Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Stage Eleven: Lannemezan to Foix
Two other Barloworld riders abandoned today:
59 LONGO BORGHINI Paolo (ITA) BARLOWORLD withdrawal
53 CARDENAS Félix (COL) BARLOWORLD withdrawal
Longo Borghini broke his collarbone in a crash. Cardenas stopped at about 35 km left in the stage.
It may be that Jimmy Casper is considering contesting the Lanterne Rouge position! If either he or Wim Vansevenant take it at the end of the Tour, it will be a historic and unprecedented third time. Casper came in last for the stage again today, 16 seconds behind the autobus that arrived at 22:14 after the stage winner:
164. DUMOULIN Samuel 185 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 4h 20' 27" + 22' 14"
165. PORTAL Nicolas 38 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 4h 20' 27" + 22' 14"
166. CASPER Jimmy 123 AGRITUBEL 4h 20' 43" + 22' 30"
In the overall standings, one less rider separates the two Tour de France Lanterne Rouges - now they only have 4 riders between them, 3 of them Frenchmen:
161. CASPER Jimmy 123 AGRITUBEL 48h 37' 48" + 1h 55' 35"
162. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 48h 38' 09" + 1h 55' 56"
163. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 48h 39' 23" + 1h 57' 10"
164. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 48h 42' 46" + 2h 00' 33"
165. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 48h 44' 33" + 2h 02' 20"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 48h 46' 15" + 2h 04' 02"
Labels: Auge, Cardenas, Casper, Dueñas, Dumoulin, Eisel, Longo Borghini, Portal, Riblon, Soler, Sprick, Vansevenant
Friday, July 27, 2007
Stage 18: Cahors to Angoulême
Podium Cafe notes that Predictor Lotto has the chance to pull off the rare maillot jaune-Lanterne Rouge double if Cadel Evans rides well in the final time trial tomorrow. That's in addition to the feat of Vansevenant possibly becoming Lanterne Rouge in two consecutive Tours de France. Tomorrow will tell the tale! Unless something else crazy happens, most of the riders including our Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant will hold position until that day when their tired legs will give it one final hurrah.- Born on December 23, 1971 in Dixmuide, Belgium
- Lives in Eerhegem, Belgium
- Height : 1.74 m (5'8.5")
- Weight : 65 kg (143 pounds)
2006. Davitamon-Lotto
2005. Davitamon-Lotto
2004. Lotto-Domo
2003. Lotto-Domo
2002. Collstrop-Palmans
2001. Mercury-Viatel
2000. Farm Frites
1999. Collstrop
1998. Vlaanderen 2002
1997. Vlaanderen 2002
1995. Débuts pros chez Vlaanderen 2002
This is Vansevenant's fourth Tour de France, which is a proud record for any professional cyclist. In 2004, he finished 140th. In 2005, 154th. In 2006, he was the 139th and last rider in the General Classification.
Rose Cantine found this information: The only other two riders to consecutive titles as Lanterne Rouge are the Belgian Daniel Masson (1922 and 1923) and Austrian Gerhard Schönbacher (1979 and 1980). There is also an interview with Vansevenant online in Flemish, with French subtitles. Neither of which help the linguistically-challenged like me, unfortunately!
In former Lanterne Rouge news, 28-year-old Sebastian Joly will be taking time out from cycling to undergo chemotherapy and radiation for a cancerous tumor. Best wishes to him for a complete recovery. He can be contacted here.
Just for the sake of completeness, here are today's stage results:
We had a lot of riders come in at 9 and 10 minutes, and then our Final Four, saving everything for tomorrow:
138. CANCELLARA Fabian 33 TEAM CSC 5h 24' 33" + 11' 02"
139. MILLAR David 201 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 5h 24' 33" + 11' 02"
140. CARDENAS Félix 212 BARLOWORLD 5h 24' 33" + 11' 02"
141. WILLEMS Frederik 159 LIQUIGAS 5h 24' 33" + 11' 02"
Our standings at the back of the peloton before the final deciding time trial are:
137. DE GROOT Bram 53 RABOBANK 89h 39' 01" + 3h 34' 45"
138. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 89h 39' 06" + 3h 34' 50"
139. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 89h 41' 35" + 3h 37' 19"
140. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 89h 44' 00" + 3h 39' 44"
141. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 89h 49' 17" + 3h 45' 01"
So Vansevenant holds the Lanterne Rouge spot by 5:17, even though he finished the stage way up in 78th place today. I'm not sure what the cutoff will be for elimination during the time trial tomorrow, but I'd say Vansevenant has a pretty firm grip on the final slot in the General Classification of the 2007 Tour de France.
Wonderful article today by Samuel Abt about Wim Vansevenant here (first spotted by Podium Cafe, who also provide the first mention I've seen of a new doping result in Stage 14).
Stage reports are back in business at VeloNews:
Medical report:
Casar (FDJeux) and Willems (Liquigas), both crashed at 28km, minor cuts and scrapes. (Apparently another dog incident - I hope it wasn't a French Lab).
Hinault (Credit Agricole) breathing problems.
Burghardt (T-Mobile) breathing problems.
Gadret (Ag2r) headache.
Azanza (Euskaltel) digestive troubles.
Quinziato (Liquigas) digestive problems.
Boogerd (Rabobank) insect bite
Jury decisions: no report
Labels: Cancellara, Cardenas, De Groot, Evans, Hushovd, Joly, Krauss, Masson, Millar, Schönbacher, Thomas, Vansevenant, Willems
Friday, July 13, 2007
Stage 6: Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse
Cyclingnews.com says that LeQuatre did finish outside the time limit, but was reinstated by the jury due to his crash (and I hope, a little bit, due to his brave finish). However, his team manager says that he will not be able to continue today.
Update: Yes, indeed, Geoffroy LeQuatre, the brave French rider for Cofidis, was subsequently listed as a DNS on the official page of withdrawals. We wish him a speedy recovery. Noval and Klöden were able to finish today's stage. The Daily Peleton says "Vinokourov has lots of stitches in his knee while Klöden has a broken coccygeal vertebra (tail bone)", and notes Noval was visiting the race doctor during the stage, so we've got several riders who are hoping the rest day comes quickly.
Speaking of time limits, does anyone have a link to the cutoff times for the 2007 stages? I haven't been able to find them. They're kind of complicated, because they depend on both the rated difficulty of the stage and also the time of the winning rider. And then they can be waived by the jury for special circumstances, as well.
Our new Lanterne Rouge is Italian rider Enrico Degano of the wildcard entry Barloworld. He crashed in the feed zone today but recovered sufficiently to finish 16th in the stage. However, in yesterday's stage 5 he was the penultimate rider ahead of Geoffroy LeQautre and finished 23:11 behind the stage winner.In other coverage, James Raia has trotted out the standard Lanterne Rouge article again this year.
Labels: Burghardt, Cardenas, Cavendish, Cheula, Degano, Klöden, Kuschynski, LeQuatre, Napolitano, Noval, Vinokourov, Wiggins, Zabriskie
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Stage 4: Villers-Cotterêts to Joigny
Today's stage saw the withdrawal of one rider, Xabier Zandio, a Spaniard on the Caisse d'Epargne team. He was in 178th position in the General Classification. This reduces the peleton to a total of 186 riders.Thirteen riders lost time on the stage today as they straggled in after the main peleton. Ten of them gained more than two minutes:
177. VANDEVELDE Christian 37 TEAM CSC 04:40:28 + 00:02:41
178. DE GROOT Bram 53 RABOBANK 04:40:28 + 00:02:41
179. ARVESEN Kurt-Asle 32 TEAM CSC 04:40:28 + 00:02:41
180. RIGHI Daniele 87 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 04:40:28 + 00:02:41
181. CARDENAS Félix 212 BARLOWORLD 04:40:28 + 00:02:41
182. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 04:40:32 + 00:02:45
183. VERDUGO Gorka 79 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 04:40:53 + 00:03:06
184. SPRICK Matthieu 127 BOUYGUES TELECOM 04:40:55 + 00:03:08
185. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 04:40:56 + 00:03:09
186. DI GREGORIO Rémy 164 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 04:45:45 + 00:07:58
Again, many of these are riders like Dave Zabriskie who was undoubtably worn out after taking several big turns on the front of the peleton chasing down the breakaway, in support of their team leaders.
The order at the bottom of the GC has been shaken up a bit and Di Gregorio gaining nearly 8 minutes today puts him into the Lanterne Rouge position for the first time:
182. DE GROOT Bram 53 RABOBANK 19:54:42 + 00:04:47
183. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 19:57:04 + 00:07:09
184. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 19:57:25 + 00:07:30
185. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 19:58:56 + 00:09:01
186. DI GREGORIO Rémy 164 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 19:59:26 + 00:09:31
Zandio and Di Gregorio were both involved in a crash at about 62 km on the course today, which forced Zandio to abandon from a fractured collarbone. It took nearly 20 km for Di Gregorio to chase back to the peleton, with the aid of his teammate Lilian Jégou, but he still required treatments from the Tour doctor for an injured elbow at about 95 km. It was reported he was so injured that he needed help from a teammate with his musette bad in the feed zone, and he was struggling as he dropped off the back of the field with about 15 km to go to the finish line.
In other Lanterne Rouge press, there's a somewhat snarky piece at Bicycling.com that refers to the Lanterne Rouge as "first worst". That's certainly not what I would call some of the hardest-working, least-recognized riders in the peleton, but YMMV.
Update: Lanterne Rouge Rémy Di Gregorio has broken a bone in his arm which will require surgery, so he will be a DNS for Stage 5. We wish him a speedy recovery and a quick return to form. That will bring the number of riders down to no more than 185 in tomorrow's start.Labels: Arvesen, Cardenas, De Groot, Di Gregorio, Kuschynski, Righi, Sprick, Vandevelde, Vansevenant, Verdugo, Zabriskie, Zandio
