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July 15, Stage 13: Pau - Lourdes 156km

Hushovd wins miracle stage in Lourdes

By: Peter CossinsPublished: July 15, 16:13, Updated: July 15, 19:13

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World champion breaks French blockade from breakaway

 

Hushovd could hardly believe what he'd done

 

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Photos

 

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) pick up some extra points …

 

David Millar talks to Basso at the start…

 

Voeckler swaps bikes…

 

Here comes the peloton…

 

The Europcar team protected Voeckler all day…

 

Paolo Tiralongo (Astana)…

 

Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar) signs on…

 

Cadel Evans (BMC)…

Previous Page 1 of 6 Next

World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) took his ninth Tour stage win and described it as the "best moment ever in my career" when he rode alone into Lourdes after an epic 30km pursuit of plucky Jérémy Roy (FDJ). "Winning alone on a hard day like this when we went over the Col d'Aubisque and doing it wearing the rainbow jersey is, I think, incredible. I'm just so happy now," said Hushovd.

 

After making the initial attack from a breakaway group of 10 riders on the opening ramps of the Aubisque, the Norwegian sprinter was dropped by the Frenchman and by David Moncoutié (Cofidis) further up the famous HC-category climb. Two minutes in arrears going over the summit, Hushovd steadily chipped away at the FDJ rider's advantage heading towards the finish.

 

He caught Moncoutié on the descent off the Soulor, and the pair set about chasing down the lone leader, Roy. At 15km to go, the two chasers had cut Roy's lead to just 31 seconds, with Hushovd doing the bulk of the pace-setting. They continued to close, but for a time Roy held them at 15-20 seconds as the fading Moncoutié was either unable or unwilling to contribute to the chase, knowing all too well that Hushovd was sure to beat him if the finish came down to a sprint.

 

With 3km left, Hushovd kicked away from Moncoutié and was quickly up to Roy. The Norwegian didn't wait to take on the FDJ rider in the sprint, jumping past him straight away and stomping clear to win with a comfortable gap over Moncoutié.

 

"It's the craziest thing I've ever done," admitted Hushovd. "I was happy to be in the break. I was obviously strong. I went on the attack on the Aubisque so that I could ride at my own pace. My goal was to come back on the descent, which I finally managed to do. It's incredible how quickly things have turned for me. Yesterday and the few days before I was feeling tired, but I did the right thing yesterday by taking it easy and losing quite a lot of time. I think that saved my legs and that's why I won today."

 

It was impossible not to have sympathy for Roy, who has been one of the revelations of the race. Already on the attack yesterday with Geraint Thomas on the road to Luz-Ardiden, Roy rolled in an almost tearful third. His reward for a fifth attack in 13 stages was the stage's combativity prize and the King of the Mountains jersey, which he took from Samuel Sánchez after adding his conquest of the Aubisque to yesterday's on the Tourmalet.

 

"Perhaps one day I will look back on this stage as a great effort, but at the moment I feel too disappointed to see it that way," Roy confessed.

 

There was little change in the overall standings, with Thomas Voeckler finishing towards the front of the peloton to hold the yellow jersey for another day, although Philippe Gilbert did jump up to ninth overall thanks to an attack coming off the Soulor, which earned him 10th place on the stage almost a minute ahead of the yellow jersey group.

 

Looking ahead to tomorrow's stage to Plâteau de Beille, where he famously held the yellow jersey against most predictions in 2004, Voeckler said: "I've got good memories of Plâteau de Beille and we'll see what happens. What I know is that Luz-Ardiden was very, very hard and I think tomorrow it will be harder. I'm very proud of the way my team has ridden and if I do lose the jersey tomorrow I won't be blaming my team because they've done a great job up to now."

 

Asked about the fact that every previous winner at Plâteau de Beille has gone on to win the Tour in Paris, BMC team leader Cadel Evans commented: "Plâteau de Beille is a long climb after a hard day. But if I don't win tomorrow I'm not going to give up trying to win, let's put it that way. But it is certainly going to be one of the race's most important days."

 

A frantic start

 

The stage started without Quick Step's Gert Steegmans, who was involved in a crash on stage five, but only found out yesterday he had fractured the scaphoid bone in his wrist. Katusha sprinter Denis Galimzyanov was also a non-starter having finished outside the time limit on stage 12.

 

The profile of the stage suggested it was ideal for a breakaway to go away and stay away. Right from the off it was clear that dozens of riders were determined to be part of that break. The racing was frantic, with groups going away, being chased down and others countering. The pace proved too much for RadioShack's Andreas Klöden, who was soon off the back and struggling with back problems that had been exacerbated by a crash yesterday. The German quit with 25km covered, leaving his team with just five riders in the race.

 

Gilbert was once again one of the animators, but in the end he had to yield to the pull of the main pack, who were determined to allow him no room for manoeuvre. FDJ's Roy, however, got a bit more leeway. Despite being on the attack for most of yesterday with Thomas, the Frenchman pressed on and was eventually joined by nine riders: Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo), Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD), Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad) and Vladimir Gusev (Katusha).

 

As Tjallingii was joining the action at the front of the race, teammate Lars Boom was the latest to struggle off the back. With 50-odd kilometres covered, the Dutchman became the 25th rider to leave the race.

 

The breakaway riders didn't contest the intermediate sprint, Boasson Hagen leading the 10 escapees through. Five minutes later, the battle for 11th place was much more hard fought. HTC-Highroad committed several riders to lead out Mark Cavendish, but he was outwitted by Movistar's José Joaquín Rojas, who accelerated early and held on to edge it as the Briton gesticulated furiously.

 

Attacks on the Aubisque

 

Soon after the breakaway riders began the ascent of the Aubisque, world champion Hushovd attacked from the back of the group. Initially, no one followed. Roy then made a move behind the Norwegian, and joined him just above the spa town of Eaux-Bonnes. Behind this pair, Moncoutié moved clear of the remaining eight and was for a short time joined by Boasson Hagen.

 

Nine kilometres from the summit, Roy kicked away from Hushovd, who was soon caught and dropped by Moncoutié. The Cofidis climbing specialist closed to within 100 metres of Roy at one point, but the irrepressible FDJ rider steadily eased away again to lead by 53 seconds going over the summit, with Hushovd at 2:03. The peloton came over more than eight minutes down.

 

Roy gained a few more seconds on the uncategorised ascent over the Soulor pass, from where he had 33 mostly downhill kilometres into the finish. Hushovd, renowned as one of the best descenders in the sport, caught Moncoutié coming off the Soulor, and the pair quickly began to trim back Roy's advantage. At the 20km banner his lead was 1:05. At 15km it was less than half that, at 10km it was just 18 seconds.

 

For a few minutes, it looked as if Roy might just hang on as the road kicked up a couple of times on the approaches to Lourdes. Sadly for him, though, Hushovd had a little bit left in the tank thanks to his decision to hold back yesterday. In the end, that may well have been the difference between them.

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Place Name Time Time Gap Team Bib # Age

1 Thomas VOECKLER 55:49:57 00:00:00 EUC 181 32

2 Frank SCHLECK 55:51:46 00:01:49 LEO 018 31

3 Cadel EVANS 55:52:03 00:02:06 BMC 141 34

4 Andy SCHLECK 55:52:14 00:02:17 LEO 011 26

5 Ivan BASSO 55:53:13 00:03:16 LIQ 091 33

6 Damiano CUNEGO 55:53:19 00:03:22 LAM 161 29

7 Alberto CONTADOR 55:53:57 00:04:00 SAX 001 28

8 Samuel SANCHEZ 55:54:08 00:04:11 EUS 021 33

9 Philippe GILBERT 55:54:32 00:04:35 OLO 032 29

10 Tom DANIELSON 55:54:32 00:04:35 GRM 052 33

11 Nicolas ROCHE 55:54:54 00:04:57 ALM 101 27

12 Kevin DE WEERT 55:55:04 00:05:07 QST 124 29

13 Arnold JEANNESSON 55:55:47 00:05:50 FDJ 134 25

14 Peter VELITS 55:56:00 00:06:03 THR 179 26

15 Haimar ZUBELDIA 55:57:14 00:07:17 RSH 079 34

16 Rein TAARAMAE 55:57:24 00:07:27 COF 151 24

17 Levi LEIPHEIMER 55:57:48 00:07:51 RSH 075 37

18 Rigoberto URAN 55:57:52 00:07:55 SKY 118 24

19 Jean-Christophe PERAUD 55:58:17 00:08:20 ALM 108 34

20 Vladimir GUSEV 55:58:41 00:08:44 KAT 194 29

21 Sandy CASAR 55:58:44 00:08:47 FDJ 131 32

22 Jérôme COPPEL 55:58:48 00:08:51 SAU 211 24

23 Vladimir KARPETS 55:59:09 00:09:12 KAT 191 30

24 Pierre ROLLAND 55:59:17 00:09:20 EUC 188 24

25 Tony MARTIN 56:00:48 00:10:51 THR 175 26

26 Rob RUIJGH 56:01:03 00:11:06 VAC 208 24

27 Yury TROFIMOV 56:02:25 00:12:28 KAT 199 27

28 Jakob FUGLSANG 56:02:34 00:12:37 LEO 013 26

29 Maxime MONFORT 56:02:40 00:12:43 LEO 015 28

30 Jelle VANENDERT 56:02:51 00:12:54 OLO 038 26

31 Gorka VERDUGO 56:04:00 00:14:03 EUS 029 32

32 Christian VANDE VELDE 56:04:20 00:14:23 GRM 058 35

33 Laurens TEN DAM 56:06:13 00:16:16 RAB 048 30

34 Cyril GAUTIER 56:07:37 00:17:40 EUC 183 23

35 David MONCOUTIE 56:08:26 00:18:29 COF 157 36

36 Luis-Leon SANCHEZ 56:08:39 00:18:42 RAB 047 27

37 Ryder HESJEDAL 56:08:51 00:18:54 GRM 055 30

38 Robert GESINK 56:11:07 00:21:10 RAB 041 25

39 Geraint THOMAS 56:11:13 00:21:16 SKY 117 25

40 Jérôme PINEAU 56:11:58 00:22:01 QST 127 31

41 Egoi MARTINEZ 56:12:09 00:22:12 EUS 023 33

42 Carlos BARREDO 56:12:10 00:22:13 RAB 042 30

43 Hubert DUPONT 56:12:18 00:22:21 ALM 103 30

44 Yannick TALABARDON 56:12:55 00:22:58 SAU 219 30

45 Linus GERDEMANN 56:13:30 00:23:33 LEO 014 28

46 Dries DEVENYNS 56:18:48 00:28:51 QST 125 27

47 Andrey ZEITS 56:18:58 00:29:01 AST 069 24

48 Thor HUSHOVD 56:19:48 00:29:51 GRM 051 33

49 George HINCAPIE 56:21:28 00:31:31 BMC 144 38

50 Julien EL FARES 56:22:26 00:32:29 COF 155 26

51 Rémy DI GREGORIO 56:22:40 00:32:43 AST 062 25

52 Chris Anker SORENSEN 56:23:32 00:33:35 SAX 006 26

53 Steve MORABITO 56:23:44 00:33:47 BMC 146 28

54 Maxime BOUET 56:24:08 00:34:11 ALM 102 24

55 Sylvester SZMYD 56:26:30 00:36:33 LIQ 098 33

56 David ARROYO 56:27:01 00:37:04 MOV 081 31

57 Edvald Boasson HAGEN 56:27:23 00:37:26 SKY 114 24

58 Anthony CHARTEAU 56:28:00 00:38:03 EUC 182 32

59 David MILLAR 56:28:10 00:38:13 GRM 056 34

60 Tony GALLOPIN 56:29:41 00:39:44 COF 156 23

61 Christian KNEES 56:32:21 00:42:24 SKY 115 30

62 Grischa Jan NIERMANN 56:33:44 00:43:47 RAB 046 35

63 Tejay VAN GARDEREN 56:33:48 00:43:51 THR 178 22

64 Maciej PATERSKI 56:34:22 00:44:25 LIQ 096 24

65 Xabier ZANDIO 56:35:07 00:45:10 SKY 119 34

66 Jens VOIGT 56:35:34 00:45:37 LEO 019 39

67 Richie PORTE 56:37:41 00:47:44 SAX 005 26

68 David LOOSLI 56:37:48 00:47:51 LAM 167 31

69 Daniel NAVARRO 56:40:10 00:50:13 SAX 003 27

70 Amaël MOINARD 56:41:18 00:51:21 BMC 145 29

71 Christophe RIBLON 56:42:19 00:52:22 ALM 109 30

72 Bjorn LEUKEMANS 56:43:09 00:53:12 VAC 205 34

73 Jose Joaquin ROJAS 56:43:18 00:53:21 MOV 088 26

74 Adriano MALORI 56:43:20 00:53:23 LAM 168 23

75 Sergio PAULINHO 56:43:38 00:53:41 RSH 077 31

76 Bauke MOLLEMA 56:45:17 00:55:20 RAB 045 24

77 Markel IRIZAR 56:45:30 00:55:33 RSH 073 31

78 Ivan SANTAROMITA 56:45:30 00:55:33 BMC 148 27

79 Paolo TIRALONGO 56:48:22 00:58:25 AST 067 34

80 Imanol ERVITI 56:48:37 00:58:40 MOV 084 27

81 Sylvain CHAVANEL 56:48:41 00:58:44 QST 121 32

82 Ruben PEREZ MORENO 56:49:13 00:59:16 EUS 025 29

83 Stuart O’GRADY 56:49:31 00:59:34 LEO 016 37

84 Nicki SORENSEN 56:50:17 01:00:20 SAX 007 36

85 José Ivan GUTIERREZ 56:50:35 01:00:38 MOV 085 32

86 Rui Alberto FARIA DA COSTA 56:52:29 01:02:32 MOV 083 24

87 Jurgen ROELANDTS 56:52:38 01:02:41 OLO 035 26

88 Marco MARCATO 56:53:30 01:03:33 VAC 206 27

89 Alan PEREZ LEZAUN 56:53:58 01:04:01 EUS 024 29

90 Juan Antonio FLECHA GIANNONI 56:55:32 01:05:35 SKY 112 33

91 Thomas DE GENDT 56:55:35 01:05:38 VAC 203 24

92 Jérémy ROY 56:56:12 01:06:15 FDJ 138 28

93 Matteo BONO 56:57:26 01:07:29 LAM 164 27

94 Kristjan KOREN 56:58:45 01:08:48 LIQ 093 24

95 Simon GERRANS 56:59:06 01:09:09 SKY 113 31

96 Arthur VICHOT 56:59:08 01:09:11 FDJ 139 22

97 Gorka IZAGIRRE INSAUSTI 56:59:08 01:09:11 EUS 022 23

98 Johnny HOOGERLAND 56:59:30 01:09:33 VAC 204 28

99 Egor SILIN 57:00:57 01:11:00 KAT 198 23

100 Daniel OSS 57:02:09 01:12:12 LIQ 095 24

101 Danilo HONDO 57:03:14 01:13:17 LAM 165 37

102 Alessandro PETACCHI 57:03:47 01:13:50 LAM 169 37

103 Sébastien HINAULT 57:04:13 01:14:16 ALM 105 37

104 Benjamin NOVAL GONZALEZ 57:04:48 01:14:51 SAX 004 32

105 Gianni MEERSMAN 57:05:56 01:15:59 FDJ 135 25

106 Manuel QUINZIATO 57:09:08 01:19:11 BMC 147 31

107 Jonathan HIVERT 57:09:14 01:19:17 SAU 216 26

108 Sébastien TURGOT 57:09:51 01:19:54 EUC 189 27

109 Sebastian LANG 57:09:55 01:19:58 OLO 034 31

110 Dmitriy FOFONOV 57:10:03 01:20:06 AST 063 34

111 Anthony ROUX 57:10:04 01:20:07 FDJ 137 24

112 Tristan VALENTIN 57:10:07 01:20:10 COF 158 29

113 Maarten TJALLINGII 57:10:32 01:20:35 RAB 049 33

114 Michael SCHÄR 57:11:08 01:21:11 BMC 149 24

115 Matteo TOSATTO 57:11:28 01:21:31 SAX 008 37

116 Laurent MANGEL 57:12:02 01:22:05 SAU 218 30

117 Brian VANDBORG 57:12:43 01:22:46 SAX 009 29

118 Jesus HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ 57:12:51 01:22:54 SAX 002 29

119 Roman KREUZIGER 57:13:19 01:23:22 AST 066 25

120 William BONNET 57:14:23 01:24:26 FDJ 132 29

121 Grega BOLE 57:15:06 01:25:09 LAM 163 25

122 Paolo LONGO BORGHINI 57:15:18 01:25:21 LIQ 094 30

123 Brent BOOKWALTER 57:16:17 01:26:20 BMC 142 27

124 Alessandro VANOTTI 57:16:35 01:26:38 LIQ 099 30

125 Joost POSTHUMA 57:17:06 01:27:09 LEO 017 30

126 Leonardo DUQUE 57:17:53 01:27:56 COF 154 31

127 Mickaël BUFFAZ 57:18:44 01:28:47 COF 152 32

128 Jeremie GALLAND 57:18:49 01:28:52 SAU 215 28

129 Francisco VENTOSO 57:19:53 01:29:56 MOV 089 29

130 Ben SWIFT 57:20:50 01:30:53 SKY 116 23

131 Mark CAVENDISH 57:22:25 01:32:28 THR 171 26

132 Mickaël DELAGE 57:22:36 01:32:39 FDJ 133 25

133 Tomas VAITKUS 57:23:10 01:33:13 AST 068 29

134 Fabian CANCELLARA 57:23:11 01:33:14 LEO 012 30

135 Maxim IGLINSKIY 57:23:25 01:33:28 AST 065 30

136 Lieuwe WESTRA 57:23:41 01:33:44 VAC 209 28

137 Marcel SIEBERG 57:24:00 01:34:03 OLO 036 29

138 Matthew Harley GOSS 57:24:30 01:34:33 THR 174 24

139 Sébastien MINARD 57:24:43 01:34:46 ALM 107 29

140 Niki TERPSTRA 57:25:26 01:35:29 QST 129 27

141 Blel KADRI 57:26:42 01:36:45 ALM 106 24

142 Borut BOZIC 57:27:07 01:37:10 VAC 202 30

143 Addy ENGELS 57:27:52 01:37:55 QST 126 34

144 Leonardo BERTAGNOLLI 57:29:06 01:39:09 LAM 162 33

145 Anthony DELAPLACE 57:29:38 01:39:41 SAU 213 21

146 Lars BAK 57:30:12 01:40:15 THR 172 31

147 Denys KOSTYUK 57:30:25 01:40:28 LAM 166 29

148 Romain ZINGLE 57:31:17 01:41:20 COF 159 24

149 Gerald CIOLEK 57:32:12 01:42:15 QST 123 24

150 Julian DEAN 57:32:45 01:42:48 GRM 053 36

151 Arnaud COYOT 57:33:11 01:43:14 SAU 212 30

152 Yohann GENE 57:33:14 01:43:17 EUC 184 30

153 Samuel DUMOULIN 57:37:06 01:47:09 COF 153 30

154 André GREIPEL 57:37:22 01:47:25 OLO 033 28

155 Maciej BODNAR 57:37:31 01:47:34 LIQ 092 26

156 Tyler FARRAR 57:38:15 01:48:18 GRM 054 27

157 Andriy GRIVKO 57:39:45 01:49:48 AST 064 27

158 Marcus BURGHARDT 57:40:15 01:50:18 BMC 143 28

159 Pablo URTASUN PEREZ 57:40:32 01:50:35 EUS 027 31

160 Fabrice JEANDESBOZ 57:41:26 01:51:29 SAU 217 26

161 Dmitriy MURAVYEV 57:41:28 01:51:31 RSH 076 31

162 Bernhard EISEL 57:42:13 01:52:16 THR 173 30

163 Mikhail IGNATYEV 57:42:45 01:52:48 KAT 195 26

164 Perrig QUEMENEUR 57:42:53 01:52:56 EUC 187 27

165 Ramunas NAVARDAUSKAS 57:43:04 01:53:07 GRM 057 23

166 Mark RENSHAW 57:43:20 01:53:23 THR 177 28

167 Danny PATE 57:44:33 01:54:36 THR 176 32

168 Jimmy ENGOULVENT 57:46:36 01:56:39 SAU 214 31

169 Fabio SABATINI 57:56:59 02:07:02 LIQ 097 26

170 Vincent JEROME 57:59:49 02:09:52 EUC 185 26

171 Andrey AMADOR 58:04:42 02:14:45 MOV 082 24

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No miracle finish in Lourdes for Jérémy Roy

By: Jean-François QuénetPublished: July 15, 18:50, Updated: July 15, 19:15Race:Tour de France, Stage 13

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Jérémy Roy (FDJ) crosses the finish line in Lourdes for third place.

 

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French engineer not consoled with polka dot jersey

 

Both Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo), who won stage 13 of the Tour de France in Lourdes, and David Moncoutié (Cofidis), runner-up on the day, conceded that third-placed Jérémy Roy (FDJ) deserved to be the winner after his couragious lone attack. Sadly for the Frenchman, the headwind in the final valley going to the city of the miracles put an end to the hope of the French engineer of claiming his first stage win at the Tour de France.

 

The day after crossing the Tourmalet in first position, Roy was again out alone in the lead at the top of the Aubisque. That gave him the polka dot jersey, at least for a day before the mountain finish at the Plateau de Beille, but that wasn't what Roy was seeking.

 

"Jerseys are only temporary," FDJ team manager Marc Madiot said when asked to celebrate both the polka dot and white jerseys, as Arnold Jeannesson remains the Tour's best young rider. "When we draw conclusions in Paris, only the wins count."

 

France continues to celebrate Thomas Voeckler's yellow jersey but there's still hasn't been a French stage winner after thirteen days of racing at this year's Tour de France.

 

"Probably when you'll ask me again in a couple of months, I'll tell you that I've had a super stage to Lourdes, but right now my disappointment is huge," Roy told Cyclingnews. "This defeat is hard to swallow. There was a headwind in the valley and it was too hard for me."

 

Good legs again

 

The rider from Tours, who became a father for the first time last month, was pessimistic at the start in Pau. He felt so tired after his attack over the Tourmalet that he wondered if he would be able to even complete stage 13.

 

"But I had good legs again today," he said in Lourdes. "My creed is to go for it. I'm not a champion, I can't play with the big guns at the summit of the climbs, so I have to out-manoeuvre the peloton with the limited physical capacities I've got. I've failed again today. It's infuriating to fail so close to the end. I was lucky to catch the break but unlucky at the moment of the conclusion."

 

Roy, 28, officially turned pro with FDJ at the age of 20 but it was only five years later before he really became a full-time professional cyclist after successfully completing his study in engineering.

 

"In the first seasons we only raced him on weekends or during school holidays," Madiot said.

 

In his first year as a true pro racer in 2008, Roy finished second to Sylvain Chavanel in stage 19 of the Tour de France to Montluçon. That was the first of his missed opportunities at winning a Tour stage. Although Lourdes will probably not be the last one because he is by nature an aggressive rider.

 

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed

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A week is a long time at the Tour de France

By: Cycling NewsPublished: July 15, 12:09, Updated: July 15, 12:46

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My analysis of crashes, attacks and Contador suffering

 

 

Robert Millar

 

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A week might be a long time in politics but it's even longer at this year’s Tour de France, where the mix of elation and despair is being distributed in a seemingly merciless way.

 

It now seems an age ago when the HTC boys put Mark Cavendish in the right position to win again in Chateauroux after crashes wiping out the hopes of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Horner and Tom Boonen.

 

Team Sky were on a high after Edvald Boasson Hagen’s stage win Wiggo didn't bounce when he crashed and the instant decision for everyone to wait meant that they lost Geraint Thomas's white jersey too.

 

It really was one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't calls. But it was a more understandable decision than those taken by RadioShack and Quick Step. They allowed Horner and Boonen ride to the finish in a concussed state before being whisked off to A&E. That was crazy.

 

RadioShack obviously didn't want to lose another leader after Brajkovic had crashed out. Fortunately the doctors must have persuaded them to see some sense and stopped the Tour of California winner taking the start the next day. Quick Step ought to have done the same, not only for his own good but for those around about him also. He could have crashed and brought other riders down as well.

 

The uphill finish at Super-Besse Sancy on stage eight provided three things of note: the early break succeeded for the first time when Rui Costa held off the return of the peloton, Thor Hushovd survived in yellow when he was fully expecting to lose it, and Alexandre Vinokourov tried and failed to upset everyone with a late attack so typical of the man.

 

You might not be a fan of Vino because of his past but you have to admit he knows how to race and his spectacular attack on the penultimate climb reminded everyone how strong a rider he can be.

 

I thought Alberto Contador looked decidedly under par on the final climb. The attacks he produced to try and gain back some of his GC deficit weren't strong enough to hurt his rivals and that's something the other favourites would have noticed and stored up for much gloating later in the Tour.

 

Suffering in the medium mountains

 

Next day to Issoire was one of those stages that race organiser ASO aptly call medium mountains. It means up and down hills all day, in and out of corners and lots of suffering on tarmac that manages to be sticky on the way up and slippy on the way down.

 

The stage turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. The attack of the day contained the darling of the French public Thomas Voeckler, Luis Leon Sanchez, Sandy Casar, Juan Antonio Flecha, Nicki Terpstra and the irrepressible Johnny Hoogerland. Every one of them is a good strong rider so it was never going to be easy to keep the time gap under control. But all thoughts of that happening went out the window when there was another pile-up on a greasy descent that saw bodies everywhere. Important bodies too: Vino crashed out, Van Den Broeck, Frederik Willems and Zabriskie went out too, with numerous others lucky to get back on their bikes and in the bunch after a temporary truce was called.

 

By the time there had been a general regrouping in the peloton; it was obvious the break was going to stay away. Sadly that wasn't the end of the drama. Up front the squabbling for the stage win had started between the remaining five riders with Voeckler looking particularly committed, when the unthinkable happened.

 

Cars over take riders continuously in big races but instead of waiting till it was safe to do so the French television driver chose the wrong moment and it all went terribly wrong. Trying to pass with two wheels on the grass and faced with hitting a tree the driver made the wrong decision. Instead of braking and keeping out of the way of the riders, he swerved and hit Flecha, who went down hard taking with him Hoogerland who somersaulted and went straight into a barbwire fence. It looked horrific and neither Flecha nor Hoogerland would have known anything about it other than one minute they were racing in the Tour de France and the next, they were almost killed. It simply should not happen.

 

A brutal second weekend

 

It was a pretty brutal second weekend. The big crashes were still happening which indicated that everyone was still nervous and fighting to place their team leader in the first twenty. BMC looked good protecting Cadel Evans, as were Leopard-Trek with the Schleck brothers. But over at Saxo Bank things were starting to look frayed at the edges. It is surely a sign of things to come as fatigue begins to hurt everyone in the race.

 

After the first rest day on Monday, two transition stages caused what I'll call the HTC revival as the top sprinters returned to the fore. Greipel got the better of Mark Cavendish in Carmaux after the HTC boys were a bit exposed for the last few kilometres. Cavendish put things right the following day at Lavaur when he left all the other sprinters in no doubt who is the fastest, following another long day of graft on the front from his teammates at HTC. They make it look easy but there's some serious planning and preparation in those leadouts. It is all worth it, as Cav was over the moon to be back in his favorite green jersey.

 

A look at Luz Ardiden

 

And so to the first big mountain stage, the first big question and answer stage: day one of the Pyrenees with the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden on the menu.

 

It was good to see Team Sky's Geraint Thomas make the day's escape and provide some indication of just how deep his talents runs. He has to be pleased with how his day went despite some ‘feet out’ moments on the descent of the first climb.

 

Thomas has been looking strong all Tour and second over the Tourmalet shows he isn't afraid to race on a day which most people would be fearful of. Jeremy Roy might have pocketed the Jacques Goddet prize at the top but it was Bastille Day so you kind of expect a French rider to be paying attention and stealing the glory.

 

On the final climb to Luz-Ardiden we saw the first real moves of this year’s Tour de France. Sammy Sanchez and Jelle Vanendert extracted themselves from the group at just the right time (i.e. before the hostilities really started) and rode very strongly to fight it out for the stage win.

 

Behind Europcar rode their legs off to keep Voeckler in yellow and he rightly gave Pierre Rolland a hug as they crossed the line. The yellow jersey looked comfortable for most of the stage but Contador's Saxo Bank teammates were often dangling on the back and of no use to their leader when the attacks started.

 

The Schleck brothers have received some stick in the past for getting their tactics wrong but this time they played the old one-two just right. Their attacks revealed who the real overall contenders are this year: Evans, Basso, Cunego and Contador were the only ones who could follow the Andy and Fränk accelerations. And interestingly, when Fränk put in the third attack, Contador didn't even try to go with him. That's not something the defending champion normally does and then he struggled all the way to the finish.

 

The time gaps weren’t that significant but Contador’s performance was. And will only spark further scrutiny, questions and attacks. This year’s Tour might not be remembered as one of the great editions of all time but we should at least see some great racing in the final week.

 

Trending and fending

 

Trending this week: Evans, Basso, Cunego, Fränk and Andy Schleck, Sammy Sanchez, Tommy Voeckler, Mark Cavendish and Philippe Gilbert.

 

Fending off the questions: Leipheimer, Tony Martin, Charteau, Nicolas Roche and Katusha for all the wrong reasons.

 

Bending or broken: Gesink, Gadret, Chavanel and Kreuziger.

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Sturg1647545502

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Eddy Merckx

 

Picture courtesy of http://www.corvos.nl

Eddy Merckx is simply the greatest rider of all time. Nicknamed “The Cannibal” for his insatiable appetite for victories, he won virtually every important race, most multiple times.

Born on June 17, 1945, Merckx rode for thirteen seasons, but thoroughly dominated cycling for a full ten years like no one else has before or since. Merckx won the Amateur World Championship Road Race in 1964 then turned pro in 1965.

 

His first major victory came in the 1966 Milan-San Remo at age 20. His last major victory was in that same race, ten years later. In his peak years, 1969 through 1975, Merckx won an astounding 35% of races entered.

 

He won the Tour de France five times, the Giro d'Italia five times and the Vuelta a Espana once for a total of eleven Grand Tour victories.

 

He won each of cycling’s five monuments (Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of Lombardy) more than twice, for a record of nineteen victories in these races.

 

 

Of those races, he won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege a record five times and the Milan-San Remo a record seven times. His record of 525 victories, including 445 as a professional, is untouchable.

Between 1968 and 1974, he won a record eleven Grand Tours. He is the only rider to win all of the classifications (overall, mountains and points jerseys) in a single year at the Tour de France (1969) and the Giro d’Italia (1968).

 

He won the Tour de France - Giro d'Italia double in 1970, 1972, and 1974. He won the Giro d'Italia - Vuelta a Espana double in 1973.

 

He has 34 Tour de France stage wins (the record) including six stages in 1969 and 1972, and eight stages in 1970 and 1974.

 

In 1974, he won the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship Road Race to achieve the “Triple Crown” in cycling. That feat has only been repeated one other time: by Stephen Roche in 1987.

 

 

Picture courtesy of http://www.corvos.nl

 

 

Picture courtesy of http://www.corvos.nl

Despite his successes, Merckx was not immune to injury and accident as this race in 1969 illustrates. Merckx was in a derny-paced exhibition race toward the end of the season. These are races in which cyclists each follow their own motorcycle pacer around an oval track.

A pacer and cyclist fell in front of Merckx forcing Merckx and his pacer to fall. Merckx’s pacer was killed instantly. Merckx was knocked unconscious and was bleeding heavily from a head wound.

 

 

Merckx suffered a concussion and required stitches to close the gaping wound. The worst lingering effect from the accident was that Merckx cracked one of his vertebrae and twisted his pelvis. This made climbing painful and, despite his amazing victory record, may have limited his winning to some extent.

Merckx experienced other injuries, but was determined to carry on his winning ways. In the 1975 Tour de France on the climb up the Puy-de-Dome, a French spectator viciously punched Merckx in the stomach. A few days later, Merckx crashed and fractured his cheek bone, but still did not abandon the race. In the end, he lost the Tour to Bernard Thevenet: but by under three minutes.

 

Merckx’s demanding schedule took its toll on him. He won his last Grand Tour in 1974 at the age of 29 and his last major classic in the spring of 1976, at the age of 30. He retired two years later on May 17, 1978, at the age of 32.

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Sturg1647545502

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El oh el.

 

Btw, did you watch the climbs yesterday? Looked brutal, and tomorrow is supposed to be worse

 

nah bruh i was to busy crusing columbus. almost wrecked out when my skinny jeans got caught in my chain. I gotta get a gaurd on that huffy

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