Category: tour de france (Page 5 of 23)

Four days into the Tour and the team that has made the biggest splash is Orica-GreenEdge. First their bus, then yesterday Simon Gerrans gets them their first ever Tour stage win and today Gerrans picks up their first ever yellow jersey when the team won the 25 kilometer Team Time-trial.

Not a bad week for the young Australian team.

Down by a few seconds at the mid-point, they finished the stage 1 second ahead of Omega Pharma-Quick Step and 3 seconds ahead of Sky.

I could not be happier, I love it when the upstarts beat the big guns.

The top 10 for the TTT:

Stage 5 Profile:

The best part of today’s stage for this fan was the scenery.

The Tour is known for showing off the abundant beauty of France, but the island of Corsica takes it to a new level. I don’t think I have ever seen water that blue. The clear turquoise water and white sandy beaches, the cliffs and canyons of Stage 3’s route was breathtaking.

The racing wasn’t too bad either.

We had the usual break, a group of five guys. Like every early breakaway of the Tour so far, Europcar had a rider. Presumably he was there to capture points in the climbing competition since his teammate Pierre Rolland started the stage with polka dot jersey – and shorts – and bike. Personally I think it is  a little early to devote so much to showing off the jersey when it is unlikely even someone of the caliber of Rolland, will keep it. But that’s the French for you.

Like yesterday, the route was lumpy, lumpier actually, causing the sprinter favorites to fall out the back, all except for Peter Sagan. Holding the yellow jersey, Team Radio Shack was stuck with doing the majority of the work in the peloton. Team Sky was near the front, Cadel Evans (who I happen to think looks like a contender in that he has no pressure on him whatsoever) also stayed near the front as did Alberto Contador and Saxo-Bank.

Things stayed that way until around 20 kilometers from the finish when Simon Clark attacked his break-mates as the peloton was hot on their tail at about 1 minute out. Rolland took off chasing down Clark and passing him. Fellow Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel gave chase as did 2 other riders eventually and for a short time the 4 were in the lead until the closing peloton was ready to make the catch. They swallowed up the group and then the mad dash to the finish ensued.

I was positive Sagan would win. He had a teammate leading him out and even when Simon Gerrans and his teammate passed them on the right charging ahead I wasn’t worried. No way would Gerrans beat Sagan in a sprint to the line.  No way.

Wrong. It makes me think Sagan was injured from his crash on Stage 1, otherwise he should win fairly easily.

Today’s stage finished with no major crashes, no bus incidents and no revelations of doping – a successful day at the Tour.

Particularly successful for one Jan Bakelants of RadioShack. Bakelants was in a group of six riders in an attack just a few kilometers from the finish who managed to separate himself from the others and then managed to hold on to take the win and the yellow jersey. I hoped the fast approaching peloton would catch him resulting in a bunch sprint, but they ran out of road.

Stage 2 was another day of frustration for the sprinters. It was a lumpy stage and except for Peter Sagan, too difficult as they were all dropped from the main group on the climbs.

French team, Europcar was very aggressive, attacking at different points of the stage with various riders, including Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland. I liked their tactics and that their efforts were rewarded with the polka dot jersey for Rolland.

For the craziest, nonsensical move of the day the award goes to the guy most pick to win the Tour, Sky’s Chris Froome. For no tactical reason whatsoever Froome attacked apparently to chase down Europcar’s Gautier, why no one knows, but his attack kind of fizzled out and he was thankfully swept up by the peloton.

The winner of the Tour de France has to have patience and the ability to stay focused on the overall plan. Which means attacks come and go, but as a favorite your only true challenges come from other favorites, not riders hunting for stage wins, those you have to let go. I thought the move made Froome look silly. His riding makes him look silly too.

Stage 3 is the last day for the Tour on the incredibly beautiful island of Corsica. Another lumpy stage, it looks like the kind of day for a guy like Sagan or a one day classics kind of rider. I like the terrain of the first 3 stages, not your typical pancake flat opening stages we usually have.

Chaos and crashes.

The first stage of the 100th Tour de France, the greatest race in pro cycling, was much like the current state of professional cycling: chaotic.

For starters there was the Orica-GreenEdge team bus getting stuck at the finish line. First time the Tour has been disrupted by a bus, I believe.

Because of the busted bus/finish line the Tour decided to quickly move the finish. Team cars and riders were informed of the change on the fly – and at this point the peloton was flying. They were only about 15 kilometers from the finish, about the time the sprinters teams were coming to the front to crank things up and position their sprinter.

At the last minute though the bus was moved and Tour officials decided to go back to the original finish. Again the riders were told through their ear pieces  while going around 40 mph. Not good. It was a bad decision in my mind. Once the finish was changed they should have stuck with it, although I can understand why they made the decision they did.

Not only was it the first stage of the 100th Tour, but also one of the very few times a sprinter gets the yellow jersey in addition to the stage victory.

Mark Cavendish (Quick Step), Andre Greipel (Lotto), Peter Sagan (Cannondale) all were imagining themselves in yellow. Although all had a chance to win and capture the leader’s jersey, Cavendish was definitely the favorite. Cavendish has worn green, but never yellow, and he’s possibly the best sprinter ever.

Instead of watching the fastest maneuver and sprint for the win and the yellow jersey, we watched them get taken out by a crash. All of the commotion with finish line changes surely played a part. Regardless of the cause, it was awful. What a horrible start to the 100th edition of the Tour de France. Cavendish was caught out in the crash, Sagan went down and was banged up, Greipel had a mechanical. Instead of having one of the most memorable starts to the Tour we had a chaotic scramble to the line and carnage behind.

Carnage is becoming a theme for the Tour de France.

Trying to minimize the damage, Tour officials awarded all finishers the same finishing time. In addition to the sprinters involved in the crash, Tour favorite and previous winner, Alberto Contador went down and injured his shoulder as did others.

A disappointing finish to what we all expected to be a spectacular one. A disappointing beginning to the Tour.