Saturday, July 14, 2007
Early-onset mountain fever
It's reported that Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank will not be starting today, due to a cyst in his saddle area, and presumably also some kind of allergy to mountains. He only finished one Tour, in 2003, and pulled out in his other two Tours, in 2002 and 2006. He had been in third position in the sprinter's competition for the green jersey, and 5th overall.
Two previous Lanterne Rouges of this Tour, Ruben Lobato of Saunier Duval-Prodir (DNS) and Enrico Degano of Barloworld (withdrew), are also out of the 2007 Tour. We will have a new Lanterne Rouge at the end of the day and no more than 180 riders will cross the finish line.
There has already been some talk of other sprinters quitting Le Tour now that it is entering the Alps, but we'll wait and see who is listed when the official withdrawal list is updated. Maybe they'll tough it out until the rest day Monday and then not show up for work on Tuesday.
Update: Mark "Cannonball" Cavendish, the British rider for T-Mobile, is our new Lanterne Rouge in 180th position in the General Classification. Cavendish will only serve a short time in this role, since he has already been scheduled to leave the Tour after Sunday's stage. In yesterday's finishing sprint he was briefly in trouble as Tom Boonen's pedal or derailleur got tangled in his wheel and tore out a few spokes. Earlier in the Tour he was involved in a couple of crashes.
Update 2: Lobato had withdrawn due to the death of his maternal grandfather, and flew to Madrid to be with family. Our condolences to him.
Two previous Lanterne Rouges of this Tour, Ruben Lobato of Saunier Duval-Prodir (DNS) and Enrico Degano of Barloworld (withdrew), are also out of the 2007 Tour. We will have a new Lanterne Rouge at the end of the day and no more than 180 riders will cross the finish line.
There has already been some talk of other sprinters quitting Le Tour now that it is entering the Alps, but we'll wait and see who is listed when the official withdrawal list is updated. Maybe they'll tough it out until the rest day Monday and then not show up for work on Tuesday.
Update: Mark "Cannonball" Cavendish, the British rider for T-Mobile, is our new Lanterne Rouge in 180th position in the General Classification. Cavendish will only serve a short time in this role, since he has already been scheduled to leave the Tour after Sunday's stage. In yesterday's finishing sprint he was briefly in trouble as Tom Boonen's pedal or derailleur got tangled in his wheel and tore out a few spokes. Earlier in the Tour he was involved in a couple of crashes.
Update 2: Lobato had withdrawn due to the death of his maternal grandfather, and flew to Madrid to be with family. Our condolences to him.
Labels: Degano, Freire, Lobato
Friday, July 13, 2007
Degano's Tour
Enrico Degano, our 31-year-old newly minted Lanterne Rouge, has been a professional cyclist since 1999, and starting in the 2007 Tour de France may be his greatest achievement in cycling. His description of his first Tour de France Prologue is touching:
"When finally my magic moment came - Enrico explains - it was like a dream: on the departure podium I found Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme, the Major of London, the Major of Paris . . . and myself. I had the pleasure and the honour to shake hands with all these important persons..." And finally the amazing, short, intense race. "I well knew not to be competitive in time trial, and probably I wasted any further energy to admire all that people along the course. They called me . . . Enrico, Enrico . . . allez Degano! I had never seen anything like that in my life. I will tell this story to my sons and nephews. . . ." Less than ten minutes to come back with the feet on the ground. "Practically, I wore the yellow jersey for a couple of minutes, isn't it?. . . Something like a short trip in a virtual reality. I enjoyed those moments so much".
Labels: Degano
Stage 6: Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse
The official list of abandonments is still free of entries for today, which is hopeful news for Geoffroy LeQuatre, Benjamin Noval and Andreas Klöden, but it may not have gotten updated today yet. Noval and Klöden have been cleared to start. It looks to be a cookie-cutter flattish stage today, heading southeast with a couple of category 4 climbs.
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.
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.
Only six riders lost time today, and notably, the final finisher was on a solo breakaway for 190 km:
178. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 05:21:52 + 00:00:53
179. CARDENAS Félix 212 BARLOWORLD 05:21:55 + 00:00:56
180. BURGHARDT Marcus 22 T-MOBILE TEAM 05:22:59 + 00:02:00
181. CAVENDISH Mark 23 T-MOBILE TEAM 05:20:59 + 00:00:00
182. CHEULA Gianpaolo 213 BARLOWORLD 05:22:59 + 00:02:00
183. WIGGINS Bradley 149 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 05:24:41 + 00:03:42
Our final five riders in the General Classification are now:
179. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 06:09:12 + 00:19:17
180. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 06:10:11 + 00:20:16
181. NAPOLITANO Danilo 86 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 06:10:28 + 00:20:33
182. CAVENDISH Mark 23 T-MOBILE TEAM 06:12:24 + 00:22:29
183. DEGANO Enrico 214 BARLOWORLD 06:15:14 + 00:25:19
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
Saturday, July 07, 2007
He did it again!!
Here are the final five finishers of the 2007 Tour de France Prologue in London:
185. HERVE Cédric 136 AGRITUBEL 00:10:20 + 00:01:30
186. DEGANO Enrico 214 BARLOWORLD 00:10:20 + 00:01:30
187. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 00:10:22 + 00:01:32
188. NAPOLITANO Danilo 86 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 00:10:23 + 00:01:33
189. LOBATO Ruben 206 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 00:10:41 + 00:01:51
Wim Vansevenant was the overall Lanterne Rouge of the 2006 Tour de France, but amazingly, Ruben Lobato is in the exact same position he was in after last year's prologue in the Lanterne Rouge spot. In comparison, Stuart O'Grady of CSC who crashed on the course finished 28 seconds faster than Lobato, coming to the line in 00:10:13 in the 179th slot.
What an exciting start to a fascinating Tour!
Oh, and just in case anyone scoffs at Robato's performance - he completed the course at an average of 27.5 mph. Just try maintaining that on a bike for 4.9 miles on a loop course and report back before you declare that is anything but amazing speed.
185. HERVE Cédric 136 AGRITUBEL 00:10:20 + 00:01:30
186. DEGANO Enrico 214 BARLOWORLD 00:10:20 + 00:01:30
187. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 00:10:22 + 00:01:32
188. NAPOLITANO Danilo 86 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 00:10:23 + 00:01:33
189. LOBATO Ruben 206 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 00:10:41 + 00:01:51Wim Vansevenant was the overall Lanterne Rouge of the 2006 Tour de France, but amazingly, Ruben Lobato is in the exact same position he was in after last year's prologue in the Lanterne Rouge spot. In comparison, Stuart O'Grady of CSC who crashed on the course finished 28 seconds faster than Lobato, coming to the line in 00:10:13 in the 179th slot.
What an exciting start to a fascinating Tour!
Oh, and just in case anyone scoffs at Robato's performance - he completed the course at an average of 27.5 mph. Just try maintaining that on a bike for 4.9 miles on a loop course and report back before you declare that is anything but amazing speed.
Labels: Degano, Herve, Lobato, Napolitano, O'Grady, Vansevenant
