Posted on 07/02/2010 11:30:15 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
By Craig Lewis
July 22, 2010
Could the 2010 Tour de France be any closer as it heads into the final three days? Alberto Contador (Astana) and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) are racing as if they were identical twins. Matching each other's accelerations and riding side by side, as they leave the rest of the race several switchbacks down the road.
On paper, Contador should prevail over Andy in the 52-kilometer (32-mile) race against the clock on Saturday. Yet, the way Andy rode the cobbles on Stage 3 and beat Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) in a two-up sprint on Stage 8, he could easily have the best performance of his life in the final time trial and upset the favorites. For me, the winner of this year's Tour is still about as foggy as the finish on the Col du Tourmalet today.
With all of the mountains of the Tour de France now in the books, the race takes a flatter route up north to Paris. The 18th stage will start in the shadows of the Pyrenees and finish in the epicenter of the wine world, Bordeaux. With all but two riders now out of contention in this year's race, there will be nothing to lose at this point.
The riders of the Tour will now be confident in making the finish in Paris and will not hesitate to throw in a few attacks along the way. Trying to capture a little more face time on televisions around the world, racers will be extra motivated to get in the day's breakaway. This means the first one to two hours of tomorrow's stage will be very quick, and with the added possibility of crosswinds off the Atlantic coast, the stage will not be an easy spin through the vineyards.
The French riders are having one of their best Tour's in terms of stage wins in recent history and will look to add to their tally of six stages as a country. There are also many other teams that do not want to leave the Tour empty handed. Milram is still hoping to secure a title sponsor for next year and a stage win would certainly help in the effort to keep the 75-plus members of the organization employed. If that doesn't provide some motivation to go for a stage, I am not sure what else would.
For the sprinters, the 18th stage will be calling their names. The green jersey competition is still just as tight at the race for yellow with Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) leading Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) by just four points. Thor and Alessandro will most likely be just trying the distance themselves as much as possible from each other. Petacchi has another fast teammate, Grega Bole, and they will try to place him ahead of Hushovd at the finish or even in the intermediate sprints to steel away valuable points.
Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) will be hard to beat in the final 200 meters. With three stages already in the bag, Cav should have no problem picking up a fourth tomorrow and most likely a 5th in Paris. Cav is, however, lacking the best lead-out man in the world, Mark Renshaw, but Cav is a sprinter that can also find his own way to the line and will prove that the rest of the week.
Posted by Brian Pinelli on 7/22/2010 at 12:48PM
It was an epic duel staged in an eerie mist to the 6940-foot summit of the daunting Col du Tourmalet. With everything at stake, two sensational climbers tested their physical and mental limits while battling mano-a-mano.
One-hundred years and one day after Tour riders first ascended the venerable Pyrénées climb - Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Alberto Contador (Astana) paid homage doing the same. Reaching for everything in his power, the Luxembourger tried and tried - ultimately unsuccessfully - to crack his Spanish rival. Arriving together at the top of the vicious 11.5-mile grueling ascent, it was Schleck winning the battle, but Contador most likely winning the war.
In a gesture of goodwill - following their dispute of only two days ago - Contador allowed Schleck to cross the mountaintop finish line just slightly ahead. Their time was 5 hours, 3 minutes and 29. Most importantly, the Spaniard maintained his overall lead of 8 seconds, drawing ever so close to his third Tour de France title.
"Despite all that, I'm very happy to win this stage. It's always a dream to win the Tourmalet," said Schleck when asked about his inability to escape from Contador.
...more...
And Liggett mails one in, not even worth excerpting
Great!. I’ve been short staffed at work and not able to comment most of the tour this year. Really enjoyed today’s stage! I think the Schleck/Contador rivalry will be exciting for many years to come.
I think so, too, Mom MD. Good to see you.
Hopefully Andy can go to super time-trialer school. Johan & Lance could teach him a thing or two.
Stage 18 - Salies-de-Béarn > > > Bordeaux - 198 km
Friday, July 23, 2010
(none)
Click the 'To' option to go to the start of the Stage 18 posts.
The Stage starts at 13:00 local time CEST (6 hrs ahead of US EDT).
velonews.com - "The sprinters who survived the mountains will be set free once again in stage 18, a dead-flat affair from Salies-de-Béarn to Bordeaux. The most challenging aspect of this stage could be the weather, with heat-wave conditions common in the region this time of year.
Bordeaux is hosting a stage finish for the first time in seven years, the longest break since an eight-year absence during World War II. The last bunch finish in Bordeaux, in 1999, was won by Tom Steels ahead of Robbie McEwen and Erik Zabel."
FReepmail me to get on or off the 2010 TdF Ping List.
~7 minutes to go...
12:53 - Sprint Finish Not Certain...
The consensus is that today’s course is one for the sprinters but LeTour.fr spoke with a couple of key people about the stage earlier today and both Allan Peiper, the directeur sportif of HTC-Columbia, and Robbie McEwen, the winner of 12 sprint stage of the Tour over the years, both said it’s going to be an interesting tactical battle. Lampre and Cervelo will be the teams with the most to win or lose as the green jersey could be decided on a day like this...
12:56 - The Two Intermediate Sprints
Points for the green jersey will be awarded in Castelnau-Chalosse (29.5km), Hostels (150.5km) and at the finish in Bordeaux. There are 6, 4 and 2 for the first three over the line at the intermediate primes. And at the end, points go down to the first 25 over the finish line. The allocation of points in Bordeaux is: 35pts for first, then 30, 26, 24, 22, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
12:57 - Prize Category Summary: Yellow Jersey
The stage to the col du Tourmalet confirmed the dominance of the riders in first and second overall in the 2010 Tour. Andy Schleck was unable to gain any time on his main rival, the defending champion and race leader Alberto Contador. But the two increased their buffer over those in third and fourth overall. Samuel Sanchez crashed early in the stage yesterday but finished fifth. He lost 1’32” to the yellow jersey and is now 3’32” behind the GC leader.
12:58 - Prize Category Summary: Green Jersey
This is the classification that is likely to dictate how stage 18 is raced. There are two intermediate sprints – in Castelnau-Chalosse (29.5km) and Hostens (150.5km) – and then a good dose of points are on offer in Bordeaux. There’s no climb on the course and the consensus is that it should be a day for the sprinters, but Robbie McEwen said, “It’s one of those days that, on paper, everyone thinks is a day for the sprinters it has to be controlled so everything so it all comes together.”
12:58 - Green Jersey [Continued….]
“There’ll be two teams that will want to bring it together for a sprint to get the points: HTC and Lampre,” said McEwen earlier today. “Cervelo will NOT want it to come down to that… and there’ll be plenty of teams on the attack.” Lampre has the most motivation because Petacchi needs only four points to take back the green jersey that is worn by the winner of stage three, Thor Hushovd.”
13:03 - Prize Category Summary: Polka-Dot Jersey
Anthony Charteau (BTL) has an unbeatable lead in the mountains classification with the 143 points he’s collected during the first 17 stages. Second is compatriot Christophe Moreau (GCE) who has 128 points. Today is effectively a day off for Charteau who will wear the polka-dot jersey for the eighth day in the 2010 Tour;l there are no climbs and all he has to do is make it to Paris and he’ll stand on the podium as the King of the Mountains of the 97th Tour.
13:09 - Prize Category Summary: White Jersey
With his 2nd stage victory, Andy Schleck put time into every rider except for his main rival Alberto Contador. The Luxembourger is going to win the white jersey for a record-equaling third time – all he has to do, really, is make it to Paris without any incident and he will be the youth classification winner. He is 6’33” ahead of Robert Gesink (RAB) and 10’04” ahead of Kreuziger (LIQ). Julien El Fares (COF) is the only other young rider less than an hour behind Schleck in the overall rankings.
13:07 - “Sunny and Cloudy”
The weather report from Sebastien Piquet of Radio Tour for the start is a confusing one. “It’s sunny and cloudy,” he just told LeTour.fr. Pushed for further explanation, he explained that there is no rain in Salies-de-Bearn and above are blue skies with patches of high cloud. We all okay with that appraisal? Right. So let’s move on and wait for the names from Mr Piquet of the seven escapees...
13:20 - The Breakaway Members
The four in the lead of the stage by 1’10”” are:
Daniel Oss (LIQ)
Jerome Pineau (QST)
Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ)
Matti Breschel (SAX)
13:18 - Four Lead By 1’10”
We’re still waiting to see if there’s any life in the escape... the peloton is responding quickly to the attacks. It could be that the latest selection is the right one but we don’t yet have the names of those involved.
Garmin, Lampre and HTC have come to the front of the peloton.
Garmin, Lampre and HTC have come to the front of the peloton.
13:35 - HTC-Columbia Control Peloton
Contrary to what Allan Peiper told LeTour.fr this morning, they are doing the work in the chase of the escape group. There are four from the HTC-Columbia team now at the front of the peloton that is 2’50” behind the four escapees at the 25.5km mark.
13:34 - Peiper: Lampre Should Mark The Escape...
“Petacchi needs the points and I think he needs it to go to a bunch sprint today to make it safe,” said Allan Peiper about the incentive of teams to police escapes. “Thor is not sprinting so fast these days so if it goes to a ‘bunchie’ and Cav wins, then Petacchi is probably going to be second and, in that scenario, Thor is usually there for sixth or seventh. That will give Petacchi the advantage, and a reason for Lampre to ride today. They have more reason than us to chase down the break.”
13:32 - Advantage Up Over Two Minutes
At the 21km mark, the peloton was 2’10” behind the four escapees.
13:31 - The Selection Suits Peiper...
Allan Peiper told LeTour.fr this morning that he didn’t mind if a small group of riders gets an advantage on the peloton in stage 18 but the directeur sportif of Mark Cavendish’s team didn’t want a big group to race ahead. “It’s too hard to control that and do the sprint as well. Four or five or six riders… that’s fine, I think we can control that.”
13:29 - Peiper Comments On HTC-Columbia’s Plans For Stage 18
“How we ride the stage depends a lot on how Cavendish is feeling,” Allan Peiper told LeTour.fr this morning. “He’s been a bit sick these last few days so I don’t know if he’s quite on his game but I thought he got through yesterday really well. ““The other thing is, Petacchi’s team still needs to get points for the green jersey so they really have a reason to ride as well. The most important thing is that we don’t let a big group go because if we do, our chances are ruined.”
13:28 - Charteau Punctures
The polka-dot jersey has punctured his rear tire.
A reminder of the status of the Sprint points competition.
Approaching the first sprint, few points avail but enough to make a change between Thor & Petacchi. Cavendish is going to need to win the stage to have any chance of beating them, and they’d have to score almost no points for that to happen.
1. HUSHOVD Thor 95 CERVELO TEST TEAM 191 pts
2. PETACCHI Alessandro 208 LAMPRE - FARNESE 187 pts
3. CAVENDISH Mark 111 TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 162 pts
4. ROJAS Jose Joaquin 169 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 149 pts
5. MC EWEN Robbie 75 KATUSHA TEAM 138 pts
6. HAGEN Edvald Boasson 36 SKY PRO CYCLING 132 pts
7. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 115 pts
8. SANCHEZ Samuel 181 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 112 pts
9. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 107 pts
10. TURGOT Sébastien 158 BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 107 pts
13:41 - Peiper Concludes His Preview...
The HTC-Columbia team has conceded that the green jersey is probably out of reach but a few more stage wins for Cavendish are still on offer and Peiper told LeTour.fr how the team will contest the stage. “Today the tactics for us will be to use a couple of the climbers first – like Monfort and Sivtsov – to control the group. Then we’ll call on Grabsch and Martin and Rogers as late in the final as possible. And then Eisel will pilot him to the sprint.”
13:40 - Points Winners At 29.5km
The result of the intermediate sprint at the 29.5km mark is: 1. Matti Breschel (SAX) 6pts 2. Daniel Oss (LIQ) 4pts 3. Jerome Pineau (QST) 2pts
13:36 - “Cavendish Looks Good...”
We should have an ally in Lampre today that will help us control a group that goes away,” Peiper continued. “We have to see what we can do with the guys who we’ve got. Cav copes well yesterday. He got dropped early but descended cleverly to get back with the main group on the backside of the Marie-Blanque and he stayed in the bunch until the next climb and he was never in trouble after that and this is a good sign. He looks good.”
13:57 - Oss Following Similar Progression To Renshaw...[absent the head-butting, one wonders...]
When he was still a junior, Daniel Oss was a versatile rider capable of winning medals at the national level in Italy in a wide variety of disciplines. In 2004, he was the gold medalist in the individual pursuit (3,000m for juniors), 3rd in the team pursuit, 3rd in the scratch race, 2nd in the road time trial... and 3rd in the team sprint at the European championships. These days his role is a lead-out man but he may become a sprinter in his own right...
13:52 - Oss A Force For The Future...
At the end of March the young Italian from Liquigas who is in the escape today, Daniel Oss, made a big impression with his work as a lead-out man. The 23-year-old was the last lead-out man for Daniele Bennati in the one-day Classic, Milan-San Remo... he led the peloton under the ’flamme rouge’ and paced his team’s sprinter for over 500m as the pack charged towards the line. He has a history as a track pursuiter and is riding his first Tour this year. He was sixth in stage one.
14:40 - McEwen Optimistic...
“I basically suffered all the way this year,” McEwen told LeTour.fr earlier today. “My injuries made me go much deeper into my reserves than I otherwise would have so I’ve gotten through those. I’m suffering from not sitting straight on the bike, and the pain from the wounds themselves. I had to hurt myself a lot just to get to the finish so I’ll see how I come up today and hopefully in the final I’ll have decent legs and will be able to push out a good sprint.”
14:38 - McEwen’s Commentary Continued...
“You don’t always have the ability to manage who is in the break. There’s a lumpy [hilly] start to the stage and there are plenty of attacking opportunities early and if a group of more than five or six get away, it can be more than a handful to manage. And at this end of the race, it’s hard to feel good. Some guys are super, some are absolutely on their hands and knees… it depends on who goes up the road and who is chasing.”
14:37 - McEwen: Sprint Not Certain...
“It’s one of those days that, on paper, everyone thinks is a day for the sprinters but you still have to control everything so that it all comes together,” said McEwen about the 198km stage to Bordeaux. “I remember the last time we finished in Bordeaux, [Servais] Knaven won solo and he was in an escape that went from kilometer zero.”
14:35 - McEwen: Continued...
There are still many teams that haven’t won at this Tour and they’ll surely go out on the attack. It’ll be very tactical today because the green jersey is also up for grabs between Hushovd and Petacchi and, who knows, maybe even Cavendish,” McEwen told LeTour.fr earlier today. “There’ll be two teams that will want to bring it together for a sprint to get the points: HTC and Lampre. Cevelo will NOT want it to come down to that… and there’ll be plenty of teams on the attack.”
14:34 - Comments From McEwen
“I’m still in the race so everything is possible,” Robbie McEwen responded to LeTour.fr when asked if he could win today. “The reason I’ve tried so hard to stay in the race is to get to this stage and to Sunday. First, it’s got to come to a sprint and, secondly, I’ve got to be able to manage it well. “It’s not that obvious that a stage like this will end in a sprint and at the tale end of a three week race, when we’ve just had hard mountain stages, it’s not easy to keep it all together.”
14:46 - McEwen: No Decision On His Future...
LeTour.fr’s interview with Robbie McEwen concluded with a question about his future plans... You’ve got an amazing Tour de France record but at the next three days the last of your participation in the race? “I don’t know,” said the 38-year-old. “If you asked me a week ago, I’d have said that I never want to come back. But I haven’t made any decision on my future. I’m not thinking any further than this afternoon – or the end of this race.”
14:44 - Three Riders With Contador
Three Astana team-mates have joined Contador to help pace him back to the peloton after a quick bike change.
14:43 - New Bike For Contador
The yellow jersey has recently stopped to change his bike. He had a Specialized frame with a funky paint job but now he’s back on the one he used yesterday.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.