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 17, 7/19/12

I'm back from vacation and slacking...

Sorry for not keeping up with the blog. I'm not going to post all the stages I missed, but i will try to post from here on out:

July 19, Stage 17: Bagnères-de-Luchon - Peyragudes 143.5km

Valverde lays claim to final mountain stage

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-france/stage-17/results)

Alejandro Valverde salvaged the 2012 Tour de France for himself and his Movistar squad as the Spaniard soloed to victory on stage 17, the final day in the high mountains. Valverde, part of the day's early escape, rode the final 35km of the Pyrenean stage from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Peyragudes alone, having dispatched of his breakaway companions for good on the hors categorie-rated ascent of the Port de Bales.

Sky's Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome once again asserted their dominance, dropping their general classification rivals on the mountain finish to Peyragudes to cross the line together just 19 seconds in arrears of Valverde. In the final kilometre, as the Sky duo had dropped the remains of a very select group formed on the climb to the finish, it appeared that Froome had the legs to bridge to Valverde, but Wiggins' super domestique backed off the throttle to pace Wiggins to the finish line.

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-BigMat) crossed the finish for fourth three seconds later while Pierre Rolland (Europcar) pipped Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) for fifth at 26 seconds.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) arrived alone in seventh place, 18 seconds behind the Sky duo of Froome and Wiggins, on a stage which must have proved bitterly disappointing for the Sicilian. Starting the day third on general classification behind the Sky pair, Nibali had his team on the front of the peloton for most of the stage in an attempt to crack Wiggins and Sky. In the stage finale, however, the Sicilian did not have the legs to even launch an attack on the climb to Peyragudes as he found himself in the final selection of Wiggins, Froome, Pinot, Rolland, Van den Broeck, Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Chris Horner (RadioShack-Nissan).

Wiggins remains first on general classification, continuing to lead his teammate Froome by 2:05. Nibali keeps his third place position, but ceded some time on the final day in the mountains to trail Wiggins by 2:41. Jurgen Van den Broeck maintains his fourth place position overall, at 5:53, while BMC teammates Tejay van Garderen and Cadel Evans each move up a position to fifth and sixth respectively as Haimar Zubeldia(RadioShack-Nissan) cracked in the stage's endgame and dropped from fifth to eighth at 10:11.

Last chance for the climbers

At just 143.5km in length, the shortest and last stage in the Tour's high mountains provided a tantalizing medium for several Tour sub-plots to perhaps find resolution. With a 53.5km individual time trial on Saturday, Nibali's final chance to put time into Wiggins and Froome, both more talented against the clock, would be today.

The mountains classification was still very much up for grabs between Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), ensconced in polka dots after sweeping all four KOMs en route to stage victory yesterday, and Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), who lost the jersey the previous day but trailed the Frenchman by just four points, 107 to 103. As a maximum of 65 points were up for grabs on the day's five classified climbs, the polka dot jersey could still change hands.

And finally, only eight different teams had scored stage wins thus far in the Tour, and many squads with talented climbers yet to leave their mark on this year's La Grande Boucle were itching for a chance to deliver a stage victory on the last day of climbing.

Attacks were launched from the gun as the peloton sped out of Bagnères-de-Luchon, but nothing stuck until the peloton arrived at the lower slopes of the day's first ascent, the category 1 Col de Menté.

A fairly large group went out on the attack with riders such as Denis Menchov (Katusha), Movistar's Juan Jose Cobo and Alejandro Valverde, Europcar's Pierre Rolland and Thomas Voeckler, Chris Horner
(RadioShack-Nissan) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) prominent in the mix on the mist-shrouded ascent.

The battle for the mountains classification picked up where it left off yesterday as Voeckler and Kessiakoff locked horns again. Voeckler's teammate Rolland was alone in the lead near the climb's summit, but waited for his team captain after Kessiakoff dropped Voeckler. With Rolland's help, Voeckler reached Kessiakoff in time to take maximum points atop the Menté, with Kessiakoff taking second.

On a wet and dangerous descent, conditions almost as treacherous as those which spelled Luis Ocana's doom in the 1971 Tour de France, Vincenzo Nibali took advantage of his descending prowess to bridge the gap from the maillot jaune group to the break. Sky remained vigilant, however, and closed the gap to within 20 seconds, prompting Nibali to sit up and be caught while the break could once again stretch its advantage.

Seven riders emerged at the head of affairs after the descent of the Col de Menté including Voeckler, Kessiakoff, Movistar's Alejandro Valverde and Rui Costa, Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale).

Additionally, an 11-man chase group had escaped from the peloton in pursuit of the leaders. On the attack in this selection were Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM), Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Gorka Izaguirre and Jorge Azana (both Euskaltel-Euskadi), Pieter Weening (Orica GreenEdge), Ruben Plaza (Movistar), Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Simone Stortoni (Lampre-ISD) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank).

On the summit of the next climb, the category 1 Col de Ares at 55.5km, Voeckler once again edged Kessiakoff for top honours, extending his lead on the KOM standings to eight points, 122 to 114.

After another tricky descent the chase group finally made contact with the seven leaders, albeit without one member, Chris Anker Sorensen, who suffered an injury to several fingers as he tried to extract a newspaper from his front wheel at the top of the descent. Sorensen received treatment from the Tour doctor and returned to the peloton.

Liquigas-Cannondale continued to set the pace in the peloton and kept the break's lead pegged at approximately 2:30 as Voeckler once again beat Kessiakoff to the stage's next KOM, the category 3 Côte de Burs with 67.5km remaining.

Port de Bales looms

With the monster ascent of stage 17 looming, the hors categorie Port de Bales, the Euskaltel duo of Azana and Izaguirre attacked the break and were joined by Kadri on the wooded, false flat valley road leading to the base of the climb. The three Movistar riders tapped out a steady tempo for the remainder of the escapees while the Liquigas-led peloton continued to trail at 2:30.

Once the leaders began to ascend the Port de Bales whatever cohesion remaining in the group remained was shattered as the better climbers pushed the pace. At the front Izaguirre and Kadri dropped Azana while four riders emerged from the chase group: Valverde, Costa, Leipheimer and Martinez. The quartet would catch Izaguirre and Kadri with 8.5km of climbing remaining to the summit and almost immediately Costa surged ahead alone in the lead.

Five kilometres from the summit, Costa still climbed alone in the lead while the first chase group was trimmed to contain just Valverde, Martinez and Leipheimer, who at 15 seconds back had the Portuguese rider in sight. Further down the slope Voeckler was glued to Kessiakoff's wheel, the duo one minute behind Costa, while Liquigas-Cannondale's tempo had reduced the yellow jersey group to approximately 30 riders.

Soon Valverde made his move with a sharp surge that immediately distanced Martinez and Leipheimer. The Spaniard crossed the gap to his Movistar teammate Rui Costa with ease and after sharing the pace for several hundred metres Valverde's pace proved too much for Costa as well.

Once Valverde ascended through the tree line the mist enshrouding the climb disappeared as he kept a steady rhythm through the exposed switchbacks approaching the Port de Bales summit. Valverde took maximum points at the top, followed by Costa and Martinez. Kadri and Leipheimer crossed together in fourth and fifth, while Voeckler once again outsprinted Kessiakoff at a KOM for the fourth time today as the pair rode topped the hors categorie climb in sixth and seventh place respectively.

The select maillot jaune group was led over the KOM by Jurgen Van den Broeck, who accelerated in the approach to the summit, and still trailing Valverde by more than two minutes.

After another treacherous, Pyrenean descent the race had now arrived at the final kick to the finish, first ascending the Col de Peyresourde on the side they descended the previous day, followed by a turn onto the climb of the Peyragudes for the stage finish.

With Liquigas-Cannondale still setting the tempo in the maillot jaune group, one-by-one the escapees were absorbed and dropped on the Peyresourde until only Valverde remained off the front. At 10.5km to go Valverde still held a lead of 2:20, but the strain of his day's effort began to creep into his pedal stroke while behind the yellow jersey group's tempo increased significantly as attacks started to occur.

After cresting the Peyresourde and enjoying a bit of recovery on a short descent, Valverde began his climb to the finish at Peyragudes with a lead reduced to 1:15 ahead of a 14-rider group containing the general classification contenders. The maillot jaune group was led by Liquigas-Cannondale's Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, with the Sicilian still not showing any sign of aggression since his initial dig in the early portion of the stage.

Indeed it would be Lotto Belisol who would commence attacking on the final climb, as Jelle Vanendert sped up the road soon to be joined by teammate Jurgen Van den Broeck. A re-shuffling took place culminating with eight riders climbing together in pursuit of Valverde: Wiggins, Froome, Nibali, Van den Broeck, Pinot, Rolland, Horner and van Garderen.

Wiggins had a word with Froome and soon Froome upped the tempo enough to drop everyone but his teammate in the yellow jersey. Soon, however, even Wiggins couldn't handle the pace as they drove into the final kilometre, rapidly closing the gap to Valverde who was clinging to hopes of a stage win with all his might. Froome waited for his captain, however, and while they may have lost the opportunity for another Sky stage win, they crossed the finish line together 19 seconds behind the Spanish stage winner and ahead of their general classification rivals yet again. As was the case to the finish in La Toussuire, however, the question remained as to who amongst the Sky duo was indeed the strongest.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team	4:12:11
2	Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling	0:00:19
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
4	Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat	0:00:22
5	Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar	0:00:26
6	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
7	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale	0:00:37
8	Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:54
9	Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack-Nissan	0:01:02
10	Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin - Sharp	0:01:11

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. :)

A Look Back: 2011 Tour de France

With 1 week left until the 2012 Edition of the Tour de France, I wanted to make a special post:

I went through all the pictures I saved from the 2011 Tour de France, and chose one from each stage that I want to share with you. Some of them are just cool pictures, while others the tell the story. It was so nice going back and re-living last year's Tour de France. July is my favorite month, and this is why. I hope you enjoy!

(All pictures were taken from Cycling on Yahoo! Sports during the 2011 Tour de France)

Stage 1: July 2, Passage du Gois – Mont des Alouettes, Flat Stage

I love this picture because it shows how close the peloton rides. And, if you look close enough you can see some of the top riders like Andy and Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, and Thor Hushovd, as well as many more.

Stage 2: July 3, Les Essarts – Les Essarts, Team Time Trial

Everyone knows that Thor Hushovd is my favorite rider, and this is such a great shot of the God of Thunder. This was taken after his team, Garmin-Cervelo, won the team time trial.

Stage 3: July 4, Olonne-sur-Mer – Redon, Flat Stage

This wasn't my first choice for a favorite picture, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted this one. On America's Independence Day, American Tyler Farrar wins the stage and gives a sign for his best friend Wouter Weylandt, who was in a fatal crashed during the 2011 Giro d'Italia

Stage 4: July 5, Lorient – Mûr-de-Bretagne, Flat Stage



This was just a neat picture of the weather before Stage 4 began. Alexandre Vinokourov was warming up in the rain before the start.

Stage 5: July 6, Carhaix – Cap Fréhel, Flat Stage

After a nasty crash, in which Tom Boonen was caught in, his teammate Addy Engles helps him to the finish line.

Stage 6: July 7, Dinan – Lisieux, Flat Stage



Here is another weather shot. The day's breakaway, Malori, Duque, Roux, Hoogerland, and Westra, had to ride through a mix of rain and snow.

Stage 7: July 8, Le Mans – Châteauroux, Flat Stage

I had to include this picture. El Diablo goes hand-in-hand with Le Tour de France. He is here every year, and in multiple stages.

Stage 8: July 9, Aigurande – Super-Besse, Medium Mountains

American Tejay van Garderen won the King of the Mountain jersey for the stage.

Stage 9: July 10, Issoire – Saint-Flour, Medium Mountains

Johnny Hoogerland is the new KOM leader after the crash that pushed him into a barbed wire fence. He finished the stage, and lead the KOM points.

Stage 10: July 12, Aurillac – Carmaux, Flat Stage

Andre Greipel out-sprints Mark Cavendish to win the stage.

Stage 11: July 13, Blaye-les-Mines – Lavaur, Flat Stage

The riders ride through the rain during Stage 11. This hasn't been the year for nice, sunny weather.

Stage 12: July 14, Cugnaux – Luz Ardiden, Mountain Stage

Luxembourg Champion, Frank Schleck rides up a mountain during the stage.

Stage 13: July 15, Pau – Lourdes, Mountain Stage

Hushovd wins a mountain stage!!! The former sprinter now shows that he can climb as well.

Stage 14: July 16, Saint-Gaudens – Plateau de Beille, Mountain Stage

Leading the Sprint classification, Mark Cavendish is getting used to wearing the Green Jersey.

Stage 15: July 17, Limoux – Montpellier, Flat Stage

And if earning the Green Jersey wasn't enough, Cavendish won another stage.

Stage 16: July 19, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux – Gap, Medium Mountains

Hushovd wins again in the Mountains, proving why he is the World Champion!

Stage 17: July 20, Gap – Pinerolo, Mountain Stage

This is a beautiful shot of the peloton riding with the mountains next to them.

Stage 18: July 21, Pinerolo – Col du Galibier / Serre Chevalier, Mountain Stage

This was one of the best birthday presents I could have received! Although he didn't earn the Yellow Jersey from it, watching Andy Schleck win the stage on top of Col de Galibier was amazing. Okay, so I only saw it on TV, but that is almost like a front row seat.

Stage 19: July 22, Modane – L'Alpe d'Huez, Mountain Stage

The final mountain stage in the 2011 Tour de France ended on top of my favorite mountain, L'Alpe d'Huez! Pierre Rolland won the stage, and Andy Schleck took the Yellow Jersey from Thomas Voeckler.

Stage 20: July 23, Grenoble – Grenoble, Individual Time Trial



Its not a secret that I am not a fan of Cadel Evans, but we all knew the 2011 Tour de France was won by him as soon as he started his time trial on the second to last stage. His complete aerodynamic position from the beginning showed that he was the best rider this year.

Stage 21: July 24, Créteil – Paris (Champs-Élysées), Flat and Final Stage



Congratulations to the 2011 Tour de France winner, Cadel Evans! He really did earn the Yellow Jersey this year.

12 - June - 2012 - Daily News

I think I'm going to start naming my posts "<enter date> - Daily News" because recently I have been posting longer posts that cover a variety of topics. So here is June 12, 2012 - Daily News.

I know this shouldn't come as a surprise, but Peter Sagan won another stage in the Tour de Suisse! This man is on fire!!!

June 12, Stage 4: Aarberg - Trimbach/Olten 188.8km

Sagan sprints to stage 4 win in the Tour de Suisse

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-suisse-2012/stage-4/results)

Superlatives are rapidly being exhausted at the Tour de Suisse, as Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) raced to his third stage win in four days with disarming facility in the rain at Trimbach/Olten. 

After his haul of five stage victories at the Tour of California, Tuesday’s win was the Slovak’s eighth in less than a month. The rules of cycling, it seems, have been condensed to just one: the peloton races for almost 200 kilometres, and in the end, Sagan wins in the sprint.

With 6 kilometres to go here, it briefly appeared as though the 22-year-old might for once be thwarted, as escapees Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Martin Elminger (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Sky) held a 35-second lead over the reduced peloton, but a lengthy stint of pace-making from Liquigas’ Moreno Moser helped reel them in ahead of the finish.

“I have to thank Moreno for helping me so much, today the win is thanks to him,” Sagan said as he waited to mount the podium.

Once the juncture was made inside the final three kilometres, there was an ineluctable feel about the sequence of events. Only Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) and then Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack-Nissan) raged briefly against the dying of the light, but their attacks were deftly quenched by Moser.

In the final sprint, Marcus Burghardt (BMC) made a bold attempt to anticipate Sagan by opening his effort early. In vain. With 200 metres to go, Sagan lifted himself from the saddle and moved past remorselessly to take the win.

José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) dived gamely for Sagan’s rear wheel, but it eluded his grasp, ghosting away inexorably to the line. Indeed, if anything, Rojas’ move seemed mainly to upset the sprint of his fellow countryman Oscar Freire (Katusha), who could only manage 9th.

Rojas came home in second, ahead of Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), with Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) coming across the line in fourth, but nobody was ever able to threaten Sagan’s striking pre-eminence.

“No win is easy but I’m very happy,” Sagan said. “I’m very glad that I was able to take the right wheel in the sprint.”

There was no change at the head of the overall standings, even though the conditions and the undulating finale saw the peloton whittled down to just 60 before the finish. Rui Costa (Movistar) retains his 8-second lead over Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), while Roman Kreuziger (Astana) remains in third, 15 seconds back.

Attacking finale

While a number of riders attempted to slip clear after the damp, grey start in Aarberg, it was not until the 1st category climb of the Scheltenpass (81.5km) that the principal break of the day took shape, with Dario Cataldo (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mathew Hayman (Sky), Martin Kohler (BMC), Gregory Rast (RadioShack Nissan), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), Sebastien Minard (AG2R), Sergio Paulinho (Saxo Bank), Javier Megías (Team Type 1) and Brian Vandvorg (Spidertech) going clear.

Cataldo began the stage just 1:15 off Rui Costa’s (Movistar) overall lead, which meant that the escapees were never granted much leeway by the peloton behind. By the time the race reached the finishing circuit at Trimbach/Olten with 40km to go, their lead was just 2 minutes, and their unity was shattered on the 3rd category Unter Hauenstein.

A flurry of attacking did little other than see their gap to the bunch dwindle to just 25 seconds and on the way down the other side, Nordhaug clipped off the head of the peloton and set off in lone pursuit. By the base of the descent, he was alone in front, while Cataldo, the only survivor of the early leaders, had been joined by Elminger and Van Avermaet.

Atop the final climb of the Salhöhe with 15km to race, Nordhaug had 30 seconds on the reduced peloton, while Van Avermaet and Elminger had shed themselves of Cataldo and were grimly closing the gap in driving rain. In spite of the diminished numbers behind, the overall contenders remained tentative as Albasini, Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), Roman Kreuziger (Astana) and overall leader Rui Costa (Movistar) closely watched one another on the climb.
Movistar’s lack of numbers in the group meant that they were unwilling to take up the chase on the run-in, a stalemate which initially allowed the three leaders (who finally came together with 7 kilometres to go) to stretch out their lead. But when Katusha, Garmin-Barracuda and, particularly, Liquigas’ Moser began to commit themselves, the picture changed dramatically and the stage swung inevitabily back into Sagan’s orbit.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale	4:36:55
2	Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
3	Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica GreenEdge Cycling Team
4	Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda
5	Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Pro Team Astana
6	Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha Team
7	Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
8	Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
9	Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Katusha Team
10	Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team

After some riders had a less than stellar performance at the Criterium du Dauphine, they are now worrying about their Tour de France chances:

Dan Martin happy to make it through Critérium du Dauphiné

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dan-martin-happy-to-make-it-through-criterium-du-dauphine)

In spite of crashing heavily on the opening road stage, Dan Martin (Garmin-Barracuda) managed to complete the Critérium du Dauphiné and keep his hopes of making his Tour de France debut intact.

The Irishman fell forcefully on his right side, injuring his shoulder and cracking his helmet in two in the process, but fortunately sustained no broken bones in the incident. Although his restricted movement would hinder his ability to eat on the bike for much of the week, Martin battled through to Châtel and declared himself pleased with his condition as he emerged from the race.

“I’m really proud to have finished the race now because it’s been a really tough week,” Martin told Cyclingnews in Morzine ahead of Sunday’s final stage. “The physios and the chiropractor have been great and the guys have been incredible at keeping the morale up.

“I just count myself pretty lucky because I was pretty sure that I’d broken my shoulder when I crashed. So to come away from that with just some muscular damage is pretty good.”

Martin was able to count on the help of Sep Vanmarcke in particular during his travails on stages two and three, as he struggled to feed himself on the hoof. “I didn’t have the strength in my right arm to support myself when I took my left hand off the bars to eat,” he explained.

Indeed, like Andy Schleck, who would crash and eventually abandon later in the week, Martin’s injuries meant that simply climbing out of the saddle proved nigh on impossible for several days. “I couldn’t get out of the saddle, so I’ve done it all seated, which really isn’t usual for me,” he explained, before joking, “But in terms of training my lower back to sit in the saddle all the time, I suppose it’s been a good week for me.”

Tour de France

After a strong spring campaign that saw him finish 4th at the Volta a Catalunya and in the top 6 at both Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, it would be understandable if Martin were frustrated that his crash denied him the chance to test himself against the likes of Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins in the mountains.

“It’s hard to be frustrated when I’m still in one piece,” he said. “I split my helmet in two as well, so it could have been a lot worse. Besides, I was able to climb in the front group on Friday, the first hard day [over the Col du Grand Colombier - ed.]”

Martin was one of many riders unable to follow the tempo imposed by Team Sky’s disquieting show of force on the Col de Joux-Plane on Saturday afternoon, but given his travails earlier in the race, the Irishman was not unduly concerned.

“Physically, I think getting through this week has shown that my form is pretty good, but the lack of recovery over the week caught up with me,” he said. “I know the legs are there, I’m confident. Hopefully I’ll be up with those guys at the Tour.”

Forced out at the last minute through injury in 2009 and surprisingly overlooked last season despite a fine run of June form, Martin is still waiting to make his Tour de France debut. Given his past experience, he is reluctant to discuss La Grande Boucle until he has a number pinned on his back on June 30.

“I pulled out when I was already in Monaco in 2009 with a sore knee and it could have been the same with this crash as well,” Martin said. “Anything can happen. I’ll just wait until I’m in Liège before I start talking about the Tour.”

Sanchez heads for Sierra Nevada ahead of Tour de France

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sanchez-heads-for-sierra-nevada-ahead-of-tour-de-france)

Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) struggled through the Critérium du Dauphiné after crashing early on the opening road stage, but the Spaniard’s Tour de France participation is not in doubt after a scan on Monday confirmed that he had sustained no broken ribs in the incident.

The Olympic champion consulted Sporting Gijon club doctor Antonio Maestro on his return from France, and learned that he was suffering from a tear to his left latissimus dorsi muscle and an edema near his right fourth rib. Sanchez will spend two days off the bike before beginning his final build-up to the Tour.

“If I had pulled out of the Dauphiné, I would have been a step behind in my preparation and I could almost have waved goodbye to the Tour, but I managed to keep going and at least I have eight days of high-level racing in my legs,” Sanchez told El Comercio.

Sanchez, who finished the Dauphiné almost an hour down on overall winner Bradley Wiggins (Sky) will travel to Sierra Nevada on Wednesday to undertake a ten-day training camp at altitude. Third overall in 2010 [following the disqualification of Alberto Contador – ed.] and king of the mountains last year, Sanchez agreed that based on their Dauphiné form, Wiggins and defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC) would be the men to beat in July.

“Wiggins is very strong and his Sky team is really very motivated,” said Sanchez. “I also felt that Evans was going very well."



Nibali starts training camp on Passo San Pellegrino

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-starts-training-camp-on-passo-san-pellegrino)

From Tuesday, June 12 until Saturday, June 23, Liquigas-Cannondale is holding a last pre-Tour de France training camp on the Passo San Pellegrino, including Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso. Nibali, the designated leader for the upcoming grand tour, will use the camp to get his form up to the desired level following a Critérium du Dauphiné in which his performances were somewhat limited compared to his rivals for July.

The Italian was on the attack on the final day after having losing more than nine minutes on Saturday's queen stage, which involved the HC climb Col de Joux-Plane. "It was a question of pride, and most of all, I wanted to see how I'd feel," he told Gazzetta dello Sport, explaining his moved that was ultimately doomed. "In the stage of the Joux Plane I had a bad day. But I'm not hiding the fact that I'm looking for better form, and for that the efforts made in the race will serve me well. I was looking for answers and I got some.

"There were riders who were doing well, but I think that many were worse than I was," he added, possibly alluding to Andy Schleck's recent form. The RadioShack-Nissan is arguably in even worse form just three weeks prior to the Tour, where Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Cadel Evans (BMC) now look to be the top favourites.

But Nibali remains confident that he can catch up on his delay during the training camp and by competing in the Italian road race championships on June 23. On Passo San Pellegrino, "I have to do some specific mountain training, especially on the long ascents that last more than one hour."

The 2010 Vuelta a Espana winner and two-time Giro d'Italia podium finisher will be back at the French grand tour for the first time since he finished seventh overall in 2009. As for his view on the favourites for the yellow jersey, he thought that "the only ones that have shown to have something extra are Wiggins and Evans. Still, the Tour isn't won at the Dauphiné."

But for every rider that feels that his performance in the Dauphine wasn't as good as it could be, there is always one that believes he is doing good:

Rolland "better than last year"

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rolland-better-than-last-year)

Winner of the white jersey last July, Frenchman Pierre Rolland is looking forward to the upcoming Tour de France, having found the form he was looking for at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Rolland did not score any spectacular result at the Dauphiné, but used the race to gauge his form - and was very satisfied. "It's not easy to express 100 percent of my capabilities in a one-week race. I tried to get into the right breakaways, but I'm often better in the second or third week. All in all, I feel a bit better than last year. I'm more at ease in the mountains and inside the peloton in general. The last Tour de France taught me the importance of positioning. I've also gained more confidence in the descents," the Europcar rider told L'Equipe.

Thanks to his success at last year's race, Rolland has matured into a team leader, a position he shares with Thomas Voeckler. "I've gained a lot of confidence in myself. Moreover, I've come to an age where I can be more of a protected rider within my team. My teammates will be playing towards my advantage."

This also applies to the more experienced Voeckler. "I worked for him in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, on the Tour last year, and I know he'll be doing the same for me. If I tell him one morning that I feel good and that I can win, I know he'll help me. He's a smart guy, you can tell by the way he races. He never attacks for nothing," Rolland continued.

Unlike the previous edition, this year's Tour de France will include an increased number of time trial kilometres, for which the climber will prepare by racing the French time trial championships. "It's simple: I'll do the same amount of kilometres against the clock in June as I will in July [counting also the long time trial at the Dauphiné - ed.]. That way, my body will be more used to this kind of effort."

As for the increased pressure since his tenth place at the Tour last year, Rolland taking it in his stride. "Of course there is more pressure, but that's the game. I'm not making an obsession of it. I'm able to put aside quite a lot of things. My career will not stop at the 2012 Tour if ever I have some problem. Within the team, Jean-René (Bernaudeau) is not putting us under pressure - we know what we can do."

And finally, keeping up with my RadioShack Nissan Trek news, (what, you think I'd forget to mention them??), let's add more fuel to the fire that is already burning out of control. Not only did the RSNT team leave Chris Horner off the Tour de France selection, but they also lied about their reason why. Well, in true fashion, Horner has his own comments about the situation:

Horner on Tour selection snub: ‘My back is fine’

(http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/horner-on-tour-selection-snub-my-back-is-fine_223336)

Hours after learning that his RadioShack-Nissan team had not included him on its list of riders pre-selected for the Tour de France due to a back injury, American veteran Chris Horner told VeloNews that his back is no longer hurting him, and that he would have been ready to race come the Tour’s June 30 start in Liège, Belgium.

Horner’s team said Monday that back problems, which flared up last month following the Amgen Tour of California, had prevented him from racing the Tour de Suisse and therefore made it unfeasible for him to race the Tour.

“Already at California, his back was not OK. That is also the reason why he is not in the Tour de Suisse this week,” RadioShack spokesman Philippe Maertens told VeloNews on Monday. “Without racing Suisse, it would be impossible for him to race in the Tour de France.”

Horner acknowledged that he took a week off the bike following California to treat his lower back — forcing him to skip the May 31 road race at the USA Cycling Professional National Championships — but he said that he had since returned to training and he had opted to skip Suisse, as he did last year, to fully concentrate on being at his best for the Tour.

“My back is fine,” Horner said. “There is no problem with my back. It was tight after California. It spasms up from time-to-time. I needed five days to rest it, so I took a week off the bike. I could have shown up to Suisse but I wouldn’t have had form.

“If the Tour de France was a month later, I could do Suisse, recover, and then train again. But the finish of Suisse is 10 days before the Tour, so it was better to just train and focus on doing that. I trained hard last week, I rode 600 miles, and I rode 100 miles today.”

Horner, who will turn 41 in October, has dealt with intermittent lower back problems since 2006, adding that the only time he’s ever missed a race because of the pain was the 2008 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré. That year his Astana team had been excluded from the Tour, and Horner instead spent his July supporting his teammate Levi Leipheimer at the Cascade Cycling Classic, which Leipheimer won.

Horner’s best Tour ride was ninth overall in 2010. He crashed out of last year’s edition with a concussion. Later doctors discovered a potentially dangerous embolism in his lung and he didn’t return to racing until this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, where he finished second overall.

Horner said he learned about his exclusion from the RadioShack Tour team from his wife, who read it on the Internet and called him while he was out training. He added that as of Monday evening, he had not yet spoken with anyone from RadioShack team management. The last time he spoke with team manager Johan Bruyneel, Horner said, was a month earlier in Santa Rosa, California, when Bruyneel briefly visited the team prior to the start of the Amgen Tour.

“While I’m out doing a 100-mile training ride, I’m told that my back is wrecked beyond competing at the Tour de France,” Horner said. “As bike racers, you want to do the Tour more than any other race. By all means I can understand the team being concerned about a back problem, but my therapist was able to get it back under control, and at almost three weeks out, it’s still early to make that kind of decision.”

With Horner’s permission, Greg Bourque — a licensed acupuncturist and certified massage therapist who has treated Horner since 1997 — described Horner’s back issues as general erector spine tightening, absent of signs of sciatica or neurological dysfunction.

“I’ve treated Chris seven days a week since the Amgen Tour of California, for 90 minutes nightly, and after the first week, we didn’t even really focus on his back,” Bourque said. “I moved on to a knee treatment, and some general neuromuscular work, focusing on soft tissue — not joints or ligaments, just muscles.

“Lately it was not even therapeutic massage, because he was riding 100 miles a day,” Bourque continued. “It was not even deep work, nothing fancy, just a drainage massage to get him ready for the next day of training. He was doing everything right to look after himself. I know him really well, and I fully expected him to be ready for the Tour — and I fully expected him to be going to the Tour. And I know he did as well.”

What comes next?

Horner admitted that his back issues are triggered by outside stresses, and acknowledged that there is more stress on his RadioShack team this year than in the past.

Owned by Luxembourg-based businessman Flavio Becca, who merged his Leopard-Trek team with RadioShack after disappointment in his squad’s 2011 season, RadioShack-Nissan has fallen short of expectations both in stage races and at the spring classics. Only Fabian Cancellara and Jakob Fuglsang have registered wins thus far — both have missed starts due to injury — while Tour contender Andy Schleck has struggled throughout the year to finish races.

Horner’s ride in the leader’s jersey and eventual second-place overall at Tirreno was among the few bright spots for the squad in early 2012. His contract with the team is set through 2013.

And while he said he was “devastated” to miss the Tour, describing his disappointment as “catastrophic,” Horner said he was equally as concerned about what the team’s message might mean for potential Olympic selection.

USA Cycling is set to announce its five-man Olympic team roster on Friday, June 15. None of the five spots have been claimed through automatic qualifications.

As of the June 10 UCI WorldTour ranking, Horner was the highest-placed American rider, 25th, as well as the highest-ranked RadioShack rider on the list.

Throughout his career, Horner has been in the running, but overlooked, for Olympic selection — first back in 1996, and again in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

Horner said he spent Monday afternoon emailing his most recent power files to Jim Miller, USA Cycling’s vice president of athletics, to prove that he is race-fit and worthy of Olympic selection.

“I’ve had great results this year. I was top 10 at the Tour of the Basque Country, and I was third on the hardest climbing stage at Basque,” Horner said. “I was second overall at Tirreno, and in California I was clearly one of the best riders. I know I had a bad time trial; I was there, I remember it well. But if you look at the Mount Baldy stage, it was epic, there were three teams destroyed chasing me, I had a one-minute lead at the bottom of the Baldy climb and only four guys caught me by the finish.

“I’ve proven I can ride with best in the world,” Horner continued. “My back is healing. Whether or not my team wants to take me, I can’t control that. But I don’t like that they’re putting something out there that’s not true, that could affect my chance of going to the Olympics.”

Because he hadn’t spoken with anyone from his team, Horner couldn’t speculate on what the rest of his 2012 race schedule might look like, and if August might include racing Stateside, at the Tour of Utah and USA Pro Cycling Challenge, or abroad, at the Vuelta a España.

“I have no idea what the team is planning for me, because we haven’t spoken,” he said. “No one has called me, so I have no idea what they are thinking. I’ve had no communication with the team.”

Instead, Horner said he wanted to focus on what he did know.

“The team has put it out there that I have a severe back problem,” Horner said. “I don’t. I’m not injured. I’m not hurt. This is something I’ve had since 2006. It flares up, and it disappears, and I keep racing. I’ve had the best results of my career with this problem. Could it reoccur at the Tour de France? Sure, anything is possible. A knee injury is possible. A broken collarbone is possible. But I’m not going to let the team make it out like I have some devastating back problem, when I don’t.”