Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Stage 10: Entering the Alps
Cyclingnews.com reports: "Russian rider Evgeni Petrov (Lampre-Caffita) will not start the 10th stage of the Tour, as he was determined to have too high a hematocrit in controls carried out on Tuesday morning." He was in 45th position in the general classification.
A Lampre teammate, Austrian Gerrit Glomser, withdrew during the stage at the feeding station at 74 km. He had been in 67th position in the general classification.
That decreases the 2005 Tour de France field to 173 riders.
Tour organizers shortened the Stage 10 route by lopping off the first 11 km near Grenoble to avoid a farmers' protest against a ban on wolf hunting. Every little bit helps.
Flores Iker of Euskaltel-Euskadi retains the Lanterne Rouge position today with an 8 1/2-minute margin after finishing 169th in the stage. Closest riders to him in the general classification are 172nd place Jean-Patrick Nazon (A2R); former Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak (Cofidis) in 171st; and 170th place Daniel Becke (Iba).
Our former Lanterne Rouge, Leonardo Piepoli, had an incredible ride today. He hung with the front group all the way until about 10 km before the finish line, and finished in 12th spot just ahead of Jan Ullrich. That brings him up all the way to 40th place in the overall standings. Bravo, Leonardo!
There were no real stragglers among today's finishers - the last group to cross the line was a pack of fifty riders that came in 38 minutes after the stage winner, so no one was left out on the road coming in solo incurring a huge time gap today. That may change in tomorrow's huge stage.
A Lampre teammate, Austrian Gerrit Glomser, withdrew during the stage at the feeding station at 74 km. He had been in 67th position in the general classification.
That decreases the 2005 Tour de France field to 173 riders.
Tour organizers shortened the Stage 10 route by lopping off the first 11 km near Grenoble to avoid a farmers' protest against a ban on wolf hunting. Every little bit helps.
Flores Iker of Euskaltel-Euskadi retains the Lanterne Rouge position today with an 8 1/2-minute margin after finishing 169th in the stage. Closest riders to him in the general classification are 172nd place Jean-Patrick Nazon (A2R); former Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak (Cofidis) in 171st; and 170th place Daniel Becke (Iba).
Our former Lanterne Rouge, Leonardo Piepoli, had an incredible ride today. He hung with the front group all the way until about 10 km before the finish line, and finished in 12th spot just ahead of Jan Ullrich. That brings him up all the way to 40th place in the overall standings. Bravo, Leonardo!
There were no real stragglers among today's finishers - the last group to cross the line was a pack of fifty riders that came in 38 minutes after the stage winner, so no one was left out on the road coming in solo incurring a huge time gap today. That may change in tomorrow's huge stage.
Labels: abandonments, Becker, Flores, Glomser, Iker, Nazon, Petrov, Piepoli, Tombak
