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
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Stage Eleven: Lannemezan to Foix
The peloton is down to no more than 168 today since Spanish rider Moisés Nevado Dueñas of Barloworld (their top rider since Soler is out, at 19th overall) was busted for EPO. The positive test was from the Stage 4 time trial, and was a followup to suspicious hematocrit levels before the Tour began.
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"
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
