2012 Tour de France Stage 20, 7/22/12

July 22, Stage 20: Rambouillet - Paris Champs-Élysées 120km

Bradley Wiggins wins 2012 Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-20/results)

Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) became the first Briton to win the Tour de France, taking the title of the 2012 Tour as he crossed the finish line on the Champs-Élysées Sunday afternoon. The final stage ended with the usual mass sprint, as Mark Cavendish easily took his fourth straight closing stage win. Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), one of the stand-outs of the Tour, took second, with former Cavendish helper Matthew Goss of Orica-GreenEdge third.

Wiggins stood atop the podium with a gap of 3:21 over his most dangerous rival, Sky teammate Christopher Froome. Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas-Cannondale rounded out the podium, finishing third at 6:19 down.

It was a historic moment for the British rider, who spent the entire race in first or second place overall. He stamped his authority on the race with two time trial victories, winning against the clock on stages 9 and 19 to assure himself of the title. The only rider really able to challenge him was his teammate and lieutenant, Froome.

"I've had 24 hours for this to soak in and today we were just on a mission to finish the job off with Cav," said Wiggins on the team website. "So job done and what a way for him to finish it off. I’m still buzzing from the Champs-Elysees.

"I've got to get used to going into the history books now, but I’m just trying to take everything in today first. It’s very surreal at the moment because this type of things [usually] happens to other people. You never imagine it happening to yourself."

Cavendish was jubliant with his stage win. "It’s incredible what we’ve achieved today – what a team. We got a one and two on GC but still we were riding to control things on the Champs-Elysees. It was an honour to have the yellow jersey leading me out. Bradley told me he’d go full gas to the last kilometre and then Edvald (Boasson Hagen) led me into the last corner. The finish couldn’t have been more perfect – no better end to this Tour,” he said on the team's website.

"It’s an incredible achievement for the team. Four years ago we said we were setting out to win the Tour, but we haven’t just done that, we’ve got second place as well and a handful of stages. Seven stages have been won by British guys this year so that’s one in three – not a bad stat."

Rush to the finish on the Champs-Élysées

The final stage followed its usual pattern, as the riders relaxed in the sun and in anticipation of successfully finishing the hard three weeks. There were even two category four ranked climbs in the first third of the race, with KOM Thomas Voeckler of Europcar picking up another point at the first one. The relaxed atmosphere only lasted until the sprinters could sense the approaching Champs-Élysées, and the racing then started. 

Two of the older riders, Christopher Horner (RadioShack-Nissan) and George Hincapie (BMC), who is retiring this season, were allowed to lead the way over the finish line as the field hit the Champs Elysees. They were then replaced by veterans Jens Voigt (RadioShack) and Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD), with a small group forming later around them.

Rui Costa (Movistar), Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Sebastien Minard (AG2R), Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol), Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Jean Marc Marino (Saur-Sojasun), Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Bram Tankink (Rabobank) and Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Katusha) built up a lead of up to 30 seconds on the closing circuit.

Sky led the chase for Cavendish to claim his fourth straight victory on the Champs Elysees, but as things progressed, they were joined by Liquigas riding to set up Peter Sagan. The lead group eventually fell apart, leaving only Minard, Voigt and Costa at the front.

The trio fought valiantly but never really had a chance, and with about 3 km to go, were caught. Shortly before that, a crash in the middle of the field took out two riders: Hondo and Mikael Cherel (AG2R).

None other than the yellow jersey Wiggins himself led the field under the flamme rouge for the final kilometer of the 2012 Tour. He peeled off to let Edvald Boasson Hagen make the final lead-out for Cavendish. Once the Manxman was in the wind on the finishing straight, there was no doubt as to his victory.

Wiggins rides to the top

Wiggins was never far from the top of the race, spending the entire race in either first or second place. He finished second in the race's prologue, three weeks ago, only seven seconds behind winner Fabian Cancellara. Wiggins successfully avoided the mass crash in the sixth stage, which took out a number of riders and put an end to the hopes of several contenders.

He made his move, though, on the race's first mountain stage. On stage seven, which featured the first mountaintop finish, Team Sky prepared the way for Wiggins by taking control of the stage and putting down a blistering pace the whole way.  By the time they approached the final climb up  La Planche des Belles Filles, the two Sky riders led the small group of favourites, dropping Cancellara along the way. Defending Tour champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) jumped first, Froome caught and passed him for the stage win, but Wiggins caught up to cross the finish line in the same time as the Australian, and took over the yellow jersey, which he never gave up.

As expected, Wiggins really won the Tour in the time trials. He won both of them, with Froome second in both. Even four-time World time trial champion Cancellara couldn't come close to him in the first time trial. But it was the second time trial, held yesterday, which really sealed the matter. Wiggins covered the rolling 53.5km over a minute faster than Froome.

Wiggins and Froome quickly became an inseparable pair, although there were often indications that Froome was unhappy with the relationship. The younger Briton was obviously the stronger rider on the climbs, and showed his impatience at being held back by his captain. He went public with his indignation at not being allowed to win the Tour, before belatedly realizing it was better to say nothing.

The jerseys

Wiggins and Cavendish were not the only winners of the day, though. Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale took the green jersey for the points classification, having won three stages. He also fought to take points at the intermediate sprints and made a reputation for his victory celebrations, ranging from the Hulk to Forrest Gump. It was in incredibly impressive Tour debut for the 22-year-old Slovakian.

Thomas Voeckler claimed the King of the Mountains classification and its polka-dot jersey. He wrestled it away from Astana's Fredrik Kessiakoff with his first of two stage wins, in the 16th stage. The Europcar rider aggressively defended it through the remaining few stages.

Best young rider was 23-year-old Tejay van Garderen. The 23-year-old American riding for BMC Racing Team finished his second Tour in fifth place, eleven minutes down, but six minutes ahead of the second-best young rider, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Big Mat).

Team RadioShack-Nissan went from the high of Fabian Cancellara's prologue win to the low of Fränk Schleck leaving the race under suspicion of doping, and along the way managed to win the team title.

Hincapie says adieu

A long-time popular rider took his final bow in the Tour. George Hincapie of BMC Racing Team finished his 17th Tour at 38th overall, an hour and a half down. Over the years, he rode in support of nine winners: Lance Armstrong (seven times) and Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans (once each).

Hincapie wore the yellow jersey for two stages in 2006, and won a total of four stages, three of which were team time trials. But perhaps his most important victory was winning the heart and hand of podium girl Melanie Simonneau.

The sprinters

All eyes were on Mark Cavendish at the Tour, but from even before the race it was clear that it would be difficult if not impossible for Sky to support both Wiggins and Cavendish. The reigning world champion got the short end of the deal, but by the end of the race, he, too, was doing his share to support the team leader and sacrificing his own chances. Cavendish ended up with three wins, as did Greipel and Sagan.

Cavendish was overshadowed this year by none other than former teammate Andre Greipel, whom he once said could win only “little shit races.” The Lotto Belisol rider put that to the test, and took three sprint wins. Equally impressively, he finished second to Sagan on the sixth stage after crashing twice and having a suspected dislocated shoulder, which fortunately proved not to be so.

Full Results

1	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling	3:08:07
2	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
3	Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
4	Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank
5	Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
6	Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Belisol Team
7	Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
8	André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team
9	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
10	Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Saur - Sojasun

 

Final general classification

1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	87:34:47
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:03:21
3	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:06:19
4	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team	0:10:15
5	Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:11:04
6	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan	0:15:41
7	Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team	0:15:49
8	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	0:16:26
9	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team	0:16:33
10	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat	0:17:17

 

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo

Hushovd out of Milan-San Remo with fever

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hushovd-out-of-milan-san-remo-with-fever)

Thor Hushovd will not participate in this weekend's Milan-San Remo after falling victim to a fever, his team announced today.

The Norwegian, twice a podium finisher in the race (2005, 2009), was looking to be the team's protected sprinter on the BMC team for La Classicissima, but was sidelined by the same bug which brought Philippe Gilbert's Tirreno-Adriatico to a premature end.

"Monday night I woke up with fever and was cold and sweating," Hushovd said. "I have felt bad for two days now so there's no chance to race on Saturday. I am really disappointed because it was obviously one of my first goals of the year."

BMC expects Gilbert and Greg Van Avermaet, who has been struggling with a foot injury, to be back to nearly full strength for the weekend's Monument. "They are still not 100 percent, but we have two days to go. We are still pretty confident that we have a good team with good experience."

Gilbert has been training and is beginning to feel better but he is hoping to ease into the 300km long race. "I have been riding easy in training and I hope to have a race that's easier at first, maybe with a headwind or something," Gilbert said. "I'll try to be smart and ride in a good position.

"Milan-San Remo can be a very strange race where anything can happen. If it's not for me in the final, maybe it will be Alessandro Ballan or Greg Van Avermaet or someone else on our team. I think we have a good team and we aren't feeling pressure because we know we can be competitive."

Ballan is one rider on the team who hasn't been ill, and has shown that his form is strong. "I can do something good there," Ballan said of the race. "I worked hard in Tirreno-Adriatico, even if I didn't make a result there and I am in optimal condition right now. I think we can be one of the teams that takes charge of the race."

BMC for Milan-San Remo: Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Philippe Gilbert (Bel), George Hincapie (USA), Taylor Phinney (USA), Manuel Quinziato (Ita), Michael Schär (Swi), Greg Van Avermaet (Bel).

Its been a "Long Road to Paris"

Cadel Evans' "Long Road to Paris"

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/cadel-evans-long-road-to-paris)

Cadel Evans (BMC) has launched his autobiography, "The Long Road to Paris", detailing the Tour de France winners beginnings as an amateur riding on the mountain bike world cup circuit, to standing on the Champs-Élysées in yellow.

Offering a rare insight as to what it takes to conquer the world's toughest bike race, Evans goes through his career with a combination of short quotes, reflections, and race analysis taken from throughout his years as a professional cyclist.

Beautifully presented, the book also features spectacular images from photographers Graham Watson, Tom Moran and Malcolm Fearon.

Click here for a look at some of the superb gallery.
Preview: The story and extracts

The early years

Evans got into cycling as a youngster and was quickly attracted to "the solace of being in nature". He credits those formative years in dirt and mountain biking, where he picked up the technical skills that make him such a good bike handler today as crucial to his development as a bike rider.

"I just rode more and more because I could, for a start but also because I liked it. I didn't mean to be a bike rider; it was like, 'Oh, this is good; I like this. You can make a profession out of this?" (extract from Long Road to Paris)

As the results built Evans thought more about making a career of riding his bike. After a number of years of success on the elite mountain bike circuit Evans made the switch to the road where he debuted initially with the Saeco-Cannondale squad in 1999. That would launch the start of bigger and better things, and by 2002 while riding for Mapei, Evans gave a glimpse of his future talent when he briefly wore the Maglia Rosa at the Giro d'Italia.

Mendrisio

While the book scoots through the period from the early 2000s to 2009, Evans gives a great recount of his success at the 2009 World Championships in Medrisio.

On a day that Cancellara was on a mission to complete a rare worlds double, Evans made an opportunistic move late in the race, and with the other favourites for the rainbow crisis caught watching each other, Evans stormed up the final climb for what would be a fairytale victory on his 'home roads.'

"If we go back to 1994, my first Junior World Championships, when I came second in Vail, and the feeling... you can't understand the sickening feeling when you're standing on the podium and the guy next to you is pulling on the rainbow jersey. But Chiara was always telling me how she saw it: 'One day your honesty will be repaid.' And all of a sudden it was." (extract from Long Road to Paris)


Wearing the rainbow jersey at the Giro, and the disappointment of injury scuttling his 2010 Tour

Few Evans fans will forget his win on the day the Giro d'Italia passed over the strada bianca in 2010. Evans showed a masterclass of technical skill on the descents, while other riders struggled, was unperturbed by the tempestuous weather, and scored himself a 'beautiful' victory in Montalcino. Though he would end up falling off the podium late in the race, the stage win will go down as among the most well remembered victories in his road career.

Evans' fifth overall at the Giro was meant to be the prelude to his 2010 bid for Tour success. Having failed to fire in 2009, Evans looked strong leading into the French race and by the first rest day had taken yellow. Alas, few knew at the time but the Australian had fractured his elbow.

An early sign of his injury, Evans uncharacteristically cracked on the Col du Madeleine while the lead group was still healthy in numbers and was a clearly shattered man at the finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

"[The positive that I took from 2010] was that I was able to appreciate just being at the Tour, feeling the atmosphere, being encouraged in almost every accent imaginable. It sure hurt riding on the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées though." (extract from Long Road to Paris)

The 2011 Tour de France
If you looked at the betting markets before this years' Tour de France, Evans was considered an outsider. His 'failures' in 2009 and 2010 had many pundits suggesting the Australian was past it. That would change quickly however with Contador, Sanchez among others conceding serious time in the Tour's opening week.

A strong performance in the team time trial, followed by a show of force in the following week by the red and black BMC squad, were signs Evans and his team meaned business.

As the Tour went on, his critics however continued to forsee the Australian crumbling against the 'more favoured' Schlecks.

But each day Evans would rise to the challenge. Perhaps the day that marked the changing of the tide was on the stage to Gap, where Evans showed plenty of guile and experience to follow a speculative move by Contador and Sanchez. Despite the two Spaniards seemingly working together against the Australian, it was Evans who would dislodge the duo in the run-in to the finish.

Post stage, Evans summarised the difference a year had made to his confidence and mentality.

"This year I was up front, alone, following the moves. The guys – George [Hincapie] and Burghy [Marcus Burghardt] got me in the right position at the bottom of the second last climb. From there I just had to play my cards right. It's all a bit of a blur right now but I think it was a good move and a good day."

For Evans that day, like the team time trial in Les Essarts, like the stage win on Mûr-de-Bretagne was symbolic of his Tour de France.

"Every day the team delivered me to where I really needed to be, and that left me fresh and ready to finish off the job. A large part of Lance Armstrong's success in Tour de France was his strong team. Ours came off the back of a strong team bond." (extract from Long Road to Paris)

Evans would finally take the yellow jersey on the penultimate day time trial, but for many it was his determined defensive performance on the day to Galibier Serre-Chevalier that won him the Tour.

It was the one day Evans rode the stage on his own, without his team. The Australian rode out of his skin, with at one point some 16 other riders in tow to claw back an 'on a mission' Andy Schleck. Despite starting the final climb with a seemingly insurmountable four minute deficit to the Luxembourger, Evans put his head down and by the peak had turned a lost cause into a defining performance.

"That day began as an effort to not lose the Tour, but it ended up as the key effort to win the 2011 Tour." (extract from Long Road to Paris)