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 11:50
• 9. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 11:50
• 21. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 11:50
• 22. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 11:50
• 23. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 11:50
• 24. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 11:50
• 35. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 11:50
• 37. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 11:50
• 40. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 11:50
• 42. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 11:50
• 46. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 11:50
• 47. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 11:50
• 82. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 11:50
• 112. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 11:50
• 115. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 11:50
• 140. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 11:50
• 148. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:21
• 149. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:21
• 150. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 12:21
• 153. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 12:35
• 156. Alessandro VANOTTI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 15:31
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 68:33:21
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 4. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 3:19
• 5. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 4:48
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 6:57
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:29
• 12. Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan, at 9:45
• 15. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 12:41
• 16. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 17:21
• 25. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 32:59
• 27. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 44:28
• 29. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 45:13
• 31. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 47:17
• 32. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 47:32
• 36. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 57:28
• 42. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:04:55
• 45. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:09:16
• 56. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:14:27
• 85. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:43:10
• 98. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 1:52:06
• 103. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:53:43
• 144. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:24:43
• 155. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 2:43:46
• 156. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:47:29
Next Stage: July 17 Rest Day, then July 18 Pau — Bagneres-de-Luchon 197km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 356 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 254 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 203 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 69 points
• 2. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar: 55 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 39 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 68:40:18
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:54
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 40:35
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 205:52:34
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 12:38
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 17:46
Lanterne Rouge: Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp
Withdrawals:
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 15 Review:
Fedrigo wins fourth career Tour stage as Wiggins defends yellow
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 16, 2012
• Updated 3 hours ago
PAU, France (AFP) — French rider Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) gave the hosts their fourth win of the Tour de France when he beat American Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) to win the 158.5km 15th stage between Samatan and Pau on Monday.
Race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and the main peloton came over the finish line nearly 12 minutes behind a six-man breakaway that had fought hard to form in a frantic opening to the race.
Wiggins, who took the race lead at the end of stage 7, came under no threat during the undulating stage from the Gers department to the foot of the Pyrénées, where the peloton will spend the race’s second rest day Tuesday.
The Team Sky leader still has a 2:05 lead over teammate Chris Froome, with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) in third at 2:23 and Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) fourth at 3:19.
On what was one of the last chances for the sprinters to shine on a flat finish, it became clear that the yellow jersey takes precedence for Wiggins’ Sky team. After a blistering opening 90 minutes, Sky and backed off and allowed the six-man breakaway to go up the road, taking a maximum advantage of more than 12 minutes. Asked why Sky had not helped the other sprinters’ teams to form an effective chase, world champion Mark Cavendish snapped: “It wasn’t flat. There were 2000 meters of climbing in 150km!
“GreenEdge … said they didn’t want to ride today. Lotto initially said they didn’t want to ride and after the feed they put two riders up to ride, so we had four.
“Then we made the decision that with four guys chasing six in front we were never going to get it back quick enough on those roads, because it was so up and down. So we shut it down and then Lotto soon shut it down. So that was the end of that.â€
It left the six-man group, which contained another two Frenchmen in Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler and Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis, to ride into Pau unhindered.
Fedrigo attacked with 6.5km remaining and when Vande Velde caught on, the pair rode away from Voeckler, Dumoulin, Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). Vande Velde followed the Frenchman into the finish straight, but couldn’t come around in the two-up sprint. It was Fedrigo’s fourth career victory in the Tour, but first since 2010 and his return to cycling after a six-month spell on the sidelines. It is also the second for his FDJ team after Thibaut Pinot won stage 8 in Porrentruy, Switzerland.
“It’s unbelievable,†said Fedrigo, whose last win on the race was in Pau in 2010. “The last time I won on the Tour was here. When you’re racing the Tour, you need luck. And some days you just get the feeling it can be your day.
“The closer we got to the finish line, the more I believed in my chances.â€
After that 2010 victory, the Frenchman — who is a keen hunter — came down with Lyme’s disease, keeping him off the Tour and off the bike for six months.
“I caught Lyme’s disease, a virus which is caused by a tick. You can catch it in the fields or in the woods. I came back to cycling determined to find my level again.â€
The race resumes Wednesday when the mountainous 197km 16th stage takes the peloton over two hors categorie and two Cat. 1 climbs to a downhill finish in Bagneres-de-Luchon.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 16 results
July 18 Pau — Bagneres-de-Luchon 197km
Voeckler wins stage 16 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
Stage results
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, in 5:35:02
• 2. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 1:40
• 3. Gorka IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 3:22
• 4. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 3:22
• 5. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:58
• 6. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 4:18
• 11. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 7:09
• 12. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at 7:09
• 13. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 7:09
• 15. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 8:07
• 20. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 8:07
• 33. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 10:54
• 34. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 10:54
• 35. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 11:56
• 36. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 11:56
• 44. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 14:07
• 65. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 22:15
• 73. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 22:15
• 116. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 30:11
• 132. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 33:04
• 133. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 33:04
• 134. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 33:04
• 153. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 43:38
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 74:15:32
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:23
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 5:46
• 5. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at 7:13
• 6. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 7:55
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 8:06
• 12. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 13:14
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 13:39
• 23. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 37:19
• 29. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 51:02
• 30. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 52:11
• 32. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 53:41
• 36. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:02:38
• 38. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:09:42
• 41. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:11:36
• 50. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:24:22
• 89. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:07:12
• 93. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:09:05
• 105. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:16:45
• 144. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 2:50:38
• 152. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:13:24
• 153. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 3:14:45
Next Stage: July 19 Bagneres-de-Luchon — Peyragudes 143.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 356 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 254 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 203 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 107 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 103 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 77 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 74:23:27
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:48
• 3. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 45:26
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 222:58:15
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 17:18
• 3. Astana Pro Team, at 28:53
Lanterne Rouge: Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis
Withdrawals:
Stage 16:
Grega BOLE, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha: DNF
Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 16 Review:
Voeckler wins stage 16 of the Tour de France; Wiggins defends yellow
• By VeloNews.com
• Published Jul. 18, 2012
• Updated 7 hours ago
Thomas Voeckler won his second stage of the 2012 Tour de France on Wednesday, arriving victorious to Bagnères-de-Luchon to take stage 16. Voeckler’s win was the third in two weeks for Europcar at the Tour and came on arguably the Tour’s hardest day.
Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) tried to bridge to Voeckler late, but came up short, finishing second, at 1:43 back.
Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (Sky) fought off a number of hard attacks from Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) to defend their top two places on the general classification.
Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) finished nearly 12 minutes behind Voeckler and nearly five minutes behind Wiggins’ group after being dropped on the Col du Peyresourde. It means Evans drops from fourth overall to seventh, at 8:06 behind Wiggins and virtually ends his bid to defend his 2011 title.
“We saw at the end, it was just down to three, there’s not many people left in the race. The team was incredible again today, from the start,†said Wiggins. “I’m just glad that day is out of the way… It was hot out there, everyone reacts differently to it. We’re nearly three weeks into this race. Everyone is going through different things with their bodies, and everyone reacts differently after the rest day. I’m just glad we passed the test as a team… It was tough going out there.â€
Evans started trailing on the Col d’Aspin, came over the summit of the penultimate climb with a 45-second deficit to Wiggins and then fought to get back on before the final climb to the summit of the Peyresourde. Not long after the road started rising, however, the Australian lost touch
with Wiggins’ group when a turn of pace by Jurgen Van den Broeck’s Lotto-Belisol teammate Jelle Vanendert split the group and just proved too much.
“Cadel was maybe suffering from the heat and had some stomach problems. It was just a bad day,†said BMC’s Tejay van Garderen, the race’s best young rider, who stuck with Van den Broeck.
“I think now it’s more of co-leadership. (Evans is) still only one place behind me.â€
Voeckler, meanwhile, grabbed his second stage win of the race and the fourth of his career after leaving breakaway companion Brice Feillu (Saur-Sojasun) behind with 22km remaining. After the pair rode clear of the day’s breakaway on the Col du Tourmalet, Voeckler upped the pace 7km from the summit of the Col du Peyresourde and left Feillu behind.
Although Sørensen, the Dane who is famous for his lively grimacing as he pulls himself up the climbs, rode alone in pursuit of Voeckler, he was never a threat to the Frenchman.
Sørensen eventually came over the finish nearly two minutes behind the Frenchman, giving the Europcar rider plenty of time to savor his second victory in Luchon, two years after winning stage 15 in 2010.
It was also the fifth victory of the race for the hosts, following victories for Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat), Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ).
“For me it was like four races today,†said Voeckler. “And each one was a climb. I never go and look at stages beforehand but I’ve been racing these mountains since I was 19 years old,†said Voeckler. “I knew this stage off by heart. I was leading each time I went over a mountain pass.â€
Voeckler’s efforts meant he clocked major points at each summit, and he took over possession of the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey from Astana’s Fredrik Kessiakoff.
The 17th stage on Thursday is a 143.5km ride from Luchon to the summit of Peyragudes and is the last climbing stage of the race.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 17 results
July 19 Bagneres-de-Luchon — Peyragudes 143.5km
Alejandro Valverde uses brains, legs and powers of persuasion to win stage 17 of the 2012 Tour de France
Stage results
• 1. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, in 4:12:11
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at :19
• 3. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :19
• 4. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at :22
• 5. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar, at :26
• 7. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :37
• 8. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :54
• 9. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:02
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:14
• 15. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 1:55
• 18. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 2:10
• 20. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:37
• 34. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 8:19
• 48. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 16:01
• 55. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 16:06
• 56. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at 16:06
• 89. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 30:57
• 119. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 30:57
• 121. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 30:57
• 125. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 30:57
• 127. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 30:57
• 138. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 30:57
• 144. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 30:57
• 152. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 31:32
• 153. Alessandro VANOTTI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 31:32
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 78:28:02
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:41
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 5:53
• 5. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 8:30
• 6. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 9:57
• 12. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 14:09
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 14:22
• 15. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 22:42
• 20. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 33:38
• 26. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 53:01
• 27. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 54:29
• 30. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 59:02
• 32. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 1:08:24
• 39. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:25:29
• 42. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at 1:32:30
• 43. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:33:16
• 53. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:42:14
• 96. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:37:50
• 97. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:39:43
• 108. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:47:23
• 145. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 3:21:51
• 152. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:44:02
• 153. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 3:45:23
Next Stage: July 20 Blagnac — Brive-la-Gaillarde 222.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 356 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 254 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 203 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 134 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 123 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 77 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 78:36:32
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:16
• 3. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 1:00:38
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 235:40:21
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 14:09
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 36:21
Lanterne Rouge: Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis
Withdrawals:
Stage 16:
Grega BOLE, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha: DNF
Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 17 Review:
Alejandro Valverde uses brains, legs and powers of persuasion to win stage 17 of the 2012 Tour de France
• By Agence France Presse
• Published 4 hours ago
PEYRAGUDES, France (AFP) — Alejandro Valverde admitted he had to use his powers of persuasion as well as his head and legs as he capped a brave attack with victory on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
With hopes of a top finish this year dashed by several crashes in the first week, the Movistar rider turned his attention to winning a stage on his first Tour participation since a doping ban ended in January.
Stage 17 was the last mountain stage of the race, and with a summit finish it suited the two-time Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner to perfection.
But after fighting to get into an early breakaway, Valverde’s bid to keep the peloton at bay hit a major obstacle: the presence of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).
The Italian started the day third overall and, at only 2:23 behind race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky), he was still a threat to the yellow jersey.
“It was very hard from the start. The race was on as soon as the flag dropped and so we had to fight hard to get in the breakaway,†Nibali recounted.
“On the descent of the first climb it was also very cloudy and raining a little bit, but the big problem was Nibali. Because he was there the peloton wouldn’t let us go. I ended up having to speak with him, and he finally agreed to go back to the bunch.â€
From there Valverde played his hand to perfection.
With two other Movistar riders among the frontrunners, he sent teammate Rui Costa on the attack, a tactic that allowed him to sit on the wheels of the Portuguese rider’s pursuers.
Shortly afterwards Valverde made his own move, joining Costa and then dropping him 3.5km from the summit of the steep Port de Bales.
By the time he crested the summit Valverde led Costa and Euskaltel’s Egoi Martinez by more than 30 seconds, with the yellow jersey group more than two minutes behind.
With 32km still to race, including the 15.4km climb to the summit of Peyragudes, his victory was far from guaranteed.
Having started the final climb with a 2:35 lead over Wiggins and a select group of contenders, Valverde soon came under threat as Wiggins and Sky teammate Chris Froome upped the pace in the closing kilometers.
In the end, he dug deep to come over the finish line 19 seconds ahead of the British pair to take his first win on the race since 2008. It was his fourth career Tour stage victory.
“I was lucky because I had two teammates with me today — Ruben Plaza and Rui Costa — and they did a great job. This victory goes to them and all my other teammates, the ones that are still here and the ones at home,†said Valverde.
The crashes that marred the first week led to Imanol Erviti, Jose Ivan Gutierrez and Jose Joaquin Rojas quitting the race early.
But Valverde said his resolve remained intact.
“I crashed myself three times in the first week, and that put paid to my hopes for the general classification,†he added.
“But not once did I want to stop the race. We really wanted to get that stage win. It was hard to come by, but we finally got it.â€
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2012 Tour de France Stage 18 results
July 20 Blagnac — Brive-la-Gaillarde 222.5km
Mark Cavendish explodes out of defense to score 22nd Tour goal
Stage results
• 1. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, in 4:54:12
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 3. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 4. Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL, Rabobank, at 0
• 5. Nicolas ROCHE, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 0
• 6. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 14. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 0
• 19. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :4
• 22. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at :4
• 27. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :4
• 28. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at :4
• 30. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :4
• 35. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :4
• 39. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at :4
• 40. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :4
• 50. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at :16
• 63. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :16
• 80. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :41
• 95. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:07
• 100. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 2:11
• 102. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:25
• 113. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 4:42
• 130. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 7:50
• 142. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 8:54
• 153. Sebastian LANGEVELD, Orica-GreenEdge, at 12:32
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 83:22:18
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 2:05
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:41
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 5:53
• 5. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 8:30
• 6. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 9:57
• 12. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 14:05
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 14:22
• 15. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 22:54
• 20. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 33:50
• 25. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 54:29
• 26. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 55:08
• 31. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:06:48
• 32. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 1:08:24
• 39. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:25:41
• 43. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:33:12
• 55. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:46:52
• 96. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:40:11
• 104. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:48:33
• 106. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:49:26
• 142. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 3:21:47
• 151. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:43:58
• 152. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 3:48:24
• 153. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:49:09
Next Stage: July 21 Bonneval — Chartres 53.5km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 386 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 264 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 238 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 134 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 123 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 77 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 83:30:48
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:16
• 3. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 1:00:50
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 250:23:05
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 14:05
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 36:25
Lanterne Rouge: Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 16:
Grega BOLE, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha: DNF
Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 18 Review:
Mark Cavendish explodes out of defense to score 22nd Tour goal
• By VeloNews.com
• Published 8 hours ago
BRIVE-LA-GAILLARDE, France (AFP) — British sprint king Mark Cavendish admitted on Friday that chasing the yellow jersey with Team Sky this year has left him feeling like a fish out of water in the Tour de France.
But any doubts about whether his top-end speed had faded due to his lack of sprint opportunities this year proved misplaced when he surged to an impressive 22nd career win in the race.
“It’s great to be part of the team, what they’re doing this year, but it obviously puts me in a difficult situation,†said Cavendish, who now has two stage wins on this edition after winning stage 2. â€I’m part of a team but I’m not doing what I can do as an individual rider.
“It’s like Wayne Rooney playing in defense. You can still win the match but you can’t do your part of that to the best of your ability.â€
With the yellow jersey firmly on teammate Bradley Wiggins’ shoulders and unlikely to budge ahead of Sunday’s 20th and final stage to Paris, Cavendish had been itching for some more glory of his own.
But even his efforts during a tough Sky bid to secure the race’s big prize did not give him carte blanche. Before the start on Friday, he had to plead with sports director Sean Yates.
“It would have been easy for my guys to cruise into Paris now after the mountains but on the bus Sean Yates said this morning, ‘Just take it easy today if the break goes,’†explained Cavendish.
“But I said, ‘Can I have a sprint please? Just let me have a sprint!’ Then Bradley (Wiggins) piped up and said we’d do the sprint.â€
Sky played its tactics to perfection, sending Edvald Boasson Hagen into the early breakaway as an option if the powerful Norwegian rider managed to go all the way and contend the finish.
But when it became apparent his group would be caught, Sky changed tack.
Now facing the impressive lead-out train of Lotto rival Andre Greipel, Cavendish knew they would have to get their timing right, especially as Lotto man Adam Hansen had jumped out of the breakaway in a late bid for victory.
Cavendish added: “We didn’t want to catch the break too early because Lotto had Hansen in the front and if we caught them with one kilometer to go then Lotto would have come with a whole train (of riders). So we had to catch them as close to the line as possible.â€
After a brief surge, Hansen was overtaken by Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and stage 14 winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank).
But Cavendish soon put paid to their hopes of dueling for the win.
Despite knowing the peloton was closing in, they could only gesture in disbelief as the Manx Missile flew solo past them meters before the finish.
As a treat for the top 20 riders in the general classification, Roche was appeased with a helicopter ride to Saturday’s stage in Chartes.
It was just his and Sanchez’s bad luck that Cavendish, who is expected to go for a fourth consecutive Champs-Élysées stage win this Sunday, was feeling hungry.
“When you’re used to winning five stages a year every year, it can make you hungry for sprints,†Cavendish said. â€Today we set it up and scored the goal. It’s probably a good thing that I could show how fast I was.â€
.
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2012 Tour de France Stage 19 results
July 21 Bonneval — Chartres 53.5km
Bradley Wiggins crushes final time trial to lock up the overall in the 2012 Tour de France
Stage results
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 1:04:13
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 1:16
• 3. Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL, Rabobank, at 1:50
• 4. Peter VELITS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:02
• 7. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 2:34
• 11. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:12
• 17. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:40
• 19. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:49
• 19. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 3:49
• 28. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 4:28
• 34. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 4:57
• 38. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 5:15
• 43. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 5:33
• 45. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 5:34
• 52. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 5:54
• 60. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 6:09
• 69. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 6:22
• 82. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 6:58
• 138. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 9:32
• 140. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 9:33
• 141. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 9:41
• 151. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 10:56
• 153. Karsten KROON, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 11:10
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 84:26:31
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 3:21
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 6:19
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 10:15
• 5. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 11:04
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 15:51
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 17:54
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 19:55
• 15. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 27:22
• 20. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 42:26
• 25. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 59:44
• 26. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 1:04:41
• 31. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 1:14:33
• 32. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:16:29
• 38. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:30:38
• 43. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:38:46
• 52. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:50:41
• 60. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:58:40
• 97. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:49:43
• 100. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:52:38
• 104. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:54:55
• 143. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 3:28:45
• 151. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:54:54
• 152. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 3:57:04
• 153. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:57:45
Next Stage: July 22 Rambouillet — Paris Champs-Elysees 120 km
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 386 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 264 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 238 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 134 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 123 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 77 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 84:37:35
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 6:13
• 3. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 1:05:48
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 253:47:28
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 6:02
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 36:36
Lanterne Rouge: Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 16:
Grega BOLE, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha: DNF
Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 19 Review:
Bradley Wiggins crushes final time trial to lock up the overall in the 2012 Tour de France
• By Agence France Presse
• Published Jul. 21, 2012
• Updated 2 hours ago
CHARTRES, France (AFP) — Bradley Wiggins virtually secured Great Britain’s first Tour de France victory on Saturday after winning the final individual time trial.
“I wanted to go out and finish with a bang. You couldn’t write a better script, really,†said the Sky captain, who clocked a winning time of one hour, four minutes and 13 seconds for the 53.5km course.
In the first time trial, a 41.5km race against the clock on stage 9, Wiggins won the stage and took nearly two minutes from defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team). He went into Sunday’s 53.5km race against the clock with a lead of 2:05 over Sky teammate Chris Froome.
And after a smooth, controlled ride over a course lined with hundreds of British flags emblazoned with good-luck messages, the 32-year-old Englishman increased his advantage over the Kenya-born Briton.
Froome, who finished second on the first time trial at 35 seconds behind Wiggins, finished second once more on Saturday, this time 1:16 down on his team captain.
“I’m very happy. Our objective was to come here and win the Tour with Bradley, and that’s what we have done,†said Froome, who outshone Wiggins on several of the race’s tough climbs.
“For me to come second is a big bonus.â€
Wiggins will go into Sunday’s final stage to Paris — which usually does not see a battle for the yellow jersey — with an overall lead of 3:21 on Froome, who in turn has a lead of more than three minutes on third-placed Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), who finished 16th at 3:38 and now sits 6:19 back on the overall.
Barring catastrophe, the Londoner will become Britain’s first Tour champion.
“I don’t know what to say. Only one more day to go, and I’ve won the yellow jersey,†said an emotional Wiggins.
“I’ve a lot of emotions and a lot of relief it’s finished. It’s a dream come true, but I’ve been working to win this for the past five years. The job is done, almost.â€
Sky team manager Dave Brailsford added: “We made it our objective to win this race within five years with a clean, British rider, and that’s what we’ve done.
“It might be a surprise to everyone else, but it’s not a surprise to us.â€
Defending champion Evans, meanwhile, had another day to forget.
He started the day in sixth place overall, nearly 10 minutes behind Wiggins, and finished 52nd at 5:54 to drop to seventh overall, 15:51 behind the leader.
Having been upstaged by teammate Tejay Van Garderen in the mountains, Evans saw the young American overtake him on the stage despite starting three minutes earlier.
Van Garderen is set to finish fifth overall at 11:04 behind Wiggins and has virtually secured the white jersey for the race’s best-placed rider age 25 and under.
Evans, admitting he has had an “off year,†added: “I came in with really high expectations and as the race went on my chances lessened and lessened, and I had to adjust to that.
“By the time today came I was just hoping to hold my place on GC. But I started the day empty, I started a few days here now empty, and I was riding within my limits in that regard.
Compared to last year, when he erased his two previous runner-up finishes with a maiden win for Australia, Evans could not feel any more different.
“I couldn’t think of a more enormous contrast. Last year was a lifetime dream come true,†he said. “There’s no comparison at all.â€
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2012 Tour de France Stage 20 results
July 22 Rambouillet — Paris Champs-Elysees 120 km
Mark Cavendish takes 4th straight win in Paris as Bradley Wiggins claims final victory
Stage results
• 1. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, in 3:08:07
• 2. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 0
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 0
• 4. Juan José HAEDO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 0
• 5. Kris BOECKMANS, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 0
• 11. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 0
• 27. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at :7
• 31. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at :7
• 33. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :9
• 37. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at :9
• 46. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at :9
• 47. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at :9
• 54. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, at :9
• 55. Michael ROGERS, Sky, at :9
• 58. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at :9
• 60. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at :9
• 63. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at :9
• 65. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at :9
• 69. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at :9
• 98. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at :9
• 99. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at :9
• 103. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at :9
• 117. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at :38
• 140. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at :57
• 141. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at :57
• 151. Christophe KERN, Europcar, at 3:13
• 152. Mikael CHEREL, Ag2r La Mondiale, at :9
• 153. Danilo HONDO, Lampre-ISD, at :9
GC Standings:
• 1. Bradley WIGGINS, Sky, in 87:34:47
• 2. Christopher FROOME, Sky, at 3:21
• 3. Vincenzo NIBALI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 6:19
• 4. Jurgen VAN DEN BROECK, Lotto-Belisol, at 10:15
• 5. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, at 11:04
• 6. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, RadioShack-Nissan, at 15:41
• 7. Cadel EVANS, BMC Racing, at 15:49
• 8. Pierre ROLLAND, Europcar, at 16:31
• 9. Janez BRAJKOVIC, Astana, at 16:38
• 10. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 17:17
• 11. Andreas KLÖDEN, RadioShack-Nissan, at 17:54
• 12. Nicolas ROCHE, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 19:33
• 13. Christopher HORNER, RadioShack-Nissan, at 19:55
• 14. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 25:27
• 15. Denis MENCHOV, Katusha, at 27:22
• 16. Maxime MONFORT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 28:30
• 17. Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 31:46
• 18. Rui Alberto FARIA DA COSTA, Movistar, at 37:03
• 19. Eduard VORGANOV, Katusha, at 38:16
• 20. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 42:26
• 21. Jerome COPPEL, Saur-Sojasun, at 45:43
• 22. Sandy CASAR, FDJ-BigMat, at 46:52
• 23. Michael ROGERS, Sky, at 54:52
• 24. Michele SCARPONI, Lampre-ISD, at 58:37
• 25. Ivan BASSO, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 59:44
• 26. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar, at 1:04:41
• 27. Peter VELITS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:05:10
• 28. Laurens TEN DAM, Rabobank, at 1:05:39
• 29. Jelle VANENDERT, Lotto-Belisol, at 1:08:26
• 30. Juan Jose COBO ACEBO, Movistar, at 1:09:19
• 31. Alexandr VINOKUROV, Astana, at 1:15:21
• 32. Levi LEIPHEIMER, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 1:16:29
• 33. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 1:16:52
• 34. Richie PORTE, Sky, at 1:20:49
• 35. Daniel MARTIN, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:25:23
• 36. Rein TAARAMAE, Cofidis, at 1:27:52
• 37. Giampaolo CARUSO, Katusha, at 1:28:32
• 38. George HINCAPIE, BMC Racing, at 1:30:38
• 39. Gorka IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:32:19
• 40. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana, at 1:34:33
• 41. Rafael VALLS FERRI, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 1:37:57
• 42. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:38:37
• 43. Andriy GRIVKO, Astana, at 1:38:41
• 44. Jean-Christophe PERAUD, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1:40:44
• 45. Amaël MOINARD, BMC Racing, at 1:41:00
• 46. Philippe GILBERT, BMC Racing, at 1:41:35
• 47. Dominik NERZ, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:42:12
• 48. Pierrick FEDRIGO, FDJ-BigMat, at 1:42:39
• 49. Michael SCHÄR, BMC Racing, at 1:43:53
• 50. Sergio Miguel MOREIRA PAULINHO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 1:47:14
• 51. Yury TROFIMOV, Katusha, at 1:47:31
• 52. Jens VOIGT, RadioShack-Nissan, at 1:50:41
• 53. Vladimir KARPETS, Movistar, at 1:51:43
• 54. Fabrice JEANDESBOZ, Saur-Sojasun, at 1:52:28
• 55. Maxime BOUET, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1:52:30
• 56. Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, Sky, at 1:52:34
• 57. Johnny HOOGERLAND, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 1:55:30
• 58. Marcus BURGHARDT, BMC Racing, at 1:57:39
• 59. Davide MALACARNE, Europcar, at 1:57:45
• 60. Christian VANDEVELDE, Garmin-Sharp, at 1:58:38
• 61. Cyril GAUTIER, Europcar, at 1:58:55
• 62. Mikael CHEREL, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 1:59:53
• 63. Dmitriy FOFONOV, Astana, at 2:03:55
• 64. Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL, Rabobank, at 2:05:43
• 65. Sébastien MINARD, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 2:06:32
• 66. Jérémy ROY, FDJ-BigMat, at 2:10:17
• 67. Marco MARCATO, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 2:11:36
• 68. Dries DEVENYNS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:12:22
• 69. Simone STORTONI, Lampre-ISD, at 2:13:39
• 70. Kevin DE WEERT, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:13:49
• 71. Sylvester SZMYD, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:16:15
• 72. Pieter WEENING, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:17:30
• 73. Christophe RIBLON, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 2:17:31
• 74. Jorge AZANZA SOTO, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 2:18:58
• 75. Guillaume LEVARLET, Saur-Sojasun, at 2:19:43
• 76. Yaroslav POPOVYCH, RadioShack-Nissan, at 2:21:56
• 77. Vasil KIRYIENKA, Movistar, at 2:22:02
• 78. Andrey KASHECHKIN, Astana, at 2:23:09
• 79. Simon GERRANS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:24:35
• 80. Marco MARZANO, Lampre-ISD, at 2:24:46
• 81. Adam HANSEN, Lotto-Belisol, at 2:25:29
• 82. Christian KNEES, Sky, at 2:26:43
• 83. Christophe KERN, Europcar, at 2:29:01
• 84. Yukiya ARASHIRO, Europcar, at 2:29:13
• 85. Matthieu LADAGNOUS, FDJ-BigMat, at 2:33:14
• 86. Danilo HONDO, Lampre-ISD, at 2:37:55
• 87. Ruben PEREZ MORENO, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 2:37:56
• 88. Martin VELITS, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:40:47
• 89. Biel KADRI, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 2:41:14
• 90. Romain ZINGLE, Cofidis, at 2:41:44
• 91. Brice FEILLU, Saur-Sojasun, at 2:41:50
• 92. Julien SIMON, Saur-Sojasun, at 2:46:04
• 93. Michael MORKOV, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 2:46:14
• 94. Arthur VICHOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 2:46:51
• 95. Stephen CUMMINGS, BMC Racing, at 2:47:03
• 96. Lars Ytting BAK, Lotto-Belisol, at 2:48:05
• 97. Stuart O’GRADY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:50:31
• 98. Kristijan KOREN, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:51:34
• 99. Nicki SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 2:53:11
• 100. David ZABRISKIE, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:53:26
• 101. Ruben PLAZA MOLINA, Movistar, at 2:53:35
• 102. Francis DE GREEF, Lotto-Belisol, at 2:53:52
• 103. Koen DE KORT, Argos-Shimano, at 2:54:13
• 104. Jurgen ROELANDTS, Lotto-Belisol, at 2:55:04
• 105. Daniel OSS, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:55:24
• 106. David MILLAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 2:55:24
• 107. Samuel DUMOULIN, Cofidis, at 2:56:02
• 108. Luca PAOLINI, Katusha, at 2:56:21
• 109. Manuel QUINZIATO, BMC Racing, at 2:56:27
• 110. Michael ALBASINI, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:57:20
• 111. Daryl IMPEY, Orica-GreenEdge, at 2:57:29
• 112. Jérôme PINEAU, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 2:57:58
• 113. Matthieu SPRICK, Argos-Shimano, at 2:58:15
• 114. Federico CANUTI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 2:58:41
• 115. Kris BOECKMANS, Vacansoleil-DCM, at 3:02:57
• 116. Maxim IGLINSKY, Astana, at 3:03:38
• 117. Baden COOKE, Orica-GreenEdge, at 3:04:30
• 118. Alessandro VANOTTI, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 3:04:39
• 119. Juan HORRACH RIPPOLL, Katusha, at 3:06:27
• 120. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge, at 3:06:55
• 121. Nick NUYENS, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 3:08:29
• 122. Sébastien HINAULT, Ag2r La Mondiale, at 3:08:57
• 123. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol, at 3:09:02
• 124. Greg HENDERSON, Lotto-Belisol, at 3:13:06
• 125. Bert GRABSCH, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, at 3:13:06
• 126. Anthony ROUX, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:16:38
• 127. Anders LUND, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 3:17:07
• 128. Nicolas EDET, Cofidis, at 3:17:16
• 129. Borut BOZIC, Astana, at 3:17:44
• 130. Luis Angel MATE MARDONES, Cofidis, at 3:18:11
• 131. Jean Marc MARINO, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:18:20
• 132. Marcel SIEBERG, Lotto-Belisol, at 3:19:36
• 133. Cédric PINEAU, FDJ-BigMat, at 3:20:24
• 134. Pablo URTASUN PEREZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 3:21:34
• 135. Roy CURVERS, Argos-Shimano, at 3:23:44
• 136. Cyril LEMOINE, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:23:55
• 137. Jonathan CANTWELL, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 3:25:08
• 138. Yann HUGUET, Argos-Shimano, at 3:26:43
• 139. Yohann GENE, Europcar, at 3:26:58
• 140. Juan José HAEDO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 3:27:28
• 141. Patrick GRETSCH, Argos-Shimano, at 3:27:49
• 142. Mark CAVENDISH, Sky, at 3:28:36
• 143. Karsten KROON, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at 3:28:56
• 144. Bram TANKINK, Rabobank, at 3:31:24
• 145. Aliaksandr KUCHYNSKI, Katusha, at 3:38:24
• 146. Bernhard EISEL, Sky, at 3:38:48
• 147. Johan VAN SUMMEREN, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:40:01
• 148. Albert TIMMER, Argos-Shimano, at 3:40:37
• 149. Julien FOUCHARD, Cofidis, at 3:42:31
• 150. Sebastian LANGEVELD, Orica-GreenEdge, at 3:50:12
• 151. Tyler FARRAR, Garmin-Sharp, at 3:54:45
• 152. Jan GHYSELINCK, Cofidis, at 3:57:04
• 153. Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun, at 3:57:36
Next Stage: Next year
Jerseys:
Yellow: Bradley WIGGINS, Sky
Green:
• 1. Peter SAGAN, Liquigas-Cannondale: 421 points
• 2. André GREIPEL, Lotto-Belisol: 280 points
• 3. Matthew Harley GOSS, Orica-GreenEdge: 268 points
Polka Dot:
• 1. Thomas VOECKLER, Europcar: 135 points
• 2. Fredrik Carl Wilhelm KESSIAKOFF, Astana: 123 points
• 3. Chris Anker SÖRENSEN, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank: 77 points
White:
• 1. Tejay VAN GARDEREN, BMC Racing, in 87:45:51
• 2. Thibaut PINOT, FDJ-BigMat, at 6:13
• 3. Steven KRUIJSWIJK, Rabobank, at 1:05:48
Teams:
• 1. Radioshack-Nissan, in 263:12:14
• 2. Sky Procycling, at 5:46
• 3. Bmc Racing Team, at 36:29
Lanterne Rouge: Jimmy ENGOULVENT, Saur-Sojasun
Withdrawals:
Stage 16:
Grega BOLE, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Vladimir GUSEV, Katusha: DNF
Frank SCHLECK, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 15:
Kenny Robert VAN HUMMEL, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Vincent JEROME, Europcar: DNF
Brett LANCASTER, Orica-GreenEdge: DNF
Giovanni BERNAUDEAU, Europcar: DNF
Sylvain CHAVANEL, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNF
Stage 14:
Robert KISERLOVSKI, Astana: DNF
Stage 13:
Tony GALLOPIN, RadioShack-Nissan: DNF
Stage 12:
Tom VEELERS, Argos-Shimano: DNF
David MONCOUTIE, Cofidis: DNF
Robert GESINK, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 11:
Gustav LARSSON, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Mark RENSHAW, Rabobank: DNF
Lieuwe WESTRA, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Rob RUIJGH, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Bauke MOLLEMA, Rabobank: DNF
Fabian CANCELLARA, RadioShack-Nissan: DNS
Stage 10:
Matthew LLOYD, Lampre-ISD: DNS
Rémy DI GREGORIO, Cofidis: DNS
Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step: DNS
Stage 8:
Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Johannes FRÖHLINGER, Argos-Shimano: DNS
Stage 7:
Amets TXURRUKA, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNS
Ryder HESJEDAL, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Robert HUNTER, Garmin-Sharp: DNS
Hubert DUPONT, Ag2r La Mondiale: DNS
Anthony DELAPLACE, Saur-Sojasun: DNF
Oscar FREIRE GOMEZ, Katusha: DNS
Maarten WYNANTS, Rabobank: DNS
Imanol ERVITI, Movistar: DNS
José Ivan GUTIERREZ PALACIOS, Movistar: DNS
Stage 6:
Mikel ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU, Euskaltel-Euskadi: DNF
Davide VIGANO, Lampre-ISD: DNF
Thomas DANIELSON, Garmin-Sharp: DNF
Wouter POELS, Vacansoleil-DCM: DNF
Stage 5:
Marcel KITTEL, Argos-Shimano: DNF
Stage 4:
Maarten TJALLINGII, Rabobank: DNS
Stage 3:
Jose Joaquin ROJAS GIL, Movistar: DNF
Kanstantsin SIVTSOV, Sky: DNF
Stage 20 Review:
Mark Cavendish takes 4th straight win in Paris as Bradley Wiggins claims final victory
• By Agence France Presse
• Published Jul. 22, 2012
• Updated 4 hours ago
PARIS (AFP) — Bradley Wiggins was crowned Britain’s first Tour de France champion on Sunday after helping Sky teammate Mark Cavendish to secure a fourth consecutive stage win on the world-famous Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Wiggins, who virtually sealed victory when he won his second time trial of the three-week epic on Saturday, finished the 3,479km race with a lead of three minutes and 21 seconds over British teammate Chris Froome after the 20th and last stage.
It was Isle of Man sprinter Cavendish’s fourth consecutive stage win on the Champs-Élysées, taking his tally of stage wins in this year’s race to three and to 23 overall.
“I’m more than happy,†said world champion Cavendish as he held his baby at the finish line. “The Champs-Élysées is the most beautiful avenue in the world, and I’ve won here again.â€
Three years after Wiggins equaled Robert Millar’s 1984 best British finish of fourth overall, in 2009, the Londoner finally achieved his childhood dream of winning the world’s most prestigious bike race.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) finished third overall at 6:19.
“It’s magnificent,†said Wiggins. “For us to finish like this as a team, helping Mark to victory and allowing him to defend his record here… it’s incredible.â€
Team Sky achieved the rare feat of finishing one-two on the podium, the first since 1996, when Bjarne Riis finished ahead of Telekom teammate Jan Ullrich.
It is also the first time compatriots have taken the first two places since France’s Laurent Fignon finished ahead of five-time winner Bernard Hinault in the 1984 edition.
Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) won the polka-dot jersey for the race’s best climber, with Peter Sagan (Liquigas) easily securing the green jersey for the points competition.
Sagan came close to claiming his fourth stage win, crossing the line just short of Cavendish after a late start. But the Slovakian was more than happy with his Tour debut.
“I came here to win a stage, so to come away with three plus the green jersey is just unbelivable,†said Sagan, who finished with a 141-point margin over Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol).
Tejay Van Garderen made up for BMC team leader Cadel Evans’ disastrous title defense by winning the race’s white jersey for the best-placed rider aged 25 and under.
Evans, who made history by becoming Australia’s first champion in 2011, eventually finished nearly 16 minutes behind Wiggins.
And RadioShack-Nissan won the team competition, despite finishing three men down.
“Winning the team classification is always special, especially with only six riders left in the race,†said Chris Horner.
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George Hincapie leads the peloton to Paris in his last of 17 Tours de France
By Matthew Beaudin
Published 6 hours ago
PARIS, France (VN) — Big George Hincapie led the peloton into Paris Sunday, a nod to the American’s completion of his 16th and final Tour de France.
Of course, the bunch had to make him do it. Hincapie never was much a “me†guy, was he?
This marks his 17th Tour de France — the most ever, by any rider. He’s completed 16 of those, and ridden on nine Tour-winning teams along the way.
“I usually like to lay low, and I wasn’t expecting that. But a lot of the guys on Sky were my ex-teammates, and they all kind of forced me to. So, it was nice. It was a nice gesture. I was honored to do that,†Hincapie said on the Champs-Élysées.
The completion of the Tour draws the curtains on a massive part of Hincapie’s storied career. He’s still not sure what to make of it.
“It’s one of those things that happens that you can’t quite believe it. I’m still in bike-racer mode. I think once this is over and I’m able to reflect back on my career, I think I’ll really be able to appreciate them. For sure, all the fans along the way and the whole tour, my whole career, have helped me pursue this. It’s been a fun run.â€
Hincapie rode his first Tour de France in 1996. It was the only one he didn’t finish.
The big American was part of nine Tour de France wins: seven with Lance Armstrong; one with Alberto Contador; and the final with Cadel Evans, in 2011.
What’s his most memorable moment in France?
“For me, meeting my wife here in 2003 in Paris. I met her there and spent the next three weeks chasing her. Now, we’re married and we have two beautiful kids. That’s my fondest memory of the Tour de France.â€
He couldn’t have dreamt the run he’s had.
“I could have never imagined doing 17 Tour de Frances,†he said. “It’s something I’m proud of. I’ve spent so much time in the sport. I’ve given everything to the sport. I’ve always wanted to promote the sport and done what I thought is best for the sport.â€
It wasn’t the victory lap that BMC Racing had hoped for, but Hincapie seemed to enjoy it all the same.
“I just tried to soak it all in,†he said. “I tried to appreciate all the fans on the side of the road. A lot of emotions were going through me during that time trial.â€
Hincapie’s final Tour included a tough day and even a crash, and the American’s name came out as a witness in the case against longtime teammate Armstrong. But even under those circumstances, he came out of the bus and was the only rider named to truly address the situation.
“I’ve always tried to do the right thing for the sport. Right now I’m here to do my job and I’m going to try and focus on that,†he said at the time.
Hincapie is one of the most decorated American professionals in the country’s road cycling history, and a three-time national champion. In his 19th year as a pro, he is the top American classics rider of his generation, winning Gent-Wevelgem in 2001 and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2005. In 2005, he was second at Paris-Roubaix and won two stages at the Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour. He’s ridden in five Olympic Games.
He’s also been part of three squads to win team time trials at the Tour and won a mountain stage at Pla d’Adet in 2005. He’s even worn the yellow jersey.
What is truly remarkable about Hincapie is his selflessness. He was — he still is, even today — a powerful rider in his own regard, but willing to pass a bottle or swap a bike or do anything, really, to help his team.
“I chose to focus on what I’m good at. And that’s my gift, is to be a good team leader, and I’m happy with that,†Hincapie told VeloNews.
Evans says Hincapie “is irreplaceable.â€
“He is one of a kind and I always admired him even before I knew him as a guy who puts so much into his own career, into his own results in the classics and he always came [for] his team [at] the Tour,†Evans said. “There are the riders who have the capability to do that physically but they don’t have the mentality, the motivation to do it.â€
Hincapie is legendary for his discipline, and for the way he’s conducted himself in a career spanning teams and decades and types of racing, from the classics to the Alps.
“But he always had it and did it year after year. George always rode a shorter season which I think helped his longevity … but he always seemed so professional,†Evans said. “He is the first rider to go to bed at night, the first guy still at his age now and that’s amazing. Having him as a teammate is like having an extra set of eyes.â€
Former teammate Frankie Andreu said at the finish in Paris that Hincapie’s impending retirement will leave a void in the sport.
“It was kind of emotional for me, because he’s been around for so long and is such a huge part of the sport. I saw him when he was young, growing up racing and never imagined he’d accomplish as much as he did,†Andreu said.
“George is an icon and has a ton of fans and followers and has been someone that I’m sure many aspiring and younger cyclists have looked up to. He’s meant a lot to a lot of people for a very long time. And, again, him leaving he sport — you talk about leaving a hole in the system? There’s a pretty big hole with him gone.â€
Hincapie’s legacy on the road lives on, of course. He’s ridden with Tejay van Garderen on the BMC squad, and the American finished fifth this year in Paris. Things are looking up for the stars and stripes.
“George is a huge idol of mine,†van Garderen said. “And I got a chance to room with him throughout these three weeks. He’s just such a great guy, and he’s going to be missed in the peloton.â€
Indeed, he will.