2012 Tour de France Stage 19, 7/21/12

July 21, Stage 19: Bonneval - Chartres (ITT) 53.5km

Wiggins wins Tour's final time trial in Chartres

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-19/results)

Bradley Wiggins was in a class of his own as he claimed his second time trial victory in this year’s race and with it cleared the final hurdle on his way to becoming the first British rider to win the Tour de France. Fastest at all of the intermediate check points, Wiggins completed the 53.5km course between Bonneval and Chartres in 1:04:13, putting him 1:16 ahead of his Sky teammate Chris Froome, who consolidated his position in second place overall.

Third place on the day went to Rabobank’s Luis León Sánchez, who held the lead for a substantial part of the afternoon but ended up 1:50 down on Wiggins. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) produced another competitive performance to cement his grip on the third spot on the podium. But there was a significant change further down the top 10 as defending champion Cadel Evans finished outside the top 50 on the day to drop to seventh place overall behind Haimar Zubeldia.

As has been the case so often during this race, the day was all about Team Sky and, of course, Wiggins. “This is what I wanted to do, to go out with a bang,” said the Briton, who is set to be crowned Tour de France champion in Paris tomorrow afternoon. “The Tour isn’t over until now, but this is what I do best. I came out here in March with Sean to look at the course and I knew it would suit me.”

Wiggins has looked stronger than all of his rivals during the Tour’s final week and said that he knew from his first pedal stroke as he warmed up that he was going to perform well.

“I knew I was on it when I went down the start ramp. In the last 15-20k I knew what my advantage was and I was thinking about my wife and kids, my mum, all of the people who’ve helped me get to where I am… I know it sounds cheesy but I was thinking about the fact that I’ve spent my whole life working to get to this point – this is the defining moment. It’s all been summed up today.” 

Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford, whose daily mantra has been “We’re taking it one day at a time”, acknowledged: “We can start thinking about winning this race barring accidents.”

Brailsford was fulsome in his praise for his team leader and the rest of the Sky team. “I think Brad showed today why he is the leader of this team. He smashed the best time and Froomey did the same as well. It’s good to have two guys who can top the world in a sport that, quite honestly, we weren’t all that good at not so long ago. For Brad as a British rider to win this race in a British team with a British sponsor is a fantastic achievement,” said Brailsford.

He added: “People laughed when I said that our aim was to win the Tour within five years with a clean British rider. But I wouldn’t underestimate the effect that our Olympic experience has had. But this is a different sport on a very different playing field. But today is all about Bradley Wiggins and his incredible achievement.”

 Gretsch and Sánchez set early pace

Argos-Shimano’s Patrick Gretsch set the fastest time for the 53.5km course among the early starters. Almost two hours passed before Luis León Sánchez clipped 38 seconds off Gretsch’s mark, the Spaniard crossing the line in 1:06:03.

The Rabobank rider remained in pole position for another two-and-a-half hours. During that period Peter Velits came closest to Sánchez’s time, finishing 12 seconds down just as Froome and Wiggins were making their final preparations before taking to the start ramp.

There were huge cheers when Wiggins set off down the ramp. Up ahead of Wiggins, Froome and Nibali, best young rider Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) set the fastest time at the first check point, but that mark lasted just a matter of minutes. Froome went through 23 seconds quicker, then Wiggins followed another 12 seconds faster.

By the second check, Van Garderen’s fast start appeared to be taking a toll as he went through fourth fastest. However, by that point the young American had his team leader Evans in his sights and seemed to get a lift as he blasted by the defending champion. Froome also looked to be slipping slightly as he came through just four seconds faster than Sánchez. Wiggins, though, was unstoppable. Now 54 seconds up on Froome, he had his second stage win in his sights.

Wiggins fastest from first to last

Froome picked up his pace again coming into the final quarter of the test. He went through the third time check 22 seconds up on Sánchez. However, Wiggins was still pulling away. Now 1:15 up on his team-mate, he looked as smooth and faultless as ever.

At the line, Froome was not far off catching his three-minute man, Nibali, as he bettered Sánchez’s mark by 34 seconds. But Froome’s lead lasted little more than 90 seconds.

Wiggins powered relentlessly on towards the line, only sitting up out of his tuck in the very final metres to punch the air and celebrate his victory. It had been a superbly judged ride rounding off a fantastic performance over the whole three weeks. Chapeau, Brad!

Full Results

1	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	1:04:13
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:01:16
3	Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:01:50
4	Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-QuickStep	0:02:02
5	Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling	0:02:25
6	Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Argos - Shimano	0:02:28
7	Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:02:34
8	Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Movistar Team	0:02:46
9	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne	0:02:50
10	Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat	0:03:05

 

One of the best things about today was when Tejay van Garderen caught up and PASSED his team leader, and last year's winner, Cadel Evans in the individual time trial of the Tour, overcoming a deficit of 3 minutes. (Evans started the ITT 3 minutes before van Garderen.) Tejay is also taking the Best Young Rider Jersey into Paris tomorrow.

 

2012 Tour de France Prologue, 6/30/12

Unless there is an article that really interests me, I will be only focusing on the Tour de France this year. I will post my own recaps if I can, but I will mostly be using cyclingnews.com like I have been recently.

June 30, Prologue: Liège (ITT) 6.4km

Cancellara wins 2012 Tour de France prologue in Liège

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

There was something almost inevitable about it: the scene was perfect, the timing essential, and the man in form. Eight years after his first prologue win in Liege in the Tour de France, ‘Monsieur Prologue’ Fabian Cancellara rolled back the years to claim his fourth Tour de France prologue, with a comprehensive win in the Belgian city on Saturday. 

The RadioShack-Nissan rider turned out a time of 7:13 over the 6.4km course. Not even a determined Bradley Wiggins (Sky) finishing second, 7 seconds down, or world time trial champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) could come close, although the German will feel aggrieved after he set the fastest time at the first time check but suffered a mechanical and was forced to change bikes.

Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) finished in 13th place, nine seconds down on Cancellara, with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Denis Menchov (Katusha), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) impressing with solid performances. French time trial champion Sylvain Chavanel had led for a large portion of the afternoon, nervously awaiting the time trial specialists at the line, but he was demoted, first by Wiggins, and then by Cancellara, to third.

But after all the talk of Wiggins and Evans in the build-up to the race, the day belonged to Cancellara. In the last twelve months, the Swiss rider has found himself on the receiving end of a number of high level losses, with Tony Martin usurping his long-standing crown as the best time triallist in the world, and two campaigns in the Classics without a win.

“I thought about my wife, the baby that’s coming, about team that’s given me help, and I’m proud of having done the work I should have done,” Cancellara said at the finish.

“This victory is even more special than the other ones I’ve had in the Tour de France., Yes, I’m proud, which is important, and I’m also confident about the rest of the Tour.”

There were murmurs that Cancellara was no longer the powerhouse he used to be, his legs slowing as younger riders developed, and despite uncertainty within his team surrounding missed wages and in-fighting, the experience and most importantly the power were there for all to see in Liège.

“I’m looking forward and not looking back. I’m here on the Tour de France not thinking about the past. The last time the Tour was here, in 2004, I beat Lance [Armstrong] by 1.6 seconds and took the jersey, but that was eight years ago. We have to focus on now because if we let [USADA’s decision to manager Johan Bruyneel with doping] crack us, I wouldn’t be able to perform on the road like I did today. It’s up to Lance and Johan to sort out. One year I was in Bjarne Riis’s team, and he stayed away from the Tour to leave us in peace, so I’ve experienced this before. Johan is just leaving us to get on with the job in peace.”

Liège loosens the Tour tension

The pro peloton had descended on Liège on Wednesday, settling into a pattern of reconnaissance and press conferences. By Friday, as the final pre-race press noise died down, it was clear that the peloton were ready to race. The tension was clear in Liège on Saturday morning with riders testing themselves over the prologue course. Wind variants were considered, final adjustments made to bikes and in the end it was Tom Veellers (Argos-Shimano) who set the ball rolling. The Tour had finally started.

A number of early pacesetters came and went until Brett Lancaster posted the first serious time of the day with a time of 7:24. The GreenEdge rider was edged out by Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen but it wasn’t long before Chavanel was on the road.

The Frenchman has improved greatly against the clock in the last twelve months – something he has put down to overcoming a longstanding back problem – and had already won the time trial in De Panne this spring. Along the Liège course he married power with precision, dancing through the few corners in the tricolore of France.

It looked like an unlikely winner could be crowned when he crossed the line in 7:20 and when Philippe Gilbert, David Millar and Andreas Klöden all failed topple the Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider, France dreamed of their first opening day win since Jacky Durand in 1994.

Chavanel took his seat at the finish, French television glued to his every facial expression as rider after rider came over the line. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) who many pundits had fancied as a potential winner stormed out of the blocks but he paid for his enthusiasm, pulling his foot out on one of two roundabouts, and losing 17 seconds by the finish.

Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) came close, two seconds down but Tony Martin, resplendent in his rainbow bands looked to be the biggest threat. A teammate of Chavanel he drew level with the Frenchman at the first time check but a bike change disrupted his rhythm and cost the German vital seconds. The cameras remained glued to Chavanel.

Now it was down to Wiggins, grimacing with intent as he left the start house. Two years ago the Sky leader paid for his caution in the opening Tour ride through Rotterdam and at the first time check it looked as though a repeat performance was in store, with tenth place at the first time check.

But Wiggins isn’t the Tour favourite without reason, and on the return leg the former pursuit rider showed his form and quality, overhauling Chavanel – who cracked a smile at least – and moving into provisional yellow. By now Cancellara was waiting for the countdown to his depart, but perhaps more importantly Evans was moving towards the start house. It’s unknown if he knew that Wiggins was leading.

At the first time check, Cancellara was faster than Chavanel by a mere second and with Evans on the road it became a three-way battle for the race’s first yellow jersey. Yet by the line Cancellara had stomped his authority on the race’s first skirmish.

Full Results

1	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan	0:07:13
2	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:07
3	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
4	Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:10
5	Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling	0:00:11
6	Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
7	Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Argos - Shimano	0:00:12
8	Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team	0:00:13
9	Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
10	Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team

Other Favorite Pic of the Day:

Mark Cavendish

HTC-Highroad's Sad News

This really surprises and saddens me after how well Cavendish and Martin did in this year's Tour:

HTC-Highroad disbands after failed sponsor search

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/htc-highroad-disbands-after-failed-sponsor-search)

The HTC-Highroad team will end its association with professional cycling at the end of the season, drawing to an end its five-year spell in the sport.

The squad has consistently been ranked as the number one team in the world, but struggled to attract a new sponsor or convince cell phone maker HTC to renew. Team owner Bob Stapleton today announced that the squad would fold at the end of the year, and encouraged riders from both the men's and women's teams to find new homes for 2012.

However, Stapleton held out hope that the women's team could continue.

Stapleton had pushed the search for a sponsor to the line, even going beyond the UCI’s transfer window opening on August 1st and although he had a sponsor lined up, the interested party pulled out of negotiations at the weekend.

“We went public with our sponsorship search just before the Tour. We were frustrated by the indecision of our title sponsor HTC who, after many months of assurances, had not come forward with a commitment to the team. That indecision remains a mystery to me,” Stapleton told the press in a phone conference.

Meanwhile, riders have already been in negotiations with other teams. Sprinter Mark Cavendish said he would announce his decision later this week, while the Velits twins, Martin and Peter, have already been announced as joining the QuickStep team, and Patrick Gretsch was confirmed with Skil-Shimano.

Down to the wire

The squad had one of its most successful Tours, with Cavendish winning the points classification and five stages, and Tony Martin claiming the stage victory in the Grenbole time trial, but at the same time Stapleton was honest about the uncertainty surrounding the team's future as he feverishly scrambled from meeting to meeting trying to close a deal.

Normally intensely private about negotiations, Stapleton's desperation became apparent as he used the publicity surrounding the Tour to vocally raise interest in the team's value by consistently reminding the media that the team had generated in the region of $400 million in media exposure during its tenure in the sport.

Meetings took place in Grenoble, Paris, Amsterdam, Chicago, Atlanta and New York with a number of international companies and the team was approached by several different squads to discuss the possibility of negotiating a tricky merger.

"We had an agreement in place in principle with a new partner which would have given us a enough funds to operate the team at the same level of the last four years. This deal abruptly collapsed on Sunday night, when I received an email and subsequent phone call from our intended partner."

Stapleton would not name the partner, nor disclose just how close or far they were to signing an agreement. Final talks with HTC broke down on Wednesday night, while hope of a possible last ditch merger failed Thursday morning.

"That led us to the conclusion to release our athletes and staff to pursue their career options," said an emotional Stapleton.

Bringing business to sport

Stapleton, a former CEO of the telecom company VoiceStream Wireless and member of the T-Mobile international board of directors, came into the sport as a unique force in team management. More businessman than cycling insider, Stapleton had made his name in the sport by supporting an American women's team before being elevated to manager of the T-Mobile men's team at the end of 2006.

He formed Highroad Sports in 2007, taking elements of the old Telekom team but inspiring a fresh more ethically correct and transparent ethos. T-Mobile signed on to support the team through 2010, but revelations surrounding the team's doping past, including links between Jan Ullrich and Operacion Puerto as well as the embarrasing testosterone positive of Patrik Sinkewitz during the 2007 Tour de France led the sponsor to withdraw that support at the end of the year.

Stapleton reportedly received a settlement of undisclosed value which kept the team going until Columbia Sportswear signed on as title sponsor before the 2008 Tour de France.

Since then, Stapleton has brought in HTC and built up the team not only to the top level in a sporting sense, but revitalised its image in terms of ethics.

Some of the sport's most successful and exciting talents passed through the team's doors: Edvald Boasson Hagen, Mark Renshaw and Mark Cavendish to name but a few, and between the men and women's teams, the squad secured an unequalled number of victories.

"What led to the team's remarkable success was the team's remarkable spirit that we had in the organisation. This year we'll record our 500th win and we sit at 484 wins now, over 50 grand tour stages wins and a remarkable amount of success.

"Our goal was to bring forward athletes and management that could lead the sport forward and although this is a sad call in some respects, I do feel like we fundamentally changed the sport. Some of the most interesting athletes in the sport have Highroad DNA."

Doping and economics

It is ironic, perhaps, that Stapleton, who helped to renew faith in a clean sport and pushed for change in the way the sport is run, ended up being drummed out of the game by the constant din of doping discussion and the changing economics of the sport.

The sport has seen a number of rich investors enter the sport in recent years, bankrolling the likes of Katusha, BMC and Leopard Trek. These teams have raised the bar in terms of finance, marginalising teams on smaller budgets. That factor, coupled with the inherently flawed UCI points system has seen what Stapleton calls the rise of the 'super team'.

"There is the rise of the super teams and there more teams with a budget in excess of 20 million Euros. So it's the squeeze between keeping the team at a leadership level of the sport and the need to bring on substantial more funds. So in this case we're really making this decision on the desire to see the individual succeed and worry less about the ability to compete at the highest level, which needs more money.

"If you look at the super teams, there are wealthy individuals behind each one and you've got a sport that's been destabilised by events. For example the points structure where teams are desperate to make sure they're in the top 16, and these are the sorts of things that are not helpful to creating a structure for the sport. I don't want to blame anyone or suggest anything but there are some destabilising factors in the sport."

Stapleton pointed to the sport's doping problems as another hurdle for all teams, not just Stapleton's. The still-unresolved doping case of Alberto Contador from the 2010 Tour de France and the federal investigation into doping at the US Postal Service team, both of which have been heavily reported in the media, have hampered new sponsor negotations for Stapleton.

"All I can tell you is that I don't think there has been a single discussion with a potential sponsor where one or the other wasn't talked about. It's been a factor in everyone's view of cycling in the last year."

Yet whatever legacy HTC and Stapleton leave behind, and it's far too early to draw judgement, they will perhaps been seen as a squad that opened new doors, that embraced a firm-anti doping stance, that bred huge success through men's and womens's sports but who, most of all, kept cycling fans entertained.