Take back what I said yesterday, perhaps the Tour isn’t all over bar the champagne drinking on the final stage. Today seemed prove that the Sky team of 2013 aren’t the race crushing robo-team of 2012.
It is probably Garmin-Sharp carrying out their preannounced plan to cause chaos that is at least partly to blame. On the attack from the gun with David Millar and Jack Bauer riding a two-up time trial into the first climb, and featuring in every move including the winning one. They broke the race apart.
Craziest thing about today? We planned it! My TdF flashed before my eyes halfway through the stage: 2-up TT into first climb = bad idea.
This left Chris Froome in the front group with most of the Movistar team for company, but a distinct lack of black and blue jerseys to help him. This happened with about 140 km and four cols left to race.
Richie Porte tried valiantly to get back on but Movistar kept the pace high on the Col de Peyresourde to make sure that he didn’t and he eventually sat up. Movistar had the advantage in numbers but didn’t seem to know what to do with them. Admittedly the stage with its 30km down-hill run to the finish was never going to be a one where a decisive gap could be forged, but I thought they could have done more than a couple of attacks from Niaro Quintana. Perhaps Valverde couldn’t attack. Froome covered all the attacks fairly easily and at one point decided to half-wheel Quintana just to make the point.
Round about the point where Movistar, or to be more precise Quintana gave up trying to drop Froome an Irish Brummie, Dan Martin, set off up the road, with about 4km left to the top of La Hourquette d’Anzican. Jacob Fuglsang(Astana) joined him. Working well together the pair quickly established a reasonable though never completely decisive lead. At about 5km to go the impetus went out of the chase and it became obvious that the stage would be won my one of them. Dan Martin, who is probably the better sprinter out of the two, judged it perfectly leading into the bend at 250m to go and taking it out from there.
What did I learn from today’s stage?
Garmin will mix it up and try things to win stages. This could cause problems for the teams whose focus is the GC.
I don’t think that Valverde has quite got what it takes to unseat Froome.
Like wise Contador.
Although the could both have just been keeping their powder dry.
Nairo Quintana might have, but is going to have to get a lot smarter.
Chris Froome might have to win this tour on his own.
Oh and some Scottish bloke who looks a bit like David Millar won Wimbledon
Something happened last July that I genuinely did not think I would ever see. A British cyclist, Bradley Wiggins, won the Tour de France, and I was there on the Champs-Elysées to see him do it.
Obviously I follow the Tour de France religiously, even of it does mean tolerating Phil Ligget’s increasingly inane commentary. (Next year I am going to learn Flemish and watch it on Sporza.) By the end of the second week it was obvious that, barring a jour sans in the Pyrenees, Bradley Wiggins was going to win. With that thought in mind my mate Lord Wallington called me on the Monday suggesting that we make a trip to Paris to witness history.
” Brilliant idea” said I. So at five thirty on a bright and clear Sunday morning at the end of July, six middle-aged blokes set off for Paris in a car designed to seat five.
It was a fairly uneventful journey, punctuated only by a bacon roll and a cup of coffee while waiting for the shuttle and an inconsequential wrong turn on the peripherique. Somehow, we assumed by luck rather than judgement, Lord Wallington found a parking space just of the Place Charles de Gaulle (L’Arc de Triompe). Despite having to negotiate three roads coming off the Arc de Triompe we all made it to the Champs-Elysées to join the hundred thousand other Brits also there to see history made.
We had a few hours to kill while the peleton drank champagne and generally faffed about on their way into Paris. Finding something for lunch was in order. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a place just round the corner from where we had set up camp offering a cheese and ham sandwich and a cold beer for 5€.
The publicity caravan arrived shortly after lunch, and while reasonably entertaining for a while, partially clothed young men and women dancing to French disco music on top of a truck does get boring after a while. What I wanted was some cycling.
What he is advertising I’m not sureI think they are advertising bread
Finally at around four in the afternoon the peleton arrived on the Champs-Elysées. George Hincape led them onto the finishing circuit because this was his last ever Tour de France and he had been a participant in every single tour ever ridden, or at least quite a lot of them. Shortly after that the attacks started, most of them were fairly short-lived, but one attack featuring everyone’s favourite baroudeurJens Voigt and about a dozen others finally got somewhere and dragged out a lead of about 30 seconds. Sky and Liquigas kept it under control and with about a couple of laps to go it looked as if it was all going to come together when The Jensie took of again with a couple of companions. The move was always doomed to fail because Sky had decided that Mark Cavendish deserved a reward for all his faithful bottle carrying duties and sure enough with about 3km to go everything was back together. The Yellow jersey set about leading out the Rainbow jersey and shortly afterwards ‘Cav’ crossed the finishing line with his hands in the air.
Not that we saw any of that. Having positioned ourselves near the top end of the Champs, we caught a quick flash of the peleton every lap as it raced past our position at 55 kph. This video gives a rough idea of what we saw.
Neither did we see Wiggins presented with his trophy and final yellow jersey, but we did hear him announce the drawing of the raffle.
We hung around to watch the parade lap. After the race all the riders, and often the managers, do a lap of the circuit and in Sky’s case they included by Bradley Wiggins’ son. I did actually manage to get a photo of Wiggo in his yellow jersey, while he was doing the parade lap.
Maillot Jaune 2012
Maillot Jaune 2032? Peter Sagan showing off
After that it was time to head home. We stopped for dinner in a place called L’Isle Adam, just outside of Paris. A good steak-frites and a beer later and we were on our way back up the Autoroute to Calais and the last shuttle of the day.
We arrived back in Wallington about 2:30 in the morning. To quote Wallace and Grommit “It had been a grand day out.”
I found this video on the Garmin Cycle Team’s website. I like the team’s ethos, especially the strong anti-doping stance. I like the way that are a team and not a bunch of riders who happen to wear the same jersey. I am also a great admirer of Jonathan Vaughters’ side burns.
Admittedly it is a bit of a puff piece, but I think it is worth watching.
The Tour de France is over for another year. Cadel Evans is taking Le Maillot Jaune back to Australia The first time any one from the Southern Hemisphere has done that. Mark Cavendish is taking the Le Maillot Vert back the Isle of Man. The first time any British qualified rider has won The Green Jersey. I was going to say Rider from the British Isles, but then remembered that Sean Kelly won the thing four times back in the Eighties. “Cav”is also the first rider since Robert Millar won the Polka-dot Jersey in 1984, to win a Jersey in the tour de France. But wait, there’s more
The time trial, or contre la montre if you are feeling French, around Grenoble was the decisive stage as far as Le Maillot Jaune and le Maillot Blanc (for the best rider under 25). Le Maillot au Pois Rouge (polka dot jersey) has already been decided, as there are no more classified climbs between l’Alpe d’Huez and les Champs-Élysées. Barring a serious accident or illness, which is unlikely, Samuel Sánchez will wear that jersey on the final podium. The team competition was as good as in the bag for Garmin-Cérvelo, although disastrous rides by all their time trial specialists and brilliant rides by AG2R and/or Leopard-Trek could, in theory, have seen them lose. Nothing much was going to happen with Le Maillot Verte (points competition). The final sprint on the Champs-Élysées will decide the winner
Stage 20
Stage 20 was a 42.5 km loop starting and finishing in Grenoble. Today’s story was simple. Cadel Evans, who is one of the better time-trialists in the peleton had 4 seconds to make up on Frank Schleck and 57 seconds to make up on Frank’s Brother Andy if he was to win the Tour de France. Frank and Andy, historically, are comparatively weak against the clock. The stage was set for the dénouement.
Any tension there might have been was over by the first time check after 15 km. Evans was already 36 seconds ahead of Andy Schleck and by the second time check at 27.5 km it was officially game over as Evans was 1:49 ahead of Andy Schleck, or 52 seconds ahead overall. The only question left was could he win the stage as well as the Tour? He didn’t quite manage that he finished second.
There were a couple of minor sub-plots. Who, if any of the specialists against the clock, such as Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin and David Millar still had enough left in their legs after nineteen stages of working for team-mates to put in a winning ride? The Young Riders competition was still up for grabs. Rein Taaramae trailed yesterdays hero Pierre Rolland by 1:33. This was a similar scenario the fight for Yellow. Taaramae is easily the better of the two against the clock, but could he make up the deficit?
Tony Martin took the stage by 7 seconds, but I don’t think Evans was too upset about that. The other contre la montre specialists didn’t feature. The weather when Fabian Cancellara and David Millar rode was not particularly favourable, but the real reason they failed was that after a long hard tour they just did not have enough left in their legs. Pierre Rolland kept his lead in the Young Riders Competition. Garmin-Cérvelo kept the lead in the Team Competition. Samuel Sánchez didn’t fall off, in fact he produced a surprisingly strong ride to finish the stage in seventh place, so keeping the Mountains Jersey.
Someone also took a very unusual photograph of Cadel Evans. (Evans is a complex, emotional, and often prickly character, hence his nickname, given by the cycling press, “Cuddles”) The photo shows him wearing Le Maillot Jaune and smiling. The relationship between these two things has not been proven, but should not be discounted.
The Finalé
After breakfast in Grenoble, the riders travel via TGV to the start of today’s 21st and final stage in the Parisian suburb of Créteil for the 95 km ride to the finish on les Champs-Élysées
The final stage is often described as ceremonial, and in some ways, especially as regards the General Classification, it is.The Points Competition is still up for grabs. Mark Cavendish has a lead over Jose Joaquin Rojas of 15 points. There are a maximum of 65 points available for won on todays stage. It will all come down to the final sprint. Cav has won on les Champs-Élysées for the past two years, his team are the best in the business at setting him up for the sprint. It is a forgone conclusion, no?
We will know by about four this afternoon.
My post for today’s stage and my overall thoughts on this year’s Tour will be up sometime after that.
I thought that the racing in the Pyrenees was a bit boring, and said so in a couple of my recent posts. The riders have more than made up for their apparent reluctance to race properly since Le Tour hit the Alps.@lancearmstrong agrees with me, he tweeted earlier;
If you thought the Pyrenees were boring (I admit, so did I) then the boys are making up for it yesterday and today!
Stage 19
Stage 19 was short (by Tour de France standards) 109.5 km trip from Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d’Huez. That is the sort of distance that I might do on a Saturday ride. I probably wouldn’t take my route over the Col du Telégraph the Col du Galibier and finish it 1850m up on l’Alpe d’Huez. and I couldn’t even dream of trying to do that distance in just over three hours, even if it was pan flat.
The stage produced another fascinating afternoon of racing. This time with Alberto Contador animating the race. I was working at home today and I managed to resist going downstairs to watch it, just relying on cyclingnews.com’s live text report to keep up with what was happening. I cracked before Thomas Voeckler did for the second time, and went down and put the telly on to watch the final climb.
I’m not sure why Contador initially attacked on the Col du Telégraph, if he was only intending to win the stage, surely he would have been better to wait until the final climb? If it was to try to win the Tour, then it was a brave move, but the 45 km descent from the Galibier to Bourg d’Ossians was always likely to bring the race back together at the foot of the final climb. It might just have been a show of defiance.
Another thread in the narrative of this year’s race has been the failure of a French rider to win a stage. Norway has two riders in the race, France had forty-four at the start of the race. A the start of today’s stage the score was Norway 4 France 0 – slightly embarrassing. Thomas Voeckler salvaged a lot of national pride with his time in le Maillot Jaune, but as early as the Col du Telégraph, when he found himself stuck in no-man’s land after trying and failing to go with Contador’s first attack, it was obvious that today would be the day when he was going to finally lose the jersey. Pierre Roland, the rider who has been Voeckler’s bodyguard throughout his time in yellow was given his freedom to ride his own race. He grabbed it with both hands.
He attacked initially with Ryder Hesjedal at the bottom of the final climb. They were both caught by Alberto Contador after he had attacked the GC group. They dropped Hesjedal soon after that. Roland hung on for a while after before Contador gradually rode away from him. With about 5km to go Samuel Sánchez attacked the Schleck/Evans group and quickly bridged up to Pierre Roland, Roland took his wheel and allowed Sánchez to take them both up to Contador. By this time Contador was beginning to fade, not too much, but you could see that it was beginning to hurt seriously. Roland attacked and neither Sánchez or Contador could do anything to counter. He rode off to record the first French stage win of this Tour, and the first French win on Alpe d’Huez since Bernard Hinault won there in 1986.
About a minute further back the Schlecks and Cadel Evans were having a slightly bad-tempered stalemate. Andy Schleck wanted Evans to ride, Evans said no, there are two of you and only one of me. The all eventually finished in the same time, about a minute down on Roland.
Tomorrow
Three of the competitions are pretty well tied up. Samuel Sánchez, by finishing second on the stage today picked up enough mountain points to put him into the lead in the King of the Mountains competition, and since there are no more climbs he has won the Polka-dot Jersey. Garmin-Cérvelo have the team prize as good as won, and Mark Cavendish looks to have the Green Jersey tied up as well. Cav lost another twenty points for finishing outside the time limit (along with roughly half the peleton) but his nearest rival Jose Joaquin Rojas was also in the same group so he lost 20 points as well. The Green Jersey is now his to lose.
Le Maillot Jaune is still very much in the balance. Andy Schleck has 57 seconds lead over Cadel Evans (and 53 second over his brother Frank, but I am assuming that Frank won’t try to beat Andy). Evans is a better time trialist than either of the brothers. Andy Schleck’s time trialling has improved over the years, and in last years final time trial, he matched Alberto Contador for a long time before fading slightly towards the end.
A reporter asked him whether he would beat Andy Schleck by enough to win the Tour a very grouchy and monosyllabic “Cuddles” stated;
“I’ve had been is a similar position twice before, and both times I lost.”
We will find the answer about quarter past five tomorrow afternoon. For what it’s worth I think that he probably has enough of a time trial to take the required 57 seconds back, but it could be as close as 1989
The stage will be won by Fabian Cancellara, probably with Tony Martin second and possibly David Millar third.
I am glad to see that Andy Schleck reads my blog and takes my advice. Yesterday I suggested that it would be good if one of the favourites went for it on the Col d’Izoard and put 10 minutes into the race in the style of the great riders of the past. Andy Schleck, channelling the spirit of the great Luxembourgian climber of the fifties Charly Gaul, did just that. Well except for the ten minutes. He managed about two and a half, and didn’t quite manage to dislodge Thomas Voeckler from le Maillot Jaune.
Alberto Contador struggled and eventually failed to hold the group containing Cadel Evans (who did almost all the pace-making), Voeckler and Frank Schleck. He eventually finished fifteenth on the stage and lost 3:50 to Andy Schleck. His hopes of winning the Tour are probably over.
Tomorrow’s stage to L’Alpe d’Huez may decide the winner. If Andy Schleck can repeat what he did today then it is all over bar the shouting. However, today’s escapade may have taken a lot out of him, so he could be vulnerable to an attack. Voeckler continues to ride to his absolute limits to keep the Jersey. He had to be lifted off his bike at the finish today, and while I now think it is unlikely, I do not completely rule out his standing on the top step on the Champs Elyeese.
Today we have to say: “Norway…… Cycling capital of the world!!”
Stage 17
Stage 17 went 179km from Gap to Pinerolo. The two biggest climbs of the day were the Cat.2 Col de Montgenèvre, which took the race into Italy and the Cat.1 climb up to Sestrières ( a stage finish in the past). A 40km descent to the foot of the final climb the Cat.2 Côte de Pramartino, followed. The peleton allowed a fourteen rider break-away to form and by the time they reached the intermediate sprint at 81.5 km they had a six-minute lead. The main contenders were content to bide their time on the first two climbs as any time gained would have easily been brought back on the long descent.
After losing out in the sprint yesterday Edvald Boasson Hagen decided that there was no way this was going to happen again. On the Côte de Pramartino he countered a Sylvain Chavanel attack, sat on his wheel for a few seconds then went himself. Chavanel couldn’t counter and Boasson Hagen rode away for a well deserved stage win.
Behind him in the Yellow Jersey group Alberto Contador was trying to attack the same way he did yesterday, but with less effect. He probably didn't want to go too deep today, bearing in mind tomorrow’s massive stage over three hors categorié climbs and finishing at the top of the Col du Galibier. I also think that Andy Schleck was a bit more with it today. That said Contador did manage to open a bit of a gap on the descent into Pinerolo, but the Schlecks and Cadel Evans closed it down in the last kilometre. Thomas Voeckler managed to lose a few seconds by overcooking a bend on the descent. Fortunately some one had left the gate to their driveway open so he got away with it, it could have been disastrous if they had left it closed.
The Tour organisers are probably hoping that tomorrows stage will define the Tour. My fear is that it is so hard that riders will ride very conservatively and only think about attacking in the final few kilometres. I would like to see someone take a chance and go on the Col d’Izoard and try to put 10 minutes into the race in the style of Coppi or Charly Gaul, but some how I don’t think that is going to happen. However in the meantime don’t forget;
At last we had some racing from the GC contenders. Way up ahead we had Edvald Boasson Hagen as the meat in a Garmin sandwich (a few years ago we could have called it a Chipotle burrito). We might talk about that later, because it was the events five minutes back that interested me.
Stage 16
Stage 16 was a 151k uphill drag from Saint-Paul-Trois Châteaux to the top of the Cat.2 climb of the Col de Manse, followed by a wet, technical 10km descent into the finish in Gap.This is the descent that featured in Lance Armstrong’s famous off-road excursion in 2003.
On that final climb and descent we had the first real racing of this years tour. Alberto Contador had come out of the rest day feeling, well, rested and ready to race. He put in three real attacks. Not up the pace for five seconds and look round to make sure your brother is still there attacks, but put the hammer down for a minute then see who you have got rid of, keep the pace high to make sure the guys you’ve dropped don’t get back on, then go again to try to get rid of the rest, type attacks. By the time Contador had done this three times only Cadel Evans and Samuel Sánchez were still with him. Then over the top of the climb Evans, knowing that he is a better descender than Contador attacked him to try to put some more time into everyone. This is bike racing.
Thomas Voeckler still has the Maillot Jaune although his lead over Cadel Evans is now down to 1:45. Andy Schleck, lost over a minute, and did much whining about the descent. He is not a very good descender but there is more to bike racing than riding up mountains.
Thor Hushovd, is a good descender and he can still sprint when required, even if he can’t match Cavendish and Farrar any longer. His kick for the line, ably assisted by Ryder Hesjedal was good enough to beat Boasson Hagen and he registered his third (including the Team Time Trial) stage win of the Tour. So with his week in the Maillot Jaune and his stage wins I think that he is reasonably satisfied with his tour so far.
The profile of tomorrows stage from Gap to Pinerolo looks much like today’s, so can we hope for some more racing. Contador seems up for it; Evans matched everything that Contador threw at him today, and the attacked on the descent; Thomas Voeckler will continue to fight to keep the Jersey. The only question marks are the Schlecks, who on today’s showing are not quite there either physically or more importantly mentally.
Take back what I said yesterday, perhaps the Tour isn’t all over bar the champagne drinking on the final stage. Today seemed prove that the Sky team of 2013 aren’t the race crushing robo-team of 2012.
A Scotsman in Suburbia 