Posted on 07/14/2006 10:20:34 PM PDT by nutmeg
Stage 13: Béziers to Montélimar - 230km
Course: At 230km, this is the longest stage of the race, and together with the likely fast pace and baking hot weather, it could be one of the most grueling, too. It starts at Béziers on the Mediterranean seaboard before cutting across the southeast corner of the Massif Central on winding back roads that are constantly dipping and climbing through the foothills. The critical part of the stage comes with 60km to go, from where the race twists through the spectacular canyons of the Ardèche and Ibie rivers and crests two Cat. 4 climbs before emerging onto the N.102 highway with 25km to go. There's a fast twisting descent to the wide Rhône River, which the race crosses before a flat finish in Montélimar.
History: Surprisingly, for a city of 30,000 and the home of world-famous nougat candy, Montélimar has never hosted a stage.
Favorites: This marathon stage is ideal for a small group to gain a substantial lead in the early kilometers. If potentially dangerous riders like CSC's Fränk Schleck are in the breakaway then the yellow jersey's team won't let the move get too far ahead. Otherwise, there will be little opposition to a break with riders way down on GC. It could suit a rider like Rabobank's Pieter Weening or Davitamon's Chris Horner.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
OLN's US coverage starts Saturday at 8:30am ET/ 5:30am PT
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NOT an easy stage here!: 
By John Wilcockson
VeloNews editorial director
This report filed July 14, 2006
Following their blank-out on the big Pyrenean climbing stage on Thursday, Discovery Channel team boss Johan Bruyneel sat down his riders Friday morning to tell them "another Tour is beginning for us." Then just before the stage 12 start in Luchon, Bruyneel told Yaroslav Popovych to "go out and win the stage." And that's just what he did.
It wasn't all joy for Discovery, though, because two of its nine riders left the race. Paolo Savoldelli, injured after colliding with a spectator while returning to his hotel from the Pla-de-Beret finish Thursday evening, was too dizzy to follow the pack on the first (Cat. 2) climb Friday and dropped out. The Italian was soon followed onto the day's list of five abandons by Spanish teammate Benjamin Noval.
Down to seven men, Discovery will have to ride even smarter if they want to win again. On Friday, when a 14-man break went clear early, Discovery (led by José Azevedo) led the chase to bring it back; George Hincapie jumped into the next attack and stayed clear until 94km; Popovych immediately counterattacked and brought home the stage win two and a half hours later.
Racing the whole of stage 12 at 46 kph on mostly hilly back roads added to the difficulties of a stage run in humid, 90-degree weather. Conditions are forecast to be similar on Saturday, when the 160 survivors face the longest stage of the Tour: 230km from Béziers to Montélimar.
The stage, which features five Cat. 4 climbs and many undulations in between, is perfect for a breakaway. Discovery is sure to try to get into the attacks, although with Popovych (10th overall at 4:25) and Azevedo (19th at 7:42) both marked men, and with Hincapie unlikely to break out again after his efforts on Friday, the responsibility for making the winning break lies with Spaniards Egoï Martinez and José Luis Rubiera and Russian veteran Viatcheslav Ekimov.
The sprinters showed Friday that they are content to pick up the green-jersey points remaining after the break has scooped up the first ones. Several of them (Robbie McEwen, Tom Boonen, Thor Hushovd and Daniele Bennati) went into breaks Friday before Rabobank's Oscar Freire got into the winning move to finish third. He picked up 26 points to go into second place in the points competition, now only 25 points behind leader Robbie McEwen.
If a sprinter is again allowed to get into the breakaway that matters (it won't be Freire), the most likely candidates are Erik Zabel (Milram) and Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), who are respectively 71 and 87 points back - in other words, out of contention.
Wouldn't it be great to see Zabel, 36, and Ekimov, 40, fighting out the stage victory in Montélimar Saturday afternoon? Both long in the tooth, they might have a problem biting into the city's specialty, nougat candy, but a win for the old guys would leave a good taste in the mouth.
Standings after Stage 12:
Maillot jaune
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA
2 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 00' 08"
3 051 MENCHOV Denis RAB RUS 01' 01"
4 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 01' 17"
5 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 01' 52"
6 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 29"
7 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 03' 22"
8 191 MERCADO Juan Miguel AGR ESP 03' 33"
9 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 03' 44"
10 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 04' 15"
11 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 04' 17"
12 129 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 04' 26"
13 027 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 05' 38"
14 041 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 05' 39"
15 052 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 05' 54"
16 046 TOTSCHNIG Georg GST AUT 06' 47"
17 126 LANDALUZE Inigo EUS ESP 06' 52"
18 096 KARPETS Vladimir CEI RUS 07' 07"
19 001 AZEVEDO José DSC POR 07' 42"
20 137 PARRA Ivan Ramiro COF COL 08' 30"
21 015 SCHLECK Frank CSC LUX 08' 37"
22 076 MERCKX Axel PHO BEL 08' 39"
23 088 VALJAVEC Tadej LAM SLO 09' 37"
24 148 RINERO Christophe SDV FRA 11' 18"
25 111 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro C.A ITA 11' 35"
Maillot vert
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 065 MC EWEN Robbie DVL AUS 232
2 056 FREIRE Oscar RAB ESP 207
3 101 BOONEN Tom QSI BEL 204
4 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 183
5 181 ZABEL Erik MRM GER 161
6 118 HUSHOVD Thor C.A NOR 145
7 168 PAOLINI Luca LIQ ITA 136
8 153 EISEL Bernhard FDJ AUT 127
9 149 VENTOSO Francisco SDV ESP 107
10 043 KOPP David GST GER 103
11 125 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 99
12 133 CASPER Jimmy COF FRA 98
13 136 MORENI Cristian COF ITA 71
14 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 67
15 003 HINCAPIE George DSC USA 48
16 082 BALLAN Alessandro LAM ITA 46
17 067 STEEGMANS Gert DVL BEL 46
18 013 O’GRADY Stuart CSC AUS 43
19 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 40
20 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 40
Maillot à pois rouges (not gonna do that polky-dotty thang here ;)
Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Points
1 143 DE LA FUENTE David SDV ESP 80
2 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 62
3 047 WEGMANN Fabian GST GER 61
4 058 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 61
5 191 MERCADO Juan Miguel AGR ESP 45
6 052 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 41
7 126 LANDALUZE Inigo EUS ESP 38
8 055 FLECHA Juan Antonio RAB ESP 36
9 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 35
10 148 RINERO Christophe SDV FRA 35
11 051 MENCHOV Denis RAB RUS 30
12 177 PINEAU Jérôme BTL FRA 28
13 041 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 28
14 125 ISASI Inaki EUS ESP 26
15 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 25
16 122 CAMANO Iker EUS ESP 25
17 136 MORENI Cristian COF ITA 24
18 109 VASSEUR Cédric QSI FRA 22
19 171 VOECKLER Thomas BTL FRA 20
20 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 16
21 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 1
4 22 034 CALZATI Sylvain A2R FRA 13
23 083 BENNATI Daniele LAM ITA 13
24 032 ARRIETA Jose Luis A2R ESP 12
25 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 12
Can't believe I only just remembered about this, and I don't know if yall have already talked about it, but the Google Earth Community mapped out the TdF route again this year. They added a live feature for 2006 with a little red bike that follows the peleton in real time even.(Aren't they clever!)It'll be all lot more fun to doodle around with this (esp playing with the elevation buttons) when they start climbing again in a couple of days, but here it is if anybody wants it while I remember (gosh I hope I remember how to do this) :
I hope Landis can keep the lead with not a lot of climbing going on.
14:03 - Alain Gallopin Comments On Stage & CSC’s Hopes…
LeTour.fr contacted one of the directeur sportifs of the CSC to find out his thoughts on today’s stage. Alain Gallopin is confident of Jens Voigt’s chances in today’s escape and believes that his squad also has a potential winner of the Tour in its midst.
“I believe that everyone in the peloton is tired so the escape has a good chance of succeeding today," said Gallopin. "But the stage is still very long and a reaction could yet come. Jens is always prepared to be part of an attack like the one we saw this morning: this is his specialty.
“With regard to the team, the first week was really difficult because of the falls of O’Grady and Schleck and the retirement of Julich in the time trial. But now things are a little better and we have shown what we’re able to do in the Pyrenees. Schleck was really good and Sastre has demonstrated that he can fight with the best climbers – he is now one of the favourites of this year’s Tour.
Carlos is an experienced rider who is able to be a leader of the team. He has been the captain of CSC in the Vuelta in the past and he handled the duties with style. Now Carlos doesn’t know what had can do, but the objective could be the top five or even the podium… or why not the win. It all depends on the approach of the others. “If he wants the win, he has to attack in the Alps.”
Good morning leilani! ;>) That google earth has been fun to play with!
I hope Landis can keep the lead with not a lot of climbing going on.
14:22 - Francis Van Londersele’s Comments On Stage...
LeTour.fr contacted one of the directeurs of the Cofidis team, Francis Van Londersele to get his thoughts on today’s stage. The team has Sylvain Chavanel in the lead group that’s now 17’00" ahead of the peloton which is at the 101.5km mark.
“We’ve tried everyday to put someone in the break. Today it worked," said Van Londersele. "It’s been really difficult to establish the perfect group. Unfortunately we were obliged to ask Coyot to come back to the peloton for today’s escape to be allowed to go. I don’t know why he was targeted as the rider who shouldn’t be there but as soon as he returned to the peloton, FDJ stopped chasing.
“In theory there is no team interested in setting the pace of a concerted chase so I’m confident that Sylvain’s group will stay away. Sure, there’ll be a lot of attacks in the finale and it will be hard in the last 20km before all of the riders in the lead group are strong.”
I just hope Floyd can keep out of trouble today. The interview yesterday am was so sweet.
Interviewer:"Floyd, Last night was your first night sleeping in the yellow jersey. How did it feel?" Floyd:"Uh, I didn't actually sleep in it. Is that how you're supposed to do it?" LOL
Dave Zabriskie wrote this in his online diary yesterday after the stage:
"Although I wasn't enjoying the Pyrenees too much I sure was glad to see Floyd (Landis) having so much fun. I don't know if he is going to win the Tour or not, but I sure hope so. I live and train with the guy and let me tell you Floyd is a fist of rage, a razor blade slicing through a wrist of hate. He is just so motivated."
Hmm. Although Dave Z meant it as a compliment, it sure doesn't sound like the Floyd we've ever seen. What is it with these pro cyclists and their preoccupation with anger, anyway? He also said that Floyd is walking down the halls saying "I've got to win. I've got to win." Now THAT sounds more like him.
Three of 5 climbs completed, and the 1st of 2 sprints as well:
Climbing points:
Km : 57.5 - Côte de Puéchabon Points
1 134 CHAVANEL Sylvain COF FRA 3
2 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP 2
3 184 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 1
Km : 77.5 - Col de la Cardonille Points
1 184 GRIVKO Andriy MRM UKR 3
2 169 QUINZIATO Manuel LIQ ITA 2
3 017 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 1
Km : 119.5 - Côte de l'Arbousset Points
1 134 CHAVANEL Sylvain COF FRA 3
2 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP 2
3 169 QUINZIATO Manuel LIQ ITA 1
Sprint points:
Km : 117.5 - ANDUZE (D.907-D.910a) (PN n° 8) Points
1 169 QUINZIATO Manuel LIQ ITA 6
2 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP 4
3 017 VOIGT Jens CSC GER 2
Makes me think of Aragorn & his reluctance to accept his destiny. Good to see that Landis is accepting his!
Peleton out of the feedzone now, time to accelerate & close that gap a bit...
It's Voigt, Grivko, Quinziato, Chavanel and Pereiro Sio.
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