2013 Tour de France Stage 9

Stage 9:

We all knew that the Yellow Jersey was going to be tested on this mountain stage. The other teams and CG Contenders wanted to break Froome and Team Sky. The question was would Froome be beat?

Garmin-Sharp, and in particular Dan Martin, along with some help from Movistar, shook Froome and Team Sky pretty much from the beginning of the stage, and with about 140 km still left to race, it was just Froome and Porte left. Then Porte was dropped on the second climb, leaving Froome solo. However, for most of the rest of the stage, Froome was able to answer and attack that his rivals threw at him.

The last climb of the day was where the action took place. Just under 5 km from the top, Dan Martin attacked and Jakob Fuglsang bridged to him. They hit the summit just under a minute before the Yellow Jersey. And then it was a descent to the finish line where Martin and Fuglsang battled it out for the finish. Martin took the last turn better than his rival, and pulled away with the win!

Froome was not to be beat though, he crossed the line 20" behind Martin, allowing him to stay in Yellow. Porte, however, was not so lucky; he lost over 18' on the Yellow Jersey.

Picture made by @aslanscubs

Although no panda showed up this time to motivate Dan Martin, it wasn't for lack of trying. Even Jonathan Vaughters, manager of Garmin-Sharp, asked for some panda help via Twitter:

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about with Dan Martin and a panda then check this out!

2013 Tour de France Stage 8

This is late because I admit that I had no motivation last night. I'm going to warn you now that I may not do every stage recaps. I used to force myself to write and then it wasn't fun. I don't want this to feel like a job, so I will post when I can.

Stage 8:

This stage offered the first real taste of the mountains. This year the peloton is hitting the Pyrenees first with Ax 3 Domaines as a summit finish, not to mention the HC climb that came just before the last category 1 climb. I knew the sprinters would be distanced, and I hoped they could make the time cut. I didn't want another Ted King situation on the UCI's already bloody hands.

Just as the peloton left the neutral zone, Johnny Hoogerland attacked. I know his crash was two years ago, but it still makes me smile everytime I see his name in a break. He was then join by Jean-Marc Marino, Christophe Riblon, and Rudy Molard. They hit their max time of 9', taking the top four spots on the intermediate sprint, before being reeled back in by the peloton. Greipel lead the peloton over the sprint line, ahead of Sagan and Cavendish. By the time the base of the HC climb hit, the four riders were only down to 1'.

Hoogerland tried to attack the break, but it didn't work, as the peloton was closing in. Then Riblon attacked,  Marino and Hoogerland countered, but to no avail. Riblon went solo.

Robert Gesink attacked the peloton and Thomas Voeckler tried to bridge to him. The back of the peloton fell apart as the pace increased. Damiano Cunego was dropped with the sprinters, as was Daryl Impey, the Yellow Jersey. I have to give Impey credit for trying to hold on for as long as he could, but he started slowing down.

Nairo Quintana attacked next, passed Voeckler, and bridged to Gesink. He passed Gesink before passing Riblon! However, with only 34km left of the stage, the chase was on! Thirty riders, CG contendors, climbers, and teammates to help, began chasing Quintana. All wanting the Yellow Jersey on their shoulders, or for their team. Included in this chase were some big names: Christopher Froome, Richie Porte, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Jakob Fuglsang, Dan Martin, Andrew Talansky, Joaquim Rodriguez, Pierre Rolland, and Alejandro Valverde. Missing however was Tejay van Garderen, who was dropped. This surprised me since he was the White Jersey winner last year, and overall had a much better 2012 Tour de France than team leader Evans.

At the top of the climb, Riblon was 27" behind Quintana, and the chase group was at 55". Rolland attacked out of the chase group, wanting extra KOM points. His effort paid off, as he earned back the Polka-Dot Jersey for the time being, but we'd have to see how the final climb would play out. Rolland finally caught Quintana at the very end of the descent, but the chasers were only 22" behind as the category 1 climb started right away.

After battling the HC climb first, Evans, Schleck, D. Martin, Talansky, Fuglsang, Rodriguez and some others were dropped through the descent and the beginning of this next climb, leaving only 10 riders chasing Quintana.

Then more began to fall, leaving only the big names: Froome, Valverde, Contador, Porte, and Kreuzinger. And even they began to shake. It was only Froome and Porte left when Quintana was caught, and Froome attacked solo with about 4km left. The big names who had given up chase were being distanced quite well by Froome, while some, like Evans, was being passed over and over again by other riders.

Froome took the stage with a 51" lead over teammate Porte, and in doing so, earned the Yellow Jersey and tied with Rolland for the KOM jersey. Although he didn't win the stage, Quintana still walked away with the White Jersey.

If this is a hint to what the next two weeks will be like, it looks like Sky might have another 1-2 victory this year.

Even with Andy Schleck on the team, I was surprised that Haimar Zubeldia is actually the highest placed RadioShack Leopard trek rider, broken hand and all.

And, if memory serves me correctly, through 8 stages, we have had 8 separate stage winners.

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 Stage 7, 7/07/12

July 7, Stage 7: Tomblaine - La Planche des Belles Filles 199km

Froome leads double Sky success on La Planche des Belles Filles

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-7/results)

In shades of the 2011 Vuelta a España, Christopher Froome  led a doubly successful stage for Team Sky on the first mountaintop finish of the 2012 Tour de France. He was the only one who could match and top Cadel Evans (BMC) in the brutal final 100 meters of the climb up La Planche des Belles Filles in the seventh stage. Evans was second, with Sky's Bradley Wiggins third.

Fabian Cancellara fought long and hard but had to drop back on the climb. Wiggins thus moved into the overall lead. Evans is now second at 10 seconds, with Vincenzo Nibali third at 16 seconds, as the top ten was tossed around.

“It wasn't the plan to go for the stage, it was just keeping Brad up there,” said an overjoyed Froome. “But we came to see the climb previously and I knew what the finish was like. I thought, 'I'm there, I've got the legs, why not give a kick and see what happens?' I gave it a nudge and couldn't believe when Cadel didn't follow my wheel."

The end result was the icing on the cake of a dominant performance by Team Sky, who drove the pace and whittled down the field on the newest climb in the Tour. They dropped several big names along the way, due to either crash-related injuries, mechanicals or simply an inability to stay with the high speed set mainly by Edvald Boasson Hagen, Michael Rogers and finally Richie Porte.

In the end, Froome and Wiggins led the high-powered group with Evans and Nibali into the final kilometer. The Froome-Wiggins combination was a familiar one from the 2011 Vuelta a Espana, and once again Froome showed his superior climbing abilities. Evans was the first to jump from the group as the gradient eased, and only Froome could go with him. As the road kicked up again, Froome passed the Australian to claim his first Tour de France stage victory.

“I was expecting someone to surge on that flat bit, and Cadel came through. I jumped onto his wheel. I could see him slowly hurting as the climb got steeper. that was fantastic for us. Having Bradley right there 2 seconds behind, We couldn't ask for more. It puts the team in a fantastic position going forward.

“I'm speechless. That was a dream come true. I never thought of winning a stage here. I'm chuffed to bits.”

While the main battle played out between Evans and Froome for the stage win, Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramae had minor victories of their own, becoming the only other riders to hang onto the front of the race. The Cofidis rider moved into the white jersey of best young rider after Tejay Van Garderen was dropped early in the climb, while Nibali moved into third overall, now 16 seconds behind Wiggins.

With his stage win, Froome also displaced Michael Morkov as best climber, while Peter Sagan padded his lead in the points classification in the intermediate sprint.

A reduced field

There were 12 fewer riders at the start of the seventh stage, four of them having abandoned during Friday's stage. All eight DNF's today were victims of the many crashes in the sixth stage, including Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal. They were soon enough joined by Anthony Delaplace of Saur-Sojasun.

About 20 km into the stage, an escape group formed and got away: Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), and Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge). The gap reached a maximum of about six minutes before settling in at around five and a half minutes.

The only excitement in the first half of the stage came at the intermediate sprint. Orica-GreenEdge looked to determined to take the remaining points for Matt Goss, but the team seemed to have started its jump far too early. In the end, Peter Sagan of Liquigas sailed on by the Australian to add to his lead.

The first two climbs of the day – the Col de Grosse Pierre and the Col du Mont de Fourche (both category three) - did nothing at all. The seven leaders rolled right over them, although on the approach to the latter, Sanchez complained about the fans running alongside.

The gap finally started coming down for good with about 40 km – and the final category one climb – to go. As the road went up and the gap went down, more and more sprinters and injured riders fell back.

The Planche de Belles Filles was an unknown factor, as it was making its Tour debut. The 5.9km closing climb featured an average gradient of 8.5 percent, with sections up to 13 percent, and the final 100 meters at 14 percent.

Garmin was suffering the loss of three riders, with others having dropped back, but those remaining riders spent much time at the front of the field. They were finally replaced by Bosson Hagen, who led the capture of Gautier, the first rider to fall out of the lead group.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) suffered a mechanical with about 11km to go, and had to race hard to try and catch the field again. Adam Hansen was there to help him, but it was a long haul. Alejandro Valverde punctured shortly thereafter, so another top rider had dropped out of the main field.

Boasson Hagen put up such a speed that the field split. And only moments after starting the final climb, the lead group was caught. But the brutal pace and the new climb did their work, as more and more riders suffered, including Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) ad Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

With five km still to climb, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) had to bid farewell to the lead group, the overall lead and his yellow jersey. Only a small group went into the final four km – but neither Fränk Schleck nor Andreas Klöden was among them.

In there, though were Wiggins, Evans, Nibali, Boasson Hagen, Froome, Richie Porte, Rein Taramaae and Denis Menchov.

Froome, who proved himself in last year's Vuelta a Espana, took over from Boasson Hagen and pulled the increasingly smaller group up the final climb. Even Menchov fell back with less than two km to go.

Froome, Wiggins, Evans, Nibali and Taaramae went together unter the flamme rouge. Evans moved into the lead with 400 m to go and the sprint started. Taaramae was dropped it was Froome who made his move on the 14% gradient to take the win, with Evans taking second and Wiggins third.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	4:58:35
2	Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team	0:00:02
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
4	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:07
5	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne	0:00:19
6	Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:44
7	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	0:00:46
8	Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
9	Denis Menchov (Rus) Katusha Team	0:00:50
10	Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:56

Favorite Pictures of the Day:

Sagan doing a wheelie as he crosses the finish line

L. Sanchez awarded Most Agressive Rider...after punching a spectator who got too close. :)

Predicting the TdF & 2012 Tour de Suisse Stage 1

Here is some non-RadioShack Nissan Trek news.

The Critérium du Dauphiné may be foreshadowing the Tour de France. Especially the showdown between Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans:

Evans and Wiggins in dress rehearsal for Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-and-wiggins-in-dress-rehearsal-for-tour-de-france)

The Tour de France may be the big summer blockbuster of the cycling season, but the Critérium du Dauphiné has provided an enticing teaser trailer to date, as leading men Cadel Evans (BMC) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky) have strived to deliver all the killer lines during the week thus far.

Against the watch, Wiggins has been clearly superior and delivered a knockdown if not quite a knockout blow in the long time trial to Bourg-en-Bresse on Thursday afternoon. On the open road, however, it is Evans who has been more inclined to throw fortune to the wind, first powering clear to victory on the run-in to Saint-Vallier on Monday and then attempting to repeat the feat on the treacherous descent of the Col du Grand Colombier on stage 5 on Friday.

In an off-the-cuff move, Evans slipped clear in a solid group that included teammates George Hincapie and Tejay van Garderen, as well as Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), and it took a whole-hearted chase from Wiggins and Sky to bring them back.

"It was Europcar who put a little bit of pressure on the descent as I think they were familiar with it," Evans said. "There were gaps in the peloton and the opportunity presented itself to us. It was a long way to the finish and a long shot but sometimes we have to take those opportunities when they come our way and see what we can do with them."

With Richie Porte in particular putting in a lengthy stint on the front of the peloton, the Evans group was never able to able to stretch its gap much beyond 30 seconds, but while the bomb was quickly defused, the tension lingered a little longer.

Indeed, once the peloton came back within sight of Evans and company, it was Wiggins himself who closed the gap, bridging across alone with a move that spoke volumes about his desire to implicitly but unmistakably remind his rival of his Tour aspirations.

"The team did incredible work afterwards to bring them back and when we had them in sight, I finished the job myself to take some pressure off my teammates," Wiggins said by way of explanation.

The Englishman has looked impregnable throughout this Dauphiné, with Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) among those estimating that Wiggins simply cannot be beaten this week. "I don't think Evans is going to drop Wiggins tomorrow," Schleck said. "I don't think there's anyone who can beat Wiggins here given the way that he's riding."

That said, Wiggins admitted that he and his teammates had been caught napping when Evans swooped over the top of the Grand Colombier. Conditions were treacherous on the greasy and recently patched-up roads on the way down, and they initially approached the descent with a degree of caution.

"We did what we had to do to defend the jersey," Wiggins said. "Approaching the summit of the Grand Colombier we were warned that the descent was dangerous, but some riders forced it and there were breaks in the peloton. Cadel and three of his guys managed to get into that group, and it was a bit of an error on our part."

As Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) pointed out at the finish, however, the road surface was far more amenable near the base of the descent, and Sky and Wiggins were able to make their strength count once again. "We went away on the top of the descent where the roads were wet and then they brought us back when they had started to dry up," he said.

Ultimately, Wiggins and Evans rolled in side by side in the main peloton, although the Australian did get some reward for his endeavour. With Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) distanced on the Grand Colombier, he now moves up into fourth place overall.

"In the end, it was reasonably successful because I think it's moved me up one place on GC," Evans said. "It certainly wasn't a race-winning move, but it was a possibility to help me at least get out on the podium."

Overall, Evans remains 1:44 behind Wiggins ahead of Saturday's queen stage over the Col de Joux Plane into Morzine. Such a gap may prove insurmountable in one day, but there is plenty of scope for some more jostling ahead of the main feature in July.

June 9, Stage 1: Lugano (ITT) 7.3km

Sagan wins stage 1 at Tour de Suisse

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-suisse-2012/stage-1/results)

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) flew along the 7.3km time trial course in the opening stage of the Tour de Suisse, taking on every risk on his way to victory and the first leader's jersey of the race, with a time of 9:43. He beat none other than homeland favourite Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan), by four seconds, with Sagan's teammate Moreno Moser third at seven seconds.

The 7.3km city course through Lugano may well have looked familiar, as it was the identical course from last year. Cancellara had won here the last two years, but was unable to repeat that today.

Martin Elmiger of AG2R was the first rider to break the 10 minute mark, but his time was soon broken by Moreno Moser of Liguigas-Cannondale, who came in at 9:50.

Fränk Schleck was trying to make things good again in Switzerland after dropping out of the Giro d'Italia, and put in a decent time of 10:19. Tom Danielson of Garmin-Barracuda came in only three seconds faster.

Cancellara showed that he is perhaps now finally fully recovered from the shattered collarbone he suffered in the Tour of Flanders. He was surprisingly far down at the first intermediate time check, but made up enormous amounts of time on the final half of the course, coming in three seconds faster than Moser.

His time atop the leader board didn't last long, though, as Sagan blitzed the course. He set a new best time at the intermediate time check, and took every chance on the last half with its tricky descent. It paid off, as he jetted across the line four seconds faster than Cancellara.

Results

1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:09:43
2	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:04
3	Moreno Moser (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:07
4	Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale	0:00:11
5	Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Pro Team Astana	0:00:15
6	Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team	0:00:17
7	Dario Cataldo (Ita) Omega Pharma - QuickStep	0:00:18
8	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Pro Team Astana	0:00:19
9	Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team	0:00:20
10	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan	0:00:22



Boonen's 100th Win

Congrats to Tom Boonen on 100th career win!!!

100th career win for Boonen at Paris-Nice

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/100th-career-win-for-boonen-at-paris-nice)

The second stage of Paris-Nice yielded several triumphs for the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team: not only was it Tom Boonen's 100th career victory, excluding criteriums and team time trials, but also the first WorldTour win for the revamped Belgian squad. In addition, American Levi Leipheimer is now poised for a top result overall, sitting just six seconds behind race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling).

Boonen's other victories include a world road race title from 2005, three wins in Paris-Nice, two in Tour of Flanders, two in Gent-Wevelgem, six stages of the Tour de France and one green jersey (2007) and two stages of the Vuelta a España.

"I'm really not interested in stats. But on the other hand I'm happy," Boonen said in a team press release. "Not a lot of riders can reach this goal. The race was also important for the GC. Levi and Sylvain [Chavanel] made a good step ahead and we are really motivated for the next stages."

The team had to go on the defensive when the peloton split in the crosswinds at the feed zone just halfway through the stage, and worked to successfully regain the front of the race as other contenders like Andy Schleck (Radioshack-Nissan), Richie Porte (Sky) and Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) all missed the split. They then had the numbers in the front group, and drove the pace to the finish, putting 2:29 into the next group on the road.

"To be honest we had to suffer to enter in the breakaway. We were a little bit behind because of a roundabout," Boonen said. "I had to pass two groups before entering in the first group. Then the race was really hard. Everybody was interested in riding and taking some time from the GC. It was also cold and windy and in the last kilometers it began raining. I really couldn't feel my hands."

The only downside for the team was the absence of defending Paris-Nice champion Tony Martin from the lead group, but directeur sportif Brian Holm said it won't change the team's tactics.

"It's still a bit of the same," Holm said. "It will be a bit more hilly tomorrow at the finish, but Tom is still pretty good there. Chavanel will be close in the GC without an accident or crash, and Leipheimer is looking pretty confident also. We are a strong team, everybody knows that."

Paris-Nice, Stage 1

March 4, Stage 1: Dampierre-en-Yvelines - Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse 9.4km

Paris-Nice: Gustav Erik Larsson takes opening stage

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2012/stage-1/results)

Gustav Erik Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling) won the opening stage of the 2012 Paris-Nice with a time of 11:19 in the 9.4km time trial from Dampierre-en-Yvelines to Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse.

The Swedish national time trial champion beat Sky’s Bradley Wiggins by one second with Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finishing four seconds back. World time trial champion and last year’s winner of Paris-Nice, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), lacked his usual cutting edge and finished in 28th place, 25 seconds down on Larsson.

"Of course I am very happy with the win," said Larrson. "It was a great course and the season started well for me. A great bonus when winning a prologue are all the jerseys and the lead in the general classification. I will work hard to defend that lead."

Vacansoleil-DCM directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren was pleased with Larrson's performance, noting that for the second straight year his team has won the opening stage at Paris-Nice. "I am really happy with this win after a lot of second places in the early season. Due to the weather we divided our time trial specialists over the schedule and that worked out fine. Last year it was De Gendt with his first win for his new team and now Larsson rewards the confidence of the team with a great win."

Alexandre Geniez (Project 1t4i) was the first rider out of the start house, kicking off the 70th edition of Paris-Nice. But the first significant time was posted by Thomas De Gendt, who rocketed up the 3rd category climb of the Côte des Dix-sept Tournants. The Belgian’s time was so impressive on the climb that he will wear the king of the mountains jersey on stage 2.

The likes of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Ivan Basso (Liquigas Cannondale) all came through the finish line without disturbing the leading names but it was Larrson who eventually dislodged De Gendt from the leaderboard, wit the Belgian falling to fifth by the end of the stage.

Wiggins, Martin and the evergreen Andreas Kloden were yet to start but just as all three began their march to the start house the heavens began to open. It was far from torrential but Richie Porte (Team Sky) and Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) were the last significant challengers to make it home before the road conditions were effected.

Wiggins started his effort conservatively, reaching the climb five seconds down on De Gendt but one second ahead of Larsson, and five ahead of Tony Martin.

The Brit pulled even further ahead of Martin in the second half of the undulating course, as the German faded on the slick roads.

But Larrson, the silver medal in the Worlds TT in 2009, had done enough. A combination of dry roads and fine riding, enough to secure his first win for his new team.

Full Results

1	Gustav Larsson (Swe) Vacansoleil-DCM	0:11:19
2	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:01
3	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Omega Pharma-Quick Step	0:00:04
4	Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:09
5	Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM	0:00:12
6	Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
7	Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne	0:00:13
8	Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) RadioShack-Nissan
9	Rémi Pauriol (Fra) FDJ-Bigmat	0:00:15
10	Jerome Coppel (Fra) Saur-Sojasun



Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships 2012

Congrats to new Australia Champion Simon Gerrans:

January 8, Elite men's road race: Buninyong 163.2km

Gerrans crowned Australian Road Champion in last lap thriller at Buninyong

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/mars-cycling-australia-road-national-championships-2012/elite-mens-road-race/results)

Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) as one of Australia's best cyclists over the last decade has been rewarded for his exploits, winning Sunday's Australian Road National Championship from Matthew Lloyd (Lampre-ISD) and Richie Porte (Sky).

"This is one of my proudest moments in cycling," Gerrans said having completed the 163.2 kilometre race in a time of 4:07:38.

For Gerrans, who won the national under 23 title in 2002 and was the bronze medallist in the 2011 edition of the championships, today's result was just reward given the 31-year-old also has the honour of being the only Australian to have won a stage in all of the Grand Tours.

"This is well and truly up there," the Victorian explained when asked where the win sat in comparison to some of his grand achievements. "It's such a proud moment to be Australian Champion and I'm just going to wear this jersey with pride for the next 12 months."

Lloyd, silver medallist on the day and a former winner of the title, was most appreciative of the result.
"I was mega-stoked for Simon and Richie because it's a race that's very special and that jersey, once you've got it you can never take it away," he explained. "It's beautiful to see."

The win marked the first for his new team with the road race an important goal for the UCI WorldTour neophytes as they embark on the 2012 season – the pressure always on GreenEdge to ensure one of their key men would wear the green and gold bands at the biggest races in Europe.

With 16 men lining up for the team at Buninyong, GreenEdge definitely had an advantage in numbers where their opponents did not but Gerrans admitted that with their head start came extra pressure "to try and win the race and really utilise the guys that we had."

Bronze medallist Porte paid compliments to GreenEdge, but also spoke of the hard work by new teammates at Sky, Mathew Hayman, Michael Rogers and Chris Sutton who were all still in the mix on the final lap.

"We had quality, not quantity," Porte explained. "Mathew Hayman just kept coming back and Chris Sutton was probably the fastest guy at the finish and then Mick as well. It's such a good team but hats off to GreenEdge. They used their numbers well and it's Simon who deserves it the most... In all respects."

A closed race to foreign riders in 2012, Gerrans said that the decision taken by race organiser John Craven had been vindicated by the standard of racing on show, but did not deny that it helped the chances of GreenEdge.

"It worked in our favour at GreenEdge because we've got so many Aussies," he admitted. "If foreigners were allowed to race it might have boosted the teams like Sky and Rabobank.

"I think we've got a worthy enough field to have a world class national championships with just Australians so there's no need for foreigners in the race anymore."

In arguably the best racing ever witnessed at the national championships, the race did not have a clear winner until the last of the gruelling 16 laps of the 10.1 kilometre Buninyong course, which had seen the field decimated from the opening circuit where GreenEdge immediately went on the attack through defending champion Jack Bobridge and Luke Durbridge.

For some time, it appeared as though Gerrans' teammate Cameron Meyer would be the man for the win with the 23-year-old producing a mammoth solo effort with around 100 kilometres of racing already completed, staying away until appearing to bonk inside the final three laps. Gerrans said that the race became "an even playing field" at that point.

"We had the same amount of guys in the front as a lot of other teams and it was pretty much every team for themselves and we lost our advantage in numbers," he explained. "It was a lot of hard work to win the race."

At the end of 15 laps, 23 riders were still in contention for the title and Gerrans, who had gone into the race as the GreenEdge's protected man, was the first man to launch an attack on the start of the climb with Lloyd following his wheel. Porte decided that he too should make a run for the finish soon after, and time trialled across the gap to eventually reach the lead pair with a kilometre to go.

Seeing the Sky kit in the distance, Gerrans actually thought it was Porte's teammate who was also in the chase group, Chris Sutton coming after he and Lloyd.

"I was doing a lot of looking over my shoulder and I thought that CJ was doing a heck of a strong ride but it turns out it was a time trialist in Richie," said Gerrans.

Both Lloyd and Porte joked post-race about the ‘sprint' for the minor placings, while Gerrans was always confident in victory given his opponents.

"You will never see me sprint faster in my life," laughed Lloyd.

How it unfolded

An all-Australian field rolled out for the first time in Buninyong for the elite men’s road race, and with the presence of GreenEdge, the countries’ first top tier team, it was always going to be an historic day.

The riders seemed to realise this as well, because almost seconds after start gun went, ably done by a colonial musketman, a group of three riders jumped off the front of the bunch.

They were Luke Durbridge, Jack Bobridge (both GreenEdge) and Nathan Haas (Garmin-Cervelo).

Their gap hovered over the 30-second mark, and for nearly two laps they appeared to be starting something that wouldn’t come back. Two junior would time trial champions and one of the hottest prospects in Australian cycling at the moment in Haas.

But with the chase behind in earnest, the peloton seemed unhappy with the trio ahead, and by the start of lap 3 things were once more together.

The next move was instigated by none other than Stuart O’Grady. The 2003 national champion pulled away mid way through the third lap with his former Leopard teammate Will Clarke (Champion System).

The two worked well together before being joined by Pat Shaw (Genesys) to form another strong group of three. Shaw, a native of Ballarat, was super motivated to make a mark and he did not disappoint.

70 kilometres in and the peloton had well and truly shattered behind. The frenetic pace meant that three chase groups of around 20 riders followed the lead trio who still held a small margin at the front.

Shortly after the leaders of Shaw, O’Grady, and Clarke were joined by several other riders including Cameron Meyer, Durbridge, Bernard Sulzberger, Wes Sulzberger, Richie Porte, Jai Crawford, Heinrich Haussler, Simon Gerrans and many more.

Again GreenEdge was well represented, and seemed content to tap out the tempo at the front. Leigh Howard was prevalent, as was Durbridge with both being used as the team quite obviously as sacrificial lambs for the more favoured riders on the team.

One of the pre-race favourites Matt Goss wasn’t in the selection ahead, and after too-and-froing in the chase decided to call it quits.

As the laps ticked down there were attacks after attacks. The break seemed reluctant to form, but finally one did including Clarke and Shaw again, Matt Wilson, Wes Sulzberger, Bernard Sulzberger, Durbridge, Cameron Meyer, and Mark Renshaw – who was climbing out of his skin.

This move looked to be the winning one. Durbridge, W. Sulzberger and Wilson went to the front and hammered the group, while Meyer sat on looking very ominous. Their advantage never ballooned out however.

Sensing that the time was right to try something different, Cameron Meyer and Matt Wilson jumped away on the grippier part of the climb, and quickly built an advantage of a minute to the chase.

Behind things were getting interesting as well with a larger chase – made from the remainder of the peloton forming more than 30 riders, bearing down on the leaders.

Wilson disappeared from the front when Meyer’s pace was too much, leaving the time trial champion to do just that.

Meyer’s gap went to over two minutes. But he was facing a long road to the finish if he was to win. He looked smooth though, and realizing the danger Haussler decided to try and cross the gap alone.

Getting a free tow from Haussler was Durbridge who seemed to be everywhere, and on a super day.

Disaster struck for Meyer just when he seemed like he was going to extend his advantage to something insurmountable. Put it down to youthful exuberance, but he failed to eat and bonked big time with around 35 kilometres to go.

Painfully for Haussler, the same lap he caught Meyer, the peloton caught him, and things were once again all together.

O’Grady, who was clearly on a flyer of a day, went almost as soon as the catch happened. This time it was Mathew Hayman who linked up with him. The duo worked well together, but again the move was brought back.

It was into the final 18 kilometres now, and for the remaining climbers that signaled the time to launch an all-out assault.

Matthew Lloyd appeared for the first time in the race when he launced a big move, and he was quickly followed by Simon Gerrans, and Richie Porte.

Chris Sutton was surprising plenty of people as he bridged, and Bernard Sulzberger joined them to make a group of five.

As the final lap loomed, things came back together once more, and just as they did Lloyd, Gerrans and Porte went again. This time it was the big one and with the small peloton cramping like there was tomorrow, the three disappeared.

On the false flat Lloyd went again with Gerrans leaving Porte just behind. The Sky rider was forced to go into full time trial mode to get back in contact, which he did and with two to go they were a group of three guaranteed a medal, but still fighting for the one that mattered.

It came down to a sprint, and unsurprisingly; it was Gerrans who triumphed over his compatriots, by far the fastest finisher of the three. It was his first national title, and a great end to the weekend for his new team GreenEdge, who picked up the women’s title as well yesterday.

Results

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Simon Gerrans (Vic)	4:07:38
2	Matthew Lloyd (Vic)	0:00:02
3	Richie Porte (Tas)
4	Adam Hansen (QLD)	0:01:05
5	William Clarke (Tas)	0:01:09
6	Steele Von Hoff (Vic)	0:01:11
7	Christopher Sutton (NSW)
8	Baden Cooke (Vic)
9	Anthony Giacoppo (WA)
10	Bernard Sulzberger (Tas)

Evans' Twitter Praise

In this modern age, fellow althletes and countrymen can congratulate you not only to your face, but also publicly on social networking sites such as Twitter, as was the case after Cadel Evans won the 2011 Tour de France:

Australian professional cycling community praise Cadel Evans

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/australian-professional-cycling-community-praise-cadel-evans)

After three weeks of racing, Cadel Evans did what no Australian cyclist has done before and won the Tour de France. A tight-knit Australian cycling community were in disbelief, full of emotion and full of praise for his Tour winning performance. Yesterday we put together the amazing response of the broadcast and print press to Evans' victory.

Today, Cyclingnews has put together the tweets of a number of Australian professionals commenting on Evans’ stellar achievement.

Simon Gerrans, @simongerrans
"I'm super geed & proud of Cadel. Years of hard work and commitment are paying off."

Jack Bobridge, @JackBobridge
"Cadel you are my hero @CadelOfficial so happy for you congrats"

Wes Sulzberger, @Wes_Suzlberger
"AWESOME @CadelOfficial Wins the #TDF Done Australia proud!!!"

Matt Goss, @mattgoss1986
"Congrats to @CadelOfficial first aussie TDF winner!!! Incredible day for the sport in Australia.
"We may have climbed 5/8th of Everest on the road the other day but @CadelOfficial just stuck the aussie flag at the summit!!"

Stuart O’Grady, @StueyOG
"Congrats to cadel for making history. I'm a proud aussie and a proud leopard! The best man won. Congrats to all @ BMC."

Richie Porte, @richie_porte
"Game, set and match! First Aussie GT winner… Congrats Cadel."

Mark Renshaw, @Mark_Renshaw
"Great ride by @CadelOfficial hats off to the BMC boys. Looked after him all tour. Congrats."

Cameron Meyer, @cammeyercyclist
"History in the making today. What a ride and what a champion. You legend @CadelOfficial. Australia can be very proud."

Robbie McEwen, @mcewenrobbie
"Congratulations Cadel. Incredible 3 wks of riding."
Evans changed history in 3 ways by his win: 1) he was the 1st Australian to win the Tour de France, 2) he was the 1st non-European or American to win, 3) he was the old rider since WWII to win.

Congratulations again Cadel! You deserved this win!!!

2011 Tour de France, Stage 20

Today's stage is a 42.5km individual time trial at Grenoble. After 3 weeks of having  teammates with  to help; to help drag up mountains, and to talk through pain, the riders are now on thier own. Your teammates brought you this far, now you have to show everyone how strong you are!

Riders start 2 minutes apart, except for the top 20, who start 3 minutes apart. Before the top 20 started, Tony Martin had the best time with 55'33", and he was able to keep the best time for the stage win!

This stage brought the question, would Evans be able to take back the time from the Schlecks? From the way Evans started compared to A. Schleck, the answer was clear:

There's just something more aerodynamic from Evans's ride, which was why he was able to pull into 1st place overall, thus earning him the Yellow Jersey on the ride into Paris tomorrow. A. Schleck would be in 2nd place for the 3rd year in a row.

Stage 20 Results:
1.Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 55:33
2.Cadel Evans (BMC) 55:40
3.Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard 56:39
4.Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DC) 57:02
5.Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 57:03
6.Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) 57:06
7.Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 57:10
8.Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) 57:15
9.Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) 57:36
10.Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) 57:36

17. Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) 58:11
19. Fränk Schleck (Leopard Trek) 58:14