Category: tour de france (Page 11 of 23)

We’re up and running again, cable television and internet is a GO! Just got it hooked back up late this afternoon, so haven’t watched Stage 3 yet, but will catch the 7pm – 10pm broadcast and post later.

Stage 4 (tomorrow) means the roster for the TDF Fantasy Cycling Challenge team is set, no more changes to the roster. You can always make changes between starters and bench guys.

Here’s our team – I love being a director sportif!

Today was the type of stage that isn’t that exciting – even for me: A flat and fast stage with a bunch sprint at the end. The bunch sprints are exciting and today we had two; in addition to the stage win, the interim sprint for points for the green jersey classification was also contested by super-sprinters Mark Cavendish (Sky), Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) , Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and yesterday’s stage winner – Peter Sagan.

Unlike yesterday, the teams with sprinters took turns setting the pace of the peloton and chasing down the 3 man breakaway. They caught the breakaway with no trouble, keeping the pace high, they got their “sprint trains” in place to carry and deliver their sprinter to the 200-250 k mark from the finish and the let the sprinters duke it out.

With Sky saving their riders for yellow jersey hopeful Bradley Wiggins’ use in the mountains, Cavendish was left to his own devices. Not a problem. He worked his way along and with about 150 k to go he found former teammate/current archrival Andre Greipel’s wheel and held on waiting to pounce. When Greipel (Lotto) opened up his sprint, Cavendish came around him and just pipped him at the line. Goss, also a former teammate of Cavendish’s took 3rd.

When Greipel finds out that it was his wheel that Cavendish used to beat him and take the stage win, he will not be happy to say the least. Those two guys strongly dislike each other to say the least.

I don’t think it was accidental that Cavendish ended up on his wheel.

There was no change in the overall lead, fan favorite Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) held on to the yellow jersey. Tomorrow the riders leave Belgium and start their tour of France… 😉

——————————————————————————–

Stage 3 will be somewhat like Stage 1 – lumpy with Category 4 and 3 climbs. Unlike Stage 1, there is no uphill finish, nonetheless it isn’t a stage for the sprinters. It’s a stage for the likes of Sagan, Cancellara, Phillip Gilbert, or the guy I think might win – Frenchman, Sylvan Chavanel who sits in 3rd place (yes, 3rd) at only 7 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Expect more excitement tomorrow!

P.S. My cable television and internet service is out. Yep. Out. My husband is waiting on hold to talk to them and hopefully get it back up tomorrow morning. I can’t be without my services in the month of July!

This is the part of the Tour that is predictable. It was predictable that Fabian Cancellara won the Prologue yesterday and predictable that Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) was a good bet to win today. He did, besting Cancellara at the line after Cancellara was nice enough to tow him to the finish line. As they say… that’s bike racing.

Last night in my post I picked either Phillip Gilbert or Sagan to win, Gilbert finished 4th. He hasn’t quite had the form he had last year it seems or else he’s been holding back. Apparently he wasn’t holding back, today was a stage near his home and a stage win that he admitted he wanted but he couldn’t pull it off. 

Stage 1 wasn’t a flat stage for the sprinters or a mountainous stage for the pure climbers. It had a few category 4 hills with the last climb being short but steep. Between the final climb, the 2nd crash, crosswinds and the pace of the chasing peloton, there were some huge time gaps that resulted. Riders were still coming across the finish 4 minutes after Sagan took the win and did one of the better victory salutes we’ve seen in a while.

This is part of it:

Sagan is only 22 years old and in his first Tour, but he rides like he’s been there before. He’s strong, confident and immensely talented. We will see many more victory salutes!

In other news… as is the norm in the Tour de France there was a breakaway and crashes. A breakaway that left as soon as race director, Christian Purdhomme dropped the flag signaling the start. The breakaway of six riders managed to stay away until about the 10k mark.

About the time I commented to Mark that there hadn’t been any crashes, there was one, then another. A stupid fan standing on the road taking pictures caused the second crash. Tony Martin (Quickstep) went down, he has had zero luck so far. Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) went down too as did other riders. I haven’t read that any of the riders had dropped out due to injury.

There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not Mark Cavendish (Sky) sprinter extraordinaire would go for the green jersey (points jersey) this year since he will be competing in the Olympics later this month not to mention going for stage victories (he has 20). Cavendish has said he wasn’t interested in the points jersey but today he raced for the interim sprint points so he’s either testing his legs or wants to give it a go.

I bet we see Cavendish go for the win tomorrow and get it.

Still other news…

I don’t like Liam McHugh, nothing personal since I don’t even know the guy, but you get the sense his knowledge of bike racing is from the days of his youth (not that many years ago either) when he raced his buddies home??  Craig Hummer, who was the straight man to Bob Roll, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen in the 2009 and 2010 Tours is now a field reporter.

I say put Liam in a field… far away from the Tour.

Roll, Liggett and Sherwen are still there but Liggett and Sherwen seem out of the pre-race fun and strictly just calling the race. There’s a new guy too in addition to McHugh and Roll in the studio, but he’s got zero on-air personality.

Hey, NBC, I liked the Versus coverage of the race why did you have to go and change it.

It’s Tour de France time again!

The 2012 version of the Tour starts up Saturday, June 30th in Liege, Belgium – 23 days and 2,148 miles later it will end on the Champs E’lyse in Paris.

In between will be:

*9 flat stages

*9 mountain stages with 3 summit finishes

*2 individual time-trial stages

*prologue (time-trial)

*numerous crashes

*unparalleled sports drama

*and countless displays of courage and athleticism

Relative to the 2011 Tour, this Tour will challenge less through climbing and more through the time-trial abilities of the riders. There will still be plenty of tough climbs obviously in the Pyrenees and Alps, but less grueling than last year.

Which is to say, the climbs will be tortuous but less so than last year. Right…

From my perspective, with two of the best climbers and overall GC contenders out this year (see my TDF Guide for definitions and info on how to follow and understand the Tour) it takes away something from the Tour. Andy Schleck is out because of injuries to his spine sustained in the Criterium du Dauphine when he was blown off his bike during the individual time-trial by a gust of wind. And of course, Alberto Contador, winner of is out because of doping. How is that for bad luck, Schleck’s nemesis on the bike is not allowed to race the Tour this year due to a doping suspension and Schleck can’t take advantage of it due to injury.

Speaking of doping, French team Europcar, is being investigated by French officials for possible doping in last year’s Tour. They are the team of Thomas Voeckler, my favorite Frenchman and one of my very favorite bike racers. Voeckler has been dealing with a knee injury, but is supposed to compete in this year’s Tour along with teammate, Pierre Rolland, who in the not too distant future could be a serious contender for the Tour – something France has not had for a long time – other than Voeckler. Before you laugh, remember Voeckler finished 4th last year.

Pre-race favorites are last year’s winner Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali, Frank Schleck, Robert Gesink and Ryder Hesjedal among others. One rider that is an American favorite that could figure into the mix for overall GC is Levi Leipheimer. Speaking of Americans, George Hincapie will be racing in his last Tour, a record 17th.

Wiggins looks to be strong and peaking at the right time with a strong team to match. Evans hasn’t had as noteworthy an early season as Wiggins (no one has) but he has as strong a team as Wiggins if not stronger. Both Wiggins and Evans are strong time-trialest too as well as elite climbers.

This year’s Tour seems to be more wide open than in previous years which could make for added excitement. There is always unexpected drama in every Tour and this one will certainly be no different.

Hopefully it will follow last year’s Tour and center around the racing NOT doping.

Always interesting is how the race unfolds, favorites can get injured and go out (Wiggins last year) or a racer you wouldn’t expect to contend for the overall win can step up and threaten to take it away from the favorites (Voeckler last year).

One thing is for sure: there will be great racing, no shortage of crashes and plenty of drama and excitement. Nothing compares to the Tour de France in terms of difficulty. You can catch it all on Versus/NBC sports.

You can also catch a wrap-up of each stage here, just like I did in 2010 and 2011. Check them out, I just re-read last year’s – what an unbelievable Tour that was.

As all those 60+ posts show, I LOVE the Tour de France – Viva le Tour!