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REST DAY WRAP UP, COOK OUT

 
TdF Blog – Day 11

I’m watching some of yesterday’s stage and I’m still amazed by some of what I saw including the crash with Hoogland and Alberto Contador’s chase back from his early stage crash.  He rode for over 10 minutes solo with no teammates to help – I can’t believe that Bjarne wouldn’t call them back – and more to the point that they wouldn’t WANT to come back to help their team leader.  Finally after at least 5k of solo chasing a couple guys joined him.

Compare that to Wiggo’s crash on Friday or Vino’s crash yesterday – as soon as they crashed the whole team stopped.  Flat out stopped at the side of the road – in Vino’s case even with emergency personnel there it was his teammates that wanted to help him out of the ditch.  The riders had to be told to start riding again – they would have stayed with Vino until he was in the ambulance if needed. 

Contador has not had the week he expected – heading into the second full week of the Tour he’s nursing a sore knee, getting zero respect from the peloton and has a team that clearly isn’t unified behind him.  He rode two hours today during the rest day and then iced his knee.  When a rider announces they are icing their knee it means one of two things – 1) he’s trying to fool his rivals into thinking he’s really injured or 2) he’s setting himself up for an excuse if he drops out of the Tour.  In this case I’m leaning toward number 2.  That doesn’t mean he’ll drop out – but if he does he’s already made it clear why.  It’s been a long time since the defending champion had to leave the Tour because of injury.  In fact we have to go back to 1980 and the Badger - Bernard Hinault to find a defending champion who had to leave the race.  To make it worse the Badger was in yellow when he abandoned.  Imagine how bad his knee must have been for him to abandon.  This is a guy who won Liege-Bastogne-Liege that same year in a snow storm by 10miutes – while STILL WEARING SHORTS

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm34WAjIDsA

 

Notes from today:

DOPING!!! – it only took 9 days for a Russian to test positive.  Equipe reported at 11am today (7:58pm in France) that Aleksandr Kolobenv from Katusha went positive for a diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide if you must know).   If he were smart he’ll get a TUE for Kidney Stones and just pass it off as a health issue.  I’m no Dr. but it sure seems like taking a diuretic as a drug masking agent is going to be counter productive when you are riding for 5 to 6 hours a day… I’m sure there is someone who can explain it better.

Equipe will no doubt have more information soon:

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2011/20110711_194407_kolobnev-positif.html

Interesting part here is the final sentence, “Le coureur devrait être notifié dans quelques minutes.”  Translated that means, “The rider will be notified in a few minutes”. Again l’equipe has information before the rider in question has it. A clear violation of UCI and WADA rules.

New Bikes – every bike manufacturer can produce a yellow, green or polka dot bike within hours of a jersey win these days, and of course Colnago is no exception for Thomas Voeckler.  His is a little subdued for a Euro-bike company, but I do like the yellow Bora wheels.  Nice Touch.  Hopefully he can keep riding this bike through Bastille Day on the 14^th.

 

Johnny Hoogerland and Vacansoleil have said they won’t sue France 2/3 or the driver of the car that hit him and Juan Antonio Flecha… Haven’t heard the same thing from the Sky team yet so they may not be completely off the hook.  Equipe reports that Hoogerland had 30 stiches put in and he said today it was easier to ride 90 minutes with his father then it was to climb the stairs at his hotel. 

Contador had an interesting theory on why there are so many crashes – too many GC riders trying to ride at the front with their teams.  We keep saying there are always 50-60 guys who want to be in the top 30 and that math doesn’t work.  Contador said today “My first crash had an influence, now everyone is nervous and wants to stay up front”.   He’s not wrong.

Lunch is on Fab – in a bit more lighthearted side of things Fabian Cancellara cooked lunch today for his team as a result of a bet with a Belgian journalist… pretty funny but he looks like he knows what he’s doing even if he can’t explain it very well on twitter.

Pics HERE 

@f_cancellara

I cooket the lunch. Dif.salads. Made a curry soupe with coconutflavour...with rice and chicken. Suprise was quiche lorraine for @StueyOG

 

Tomorrow's Stage: Aurillac to Carmaux - 158km

Actually the second shortest stage of the race - don't expect this sub 100mile day to be an easy one.  A late start at 1:30pm means the organizers expect a fast stage (they are predicting 3:50 for the stage time) but with 4 categorized climbs and what looks like 20 more small climbs - don't expect an easy day.

Thomas Voeckler's Europecar team will do everything they can to hang onto the jersey - the media benefit of a French rider on a French team in yellow on Bastille Day July 14th cannot be underestimated.  They will push hard to keep breaks in check and I would expect them to get a bit of help from Rabobank and BMC.  Both teams want to keep things under control heading into the Pryenees, and Cadel would really love to have the jersey heading into the Alps.  

Look for a medium sized break to form early - 6 to 8 guys - and the gap to never grow beyond 5 minutes.  I think most sprinters will get dropped but look for the climbing sprinters to duke it out at the end - maybe Thor if he has anything left, certainly Gilbert chasing points and Jose Rojas who hasn't given up on the Green yet... but in the end I think it'll be a guy who's team has to re-adjust their goal to win the stage - Edvald Boasson Hagen will look to double up and keep some glory for Sky after they lost their leader in Wiggo and a potential stage win yesterday in Flecha's accident.

Hopefully Johnny Hoogerland can finish the stage. If so he'll keep the jersey as the most points anyone could get will be 6 on the day by crossing each of the four hills first.

Winner: Edvald Boasson Hagen

Yellow: Thomas Voeckler

Green: Philippe Gilbert

Polka Dot: Johnny Hoogerland

CARNAGE CONTINUES ACROSS FRANCE

 
TdF Blog Stage 9

What the fuck is going on in France?  These guys can’t keep their wheels on the road and when they are riding along without crashing someone causes one.  A quick summary:

Karpets tries to whack Contador by pushing him off his bike: http://t.co/5qoro8N 

Vino, Jurgen Van de Broeck and Dave Z all crash out on a fast downhill when a bunch of them went off the road.

A France 2/3 TV car tries to pass too close to the break and takes 2 of 5 out – and almost takes out French hero Tommy Voeckler. Phil and Paul are dumbfounded.  Unbelievable.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ytpYWIVB8

At the end of the day Klodi went to the hospital, Flecha and Hoogerland rode in together both bleeding 17 minutes back, Christian VdV looked to be bleeding a bit, and there were more bandages throughout the peloton.

So far this year the Tour has taken out these favorites:

• Alexandre Vinokourov
• Van de Broeck
• Chris Horner
• Jani Brajkovic
• Bradley Wiggins

 And crashes have delayed these contenders for top 10  and caused them to lose time

• Alberto Contador
• Levi Leipheimer
• Christian Van de Velde
• Ryder Hesjedal

All these riders save Brajkovic have finished in the top 10 of the Tour before.

There has been a lot written about safety – is the race too fast?  Are the roads too small? Are there too many riders? Too many cars or motorbikes?   I will say one thing – I think there are too many vehicles on the road.  Too many team cars, too many VIP cars, too many press motos, too many official vehicles.  Just look at this video from Saturday’s finish on Super-Besse.  With 1k to go see if you can count how many motos and cars are are between Vino and Rui Costa and the peloton…

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0GpgWYF0PI

I’m amazed that more cars are crashed everyday like the Saxo car from yesterday.  Thanks @vaughters for the pic.

Something has to be done to protect the riders.  This year has been terrible on professional cyclists.  Wouter Wylandt dies at the Giro; Mauricio Soler is still in the hospital after a Tour de Swiss crash; Marco Pinotti is out for three months at least from a Giro crash.  Vino’s career might be over.  The sport needs spectacular races, and needs beautiful venues, but when race organizers and the UCI are debating the safety of race routes – up until the day before the races as was the case at the Giro – they are just too dangerous.   What’s the solution?  I’m not sure, less riders, less cars, bigger roads.  All those sound easy – but that’s not always possible.

If it were up to me?  I’d suggest moving the Grand Tours to 8 riders – and keeping the teams at 21 or 22.  That way there will be at least 22 fewer riders in the race next year.  Limit the number of non-essential race vehicles.   Add more neutral support cars and only let the team cars follow the break when it’s out more then 4 minutes.   Get more course marshals and really over signal all the potentially dangerous areas.  It’s hard to tell what will make the difference – there are just too many riders trying to ride in the front and the pack is so wide that any little bump these days causes a crash.   

Notes from today:

• Thor almost looked relieved when he realized they couldn’t catch Thomas Voekler and sat up on the final climb.  He’s done himself tremendous value this week – Garmin – Cervelo should do everything they can to keep him.
• When Cancellara is signing his tweets with #legendthor you better be impressed.
• I can’t believe when Contador crashed his whole team didn’t stop to check on him.  Maybe it happened so fast we didn’t see that after – but he hit the ground hard. Then chased back alone.  
• Johnny Hoogerland couldn’t believe what happened:

“I did what felt like a few somersaults. I don’t know where the car came from. Before I knew it, Flecha was on the ground and there was nothing I could do. I landed on the fence and I looked at my legs and thought, ‘Is this what cycling is about?’ “I have the polka-dot jersey but I’m going to spend the rest day in a lot of pain.”

• Read the rest at: http://tinyurl.com/69s5okl
• If you don’t think he’s fucked up watch this video of him on the podium. Crushing. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJarentZE2g&feature=youtu.be

• There will be a lot of guys tomorrow who don’t ride – or only ride an hour or two on the rest day.  There’s going to be a lot of healing that needs to happen tomorrow.
• Lost in all this is the exceptional ride made by the break today.  They worked really well together and it should have been a huge celebration for French cycling tonight – instead it’s more questions.
• Chapeau to Voekler for taking the yellow jersey again.  His joy at wearing it was unmistakable on the podium and he is a testament to attacking style riding.  He’s having a great season.

 

Tomorrow’s prediction:

It’s a rest day so expect to have some serious press conferences about team unity, about safe riding conditions and about how everyone is preparing for the Pyrenees.

I’ve been loving Tour Talk with Frankie and James. If you aren’t watching this, you should be.

 

 

NORWEGIAN THUNDER

TdF Blog Day 9 – Stage 8

WOW!  What a ride from Thor Hushovd.  I think this is the fourth time we’ve seen him hang onto the jersey when everyone (myself included) thought he would lose it.  For a day that was supposed to offer a big GC shake up the teams didn’t ride as hard as expected over the Cat 2 Col de la Croix Saint-Robert and even the finish didn’t shake much up.  Vino took a big risk to try and win the stage – and almost pulled it off.  Even if he is unrepentant from his doping-ban he’s still got the same attacking style he always had and is really exciting to watch.

Little gap after 24 riders – then small gaps back to small groups.  Millar, Levi and Karpets all got gapped on the final climb.  Not too surprised about Millar – but Levi must be still sore from his week one crash-fest.   Ryder Hesjedal lost another 1:33 – Vaughters must have put him on the front and made it clear – CVV and Tommy D ride for the front – Ryder back to doing the work AT the front.

Pretty disappointed in Contador’s attacks.  He will be more worried tonight I expect than any other day this tour.  This is a stage where he should have been able to at least gap his rivals – even if it were just 5 to 10 seconds – so he could make a statement.  So far – the only statement he’s made is “I don’t have the pop I had last year”.  When Cadel attacked in the final km it opened a big gap that he struggled to close.   Looks like winning the Giro was harder then he expected.  Andy Schleck looked really good locked on Contador’s wheel – no concerns at all from him today. Frank Schleck looked like he was riding on a Sunday bike path - so fluid and relaxed.

I’ve picked Contador to win two stages so far and he’s 0-2 on hill-tops so far.

Impressive ride from Tejay Van Garderen.  For him to attack like that shows a lot of maturity and confidence.  Great opportunity for HTC to send him into a break and tell him to attack.  Now he’s got the KOM jersey.  Will HTC let him chase points tomorrow?  There are 8 categorized climbs tomorrow – so anyone who want’s to end up in polka dot will have to start chasing points.

 The front of the bus is getting packed! Thanks @vaughters for the pic

Notes

• Seems like that Clean Bottle guy is everywhere… there must be at least three of them.
• Pretty small group at 5k to go (say 40 guys) and some Saxo Bank riders coming off the back.
• Big Big attack from Vino – surprised no one is too concerned about him.  Ultimately they just pulled him back in the final KM after letting him dangle for 20km.
• BMC pulled off the front with 4k to go – obviously less interested in yellow then everyone thought.
• At 1k to go it looked like there were 20 motos between the leaders and the pack with that only looking like a 200m gap.
• One thing missing without time bonuses is the GC guys are way less interested in winning stages – just opening gaps.  I think if there were :20 at play today there would have been more GC leader attacks in the final 5km.
• Cunego looked really good – when the Tour was here in Super-Besse last time he got gapped at the high speed in the final KM.  This time he finished 7^th right in front of Contador.  I don’t think he’ll climb with the leaders in the Pyrenees but his top 10 ambition is looking a lot more real now. 

 

Advertising Update

After a week of watching the Tour of Vs. I’m starting to get tired of the same commercials day after day.  Here’s a run down of some of what works and what doesn’t.

Sears – the guy in the sink “raining cold hard facts” is pretty lame. It’s a good idea – “Sears sell appliances” but I’m not sure the phone in the sink really sells that.

KFC – Grilled chicken – OK so actually it makes that chicken look pretty good – but it’s still KFC and apparently a lot of the KFC affiliates in the South don’t like the new “healthy chicken” attitude. Apparently it’s still not that healthy: http://naturalbias.com/kfc-grilled-chicken-unthink-your-health/

Map My Ride – with Levi – telling you to follow him on your iPhone and join their contest.  They have a huge membership – over million people signed up for MapMyRide – but I still think the iPhone on your handlebars looks pretty dump.  Hopefully MapMyRide can continue to improve their user interface so that its easier to use.

Geico – the commercial with the kid dunking is pretty funny.  Same story. Funny commercial then 15 minutes could save you 15%.  I’d like to see the cavemen on bikes sometime this month!

Cadillac – personally I’m surprised anyone under 50 who isn’t a rapper buys Cadillacs these days, but I guess they must be selling a lot of cars because they certainly bought a lot of advertising.  I like the spot with the kid on the tricycle – and it does a good job of connecting family to safety.

 

Tomorrow – Stage 9 Issoire to Saint-Flour

Big day of climbing tomorrow with 8 categorized climbs over 208km including three Cat 2 climbs and three Cat 3 climbs.  It’s a day that suits a big breakaway.  The peloton will be tired from a hard day today and will probably take it easy over the first few climbs.  Look for anyone interested in taking the polka dot jersey to Paris to push to get into the breaks.  Should be some French riders – Thomas Voekleur, Jeremy Roy, David Moncoutie, and possibly even Sylvain Chavanel if he’s healed up from his crash.  Plus look for Johnny Hoogerland and probably a Sky rider or two to try and get the break.  Will be interesting to see if HTC let’s Tejay get into the break again chasing points.  It would be a great move for HTC but with two guys still in the top 20 they will want Van Garderen to help keep Martin and Velits  safe.

Last time to tour came did Issoire to Saint-Flour in 2004 Richrad Virenque went solo to win and score tons of mountain points.

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEc5IrIePjI

 

These stages are really hard to predict – but with a short climb at the finish I’m going to pick Philippe Gilbert again.  He knows he need points for the Green Jersey if he thinks he can keep it to Paris and he’s not going to get any in the mountains.  I think BMC, Garmin and Astana will keep things tight so there should be a mid-sized bunch at the finish.  Look for Vino – and maybe Levi to launch an attack over the second to last climb, but a small group should keep things together for the finish.

I was going to pick Thor to keep the jersey since the GC guys don't seem to want to push the pace, but looking at the profile again - unless they ride like a Sunday club ride - it's going to be crazy hard for Thor to keep it.  I think Cadel has got to pick up the jersey - and he'll want it heading into the rest day - it's a bonus day to hang around in yellow.  Stage 10 and 11 and short punchy stages that BMC should be able to control.  That will give him three days in yellow before the HC showdown on Luz Ardiden.

Winner: Philippe Gilbert

Yellow: Thor Hushovd Cadel Evans

Polka Dot: Johnny Hoogerland

Green: Philippe Gilbert

 

Here’s a pretty cool preview for tomorrow’s stage with a bunch of French club riders.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InKWa2u68w4

 

 

 

WEEK ONE TEAM REVIEW

TdF Blog Week One Review - July 9th 

Today's stage to Super-Besse should shake up the GC overall - so after seven days of racing here's my take on how all the teams are doing.  Should see some fireworks on the final climb.  Hopefully some of the 2-star teams can make an impact and we'll see the GC look a lot more like it should after tonight.

Team by Team assessment after one week of racing based out of five stars.

 

Saxo Bank SunGard:  ✪ ✪

Two stars for Saxo-Bank – tough first week for Saxo Bank – Bjarne Riis brought a team 100% focused on Alberto Contador and was 1:40 down after a crash in the first stage slowed Alberto down.  A bit of other bad luck has seen Alberto and Nicki Sorensen crash.  Aside from bad luck Saxo hasn’t really shown the climbing support for Contador he needs.  In both climbing finishes Alberto was alone in the top 50 and he’s going to need more support next week when they hit the mountains.  It’s going to be a tough week three for AC if he’s solo all the time.

 

Leopard Trek:  ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Strong first week for the Schlecks et.al.  This week all they wanted to do was not lose time.  A great Team Time Trail (basically Fabian pulled the team around!) set up Andy and Frank  for the GC.  The only blemish on their first week was 8 seconds that Andy lost on Stage 4.  That shouldn’t decide the Tour, but any time a team leader gets gapped going uphill doesn’t look good.

 

Euskaltel-Euskadi:  ✪ ✪

Not a great first week – they lost one rider – Ivan Valasco crashed on stage 5 and broke his collarbone, and their team leader is now 2:36 down.  A few guys in breakaways but really overall a pretty unimpressive first week. They also finished last in the Team Time Trail taking away any chance for Sammy Sanchez to chase the overall top three.  They are going to have to re-focus on stage wins so expect to see a bigger orange presence when the race hits the Pyrenees next week.

 

Omega Pharma Lotto: ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Great first week for Omega Pharma Lotto.  Philippe Gilbert won the first stage and has worn Yellow, Polka Dot and the Green jerseys in week one.  He’s starting to look beatable – after winning what seems like 10 races in a row – and starting week two the team will have a split focus. Chasing points for Gilbert while also defending Jurgen Van Den Broek’s position on GC.  The only blemish on the first week is the inter-team rivalry with Andre Greipel who finally had a chance to open it up today and finished a strong third.

 

Rabobank Cycling Team: ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

A pretty invisible first week – but that’s the plan for Rabobank this Tour. They rode a good TTT and kept Robert Gesink out of trouble.  Young rider Bauke Mollema launched one good attack and the two Spaniards look to be set for some attacks.  A bit surprised Lars Boom hasn’t tried to get into any breakaways, but overall they are where they want to be heading into week two.

 

Team Garmin-Cervelo: ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Almost a perfect start to the boys in Argyle – TTT win, sprint stage win, Yellow jersey for 7 days, and a lot of TV time and talking time from Phil and Paul.  It almost makes you forget their two GC guys are still 1:40 down on the Schlecks and Cadel.  A Tour podium was a long shot for Vaughter’s guys coming from over a minute back – but with three guys they do have cards to play for breakaways. Ryder lost more time on Friday so CVV should have team support and 1:40 isn’t a big gap.

 

Pro Team Astana ✪ ✪ ✪

Astana came to the Tour with Alexandre Vinokourov for stages and Roman Kreuziger for the young rider competition.  So far almost everything has worked out by them keeping out of trouble in week 1.  Kreuziger lost a couple minutes on Friday after a crash, but he wasn’t going to finish top 5 anyway.  Still going according to plan for them.

 

Team RadioShack ✪ ✪

What a terrible first week for the US Postal / Discovery / Radio Shack team of Johan Bruyneel.  Seems like everyone on the team has crashed once.  Where they started the Tour with 4 potential leaders they’ve lost 2 and Levi is now 4:00 min down.  The only reason they have 2 stars is because Kloden is still within 10 seconds of the lead and looks have everything under control.

 

Movistar Tear ✪ ✪ ✪

Their leader David Arroyo lost time in the Day 1 crash and has continued to lose time since there.  They have no GC hope at all – so have re-focused on getting into breaks and on the Green Jersey with Jose Rojas.  That’s an unexpected coup for the team and should be their objective for the race now.

 

Liquigas-Cannondale ✪ ✪

Pretty unimpressive first week. Basso lost almost a minute on Cadel Evans in week one and we haven’t seen any of the lime-green boys in a top 10 yet.  They will need to ride much stronger as a team heading into week two.

 

Sky Procycling ✪ ✪ ✪

Good: Team won a stage with Edvald Boasson Hagen and had the white jersey with Geraint Thomas.  Rode really well as a team.  Bad: lost their team leader Bradley Wiggins in a crash on Friday. Terrible luck but the team should be able to re-focus and get at least one more stage win.

 

Quickstep Cycling Team ✪

Terrible first week for Quickstep.  Barely any top 10s and their top two riders both crashed hard.  Tom Boonen had to drop out already and Sylvain Cavanel is riding injured.  Gerald Ciolek managed one top 10 in a sprint but the rest have been invisible.

 

French Teams: AG2R; FDJ; Cofidis: Europcar; Saur-Sojasun ✪ ✪

Nothing of note to say about the French teams so far.  They have done a good job to get into breaks but no French riders have come close to winning a stage.  A few good attacks by Thommy Voeckler and Jeremy Roy, but overall pretty unimpressive.  If the French teams wants to win stages they are going to have to focus on getting bigger breaks going in week two.

 

BMC Racing Team ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

BMC are the only 5-star team from week one.  They could not have ridden a better week.   Cadel Evans won his first ever Tour road stage, he is currently :01 back from the yellow jersey leading all GC favorites, and the team rode the Team Time Trial of their careers to finish second.  If Cadel takes yellow today at Super-Besse expect a good job by BMC to control the race next week.

 

Lampre-ISD ✪ ✪ ✪

Alessandro Petacchi finally showed up at a sprint stage on Friday taking second to Mark Cavendish but overall it’s been a pretty silent week for Lampre.  Cunego lost 1:11 to Cadel during week one but is in a good position to chase the top 10 he’s been talking about.  Cunego will need to show some form today to Super-Besse and may be out gunned when the race hits the Pyrenees but overall they are in a good spot for him to try (again) for a top 10.

 

HTC-Highroad ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Great first week for HTC.  The only thing missing from week one was taking over the yellow jersey after the TTT.  They messed up their leadout on Stage 3 and Tejay Van Garderen isn’t even close on the young jersey.  Still with two stage wins and Tony Martin at :13 off the lead they are in very very good shape heading into week two.

 

Katusha Team ✪

Completely invisible.  Put one guy into a break once.  Had their sprinter Denis Galimzyonov finish in the top 10 once. But overall nothing impressive.  Their top GC guy is Karpets at 1:29 and he hasn’t looked impressive week one either.  Maybe he’s just waiting for the climbing to start – but they have got to get something going on for week two if they want to get any TV time or justify their all-Russian team.

 

Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling ✪ ✪ ✪

Some nice attacks from Johnny Hoogerland to take the polka dot jersey for a couple days before any mountains started piling up the points.  Romain Feillu has had a few top 5 sprint finishes, but he’s going to have to be careful. He sprints like a honey badger “hey Romain don’t care… I’ll sprint all over the road” – eventually the rest of the riders are going to complain publicly about him. They should keep chasing stages with the French teams and try to get into breaks.

 

Let's see if Cadel can take Yellow and how he'll handle it this time

ROUGH AND TUMBLE

TdF Blog Day 8 – Stage 7

Rough crash day again today.  Wiggins sounds like he broke his collarbone and is out of the Tour.  Tough way for a big team to lose their GC rider.  These types of days are tough on everyone, the riders, the sponsors, fans, TV and the sport in general.  A guy like Wiggins who has focused all year on the Tour is now out before the race even heats up.  This is a perfect example of why the UCI and the big race organizers need to increase the relevance of other races. With so much focus on the Tour de France – everyone is let down when a team with a singularly focused leader crashes out of the race.  For Wiggo hopefully he can heal up and go to the Vuelta as a consolation prize.  One positive that could come out from that is he’ll go into the World Championships with a lot of form from riding the Vuelta.

Really tough for a big team like Sky - now they’ve lost their GC rider, the White Jersey and had not chance for a stage win today.

Interesting to see Garmin continue to ride on the front when Tyler Farrar crashed and was dropped.  Leopard Trek again went to the front to ride when they realized there was a gap back to some riders post crash.  This seems like the Leopard Trek MO – drive the pace when the team can get time on rivals due to mechanicals or crashes.  Seems a bit ironic given “chaingate” and the Cancellara-slow down from last year.  I guess they can’t complain this year if it happens to them.

Huge gaps after the Wiggins crash.  A LOT of riders went down.  And took a long time to get back up and onto the road.  The 2^nd group was big but lost time the whole way toward the finish.  There were some big names in that group – Levi, the Sky Team, Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Roman Kreuziger.

Lost a bit in the talk of the crash is the perfect leadout that HTC executed today. They still had 6 guys on the front with 3km to go and set up Cav perfectly.  Greipel looked good and he will beat Cav one of these days – but today Cav was just too fast.  Even when Greipel got the jump on Cav the continued acceleration from the Manxman pushed him back in front to win.

 

NOTES: 

• You know who was in the top 15-20 of the peloton all day long again today again. Andreas Kloden.  Smart.  After 7 days now he’s their GC guy. Johan was right “the road will decide”.
• Really bad luck for Horner.  He didn’t look that bad when he went to the Dr. car to get patched up, but he must have been hurt more then expected.  He ended up finishing dead last with 5 others.
• Seems like the only time Leopard-Trek rides on the front of the peloton is after a crash when they think they can put some contenders on the defensive.  That’s racing.
• Four Radio Shack riders in the second group on the road at 25km to go but they never got organized and moved to the front at all.  When they were 1:40 down with 10k to go the whole group was still unorganized.  The second group lost another 1:30 in the final 10k.
• Very good riding by BMC to keep Cadel up near the front when things started to speed up and mini echelons almost split the front group.
• Terrible luck for Levi with a flat tire at the absolute worst time of the race – while he was already 1:45 down.  Time to chase a stage win Levi.
• Boonen withdrew today – he hasn’t finished the Tour since 2007 when he won the Green jersey.
• Impressive 6^th place by Thor today – he’s the only rider to finish in the top 10 of every stage.
• Ryder Hesjedal was in the second group – his opportunity for top 10 is basically gone now.

 

Equipment Update

 
Lots of Aerobikes today at the front today.  At one point with HTC and Garmin on the front it was Venge, Venge, Venge, S5, S5, Venge.  Plus some of the Omega guys are on Canyon Aeroad CF bikes.  Romain Feillu is also on the Ridley Noah Aero. Only AleJet from Lampre was on a regular bike… 

Cervelo aired their new TV commercials today – two versions of the S5 ad – both with video taken from the microsite.  Good videos with a clear message (aero advantage created with input from pros) and a clear call to action (go to www.cervelo.com/s5movie)

  

 

Tomorrow – Finally a real climb to shake up the GC

The 6km climb to Super-Besse is going to hurt some of the current guys in the top 20 and will answer a few key questions – like Frank vs. Andy, how good is Thor, can Gilbert climb more then 3km, how hard will Contador attack, will Levi work for Kloden, and does Cadel have the form for real he’s shown thus far.

Looking at the pre-race favorites from Bicycling Magazine, here’s how they stand now:

2. Cadel Evans                                   :01

5. Andy Schleck                                 :12

10. Robert Gesink                              :20

11. Alexandre Vinokourov                  :32

13. Jurgen Van den Broeck                 :39

15. Ivan Basso                                    1:03

24. Alberto Contador                          1:42

26. Christian Vande Velde                  1:57

32. Sammy Sanchez                            2:36

48. Ryder Hesjedal                             4:28

50. Levi Leipheimer                           4:29

119. Chris Horner                              12:59

Bradley Wiggins                                 OUT

 

Who’s missing from their list:

3. Frank Schleck                                :04

5. Andreas Kloden                             :10

18. Nicolas Roche                              1:12

19. Daminao Cunego                          1:12

 

There won’t be big time gaps tomorrow.  The final climb isn’t that steep and that long. But it will be a chance for the GC guys to see each other and will see a reshuffle in the top 20. 

The final climb favors a climber with a sprint.  There aren’t many guys like that – the best ones Ricco and Valverde are sitting out doping suspensions – so the best of the rest look like Cadel, Contador, Frank Schleck and possibly Vino.

Now that Cadel has won a stage I think he wants more. He definitely wants to take the jersey and seems confident his team can defend it.  Look for a Contador attack and for Cadel, the Schlecks, Kloden and Gesink to go with them.  If his attack get’s caught Contador won’t make the same sprinting mistake. Look for him to attack the 7.6% final 1.5km but not open up big time gaps.

 

Winner: Alberto Contador

Yellow: Cadel Evans

Polka Dot: David Moncoutie

Green: Philippe Gilbert

 

Here is what it looked likes last time the Tour climbed Super-Besse

 

 

 

SCANDINAVIAN SATISFACTION

TdF Blog Day 7

Pretty unorganized sprint today – Vino attacks, Bauke Mellema tries to counter, and only Sky has more then one rider in the top 10.  A great lead-out from Geraint Thomas to set Edvald Boasson Hagen up to win.  He rode away and no one even came close to coming around him.  Goss, Romain Feillu and Gerald Ciolek had the best lines to catch him, but none had his speed.  Gilbert was lucky to finish in 7^th – he really didn’t have fast legs today.

Rough day for Saxo and Radio Shack again – Alberto had bike problems again and Levi took a digger.  Turns out Johan was right when he said he would “let the road decide” who his team leader will be.  I bet Kloden doesn’t even put in his race radio anymore – just plugs that thing into his iPhone and listens to Eye of the Tiger and rides at the front all day long.

Levi is going to need some help if he wants to get back into this race.  I've only seen him attack once in the Tour de France so he better go waaaaaay back to try and remember what it's like to try and actually ride off the front.  Watch Levi's mini-attack at 2:10. Then watch him sit at the back, and try again at 9:15.

 

 

Notes: 

• Surprised to see Levi chasing back to the peloton solo with 4k to go.  Turns out RadioShack only had 4 guys in the front and Kloden & Horner weren’t coming back for him. Surprised Johan didn’t ask Zubeldia to go help him.
• Alberto was solo at the front again – with 60 guys in the front group he was the only Saxo rider.  He did have his team with him at 25k to go when he needed a new bike, but Saxo continues to look a bit disjointed.
• What is it going to take for Vs. to consider Kloden a contender?  Again he was the best placed RS rider and again he was the one who had no problem following the front group.
• Seems like there is still some conflict at Omega-Pharma-Lotto.  Nice set up attack from Vandendert on the final – but when Gilbert should have gone (say with Voekleur) he just didn’t have the pop.  His team did a good job to set him up but didn’t have the strength in the final 2-3k.
• Tejay Van Garderen got a talking to from his team I think – one day after telling Frankie Andreu he’d “love to go for the white jersey” his team puts him on the front for a big pull and he loses 2:46.  Plus releases a video yesterday where he says “it’s something that would be nice, but we are not going full gas for that… if it happens it will be by accident because I’m working for Tony… I’m here to help Tony.”
• Leopard-Trek is looking good for support – they had 5 guys in the front group of 60 at the finish

 

Contador is going to need more team-mates with him on Saturday going to Super-Besse

 

Tomorrow prediction: 

Can’t bet against Cavendish on a flat stage like tomorrow.  No climbs at all tomorrow and the last 5k are completely flat.  Cav has won in Châteauroux before and his team should be 100% set up for him.  Only Garmin has the firepower to compete with them as a lead out.  Look for Sky and maybe Lotto to try – because they will want to defend Gilbert’s green jersey and possibly give Greipel a chance to go head to head with Cav… (good luck with that).

 

Winner: Mark Cavendish

Yellow: Thor Hushovd

Green: Philippe Gilbert

Polka Dot: Johnny Hoogerland

 

THREE FOR FOUR FOR FIVE - The Missile likes Stage 5 again

TdF blog day 6 – July 6

Extremely smart riding by BMC and by Leopard Trek with 40k to go when they hit the cross winds.  BMC came right to the front and so did many of the other team leaders.  Great riding from Garmin-Cervelo and Dave Z on the front to keep the pace high.  All the big teams took turns near the front which was good for HTC and Garmin as they didn’t need to control the race to pull back the break.

I thought Cav was totally out of it when Tony Martin pulled away from Matty Goss – but he’s a smart rider – he comes off Geraint Thomas and catches Gilbert just before the line.  Perfectly timed.  This may dispel some of the talk that he can only win when he comes off a big train leadout.  He is certainly the fastest finisher in the peloton and he proved it again today.

Cav definitely likes stage 5 - his first Tdf Stage in '08, '10 and now '11 came on Stage 5.  

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

 

Notes:

• Smart attack by Voekleur and Roy – they picked the best time to attack when the roads were the smallest and the peloton was nervous. Lots of good TV time for them.
• Bad luck for Tom Boonen – riding solo in pain for over 50k – respect
• Good work from the leaders teams at 30k to go.  Saxo, Liquigas, Garmin, BMC and Leopard-Trek
• Interesting that HTC didn’t come to the front at all until 10k to go.  I think they felt they set up too early on Monday’s sprint stage
• Gilbert launched a great attack to try and win – tomorrow is another uphill to the finish with a climb from 3k and should suit him better
• Thor is riding great – he is a HUGE asset to any team – he speaks English and French well and is extremely popular.  His value keep rising!
• Movistar might as well put all their focus on Rojas and the green jersey.  Their GC potential is done.

 

Equipment Update

Seems about 20% of the commercials are sports or cycling related on Vs. this year – here’s a little wrap up:  Didn’t see any of these today – probably makes sense to spend a limited advertising budget on weekends. 

Trek – they have shown two spots so far – a Madone technology and a Madone Project One spot.  Both are well done and showcase the bike well. Personally I like the Project One spot a bit better as it really shows what’s possible. Trek has done very well with pushing most high end bike purchases to Project One – it’s helps their dealers and as long as they can keep the lead times down gives consumers a lot of choice.

Cannondale – their new spot focuses on the weight and stiffness of their super Super-Six Evo bike.  It’s a good overviews of the bike – but doesn’t have a call to action at the end.  They need a cleaner way to get to the SuperSix micro-site and tell customers where to buy the bike. 

Scott – has just a quick :15 second ad which honestly is too short to really explain the product. Does a good job of connecting Scott to professional cycling – but without a team in the race it’s a big uphill battle for them to be relevant during the Tour.

Specialized and Giro have focused on tech spots in cooperation with Versus – which is a good idea – since it can also live on the Tour Tracker iPhone / iPad app but interestingly it isn't available on the free NBC Sports page - it's free on the app but not on the web.

These "tech features" are a good way for brands to ad a level of authenticity to the product and specifically link the development of new stuff to the needs of the worlds best athletes.

 

Future of Cycling

Transfer Talk about the biggest names available - Gilbert and Hushovd continue.  Every team seems interested but it's going to take big Euros to sign either and not many teams have the check-book for that.

Lots of talk lately about if / where the HTC guys are going.  Everyone seems to be pretty tight lipped about it and peloton rumors have another big sponsor lined up to take over if HTC drops. Team seems confident but if they lose Cav and Goss are they worth as much?

Green Edge is also continuing to make news - rumored to have already signed Matt Goss they are starting to sign on more staff as well.  They just launched a contest inviting fans to come watch the team at the Tour Down Under (the first Pro Tour race of 2012) so they are pretty confident of getting a spot in the sport's elite.

Bad news continues to follow cycling as Australian Carly Hibberd was hit by a car and killed this morning in Italy.  Terrible news for everyone in the sport.

 

Tomorrow - Stage 6

It's another uphill finish - and another flat-ish stage - finishing with an uphill - 88m over two K is going to be a tough slog uphill - The finish is very similar to the finish of the Amstel Gold Race - won by Gilbert as he chased down Andy Schleck.  It will be hard to hold back the sprinters teams - but at 2km the climb might be long enough to slow down Cav and Farrar.  Rojas should get up it chasing points and so will Thor.  But expect an attack from Contador and Evans again and a counter from Gilbert.

He looked good today so with the team support he's had he should get over the top first and drag race it to the line.

A break should go off early chasing mountain points today and expect Sylvain Chavanel David Moncoutie to be in it in his new tri-color jersey!

Winner: Philippe Gilbert

Yellow: Thor Hushovd

Green: Philippe Gilbert

Polka-Dot: David Moncoutie

(just heard about Chavanel's injuries - so i'm subbing another climbing frenchman!)

 

Watch Gilbert in action at Amstel

 

YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT…

TdF Blog Day 5 – July 5^th

What a ride by Thor Hushovd – if he wasn’t on the list of EVERYONE’S favorite rider before the Tour – he better be now.  What a huge ride today to dig deep and keep the jersey.  It’s true that the Yellow Jersey gives riders the extra energy they need when they need it most.  But not only does it take a strong rider – it takes a team focused on keeping that rider in position and ready.  Garmin rode today’s stage perfectly and put Thor (and Millar) in the position they needed to be at the base of the final climb.

Vaughters and Thor are a lot more confident now that they can keep the jersey until Saturday’s climbing stage to Super-Besse.   The next three stages favor the sprinters – even with an uphill finish on Thursday – big Thor should SMASH his way through the first week in yellow.  Everyday he increases his value on the transfer market.  It’s going to be good negotiation series for Thor’s agent Alex Carera this year.  Garmin-Cervelo should do everything they can to keep him for 2012.

Notes from today:

• Great set up by BMC & Lotto with 3k to go. They both put their guys in position to win at the base of the final 2k.  Very strong set up.
• Cadel Evans continues to impress.  Strong ride to win and perfectly timed acceleration to attack to the line.
• Saxo looks to be in trouble. Contador was solo from about 4k to go – if his team can’t stay with him on the pre-finish climb – he’s going to be in trouble in the Pyrenees.
• Horner says “hardest 2k climb I’ve ever done”
• Kloden was the only Radio Shack guy to not lose time today.  Frank Schleck was the only Leopard-Trek guy to not lose time.  What’s it going to take for Vs. to include those two guys on their “favorites leader board”?
• Intermediate sprints continue to add excitement to the stages.
• Nicolas Roche got gapped coming into the finish as well – ending up in the 3^rd group :19 down.  He’ll have to climb better to finish in the top 10.
• Davide Arroyo is completely out of it – finished 8min down. Movistar will have to completely re-tool their TdF plan now with Rojas (in green) the only guy within 3min of the overall GC.  He can keep the green for a while – but can he take it all the way to Paris?

 

 

Equipment update:

Again a lot of low profile rims on a day that should have favored watt savings due to it’s length.  I think this again proves that there are very (very very) few selective spots in every race where equipment matters – and on a day like today – most of the guys chose low-weight over aero because of the 2k climb to the finish.  Gilbert did ride his Canyon Aeroad again.

Thor did rock his new S5 and a bad-ass looking pair of black and yellow shorts.  Gotta say Thor – white is cool with the rainbow on it – but this was a good look today!

 

Tomorrow:

Big sprint coming tomorrow – I think HTC will have watched this highlight video about 20 times and have figured out how long they can drive the 9-man train into town.

 

Stage 3 Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6qrj4rR0bs

I’m going to go back to history and pick Mark Cavendish to win tomorrow.  In the 2010 Tour Cav took until Stage 5 to win – same in 2008 – so why 5 should be a lucky number for him.  I think HTC have more train power then Garmin and certainly more then Lampre or Lotto – so they should have good control over the last 10-15km and deliver Cav right to the line.  It’ll be a hard finish with a few little climbs – so expect to see Gilbert take another digger – but HTC should go toe to toe with Garmin and take it out.

Winner: Mark Cavendish

Yellow: Thor Hushovd

Green: Jose Rojas

Polka-Dot: Cadel Evans

 

Just for fun here are some more sprinting video of il Rey Leone!

 

 

RIDE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

  

 

TdF Blog Day 4 – July 4^th

Jonathan Vaughters couldn’t have written a better script – Thor chases the mid-stage points at the intermediate sprint and then leads out Farrar for the win.  Team work at it’s best – “what do you mean Thor wants to switch to a new team”…  This was a great display of team work and unselfish riding.  Tyler was by far the fastest sprinter after the split at the end of the race. He won easily and looked good. 

Too bad the HTC crew (who also rode really well as a team) didn’t have the same finish that Garmin did.  What a mess up from Cavendish inside that last two K.  He said he opened up a gap behind Goss because he wanted someone to fill it to keep the pace fast… too bad that gap got filled immediately by the four-rider Garmin express.  Little lesson for Cav that most Cat. 3s learn the hard way – DON’T OPEN A GAP unless you want to move backwards really fast.

You want to see how to win a stage at the Tour – get the second fastest guy in the peloton and put him in front of you – and don’t let anyone past.  Then repeat.  Here’s how to win four stages in a row.

 

CIPO VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkWxS-tGcu8

 

A few notes about today’s stage:

• Gilbert could be a real contender for the Green jersey if he can continue to collect intermediate sprint points.  He’s going to have to fight for points at the finish but with so many rolling stages he’ll have many opportunities.
• Speaking of Gilbert and Pharma-Lotto – if Greipel want’s to show the world he can sprint with Cav he better get his lead-out lined up.  He looked bad today sprinting back there for 10^th place.
• Pattachi and Boonen also didn’t even come close to the front – they did get slowed down in Dumoulin crash – so both will need to look to the intermediate sprint tomorrow and then Stage 5 to get back in the green jersey hunt.

 

Fancy New Bikes

Thor’s new S5 sure looked good – Cervelo was smart to have a yellow bike ready for action – but too bad Farrar didn’t ride his today.  That’s a bit disconnect to have a brand new sprinters bike (and he’s got one – see it here: http://yfrog.com/h2qmhxqj) and not have your top sprinter on it… I guess on the plus side it does show the R3 is stiff enough to win at the biggest race of the year.

On the HTC side the fast boys were on their Venges and Cannondale has been pushing their new SuperSix Evo in TV commercials all week long.  Hopefully for them they can get some results to show it off.

Gilbert was also on a Canyon Aeroad CF and certainly put it to good use so far.

 

Tomorrow – Mûr-de-Bretagne

Hard finish to a pretty hard stage – look for some of the opportunist like Sylvain Chavanel and Thomas Voekleur to try and get into a break today.  But with a short steep climb to finish – there will be teams chasing the win and Garmin, Saxo and Omega Pharma-Lotto will keep the break in check.

Look for an explosion at the finish from top riders – chasing the win, the yellow jersey and time on their rivals.  Cadel Evans will want to get that second back from Thor, Alberto Contador will want to take back as much time as he can, and Philippe Gilbert will be chasing the win.

2km at 6.9% shouldn’t cause huge time gaps, but remember Contador pulled 20seconds out of the chasing favorites in 2km in 2009 going to Andorra. 

I think he has the most to gain so look for an attack by Alberto and a chase by Gilbert – he’s too far down at :33 to take back yellow but sitting in 4^th in the points competition he’ll make most of that back.

Stage Winner: Alberto Contador

Yellow Jersey: Cadel Evans

Green Jersey: Philippe Gilbert

Hopefully Cadel will be calmer this year if he can take the jersey.

 

THOR SMASH!!!

 

TdF Blog Day 3 – July 3

Huge day for Garmin-Cervelo; Jonathan Vaughters and Thor Hushovd.  Surprisingly this was the first time the Slipstream organization has won a tour stage and the first time they’ve taken a yellow jersey.  Certainly Garmin-Cervelo was riding with a grudge and a mission after yesterday’s crash debacle.  And they rode the huge engines of David Millar, Dave Z, CVdV and first time tour rider Tommy D to a huge victory.  Watching Thor pull away from the team in the final km shows just how hard they all wanted this win.

The big winners today have to include Cadel Evans whose team BMC put in an unexpected performance to finish 2^nd and the Schleck bros who’s time trailing was always a bit suspect. For them to hang onto the Cancellara train and only lose 4 sec to Garmin – and NO TIME to any other favorites has to be a huge victory for Leopard-Trek. 

Looking at who underperformed – the top disappointment has to be Liquigas-Cannondale. For a team that supposedly was putting everything behind Ivan Basso – this is their worst TTT performance in years. Not only has Basso lost about :50 to most of his main rivals – he’s also shown the ability of his team – and they are not impressive.  Hopefully they are better climbers then they are rolleurs.    Second minor disappointment has to be Radio Shack. While they only lost :10 to Garmin and :05 to their other rivals – this is a team that is used to winning, and winning convincingly at the TTT.  Maybe Johan’s team with an average age of at least 35 wasn’t such a great idea.  Those boys are going to start looking tired by week 3.

 

Some more notes from the TT: 

• With Lampre losing over a minute Cunego is getting close to having the time deficit he needs to get into some climbing day breaks.  A few more time gaps and he’ll have the leash he needs to go out and chase mountain points and stage wins.
• Pretty impressive ride from FDJ – a team that no one can name a rider from – managed to be the best French team and finish in the top ½ overall.
• Saxo-Bank rode a very good TTT with an inexperienced team and having to go out first.  I wonder how the Danes get along with the Spaniards?  That has to be some interesting dinners.
• Sammy Sanchez has to be completely out of any GC contention after the way Euskaltel rode.  At least he can focus on trying to win a stage in the Pyrenees now.

Is Contador Screwed?

I’ve seen this question on multiple forums and all over twitter.  Really – this guy is the most explosive rider in 10 years – yea, he’s at a disadvantage, but he’ll pull back most of this time by the end of the Pyrenees and shouldn’t have big worries heading into the final week.   He just needs :10 to :15 four times to put himself back within a minute heading into the Alps.    Remember in 2009 going to Andorre Arcalis Contador took 21 seconds in only 2km.  He’ll have many chances to pull back small gaps. 

Look at the speed of his attack here at 5:50. Ouch

 

 

Stage 3

Looking to tomorrow.  One of the few true flat spint stages in the 2011 Tour I have to pick the fastest man in the peloton Mark Cavendish for the win.    Interestingly this might be one of the few head to head sprints this tour and there aren’t really that many strong sprinters here… Only Farrar and Patacchi have shown the ability to out sprint Cav this year and Patacchi isn’t riding well.  Boonen hasn’t show the speed he once had – so it should be a two man race.  The interesting thing is how JV will motivate his #2 sprinter and current yellow jersey to ride for Tyler. 

If someone asked me (and of course the didn’t) I think this is a perfect chance for Thor to help Tyler and then get his help for the rest of the tour chasing the green jersey.  Tyler doesn’t have the climbing ability to win green and with just a bit of help Thor should be able to build points that Cav and Boonen can’t get.  Thor is the world champion; he's the yellow jersey and he's the most experienced stage winner on the team.  Farrar can have one or two sprint days - but the team should be working to get Thor his third green jersey.  He's earned that opportunity and he's got the best chance to win it!

He is such a great champion!