With this years Tour basically done and dusted - the race head to the Alps for three days of what turned out to be quite exciting, and excellent racing.
It all started off with the final ITT of this years race - which was, unsurprisingly, won by Chris Froome, although he did have the grace to not entirely flog the field in an embrassingly dodgy manner. Instead he won by just under 10 seconds from Alenjadro Valverde and Joaquin Rodriquez. As can be seen from the finishing podium, the race against the clock was relatively mountainous, and as a result most of the high finishers were climbers who those still high up in the overall standings. The true power men and everyone else basically just had a rest day ahead of the brutish double assault of L'Alpe d'Huez. That included Cadel Evans who is having an absolute barry of a tour and couldn't even scrape into the top 150!
Thursday saw the Queen stage of this years Tour, a 172km epic that took in two ascents of the mythical L'Alpe d'Huez. It truly was the stage of the race, and brought back memories of the epic racing of old. Up front, France got their first stage win as Christophe Riblon rode down brave long-time leader Tejay Van Garderen in the closing moments. And further down the mountain Chris Froome showed his first real weakness of the event. While main rival Alberto Contador was dropped, Froome illegaly sent teammate Richie Porte back to his team car to get food inside the final 10k (totally illegal and outside the rules). While it helped him recover to some stage, he still lost over a minute to pure climbers Joaquin Rodriguez and Nairo Quintana, who all but sealed his victory with 4th on the stage, behind young and promising Italian star Moreno Moser.
Friday was a regulation mountain breakaway result, with a large group going clear and Rue Costa proving the best of them to take his second stage win at this years tour. Andreas Kloden turned back the clock to finish second, just under a minute behind Costa while Jan Bakelandts continued to show his promise finishing third. Pierre Rolland managed to recover from his injuries enough to participate in the day's break, and as such close to within 1 point of Chris Froome for the polka-dot jersey. The main group rolled in some 8 minutes down with all of the main protagonists present.
So what is the wash up of all that. Well the only competition still up for grabs (barring crash, injury, or doping) is the King of the Mountains - with Chris Froome now holding just a 1 point lead over Pierre Rolland, with a further 3 riders within 11 points of the lead. With plenty of climbing points still available tomorrow the jersey is certainly up for grabs. I think Quintana would probably be the most deserved winner so will back him in from here. Froome leads the GC by over 5 minutes from Contador and Quintana (who leads the white jersey competition by over 10 minutes) while Peter Sagan has a 100 point lead in the Green Jersey competition over Mark Cavendish.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Chris Froome
White Jersey - Nairo Quintana
Friday, July 19, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Stage 16 - Costa Crusies To Victory In Gap
Stage 16 seemed to be more about the is he/isn't he discussion about Chris Froome and doping that is going on in the background of this years Tour de France. And while those rumors simmered in the back ground, Rui Costa rode to a breakaway victory on the 168km road in to Gap. Costa broke away from his breakaway rivals on the day's final climb, and had enough in hand on the down hill finish to win by over 40 seconds. Christophe Riblon and Arnold Jeannesson made it double French dose on the podium after leading the remnants of the breakaway home.
The battle of the GC was partially lit up on the day's final climb as Katusha put the \hammer down in order to set something up for Joaquin Rodriguez. But that just resulted in Sky coming to the fore, and once they'd done their usual trick of blowing the field to pieces there was only a select group of riders remaining in the lead group. They included the current top 3, and despite Alberto Contador trying to shake off his rivals a number of times he was repeatedly chase down by first Richie Porte and then Froome himself. They all went over the top together though, and a truce had to be called on the descent, as Froome and Contador almost crashed out, bringing back memories one of the all time great tour moments when Joseba Beloki infamously hit the tarmac in the 2003 edition.
And while Froome crashing out would have really spiced up the race, sadly it wasn't to be (although Contador did hit the deck), and the group of favourites cruised home on the rest of the decent to finish over 11 minutes behind Costa. There was no change to any of the classifications - and tomorrow sees the second ITT of this years race - in which Chris Froome is sure to just add more time to his already unassailable lead.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Chris Froome
White Jersey - Nairo Quintana
The battle of the GC was partially lit up on the day's final climb as Katusha put the \hammer down in order to set something up for Joaquin Rodriguez. But that just resulted in Sky coming to the fore, and once they'd done their usual trick of blowing the field to pieces there was only a select group of riders remaining in the lead group. They included the current top 3, and despite Alberto Contador trying to shake off his rivals a number of times he was repeatedly chase down by first Richie Porte and then Froome himself. They all went over the top together though, and a truce had to be called on the descent, as Froome and Contador almost crashed out, bringing back memories one of the all time great tour moments when Joseba Beloki infamously hit the tarmac in the 2003 edition.
And while Froome crashing out would have really spiced up the race, sadly it wasn't to be (although Contador did hit the deck), and the group of favourites cruised home on the rest of the decent to finish over 11 minutes behind Costa. There was no change to any of the classifications - and tomorrow sees the second ITT of this years race - in which Chris Froome is sure to just add more time to his already unassailable lead.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Chris Froome
White Jersey - Nairo Quintana
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Stage 15 - LOL!
So, as expected, Team Sky dialed up the juice on Sunday - and just like at Ax-3-Domaines dished out a complete flogging to the rest of the peleton. Chris Froome won the stage and increased his unassailable lead in the general classification. Indeed, it is hard to decide who is least deserving of their victory - Froome, or the English cricket team. In fact I can't remember the last time I was so disillusioned with two sports as I am at the moment with cycling and cricket (maybe we should make that three given the laughable situation the AFL finds itself in with Essendon.
Anyway, back to the cycling, and as stated, the race to Mount Ventoux on Bastille Day played out exactly the same as that to Ax-3-Domaines. The black stain that is Team Sky sat on the front all day and put the hammer down one-bye-one until only a handful of riders remind. Once Richie Porte (the last lieutenant left) dropped off, Froome exploded away from Alberto Contador with the force of a hydrogen bomb. He easily rode up to breakaway leader Nairo Quintana, and after taking some time to break the plucky Colombian, finally put the nail in the coffin with a final attack under the flemme rouge. Froome's performance was so other worldly that he managed to put 30 seconds into Quintana in the final kilometre.
At the finish - Froome had 30 seconds in hand over Quintana with the rest of the main GC contenders around 1-2 minutes further back. As a result, Froome erased all the deficit he conceded on the flat stage earlier this week, and now leads the overall by an Armstrong like 4 minutes from Bauke Mollema and Alberto Contador. The Spaniard had looked like climbing to second on the podium after staying with Froome for the first half of the climb (after Mollema had been dropped), but the pace proved too much and he fell to pieces over the final kilometre (as opposed to Froome who seemed to get stronger and stronger....nothing suss). The big losers on the day where Pierre Rolland and Michal Kwiatowski who lost their leads in the polka dot jersey and white jersey competitions respectively. An injured Rolland was dropped early on the warm up climb to the Giant of Provence and scored no points on the day, allowing Froome to take the lead in the competition by earning a massive 50 points at the finish. Kwiatwoski gave up his youth classification lead after he was dropped halfway up Ventoux, with the lead passing to Quintana by over 2 minutes after he finished second on the stage. Peter Sagan (can rider) got into the days break so he could win the day's intermediate sprint and increase his stranglehold on the green jersey.
But the main theme of the stage was the laughable ease with which Chris Froome rode away from the rest of the Tour de France on one of the race's hardest mountains. As I've said earlier in the race, we haven't seen climbing performances like this since the days of Pantani and Armstrong....and you know how that turned out. I would like to give Froome the benefit of the doubt...but after the Brad Haddin's dismissal at Trent Bridge this afternoon, it seems the benefit of the doubt no longer exists in sport.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Chris Froome
White Jersey - Nairo Quintana
Anyway, back to the cycling, and as stated, the race to Mount Ventoux on Bastille Day played out exactly the same as that to Ax-3-Domaines. The black stain that is Team Sky sat on the front all day and put the hammer down one-bye-one until only a handful of riders remind. Once Richie Porte (the last lieutenant left) dropped off, Froome exploded away from Alberto Contador with the force of a hydrogen bomb. He easily rode up to breakaway leader Nairo Quintana, and after taking some time to break the plucky Colombian, finally put the nail in the coffin with a final attack under the flemme rouge. Froome's performance was so other worldly that he managed to put 30 seconds into Quintana in the final kilometre.
At the finish - Froome had 30 seconds in hand over Quintana with the rest of the main GC contenders around 1-2 minutes further back. As a result, Froome erased all the deficit he conceded on the flat stage earlier this week, and now leads the overall by an Armstrong like 4 minutes from Bauke Mollema and Alberto Contador. The Spaniard had looked like climbing to second on the podium after staying with Froome for the first half of the climb (after Mollema had been dropped), but the pace proved too much and he fell to pieces over the final kilometre (as opposed to Froome who seemed to get stronger and stronger....nothing suss). The big losers on the day where Pierre Rolland and Michal Kwiatowski who lost their leads in the polka dot jersey and white jersey competitions respectively. An injured Rolland was dropped early on the warm up climb to the Giant of Provence and scored no points on the day, allowing Froome to take the lead in the competition by earning a massive 50 points at the finish. Kwiatwoski gave up his youth classification lead after he was dropped halfway up Ventoux, with the lead passing to Quintana by over 2 minutes after he finished second on the stage. Peter Sagan (can rider) got into the days break so he could win the day's intermediate sprint and increase his stranglehold on the green jersey.
But the main theme of the stage was the laughable ease with which Chris Froome rode away from the rest of the Tour de France on one of the race's hardest mountains. As I've said earlier in the race, we haven't seen climbing performances like this since the days of Pantani and Armstrong....and you know how that turned out. I would like to give Froome the benefit of the doubt...but after the Brad Haddin's dismissal at Trent Bridge this afternoon, it seems the benefit of the doubt no longer exists in sport.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Chris Froome
White Jersey - Nairo Quintana
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Stage 14 - Marking Time
The peleton took a break from racing ahead of tomorrows crucial stage to Mount Ventoux, allowing a large breakaway group to go over 7 minutes clear up the road in what proved a completely uneventful stage. The winner on the day wast little known Italian Matteo Trentin, who recorded his first ever win as a professional (well done son!) and made it back-to-back wins for Omega-Pharma, ending a 3-year drought for Italian riders at Le Tour.
The win looked like it would go to unheralded Frenchman Julian Simon, who looked all-over the winner after riding away from the breakaway group with 10km to go. After building a 25 second league, he was sadly run down in the final kilometre, leaving 7 or so riders to fight for the winner. Trentin proved too powerful as his late surge overpowered Orica Green-Egde's Michael Albasini. Promising American Andrew Talansky filled the podium in third.
Other than that there was not much too the stage, with none of the classification standing changes ahead of tomorrow's race to the moon. Let's hope it's an absolute epic.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michal Kwiatowski
The win looked like it would go to unheralded Frenchman Julian Simon, who looked all-over the winner after riding away from the breakaway group with 10km to go. After building a 25 second league, he was sadly run down in the final kilometre, leaving 7 or so riders to fight for the winner. Trentin proved too powerful as his late surge overpowered Orica Green-Egde's Michael Albasini. Promising American Andrew Talansky filled the podium in third.
Other than that there was not much too the stage, with none of the classification standing changes ahead of tomorrow's race to the moon. Let's hope it's an absolute epic.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michal Kwiatowski
Friday, July 12, 2013
Stage 13 - Unlucky For Some
While Stage 13 looked like yet another dead-flat, dead-pan transitional stage, it produced the type of race that keeps the romanticism of the Tour alive and well. With wind playing havoc with the peleton, an elite group of 15 containing Alberto Contador and Bauke Mollema, but NOT Chris Froome and Team Sky, tore away from the front of the field....and Team Sky could not catch them! By the end of the day Froome had conceded over a minute to Contador and Mollema, and sure his lead in the General Classification reduced.
But this was not the only shake up to the GC. Alejandro Valverde had already been shelled after suffering a mechanical inside the final 100km. And his chase group also ended in vain, losing over 10 minutes by the end of the stage to see his podium hopes go up and smoke. While it is probably nothing more than a drug cheat deserves, it is sad to see Valverde's podium hopes end in this way, as he has always toughed it out at the top end of the GC throughout his Grand Tour career. As a result, Mollema and Contador jumped to second and third overall, and now trail Froome by around 2.5 minutes.
The win on the day was slightly overshadowed, but it proved a day of redemption for Mark Cavendish who was smart enough first to get into the winning break, and then proved easily the best sprinter of those remaining to take the stage from perennial placegetter Peter Sagan and Mollema. I guess Cav was lucky his new German revival Marcel Kittel rolled in some 10 minutes down in the Valverde Group. There was no change to any of the classifications, as both White Jersey leaders, Michal Kwiatowski and and Nario Quintana finishing in the Froome group a minute by the leaders.
Now - the big question on everyone's lips is does this materially change the race for the yellow jersey? The answer is no. Froome still leads by over 2 minutes and Sky won't be making this mistake twice. If the race is going to be a contest - Contador and Mollema have to attack Froome on Sunday's stage to Mount Vontoux....repeatedly! But with a fairly regulation stage on tomorrow, Sky are sure to get their 'program' in order and ensure Froome is fit and firing to explode on the mountain come Bastille Day. Sunday might just be the last day of reckoning at this years Tour - so it is certainly a stage worth watching one way or another.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jesrey - Michal Kwiakowski
But this was not the only shake up to the GC. Alejandro Valverde had already been shelled after suffering a mechanical inside the final 100km. And his chase group also ended in vain, losing over 10 minutes by the end of the stage to see his podium hopes go up and smoke. While it is probably nothing more than a drug cheat deserves, it is sad to see Valverde's podium hopes end in this way, as he has always toughed it out at the top end of the GC throughout his Grand Tour career. As a result, Mollema and Contador jumped to second and third overall, and now trail Froome by around 2.5 minutes.
The win on the day was slightly overshadowed, but it proved a day of redemption for Mark Cavendish who was smart enough first to get into the winning break, and then proved easily the best sprinter of those remaining to take the stage from perennial placegetter Peter Sagan and Mollema. I guess Cav was lucky his new German revival Marcel Kittel rolled in some 10 minutes down in the Valverde Group. There was no change to any of the classifications, as both White Jersey leaders, Michal Kwiatowski and and Nario Quintana finishing in the Froome group a minute by the leaders.
Now - the big question on everyone's lips is does this materially change the race for the yellow jersey? The answer is no. Froome still leads by over 2 minutes and Sky won't be making this mistake twice. If the race is going to be a contest - Contador and Mollema have to attack Froome on Sunday's stage to Mount Vontoux....repeatedly! But with a fairly regulation stage on tomorrow, Sky are sure to get their 'program' in order and ensure Froome is fit and firing to explode on the mountain come Bastille Day. Sunday might just be the last day of reckoning at this years Tour - so it is certainly a stage worth watching one way or another.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jesrey - Michal Kwiakowski
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Stage 12 - I See It But I Don't Believe It
World cycling has a new sprint star. For the first time I can remember in my Tour watching career, Mark Cavendish was delivered perfectly to the finish by his lead out team....and lost. He was defeated by three time stage winner at this years Tour Marcel Kittel, who powered over the top of the Manx Missile in the closing 50m to win his second straight photo finish. Green Jersey wearer Peter Sagan finished and ever consistent third, while fellow German Andrei Greipel was caught up in a crash in the final kilometres and failed to feature in the finish. With the crash occurring inside the final 3km, the entire peleton received the same time and there was no change to the general classification.
The win my mark a turning point in world sprinting, as for the first time Mark Cavendish appears to have a true rival for speed at the end of race. Previously, at the Tour at least, Cav has been literally unbeatable if given a fair shot at a sprint, and it has only been bad luck or poor pre-sprint positioning that has cost him victory. That was not the case today. Gert Steegmans delivered Cav perfectly to the line, leaving Cav with just 250m to deal with on his own accord. And he wasn't up to the job. After bursting clear of the field he seemed to fade badly in the last 50m, allowing Kittel to storm over the top of him and pip him on the line. It appears Cav may finally have a rival when it comes to the final sprint on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
Apart from that there was not much too a typical transitional stage with a small breakaway going clear before being reeled in by the sprinters teams. The crash was caused by Greipel's Lotto team, who were trying to move up the field aggressively in order to set up the sprint team, but only managed to wipe themselves out with the usual collateral damage that comes with a peleton flying to the finish at 45km an hour plus.
There was no change to any of the classifications, and that theme is likely to be continued tomorrow, when Kittel will get a chance to make it 4 wins at this years race.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michal Kwiatowski
The win my mark a turning point in world sprinting, as for the first time Mark Cavendish appears to have a true rival for speed at the end of race. Previously, at the Tour at least, Cav has been literally unbeatable if given a fair shot at a sprint, and it has only been bad luck or poor pre-sprint positioning that has cost him victory. That was not the case today. Gert Steegmans delivered Cav perfectly to the line, leaving Cav with just 250m to deal with on his own accord. And he wasn't up to the job. After bursting clear of the field he seemed to fade badly in the last 50m, allowing Kittel to storm over the top of him and pip him on the line. It appears Cav may finally have a rival when it comes to the final sprint on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
Apart from that there was not much too a typical transitional stage with a small breakaway going clear before being reeled in by the sprinters teams. The crash was caused by Greipel's Lotto team, who were trying to move up the field aggressively in order to set up the sprint team, but only managed to wipe themselves out with the usual collateral damage that comes with a peleton flying to the finish at 45km an hour plus.
There was no change to any of the classifications, and that theme is likely to be continued tomorrow, when Kittel will get a chance to make it 4 wins at this years race.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michal Kwiatowski
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Stage 11 - Juicy, Juicy, Juicy
Stage 11 saw Chris Froome grind more dust into what is already a dead 100th edition of Le Tour, when he smashed all but world time-trial champion Tony Martin in the race's first individual time trial over 33km in Mont Saint Michel. And the only thing that kept the juiced up Kenyan from taking the stage honours as well was a change in the wind (Martin rode the stage with a tail-wind, while Froome faced a head wind - poor chap).
Just to show how much of a joke this years event is - no other GC contendor finished in the top 10. The next best was Bauke Mollema who finished 11th almost two minutes behind Froome. Although one notable performance was the magical recovery of Richie Porte who bounced back from his catastrophic day in the Pyrenees to finish 4th - Froome still smashed him by over a minute. As a result, Froome now leads the overall standings by an Armstrong like 3:25 from Alejandro Valverde with Mollema in third. Even a proven GC time trialler like Alberto Contador could not match the black stain, and now sits in 4th almost 4 minutes back. I believe they are still looking for Andy Schleck...
Tony Martin deserves credit for an outstanding performance in what is his specialist discipline. The relatively short 33km course suited him, and with him going off early enough to ride with the assistance of a headwind he was never going to be beaten by a clean athlete. He proved a deserved champion of the world in this discipline. Another strong performance came from pole Michal Kwiatowski, who finished 5th overall, and did more than enough to win back the White Jersey from Nairo Quintana. He now holds a 34 second lead over the little Colombian and it will be a good battle between these two all the way to Paris as Kwiatowski's ability against the clock will be matched by Quintana's climbing ability.
That looms as one of the few interesting contests left in this Tour. The GC is well and truly dead and with another long ITT to come in the last week the only question is weather Froome can win by 10 minutes plus. Mythical climbs such as Mont Vontoux and L'Alpe d'Huez have been rendered irrelevant by 'The Program'. For the second straight tour, the second half of the Tour will basically be a non-event, a bit like the Australian batting line up.....sad.....but true.
Oh and in one less savory event one fan thought it might be a nice idea to throw a cup of urine on Mark Cavendish. To be fair - he probably deserved it after somehow getting away with his blatant bump on poor Tom Veelers in yesterday's sprint scot free.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michael Kwiatowski
Blood Bags - Team Sky
Just to show how much of a joke this years event is - no other GC contendor finished in the top 10. The next best was Bauke Mollema who finished 11th almost two minutes behind Froome. Although one notable performance was the magical recovery of Richie Porte who bounced back from his catastrophic day in the Pyrenees to finish 4th - Froome still smashed him by over a minute. As a result, Froome now leads the overall standings by an Armstrong like 3:25 from Alejandro Valverde with Mollema in third. Even a proven GC time trialler like Alberto Contador could not match the black stain, and now sits in 4th almost 4 minutes back. I believe they are still looking for Andy Schleck...
Tony Martin deserves credit for an outstanding performance in what is his specialist discipline. The relatively short 33km course suited him, and with him going off early enough to ride with the assistance of a headwind he was never going to be beaten by a clean athlete. He proved a deserved champion of the world in this discipline. Another strong performance came from pole Michal Kwiatowski, who finished 5th overall, and did more than enough to win back the White Jersey from Nairo Quintana. He now holds a 34 second lead over the little Colombian and it will be a good battle between these two all the way to Paris as Kwiatowski's ability against the clock will be matched by Quintana's climbing ability.
That looms as one of the few interesting contests left in this Tour. The GC is well and truly dead and with another long ITT to come in the last week the only question is weather Froome can win by 10 minutes plus. Mythical climbs such as Mont Vontoux and L'Alpe d'Huez have been rendered irrelevant by 'The Program'. For the second straight tour, the second half of the Tour will basically be a non-event, a bit like the Australian batting line up.....sad.....but true.
Oh and in one less savory event one fan thought it might be a nice idea to throw a cup of urine on Mark Cavendish. To be fair - he probably deserved it after somehow getting away with his blatant bump on poor Tom Veelers in yesterday's sprint scot free.
Yellow Jersey - Chris Froome
Green Jersey - Peter Sagan
Polka Dot Jersey - Pierre Rolland
White Jersey - Michael Kwiatowski
Blood Bags - Team Sky
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