2011 Tour de France – Stage 4 Wrap-up

Posted on July 5, 2011 by

Pavé would like to thank Handspun, Clément, and Laekhouse for supporting our coverage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Fotoreporter Sirotti

You could be forgiven for waking up late to just watch the final 10k of today’s stage. The preceding 160k didn’t have a whole lot to offer, and after a couple of anxious and exciting days in this year’s Tour I’m sure that many riders, considering the grey and wet weather, were content to chill out for most of today’s stage. Particularly considering Stage 4’s finishing climb, which at 2km at 7% would be a bit more challenging than Stage 1’s, while also being manageable enough that plenty of people would be jostling for position throughout it.

Here’s what we were paying attention to:

1. The officials suspended the 3km rule that elicited some complaint on Stage 1. The rule is designed to allow sprinters and those contesting a potentially dangerous finale to be allowed to do so without everybody else fighting to be at the front (to avoid crashes and losing time) when they’ve no intention of competing for the win. Was it wise to suspend the 3km rule, considering that a power climb is very different than a sprint finish? Or was it unnecessarily reactive?

2. From the bunch, behind the breakaway, Tyler Farrar overpowered Cavendish for intermediate sprint points. Also in the mix were OPL’s Phillipe Gilbert, Andre Greipel, and Green Jersey-wearer J.J. Rojas (Movistar). Movistar is doubtless pleased with Rojas’s Green Jersey, even if he only wears it temporarily. The Points Competition is developing nicely – we’ll keep our eyes on how it develops. Farrar is certainly sprinting well, but it would be folly to write off Cavendish, who does start slowly.

3. Did you see Roman Feillu’s incredibly sick motorpacing back to the field with 10k to go?

4. The five-rider break stayed away impressively, entering 10k to go with still a minute over the field. A rule of thumb is that to have a chance of holding off a sprint, a breakaway will need a minute at 10k to go – more if there’s a climb. With OPL pounding away at the front, though, they were doomed. Kudos also to Jeremy Roy, in his second breakaway of this Tour, winning the Combativity award.

5. On the slopes leading to Mur de Bretagne, there were plenty of fireworks as many of the favorites were at the front. Contador got things started off, but was unable to dislodge others. In the end, it was Cadel Evans, who showed from his 2010 Fleche Wallone victory that he knows how to wait, with a late, patient sprint. Contador was on his heels and coming around him hard – in fact, it came down to a bike throw and Contador initially celebrated, but the replay and finish line photo showed an Evans victory.

6. I’ll have to wait for the replay, but was Gilbert a bit overenthusiastic? Did he drag everybody up to his teammate Van den Broeck’s wheel when VDB had a bit of daylight between him and the rest? Was there a miscommunication – VDB thinking it was an attack, and Gilbert thinking it was a leadout? And, was that the match he needed to win?

7. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Thor Hushovd finished 5th, making it up the powerclimb at about 60rpm and defending his yellow jersey. He fought to the end, sprinting for a place to ensure no time gaps opened up.

8. With 20k to go, Cadel Evans was momentarily caught out by a crashing camera moto as he was replacing a puncture, but BMC got him back on fast, despite a hot pace at the front. Well done on them for avoiding a potentially disruptive event. He said, “When you’re back there behind the peloton with 15k to go and the crosswinds and all, you’re not sure if your Tour is over or not.” Kudos to Evans and BMC for getting him back and setting up the stage win.

This Tour’s got incredible stages thus far.

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The Sticky Bidon – July 4, 2011

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti

Interesting cycling items from across the Internet, July 4, 2011

Seen any cool links we missed? Share ’em in the comments below!

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2011 Tour de France – Stage 3 Wrap-up

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

Pavé would like to thank Handspun, Clément, and Laekhouse for supporting our coverage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Fotoreporter Sirotti

Today’s Stage 3 ended on a touching note, with Garmin-Cervelo’s Tyler Farrar extending his hands in a “W” victory salute, in honor of his friend Wouter Weylandt who passed away on Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia in May.

The victory was notable and emotional for several reasons: it was Tyler Farrar’s first Tour de France victory, and it was his Garmin-Cervelo squad’s first mass-start stage win. It came hot on the heels of their first Tour stage win in yesterday’s Team Time Trial: Vaughters’ squad is on a roll.

So what else happened today?

1. Mark Cavendish won the intermediate sprint with a textbook leadout from HTC. However, he and Thor Hushovd had bumped shoulders in the run-up to the sprint, and the race jury disqualified both from receiving those intermediate points.

2. We can’t help but wonder if the effort to win a single intermediate sprint (rather than several lower-stakes interim sprints in previous years) burnt a match for the HTC squad. By the end of the race, they were able to muster their powerful leadout train, but it fizzled prior to the hard left-hand corner that came in the final kilometer. Garmin-Cervelo mugged HTC’s train in a role reversal from the 2009 Champs Elysees finish (video).

3. There’s something undeniably lovely about seeing Thor, in the Yellow Jersey with World Champion stripes, leading out Tyler Farrar. He clearly honored his word to lead Farrar out, despite the possibility of winning the stage himself. He finished 6th, one place behind Cavendish. Does Thor think he can’t beat Cavendish for the Green jersey? If Thor goes for intermediate sprints and Farrar for stage wins, they’ll lose ground on Cavendish.

4. Despite this success, it’s obvious that Hushovd and Garmin-Cervelo aren’t a great fit. You can bet Hushovd would rather wear those stripes and that jersey across the finish line first, not arm-raising from several riders back. Any thoughts on where he’ll end up next year?

A Happy Fourth of July to the Americans among our readership. Are you a Garmin-Cervelo fan? Does an American win on an American holiday make you feel additionally patriotic today? Furthermore – any additional thoughts on the status of Tour sprinting, the Points Competition, or the Hushovd Conundrum? Here’s a replay of the final 10k. What happened to HTC? Did they make mistakes, form up too early, and run out of steam?

Tomorrow’s stage is a bumpy one with an uphill finish – as Inner Ring says, a gift to Phillipe Gilbert on his birthday. It should provide some fireworks, much like the finish to Stage 1. Enjoy.

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Tour de France 2011 – GC Contender Standings After Stage 2

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti

This early in the Tour de France, it can be difficult to tell where riders with general contention aspirations – real or not – are standing relative to one another. With the loss of time in stages 1 and 2 by last year’s yellow jersey, Saxo-Bank’s Alberto Contador, competitors who may have worried about how to gain time over him later in the race may find themselves with appreciable margins despite so little racing having taken place. In a race where after over 2,000 miles first and second might find themselves separated by a handful of seconds, every second acquired is to be celebrated.

Headed in to stage 3, Cadel Evans is the best placed rider with general contention goals. In the table below, he’s the basis by which we measure all gaps to other GC riders. Last year’s yellow jersey, Alberto Contador, is denoted in yellow. Riders finding themselves above him in GC are probably quite pleased, having gained time on a competitor never to be counted out so early in the race. Those behind him are in the unenviable position of having to claw their way back in to general contention.  Continue reading →

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2011 Tour de France – Stage 2 Wrap-up

Posted on July 3, 2011 by

Pavé would like to thank Handspun, Clément, and Laekhouse for supporting our coverage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Fotoreporer Sirotti

Initially, stage 2’s 23kilometer team time trial wasn’t an enormous opportunity for Tour hopefuls to gather good results – it wasn’t long enough for dedicated TTT teams to really gain considerable ground in the General Classification. However, after yesterday’s Stage 1 excitement, featuring several major crashes within the final 10 kilometers that split and then delayed Alberto Contador’s hindward group, the team time trial got a little bit more interesting.

1. Garmin-Cervelo emerged on top this morning – or this afternoon, depending on where in the world you are located. It’s a big result for them – in four years of trying and coming very close, Jonathan Vaughters’ squad had not yet won a stage of the Tour de France. As an added bonus, Garmin-Cervelo’s World Champion, Thor Hushovd, started the day in a polkadot skinsuit but traded it up for the Yellow Jersey when the results came in. For the Argyle Train it’s a major win early on in this Tour de France.

2. BMC came in :04 behind Garmin-Cervelo, another boon to Cadel Evans’ General Classification hopes. It’s too early to say that this is a huge impact on the race, but it’s got to be confidence building to finish second on the first two stages and ride through the early part of the Tour with over a minute on a few fearsome rivals.

3. (As a side note, I will quietly ad that I predicted both Thor Hushovd trading his WC stripes for a yellow jersey early on in this Tour, as well as an impressive TTT ride from BMC.)

4. Team Time Trials sound easier than they are, and this one did feature some exciting crashes and droppings. Numerous riders were dropped from their teams; teams are credited with the time of their fifth finisher, but everybody must finish within 30% of the winning time. This means that those dropped couldn’t take it too easy. Cofidis’s Tony Gallopin slipped his chain off the start gate and had to chase his team. HTC’s Bernard Eisel crashed early on, sliding out in a corner as his teammates swerved to dodge him. No word yet on whether his 22.5km Individual Time Trial made the time cut – if not and he’s ejected, what effect will that have on Mark Cavendish’s leadout train?

5. Again, the big loser on the day was Alberto Contador, whose Saxo Bank-Sungard squad finished :28 back from Garmin-Cervelo and :23 and :24 behind Leopard-Trek and BMC, squads bearing potential GC rivals. Will his poor luck and performance in these first two stages result in his own “fire in his belly”? Will we see some marvelous attacking later on?

Share your thoughts below!

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2011 Tour de France – Stage 1 Wrap-Up

Posted on July 2, 2011 by

Pavé would like to thank Handspun, Clément, and Laekhouse for supporting our coverage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Fotoreporter Sirotti

 

After a somewhat relaxed start to today’s Stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France, two crashes in the final 10 kilometers provided a dramatic finale to an otherwise slow day of racing. Unfortunately for some of the riders involved, it might have cost them their overall Tour hopes as well.

Here’s what we noticed:

1. What can you say about Omega Pharma – Lotto’s Philippe Gilbert? He’s clearly on top of his game and the most dominating rider in the sport on courses such as today’s. For a second I thought Fabian Cancellara might have gotten the better of the Belgian Champion, but the climb was just too long for the Swiss star to maintain any sort of a gap—especially over someone like Gilbert. It’s too bad King Phil won’t get a chance to wear the maillot jaune during a road stage—it would have been great to see him in it.

2. As for Leopard Trek’s Cancellara, today showed that he has a long way to go before he contends for victories in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Tour of Lombardy—the final two races he needs in order to have won all five Monuments.

3. Finishing second today, Cadel Evans rode a savvy finish, staying out of trouble and perhaps positioning himself for another shot at the yellow jersey. His BMC team will be hard-pressed to fend-off challenges from HTC, Garmin-Cervelo, and Radio Shack though—all of whom have riders just three seconds behind the Australian. But gaining time on Contador has to have the Australian feeling confident.

4. Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Jurgen Van den Broeck was another attentive rider; perhaps working for Gilbert helped the Belgian GC-contender stay at the front when many were hitting the deck.

5. Radio Shack’s Andreas Kloden and Chris Horner came through the day unscathed as well, positioning both men to take yellow after tomorrow’s TTT. Levi Leipheimer and Janez Brajkovic were caught behind the second crash inside the final 3 kilometers—both are even with their teammates on overall time.

6. While they didn’t win the stage, HTC-HighRoad enjoyed a trouble-free stage, staying out of the wind until the finale, and placing Tony Martin, Peter Velits, and Tejay Van Garderen in the first group at the end of the day. As a result, the team heads into tomorrow’s time trial rested and ready to give the German his first yellow jersey

7. In terms of the sprinters at this year’s race, Garmin-Cervelo’s Tyler Farrar and Thor Hushovd both look to be in fine shape, which bodes well for the team as the race moves forward. At some point, the squad will need to make a decision as to which rider to support for the green jersey, but for now, having two favorites doesn’t hurt.

8. Big losers today were obviously Saxo Bank’s Alberto Contador—he lost over a minute to just about everyone—and Garmin-Cervelo’s Ryder Hesjedal and Christian Vande Velde who lost 1:55 and 3:41 respectively, essentially ending their GC bids before they even began. Other men who lost more than a minute included Euskaltel’s Samuel Sanchez and Rabobank’s Luis Leon Sanchez, making today a stage to forget for Spanish fans.

9. As for tomorrow, my gut says we’ll see Radio Shack take the win and the yellow jersey. HTC and Sky will give them a run for it, with Garmin-Cervelo just falling short in the end as well.

What about you? What were thoughts on Stage 1? Who are your picks for tomorrow?

Share your comments below.

 

 

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