Thursday, July 17, 2008
Stage Twelve: Lavelanet to Narbonne
Ack! The whole Saunier Duval-Prodir team gone, Ricco positive for EPO from Stage 4, announced while he was wearing the polka-dot jersey and the young rider jersey! Two riders in the top ten!!
The official team statement reads like their entire team (whoops, I've been getting their name wrong) is shutting down:
"SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT announce that just an hour before the start of today's stage, the French anti-doping agency notified Riccardo Riccò that he'd tested positive for a banned substance after the fourth stage of the Tour de France 2008. Although the Tour organisers allow teams to continue to participate after a positive test, given Riccò's important role to the team in the race, SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT have decided to withdraw in order to preserve the positive image of the team´s sponsors and the Tour de France itself. Riccò has been suspended. Moreover, the team decided to temporarily abandon competition activities until this unfortunate incident is clarified."
Those gone include former Lanterne Rouge (stages 1-3, 2005) and stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, who previously had drug use issues of his own.
Here's the original 2008 Tour team lineup for Saunier Duval-Prodir (Sporting Manager: Joxean Fernandez):
171 RICCO Riccardo
172 BERTOGLIATI Rubens
173 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
174 DE LA FUENTE David
175 DEL NERO Jesus
176 GOMEZ Angel
177 JUFRE POU Josep
178 PASSERON Aurélien
179 PIEPOLI Leonardo
Also: Baden Cooke from Barloworld went down today and abandoned.
And Mark Cavendish, a former Lanterne Rouge (Stage 7, 2007), now riding for Team Columbia, wins a historic third stage in the Tour! Well done! Side note: Over at Triple Crankset they seem to think Cavendish will soon come down with a nasty case of the dreaded Mountain Fever as soon as the Tour enters the Alps, in favor of leaving to train to represent Great Britain in the Olympics in track cycling along with Bradley Wiggins. Let's wait and see if they're right. It sounds likely to me, since Cavendish was originally planning to skip the Tour entirely. I'm thinking he will leave on or before Saturday (stage 14) to avoid the HC climb and category 1 uphill finish on Sunday (Stage 15).
There is some speculation that Agritubel's Christophe Moreau's causeless abandon in Stage 7 (immediately after Beltran was pulled that day for a positive dope test) was associated with abnormal pre-race blood values. Hmmm.
Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant increased his time gap to the nearest rider today by arriving toward the end, just in front of the exhausted Gerard and Dumoulin who had ridden in a breakaway all day:
155. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 3h 43' 04" + 02' 12"
156. GERARD Arnaud 164 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 3h 43' 32" + 02' 40"
157. DUMOULIN Samuel 185 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 3h 43' 32" + 02' 40"
158. VERDUGO Gorka 29 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 3h 44' 58" + 04' 06"
The bottom of the General Classification remains largely unchanged other than the number in the peloton and a bigger gap in front of Vansevenant, and will not change much until we have an Alpine finish.
153. CASPER Jimmy 123 AGRITUBEL 52h 18' 40" + 1h 55' 35"
154. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 52h 20' 14" + 1h 57' 09"
155. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 52h 20' 15" + 1h 57' 10"
156. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 52h 24' 53" + 2h 01' 48"
157. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 52h 25' 25" + 2h 02' 20"
158. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 52h 29' 19" + 2h 06' 14"
The official team statement reads like their entire team (whoops, I've been getting their name wrong) is shutting down:
"SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT announce that just an hour before the start of today's stage, the French anti-doping agency notified Riccardo Riccò that he'd tested positive for a banned substance after the fourth stage of the Tour de France 2008. Although the Tour organisers allow teams to continue to participate after a positive test, given Riccò's important role to the team in the race, SAUNIER DUVAL-SCOTT have decided to withdraw in order to preserve the positive image of the team´s sponsors and the Tour de France itself. Riccò has been suspended. Moreover, the team decided to temporarily abandon competition activities until this unfortunate incident is clarified."
Those gone include former Lanterne Rouge (stages 1-3, 2005) and stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, who previously had drug use issues of his own.
Here's the original 2008 Tour team lineup for Saunier Duval-Prodir (Sporting Manager: Joxean Fernandez):
171 RICCO Riccardo
172 BERTOGLIATI Rubens
173 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
174 DE LA FUENTE David
175 DEL NERO Jesus
176 GOMEZ Angel
177 JUFRE POU Josep
178 PASSERON Aurélien
179 PIEPOLI Leonardo
Also: Baden Cooke from Barloworld went down today and abandoned.
And Mark Cavendish, a former Lanterne Rouge (Stage 7, 2007), now riding for Team Columbia, wins a historic third stage in the Tour! Well done! Side note: Over at Triple Crankset they seem to think Cavendish will soon come down with a nasty case of the dreaded Mountain Fever as soon as the Tour enters the Alps, in favor of leaving to train to represent Great Britain in the Olympics in track cycling along with Bradley Wiggins. Let's wait and see if they're right. It sounds likely to me, since Cavendish was originally planning to skip the Tour entirely. I'm thinking he will leave on or before Saturday (stage 14) to avoid the HC climb and category 1 uphill finish on Sunday (Stage 15).
There is some speculation that Agritubel's Christophe Moreau's causeless abandon in Stage 7 (immediately after Beltran was pulled that day for a positive dope test) was associated with abnormal pre-race blood values. Hmmm.
Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant increased his time gap to the nearest rider today by arriving toward the end, just in front of the exhausted Gerard and Dumoulin who had ridden in a breakaway all day:
155. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 3h 43' 04" + 02' 12"
156. GERARD Arnaud 164 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 3h 43' 32" + 02' 40"
157. DUMOULIN Samuel 185 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 3h 43' 32" + 02' 40"
158. VERDUGO Gorka 29 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 3h 44' 58" + 04' 06"
The bottom of the General Classification remains largely unchanged other than the number in the peloton and a bigger gap in front of Vansevenant, and will not change much until we have an Alpine finish.
153. CASPER Jimmy 123 AGRITUBEL 52h 18' 40" + 1h 55' 35"
154. EISEL Bernhard 45 TEAM COLUMBIA 52h 20' 14" + 1h 57' 09"
155. RIBLON Christophe 108 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 52h 20' 15" + 1h 57' 10"
156. AUGE Stéphane 182 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 52h 24' 53" + 2h 01' 48"
157. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 52h 25' 25" + 2h 02' 20"
158. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 52h 29' 19" + 2h 06' 14"
Labels: Auge, Beltran, Cavendish. Casper, Cobo, Cooke, De La Fuente, Dumoulin, Eisel, Gerard, Moreau, Piepoli, Pou, Riblon, Ricco, Sprick, Vansevenant, Verdugo, Wiggins
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Stage Four: Cholet Time Trial
Today eight riders finished more than five minutes behind the lead rider in the first individual time trial of the 2008 Tour. Some of them are tired and sore from the first three stages; and some of them are saving themselves for the upcoming mountain stages. They include our current Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant and former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge, climbing specialist Leonardo Piepoli (stages 1-3, 2005).
171. GADRET John 106 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 40' 44" + 05' 00"
172. CHICCHI Francesco 63 LIQUIGAS 41' 00" + 05' 16"
173. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 41' 01" + 05' 17"
174. DE LA FUENTE David 174 SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT 41' 18" + 05' 34"
175. COOKE Baden 55 BARLOWORLD 41' 26" + 05' 42"
176. WEENING Pieter 139 RABOBANK 42' 03" + 06' 19"
177. PIEPOLI Leonardo 179 SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT 42' 28" + 06' 44"
178. BICHOT Freddy 122 AGRITUBEL 42' 54" + 07' 10"
Four riders now have accumulated more than 15 minutes time behind the leader:
175. SORENSEN Nicki 18 TEAM CSC SAXO BANK 14h 19' 47" + 15' 06"
176. SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio 51 BARLOWORLD 14h 22' 27" + 17' 46"
177. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 14h 22' 36" + 17' 55"
178. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 14h 24' 46" + 20' 05"
So Wim Vansevenant retains his position as Lanterne Rouge today with a time gap of over 2 minutes to the nearest rider.
171. GADRET John 106 AG2R-LA MONDIALE 40' 44" + 05' 00"
172. CHICCHI Francesco 63 LIQUIGAS 41' 00" + 05' 16"
173. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 41' 01" + 05' 17"
174. DE LA FUENTE David 174 SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT 41' 18" + 05' 34"
175. COOKE Baden 55 BARLOWORLD 41' 26" + 05' 42"
176. WEENING Pieter 139 RABOBANK 42' 03" + 06' 19"
177. PIEPOLI Leonardo 179 SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT 42' 28" + 06' 44"
178. BICHOT Freddy 122 AGRITUBEL 42' 54" + 07' 10"
Four riders now have accumulated more than 15 minutes time behind the leader:
175. SORENSEN Nicki 18 TEAM CSC SAXO BANK 14h 19' 47" + 15' 06"
176. SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio 51 BARLOWORLD 14h 22' 27" + 17' 46"
177. SPRICK Matthieu 146 BOUYGUES TELECOM 14h 22' 36" + 17' 55"
178. VANSEVENANT Wim 9 SILENCE - LOTTO 14h 24' 46" + 20' 05"
So Wim Vansevenant retains his position as Lanterne Rouge today with a time gap of over 2 minutes to the nearest rider.
Labels: Bichot, Chicchi, Cooke, De La Fuente, Gadret, Piepoli, Soler, Sorensen, Sprick, Vansevenant, Weening
Monday, July 30, 2007
Make that 140 finishers in 2007
I guess they'll be scratching out Iban Mayo's name too.
189 starters, 140 finishers, and 19 departures due to doping allegations?
I wonder if they delayed the announcement of the positive result until after the finish so that Saunier Duval-Prodir wouldn't have to pull out of the Tour? It comes from a sample collected on the rest day, July 24th. I can't believe that anyone was working at the drug lab over the weekend and just finished up the analysis on Sunday. This must have been known by racing officials on Friday afternoon at the latest.
Saunier-Duval Prodir finished in 16th (Mayo) and 20th positions in the GC; 8th (Cobo Acebo), 12th (De La Fuente), and 13th place (Mayo) in the King of the Mountains competition; 21st place in the green jersey competition (Millar), and 6th place in the team competition.
189 starters, 140 finishers, and 19 departures due to doping allegations?
I wonder if they delayed the announcement of the positive result until after the finish so that Saunier Duval-Prodir wouldn't have to pull out of the Tour? It comes from a sample collected on the rest day, July 24th. I can't believe that anyone was working at the drug lab over the weekend and just finished up the analysis on Sunday. This must have been known by racing officials on Friday afternoon at the latest.
Saunier-Duval Prodir finished in 16th (Mayo) and 20th positions in the GC; 8th (Cobo Acebo), 12th (De La Fuente), and 13th place (Mayo) in the King of the Mountains competition; 21st place in the green jersey competition (Millar), and 6th place in the team competition.
Labels: Cobo, De La Fuente, Mayo, Millar
