Tour de France *** 2010 *** [LIVE THREAD]

Various incl letour.com / versus.com / steepjill.tv ^ | July 3, 2010 | Numerous - ongoing LIVE thread

[Ready4Freddy]

16:25 - Five In Chase Group

There are five riders 20” behind Riblon with 20km to go. They are: Valls Ferri (FOT), Sastre (CTT), Kiryienka (GCE), Cunego (LAM) and Van de Walle (QST).

16:24 - Cunego Catches Sastre’s Group

With Riblon 20km from the finish, Sastre’s trio has been caught by Cunego.

16:21 - 25km To Go

Kiryienka, Valls Ferri and Sastre are together on the descent and have less than 25km to go.

[Ready4Freddy]

16:32 - Navarro With Vino At Head Of Peloton

The peloton is being led by two Astana riders with Caisse d’Epargne’s Moreau and Sanchez just behind. They are 2’35” behind Riblon with 15km to go.

16:30 - Details Of Final Climb

The final climb is ranked category-one and is 7.8km long with an average gradient of 8.2 per cent.

[Ready4Freddy]

Astana riding well, at the front of the peleton (more like small leaders’ group) to protect Contador and dissuade Andy

Was that the polka dot jersey being ropped from the leaders’ group?

Contador at the wheel of his domestigues!

[Ready4Freddy]

16:40 - The Astana Show Continues

Navarro, Vino and Contador are still powering along at the front of the peloton. Schleck is marking them and Rodriguez is right on the wheel of the yellow jersey.

16:39 - Two Astana Lead Peloton

There is an Astana rider ahead of team-mate Vinokourov ahead of Sanchez (GCE) ahead of Contador, ahead of Schleck at the base of the final climb.

[Ready4Freddy]

What a fiendish stage, the HC followed immediately by a steeper but shorter Cat 1!

[Ready4Freddy]

Contador attacks! Schleck stays with him, but has no allies nearby.

[Ready4Freddy]

Rumor that Contador and Schleck will be on same team next year!?

Schleck meeting AC challenges.

[Ready4Freddy]

16:56 - Two Leaders Let Others Go Clear

Contador and Schleck are playing games with each other. They are allowing Gesink, Menchov, VDB and Sanchez to race ahead while they mark each other with less than 4km to go in the stage.

16:54 - Gesink Moves Forward

Gesink has moved to the front of the yellow jersey’s group after the regrouping following Contador’s second strong surge.

16:53 - Contador Attacks Again

Contador has attacked again and split his group to pieces. Only Menchov, Schleck and Sanchez are able to respond. Sanchez is now teasing the group and, it seems, waiting for Van Den Broeck and Rodriguez and Gesink to come back on terms...

[Ready4Freddy]

Announcers going nuts about CA/AS letting Menchov go.

Last night:

1. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 63h 08’ 40”
2. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 63h 09’ 11” + 00’ 31”
3. SANCHEZ Samuel 181 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 63h 11’ 25” + 02’ 45”
4. MENCHOV Denis 191 RABOBANK 63h 11’ 38” + 02’ 58”

[Ready4Freddy]

17:01 - Riblon Celebrates The Victory!

Riblon has claimed a stunning victory at Ax 3 Domaines. He has thrown his salute and now we watch the clock tick to see what the damage is in the general classification...

17:00 - Contador & Schleck Giving Valuable Time Away

Schleck and Contador are so distracted by each other that all their main rivals are gaining time on the riders who are in first and second in the general classifcation.

16:59 - Riblon Continues To Chase Stage Win...

While all the drama is unfolding behind him, Christophe Riblon - the silver medalist in the Madison on the track earlier this year - is looking likely to win the stage. He has received double points for the final climb and is now less than 1km from the finish.

16:57 - Slight Down Hill Soon...

The top of the climb is at the 1.5km to go mark and then there’s a brief downhill section before the run in to the finish.

16:56 - Menchov Seizes His Chance

Schleck insists that Contador do a turn... meanwhile Menchov is speeding ahead of his rivals with Sanchez following his example.

[Ready4Freddy]

Only 15”

17:02 - Menchov & Sanchez Home

Menchov and Sanchez have finished 50” behind the stage winner and gained about 15” on Contador and Schleck who finished the stage in the same group as Gesink and Rodriguez.

[Ready4Freddy]

Levi lost a bit of time, Kloden gained a tad:

Overall after Stage 14:

1. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 68h 02’ 30”
2. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 68h 03’ 01” + 00’ 31”
3. SANCHEZ Samuel 181 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 68h 05’ 01” + 02’ 31”
4. MENCHOV Denis 191 RABOBANK 68h 05’ 14” + 02’ 44”
5. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 101 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 68h 06’ 01” + 03’ 31”
6. GESINK Robert 195 RABOBANK 68h 06’ 57” + 04’ 27”
7. LEIPHEIMER Levi 25 TEAM RADIOSHACK 68h 07’ 21” + 04’ 51”
8. RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin 77 KATUSHA TEAM 68h 07’ 28” + 04’ 58”
9. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 161 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 68h 08’ 26” + 05’ 56”
10. BASSO Ivan 41 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 68h 09’ 22” + 06’ 52”
11. VINOKOUROV Alexandre 9 ASTANA 68h 09’ 34” + 07’ 04”
12. KREUZIGER Roman 44 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 68h 09’ 41” + 07’ 11”
13. HESJEDAL Ryder 54 GARMIN - TRANSITIONS 68h 09’ 47” + 07’ 17”
14. ROCHE Nicolas 81 AG2R LA MONDIALE 68h 10’ 33” + 08’ 03”
15. SASTRE Carlos 91 CERVELO TEST TEAM 68h 10’ 45” + 08’ 15”
16. LÖVKVIST Thomas 37 SKY PRO CYCLING 68h 12’ 16” + 09’ 46”
17. KLÖDEN Andréas 24 TEAM RADIOSHACK 68h 12’ 57” + 10’ 27”
18. WIGGINS Bradley 31 SKY PRO CYCLING 68h 14’ 00” + 11’ 30”
19. EVANS Cadel 121 BMC RACING TEAM 68h 15’ 09” + 12’ 39”
20. PLAZA MOLINA Ruben 168 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 68h 15’ 20” + 12’ 50”

[commish]

well, it is pretty clear now that we will be seeing Alberto contador once again sipping champagne on the Champs de Elyses.

He tested the water early on the climb to see if he could shake Schleck. Once that didn’t happen the true Contador strategy shone through. Unless opportunity presents itself, he has no intention of doing anything but marking Schleck through the mountains.

He will have Astana push the pace to try and completely take Andy’s legs away from him before next Saturday, and then intends to bury him in the TT.

Unless Schleck finds a whole bottle of Dr. Floyd’s Miracle Time Trailing Salve between now and Saturday this race is a foregone conclusion.

[Mr. Blonde]

God I wish Frank were in it. AC having Vino is a huge advantage, in addition to his other skills. Clearly the last guy leading anything that can still be called a peloton is going to be an Astana guy.

From the interview it sounds like Andy is feeling confident about tomorrow. Maybe we will finally see an attack from him.

[Ready4Freddy]

Good points all, commish.

Did you hear the announcers talking about the rumors of Schleck and Contador on same team next year?

Madness!

AFAIK Contador wants to get to a Spanish team (tho Astana is moving that way). What could Schleck possibly have to gain?

[Ready4Freddy]

An Hors d'œuvre for tomorrow's HC climb

•Km 166.0 - Port de Balès - 19.3 km climb to 6.1 % - Category HC

---

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Left by the wayside?

It is a sure thing that some riders will lose Le Tour because they are not sufficiently skilled at descending. From the Port de Balès to Bagnères-de-Luchon, the bends are extremely delicate. What’s more, the foot of the Peyresourde slopes are only three kilometres from the finishing line, meaning there is no way of clawing back any ground lost. To date, the Port de Balès has only been climbed once by Le Tour, in 2007. Beforehand, there was not even any tarmac. It was specially laid for cycling races. This pass is magnificent, hard and not very wide. Once the riders reach the top, a good downhill rider can open up the gaps, for example Samuel Sánchez, because it really is a very technical descent. More importantly, there may well be a lot of riders left by the wayside.

(Graphics & preview - letour.com)

[Ready4Freddy]

A 19.3 km hill at ~6.2%.

As Billy Fish would say, 'big damn hill!'.

[Mr. Blonde]

If Astana does a similar thing tomorrow we could only have a breakaway and AC and AS after the 2nd 2nd category climb.

I can’t see AS and AC on the same team. For one it would be depressing as a fan, one of the two best in the business would have to work for the other.

[Ready4Freddy]

Neither Thor nor Petacchi took sprint points today, so no change in their close battle:

Overall Sprint points after Stage 14:

1. PETACCHI Alessandro 208 LAMPRE - FARNESE 187 pts
2. HUSHOVD Thor 95 CERVELO TEST TEAM 185 pts
3. CAVENDISH Mark 111 TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA 162 pts
4. ROJAS Jose Joaquin 169 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 144 pts
5. MC EWEN Robbie 75 KATUSHA TEAM 138 pts
6. HAGEN Edvald Boasson 36 SKY PRO CYCLING 120 pts
7. CIOLEK Gerald 142 TEAM MILRAM 102 pts
8. TURGOT Sébastien 158 BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 101 pts
9. ROELANDTS Jürgen 108 OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO 81 pts
10. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 80 pts

[patriotspride]

” well, it is pretty clear now that we will be seeing Alberto contador once again sipping champagne on the Champs de Elyses.

He tested the water early on the climb to see if he could shake Schleck. Once that didn’t happen the true Contador strategy shone through. Unless opportunity presents itself, he has no intention of doing anything but marking Schleck through the mountains.

He will have Astana push the pace to try and completely take Andy’s legs away from him before next Saturday, and then intends to bury him in the TT.”

Hope it doesn’t come down to that.

I’d like to see Andy put a hugh sustained move on him. If Alberto matches, or breaks him, then at least Andy knows the better rider won.

Shame Frank isn’t there to put some pressure on...