Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Stage 10: Tallard to Marseille
All 171 finishers and survivors of the Alps from yesterday appear to be riding today's flatter stage, in progress.
Former Lanterne Rouge Aleksandr Kuschynski (stages 1-3) of Liquigas is a member of the breakaway, which will significantly boost him in the standings if it survives. Fly!
Later. . . .
Yes! Aleksandr Kuschynski finished 9th in the stage, which moves him well up in the GC to 150th overall.
Here are all the riders that came to the finish line today after the arrival of the 10:36 autobus:
165. CORTINOVIS Alessandro 182 TEAM MILRAM 5h 31' 49" + 11' 25"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 5h 32' 34" + 12' 10"
167. FÖRSTER Robert 92 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
168. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
169. WROLICH Peter 99 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
170. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
171. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 5h 35' 34" + 15' 10"
Apparently the Welshman Geraint Thomas suffered from the heat today. "It's not like this back in Cardiff." Uh, no, Geraint, welcome to the French-freakin'-Riviera.
So clearly Vansevenant will retain his position as Lanterne Rouge for another day. These hard-working riders are not strangers to the tail end of the peleton. We've seen Forster before on this blog, with a 5th from last finish overall in the 2005 Tour. Wrolich finished 5th from last overall in the 2006 Tour, the year that Steegmans was 3rd from last (and Charteau spent a lot of time toward the end of the standings that year too). By his late finish today, stage 3 winner Gert Steegmans was pulled down right into Kuschinski's spot from yesterday, with no other significant changes:
167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 51h 05' 34" + 1h 41' 46"
168. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 51h 05' 43" + 1h 41' 55"
169. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 51h 05' 48" + 1h 42' 00"
170. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 51h 06' 37" + 1h 42' 49"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 51h 10' 45" + 1h 46' 57"
Former Lanterne Rouge Aleksandr Kuschynski (stages 1-3) of Liquigas is a member of the breakaway, which will significantly boost him in the standings if it survives. Fly!
Later. . . .
Yes! Aleksandr Kuschynski finished 9th in the stage, which moves him well up in the GC to 150th overall.
Here are all the riders that came to the finish line today after the arrival of the 10:36 autobus:
165. CORTINOVIS Alessandro 182 TEAM MILRAM 5h 31' 49" + 11' 25"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 5h 32' 34" + 12' 10"
167. FÖRSTER Robert 92 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
168. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
169. WROLICH Peter 99 GEROLSTEINER 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
170. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 5h 34' 03" + 13' 39"
171. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 5h 35' 34" + 15' 10"
Apparently the Welshman Geraint Thomas suffered from the heat today. "It's not like this back in Cardiff." Uh, no, Geraint, welcome to the French-freakin'-Riviera.
So clearly Vansevenant will retain his position as Lanterne Rouge for another day. These hard-working riders are not strangers to the tail end of the peleton. We've seen Forster before on this blog, with a 5th from last finish overall in the 2005 Tour. Wrolich finished 5th from last overall in the 2006 Tour, the year that Steegmans was 3rd from last (and Charteau spent a lot of time toward the end of the standings that year too). By his late finish today, stage 3 winner Gert Steegmans was pulled down right into Kuschinski's spot from yesterday, with no other significant changes:
167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 51h 05' 34" + 1h 41' 46"
168. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 51h 05' 43" + 1h 41' 55"
169. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 51h 05' 48" + 1h 42' 00"
170. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 51h 06' 37" + 1h 42' 49"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 51h 10' 45" + 1h 46' 57"
Labels: Charteau, Cortinovis, Forster, Hoste, Krauss, Kuschynski, Steegmans, Thomas, Vansevenant, Wrolich, Zagbriskie
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Stage 9: Val-d’Isère - Briançon
No reports yet of any unexpected withdrawals in the starting lineup, so I believe we should have 171 riders on the road. And hooray, everyone finished the stage today!
And Zabriskie does it again!! He's listed as the final rider in the stage today!!!!! That's fine - there is no need for him to expend a single extra calorie of effort in this stage doing anything that's not directly related to support of the team leader or making it over the line in front of the cutoff. Final five listed in the stage standings are:
167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
168. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
169. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
170. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
171. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
But that belies the fact that 72 riders arrived in the enormous autobus at the end of the stage and were assigned the same time. Wim Vansevenant arrived at the finish line as one of those riders in the autobus and so he does not move up in the overall standings, remaining in the Lanterne Rouge position for another day.
The final five riders in the General Classification are now:
167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 45h 34' 34" + 1h 41' 46"
168. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 45h 34' 43" + 1h 41' 55"
169. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 45h 35' 11" + 1h 42' 23"
170. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 45h 35' 37" + 1h 42' 49"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 45h 38' 11" + 1h 45' 23"
And Zabriskie does it again!! He's listed as the final rider in the stage today!!!!! That's fine - there is no need for him to expend a single extra calorie of effort in this stage doing anything that's not directly related to support of the team leader or making it over the line in front of the cutoff. Final five listed in the stage standings are:167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
168. STEEGMANS Gert 176 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
169. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
170. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
171. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 4h 43' 15" + 28' 51"
But that belies the fact that 72 riders arrived in the enormous autobus at the end of the stage and were assigned the same time. Wim Vansevenant arrived at the finish line as one of those riders in the autobus and so he does not move up in the overall standings, remaining in the Lanterne Rouge position for another day.
The final five riders in the General Classification are now:
167. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 45h 34' 34" + 1h 41' 46"
168. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 45h 34' 43" + 1h 41' 55"
169. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 45h 35' 11" + 1h 42' 23"
170. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 45h 35' 37" + 1h 42' 49"
171. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 45h 38' 11" + 1h 45' 23"
Labels: Charteau, Chavanel, Hoste, Hushovd, Kuschynski, Steegmans, Zabriskie
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Carnage in the Alps
I haven't been able to watch the stage yet, so I actually gasped when I saw the list of today's 8 withdrawals:146 PARRA Ivan Ramiro (COL) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE withdrawls
136 HERVE Cédric (FRA) AGRITUBEL outside time limit
134 FEILLU Romain (FRA) AGRITUBEL withdrawls
86 NAPOLITANO Danilo (ITA) LAMPRE-FONDITAL outside time limit
46 MC EWEN Robbie (AUS) PREDICTOR - LOTTO outside time limit
35 O’GRADY Stuart (AUS) TEAM CSC withdrawls
23 CAVENDISH Mark (GBR) T-MOBILE TEAM withdrawls
21 ROGERS Michael (AUS) T-MOBILE TEAM withdrawls
O'Grady crashed and his injuries sound serious: "punctured one lung, broke his collarbone, shoulder blade, five ribs as well as some bones in his spine".
Personally, I hope this day - with O'Grady and McEwen out - improves old Erik Zabel's chances of wearing the green jersey a few more times, particularly on the last day in Paris. I think the decision to strip his green jersey win from 11 years ago is nasty, particularly when other living Tour winners have admitted to taking anabolic steroids while competing. Like, for example, Floyd Landis is accused of doing. But they're French. (Right now Zabel is in 2nd place with 134 points to Tom Boonen's 147 points, and Boonen couldn't finish the Tour in 2005 and 2006).
Our old friend Wim Vansevenant (Lanterne Rouge for the 2006 Tour, Belgian rider for Predictor-Lotto) is our new Lanterne Rouge from this stage. This is his 4th Tour de France. He's already shown that he's capable of surviving the entire 3 weeks of the Tour, and he's made it to the rest day now - maybe he'll make it to the bitter end.Vansevenant is the seventh man to hold the Lanterne Rouge title in this up-for-grabs Tour, and we're only at the end of Stage 8. However, he's far ahead of five of the previous holders of the title - he's still in the Tour, and they're not. Vansevenant has been earning his paycheck riding in support of his teammate, sprinter Robbie McEwen, although obviously now that tactic will change since McEwen is out of the Tour.
66 riders arrived at the finish line and their well-earned rest day in the huge autobus, all assigned a time of 39:07 after the stage winner. That results in our final five riders in the General Classification as:
168. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 16:51:19 + 01:13:37
169. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 16:51:28 + 01:13:46
170. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 16:51:56 + 01:14:14
171. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 16:52:22 + 01:14:40
172. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 16:54:56 + 01:17:14
Well, if the Big Z loses a couple more minutes to Vansevenant, we may be able to talk about him as Lanterne Rouge after all. I have a feeling he would just laugh and bide his time until the 54-km individual time trial next Saturday, July 21st. Right now he's doing the job he is paid to do out there.
Labels: Boonen, Cavendish, Charteau, Herve Feillu, Hoste, Kuschynski, McEwen, Napolitano, O'Grady, Parra, Rogers, Vansevenant, Zabel, Zabriskie
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Stage 7: Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand
Six riders finished today's stage in a small grupetto, over 24 minutes after the stage winner:175. VAN SUMMEREN Johan 48 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
176. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
177. RODRIGUEZ Fred 47 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
178. HOSTE Leif 45 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
179. CHAVANEL Sébastien 162 FRANCAISE DES JEUX 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
180. MC EWEN Robbie 46 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 05:17:29 + 00:24:16
The final five riders in the general classification after this stage include some familiar names:
176. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 11:23:09 + 00:39:29
177. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 11:23:35 + 00:39:55
178. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 11:26:09 + 00:42:29
179. NAPOLITANO Danilo 86 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 11:26:28 + 00:42:48
180. CAVENDISH Mark 23 T-MOBILE TEAM 11:28:24 + 00:44:44
Kuschynski (previous Lanterne Rouge of stages 1-3), Napolitano, and Cavendish are all riding in their first Tour de France. Vansevenant was the overall Lanterne Rouge of the 2006 Tour.
The photo of Cavendish "off the back" above is from Stage 1, by Simon Clayson, when he finished 3rd from last.
Labels: Cavendish, Chavanel, Hoste, Kuschynski, McEwen, Napolitano, Rodriguez, Van Summeren, Vansevenant, Zabriskie
