Thursday, July 12, 2007
Stage 5: Chablis to Autun, the first sorting
There were 184 finishers of today's stage, and 110 of them lost time today by finishing behind the first large bunch of riders.As expected, Rémy Di Gregorio was unable to begin the stage.
The biggest time gap of the day was for our new Lanterne Rouge and final rider across the line, Geoffroy LeQuatre, rider for Cofidis. (He was photographed at left by Ed Tarwinski at the Tour of Spain.) LeQuatre had a fairly serious crash at the feed zone at 66 km into the stage when another rider's musette became entangled in his wheel. He struggled to reach the finish 21 minutes after any other rider. (Note: Some reports are saying LeQuatre withdrew; but he has an official finish time for the stage, and he's not on the official list of withdrawals. I wonder if some lazy journalists just wrote him off as a goner and filed their reports before he finished).
Brett Lancaster, an Australian rider on the Milram team (affectionately known as the Lactose Lads) abandoned today at about 80 km. According to Cycling News, he had started the Tour with stomach issues, crashed, and was also suffering from a saddle sore. Fortunately that loss didn't impede teammate Erik "I'm too old for this sh!t" Zabel from pulling on the sprinter's green jersey for the first time in this Tour after crossing the line fifth for the stage.
And I nearly forgot to mention that the STAGE WINNER Filippo Pozzato is a former Lanterne Rouge - Stage 3 of the 2006 Tour! Chapeau, Filippo!
In other news, former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge (2006, stage 1) and Giro d'Italia winner Danilo DiLuca has just passed his first hurdle in being exonerated when an Italian judge cleared him of doping charges.
Labels: Di Gregorio, DiLuca, Lancaster, LeQuatre, Zabel
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Past Tour de France Lanternes Rouges in 2007
Here's an update on what I've been able to dig up about the current situation of the Tour de France Lanternes Rouges of recent years. If you have any additional current information on any of these, please leave it in the comments!
2006 Prologue Lanterne Rouge Ruben Lobato Elvira will be in the 2007 Tour de France riding for Saunier Duval-Prodir.
2006 Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge Danilo Di Luca won the 2007 Giro d'Italia for Team Liquigas, and then announced that he would not be riding Le Tour, but soon after came under suspicion of doping. His case is still awaiting a resolution.
2006 Stage 2 Lanterne Rouge Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez was not named for the 2007 Tour de France roster for his team, Euskaltel-Euskadi.
2006 Stage 3 Lanterne Rouge Filippo Pozzato is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Italian national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Stage 4 Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Swedish national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Lanterne Rouge of 9 Stages, Sébastien Joly, is a member of the Française des Jeux team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster. In his earlier years he rode with Bonjour alongside fellow Lanternes Rouges of 1998, Damien Nazon, and 2000, Olivier Parraudeau.
2006 overall Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant is a member of the Predictor-Lotto team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster.
2005 Stages 1-3 Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli, mountain climber for Saunier Duval-Prodir, won the mountain climber competition at the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but is under investigation for excessive levels of asthma medication during the Giro, and is not on their 2007 Tour de France roster.
2005 Stages 5 and 7 Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak, an Estonian now riding for the second-tier Jartazi Promo Fashion team, not a Team in the 2007 Tour. He recently won the 4th stage in the Tour of Picardie.
2005 Stage 6 Lanterne Rouge Steve Zampieri was a member of the now-disbanded Phonak cycling team. He now rides for Cofidis but was not named for their 2007 Tour de France team.
2005 overall Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores (brother of 2002 Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores) is now riding for Fuerteventura (a new pro-continental team, formerly Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) and is "one of the favourites to win the Euskal Bizikleta which kicks off on June 8th in the Basque country of Spain."
Two-time Lanterne Rouge (2001 and 2004) Jimmy Casper now is a member of the Unibet.com cycling team, which as a gambling concern has been barred from racing (and thereby advertising their product) on French soil.
2003 overall Lanterne Rouge Hans de Clerq rode for Lotto-Domo, which has turned into the Predictor-Lotto team. According to the Dutch Wikipedia, "Hans De Clercq is since 2006 also competition leader of the Per Tour-competition Ghent-Wevelgem and since 2007 team leader of the cyclo-cross race team Sunweb-ProJob".
2002 overall Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores rode for Euskaltel-Euskadi and currently rides as a guide for Grupetto Tours.
2000 overall Lanterne Rouge Olivier Perraudeau rode for Bonjour in 2002 along with 1998 Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon and subsequent 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. I haven't found more recent news.
1999 overall Lanterne Rouge Jacky Durand worked for Eurosport in 2006.
1998 overall Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon also rode for Bonjour in 2002 with subsequent Lanterne Rouge Olivier Parraudeau of 2000 and 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. Until 2005 he rode for Credit Agricole.
2006 Prologue Lanterne Rouge Ruben Lobato Elvira will be in the 2007 Tour de France riding for Saunier Duval-Prodir.
2006 Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge Danilo Di Luca won the 2007 Giro d'Italia for Team Liquigas, and then announced that he would not be riding Le Tour, but soon after came under suspicion of doping. His case is still awaiting a resolution.
2006 Stage 2 Lanterne Rouge Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez was not named for the 2007 Tour de France roster for his team, Euskaltel-Euskadi.
2006 Stage 3 Lanterne Rouge Filippo Pozzato is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Italian national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Stage 4 Lanterne Rouge Magnus Backstedt is on the Liquigas Team (which has not named their Tour roster yet) and will compete in the Swedish national road race championship on July 1st, 2007.
2006 Lanterne Rouge of 9 Stages, Sébastien Joly, is a member of the Française des Jeux team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster. In his earlier years he rode with Bonjour alongside fellow Lanternes Rouges of 1998, Damien Nazon, and 2000, Olivier Parraudeau.
2006 overall Lanterne Rouge Wim Vansevenant is a member of the Predictor-Lotto team which has not yet announced its 2007 Tour de France rider roster.
2005 Stages 1-3 Lanterne Rouge Leonardo Piepoli, mountain climber for Saunier Duval-Prodir, won the mountain climber competition at the 2007 Giro d'Italia, but is under investigation for excessive levels of asthma medication during the Giro, and is not on their 2007 Tour de France roster.
2005 Stages 5 and 7 Lanterne Rouge Janeck Tombak, an Estonian now riding for the second-tier Jartazi Promo Fashion team, not a Team in the 2007 Tour. He recently won the 4th stage in the Tour of Picardie.
2005 Stage 6 Lanterne Rouge Steve Zampieri was a member of the now-disbanded Phonak cycling team. He now rides for Cofidis but was not named for their 2007 Tour de France team.
2005 overall Lanterne Rouge Iker Flores (brother of 2002 Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores) is now riding for Fuerteventura (a new pro-continental team, formerly Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) and is "one of the favourites to win the Euskal Bizikleta which kicks off on June 8th in the Basque country of Spain."
Two-time Lanterne Rouge (2001 and 2004) Jimmy Casper now is a member of the Unibet.com cycling team, which as a gambling concern has been barred from racing (and thereby advertising their product) on French soil.
2003 overall Lanterne Rouge Hans de Clerq rode for Lotto-Domo, which has turned into the Predictor-Lotto team. According to the Dutch Wikipedia, "Hans De Clercq is since 2006 also competition leader of the Per Tour-competition Ghent-Wevelgem and since 2007 team leader of the cyclo-cross race team Sunweb-ProJob".
2002 overall Lanterne Rouge Igor Flores rode for Euskaltel-Euskadi and currently rides as a guide for Grupetto Tours.
2000 overall Lanterne Rouge Olivier Perraudeau rode for Bonjour in 2002 along with 1998 Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon and subsequent 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. I haven't found more recent news.
1999 overall Lanterne Rouge Jacky Durand worked for Eurosport in 2006.
1998 overall Lanterne Rouge Damien Nazon also rode for Bonjour in 2002 with subsequent Lanterne Rouge Olivier Parraudeau of 2000 and 2006 stage Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly. Until 2005 he rode for Credit Agricole.
Labels: Backstedt, Casper, de Clerq, DiLuca, Durand, Flores, Hernandez, Joly, Lobato, Nazon, Perraudeau, Piepoli, Pozzato, Tombak, Vansevenant, Zampieri
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Paris-Nice has begun, after all!
Former Lanterne Rouge Sébastien Joly of Francaise de Jeux has taken third in the Paris-Nice Prologue just two seconds behind the winning time of David Millar! Daily Peleton called it an "unexpected great ride".
In other news, another former Lanterne Rouge Danilo DiLuca of Liquigas won Milano-Torino, the oldest of the Italian classic races.
In other news, another former Lanterne Rouge Danilo DiLuca of Liquigas won Milano-Torino, the oldest of the Italian classic races.
Labels: DiLuca, Joly, Milano-Torino, Paris-Nice
