Posted on 07/02/2010 11:30:15 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
Hi nutmeg! Good to see you.
15:35 - Lelangue: “We want to make gains...”
“It’s more important that we continue to concentrate on the main objective and that’s to win the yellow jersey in Paris,” said Lelangue of BMC earlier today. “There is no pressure for us to take it as soon as possible. That’s not the objective. What we want to do today is make a few gains on some of the other riders if we can and to not lose time on other contenders. If the yellow is part of that package, okay, we’ll take it. But that’s not going to be the big fight of the day.”
15:34 - BMC Doesn’t Want Yellow Jersey... Yet
This morning LeTour.fr contacted John Lelangue of the BMC team to find out about today’s stage. If we look at the general classification after six stages and profile of the stage to Les Rousses, it’s fair to say that Cadel will end the day in the yellow jersey… “No, there’s no need for that yet,” said the Belgian manager. “There’s no pressure for him to do that yet. There’s no emergency and we don’t need the yellow jersey yet.”
15:21 - Sanquer: “Cancellara can keep the yellow jersey...”
“We must not forget that the last week of the Tour will be very difficult. So for now we will continue an observation phase,” Yvon Sanquer of the Astana team told LeTour.fr this morning. “Tonight, I think Cancellara can keep the yellow jersey. He is very strong right now, and I think he can spend the day ascents. Unless the race appears to be very eventful, and in this case it becomes difficult.”
15:16 - Comments From Astana Directeur Sportif
“We cannot yet speak of a true mountain stage,” said a directeur sportif of the Astana team, Yvan Sanquer. “It is more like a hill stage. While the Jura is still difficult, the climbs of the seventh stage are not extremely steep. We will therefore continue to be vigilant, particularly with a likely escape route. Tomorrow we will talk about the first real ‘col’ of the Tour, and we will pay attention and use our strengths.”
15:40 - Peloton At 99km
With five kilometers to climb, the peloton is 4’40” behind the five escapees.
15:40 - Cavendish Dropped
The first rider to be dropped on the fourth ascent of the seventh stage is yesterday’s winner Mark Cavendish. He has been joined by his faithful team-mate Bernhard Eisel.
15:38 - Lead Under Five Minutes
The peloton is now 4’55” behind the five escapees. Here’s a reminder of the five who escaped in the first kilometer:
Jerome Pineau (FRA) QST
Christian Knees (GER) MRM
Ruben Perez Moreno (ESP) EUS
Samuel Dumoulin (FRA) COF
Danilo Hondo (ITA) LAM
15:45 - Lelangue Confident In Evans
“Cancellara could still be in yellow at the end of the day,” said directeur sportif of the BMC team, John Lelangue. “It depends on how the race is unfolds. If there is a breakaway, there could be a big fight for the jersey from an opportunist. We have to find a good opportunity and always focus on the main objective. “Our whole team is great after the first week of the Tour. We are confident and we don’t have any problems.”
15:45 - Renshaw Also Drops Back
Mark Renshaw (THR) has also been dropped by the peloton.
Cav and now Renshaw dropped. They’ve done a lot of work together the last few days.
THR is heavy heavy heavy w/ time-tialers and sprinters - do they have any serious climbers, or a credible GC contender?
Lead 5 are down to 2:45 now. Telecom is really pushing the pace on the front of the Peleton - they just began the second climb and they have the peleton completely strung out already.
Looks like BBox was pushing the pace to allow Thomas Voeckler to attack .. looks like 3-4 riders have pulled away from the peleton and are now under a minute from the lead 5.
Hi commish! Good to see you.
velonews pointed out that the current hill, Croix de la Sierra, is where Lance bonked back in 1996. 3 months later his cancer was diagnosed. Chilling history, that.
Cancellara is slipping off the back now... not a good sign for the final climb and his chances of keeping Yellow.
Good morning, Vision.
The climbers are coming to the fore now; none of the breakaway riders are GC threats, nor major climbers.
Takes an all-arounder to excell in this type of stage, flat-ish at the beginning w/ ‘minor’ hills, then a few Cat 2 climbs at the end.
Note who has dropped off the back of the pack - all the guys who were doing so well a few days ago, incl Thor & Cav.
This is a well designed, although at times brutal, course.
It is, isn’t it?
The newsflashes
16:30 - Cancellara & Hincapie Dropped
Cancellara appears destined to lose his yellow jersey today. He has been dropped again and is now riding with Hincapie (BMC) well behind the peloton.
16:28 - Two In The Lead
Knees is 12” behind Hondo and Pineau at the front of the stage.
16:26 - Cancellara Returns
The yellow jersey is back with the main peloton which is now 1’36” behind the three stage leaders.
Pineut and Hondo are the only ones left in the original breakaway. they are about 30 seconds ahead of the Veockler group, which has gobbled up the other 3 riders.
The Peleton is another 30-45 seconds back. Cancellara again is dropping off the back — he seems to drop back, catch up, drop back.. not good signs with a much harder climb to come to end the stage.
Some of it had to do with the rain and oil slick. The cobblestones were/are wicked.
It is interesting to watch some of the team strategies on this type of stage.
A couple of teams have sent riders across to the breakaway group with the purpose of joining them but not helping the, - sort of a slow them down and sabotage their gap.
Meanwhile wthe peleton has slowed perceptably allowing Cancellara and other s to catch back up.
Astana and Radio Shack move to the front of the peleton - probably a move to keep Contador and Armstrong safe during the descent.
20 KM to go. Pineau and Hondo 55 seconds ahead of the second group, 2:32 ahead of the peleton now which is now being led out by Radio Shack.
Interesting, I had no idea.
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