The Top three on podium

Manx Missile makes it 5, Contador makes it 3!

The 20^th & final Stage of the TdF was from Longjumeau to Paris Champs-Élysées, a distance of 102.5km. The last stage in the three week long Grand Tour, it was almost a formality for the peleton to roll into the city of Paris and finish on the streets of Champs-Élysées. With only the Green jersey & the final stage winner to be decided upon, the whole of the peleton kept a steady pace till they entered the city streets, with the Astana team doing the honors of bringing in the Yellow jersey leader Alberto Contador to the finale. As predicted by me in yesterday’s post it was Mark “Manx Missile” Cavendish who blasted out every other sprinter at the finish to win the final stage of the Tour. Also, as predicted in the same post, Alessandro “Ale Jet” Petacchi did go on to win the Green jersey for this year’s Tour.

Cavendish makes it 5 for this Tour

The start town of today, Longjumeau is hosting the tour for the first time. This town, with a population of around 20,000, is located less than 20 km away from Paris in the Essonne department. Almost like the last town between the town and country, Longjumeau is surrounded by fields and crops, making it a breath of fresh air, only a few km outside Paris. Along the banks of the Yvette River and its affluent the Rouillon River, the town is famous for the honey its bees produce and Longjumeau Honey is often gifted to newly-weds and new-born babies.

A Ritual on Paris Champs-Élysées!

The end stage is set in Paris Champs-Élysées, the traditional finish spot for the TdF since the late 70’s. The street of Champs-Élysées, one of the busiest in Europe filled with the brand stores & cafes, thronged by millions of people daily closes down fully for traffic only twice in a year, once for the Bastille’s Day celebration on July 14^th every year and then for the last stage of the tour. The peleton as usual makes its way into the city & then does 8 rounds on the streets before finishing on the straights of the Champs-Élysées.

RadioShack team in Black as the best team

The race started of with a delay, as the team RadioShack had come in an All Black jersey with 28 printed at the back for all nine riders to commemorate the 28 million people suffering from Cancer across the world and who are part of Livestrong. The race organisers did not allow them to start & they had to change into their team colours, while all the other teams waited at the start line.

Contador making the final rounds

Immediately on start, Contador made a false breakaway & was joined by Schleck and by the others all in the spirit of the sport. Soon thereafter the peleton started rolling steadily.

Once the peleton reached Paris, there were the usual moves by riders to try & breakaway. One such breakaway did form with Anthony Roux of Française des Jeux, Remy Pauriol of Cofidis, Nicki Sorensen of Saxo Bank, Sandy Casar of Française des Jeux, Christophe Riblon of AG2R-La Mondiale, Tony Martin of HTC-Columbia, Karsten Kroon of BMC Racing, Christian Knees of Milram, Alan Perez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Danilo Hondo of Lampre-Farnese Vini and Aitor Perez of Footon-Servetto. They did work together for a long time and stay out in the front, but their lead never got over 30secs on the peleton.

In the front of the peleton, HTC-Columbia was doing the hard work supported in some level by Team Sky. In the end, the breakaway was reeled in, and Cervalo Test team’s Burt Lancaster did set up Thor Hushovd for a final sprint. But as soon Hushovd started out, Ale Jet was on his wheel and broke away on his left. The Manx Missile, who was lead in by the HTC Columbia train, was on Ale Jet’s wheel and he immediately made his own move & flew away from the rest & won with several bike lengths to spare.

Ale Jet in Green

With this emphatic win, his 15^th stage win in three tours, Cavendish has become the first sprinter to defend the final stage win on the Champs-Élysées. Ale Jet, having come second, defended his Green jersey and became the first rider ever to win the Green jersey in all the three Grand Tours (Italy, Spain & France).

Alberto Contador finished in the peleton along with all the other riders and ensured that he bags his 3^rd TdF crown. He joins a group of 9 other riders who have won the TdF thrice. Though mention must be made that he never won a stage in the tour this time around!!

For several riders, Lance Armstrong of Team RadioShack, Christophe Moreau of Caisse D’Epargne, Koos Moerenhout of Rabobank,..etc it was a goodbye to the Tour, one last time. Many riders like Robbie McEwen, Robbie Hunter, Chris Horner, …etc. who have not officially said goodbye, but are surely going to be missed next year.

The Manx Missile, happy about his second straight win on the Champs-Élysées said, “I came around the last corner and I just jumped and started my sprint. It’s different on the Champs-Elysées to every other sprint in the Tour de France where you kind of have save as much energy as possible because every day is so hard. In Paris you’ve got nothing to save your energy for so you just go balls-out to the line and that’s kind of what I did today. I’m disappointed this year not to win the green jersey. I set out to do so – it was a target for this year – but I had some bad luck in the first days and was out of the running but the team fought back, did our best and I lost it by 11 points. But we won five stages and we’ve got to be happy with this year’s Tour. In the first week there was nothing that could be done about the bad luck but the team rode incredibly strongly throughout the early days and I was the weak link at the end of it. But they never gave up faith and they continued to lead me out and it takes a special group of guys to do that. It’s not just the riders but the soigneurs, the management, the mechanics… everyone in the team. I’m so lucky to part of a group of people who give 100 per cent whatever the outcome. It’s frustrating not to have the best out come when they’ve also done such a good job. It was just a case of trying to make amends. Finally I did and we just got on a roll after that. Obviously if you win, you get confidence. If you get confidence, you win… it rolls like that and it came out to be a pretty successful Tour so I’m pretty happy.”

Contador celebrates with team

Contador after winning the Tour said, “It is a Tour in which I had a lot of pressure, especially physically as I was not at my best level. It took a lot of confidence to face difficult situations. For example, everyone said I had already won the Tour after the stage to the Tourmalet. But we saw yesterday, in the race against the clock, that it was not fully played out. Today is therefore a great relief for me, it is a moment that I feel like I’ve been liberated from all the pressure. The three wins are all very different. The first, in 2007, had something special, precisely because that was the first. Last year, the context was difficult and this made it difficult. And this year I have had difficult moments, but I could count on a strong team. I realize that each year I gain in experience. I know better manage a team throughout the race. Now I am happy to enjoy this victory and I’ll take a good vacation.”

Andy with fans

Andy Schleck, who fought long and hard all through this tour said, “It’s a completely different feeling to when I came second in 2009. I got up there and look at the yellow jersey now and I realize I was so close – but in the end it’s so far away. I almost had it. I wore yellow for six days and I’m more than sure that I want to do better. I have a meeting on the Champs-Elysées next year with the yellow jersey. I’ll be back to win it. Right now it’s a bit difficult to understand all that’s happened because I’m in the middle of it all. It’s better to see from the outside. The people I’ve spoken to who have looked on say it’s been a really beautiful Tour and now I really need some time in the next week to sit back and maybe take it all in. I’m not going to watch the replays. I don’t want to watch myself on TV – I’m not in love with myself. But I have to enjoy it a little bit. I’m not going to brew on the 39 seconds. I’m finished thinking about that. It’s behind me now. It’s pretty funny though because yesterday when I finished the time trial, I said to my room-mate Nicki, ‘If I lose, I hope it’s like 45 or 50 seconds.’ I told him that I hoped it wasn’t going to be 39 seconds. I get to the hotel at the end of the stage and he reminds me that it’s 39 seconds. Ah well, it’s over and it’s lost. Right now I don’t know what’s going to change but we’ll all find out soon enough.” That comment in the end tells me that we have seen the last of the Schleck brothers in the Saxo Bank team!!

Anthony Charteau as King of Mountains

At the end of Tour de France 2010 the overall race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana wins the Tour & bags his third Yellow jersey. Alessandro Petacchi of Lampre wins his first Green jersey at the Tour de France. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank wins the White jersey for the third consecutive year. Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom wins the King of the Mountain jersey for TdF 2010. Team RadioShack wins the Best Team in the race award. Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step wins the “super-combatif” prize for being the most aggressive rider in Tour de France 2010.

With this post, my journey at TdF 2010 ends. Its been a fantastic three weeks of cycling & racing against the clock. The tour has given so many insights to so many, hopefully, I will be there next year too to cover another Grand Tour, maybe with more insights than this year….:)

So till next year…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Cancellara in the world champion jersey at the finish line

Andy fights, Cancellara flies, Contador still in Yellow!

The 19^th Stage of the TdF was from Bordeaux to Pauillac, a distance of 52km and was the only Individual Time Trial Stage in this year’s TdF. Set over a very flat course with open vineyards on both sides & the breeze coming over the shoulder & sometimes against you, this stage was the final battleground for the top position on this year’s podium at Paris. As predicted by me in yesterday’s post – it was Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank who pulled his World Time Trailing Champion jersey on and showed everyone why he is still the no.1 time trialist in the world. He went out on the course and set the race course on fire with a ride averaging over 51km/hr!! (And for all those doubting Thomases, TdF officials did check his bike & everyone else’s too, but were unable to find the hidden motor or the gear trigger to switch the motors on/off!!) Schleck did come out throwing punches and some of them did land too, but the stronger rider in the form of Contador ultimately won the day.

The start town of today, Bordeaux is hosting the tour on its 80^th visit. This city, also called as the City of Festivals, is world renowned for its wine & vineyards. A city with lots of cultural influences, there are seven museums, eight libraries, a fine arts school, many entertainment and exhibition venues, as well as international events and a national opera too. Located at the heart of 27 municipalities that make up the urban area home to a population of 800,000 people, Bordeaux has 240,000 inhabitants within its confines and is twinned with 19 cities around the world and welcomes 70,000 students to its universities.

In contrast the finishing stage town of Pauillac is hosting the tour for the very first time. With a population of around 5,000 this town is also a very big resource for all oenophiles. Half way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, Pauillac stretches along the banks of the Gironde, Europe’s biggest estuary. It was from here in 1777 that La Fayette set sail to America to help it obtain its independence. However, its name is especially well known throughout the world thanks to its prestigious wine appellation: with 37 châteaux that share 1,200 hectares of vineyard and 18 great classed growths in 1855, including three first great classed growths (the famous Châteaux Latour, Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild), Pauillac is the wine capital of the Médoc area. Visits to cellars, the village of wine and gourmet delights in Bages, ..etc. all contributes to making Pauillac today one of the most visited wine tourism destinations in France.

Cancellara is all concentration

The stage began at Bordeaux with Bert Grabsch of HTC Columbia being the first to leave, as he was the last placed rider at the end of Stage 18. The 2008 world champion soon showed that inspite of a tough TdF 3 weeks, he still had the legs to power around the course and set the pace for the rest. The only person who could beat him initially was his teammate Tony Martin who eclipsed his times at each of the three checks and became the first to finish the stage at an average of over 50km/hr. And then came Fabian Cancellara who just blew the rest of the riders away with a might performance. Despite the fact that he had put in some heavy duty time at the front of the peleton during the many mountain stages in the service of Andy Schleck, specially on the Col du Tourmalet, Spartacus as Cancellara is known, rode away to an incredible time of 1hr 56secs for the 52km course, 17secs faster than Martin, who had the best time at that point.

Some of the other riders who finished were Cadel Evans who was behind by 10min 45secs, Armstrong by 7min 05secs, Leipheimer by 5min 59secs, Millar by 4min 20secs, Zabriskie “Captain America” by 3min, Wiggins by 3min 33secs, Vinokourov by 5min 32secs and Sastre by 6min 30secs. As the wind started picking up later in the day, it was becoming increasingly difficult for any of the riders to make a better time than Cancellara.

Looks like Sanchez knew even before he started!

Much was made of Samuel Sanchez being 3^rd with 21secs lead over Denis Menchov, but Menchov put in a super ride to not only wipe out the deficit but also climb into the third place with a lead of over 1min 39secs over Sanchez!!

The silent assasin - Menchov into 3rd place

But the whole world was waiting for the ride of Schleck in this stage and having no history of ever having beaten Contador in time trialing ever, Andy put in the ride of his life. Staring very strong, he clawed back his time deficit to almost 3secs at the 30km stage. But with the strong wind taking a heavy toll on and his posture on the bike being not as aerodynamic as Contador’s, that was the closest he could come to getting his Yellow jersey back. With 7kms to go, Andy weakened & Contador showed his class by putting in a strong finish to roll in 31secs ahead of Schleck. So with this Contador almost for sure bags his third TdF title. Andy Schleck also will win the White jersey for the 3^rd time again, a feat achieved by the great German Jan Ullrich in the past.

Andy time trialing

Cancellara who won this stage said, “I’m truly happy about the victory. Time trials over an hour are insanely demanding where you have to keep focus every second of the way to hold the rhythm and pressure on the pulse. On the paper, the course looks pretty flat and easy but believe me it was lumpy and the headwind forced me to dig deep within myself to come up with the power to do this after a long and wearing Tour de France. But I really wanted to win. I’m sorry that Andy wasn’t able to take the jersey today, but we had a great Tour with both Andy and me in the leader’s jersey, winning the white jersey, four stage wins and a spot on the podium.

Contador exults after finish

A relieved Contador stated, “This morning I woke up in shape, I had a good night. But today we can say that I suffered. I think Andy has also suffered a lot for the race was very difficult. I had a hard time to settle down into a rhythm. But I wanted to stay completely focused on my position… on the aerodynamics. This was not my best day and I had doubts, but I won. A time trial at the Tour de France, it is never a race like any other. I am very excited because it was a victory that was difficult to attain. It had not been easy in 2007 and last year, but it’s unbelievable. It’s a huge relief.”

Andy Schleck, who fought long and hard all through this tour vowed to be back next year. He did think that loosing brother Franck on the cobble stones was his major setback as otherwise between the two of them they could have worn Contador in the mountains. A strategy that will be tested in the years to come not only by the Schlecks but also by all the other competing teams. Ironically, the deficit of 39secs that he has with Contador is the same that Contador gained on him in the Chaingate incident!!

At the end of Stage 19 the overall race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana remains in the Yellow. Alessandro Petacchi of Lampre remains in the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the White jersey. Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom has won the King of the Mountain jersey for TdF 2010. Team RadioShack is strongly placed to win the best team in the race award.

In the meanwhile, Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step was awarded the “super-combatif” prize for being the most aggressive rider in this year’s Tour de France.

The Tour de France Stage 20, is from Longjumeau to Paris Champs-Élysées, a distance of 102.5km. This is a very short ride for a tour stage, one of the shortest perhaps. With the Green jersey still up for grabs and two intermediate sprints before the grand finish, it can be either Cavendish, Hushovd or Ale Jet who can bag it. But as the laps of the Champs- Élysées are being done, will it be a break away that will steal the thunder under the sprinters nose?? Me thinks, tomorrow, it will be tight finish with the sprinters teams going all out to roll out their man in the best position possible. But in the end, bare any mishap – it should be the Manx Missile that will blast off!!  But in the end, it will be Ale Jet which will ride away with the Green jersey!!

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Cavendish dedicates win to Renshaw

Manx Missile makes it four for TdF 2010

The 18^th Stage of the TdF was from Salies-de-Béarn to Bordeaux, a distance of 198km.  A flat stage after the last 4 days in the Pyrenees was a relief to all riders and the fact that there was almost no effort to chase the inevitable breakaway till the last kms, also showed the mindset of the riders, who just want to finish this tour on the streets of Paris on Sunday.

The breakaway was allowed to go out and the peleton settled down soon enough into a steady pace. In the end, it was the Manx Missile of HTC Columbia, who as predicted by me in yesterday’s post, blasted out of the bunch sprint & gave a master class in the art of winning bike races. It was a clean sprint without his leadout man Renshaw and showed the frightening skills of a man who almost did not make the start in the morning due to fever & bronchitis. Cavendish won with enough space & time to spare in the end.

The start town of today, Salies-de-Béarn with a population of around 5,000, is on the tour route for the 2^nd time. A thermal spa, city of salt, Salies-de-Béarn located between Pau and Biarritz, owes its reputation to a unique saltwater source created by a geological oddity formed 200 million years ago. The picturesque old houses on stilts with steeply sloping roofs as well as the prestigious town houses dating back to the end of the 19th century recount centuries of an enthralling history. One of the legends that one hears is of the boar that was killed by hunters and which was miraculously preserved all these years due to the salt contained in the marshes.

After Paris the finishing stage town of Bordeaux has the record for hosting the tour the maximum number of times, 79 so far. On its 80^th visit the Tour will find this city of more than 225,000 people, also known as the City of Festivals, to be the right place to wind down after a hectic two weeks. A city of art, trade and history, Bordeaux is also a UNESCO listed world heritage site.

Celebrity visitors - Topgun & Cruz

The stage began at Salies-de-Béarn with all 171 riders who finished the race yesterday. (Simon Spilak of Lampre had hung his boots in the race yesterday after the 20km mark.) The race route for this stage had two intermediate sprints. With the climbs all over for this year’s TdF, the Polka dotted King of the Mountain jersey was won by Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom yesterday.

As soon as the race began Benoît Vaugrenard of Française des Jeux escaped and built a small lead. By the 11km mark he got Jérôme Pineau of Quick Step, Daniel Oss of Liquigas-Doimo and Matti Breschel of Saxo Bank along for company. These 4 riders formed the break of the day. Two BMC Racing riders – Alessandro Ballan and Marcus Burghardt also tried to join the breakaway but were quickly pulled back by the peloton.

The peleton kept a steady pace and with the bunch sprint looming in the end as a possibility, HTC Columbia & Lampre sent its riders the task of keeping the leaders within catchable distance. These riders rode to the plan and at no time could the breakaway set a time gap of over 3min consistently.

The Astana riders in the peleton were up to the mark on ensuring that Contador in the Yellow was protected at all times from any split in the peleton. So much so that Contador had to change his bike midway, which he did efficiently & then rode himself back into the peleton. Also seen was Schleck, who made his way to the back of the peleton to consult the Tour Doctor in the middle of the race. No details are available on this visit, so far, hopefully it will not be something which will hamper his riding in tomorrows’ time trial.

In the front, with the catch by the peleton imminent, Oss, riding his first tour, went hell for leather and left the other three riders behind. He rode a very strong race till the final 3.5km, when the peleton swallowed him too. At the front of the peleton for the first time Team Sky put in a very organized sprint train for Hagen. Lampre who had done the lion’s share of the work the whole day also was out for Ale Jet. So was Cervalo test team for Hushovd. But in the end, all of this was of no avail, as even with out Renshaw, his regular leadout man, Cavendish exploded from behind the wheels of Ale Jet and rode with such ferocity that none of the other sprints could even cast a shadow at him. He won with time to spare & turned around to see who was finishing & at what place, such was his speed today. With this win he takes his tally of TdF stage wins for this year to 4, and his total tally to 14. The rest of the peleton rode in at the same time and so there was no change in the overall standings.

A visibly happy Cavendish told the journos, “I wasn’t sure if I was going to even start the stage. I’ve been sick the last four days with bronchitis – actually, there are a hell of a lot of guys in the peloton with the same thing so I’m not only one. But I finally had the fever yesterday and I was dead last night and never thought I could start today. We decided, ‘Oh, okay I’ll go. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t…’ 
Even during the stage, I was speaking with Brad [Wiggins] and he said, ‘Are you sprinting today?’ And I told him, ‘Yeah.’ 
He then told me that I’m not normally as talkative as I was when I’m up for a sprint. But I told him that we didn’t really have the pressure on and if I don’t win, we know the reason… but it was so nice to see the guys working so incredibly hard. I was sitting in 10th wheel and the guys were pulling and pulling and pulling. The guys in the escape were strong and also very clever and, as we saw in the end, it was hard to bring back (Daniel) Oss – he did a brilliant ride at the finish – and we had to use Michael (Rogers) and Tony (Martin) to pull him back. 
It was up me to kind of freestyle for the last kilometer. I was jumping from wheel to wheel; I was back to my old style of sprinting and it worked out, so it’s okay. This one is for Mark (Renshaw). We actually planned a celebration. I was going write ‘Renshaw’ on my gloves but Bob said I couldn’t do stuff like that. But I think the whole team rode the way they did for Mark today. It was remarkable. We miss him in the team, we miss him when we’re racing, we miss him at the dinner table and I still think it’s a shame that he left in the circumstances that he did. I’ll never say never when it comes to the green jersey but I lost it in the first week. It hasn’t really been my aim. At the end of the day, I like to win bike races. I’ve always said, ‘If I win the green jersey by winning races, that’ll do.’ We’ll try and win again in Paris and see what happens.”

Contador on podium

At the end of Stage 18 the over all race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana remains in the Yellow. Alessandro Petacchi of Lampre takes over the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the White jersey. Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom has already won the King of the Mountain jersey for TdF 2010. Team RadioShack consolidates their position as the best team in the race.

Andy in white

Sanchez in 3rd spot

The Tour de France Stage 19, is from Bordeaux to Pauillac, a distance of 52km. This being an Individual Time Trial, and a long at that, it will be the single most important stage that Andy Schleck would have ever ridden in his life. He is behind by only 8secs, but Contador is very strong rider & is aiming to win the stage tomorrow. So will Andy be able to ride away from Contador & win the TdF? Me thinks, not possible. A shorter distance would have been much easier for Andy, but with 52km – a stretch too much. Contador is strongly tipped to extend his time gap over Andy, but watch out for Fabian Cancellara, he will be out there for ride to a stage win. Also, Menchov & Sanchez will try & put some time into Andy for a possible podium stage. RadioShack riders, Horner & Leipheimer too will try to put in solid rides.

Cancellara vs horse!

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Andy trying to drop Contador on the final 10km climb

The Andy & Alberto Show @ Tourmalet!!

The 17^th Stage of the TdF was from Pau to Col du Tourmalet, a distance of 174km.  A stage, which was to be the ultimate challenge to the riders did prove to be the perfect battlefield for two gladiators to fight it out. Through the day the breakaway did try & move in for a finish, but the Astana & Saxo Bank teams kept a tight leash on the peleton & their lead never went beyond the 7min mark. Thus in the end when Andy Schleck exploded from the ranks, only the Yellow jersey of Alberto Contador could keep up the pace and as predicted in yesterday’s post by me, it was Andy Schleck who won the stage, but Contador hung in right behind all through out to grab the same time & thus keep his Yellow jersey & also the vital 8secs lead.

The start town of today, Pau, with a population of around 82,000, is on the tour route for the 62^nd time. A beautiful part of the Pyrenees, the sporting people of this town have given the whole culture of this place a whole new dimension.

As the finishing stage of TdF Col du Tourmalet is hosting the tour only for the second time after 1974, though every year the tour passes by its slope and stories / legends are written for the eternity. The tour has already climbed the Col du Tourmalet 73 times before this. Legend has it that since 1675, when Madame de Maintenon crossed it on a Sedan chair to reach Barèges, as the route via the valley bottom was blocked by floods, Tourmalet has been on the travelers route maps. Today, at an altitude of 2,115m, Tourmalet is one of the highest road passes in the Pyrenees. In the winter, with 100 km of slopes, the biggest skiing resort in the French Pyrenees, under the name Domaine du Tourmalet opens up. Overlooking the pass, the peak of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre rises up to an altitude of 2,877m.

After a rest day the stage began at Pau with all 172 riders who finished Stage 16 in the peleton. The race route for this stage, in the last day in the Pyrenees had 2 Cat I climbs, 1 Cat IV climb & the Hors Categorized climb of the Col du Tourmalet. There were no intermediate sprint points in the race route today.

The race began with Team Sky attacking straight away with Juan Antonio Flecha and Edvald Boasson Hagen. With in 5km another set of 5 riders including Kristjan Koren of Liquigas, Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha, Marcus Burghardt of BMC Racing, Remi Pauriol of Cofidis and Ruben Perez of Euskaltel joined them. By the 12km mark Konovalovas of Cervalo Test Team attacked the peleton & left to join the leaders. And around the 23km mark, Samuel Sanchez, who is overall 3^rd in GC, crashed. Contador & others requested everyone to slow their pace for Sammy to join back but Sastre who had let his teammate fly off in search of the leaders refused to listen & tried to go away from the peleton. He rode a solo race for two climbs but was caught by the peleton & passed over. Sanchez in the meanwhile took another 10km before joining up with the peleton.

Sanchez at finish after his carsh, Horner moving into top 10

From there on to the climbs of the Col du Tourmalet, there were not much of attacks as the teams of Astana, Saxo Bank & OmegaPharma Lotto kept the pace in the front of the peleton high enough to keep the breakaway in the catchable position.

By the time the peleton hit the climb of Col du Tourmalet, the breakaway had splintered and the riders were being caught one after the other. Team Saxo Bank drilled away at the front & rider after rider built a very high speed and dropped out finally leaving just Schleck in the front. With around 10.5km to go, Schleck launched an all out attack and dropped everyone except Contador, who tucked in neatly behind his wheel, and rode as a limpet all the way through.

The last 10km of the climb was what legendary duels are made of and today another page was added to the legends chapter. Schleck threw everything in his armory including the kitchen sink at Contador, who bravely withstood the onslaught and kept riding right behind him till the very end. Schleck tried different rhythms, dancing on the pedals, speeding around corners, for every move of his Contador had an answer. In the middle, Contador also launched a savage attack of his own, which Schleck was able to catch up to.  This titanic match up was being witnessed by 1000’s of fans who literally threw themselves on the riders, encouraging them and egging them on. In the end, Contador simply sat through at the finish line, allowing Schleck to take the stage, but keeping his Yellow jersey, thus making up for his slight in the “Chaingate” mechanical that happened two days ago.

This final onslaught by Schleck opened up the GC standings between him & the others, but all the major contenders made it within a few minutes of the top two at the finish line, thus minimizing their losses. The major casualty was Levi Leipheimer of Radio Shack, who was unwell, who dropped a few minutes and went out of the top 10. But Chris Horner of RadioShack, another 38 year old rider, who is riding an excellent tour stormed back in the last climb to get himself into the 10^th place overall.

Andy puts one across Contador

After the race Andy Schleck in the interview backstage said, “I’m satisfied with the stage win but I also wanted to turn white into yellow but unfortunately it wasn’t possible. I really tried hard, you have to believe me about that. I changed rhythm and I tried everything but I think we’re on the same level on the climbs. Alberto attacked and I could go with him – it was a quick response – but in the end he didn’t sprint to win the stage because I did the most work. I have a lot of respect for that, it shows that he’s a great champion. 
I tried to find out how he was feeling. You need to look at someone to see how he was coping. I think you can find out a lot if you look someone in the eyes. He didn’t have the sunglasses on today so it was possible to see, that’s why I looked so many times. But he always looked good and that’s kind of what killed me. El Pistolero is strong, huh? I could not drop him. He was always there. I wanted to find out if he was getting weak but he didn’t succumb. He even attacked me to show, ‘Hey, listen young boy, I’m still here! You better stop playing these games with me.’ 
I’m super happy to win this stage today – it’s the Queen stage of this year’s Tour. To win on the Tourmalet is like a win on Alpe d’Huez. 
When I turned to talk to him, I said: ‘You pass?’ And he didn’t. I would have done the same. Why should he pass me? In the end, he let me win the stage and I’m super happy.”

Gesink & Menchov nearing the finish

At the end of Stage 17 the over all race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana remains in the Yellow. Thor Hushovd of Cervalo Test Team continues in the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the White jersey & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom continues in the King of the Mountain jersey. Team RadioShack consolidates their position as the best team in the race.

Anthony Charteau - this years King of Mountain jersey winner

The Tour de France Stage 18, is from Salies-de-Béarn to Bordeaux, a distance of 198km. The sprinters have one last stage for glory before the final stage at Paris on Sunday. Me thinks, the Manx Missile after 4 days of spending time at the rear of the peleton will be raring to have a go and stretch his sprint legs, also to prove a point that with or without Renshaw, he is the best.

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Pierrick Fedrigo outsprints all

Fedrigo scores for France at Pau – Stage 16

The 16^th Stage of the TdF was from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau, a distance of 199.5km.  A stage, which can also be called as the “Queen Stage” of the race for the 4 massive climbs that are spread on the course, today the beauty of the Pyrenees was there for all to see. Almost all, as the cyclists am sure would have been grinding their teeth right from the first km itself!! With the most feared of all Col du Tourmalet being part of the climb, followed by the Col du Aubisque it was an ideal stage for the breakaway and in the end it was the breakaway which succeeded. Lance Armstrong having seen his title efforts go down in crashes, made out in the breakaway and kept it up till the final 100m, where the stronger legs of youngster Pierrick Fedrigo of Bbox Telecom outsprinted all.

Feared Col du Tourmalet

The start town of today, with a population of around 3,000, Bagnères-de-Luchon joins the race for on the TdF route for the 51^st time! This town also called the “Queen of the Pyrenees”, is the most popular spa resort in Haute-Garonne and it boasts a Vaporarium that is unique in Europe. This natural hammam whose temperature ranges between 38 and 42 degrees, is a delight for any traveler who wants to test the treatment by the waters here, something even the Romans’ of old have accepted.

Beautiful Pyrenees

The finishing stage town of Pau has been on the TdF route 62 times!! The city of Henri IV has been a mainstay of the Tour and follows Paris & Bordeaux in the number of times that they have hosted the race. This year, the stay of the Tour de France in Pau will give rise to a grand popular festival with the show “Je me souviens du Tour” (I remember the Tour), by Christian Laborde, a native of Pau, and the “64ème du nom”, a crazy caravan bringing together the Générik Vapeur troupe and Pau’s associations. Come October, the city will be playing host to the Basque Pelota World Championships and, in November, the National Flower Show.

The stage began at Bagnères-de-Luchon with 172 riders in the peleton as Iban Mayoz of Footon & Bram Tankink of Rabobank. The race route for this stage in the third day in the Pyrenees had 2 Cat I climbs & 2 Hors Categorized climbs of the Col du Tourmalet & the Col du Aubisque, definitely the “Queen Stage” of TdF 2010. There were 2 intermediate sprints after all the four climbs for the sprinters to bag Green jersey points.

A typical mountain pass at TdF

The race began with a flurry of attacks and within the first 5km around 18 riders including Armstrong & Horner of RadioShack, Sastre of Cervalo, Vinokourov of Astana, Wiggins of Sky, Kreuziger and Szymd both of Liqigas, Hesjedal of Garmin Transitions, Roche of A2gr, Lloyd of OmegaPharma Lotto, Barredo of Quick Step, …etc escaped. Over the first climb of Col du Peyresourde the group got sorted and by the Col du Aspin only 11 riders were left. At the back it was OmegaPharma Lotto team that was setting the pace followed closely by Contador in Yellow & Schleck in White jerseys, having patched up their relationship after public apologies by Contador.

Armstrong in the breakaway

Repeated attacks by riders saw the lead of the leaders go up to 7min at one stage. On the ascent of the Col du Tourmalet, Armstrong attacked and was successful in opening a gap, but once again the lead group of 8 caught up with him. Christophe Moreau at 39, proved that he still is a rider to contend with by racing to the summit of the Col du Tourmalet finish & bag the Souvenir Jacques Goddet. He kept himself in the same vein for the climb of Col du Aubisque and thus gathered himself lots of King of the Mountains points. As the 4^th climb neared, it was Barredo who broke ranks and attacked. He was allowed to keep in the front by the other 8 riders who included Armstrong, Horner, Casar, Van de Walle, Fedrigo, Moreau, Plaza and Cunego.

Armstrong up ahead

In the final few kms, the chase group decided to play cat & mouse with the tiring Barredo upfront, as a catch much before the finish would have meant another attack & more energy spent. So they timed the catch just 1km away from the finish, and it was equal chance for all to win. With some 300m to go the sprints started and Armstrong started out from the 8^th position, but the former champion who has won 24 stages in the past, just did not have the legs to carry him through the sprint and gave up in the last 30m. It was Fedrigo of Bbox who timed his sprint & bagged his 3^rd TdF stage in his career.

In the back, Contador & the rest kept the same pace and finally made the finish line, brought in by the mighty Thor, who raced all to the finish to grab 6 very vital points in the Green jersey classification, something which saw him get the Green jersey back from Ale Jet.

After the race Fedrigo in the interview backstage said, “I would have been very disappointed to finish this Tour without finding myself in a position to play to win. I was really afraid of not succeeding. The Tour passes so quickly and so far I did not answer the call I’d issued myself. Last night I even cracked a little and my nerves were a bit frayed. But perhaps that’s what I needed in order to regain confidence. This morning I went into the break with the objective of taking maximum points to protect the polka-dot jersey of Anthony Charteau. He had to stay very focused to make the break and stay ahead. Then I remembered a lot of stage last year, the moments where I escaped with (Franco) Pellizotti on the Tourmalet and the Aspin. In the end, Armstrong told me that he would not cooperate with me because he knew I was the fastest group…”

The Attacker of the day was Carlos Barredo of Quick Step team, the same who attacked Costa of Caisse D’Epargne a few stage s back, and he rued the missed chance after being in the front of the race for almost the whole of the last 45km. He said, “At the beginning I tried to go alone and I was just thinking about the ride ahead but there was a lot of wind and it was blowing right in the face. It was difficult and then, in the last kilometers, the roads were too big and they didn’t offer any advantage for a one-man escape – that’s better done on smaller roads. When we were establishing the escape on the climbs early in the stage, there was quite a lot of talk and we were speaking about how we needed to attack and maintain the momentum. Lance tried for the first time and then it was my turn – and I tried many times because there were originally too many people in the group – and eventually we got a good selection. There was a chance today but, ah… well, I missed out. That’s life, hey?”

Contador in Yellow

At the end of Stage 16 the over all race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana remains in the Yellow. Thor Hushovd of Cervalo Test Team grabs the Green jersey back. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the White jersey & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom continues the King of the Mountain jersey. Team RadioShack continues as the best team in the race.

Hushovd back in green

The Tour de France Stage 17, is from Pau a distance of 174km. This will be the last chance for Schleck to put some time into Contador, for after this stage its all flat stages back to Paris. Also, this will be the last chance for an attacker to breakaway & try and grab some glory. So who is it going to be??…Andy Schleck ??

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Emotional Voeckler at the podium

Voeckler does France proud on Stage 15

The 15^th Stage of the TdF was from Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon, a distance of 187.5km.  A day, which began with all teams trying to get their mountain strategies in place, was marked by some brilliant riding by an irrepressible French rider and a mechanical incident which put the Yellow jersey of Andy Schleck in trouble. The second day in the Pyrenees did see the battle between the two best climbers in the world Contador and Schleck, heat up. After a performance, which Contador was not very happy with in Stage 14, where he tried a few times to drop Schleck, and was unsuccessful, Contador today adopted the Muhammad Ali style of taking as many punches as he could and still remain standing, so that he could afterwards try & finish off Schleck. He kept his team behind him & followed all the moves made by Schleck. In the front, it was Thomas Voeckler of Bbox Telecom, who escaped in a breakaway at the halfway stage of the race & then dropped all the other riders on the ascent of the Port de Balès & successfully descended the final kms to win today’s stage.

For the start town of today, Pamiers, with a population of around 15,000, it’s the first time association with the TdF. Just 60km south of Toulouse, this is a small town with lots of small canals and is the home town of musician Gabriel Fauré.

The finishing stage town of Bagnères-de-Luchon joins the race for on the TdF route for the 51^st time! Known as the “Queen of the Pyrenees”,  inspired in 1834 by Vincent de Chausenque, Bagnères-de-Luchon also conducts several international events like the International TV Film Festival and the Flower Show…etc.

The stage began at Pamiers with all 175 riders in the peleton who finished the race yesterday. The race route for this stage was again one with 2 intermediate sprints in it for the sprinters to bag Green jersey points and the second day in the Pyrenees had 1 Cat IV climb & 2 Cat II climbs before the final climb to the Hors Categorized Port de Bales followed by a long descent into the finish line.

Today's breakaway..

Attacks to breakaway were made by several riders right from the very beginning, but none were allowed to leave the peleton. Astana made the move once when they found Saxo Bank team behind and even split the peleton but all for just 10secs as the Saxo Bank team closed the gap straightaway. At the first sprint point Ale Jet & Hushovd both tried to win points but neither could, incidentally, Jerome Pineau who is fighting the King of the Mountains classification rode away with the third place!!

It was around the 35km mark that the first proper breakaway was formed with 7 riders – Brian Vandborg of Liquigas-Doimo, Johan Vansummeren of Garmin-Transitions, Serguei Ivanov of Katusha, Alessandro Ballan of BMC Racing, Francesco Reda of Quick Step, Luke Roberts of Milram and Aitor Perez Arrieta of Euskaltel-Euskadi. This group was soon joined by another three strong riders – Thomas Voeckler of Bbox Bouyges Telecom, Sébastien Turgot and Lloyd Mondory, both of AG2R-La Mondiale.

They went about their job systematically and by the start of the climb to Port de Balès their lead was hovering around the 9-10 min mark. The Saxo Bank team was taking the responsibilities to drive the peleton, but at no time were they chasing the leaders down. With rider after rider pushing the limits of their stamina and dropping down after their stint in the front, Stuart O’Grady, Voigts, Jakob Fuglsang & Chris Anker Sorensen, were all at the back after their service to Schleck.

In the front, with 8km still to go, couple of riders got dropped and that was when Voeckler made his move and went solo. Ballan did try to narrow the gap, but was unable to match the rhythm of Voeckler. Having broken away from the leaders, it was Voeckler of the old, the same rider who in 2004 kept the Yellow for 10 days, who just flew the coop and after crossing the summit continued on till the finish line, despite taking a few risks when coming down the hill winning this stage handsomely.

Trio escaping from Andy

Meanwhile drama was unfolding at the back as, Schleck now found himself all alone in the lead and he went about the role of the Yellow jersey with no fuss at all. At this stage the top 5 rides of the tour were all together & engaged in a terrific battle. But with 3km to go when Schleck finally attacked and even caught Contador offguard, his chain went out & this mechanical allowed Contador, Sanchez & Menchov to escape. By the time Schleck put his chain back on, (due to the narrowness of the road, no team car was allowed to follow right behind), he had lost almost 23secs. He then tore after the others but the damage was done. He did blow away other riders who had crossed him, but the trio who escaped him summited 29secs before him & with Sanchez in the group they descended much faster than anyone else could and at the finish line Contador was ahead of Schleck by 8secs. Thus the Yellow changed over to Contador due to a mechanical rather than a mistake by Andy. Samuel Sanchez & Dennis Menchov maintain their overall GC standings of 3^rd & 4^th.

After the race Voeckler, who was given the prize for the most attacking rider also, in the interview backstage said, “I knew I was better than the fourth place in the stage to Station des Rousses. On this Tour I’ve really had difficult times. But I’m getting experience and after 12 Grand Tours, I know very well that we can have terrible days, and then find ourselves in great shape. That’s what I say to all young guys on the team when they are in doubt. I am very proud of what I have done today. At an emotional level, what happened at the championships of France, when I came home first, was already enormous. But then win with the tricolor on the shoulders a stage of the Tour de France is extra-ordinary. It is true that I have a special way to ride, but I do not attack for the sake of attacking. It’s an attack for the victory. And when you’re not the strongest in the world, you must try many times for it to work.”

Andy Schleck on being questioned about his state of mind said, “Now I’m really angry. I will ride on the Tourmalet until I fall from my bike and give everything to this race. I felt really good but what counted at the end of the day is the time that you have when you arrive at the finish and I was so far back even with what I did on the descent. Things happen, and everything happens for a reason. People can say what they want but they also have realize that Alberto was one of the guys who waited for me in Spa and that was really a great sign of fair play. Chapeau! Today was a different story, a different scenario but the Tour is not finished. What happened, happens. I cannot change the situation even if I’m mad. If yell at people, it won’t change the situation. It is how it is. I’m not crying behind my jersey. In the end it comes down to the fact that this is a bike race and we will make the final count. I’m not done with.”

Contador in Yellow

Contador in the yellow jersey had this to say, “At this moment it’s a really good situation, but actually 30 seconds more or 30 seconds less could change things a bit. It’s always good to be ahead in the general classification. I didn’t know anything about the problems with Andy Schleck, but when I realized it I was already ahead of him. The only things that I saw was that he was beginning to attack and then he slowed down. I didn’t realize that he had a problem with the bike. We’ve got a really good relationship and, in the sporting sense we also get along well, especially if you see what we did on the road to Spa [in stage two when Schleck crashed the peloton acted in solidarity and waited for him and the other fallen riders]. In Spa, he had big crash but today when I attacked it wasn’t because I knew he had problems. I’m sure he will attack me and I always have fear of what he might be able to do…”

Jurgen Van Den Broeck consoling Andy at the finish

At the end of Stage 14 the over all race results are as follows. Alberto Contador of Team Astana take over in the Yellow. Ale Jet of Lampre keeps the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank leads in the White jersey category & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom continues the King of the Mountain jersey. Team RadioShack opens up the best team classification seizes the position as the best team in the race.

The Tour de France Stage 16, is from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau a distance of 199.5km. Me thinks that Andy & team will try and burn a big hole in the peleton by driving it very hard & on the climb to Tourmalet, it will be Schleck’s show time & seeing the form that he is and the adrenaline from yesterday Contador better have domestiques right upfront all through the climb. For all we know, Armstrong might do a tango with Andy & help out in this just to push Contador over the brink.

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Riblon celebrates!

Riblon proves breakaways do succeed !

The 14^th Stage of the TdF was from Revel to Ax 3 Domaines, a distance of 184.5km. The first day in the Pyrenees and the battle between the two best riders on show Contador & Schleck was out in the open for all to see. With the biggest challenge of the day being the climb of the Hors Categorized Port de Pailhères, which was around 30km before the final climb to the finish line, it was battle royale in the peleton and a tattered peleton it was in the end. As predicted by me in yesterday’s post Astana burned up a few riders who did try put Contador in a leader’s situation. But it was Andy Schleck who actually won the mental battle, as Contador in spite of putting in savage bursts of acceleration couple of times was unable to shake off the younger Schleck. Frenchman Christophe Riblon of Ag2r was the one who seized the initiative for the day and having stuck into the breakaway of the day stayed ahead of all others and finished the stage off in style with his first ever stage win in TdF.

For the start town of today, Revel, with a population of around 8,000, it’s the 9^th visit for TdF. Considered as one of the most eco friendly towns in the Mid Pyrenees area, Revel has a tradition of Sports and Sports Clubs.

The finishing stage town of Ax 3 Domaines is on the TdF route for the 4^th time. Carlos Sastre, a GC contender at the start of the TDF 2010, now placed 15^th overall, has fond memories of this town as he won here in 2003. Ax 3 Domaines, which includes the Bonascre, Saquet and Campels skiing areas, has become the most popular resort town in the Pyrenees. Also the town is not far from the border with Andorra, making the valleys around Ax a tourist centre with lots of physical beauty.

Cheerleaders in cycling!!

The stage began at Revel with 175 riders in the peleton (less Rein Taaramae of Cofidis who had packed his bags during yesterday’s race). The race route for this stage was one with 2 intermediate sprints in it for the sprinters to bag Green jersey points and the first day of the Pyrenees had the Hors Categorized Port de Pailhères and the final climb into Ax 3 Domaines as its highlight.

Right at the very beginning a bunch of 12 rides tried to escape, but by the 9km mark only 5 were left in the front. This group had Caisse D’Epargne’s Ivan Gutierrez and so Team RadioShack chased down this break as Caisse D’Epargne team is their closest rival in the best team classification. By the 24^th km Benoit Vaugrenard of Francaise des Jeu, Christophe Riblon of Ag2r, Van de Walle of Quick Step, Pierre Rolland of Bbox Telecom and Stephane Auge of Cofidis were in a move to break away & that they did.

After their escape they kept a good pace but by the time the climb of Port de Pailhères started the riders started dropping off. With the climb coming upon the riders, it was the pace of Christophe Riblon that made the mark & soon he dropped all others and was soloing it & having scaled the climb in the first spot, could fly down the descent taking all the risks that he could take. Sastre also tried to jump from the peleton and reach the leader, but that was not to be. Couple of other rides also tried the same stunt, but none could match Riblon as he kept expanding his time gap amongst the chasers.

In the GC riders group, Armstrong as soon as the climb began, was seen at the back of the peleton and finally came into the finish line with a group almost 10min behind the leaders. But it was Dennis Menchov of Rabobank & Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel Euskadi who fought hard and bettered their positions on the GC list.

Contador trying to break Andy..

So Riblon won the stage, which saw at one stage, between Ax 3 Domaines and the final climb for the riders, Contador & Schleck doing standstill riding on the climbs!! It was like a poker match with someone wanting to end this all. But today neither won & the results were the same too. Schleck was able to place himself right on the wheel of Contador and every time Contador accelerated, so did Schleck. This cat & mouse game saw the 3^rd placed Sanchez  & 4^th place Menchov escapee and cut down on the overall GC standings. Over all the GC positions remain the same except for Levi Leipheimer of RadioShack who moves down one position.

Riblon after winning the race stage

After finishing the race & winning the prize for the most attacking also, Christophe Riblon said, “I was really disappointed with my start of the Tour, because I wanted to do something overall, and it did not work. Especially the last two days were very difficult, and I was almost depressed. But last night I would still not bet a euro on me. In the final I did not want to say ,‘I won’. I constantly repeated to myself, ‘I’m going to win’, but I did not want to be sure, not until the last kilometer. When you’re alone in front, with a few kilometers to the finish, the support of the public helps to carry you and it encourage you, it transforms you and gives you strength. I gave everything and I felt I could not lose.”

Andy Schleck talking about the tactics for the stage today’s said, “I have a plan and I wanted to follow it. If Alberto have been really bad, then I would have attacked but he wasn’t bad today – he was actually pretty good, but I was good also. When he did attack, like I said on the climb today, I cannot pass him so I had to stay on his wheel. It was a little bit of mind games between him and me but made enough mistakes for him to drop me – I passed him and pulled because I wanted to make it good… but I learned out of my mistakes. Tomorrow will be totally different but now it was clear that I could not have passed him because he would have attacked and gained seconds on me
 Today was a hard day and Alberto can handle it but the situation he’s in right now is not super. It’s not bad either but again today he could not drop me and that gives me a lot of confidence. I was never on the point of being dropped. I felt really good today. I think maybe I was a little better than him today.”

Andy at podium for yellow

At the end of Stage 14 the over all race results are as follows. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the Yellow. Ale Jet of Lampre keeps the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank leads in the White jersey category (though on the road tomorrow Robert Gesink of Rabobank will wear that jersey as Andy wears his Yellow jersey) & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom continues the King of the Mountain jersey. Caisse D’Epargne seizes the position as the best team in the race.

The Tour de France Stage 15, is from Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon, a distance of 187.5km, with lots of climbs along the route, it will be a stage for the best descender as there is a long & very dangerous descent towards the finale finish line.  Me thinks that Contador having tried some tricks today will try and open another set tomorrow. But with Andy showing strong form, it will be another team tactic that could open up the race. But Watch out for Samuel Sanchez, one of the best & fearless descenders in the race, he is bound to pick up some time on all riders tomorrow.

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Ecstatic Vino wins Stage 13

13 is lucky for Vino!

The 13^th Stage of the TdF was from Rodez to Revel, a distance of 196km. The last day on the stage before the Pyrenees, this was a stage which was best suited to an attacker, but with the sprinter teams all suited up for one final stage win before the Pyrenees, the pace was hectic at the front. Yes, the breakaway did happen and the peleton kept them in total control at all times. The sprinters all lined up in the last few kms hoping to be brought into the last stretch by their sprint teams, and all of this did happen and the sprinters did sprint, but it was for the second place only!! As Alexandre Vinokourov of Astana had made a surprise break in the last limb & once he got away, he kept up his pace till the finish line, leaving Cavendish & Petacchi to come in 2^nd & 3^rd !!

Rodez, with a population of around 26,000 is being part of the Tour for the second time. The history of this 2,000 year old town has it that the Counts and Bishops of the town were opposed to each other & built a wall to divide the same into two, parts of which even now remains. The Notre-Dame cathedral with its 87-metre high bell tower, displays the architectural styles of the 13th to 17th centuries, balanced by the newly stained glass windows created by Stéphane Belzère that give it a modern touch.

The finishing stage town of Revel with a population of around 8,000 plus is being part of the tour for the ninth time. Situated at the foot of the Black Mountain, Revel is a former medieval town. With the belfry in the centre of the town taking up a central role, its central square surrounded by timber-framed houses becomes, on Saturday morning when the market takes up residence, a place of many flavours, aromas and colours. The Saint-Ferréol Lake created in the 17th century by Pierre-Paul Riquet to feed the Canal du Midi is also a sports lover’s paradise.  The city also boasts the “Arts and Crafts Town” label, thanks to the excellence of its cabinet-makers, French polishers, engravers, lacquerers, ironmongers and upholsterers,…etc.

Henri Toulouse Lautrec - divan japonise

Henri Toulouse Lautrec jardin de paris

Today’s race course passed through the town of Lautrec, the town which gave us the very famous painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. An ardent observer of the contemporary scene & life, Toulouse-Lautrec designed many lithographed posters advertising Parisian nightlife and that today are the much reprinted posters that are used for setting any theme with Paris nightlife!!.

Toulouse Lautrec Henri after aristide

The stage began at Rodez with 176 riders in the peleton (less Tyler Farrer who packed it yesterday). The race route for this stage was one with 2 intermediate sprints in it for the sprinters to bag Green jersey points. With five climbs for the day including 2 Cat III & 3 Cat IV climbs, this was a climber’s route, but with this stage being the last one before the Pyrenees it was all out work for the sprinters teams.

Even before the race could start off Lance Armstrong of Team RadioShack crashed and had to go the race doctor’s car to get his bruises treated. But he soon made it to the front of the peleton and it was business as usual. Today three riders, all of whom had won stages at the TdF in their past, Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step, Juan Antonio Flecha of Team Sky & Pierrick Fedrigo of Bbox Bouyges Telecom made the breakaway.

The breakaway trio of Chavanel, Flecha & Fedrigo

After their escape they kept a good pace till the very end when with 10km remaining they were caught and passed by the peleton. With these three taking away all the points in the King of the Mountain classification & the intermediate sprints – there was not much action left for the contenders in these categories.

Vino running away

Today to ensure a sprint finish, HTC Columbia, Milram & Lampre teams did all the hard work of leading the peleton. At the last climb Alessandro Ballan of BMC Racing made his move & was followed by Carlos Barredo of Quick Step, Nicolas Roche of AG2R and Damiano Cunego of Lampre-Farnese Vini. But they were unable to catch him & neither was Thomas Voeckler of Bbox Telecom. That was when Astana’s Vinokourov jumped from the peleton, caught Ballan & soon left him behind. After yesterday’s disappointment of loosing the Stage 12 with the final finish line in sight, it was a pumped up Vino who made the climb look quite easy. By the time he reached the top of the climb he had almost 12sec on the chasers. The sprinters team did their best to close their gap, but after the descent, on the flat straight stretch, it was Vino who increased his lead to 15sec. As he neared the finish mark, he turned back to confirm that there was no one breathing down his neck & then saluted his sponsor team & won his first stage at TdF after coming back from a 2 year suspension for doping.

Cavendish brings the peleton

The peleton in the meanwhile had been split into small fragments by the intense pace at the front, but the sprinters where able to line up in the front and a “Renshawless” Cavendish did what Hushovd was doing all this tour, sit in his slipstream!! Cavendish stayed in Hushovd’s back wheel till he saw Ale Jet take off on his left. He then turned on his throttle and passed Hushovd and the rest easily to win the sprint by a full wheel length. In the overall GC standings, there were no changes & Andy Schleck still has a 31sec lead over Contador.

Contador, Cavendish, Andy & Cancellara

After the race, Vinokourov said, “It’s nice to win here again and it was a good victory. I’m very happy for my team, especially, because I think I helped give some good morale for the team. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t win yesterday but it gave us some good motivation and now we are ready for the three or four stages in the mountains.”

Contador hugging Vino after win

On being questioned on his doping in the past he said, “Yes. It’s like I said after the win in Leige-Bastogne-Leige, ‘Vino is coming back. This is the new Vino’. With my victory there, I asked why I always must prove my reform. This is the new Vino and I think everybody understands that now. I must win my popularity in France and I think this victory in the Tour helps… but I don’t want to talk anymore about 2007.
I rode well in the breakaway and was great today and I’m happy.”

At the end of Stage 13 the over all race results are as follows. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the Yellow. Ale Jet of Lampre takes back the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank leads in the White jersey category (though on the road tomorrow Robert Gesink of Rabobank will wear that jersey as Andy wears his Yellow jersey) & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom continues the King of the Mountain jersey. Team RadioShack continues as the best team in the race.

The Tour de France Stage 14, is from Revel to Ax 3 Domaines, a distance of 184.5km, with the Hors Categorized Port de Pailhères climb looming up around 30km from the finish & with the final finish line at the end of a steep climb it will be all action in the GC. Me thinks that Team Astana will put out couple of riders to burn themselves up in the climb & leave Contador to do the final ascent all by himself, with Andy Schleck trying to stay with him.

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Rodriguez wins

Rodriguez tames Montée Laurent Jalabert!

The 12^th Stage of the TdF was from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende, a distance of 210.5km. A hard day was predicted for the riders with 5 categorized climbs on the route today & it was the climbing pedigree of the riders at test today. With the Pyrenees just around the corner, this was one day where as predicted in yesterdays post by me, Contador was to try & test the energy levels of Schleck and he did exactly that and Andy was found wanting!! Having used up a whole reserve of his energy thus far in getting the Yellow jersey, Andy is being pressed hard by Contador & Astana to maintain his leaders spot and that is slowly beginning to tell. But in the end, the Yellow jersey did pull up his socks and limited his damage to just 10secs to Contador. But it was the Katusha rider from Spain, Joaquin Rodriguez who won the stage outsprinting Contador in the final 100m.

Bourg-de-Péage, with a population of around 10,000 is being part of the Tour for the first time. Bourg-de-Péage got its name from the presence of the bridge over the Isère River built in the Middle Ages for the Abbey of Saint-Barnard de Romans. The caretakers then charged for the toll, bridge crossing or levy on goods against a guarantee for maintaining it. The town acquired its reputation in the 19^th century due to its manufacturing of excellent felt hats, made from the fur of pet rabbits. The firm Maison Mossant, the largest of the factories, had made Bourg-de- Péage the capital of hat-making.

The finishing stage town of Mende with a population of around 13,000 is being part of the tour for the third time. The town has been established in the French cycling history mainly b’coz of Laurent Jalabert’s Bastille Day win on the 14^th of July in the TdF of 1995. Originally named Mimata for the mountains that surround it, Mende has a rich heritage from its past with the 14^th century gothic cathedral, Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat, which is surrounded by a charming medieval settlement with narrow streets and the Notre-Dame Bridge supposedly made in the 13^th century. Twice elected the “most sporting town in France”, Mende has around 75 sports clubs with a wide range of facilities and the town is even home to the Lozère Multi-sports Centre, which enables young pretenders to high level sporting competition to combine their passion with schooling.

The stage began at Bourg-de-Péage with 177 riders turning up. Samuel Dumolin of Cofidis opted out of the tour. The race route for this stage was one with 2 intermediate sprints in the course for the sprinters to bag some Green jersey points. With five climbs for the day including the final Croix Neuve or otherwise known as Montée Laurent Jalabert’ the route had a good spread of three Cat III and one cat II climbs.

Andy's special jersey

The sponsors gave Andy Schleck a special jersey half Yellow & Half White to signify the two positions that he is holding in the tour.

The race started sedately with the first set of attacks coming in only after the first 10km on the first climb. Team RadioShack moved upfront & neutralized the same. It was on the second climb of the day that the day’s breakaway consisting of 18 riders was formed. Once again Thor Hushovd of Cervalo joined the escapees to gather some points in the Green jersey classification and on finishing the 2 sprint points in 1^st & 2^nd positions, rejoined the peleton having de-jersied Ale Jet.

In the fight for the King of Mountains jersey classification Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom was able to out score Jerome Pineau of Quick Step to grab the Polka dotted jersey back, though point to note is that Pineau did crash along with Geraint Thomas of Team Sky in the early stages of the race today.

At the front of the peleton it was hard work for the Yellow jersey team of Saxo Bank and they had to bear the chasing duties for the peleton for almost three fourths of the course today. With the breakaway having members from quite a lot of the teams, no team wanted to take up the chasing responsibilities also. Finally after the second sprint stage, it was Andreas Kloden of RadioShack who made the first serious inroads into the breakaway split as he rode away followed only by Kiryienka of Caisse D’Epargne, Hesjedal of Garmin Transitions and Vinokourov of Astana. With 25km to go Tyler Farrer of Garmin Transitions finally called it a day & ended his tour, for his broken wrist was simply killing him. Salutations to this great athlete, who pushed his pain barrier limits beyond human levels and competed till he could ride no more.

Vino on the last stretch

This bunch of 4 riders kept at it and was caught only in the final kms of the course today. But in the meantime, as the race reached the Croix Neuve it was action time at the front as the remaining 12 of the lead group was caught by the peleton with 6km to go. In the lead group Vinokourov raced ahead and tried a solo finish. But it was Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha who made a successful break from the peleton and only Contador could match his burst. They both sped away from the Yellow jersey in the peleton and working in tandem, reined in all the riders one after the other, including Vino, who was left to take the 3^rd spot. In the end the stronger legs of Rodriguez prevailed and Contador who did try and win this stage had to come in second. The rest of the riders came in small groups but with no major changes in the overall classification.

In the end, the composure of Andy, not having become nervous after Contador broke away from the group was a highlight by it self, as this tells me of a rider who is riding to a plan and not someone who will get spooked in the days to come.

Rodriguez with Contador in the last km

After the race, Rodriguez said, “My relationship with Alberto is very good. We’ve known each other since we raced together for the ONCE team in 2003, and he also raced with my little brother. But at the end of today’s stage, there was no agreement possible. Especially since I was very confident because I know that my top speed is greater than his. I was very clear at the start of the Tour: I wanted to win a stage and get the best possible position in the general classification. I’m glad to see that today, the two objectives have come good at the same time. I find myself with a stage victory and a very good place on GC. Regarding the fight for the title between Contador and Schleck, I feel that the stages that are coming up are more favorable for Alberto. I also think Andy Schleck has already spent a lot of energy in the first part of the Tour. In my opinion, Alberto has biggest chance for the final victory.”

Just another day for Lance

With Armstrong not looking very strong today and dropping some time in the run in to the finish, am seriously thinking that this is more of a strategy to keep his legs fresh for the Pyrenees where he would like to go all out and win a stage before going into the sunset.

At the end of Stage 12 the over all race results are as follows. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the Yellow. Thor Hushovd of Cervalo Test team gets back the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank leads in the White jersey category (though on the road tomorrow Robert Gesink of Rabobank will wear that jersey as Andy wears his Yellow jersey) & Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom grabs the King of the Mountain jersey. Team RadioShack takes over as the best team in the race.

Yellow of Andy at finish

The Tour de France Stage 13, is from Rodez to Revel, a distance of 196km and with five big climbs it will be another day in sun for the sprinters who will have to look deep into their reserves to pull themselves across the finish line.

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com

Its Manx Missile time once again

Manx Missile makes it win no. 13 for himself!!

The 11^th Stage of the TdF was from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence, a distance of 184.5km. Another undramatic day on the tour got its share of drama at the very end, just 500m from the finish, when Mark Renshaw the final deliveryman for the HTC Columbia sprint train showed everyone, specially Julian Dean of Garmin Transitions, his head butting skills, not once but thrice, all while pedaling away at over 60km/hour!! For his efforts, the Race organisers disqualified him from the tour for endangering the whole peleton, which was rushing towards the finish line. The victory of Mark “Manx Missile” Cavendish as predicted in yesterday’s post by me was just a formality as after being in the clear he just blasted aside everyone else in the last 300m to the finish line.

A video grab of renshaw-headbutt

Sisteron, with a population of around 8,000 is being part of the Tour for the first time. The Citadel from the 12^th century is the best standout point of mention for this town.. Also for the foodies, the tender lamb preparation along with sweet apples that grow here are the things to try when one visits this town of poet Paul Arène.

The finishing stage town of Bourg-lès-Valence with a population of around 20,000 is also being part of the tour for the very first time. Just an hour away from Lyon and two hours away from Marseilles, Bourg-lès-Valence is in fact the first town in the Drôme area to make electric bicycles available to its residents.

lavender field by the side

The stage began at Sisteron with 179 riders turning up, as two riders Charlie Wegilus of OmegaPharma Lotto (due to stomach bug) & Robbie Hunter (due to a broken bone from Stage 9 crash which became unbearable) dropped out. The race route for this stage was one with just one categorized climb of Cat III on the Col de Cabre. Again there were just 2 intermediate sprints in the course for the sprinters to grab the Green jersey points.

As soon as the race started Stephane Auge of Cofidis went for a break and was successful. Soon enough he was joined by two other riders -Anthony Geslin of Française des Jeux, and Jose Alberto Benitez of Footon-Servetto. This trio made the breakaway group for the day, but try as they might they were doomed from the very beginning as the sprinter’s teams kept a very tight leash and never allowed them to go away from the peleton by over 5 min.

With these three riders taking away the top three sprint points & the King of the Mountains points, the peleton really did not try to up the ante at any stage.  Action was seen when Jerome Pineau of Quick Step rode away from Anthony Charteau of Bbox Telecom to grab the single point left in the King of Mountains jersey classification on the Col de Cabre.

David Zabriskie of Garmin Transition toiled hard at the front of the peleton for a long time. So did HTC’s Bert Grabsch. It was with the finish line being within 30km stage when the other teams also started showing interest in working the head of the peleton. Saxo Bank sensing that the headwind was turning to become a tailwind moved to the front & built a good rhythm which saw a few Astana riders getting popped in the back, but Vinokourov saw Contador safely into the front of the peleton, as did RadioShack riders for Levi Leipheimer.

In the breakaway, as they realized that the catch was imminent – Benitez did try for a solo attack, but was caught. With around 22km more to go, the escape was over for the breakaway riders & HTC’s sprint train took up the front. Cervalo Test Team & Lampre also sent out its sprint trains for Hushovd & Ale Jet. But the most notable train was of Garmin Transitions for Tyler Farrer with Julian Dean who put in a fantastic effort to come along side Renshaw.  That was when the Gladiator in Renshaw came to the fore & after his head butting performance he pulled away right into the path of the Garmin Sprinter, thus impeding his sprint line. Nevertheless, Cavendish as soon as he saw Ale Jet trying to take off by his side went out full throttle for the line in a long sprint and won by a handsome margin. Ale Jet came in 2^nd while Farrer came in 3^rd. Hushovd did not have the energy to beat any of them and finished 7^th and hence Ale Jet now takes over the Green jersey. The rest of the peleton rolled in for the same time & so there are no changes in the overall standings.

The Race to the finish

Manx Missile had this to say at the end of the race, “It’s nice to keep winning. I’ve got a dedicated group of guys and I’ve got to thank them all. It takes a great group of guys to keep putting themselves out there. I’m really happy.
 I had to go from a bit further out today – 350 meters to go, while normally I go between 250 and 200… so it was really, really long. It was more like a breakaway in terms of sprinting. It was a hard first week in terms of getting the green jersey. I lost a lot of chances to gain points – mainly my own fault in the Arenberg stage, when I thought there was a big group ahead so I rolled in quite easy… but I really should have finished in with McEwen’s group and it might be a bit different. Then, the day after, I just didn’t have the legs and that put me even further behind. 
Now it’s about getting stage wins. If the green jersey comes, it comes but it’s a great battle. Thor and Alessandro are great sprinters and it’s actually fun to watch that battle unfold.”

On Mark Renshaw who was disqualified, Cav said, 
“Mark held Julian Dean off and opened the door for me to go. It was Julian who put his elbow in and if Mark didn’t push back there was a chance they could have locked elbows and gone down. Mark just kept going and did everything he could to keep me out of trouble. I’m lucky to have a guy who will put himself on the line for me like that. He’s got incredible bike handling skills and it’s so nice to be able to follow his wheel from 50 kilometers to go and know that, at the finish, I’ll be put in a winning position.”

Ale Jet in Green jersey

At the end of Stage 10 the over all race results are as follows. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank continues in the Yellow. Alessandro Petacchi Lampre takes over the Green jersey. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank leads in the White jersey category (though on the road tomorrow Robert Gesink of Rabobank will wear that jersey as Andy wears his Yellow jersey) & Jerome Pineau of Quick Step continues the King of the Mountain. Caisse D’Epargne continues as the best team in the race.

The Tour de France Stage 11, is from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende, a distance of 210.5km. The highest categorized climb of the day is the Cat. II Suc de Montivernoux at 4,500 feet elevation, but more important will be the final climb of the day, the Cat. II Croix-Neuve which is the steepest hill of the entire Tour, rising up for 3.1km at 10%, with 14% pitches on its three switchbacks. I can see Contador & Schelck fighting it out once again.

The head butts are here –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPLJQZhQpk

So till tomorrow…:)

Au revoir…

Email : mrquizmaster@gmail.com