Posted on 07/21/2006 1:49:41 AM PDT by Aeronaut
Daily coverage of the Tour de France.
Please FReepmail nutmeg if you want on or off the Tour de France 2006 list.
Morning! Thanks for the ping.
Course: Although there are Cat. 2, Cat. 3 and Cat. 4 climbs in the middle section of this 197km stage from the Alps through the Jura mountains to the Saône Valley, the whole course is on wide routes nationales. The stage is likely to open with constant attacks before a breakaway establishes itself on the hills in the middle part of the stage. The last 50km are almost completely flat before the 400-meter final straightaway in the northern part of Mâcon.
History: Besides two time trials (won by Induráin in 1991 and Armstrong in 2000), the only road stage to finish in Mâcon was 15 years ago. The winner was a young Russian named Viatcheslav Ekimov, who dashed away from the peloton in the final kilometer and held off the sprinter-led peloton by seven seconds.
Favorites: On paper, this is a stage for the sprinters. But emerging from the Alps, and at the end of a debilitating Tour, none of the sprinters' teams has the strength to control a near-200km stage. Should the wind stop the break gaining too much time, a combined effort of several teams might result in a bunch finish. Behind McEwen and Freire, the possible stage winners are Erik Zabel or Bernhard Eisel.
Graphics by CyclingNews.com
Race his heart out, I hope - with reserve for tomorrow. Some Europeans are calling it "Tour de Landis" now.
“I’ve never seen anything like what Floyd did yesterday,” said one of the last riders to follow the winner of stage 17, Michael Rogers (TMO).
LeTour.fr contacted the world time trial champion before stage 18. “It was an amazing performance. Who would think that someone so high in the general classification could be so bold and attack so far from the finish… and still have the energy to win. Incredible!
“I tried to follow him on the Col des Saissies but I can tell you thtat, at the speed Floyd was going, it was impossible for me to maintain the tempo. I was feeling okay at the start of the stage but he was superman: at the moment he dropped everyone, the gradient was about 10 per cent and Floyd was tapping away at about 36-38km/h…!” The Australian is currently 10th overall after finished 22nd in the stage to Morzine. “I just couldn’t do anything at the finish. I was vomiting all day. Every time I ate anything, it came back up. It’s not the best way to ride a stage like that.”
Landis was an inspiration yesterday. I wish i'd caught more than the last twenty minutes. One of the best performances ever by an American athlete.
Floyd Landis bump!
And thank you OLN for the great coverage!
1 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP
2 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 00' 12"
3 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 00' 30"
4 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 29"
5 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 03' 08"
6 051 MENCHOV Denis RAB RUS 04' 14"
7 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 04' 24"
8 031 MOREAU Christophe A2R FRA 05' 45"
9 129 ZUBELDIA Haimar EUS ESP 08' 16"
10 026 ROGERS Michael TMO AUS 12' 13"
11 015 SCHLECK Frank CSC LUX 13' 48"
12 052 BOOGERD Michael RAB NED 13' 52"
13 111 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro C.A ITA 15' 46"
14 081 CUNEGO Damiano LAM ITA 17' 18"
15 042 FOTHEN Marcus GST GER 17' 23"
16 088 VALJAVEC Tadej LAM SLO 20' 50"
17 058 RASMUSSEN Mickael RAB DEN 21' 04"
18 041 LEIPHEIMER Levi GST USA 22' 01"
19 001 AZEVEDO José DSC POR 34' 01"
20 092 ARROYO David CEI ESP 37' 11"
21 089 VILA ERRANDONEA Patxi LAM ESP 37'
45" 22 084 BRUSEGHIN Marzio LAM ITA 39' 47"
23 016 VANDEVELDE Christian CSC USA 47' 16"
24 007 POPOVYCH Yaroslav DSC UKR 48' 51"
25 027 SINKEWITZ Patrik TMO GER 50' 07"
26 022 GUERINI Giuseppe TMO ITA 51' 48"
27 032 ARRIETA Jose Luis A2R ESP 55' 43"
28 025 MAZZOLENI Eddy TMO ITA 57' 52"
Remaining riders thru 143 are more than 1hr behind leader, and thus may be considered 'Just glad to be there...' Or maybe not! ;>)
13:54 - Lead Up To Two Minutes
The peloton is now 2’00" behind Martinez (DSC), Zabriskie (CSC), Sinkewitz (TMO), Calzati (A2R), Leipheimer and Scholz (GST), Flecha (RAB), Aerts (DVL), Tossato (QSI), Hinault (C.A), Isasi (EUS), Moreni (COF), Vaugrenard (FDJ), Quinziato (LIQ) and Pineau (BTL).
13:53 - "The Escape" Established...?
Leipheimer is the best-placed in general classification of the current escape group but they are now 1’15" ahead of the peloton.
The American leader of the Gerolsteiner team began the 18th stage in 18th place overall, 22’01" behind Oscar Pereiro (PHO).
The riders who escaped at the 53km mark and currently lead by 4’00" are:
Egoi Martinez (DSC)
Dave Zabriskie (CSC)
Patrik Sinkewitz (TMO)
Sylvain Calzati (A2R)
Levi Leipheimer and Ronny Scholz (GST)
Juan Antonio Flecha (RAB)
Mario Aerts (DVL)
Matteo Tossato (QSI)
Sebastian Hinault (C.A)
Inaki Isasi (EUS)
Cristian Moreni (COF)
Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ)
Manuel Quinziato (LIQ)
Jerome Pineau (BTL)
Best placed riders in that group are Leipheimer & Sinkewitz at 18th & 25th, respectively. Something like 22', then 50' out of the overall lead.
The top GC in the Breakaway is Levi at 22:00 min back -- so these 15 have a lot of rope to play with today. There are no threats to any of the jersey's in the break, so I don't see any real concern from the Peleton until the break reaches 15 min or so.
Break is at 4 Min -- and the Peleton seems to actually be stepping it up a bit. Looks like somone decided 4 mins is enough.
Wasn't it, tho? Check out Bobby Julich's diary entry on ESPN for yesterday - http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2525030&lpos=tv1&lid=tab2pos3
Have you chimed in on the prediction thread yet?
A few KOM points available today on the 3 minor rated climbs, but they'll be taken by riders w/ low point totals thus far.
Leaders +4' of the Peleton
Levi LEIPHEIMER
Patrik SINKEWITZ
Sylvain CALZATI
Egoi MARTINEZ
Cristian MORENI
Liepheimer is furtherest ahead in GC at +22'
That really caught my eye too. That's 23 mph on 10%... I can probably do about half that.
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