Friday, July 25, 2008
Stage Nineteen: Roanne to Montluçon
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."
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."
Labels: Brandt, Cunego, Eisel, Evans, Feillu, Flecha, Krauss, Kuschynski, Vansevenant, Wegmann
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Stage Eighteen: Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne
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.
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.
Labels: Casper, Cunego, Eisel, Krauss, Marzano, Mori, Riblon, Righi, Sprick, Tiralongo, Vansevenant
