Saturday, October 03, 2009
Geoffroy Lequatre signs
Geoffroy Lequatre, former Tour de France Lanterne Rouge (Stage 5, 2007) has signed with The Shack cycling team for 2010. He was formerly with Agritubel and Cofidis.
Just FYI, for fellow followers of the Lanterne Rouge everywhere, I've been twittering during some of the major races and making other offhand snarky comments, as TdFLanterne here.
Damien Gaudin of BBox Bouygues Telecom was the final Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.
Just FYI, for fellow followers of the Lanterne Rouge everywhere, I've been twittering during some of the major races and making other offhand snarky comments, as TdFLanterne here.
Damien Gaudin of BBox Bouygues Telecom was the final Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Vuelta a Espana.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Stage 1 Monaco individual time trial
Yauheni Hutarovich, riding for Francaise de Jeux, became the Stage 1 Lanterne Rouge of the 2009 Tour de France today. He finished in 180th position in the 15.5-km individual time trial in Monaco with a time of 23:23. If my calculations are correct, that gives him an average speed over that super-hilly course of 24.71 mph.This is his first Tour de France for the sprinting specialist. Hutarovich is currently the road race champion of the nation of Belarus and therefore has the right to wear their national colors.
Placements today of previous Lanternes Rouges:
Geoffroy Lequatre (Stage 5, 2007): 99th
Filippo Pozzato (Stage 3, 2006): 101st
Bernard Eisel (Stage 19, 2008): 103th
Dimitry Muravyev (2008 Vuelta a Espana Lanterne Rouge): 122nd
Sébastien Joly (multiple stages, 2006): 129th
Aleksandr Kuschynski (Stage 1, 2007 and 2008): 165th
Mark Cavendish (Stage 7, 2007): 177th
Looking at Mark Cavendish's finishing position, the rider who may be the world's best sprinter at this time ranking 4th-to-last overall, I am reminded to make the point that the position in the General Classification says nothing about the inherent athletic ability of the cyclist, and everything about the important job they each play on their own team.
Labels: Cavendish, Eisel, Hutarovich, Joly, Kuschynski, LeQuatre, Muravyev, Pozzato
Sunday, June 28, 2009
2009 Tour: Former TdF Lanternes Rouges
Here is the substantial roster of former Lanternes Rouges (last place for at least one day in the General Classification in the Tour de France, 2005 and later; or last overall in another recent Grand Tour) who may be riding in the 2009 Tour:
Cut from roster:
Française des Jeux: Remy di Gregorio, Stage 4, 2007
BBox Bouygues Telecom: Evgeny Sokolov, 2009 Giro d'Italia Lanterne Rouge
Confirmed:
Agritubel: Geoffroy Lequatre, Stage 5, 2007
Astana: Dimitry Muravyev, 2008 Vuelta a Espana Lanterne Rouge
Columbia-Highroad: Mark Cavendish, Stage 7, 2007
Columbia-Highroad: Bernard Eisel, Stage 19, 2008
Française des Jeux: Sébastien Joly, multiple stages, 2006
Katusha: Filippo Pozzato, Stage 3, 2006
Liquigas: Aleksandr Kuschynski, Stage 1, 2007 and 2008
The fun starts this coming Saturday! Don't forget, I will be posting daily short updates on Twitter this year as TdFLanterne, and may not be doing extensive blog posts as in the past. Please be sure to subscribe to our Tour de France Lanterne Rouge feed there!
Cut from roster:
Confirmed:
Agritubel: Geoffroy Lequatre, Stage 5, 2007
Astana: Dimitry Muravyev, 2008 Vuelta a Espana Lanterne Rouge
Columbia-Highroad: Mark Cavendish, Stage 7, 2007
Columbia-Highroad: Bernard Eisel, Stage 19, 2008
Française des Jeux: Sébastien Joly, multiple stages, 2006
Katusha: Filippo Pozzato, Stage 3, 2006
Liquigas: Aleksandr Kuschynski, Stage 1, 2007 and 2008
The fun starts this coming Saturday! Don't forget, I will be posting daily short updates on Twitter this year as TdFLanterne, and may not be doing extensive blog posts as in the past. Please be sure to subscribe to our Tour de France Lanterne Rouge feed there!
Labels: Cavendish, Di Gregorio, Eisel, Joly, Kuschynski, LeQuatre, Muravyev, Pozzato, Sokolov
Sunday, September 02, 2007
La Vuelta begins
Geoffroy LeQuatre, the brave Cofidis rider who served as Lanterne Rouge for one day this summer, dominated the first stage of La Vuelta Espana in a small breakaway. The win ultimately went to Daniele Bennati of Lampre-Fondital.Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Et tu, Cofidis?
The entire Cofidis team is leaving the Tour too, because of the positive exogenous testosterone test on their rider Christian Moreni. They have chosen to forego a "B" test. "The 35-year-old former Italian champion admitted to administering himself with a synthetic version of the male sex hormone".Two of their riders have previously abandoned, Ivan Ramiro Parra in Stage 8 and our former Lanterne Rouge Geoffroy LeQuatre did not start Stage 6.
Today's departure should decrease the peloton by another 7 riders to 143 cyclists.
These Cofidis riders leaving the Tour will include Nick Nuyens, who was in the penultimate position in the General Classification, and Rik Verbrugge, whom we had previously seen in our bottom five riders. Their highest-placed rider was Sylvain Chavanel, in 26th position, who had worn the polka-dot jersey after stages 6, 7, and 8.
Also departing the Tour: their British rider Bradley Wiggins who had finished 4th in the Prologue and 5th in the stage 13 Individual Time Trial. Wiggins has been outspoken against doping.
Unlike Astana, the Cofidis team was not well-placed in the standings upon their departure - 17th out of 20 remaining teams, below Barloworld and Gerolsteiner, but ahead of Agritubel, Milram, and Francaise de Jeux.
In terms of international relations, it may be a mitigating factor that a French team has now taken an enormous hit in the fight against doping, or otherwise France might have soon had to prepare to surrender to Kazakhstan.
Labels: Chavanel, LeQuatre, Moreni, Nuyens, Parra, Verbrugge, Wiggins
Friday, July 13, 2007
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
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Geoffroy LeQuatre, the man of the day
There is a beautifully moving tribute to Geoffroy LeQuatre, Cofidis's brave rider, here. (Thanks to Frank of TdFBlog for the tip!) In part:
"What really struck me on Thursday, though, was the incredible guts displayed by a man who crossed the line three quarters of an hour after the winner. Geoffroy Lequatre, a 26 year old Frenchman with not a single career victory to his name since turning pro in 2004, was my rider of the day. With around 70km to go, Lequatre came off heavily just after the feed zone. It looked like he’d got his musette (food bag) tangled up in his spokes. Despite his obvious discomfort by the side of the road, we all managed to have a chuckle about poor old Geoffroy being brought down by his own sandwiches. The cameras didn’t linger on him too long and we were quickly taken back to the action at the front of the race. The Cofidis rider was soon forgotten. Having packed up our equipment at the end of our broadcast, we were just leaving when Graham pointed out that there was still a rider on the course. The crowd had dwindled away and not many people were there to witness the single bravest moment of stage five, 44 minutes after stage winner Filippo Pozzato nosed across the line and 21 minutes after the penultimate finisher. His face contorted with agony, shorts ripped to shreds, thigh looking like a side of meat, and fingertips all stripped of skin, Lequatre crossed the line and simply collapsed in tears. These are tough, tough boys here."
And that, dear readers, is why I write this blog -- so that their efforts will not be forgotten.
Another nice tribute to LeQuatre is here.
I should also point out that LeQuatre covered the 182.5 km of the hilly stage in 5:23:05, much of it solo. To us Americans, that's 113.4 miles at 21.06 mph average (33.89 km/hr), including his time spent in the crash - not a bad day's work for any cyclist.
"What really struck me on Thursday, though, was the incredible guts displayed by a man who crossed the line three quarters of an hour after the winner. Geoffroy Lequatre, a 26 year old Frenchman with not a single career victory to his name since turning pro in 2004, was my rider of the day. With around 70km to go, Lequatre came off heavily just after the feed zone. It looked like he’d got his musette (food bag) tangled up in his spokes. Despite his obvious discomfort by the side of the road, we all managed to have a chuckle about poor old Geoffroy being brought down by his own sandwiches. The cameras didn’t linger on him too long and we were quickly taken back to the action at the front of the race. The Cofidis rider was soon forgotten. Having packed up our equipment at the end of our broadcast, we were just leaving when Graham pointed out that there was still a rider on the course. The crowd had dwindled away and not many people were there to witness the single bravest moment of stage five, 44 minutes after stage winner Filippo Pozzato nosed across the line and 21 minutes after the penultimate finisher. His face contorted with agony, shorts ripped to shreds, thigh looking like a side of meat, and fingertips all stripped of skin, Lequatre crossed the line and simply collapsed in tears. These are tough, tough boys here."
And that, dear readers, is why I write this blog -- so that their efforts will not be forgotten.
Another nice tribute to LeQuatre is here.
I should also point out that LeQuatre covered the 182.5 km of the hilly stage in 5:23:05, much of it solo. To us Americans, that's 113.4 miles at 21.06 mph average (33.89 km/hr), including his time spent in the crash - not a bad day's work for any cyclist.
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
