Tour de France Lanterne Rouge

Chaplin and Contador

2012-01-20T15:43:00.002-05:00

In another in our very limited series on "Separated at Birth" may we present a young Charlie Chaplin and Alberto Contador!?

Respect the Lanterne Rouge

2011-07-24T13:50:00.009-04:00

Every year I see dumb comments and jokes about the Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France and "the race" for the honor. I don't like that type of demeaning ridicule, personally (at least not at the guys who are doing massive amounts of work for relatively little pay and attention), and they're one of the reasons I started this blog.

Before anyone jokes about 2011 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Fabio Sabatini of Liquigas - let's recognize the magnitude of his accomplishment. Over a span of 3 weeks, he was racing for 90 hours, 10 minutes, and 5 seconds at an average speed of 23.63 mph. Over the Pyrenees and Alps.

166 fellow professional cyclists were with him along the way and took up to 3 hours, 57 minutes, and 43 seconds less time to pedal exactly the same course - a difference of only 4.39%.

And 32 of the pro cyclists who started the race 3 weeks ago were unable to finish it at all (16.1% attrition).

Bravo, Fabio. Carry your Lanterne with pride.

2011 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge

2011-07-23T14:22:00.003-04:00

Fabio Sabatini, Italian rider for Liquigas, had the honor of rolling down the starting ramp first for individual time trial today and will carry the fabled Lanterne Rouge into Paris. He finishes 3:13 behind the previous holder, Andrey Amador of Movistar. Vincent Jerome finished today 155th out of 167 Tour de France finishers.

The final finisher of the 2011 26.4-mile ITT was Jeremie Galland of Saur-Sojason at an average speed of 23.7 mph - ahead of 31 DNFs this Tour.

Best wishes to both of them in their future professional careers. We'll be cheering you on!

Italian Lanterne

2011-07-20T12:06:00.004-04:00

Today Andrey Amador got into a breakaway and arrived in 11th position on an Alpine stage, moving him up the overall classification.

The new Lanterne Rouge is Fabio Sabatini of Liquigas-Cannondale, who is riding in support of Ivan Basso's podium aspirations.

Fabio's team page with a short video, "Bike for me is freedom"
Fabio's wiki page says that he has finished 2nd in a Vuelta stage and 3rd in a Giro stage, and he was also on the winning team time trial at the 2010 Giro.

Lanterne Rouge is one tough guy

2011-07-16T13:08:00.005-04:00

Andrey Amador of Movistar was the final official finisher inside the time limit in Stage 14 of the 2011 France, keeping his hold on the Lanterne Rouge.

He'll hang on a while longer. He's tough as nails.

Last December while training at home in Costa Rica, he was beaten so severely by thugs who stole his bike that he laid in a ditch unconscious for 6 hours. He sustained kidney and lung damage from the attack.

In April he broke his collarbone, which kept him out of the Giro.

On Stage 1 of his first Tour he sprained his ankle badly.

On the brighter side, he's not only the first Costa Rican to ride in the Tour de France, he's the first rider from any Central American nation.

He's been honored in his home country with his image on a postal stamp.

I have a hunch he will hang on a while longer. Best wishes to him! Note he's also the first Tour de France Lanterne Rouge who is active on Twitter @Andrey_Amador. Give him a shout of encouragement, he appreciates it!

Turnover!

2011-07-15T12:13:00.002-04:00

Vincent Jérôme of Team Europcar has held the Lanterne Rouge for 12 consecutive stages of the 2011 Tour de France. Today, by finishing at about 9 minutes after the stage winner in Lourdes, while the autobus finished at about 22 minutes, he reliquished his position and moved up one in the overall standings.

The new Lanterne Rouge is Andrey Amador of Costa Rica, riding for Team Movistar. Since I was previously unaware that there was a representative of Costa Rica in the Tour (and probably not alone in that), I welcome him taking over the role and gaining the recognition associated with the Lanterne Rouge. Bravo!

ESPN, suspend Michael Smith

2011-07-12T06:37:00.037-04:00

In his feed at http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith for which he has 95,225 followers, on July 11, 2011:

It started with this, concerning a crash in which a cyclist was hit by a speeding car and another thrown into a barbed wire fence:

http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/90532487813537792
"For real, am I wrong for laughing at that Tour de France crash? Can't get over the driver speeding off as if he didn't know he hit someone!"

and he followed up with discussions with several outraged people, and defended his statement with:
http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/90539435388715008
"I'm sorry that crash is hilarious. Every. Time."

then he dismissed numerous objections with a cavalier:
http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/90606872075321344
"It had far been too long since I'd angered an entire community. Today I've managed offend cyclists everywhere. Guess what? It's still funny."

Finally, he issued this pathetic faux apology:
http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/90613389457502209
"i'd like to apologize to cyclists, people who ride bikes, people who know people who ride bikes, and even paperboys. Happy? I miss anybody?"

Totally and completely unacceptable behavior by an ESPN employee and spokesperson.

Make your opinion known at http://espn.go.com/espn/contact

-----------

Followup:

Excellent articles on this issue followed at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/post/tour-de-france-car-crashing-into-cyclists-draws-laughs-from-espns-michael-smith/2011/07/12/gIQAM3pxAI_blog.html

http://mobilelocalsocial.com/2011/espn-michaelsmith-tourdefrance/

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2011/07/13/the-apostasy-of-idiocy/

http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/expert-analysis/bikesnobnycs-tour-de-france-stage-10-report-oh-indignity?page=0,0

http://www.mediabistro.com/sportsnewser/michael-smith-is-not-popular-with-the-cycling-community_b11709

http://www.bikebiz.com/index.php/news/read/barbed-wire-car-bike-tdf-smash-is-laughing-matter-tweets-us-tv-anchor/011508

http://deirdrereid.com/2011/07/14/tour-de-france-espn-social-media-failure/

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2011/07/do-twitter-and-freedom-of-speech-go-hand-in-hand/

http://watrickp.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/michael-smith-versus-the-world-of-cycling/

http://lavamagazine.com/features/op-ed-no-anonymous-smith#axzz1S1czQl1G

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110717/A_NEWS0804/107170303

http://www.firstoffthebike.com/features/2236-dont-mess-with-the-two-wheeled-crowd

A petition with over 1,500 signatures at my last check (7/27):

http://www.change.org/petitions/espn-demand-the-resignation-or-fire-michael-smith-for-tdf-comments

and a truly hilarious video take on it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNHWrkdE_kM&feature=player_embedded

Additionally, you can listen to the Around The Horn broadcast of July 11, 2011 in which all the commentators seemed to find great amusement at the car hitting cyclists in the Tour de France (at the beginning and about 13 minutes into the broadcast):

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=2839445

or a shorter clip is here:

Audioboo / ESPN - Around The Horn - TDF Crash: http://bit.ly/nSyXwk

You may wish to provide feedback to the sponsors of the Around The Horn show via feedback on their websites or at:

http://www.facebook.com/AroundTheHorn

http://www.facebook.com/PizzaHut (sponsor)

http://www.facebook.com/hanes (sponsor)

A Facebook page entitled, "Fire Michael Smith of ESPN" (over 480 "likes" at last check on 7/27)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fire-Michael-Smith-of-ESPN/247929945218143

or directly to the individuals on the Around The Horn broadcast on their twitter feeds at:

@MrMichael_Smith @TimCowlishaw @woodypaige @BillPlaschke

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 12, Michael Smith added on his Twitter feed a statement:

http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/90964379046117376

"I apologize for my insensitive remarks re: the TdF crash. I recognize my comments were inappropriate given the serious nature of the crash."

then shortly thereafter when someone who sent him a message saying "All of these people attempting to ruin ur life and ur the jerk? It was a joke. Just like these people attacking u. A joke" he responded:

http://twitter.com/#!/MrMichael_Smith/status/91164219457802240

"thanks man. believe me i'm good. not gonna succeed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update July 13: @MrMichael_Smith has deleted the offensive statements from his timeline on Twitter, but not his numerous statements defending them to outraged respondents. Deleting them does not make them unsaid, nor does it change the hilarity in the Around The Horn broadcast.

HERE is a screenshot of the original unexpurgated set of Michael Smith's tweets.

Tour de France Lanterne Rouge analysis

2011-07-11T07:28:00.002-04:00

Nice use of some of the data on this long-neglected blog by the good folks over at Podium Cafe.

"Anyone who thinks that being the lanterne rouge means you're a shit rider is missing the point."

2011 Stage 6

2011-07-07T13:28:00.003-04:00

Another rain-soaked crashfest. Vincent Jerome is hanging in there as Lanterne Rouge, and although he got caught behind in a split, finished with the final grupetto of 21 at 12:26 back from the stage winner today.

At the start of the stage he said (roughly translated): "My condition is stabilized. Now I manage to use my left leg. It will go better and better. The red lantern is anecdotic (legendary?), but people encourage much."

2010 Lanterne Rouge Adriano Malori of Lampre was in an unsuccessful breakaway, but finished in mid-pack and is 95th in the overall standings.

Five riders are out of the Tour, bringing the peloton down to 193.

Two first names

2011-07-04T18:30:00.005-04:00

As someone who also has two first names, I should know better. I keep getting Vincent Jérôme's name backwards. He's holding on to the Lanterne Rouge for the third consecutive stage of the 2011 Tour de France. Here's the good-looking young man's profile at Wikipedia.

There have been no DNFs so far, despite a number of crashes.

Right next to him in the penultimate spot in the GC is Dimitry Murayev of Radio Shack. We probably will see more of him - he was the Lanterne Rouge last year in two stages of the Toru de France and was the overall Lanterne Rouge of the 2008 Vuelta.

2011 Tour begins

2011-07-03T12:50:00.007-04:00

The first two stages of the 2011 Tour de France have seen Frenchman ~~Jerome Vincent~~ Vincent Jérôme hold the position of Lanterne Rouge for Team Europcar, after seeing some trouble in a crash-ridden first stage. Here he is getting things untangled:

Pre-Tour favorite clenbuterol-positive Alberto Contador finished Stage 2 in 75th place, 1:42 back from the leader, which makes me happy. Naturally he and the team aren't happy with that result, so they're asking for the rules to be retroactively changed in their favor.

3-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Vansevenant busted

2011-06-29T11:51:00.003-04:00

Big news coming shortly before the 2011 Tour is that retired cyclist and 3-time Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant has been arrested for receiving a shipment of high-end "ultra-modern" doping products from Australia.

His former long-term team, Omega Pharma Lotto, denies all knowledge. Wim claims that they were for personal use to shore up his apparently rapidly-aging body. He was scheduled to be a driver for VIP tours at the Tour de France but that gig was hastily canceled.

One wonders about the Australian connection on his former Belgian team - which could conceivably include Australian riders such as Cadel Evans, Robbie McEwen, and Adam Hansen.

Lanterne Rouge rocks time trial

2011-05-29T12:20:00.002-04:00

Jos Van Emden, Lanterne Rouge of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, rocked the final individual time trial and took 6th out of 159 finishers. He is only in his second year as a professional cyclist, a Dutchman riding for Rabobank. Watch him in the future! Bravo!

2011 Tour Down Under

2011-01-23T07:58:00.004-05:00

Celebrity sprinter Mark Cavendish stuck it out to the bitter end of the Tour Down Under to finish as Lanterne Rouge, 129th at 33:51. He was supporting HTC-Highroad teammate Matthew Goss who finished 2nd overall by 2 seconds. Earlier in the race Cavendish had suffered a nasty crash and sported lots of bandaging in later stages. Well done completing the job!

Cavendish is not a stranger to the Lanterne Rouge slot, holding that position for Stage 7 of the 2007 Tour de France before he abandoned the race.

Should Wim Vansevenant be worried?

2011-01-21T20:05:00.005-05:00

It looks like Jimmy Casper may be returning to the Tour de France in 2011, riding for Saur-Sojasun, which will give him an opportunity to tie Wim's record of three Lanterne Rouge finishes.

Still, he cannot do them consecutively as did Wim, the ultimate Lanterne Rouge.

What it's like to be Lanterne Rouge

2010-12-23T09:28:00.003-05:00

Several intriguing first-hand accounts of what it's like to ride in the Tour de France, including the appropriately final account by legendary Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant.

Adriano Malori

2010-11-14T14:44:00.003-05:00

The Lanterne Rouge of the 2010 Tour de France, Adriano Malori, was interviewed recently in VeloNation.

". . . a 12th place finish in the prologue in Rotterdam seemed to herald a shot at a solid first week. However a crash in Stage 2 during the infamous stage to Spa put paid to that. The young Italian was left to struggle just to continue in the sport's most difficult race. Eventually, Malori would finish as lanterne rouge in the 2010 Tour de France, but it was a finish nonetheless, and absolutely nothing to scoff at when considering that was his first ever Grand Tour. More importantly, Malori was a vital cog in the team in support of Alessandro Petacchi and his quest to take his first ever Green Jersey in Paris - which he did."

Best wishes to him on continued success!

Is the Tour de France too hard?

2010-11-14T14:28:00.004-05:00

Interesting analysis over at The Inner Ring on this topic.

Bike Race Info shows the numbers of finishers over the years that the Tour de France was held, yielding these figures for recent years:

1995 - 61%

1996 - 68%

1997 - 70%

1998 - 51%

1999 - 78%

2000 - 71%

2001 - 76%

2002 - 81 %

2003 - 78 %

2004 - 78 %

2005 - 82 %

2006 - 79 %

2007 - 75 %

2008 - 81 %

2009 - 87 %

2010 - 86 %

So on average for the last decade, for every 187 starters that begin the Tour de France, 80% of the riders finish in Paris, while 37 riders drop out along the way.

Vuelta a Espana 2010

2010-09-19T14:33:00.002-04:00

Danish rider Lars Back of HTC-Columbia has become the Lanterne Rouge of the 2010 Vuelta, finishing 156th. There were 42 DNFs (21% non-completion rate). Back rode in support of Mark Cavendish's successful bid for the overall sprinter's jersey.

Malori is 2010 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge

2010-07-25T13:48:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Adriano Malori, Italian rider on Lampre, for finishing the 2010 Tour de France - an accomplishment that 27 of the starters this year failed to achieve. He rode a total of 2263 miles in 3 weeks at an average speed of 23.4 mph - and half the time he was riding faster than that! His pace over the course, finishing as Lanterne Rouge, was a mere 1.1 mph slower than the Tour winner. Bravo to Malori!

999 scooches

2010-07-24T12:00:00.002-04:00

From my calculations, that's how many times Alberto Contador scooched back in his saddle during the individual time trial today.

Bert Grabsch, former world champion, rode an incredible time trial today for 3rd place on the stage, pulling himself out of the Lanterne Rouge slot.

Adriano Malori of Lampre regained the Lanterne Rouge of the 2010 Tour de France on the penultimate stage and will have the honor of carrying it into Paris.

Bicycling.com challenges Lance

2010-07-14T17:45:00.004-04:00

Could Lance Armstrong rise to the challenge of becoming the first American Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France?

I have my doubts, personally. I don't think he's built that way.

I also figured out that he would need to lose an average of 22 minutes per remaining stage, more or less, to make it to Paris as Lanterne Rouge. Not very likely.

In other news, here's a blog post about launching the Lanterne Rouge on the Col de Madeleine.

Think it's easy?

2010-07-13T19:42:00.004-04:00

Those who jest about coming in as Lanterne Rouge at the Tour de France should read David Millar's account of just how "easy" it is to finish last in a stage.

Or read about Kenny Van Hummel's incredible ride in 2009.

Volatile

2010-07-11T19:29:00.004-04:00

Things keep changing every day in this Tour! Stage 8 and we have 6 different Lanternes Rouges already. Stage 8 brings us the second time for Dimitriy Murayev of Team Radio Shack to take the Lanterne Rouge out of 186 remaining riders (including Lance Armstrong who was humbled on this stage). I haven't found any interviews of Murayev from this Tour, but it's a familiar role for him, having finished the 2008 Vuelta a Espana as Lanterne Rouge. (I believe I erroneously posted that it was the '09 Giro before, which was Evgeny Sokolov).

I've been remiss in not posting about each rider - I've been spending the stages twittering as TdFLanterne rather than typing in my blog entries, sadly.

There is, however, an excellent profile of Jesús Hernández here, a good friend of Alberto Contador and holder of the Lanterne Rouge for Astana for two days so far in this Tour.

Stage 2: Synchronized Skating to Spa

2010-07-05T13:42:00.006-04:00

Today's stage was a crashfest on slick descents. When Lance Armstrong says "There was NO WAY to stay on your bike" that means there were probably fairly unfavorable conditions.

Andreas Klier of Cervelo finished in the autobus at 19:03 after the stage winner and an unusual rider-neutralized finish to become the new Lanterne Rouge.

The translated injury report for the day is impressive:

Lance Armstrong: bruising and bruising to his elbow and thigh.

Alberto Contador: abrasions and bruises on the right flank.
Andy Schleck: hit to leg and arm after tough tumble.
Frank Schleck: injuries to the arm and leg.
Roman Kreuziger: cases, injuries unknown.
Robert Gesink: folded back on smooth pavement, ulna fracture
Jurgen Van den Broeck: pain in finger and wrist. No fractures.
Kevin Seeldraeyers: complained about everything and anything.Further participation is not compromised.
Bradley Wiggins: abrasions on legs and arms.
Tyler Farrar: bulged to 19 minutes of Winner Chavanel inside. Grabbed the back, immediately transferred to hospital for further investigations, where an elbow fracture was found.
Christian Vande Velde: hapless leader Garmin. Also to hospital.
Mickaël Delage: problem after zygomatic fractures, wrist and collarbone.
Julian Dean: also to hospital
Alessandro Petacchi: hit on the wrist
Paolo Tiralongo: knee pain
Vasyl Kiryienka: heavy bruising
Egoi Martinez: many bruises
Niki Terpstra injuries to right arm.
Robbie McEwen: gaping wound in the elbow should be attached.
Vladimir Karpets: to hospital
David Zabriskie: knee pain after fall
Remy Di Gregorio: knee pain after fall

2010 Tour begins!

2010-07-04T12:09:00.006-04:00

In the Prologue in Rotterdam, the final finisher was Manuel Cardoso, a Portuguese rider for Footon-Servetto. He finished in 197th place after crashing and coming in nearly 3 minutes after other riders 6:20 back from the race leader, covered with blood and reportedly having incurred a broken jaw.

Cardoso did not start Stage 1.

At the end of stage 1 crashfest, the Lanterne Rouge of 195 riders was Dmitriy Muravyav, the Kazakh on Team Radio Shack. The slot is a familiar one to Murayev, who was the overall Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Giro d'Italia.

Bravo to Burghardt!

2010-06-18T15:21:00.006-04:00

A big shout out to BMC's Marcus Burghardt for winning two stages at the Tour De Suisse!

The first time we saw him in 2007 on this blog he was riding for T-Mobile and crashing out of the Tour de France by hitting a dog. Subsequently he was channeling Olympic champion skater Evgeny Plushenko.

Well done!

Doubler?

2010-05-10T13:34:00.002-04:00

After the 'chaotic' stage 3 of the 2010 Giro d'Italia, Damien Gaudin, French rider for Bbox Bouygues Telecom, is now Lanterne Rouge. He was the final Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.

Does either of my readers know if there has ever been a Vuelta-Giro double Lanterne Rouge within the same calendar year?

Giro underway!

2010-05-09T09:37:00.003-04:00

The 2010 Giro d'Italia has begun! The first Lanterne Rouge from the Stage 1 individual time trial in Amsterdam (of 198 starters) is Guillaume Blot, French rider for Cofidis.

I won't be posting about it here much, but I will be continuing to tweet about the Giro Lanternes Rouges here, as well as discussing it on our Lanterne Rouge Facebook page.

In unrelated cycling news (that I missed earlier), a 2-time (2006, 2007) Tour de France Prologue Lanterne Rouge, Ruben Lobato, was nabbed last June for violating the biological passport standards.

Paris-Roubaix 2010

2010-04-13T13:41:00.004-04:00

Our correspondent Lucho at the Cycling Inquisition blog sent along the photo below of the final rider on the road for the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix. "I was sad to see that a few French and Belgian fans were mocking and taunting these stragglers as they went by, often covered in blood and with ripped clothing. So much for the "great European fans" that we often hear about. I stood there and cheered them all on. Watching them go by was actually more exciting than seeing Cancellara go by. There was a quiet beauty about seeing them go in after the crowds dispersed and the barriers were already being taken down."

The rider is Romain Zingle of Cofidis (who was not listed in the results due to not making the cutoff).

Of official finishers, 72nd was Yauheni Hutarovich for Francaise de Jeux, the 2009 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge. Final official finisher was 74th, Jos Van Emden for Rabobank.

Here is the Paris-Roubaix broom wagon passing by, the last sad sight of the race procession by exhausted, bedraggled riders:

The race report at Cycling Inquisition is well worth reading by any cycling fan.

2010 Tour Down Under

2010-01-24T08:25:00.002-05:00

Daniel Sesma, Spaniard on Euskaltel-Euskadi, was Lanterne Rouge at 42:47 back of 127 finishers. He was the final finisher of the Stage 6 Adelaide circuit, 12 min behind the rest. Dominik Roels, German on Team Milram, was the penultimate rider overall.

Yauheni Hutarovich, FdJ rider and '09 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge, was 8th for Stage 6 and 106th overall.

Interview with Van Hummel

2010-01-11T18:30:00.002-05:00

There's a great interview with former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Kenny Van Hummel in Pez, along with some excellent photographs (though it doesn't sound like he particularly wishes to be remembered for being last in the general classification for a time).

Cyclingnews readers rightly scored Van Hummel's incredibly tenacious battle for staying in the Tour de France last summer as the 8th Biggest Moment in Cycling News for 2009.

Happy Birthday Wim

2009-12-23T18:23:00.003-05:00

Lovely tribute to 3-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant here.

(A pleasant contrast to this ugly bit of snarkiness).

Quote of the day

2009-12-23T12:54:00.001-05:00

"... if I had to change one thing, it would be that the riders played a part in the decision-making. I wish they had some sort of position within the sport where their voice was truly heard. Right now, the riders are, more or less, pawns and told what to do. They need to stand up and have one united voice."

-- Tyler Hamilton, December 2009 Pez Cycling News

Greatest cyclist of all time?

2009-12-21T18:52:00.004-05:00

That argument has finally been settled once and for all, here.

It's Eddy Mercx, btw, if you're too lazy to click through. That Lance guy is 8th.

I mention it here, though, because the list very appropriately includes 3-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant.

Geoffroy Lequatre signs

2009-10-03T19:25:00.004-04:00

Geoffroy Lequatre, former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge (Stage 5, 2007) has signed with The Shack cycling team for 2010. He was formerly with Agritubel and Cofidis.

Just FYI, for fellow followers of the Lanterne Rouge everywhere, I've been twittering during some of the major races and making other offhand snarky comments, as TdFLanterne here.

Damien Gaudin of BBox Bouygues Telecom was the final Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.

Lanterne Rouge stats

2009-08-05T18:03:00.004-04:00

An interesting site for the statistically inclined, cyclingfever.com, lists Yauheni Hutarovich's numbers for the 2009 Tour:

1 Participations
2009
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
156

Stage Performance
Overall
Total : 21 stages (100%)
Top-3 : 1x (4,8%)
Top-10 : 2x (9,5%)
Top-20 : 4x (19,0%)
------------------
2009
Team : FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
Rank : 156

... and then his time gaps for each stage.

Probably a very useful research tool for Tour de France historians.

Bookends

2009-07-28T08:02:00.006-04:00

Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Karen, who found this photo on Graham Watson's site of the men who were first and last in the 2009 Tour de France general classification. Note the red towel stuck in Hutarovich's helmet signifying the Lanterne Rouge. I thought for a moment he was carrying an electric lantern too but that's a motorcycle headlight showing under his arm.

Also study the physiques of these two riders in close to the same position and it becomes abundantly clear why the Lanternes Rouges in the grand tours are most often sprinters: they simply have much more body mass to drag up those mountains. Hutarovich's powerful sprinter's thigh muscles are nearly twice the size of Contador's!

2009 Champs d'Elysees

2009-07-26T13:28:00.007-04:00

Congratulations to Yauheni Hutarovich, the Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Tour de France, for his 5th place finish on the Champs d'Elysees today! That boy can sprint!! Well done indeed and a memorable finish to your Tour!

I hear that Hutarovich "... celebrated that fact [of his Lanterne Rouge standing] with a red hand towel stuck in the back of his helmet during today’s final stage" but I haven't yet seen a photo of it. Anyone?

Stage 18: Annecy Individual Time Trial

2009-07-23T18:58:00.004-04:00

Yauheni Hutarovich, as Lanterne Rouge, had the distinction of being the first to roll down the starting ramp at the 40.5-km time trial in Annecy today. He rode a time of 55:12 (26.4 mph) on the hilly course, moving up relative to his first time trial, and beating 6 other riders (as well as 22 other riders who dropped out along the way before this stage). Hutarovich retains his position as Lanterne Rouge by a margin of about 15 minutes aggregate time.

Marco Bandiera of Lampre-NGC had the slowest time trial of the day at 56:41, which is a 25.72 mph average on the demanding course. Not shabby at all!

Trivia: The Fabians were next-to-first (Cancellara) and next-to-last (Wegmann) today in the ITT.

Stages 16 and 17

2009-07-22T19:45:00.007-04:00

I missed posting yesterday - but Kenny Van Hummel valiantly held on for another day, and ended up riding nearly the entire stage solo again, finishing at 34:43, 13 minutes after any other rider.

He received a very nice writeup in NRC Handelblad, which avoided the condescension often seen in articles about the Tour Lanterne Rouge. An opposite example was this mean-spirited piece of snark which called his finish "off the back of the last of the laughing groups."

Today, however, he was dropped again about 4 km from the start and struggled to keep within the cutoffs. Ultimately he took a few too many chances on the descents, attempting to make up time, and crashed. He incurred a knee injury severe enough to send him to the hospital and out of his first Tour de France.

Bravo, Kenny, well done. We hope to see you again next year and to see you finish in Paris. You've gained a lot of fans around the world in eleven days as the Lanterne Rouge for your persistence and courage.

Re-taking the spot as Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France today is Yauheni Hutarovich (FdJ). He is firmly in last place in general classification by a 12 minute gap. He seems well able to finish the mountains, so barring bad luck or someone else incurring some major time losses, he seems likely to finish the 2009 Tour in Paris as its final Lanterne Rouge.

Interestingly, on the day before the last individual time trial, the two Fabians (Cancellara and Wegmann) finished together last for the stage at 35:59 after the stage winner. That's the way to conserve energy, all right! I probably should go put some betting money on Fabian Cancellara for tomorrow's stage win!

Other withdrawals brought the peloton down to 158 by the end of stage 17 (12.2% attrition). Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) had a gruesome crash on a fast descent in Stage 16 and was helicoptered out with some broken facial bones, concussion, and severe road rash. His helmet saved his life. During Stage 17, Cyril Dessel (Ag2R La Mondial) and Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Cervelo) abandoned.

Yauheni Hutarovich, as Lanterne Rouge, has the distinction of being the first rider off the starting ramp in the individual time trial tomorrow. Best wishes for a great ride to him! (Of course, a double-bookend of the same first and last riders for two ITTs, Cancellara and Hutarovich, would be interesting but I won't wish that on him!)

Old guys in the peloton

2009-07-20T11:56:00.001-04:00

Sorry, guys, age is no excuse! Over 8% of the peloton is age 35 or older:

Levi Leipheimer 35
Stuart O'Grady 35
Marzio Bruseghin 35
Steven de Jongh 35
Matteo Tosatto 35
Joan Horrach 35
Peter Wrolich 35
George Hincapie 36
Bingen Fernandez 36
Jens Voigt 37
Lance Armstrong 37
José Luis Arrieta 38
Christophe Moreau 38
Stéphane Goubert 39
Iñigo Cuesta 40

Kenny crossing the line at Verbier

2009-07-19T16:51:00.003-04:00

Heart-rending clip that makes me really wish that I spoke Dutch. But you don't need to in order to feel his pain. Final finisher Kenny Van Hummel averaged 22.11 mph on his mostly solo ride on today's 128.9-mi mountainous stage.

Another reaction to Kenny Robert Van Hummel's intrepid finish is at Podium Cafe. "... You know, Lance Armstrong's first professional race was the 1992 Clasica San Sebastian, where he finished dead last. Just sayin'."

Spoilers

2009-07-19T16:14:00.002-04:00

Rant mode on:

I'm sick of people whining about spoilers every time Tour results are obliquely mentioned online.

Two hints:

1. If you want to know what happened in a Tour stage, WATCH THE DAMN STAGE LIVE with all the rest of us.
2. If you don't want to know what happened in a Tour stage, STAY OFF MY DAMNED INTERNET.

That is all.

Stage 15: Pontarlier to Verbier

2009-07-19T14:02:00.007-04:00

I'm happy to say that our brave Lanterne Rouge Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Dutch rider for Skil-Shimano) finished today's Tour de France stage solo - 12 minutes behind the nearest rider, with a 39 minute gap in aggregate time to the next rider in the overall standings. It took him about two hours of solo riding to get there through some nasty crowds today, so it's quite a tough effort on his part to finish the day! Bravo!

Another notable ride was Slovenian Simon Spilak, riding for Lampre, who figured prominently in a breakaway and led the stage for a while, and in so doing earned the Combativity Award. Just two days ago he finished last at 45:45, 22 min after the nearest rider. However, he was held up so much by crowds in the road that the judges allowed him to remain in the race. He's done a great job paying back their faith in him!

Two more riders out today: Tom Boonen of Quick Step (no great surprise there - departed at 79th place in the green jersey competition. More about Boonen's recent personal issues here.), and Vladimir Efimkin (Ag2R), leaving from 16th place overall, but apparently suffering after a crash.

I'll bet many are very happy to see the rest day arrive. 162 riders remain in the 2009 Tour, representing 10.0% attrition after two weeks.

Stage 14: Colmar to Besançon

2009-07-18T18:10:00.006-04:00

Two riders finished behind the main group at 7:39 behind the stage winner today: Dmitriy Murayev (Team Astana; Giro Lanterne Rouge), and Johannes Frohlinger of Milram.

Simon Spilak of Lampre, who finished 22 minutes in arrears yesterday, was permitted to continue despite arriving after the cutoff because of the poor weather conditions for the stage. He remains in a very respectable 130th place overall.

Kenny Robert Van Hummel keeps his position as Lanterne Rouge today, having accumulated a 26 minute gap in aggregate time behind the nearest rider in the peloton.

The nearest rider? Former Lanterne Rouge Yauheni Hutarovich of FdJ. Alan Perez Lezaun, the other former Lanterne Rouge of this Tour, is in 147th position.

164 riders remain.

Van Hummel video

2009-07-17T19:19:00.002-04:00

Okay, this one makes me cry.

Today (Stage 13) marks Kenny Robert Van Hummel's 8th day as the Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France. He's endured more than most of us can know. He's 26 minutes behind the nearest rider in the General Classification. Today, fortunately, he finished 137th in the autobus.

Simon Spilak of Lampre finished last today at 45:45 after the stage winner, 22 minutes after the nearest rider. He's not listed as missing the cutoff -- he's still in!

Stage 12: Tonnerre to Vittel

2009-07-16T13:13:00.005-04:00

Kenny Robert Van Hummel makes it a solid 7 days as the Lanterne Rouge today as the main peloton finished in a bunch. A very few stragglers across the line today: Jose Luis Arrieta of Ag2R, Mick Rogers of Columbia (though he was probably delayed by a crash since he was given the time of the main group), and Christophe Riblon of Ag2R.

Placements at the top and the bottom of the General Classification may hit the Mixmaster in the next few days, which promises to be interesting.

We had four losses today, bringing the peloton down to 166 riders: Romain Feillu of Agritubel; Angelo Furlan of Lampre; and Jérôme Coppel of FdJ all withdrew during the stage, while Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa of Caisse d'Epargne did not start the day.

Update: Very nice article today by Daniel Benson in Cyclingnews.com on Kenny Robert Van Hummel.

Stage ZZZzzzzZZzzzz

2009-07-15T17:23:00.005-04:00

I forget where we are. I fell asleep. Stage 11, I think? Same old thing.

Here's our Lanterne Rouge Kenny Robert Van Hummel today, before he made it over the line in 15th position, right before Tom Boonen. There were 170 finishers today after Kurt Asle Arveson didn't start with a broken clavicle. Only 5.5% attrition so far - that will soon increase in the Alps.

Sorry, sprinters, I wanted the Alps to start yesterday.

But even so, 15th place in a stage of the Tour de France isn't ever shabby. Last place isn't shabby either. Van Hummel most certainly did not deserve this cheap shot.

One bit of exciting news today: Our former Lanterne Rouge from stages 1 and 2, Yauheni Hutarovich of FdJ, came over the line THIRD today immediately behind Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar! That's pretty elite company - well done indeed!!

Record-breaking stage

2009-07-14T17:01:00.004-04:00

Stage 10: Limoges to Issoudun

Probably the most boring stage, ever. Ever. A "rest day on wheels". Flat and slow and it went exactly as predicted. Only slower. And no radios. As Phil Liggett said about highlights of the day: "Not quite sure what they were".

Our Lanterne Rouge Kenny Robert Van Hummel finished 7th for the stage, but so did everyone else. So he remains in 171st position in the General Classification out of 171 riders still in the peloton.

Kurt Asle-Arveson looked badly injured in a crash and it appeared he might not finish, but he did.

That is all that happened. Honest.

How it feels to abandon

2009-07-13T17:03:00.001-04:00

Will Frishkorn talks about the role of a domestique and how it feels when you're forced to abandon in one of the big races:

"... As you’re watching the Tour these next few weeks and the camera invariably follows rider after rider out the back and into their car, showing their pain, think of all they’ve given, and all their hopes that just went up the chimney. The feeling of letting down all those that have supported them, and the teammates that counted on them, now left one rider down. And then enthusiastically let the camera lead you back to the front, showing the champions at battle."

Van Hummel

2009-07-12T16:55:00.004-04:00

... is Lanterne Rouge again today (Stage 9: St. Gaudens to Tarbes), final finisher of the stage and last rider in the General Classification. Hang in there!! Now you have a rest day to bounce back!!

Here's a great photo of him heading into the finish with teammate Jonathan Hivert in Barcelona a couple of days ago, from .SantiMB. on Flickr:

Today Danilo Napolitano of Team Katusha failed to reach the finish line by the time limit and was eliminated, bringing the peloton down to 171 riders (from an original 180).

Stage 8: Andorre-la-Vieille to Saint-Girons

2009-07-11T12:17:00.003-04:00

Kenny Robert Van Hummel of Skil-Shimano was 172nd and last on the Pyrenean stage today, finishing in a trio with Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) and Angelo Furlan (Lampre) at 34:01 after the stage winner.

Van Hummel is also 172nd overall (about 3 minutes behind nearest rider in the General Classification), for his third day as Lanterne Rouge. Unfortunately it does not bode well for him finishing the entire Tour de France, unfortunately. Best of luck to him in recovering and succeeding in moving up the next few stages.

The (fairly worthless) withdrawals list on the official Tour site currently lists these casualties, but they're missing Piet Rooijakkers of Skil-Shimano who crashed out in the Stage 4 Team Time Trial:

NO LONGER RIDING Stage 8
177 LE LAY David (FRA) AGRITUBEL withdrawls
176 GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo (ESP) AGRITUBEL withdrawls
111 PEREIRO SIO Oscar (ESP) CAISSE D’EPARGNE withdrawls
63 FERNANDEZ Koldo (ESP) EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI outside time limit
Stage 7
105 JOLY Sébastien (FRA) FRANCAISE DES JEUX withdrawls
Stage 6
46 GESINK Robert (NED) RABOBANK non-starter
Stage 3
159 VAN DE WALLE Jurgen (BEL) QUICK STEP non-starter

Stage 7: Barcelone to Andorre Arcalis

2009-07-10T17:33:00.004-04:00

Our first mountaintop finish of the 2009 Tour!

Unfortunately, former Lanterne Rouge (several stages in 2006) Sébastien Joly of Francaise de Jeux was a casualty and dropped out today midway through the stage. He's one of the notable cancer survivors in the peloton (though there may be others).

There was a huge autobus finish today with 48 riders arriving at 28:29 after the stage winner, and Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Agritubel) and Angelo Furlan (Lampre) arriving shortly thereafter.

Kenny Robert Van Hummel, the Dutch rider on Skil-Shimano, remains Lanterne Rouge for the second day. He was the first starter in the individual time trial earlier in the Tour, I believe.

Stage 6: Girona to Barcelona

2009-07-09T16:55:00.007-04:00

Today in Barcelona, the teammates Kenny Robert Van Hummel (from the Netherlands) and Jonathan Hivert (from France) riding for Skil-Shimano were a distant last over the line on Montjuic at 15:58 behind the stage winner.

Kenny Robert Van Hummel of Skil-Shimano is the new Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France at 25:06 behind the maillot jaune. Probably there will be a new one tomorrow too, unless the entire autobus finishes together with no stragglers. I expect after the number of crashes today there will be a few riders who have considerable difficulty tomorrow struggling up the first mountaintop finish, the tallest of the Tour.

The peloton is down to 177 finishers after several crashes today. Previous Lanternes Rouges Yauheni Hutavich now ranks 174th and Alan Perez Lezaun ranks 175th in the General Classification.

Barcelona in the rain became a skating rink. Here's one account of all the crashes of the day.

Stage 5: Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan

2009-07-08T17:20:00.006-04:00

Once again this year, the organizers of the Tour don't seem to be posting medical reports at all. Occasionally they've been posted or reported by the various news organizations attending the race. It's the type of thing that's probably handed out on paper at the on-site press centers, but that unfortunately don't seem to make it directly online in any sort of timely manner.

No change in the Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France. At the end of today's stage there were still officially 178 riders in the race, and the last-ranked in the general classification was Alan Perez Lezaun of Eskaltel-Euskadi at 22:10 behind the wearer of the maillot jaune.

Robert Gesink of Rabobank crashed today at 120 kilometers into the 196.5-km stage. He broke his wrist and was unable to hold the handlebars, and so will officially be a Did Not Start tomorrow morning for Stage 6. That's a pretty darned tough way to ride 47.5 miles at the speed of the Tour de France! At the end of today's stage he arrived at 9:35 after the stage winner accompanied by his teammate Grischa Niermann of Germany. That type of dedicated service to a fellow rider is one way riders lose big chunks of time and end up in the bottom part of the general classification.

Oh yeah, also our Boy from Belarus and previous Lanterne Rouge, national champion Yauheni Hutarovich, was in a breakaway that was away for the entire stage and from which one of the breakaway riders eventually was responsible for winning it - but Hutarovich was swallowed up by the peloton before the finish line (officially 91st over the line). I imagined that the entire nation of Belarus was going absolutely friggin' insane in front of their TVs for every minute of the stage.

Stage 4: Team Time Trial

2009-07-07T19:16:00.006-04:00

Oooh, that karma will get you every time.

Skil-Shimano rider Piet Rooijakkers apparently slugged Mark Cavendish in Stage 3, as Cavendish reported in his Twitters (erroneously identifying the responsible rider).

Today Rooijakkers crashed out of the team time trial and departed the Tour de France in an ambulance, bringing the peloton down to 178 riders.

The rider who crashed out yesterday, Jurgen Van De Walle of Quick Step, will stay in France another night and returns home tomorrow to Belgium to recuperate.

I've been unable to ascertain today's times of those riders who did not finish among the top 5 on their team in the team time trial (when they will get their actual finishing time and not the time of the 5th rider over the line). Alan Perez Lezaun of Euskaltel-Euskadi is still listed as the rider at the bottom of the overall standings today, despite his team's very respectable 10th place finish in the team time trial.

Stage 3: Marseille to La Grande-Motte

2009-07-06T17:19:00.009-04:00

There is a time cutoff for every stage of the Tour de France which determines which riders are disqualified for arriving at the finish line too late. However, I seem to be unable to calculate what the cutoffs are for each stage (the specific stage information may be in handbooks given to the team members, but it doesn't seem to be online), so I have to find out after-the-fact with everyone else.

Today Alan Perez Lezaun of Euskaltel-Euskadi and Dimitry Muravyev of Astana (Lanterne Rouge of the 2008 Giro d'Italia) finished together fully 13:49 after the stage winner. This put Alan Perez Lazaun into the Lanterne Rouge slot in the overall standings at 16:24 aggregate time behind the current maillot jaune wearer.

The team time trial is tomorrow, and I'll go out on a limb and predict that Muravyev will not be one of the riders who crosses the finish line with the team. His job will be to blow himself up well before the finish line pulling the team for all he's worth.

Stage 2: Monaco to Brignoles

2009-07-05T11:41:00.005-04:00

It seems that Yauheni Hutarovich (FdJ) wishes to hold onto the Lanterne Rouge for a while. He finished today's bunch sprint stage in 179th position at 7:14 behind the entire peloton, with only Andreas Klier of Cervelo for company.

It looks as though Hutarovich may hold position for the next few days. He gave a couple of recent interviews:

Velo 101 (in French), from an interview in Monaco on July 3rd (badly translated):

"What feelings do you feel the day before the departure of your first Tour de France? "
"The best possible ones. I have just gained my national championship for the second consecutive year. A selection for the Tour, I am really in a dream."

Another French site, 7sur7, indicates he had a fall in Stage 2, accounting for his late arrival at the finish line (badly translated):

"Unhappy - The Bélarussian of Française des Jeux Yauheni Hutarovich, began his Tour de France in the worst way. Last against-the-watch in the inaugural time trial Saturday in Monaco, he fell with less than 20 km from the finish of the second phase, between Monaco and Brignoles. In the plan of the team, Hutarovich is supposed to dispute the sprints for stage wins."

Klier apparently had a wheel problem today and had to wait for a mechanic.

Jurgen van der Walle of Quick Step (2008 national champion) crashed today in stage two. He's the first rider out of the 2009 Tour, in the hospital with a punctured lung and broken clavicle. http://tinyurl.com/r3ejgf Incredibly, he apparently attempted to continue for some time after the crash in that condition! That brings the peloton down to 179 riders.

There were a few other crashes today. As always during the Tour I'll add details on the injuries and abandons as I can dig them up from the very sporadic medical releases that are posted online. I'm not sure it would be any easier to get these details sitting in that hot press tent on site, though.

Stage 1 Monaco individual time trial

2009-07-04T14:01:00.006-04:00

Yauheni Hutarovich, riding for Francaise de Jeux, became the Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Tour de France today. He finished in 180th position in the 15.5-km individual time trial in Monaco with a time of 23:23. If my calculations are correct, that gives him an average speed over that super-hilly course of 24.71 mph.

This is his first Tour de France for the sprinting specialist. Hutarovich is currently the road race champion of the nation of Belarus and therefore has the right to wear their national colors.

Placements today of previous Lanternes Rouges:

Geoffroy Lequatre (Stage 5, 2007): 99th
Filippo Pozzato (Stage 3, 2006): 101st
Bernard Eisel (Stage 19, 2008): 103th
Dimitry Muravyev (2008 Vuelta a Espana Lanterne Rouge): 122nd
Sébastien Joly (multiple stages, 2006): 129th
Aleksandr Kuschynski (Stage 1, 2007 and 2008): 165th
Mark Cavendish (Stage 7, 2007): 177th

Looking at Mark Cavendish's finishing position, the rider who may be the world's best sprinter at this time ranking 4th-to-last overall, I am reminded to make the point that the position in the General Classification says nothing about the inherent athletic ability of the cyclist, and everything about the important job they each play on their own team.

It begins!

2009-07-04T07:13:00.004-04:00

Today is the start of what could be one of the most exciting Tours of all time.

Here is a nice one-page summary of the route and stages and riders for you to bookmark. Here is the official starter list of all 180 riders.

Our early prediction for the Lanterne Rouge of the Stage 1 individual time trial around Monaco? Probably it will be some young mountain goat who is new to the Tour de France. The logical pick, though, is Aleksandr Kuschynski of Liquigas. He started the Tour as Lanterne Rouge in both '07 and '08.

2009 Tour de France Lanterne Rouge

2009-07-02T19:52:00.004-04:00

Who will it be? The one certainty is that it will be someone new, since Wim Vansevenant has retired from professional cycling after his historical threepeat.

One blogger says it's going to be Dave Zabriskie. As much as I love the Big Z, I have my doubts that he would stick around to finish the Tour if he weren't helping the team effort and also feeling well enough to be a contender for a stage win in the Stage 18 individual time trial (immediately after leaving the Alps). If he were at the bottom of the General Classification, that would indicate he had some fairly serious problems like crashing and major mountain bonks and solo finishes.

What's your guess? Anyone care to make some predictions?

2009 Tour: Former TdF Lanternes Rouges

2009-06-28T08:44:00.014-04:00

Here is the substantial roster of former Lanternes Rouges (last place for at least one day in the General Classification in the Tour de France, 2005 and later; or last overall in another recent Grand Tour) who may be riding in the 2009 Tour:

Cut from roster:
~~Française des Jeux: Remy di Gregorio, Stage 4, 2007~~
~~BBox Bouygues Telecom: Evgeny Sokolov, 2009 Giro d'Italia Lanterne Rouge~~

Confirmed:
Agritubel: Geoffroy Lequatre, Stage 5, 2007
Astana: Dimitry Muravyev, 2008 Vuelta a Espana Lanterne Rouge
Columbia-Highroad: Mark Cavendish, Stage 7, 2007
Columbia-Highroad: Bernard Eisel, Stage 19, 2008
Française des Jeux: Sébastien Joly, multiple stages, 2006
Katusha: Filippo Pozzato, Stage 3, 2006
Liquigas: Aleksandr Kuschynski, Stage 1, 2007 and 2008

The fun starts this coming Saturday! Don't forget, I will be posting daily short updates on Twitter this year as TdFLanterne, and may not be doing extensive blog posts as in the past. Please be sure to subscribe to our Tour de France Lanterne Rouge feed there!

Twittering the Giro

2009-05-16T17:58:00.004-04:00

For those following along on the Giro d'Italia, I've been posting several daily updates on the Lanterne Rouge on Twitter. For added value, I'm including a few tweets concerning DNFs and crashes and the like. For example, there's a link to a photo of the site where Pedro Horrillo of Rabobank had a horrific crash down a vertical gully. (Some additional photos of Horrillo being airlifted out here.) Stuff like that. In July I'll post more here with expanded coverage of the Tour de France Lanterne Rouge.

Rolling into Stage 4

2009-05-12T08:09:00.007-04:00

The Giro has their first summit finish today. Yesterday was a busy day as well. I've been twittering about the Lanternes Rouges and the DNFs, please check over there for breaking news!

Unfortunately ChristianVDV (Christian Vande Velde) crashed out of the Giro during stage 3. Garmin-Slipstream reported that he had two broken ribs and a severe contusion and sprain to his mid-back. Today, directly from him: "I body slammed my self something awful, but as always, i couldve been worse."

The Giro peloton is now 196 (down from 198 starters). That's still a big bunch o' bikes out on the roads. Just think, if they ride with 8 riders abreast, that's still 24 rows of bikes. One little wobbly wheel at the front can become a massive debacle toward the back.

Milram's Matthias Russ, Stage 2 DNF, broke his clavicle (cycling's fashionable injury) and has surgery scheduled today in Germany. Bart Dockx, a Belgian rider for Silence-Lotto, became Giro Lanterne Rouge in Stage 3 (at 18:29 back from the leader). A mass pileup at ~10 km from finish shook up the standings as much as the next few mountaintop finishes will.

Solo break and now Lanterne Rouge

2009-05-10T14:33:00.003-04:00

Leonardo Scarselli, Italian rider on Team ISD, is Giro Lanterne Rouge after a brave 116-km solo escape in Stage 2 (Jesolo - Trieste). Matthias Russ, German rider on Team Milram, did not finish the stage after crashing in the final circuits in Trieste.

Giro begins in Venice

2009-05-09T17:45:00.003-04:00

At the Giro d'Italia Stage 1 team time trial in Venice, Danish ~~rider~~ national champion Nicki Sørensen of Saxo Bank (at 5:56) took the first Lanterne Rouge (at 5:56). Fuji-Servetto was the last of 22 teams at 1:37 back.

Wim update

2009-04-22T08:09:00.003-04:00

Cadel Evans posted on Twitter today this new photo of 3-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant: http://twitpic.com/3rcu5 "in his new role as 'VIP driver'. "

Jimmy Casper is on fire!

2009-04-16T18:48:00.002-04:00

Two-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge, Jimmy Casper, won his second race this week, the 50th GP de Denain. That launches him into a commanding lead in the cycling French Cup series. Chapeau!

Casper wins Paris-Camembert

2009-04-14T15:28:00.003-04:00

Jimmy Casper, the two-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge (2001, 2004) secured a victory over the weekend at the Paris-Camembert race. He now rides for Besson-Sojasun. Congratulations!

Paris-Roubaix '09

2009-04-13T15:41:00.004-04:00

Michael Friedman, aka "Meatball", riding for Garmin-Slipstream, was the Lanterne Rouge finisher of the grueling Paris-Roubaix race this year, coming over the line in 99th place. He's a Pittsburgh native and twice a winner in the Team Pursuit at the USA National Championships.

Here's a photo that illustrates how he must have felt. Eighty-eight other starters failed to make it to the finish line of the race nicknamed "Hell of the North". Well done, Mike!

Morgan Patton

2009-03-27T17:11:00.008-04:00

The best thing about this blog is learning about new upcoming riders - and here's one with a big suitcase of courage: Morgan Patton, the Lanterne Rouge of the prologue of the women's race at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.

Team Type 1 Communications Director Sean Weide tells her story:

Morgan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of seven. As a teenager, she struggled to effectively manage her diabetes."

But that changed when she rode along as part of Team Type 1's crew for the 2006 Race Across America. That experience marked the first time she had been surrounded by other people with diabetes – all of whom were athletes competing in a rigorous event. This inspired her to start cycling as a means of controlling her diabetes.

At age 17, she began competing in bike races, and, over the years, her A1C has been reduced significantly. Where she might have previously struggled to control her diabetes before, now she is a trained athlete, managing her diabetes through healthy diet and exercise, along with using the latest technology for monitoring her glucose levels.

She was last of the 138 starters today in a field that included the world time trial champion (Amber Neben) and U.S. time trial champion (Alison Powers). She is also first to admit that uphill time trials are not her thing. Criteriums are much more her style. In fact, she finished second and Team Type 1 teammate Monique Hanley was third at the Kelly Cup Criterium last June. This year, she has already won three races in Georgia and finished second in a fourth.

Update: Unfortunately, Morgan was a DNF the following day at Redlands when the average speed of the winner was 23.01 MPH. Taking the Lanterne Rouge slot is Beatriz Rodriguez of Kahala LaGrange.

She stayed in the game and ultimately after the third stage finished as the overall Lanterne Rouge of the women's division at Redlands:

80 372 Rodriguez, Beatriz USA Kahala LaGrange 8:42:14 at 1:32:33

Paris-Nice 2009

2009-03-15T13:39:00.004-04:00

British rider Jeremy Hunt, riding for Cervélo TestTeam, is the Lanterne Rouge of the final stage of Paris-Nice, in 92nd place for the day. The overall Lanterne Rouge of the general classification was Alexandr Dyachenko, a Kazakh rider on the Astana team. 159 riders began the stage race, so Dyachenko finished ahead of over 40% of the starters.

Several former Tour de France Lanternes Rouges appeared in the race this year, including Aitor Hernandez (Euskaltel) (Stage 2, 2006), Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas) (Stages 1-3, 2007; stage 1, 2008), who shared an early breakaway in Stage 2 of Paris-Nice and ended up 44th and 42nd overall. Sébastien Joly, the French rider on Française Des Jeux, Tour de France Lanterne Rouge for 9 stages in 2006, was a DNF.

Lanterne Rouge Twitter feed

2009-03-02T15:21:00.005-05:00

We've just set up our new Lanterne Rouge twitter feed at:

http://twitter.com/TDFLanterne

Our tweets, like our blog posts here, will probably be concentrated in month of July for the Tour de France.

There's also a link way at the bottom of our right sidebar if you lose the address.

More separated at birth

2009-02-23T12:41:00.004-05:00

One in a very very limited series:

Colavita-Sutter Home cyclist Lucas Sebastian Haedo and young Mandy Patinkin.

Cyclists previously featured in our "Separated at Birth" series: Magnus Backstedt, Marcus Burghardt and Wim Vansevenant.

Guptill is TOC Lanterne Rouge

2009-02-22T19:40:00.010-05:00

Andy Guptill, a promising young rider on the Colavita-Sutter Home team, finished in 84th position and in the Lanterne Rouge slot for the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Guptill is a resident of Hannacroix, New York and in his third year on the team. He was named the Most Aggressive Rider for stage 2 of the 2008 Tour of Missouri.

Notable penultimate finisher of the 2009 Tour of California was Tyler Hamilton, Olympic gold medalist, riding for Rock Racing.

Correction: I had previously posted based on erroneous early reports that the Lanterne Rouge was Guptill's 28-year-old teammate Anthony Colby, a climbing specialist (and Durango, Colorado resident) who finished in 15th place at the 2007 Tour of Georgia. He wasn't even on the 2009 TOC start list. My apologies.

136 riders finished the TOC prologue, so Guptill finished ahead of 38% of the original field.

Southerland is TOC Lanterne Rouge for early stages

2009-02-17T07:26:00.012-05:00

After a prologue and two demanding stages of the Amgen Tour of California, Phil Southerland, founder of Team Type 1, is in 128th place and holds the Lanterne Rouge slot. Eight riders have already abandoned the Tour. He is a previous Lanterne Rouge finisher from last year's Tour de Taiwan.

Phil and teammate Fabio Calabria are the only riders with Type 1 diabetes in the race. They have had their share of adversity the past two days - having to fight through the wind, cold and rain as every rider had to do, while they have the additional routine demand of simultaneously managing their blood glucose levels. It is thanks to their insulin sponsors like Lantus and Apidra and their diabetes management products like the FreeStyle Navigator and the OmniPod and Dex4 that helps them stay in contention.

Best wishes to Phil and his teammates for a successful completion of the Tour!

Update 1: Phil Southerland has retained his Lanterne Rouge position after Stage 3, with numerous departures from the race on a grueling day. 119 riders are still in the race, while 17 other prologue finishers are gone.

Update 2: Southerland was forced to retire from the race during Stage 4. 108 riders remain, and Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas is the new TOC Lanterne Rouge.

Update 3: Francesco Chicchi of Liquigas continues as the TOC Lanterne Rouge, which provides him with the noon starting slot of 108 rides in the Stage 6 time trial in Solvang. The top ten riders go off at 1:41 pm local time at 2 minute intervals.

Best wishes, Magnus!

2009-02-06T08:51:00.006-05:00

Magnus Backstedt, former Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France (Stage 4, 2006) and perennial favorite of Clydesdale riders worldwide, has announced his retirement. Best wishes to him in the new phase of his career!

In his honor, we present our own special "Separated at Birth" moment featuring Magnus Backstedt and Uncle Fester:

Previously featured in our extremely limited "Separated at Birth" series: Marcus Burghardt and Wim Vansevenant.

Under down under

2009-01-26T18:32:00.004-05:00

Just for the record, here are the final five finishers in the 6-stage 2009 Tour Down Under:

Sergio De Lis (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.02.22119
Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.02.46120
Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.02.50121
Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Columbia - High Road 1.04.26122
Ivan Dominquez (Cub) Fuji-Servetto 1.23.14

So we have a Cuban Lanterne Rouge! I'll bet they don't get many of those in Australia.

We've seen Eisel around the back of the peloton a few times before. Good luck to all the riders this season - it promises to be a great one for us spectators!

Tour Down Under

2009-01-10T14:52:00.005-05:00

Yes, of course I'll be watching too on Versus. I just looked up the schedule and thought I'd post it just in case anyone else needs it. I have no idea what time zone this refers to, however - best guess is EST. I hope the second broadcast doesn't conflict with the Obama inauguration because I don't have TiVo!

1/18/2009 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/20/2009 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/21/2009 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/22/2009 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/23/2009 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/24/2009 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER
1/25/2009 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm TOUR DOWN UNDER

It's been fun following Lance's Twitter feed and photo updates of his training on the Big Island. Yes, I'm very envious!

But I won't spend much time on covering his comeback here, just as I don't cover other race leaders and celebrities (they get plenty of coverage elsewhere), unless he ends up in the Lanterne Rouge position one day this year. I'd love that, it might bring a lot of attention to this little lonely niche blog here!

Piepoli's regrets

2009-01-08T10:14:00.011-05:00

Former 3-stage Lanterne Rouge, Leonardo Piepoli, has expressed his regrets at his "unconscionable" doping at the Tour de France, and calls it "one time in a career full of sacrifices".

I suppose that he answered the "WHAT WAS HE THINKING!?!??" questions as well as any of them. He didn't include the part about "I thought they couldn't detect it", though. At least he 'fessed up after being caught. Although I, like many, have lost all patience with any rationales whatsoever, particularly those bleeding with self-pity.

Did you personally apologize to the clean cyclist who finished behind you, whom you robbed of his chance for the glory of a Tour de France stage win, Mr. Piepoli?

Just for the record, to give the other riders their due, here's the order of finishers (to be revised in the record books) that fateful day Piepoli won the stage. Would Cobo Acebo have beat Frank Schleck for the day without Piepoli's doping-assisted draft? I doubt it.

2008 Stage 10, Pau to Hautacam
1.PIEPOLI L. SDV 4h 19' 27"
2.COBO ACEBO J. SDV 00' 00"
3.SCHLECK F. CSC 00' 28"
4.KOHL B. GST 01' 06"5.

Cobo Acebo will probably go on record as the stage winner. But it should certainly be noted that Schleck has also come under suspicion, and Kohl doped. It goes on and on.

Thanks to the tireless

2009-01-01T16:44:00.003-05:00

Our heartfelt gratitude goes out today to the tireless folks at Trust But Verify, which closed up shop yesterday, after 2.5 years of providing and sifting mind-boggling detail on the Floyd Landis case.

Piepoli confesses

2008-12-29T19:24:00.002-05:00

Former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge (3 stages in 2005) and climber-with-something-extra Leonardo Piepoli has publicly confessed to doping with CERA in the 2008 Tour.

So the guys at the bottom of the standings are no more resistant to the allure of doping than the guys at the front.

Can we move on now?

Pssst! Want a good deal?

2008-11-06T07:56:00.002-05:00

The Toyota-United cycling team failed to find a title sponsor for next year, and as a consequence, they're selling off a huge inventory of pro cycling equipment of all sorts. Make a bid!

Piepoli tests positive

2008-10-06T17:15:00.002-04:00

In a delayed round of testing samples from the 2008 Tour de France, three-stage Lanterne Rouge (2005) Leonardo Piepoli tested positive for EPO in two different samples.

Never let it be said that the guys at the rear of the peloton are any different than the guys riding up front.

Three-time Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant retires

2008-10-06T07:54:00.007-04:00

The Eernegem criterium was the final race in the 14-year career of Wim Vansevenant, who will go down in history not only as a top domestique but also as the distinguished three-time finisher in the Lanterne Rouge position of the Tour de France in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Vansevenant raced his last six seasons with the Lotto team, notably defending the Tour de France podium position of team leader Cadel Evans.

Cyclingnews reported, "The Belgian realized that his Tour de France performances gave his popularity a major boost. "I'm proud that I've written a little bit of history with that Lanterne Rouge. It will always be linked to my name and I hope that I inspired other riders, just like the seven Tour de France victories from Lance Armstrong," Vansevenant said."

Cadel Evans attended to honor his teammate and quipped, "First of all I want to say sorry to 'Sevi' that we couldn't complete the double in the Tour de France this year. The plan was to be Lanterne Rouge in the Tour de France and yellow jersey in Paris and I let him down. Beyond that, I value every rider who contributes to the team whether that's with results or with the work they do for the team. Wim is one of the riders who you always want to have in your team, in every race you do. He's a real team player in every sense of the word and he's only going to be missed in that way."

A photo gallery of the day's festivities is here.

Best wishes to you in your future career in agriculture, Wim!

Lanterne Rouge at the Olympics

2008-08-16T13:49:00.004-04:00

Lanterne Rouge for stages of the Tour de France in two different years, Aleksandr Kuschynski (stage 1, 2007; stage 1, 2008) participated in the men's road race for his nation, Belarus, on August 9th at the Beijing Olympics. He figured in some early breakaways but ultimately did not finish, and is listed in the results in 73rd place.

Presumably that's his Olympic ID photo!??

Fifth place is definitely not good enough in China

2008-08-16T13:28:00.006-04:00

Interesting report in the Washington Post about how only first place is good enough for the Chinese at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

A Chinese fifth place finisher in the 10m air rifle competition was castigated by her countrymen: ". . . Chinese spectators let her have it. "The state spent so much money on you, provided you with such good facilities, gave you four years to train," one former fan wrote on Tiexue, one of China's biggest online bulletin boards. " . . . You disappoint your countrymen." "

If second place is first loser, then fifth place at the Olympics for the Chinese must be something incredibly horrible.

There are a few (somewhat equivocal) voices of moderation: "The People's Daily said that "losers need more warm support from the society and from all walks of life. A little bit of your encouragement and attention will help them out of the shadow of failure, warm them up, inspire them and make them feel more confident." "

While I'd like to hope those terms "losers" and "failure" for Olympic athletes are the product of a very bad translation, I tend to think they're not.

In general, their attitudes seem to be the antithesis of the Olympic Creed: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

Jimmy Casper positive for corticoids

2008-08-09T14:31:00.003-04:00

Two-time Tour de France Lanterne Rouge Jimmy Casper has tested positive for corticoids during the 2008 Tour de France. Authorities contend that he did not have a Therapeutic Use Exemption on file, although Casper has claimed that he did.

He was suspended by his team Agritubel pending a resolution of the matter.

Olympics!

2008-08-09T05:36:00.007-04:00

I left on vacation the final Saturday of the Tour and was unable to remotely post a final 2008 Tour de France summary; but we heartily congratulate Wim Vansevenant for his accomplishments and move onward!

Cyclist Ahmed Belgasem representing Libya was the final finisher in the men's road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, who finished 21:22 after the first rider across the line.

Update: ACK! My error! I wasn't able to properly scroll sideways on the NBC site (which keeps auto-refreshing, much to my annoyance) and that was just a preliminary split. Oh well, I'm happy to recognize Belgasem's participation for Libya anyway. But he was an earlier DNF.

DNFs also included familiar names such as Dave Zabriskie from the USA and Robbie Hunter from South Africa, also Alberto Contador for Spain and Jens Voigt for Germany, and Stuart O'Grady for Australia. I guess it was pretty nasty air out there.

The actual final finisher came in 90th out of 143 starters, 41:11 after the first place finisher, and represents the nation of Brazil: Luciano Pagliarini Mendonca. He was 3rd in the Pan American Games road race last year. This time around he beat 37% of the starters.

I recommend Jonathan Crowe's excellent DFL blog for ongoing coverage of the Olympics - for those who want to read beyond the simplistic sound-byte headlines surrounding the podium-finisher medalists!

Stage Twenty: The decisive ITT

2008-07-26T08:38:00.014-04:00

Update thanks to Velonews.com live updates:

"Adam our official Live Update La[n]tern[e] Rouge historian writes in to say: Hey Live Update Guy, It looks like Wim Vansevenant will be creating history tomorrow. He started today's stage 42 seconds ahead of Bernhard Eisel of Team Columbia. Fortunately (?) he took 1 minute 35 seconds longer to finish the stage. As of right now as I write this 29 riders have finished. So the lowest man in the GC who hasn't finished as far as I know is Arnaud Coyot. He'd have to take 1 hour 51 minutes and 14 seconds to displace Wim, which is almost 40 minutes slower than the average pace set by the first 29 riders through to finish the stage. Cheers to Wim Vansevenant! Who if he avoids catastrophe and finishes tomorrow will be the first participant to win the Lantern[e] Rouge three times, and will have done it for three tours in a row! Thanks for the updates, Adam"

It seems Vansevenant rode almost exactly the same relative pace as the first time trial in Cholet. I'm still searching for Wim's official time but the first rider out, Bernard Eisel, went in 1:13:12. Everyone seems to only post the top tens rather than the full list of results as they go! Aaargh!

"Lance has seven titles, I have another record," said Vansevenant, who loyally helped the Australian Evans to do well at the Tour.

Update: Thanks to Allen Gathman for pointing out the official times on Le Tour site!

Bernard Eisel: 1:13:12
Wim Vansevenant: 1:14:47 (1:35 gap)

Slowest times of the day:
Matthieu Sprick: 1:15:02
Thomas Voeckler: 1:15:09

It doesn't seem that Wim Vansevenant slowed down at the end of the time trial to hit a particular goal time, but rather rode it just as he did the first time trial and maintained a fairly consistent position through all the splits:

VANSEVENANT Wim - SILENCE - LOTTO
Classement général individuel : 144th at 03:46:29 (position at the start of the stage)
start 2th parti at 11:20:01
chrono 1 18.0 km 143th at 00:03:49
chrono 2 36.0 km 145th at 00:07:33
chrono 3 47.5 km 145th at 00:10:00
arrivee 53.0 km 142th at 00:10:56

Final five ITT times for today:

141. RIGHI Daniele 77 LAMPRE 01:14:44 00:10:54
142. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 01:14:47 00:10:56
143. ENGOULVENT Jimmy 84 CREDIT AGRICOLE 01:14:55 00:11:04
144. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 01:15:02 00:11:12
145. VOECKLER Thomas 149 BOUYGUES TELECOM 01:15:09 00:11:19

Before anyone scoffs at Thomas Voeckler's time, please go out and find a nice hilly course of 33 miles and ride it at an average pace of well over 26 mph, as he did. Not to mention doing it after riding over 2000 miles in the preceding three weeks over the highest mountains in the Pyrenees and Alps!

Christophe Riblon of Ag2R was able to move up today into 138th place by riding an outstanding time trial in 37th place for the day.

The final five in the overall standings after the final time trial, which (barring any withdrawals or serious crashes) will most likely be the final order of finish for the 2008 Tour:

141. GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente 34 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 87h 40' 26" + 3h 39' 26"
142. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 87h 49' 18" + 3h 48' 18"
143. KRAUSS Sven 116 GEROLSTEINER 87h 52' 55" + 3h 51' 55"
144. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 87h 54' 58" + 3h 53' 58"
145. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 87h 55' 51" + 3h 54' 51"

Stage Nineteen: Roanne to Montluçon

2008-07-25T12:44:00.013-04:00

Unexpected drama in the Lanterne Rouge standings: Wim Vansevenant finished at 1:54 after the stage winner today, while a group of nine riders (including former Lanterne Rouge Aleksandr Kuschynski, Sven Krauss, and Bernard Eisel) crossed the line well back at 14:45.

The group of mostly fatigued and injured riders had fallen off the back of the peloton with 40 km to go and limped in to the finish together. They're all trying their best to hang on until Paris.

This drops Bernard Eisel of Team Columbia into last position in the general classification by 42 seconds. It also means that he will be the first starter in the Saturday individual time trial. It is probable that Wim Vansevenant will not know a precise cutoff time (that would result in his elimination), but he may learn of Eisel's finish time before he crosses the time trial finish line and attempt to finish a minute slower. However, Vansevenant's primary and extremely critical task will be to scope out any peculiarities of the time trial course and relay them back immediately after his finish to his teammate Cadel Evans.

In the Stage 4 Cholet time trial, Vansevenant finished 60 seconds behind Eisel over a 29.5 km course. If both riders were fresh, he might be expected to lose something like 1:37 to Eisel on a 53 km course. But anything can happen! As Allen Gathman points out, the time trial will likely determine both the maillot jaune and the Lanterne Rouge for the 2008 Tour.

Will the time trial, and consequently the Tour's finish in Paris, see the peloton becoming a Silence-Lotto sandwich with teammates on both ends of the general classification? Oh, the suspense!

At least they're both soldiering onward! There were five riders who didn't successfully finish the stage today, reducing the peloton to 145 riders:
DNS Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre
DNF Christophe Brandt (Bel) Silence - Lotto
HD Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank
HD Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
HD Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner

A fairly typical tale of woe is related by cyclingnews.com: "Fabian Wegmann is experiencing . . . a nightmare. Numerous crashes have left their mark, as have the three weeks of stress. He had two nosebleeds during the stage yesterday, he says on his website, fabianwegmann.de. And not only do his injuries hurt, he is getting a rash from the bandages. "My fingers are so badly swollen that I can barely hold on to the handlebars. And my feet and bottom are bright red. They burn and itch like crazy. Normally you could treat that with cortisone, but not during the Tour."

Separated at birth?

2008-07-24T22:16:00.004-04:00

Marcus Burghardt and Evgeni Plushenko.

(Second in a very limited series. Here is my Wim Vansevenant "Separated at Birth".)

No more dog days

2008-07-24T19:33:00.005-04:00

Francois Thomazeau on Yahoo reminded me that Marcus Burghardt was the guy on T-Mobile last year who crashed out with an unfortunate encounter with a dog.

Well done today, Marcus!

Vansevenant profiled in Wall Street Journal

2008-07-24T18:36:00.006-04:00

Bill Strickland posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal today about Wim Vansevenant and his probable historic triple Lanterne Rouge finish.

He concludes: "Some cycling fans discover the lore of the Lanterne Rouge and become captivated by how it rewards fruitless struggle and alchemizes failure into a kind of success. You'll know you've become one of them if, Friday, you look first at the bottom of the standings instead of the top."

Once again, I beg to differ with his assessment that Wim Vansevenant's string of Tour de France finishes - in any position - represent anything remotely resembling failure or defeat.

No. Ricco's departure was defeat in disgrace. Magnus Backstedt's and Jimmy Casper's agonizing finishes while failing to meet the time cutoffs are glorious defeats.

Wim Vansevenant is a survivor, and as he labors to support his team leader, Cadel Evans, every day of the Tour, he is perhaps the noblest representative of the self-effacing efforts of every domestique in the peloton who rides, unnoticed, in the essential support of every podium finisher. We fans have nothing but respect for him and his fellows.

Stage Eighteen: Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne

2008-07-24T11:45:00.010-04:00

Concerning yesterday's valiant finish on Alpe d'Huez by two-time Lanterne Rouge Jimmy Casper, Cyclingnews.com reports: "There was some discussion among the French about making Jimmy Casper the combative of the day yesterday. But the rules clearly state that a rider has to be classified to qualify. Casper crashed and bravely fought on by himself. It sure was an honourable performance. He reached the finish, but outside the time limit. "

It was sweet to see the teammates of the injured Damiano Cunego ride the only team time trial in this Tour and bring him home inside the time limits in a pink (magenta?) and blue Italian armada:

146. TIRALONGO Paolo 79 LAMPRE 4h 50' 33" + 20' 12"
147. MARZANO Marco 75 LAMPRE 4h 50' 33" + 20' 12"
148. RIGHI Daniele 77 LAMPRE 4h 50' 33" + 20' 12"
149. MORI Massimiliano 76 LAMPRE 4h 50' 33" + 20' 12"
150. CUNEGO Damiano 71 LAMPRE 4h 50' 33" + 20' 12"

Unfortunately that drops Cunego from 14th overall to 20th in the general classification, but he's still in the bike race. It seems he suffered a nasty chin injury that will require some patching up overnight. Update: According to VeloNews, Cunego will not start tomorrow. Sad to hear that after such a noble effort by him and his teammates in getting to the finish line on time.

Christophe Riblon of Ag2R-La Mondiale came in 19th for the stage, which moved him up one place in the final five.

In the TV coverage I was able to catch a very brief glimpse of Wim Vansevenant in his red and black kit, coming over the finish line protecting his Lanterne Rouge position in the last of the large group of 122 riders who came in between 6:50 and 7:07 after the stage winner.

The final five in the standings today, which will be shaken up somewhat in the final individual time trial on Saturday:

146. KRAUSS Sven 116 GEROLSTEINER 82h 47' 59" + 3h 31' 45"
147. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 82h 49' 52" + 3h 33' 38"
148. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 82h 49' 53" + 3h 33' 39"
149. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 82h 55' 54" + 3h 39' 40"
150. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 83h 02' 02" + 3h 45' 48"

Remember if you have local coverage of the start of the individual time trial on Saturday that Wim Vansevenant will probably have the honor (and challenge) of the first starting position. I'm sure Cadel Evans will be listening to, and benefitting from, every word he will relay about the course conditions afterwards.

Stage Seventeen: Embrun to L'Alpe-d'Huez

2008-07-23T17:45:00.007-04:00

Very sorry to see that 2-time Lanterne Rouge Jimmy Casper (riding for Agritubel) didn't make the time limit on Alpe d'Huez today and was eliminated. He is the 30th rider to depart the Tour this year. I believe that it was his seventh participation in the Tour. It may serve to highlight what a tremendous accomplishment it is for any rider to finally arrive at the finish line in Paris after making it through three grueling weeks - at any position in the standings.

The Daily Mail reported: "Such is the reverence in which the Alpe is held that Agritubel rider Jimmy Casper, in spite of the certain knowledge that he would be eliminated on time, refused to climb off his bike until he had crossed the line. He promptly burst into tears."

There were 69 riders in the autobus that arrived today at 38 minutes exactly after the stage winner. That means most of the guys that we have been following all got the same time today, and there were no rearrangements at the back of the standings. Wim Vansevenant is in a strong position to finish the 2008 Tour de France as Lanterne Rouge.

146. KRAUSS Sven 116 GEROLSTEINER 78h 10' 48" + 3h 31' 45"
147. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 78h 12' 25" + 3h 33' 22"
148. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 78h 12' 41" + 3h 33' 38"
149. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 78h 18' 26" + 3h 39' 23"
150. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 78h 24' 24" + 3h 45' 21"

It seems Bernhard Eisel had a rough day out there too, especially on the first big descent: "Eisel tumbles on the descent. Then Perez goes off road. Hincapie goes down. Eisel makes it a double as he falls again. My god, this has turned into a demolition derby."

Stage Sixteen: Cuneo to Jausiers

2008-07-22T12:21:00.007-04:00

Wim Vansevenant of Silence-Lotto is back in the Lanterne Rouge slot, since Sébastien Chavanel of FdeJ is apparently out.

However, the stage results are not coming up yet on the official Tour de France site. More later!

Ahhh, here we are:
Two more out, bringing the peloton down to 151 men:
162 CHAVANEL Sébastien (FRA) FRANCAISE DES JEUX withdrawal
63 CHICCHI Francesco (ITA) LIQUIGAS outside time limit

Chavanel must not have been feeling well - he dropped out about halfway up the first climb of the day. Epoch Times said, with a hint of disdain, ". . . he was in last place in the General Classification, and his team no longer needed his efforts." No reports on Chicchi, but he's a sprinter with enormous thighs and so probably not well-suited to the steepest climbs.

The big autobus that came over the line at 31:56 after the stage winner held 57 riders including most of the guys we have talked about on this blog. Again, I'm not sure what the cutoff was today but you're pretty safe from elimination at the Tour if you have 56 other riders in your grupetto.

Final five in the overall standings:

147. KRAUSS Sven 116 GEROLSTEINER 71h 24' 50" + 2h 54' 34"
148. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 71h 26' 27" + 2h 56' 11"
149. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 71h 26' 43" + 2h 56' 27"
150. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 71h 32' 28" + 3h 02' 12"
151. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 71h 38' 26" + 3h 08' 10"

It's worth noting that the time gap between the current Lanterne Rouge and the nearest rider in the standings is now nearly six minutes. Unless something unusual happens or he is forced to abandon, Wim Vansevenant is in a very strong position to make Tour de France history by finishing in the Lanterne Rouge position for an unprecedented third consecutive year.

Incidentally, the Silence-Lotto team website seems to take no notice of this other than on Vansevenant's individual page.

I'm sure they're all tired and dreading what tomorrow may bring. Best wishes and safe journey, gentlemen.

Stage Fifteen: Embrun to Prato Nevoso

2008-07-20T13:16:00.009-04:00

I wonder what the cutoff time was today? Sébastien Chavanel, riding for the Francaise de Jeux team, crossed the line at 42:59 after the stage winner, 12:07 after any other rider. Maybe the cutoffs are different for French riders.

Chavanel had to stop at 44km into the stage when his jacket got tangled in his bike. Not sure what else went wrong for him today.

Cavendish did not start, as predicted, and Oscar Pereiro (of Caisse d'Epargne; official winner in 2006, Floyd's year) had a dramatic crash which took him out with a sprained shoulder. On the first climb of the day, the Col Agnel, Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole) and Stijn Devolder (Quick Step leader) were dropped and abandoned the race.

Otherwise the last several riders over the line were familiar:
148. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 5h 17' 23" + 26' 39"
149. CASPER Jimmy 123 AGRITUBEL 5h 17' 40" + 26' 56"
150. KRAUSS Sven 116 GEROLSTEINER 5h 20' 30" + 29' 46"
151. CHICCHI Francesco 63 LIQUIGAS 5h 21' 36" + 30' 52"
152. BRANDT Christophe 3 SILENCE - LOTTO 5h 21' 36" + 30' 52"
153. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 5h 33' 43" + 42' 59"

That shakes up the bottom of the general classification a bit and gives us a new Lanterne Rouge for the 2008 Tour!

149. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 66h 23' 20" + 2h 25' 59"
150. CHICCHI Francesco 63 LIQUIGAS 66h 26' 39" + 2h 29' 18"
151. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 66h 29' 05" + 2h 31' 44"
152. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 66h 35' 03" + 2h 37' 42"
153. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 66h 39' 36" + 2h 42' 15"

Chavanel now has a significant gap of 4:33 behind Wim Vansevenant. If Vansevenant wants to score a record third Lanterne Rouge finish at the end of the Tour, he will have to keep an eye on Chavanel's position and be sure to finish well behind him on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Stage Fourteen: Nîmes to Digne-les-Bains

2008-07-19T18:06:00.007-04:00

Nicholas Jalabert from Agritubel abandoned about 90km into today's stage.

Hmm, seems like a lot of people are saying that current leader Cadel Evans has a weak team in Silence-Lotto, while Robbie McEwen has no leadout guys. Are Evans' team members purposely avoiding him? I'd love to be a fly on the wall inside the Silence-Lotto team bus. Cadel finished today with the first group and most of his team finished with the back of the autobus just behind Robbie:

145. MC EWEN Robbie 6 SILENCE - LOTTO 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
146. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
147. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 66 LIQUIGAS 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
148. MÜLLER Martin 155 TEAM MILRAM 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
149. FÖRSTER Robert 112 GEROLSTEINER 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
150. FRISCHKORN William 194 GARMIN CHIPOTLE 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
151. CIONI Dario 4 SILENCE - LOTTO 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
152. HOSTE Leif 5 SILENCE - LOTTO 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
153. VAN SUMMEREN Johan 8 SILENCE - LOTTO 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
154. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 4h 20' 51" + 07' 43"
155. RENSHAW Mark 89 CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h 21' 37" + 08' 29"
156. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 4h 21' 41" + 08' 33"
157. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 4h 26' 12" + 13' 04"

Naturally that keeps Vansevenant in the Lanterne Rouge position, although Sprick has reduced his time gap. Two-time Lanterne Rouge Jimmy Casper has moved up into 146th position in the rankings with some higher stage finishes. The final five have remained unchanged except Sprick moves down one notch:

153. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 61h 06' 47" + 2h 04' 52"
154. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 61h 07' 03" + 2h 05' 08"
155. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 61h 09' 13" + 2h 07' 18"
156. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 61h 12' 48" + 2h 10' 53"
157. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 61h 17' 40" + 2h 15' 45"