Saturday, July 21, 2007

Stage 13: Albi 54km individual time trial

The roads are wet and Cancellara crashed on the course.

Here are standings of the last five riders in the GC after Stage 12 and the current provisional Stage 13 ITT time gaps from the interim leader, Bradley Wiggins, after the ITT is partially complete:

Was 162. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 4:43
Was 163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 5:55
Was 164. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 7:01
Was 165. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 3:39
Was 166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 7:06

At the end of the day: the slowest time trials of the day were:

162. AERTS Mario 42 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 1h 18' 33" + 11' 59"
163. HALGAND Patrice 107 CREDIT AGRICOLE 1h 18' 52" + 12' 18"
164. RODRIGUEZ Fred 47 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 1h 19' 16" + 12' 42"
165. VENTOSO Francisco 209 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 1h 19' 59" + 13' 25"
166. JALABERT Nicolas 137 AGRITUBEL 1h 20' 18" + 13' 44"

So the slowest of 166 cyclists in the Tour completed this ITT course at an average pace of 40.34 km/hr or 25.07 mph. That pace includes any slips, crashes, bobbles, flats, tire changes, new bikes, or whatever else can happen in 54 kilometers of wet, slippery roads.

AFTER completion of the time trial, the last five riders in the General Classification are only very slightly shuffled with Verbrugghe's ride lifting him up one notch:

162. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 60h 41' 48" + 1h 55' 09"
163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 60h 43' 20" + 1h 56' 41"
164. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 60h 43' 46" + 1h 57' 07"
165. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 60h 45' 12" + 1h 58' 33"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 60h 50' 13" + 2h 03' 34"

Wim Vansevenant retains his position as Lanterne Rouge after this individual time trial with a 5-minute gap to the next rider in the overall standings.

Thanks again to VeloNews for providing us with Stage Stats, including:

Medical report:
Cancellara (CSC), Isasi (Euskaltel), Gusev (Discovery Channel), Jalabert (Agritubel), Kashechkin and Klöden (both Astana) all crashed but did not require medical attention

Jury decisions:
Saunier Duval-Prodir sport director fined 200 CHF and relegated to last position in Sunday's stage for driving dangerously and provoking an accident

Elsewhere: I just noticed this short video entitled "The lantern rouge, and the suffering" at Cyclingnews.com, but it really only mentions the Lanterne Rouge in passing and focuses on how tough the Tour is on the riders, with lots of shots of sweaty grimacing pro cyclists.

Tomorrow's stage 14 entering the Pyrenees should be a classic to watch: 2 HC summits and a mountaintop finish on Plateau de Beille, where Armstrong and Pantani were victorious. Velonews says, "Given the climb's history, the stage winner could be standing on top of the podium in Paris."

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