Thursday, July 26, 2007
Stage 17: Pau to Castelsarrasin
"There will be no yellow jersey worn in today's stage, although there will be a jersey awarded on the podium in Castelsarrasin. Rasmussen's teammates - the guys who rode their hearts out for the guy - are staying in the Tour."
So Rabobank is still in, and there should have been 142 starters if there were no other DNSs in the morning. I feel badly for the teammates - I wish they could pull off something like a stage win today, but probably they haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately.
Velonews adds, about the mood in the peloton, "A lot of riders appear to be relieved... some are just pissed. Really, you can't blame them, especially those who have made a real commitment to riding this Tour clean."
And Rasmussen is pleading innocence: "I'm shattered. I'm on the verge of tears," said Rasmussen today, quoted in the Danish tabloid BT. "I was not in Italy. Not at all. That's the story of one man who believes he recognised me. There is no hint of evidence."
Um, if he was in Mexico in June, shouldn't it be pretty simple to prove? Passport stamps? Plane tickets? Luggage tags? Photos wearing a big stupid sombrero and swilling Dos Equis? There are records of these things, Michael. Let's see them.
Here's a list of the fallen of stage 17:
149 WIGGINS Bradley (GBR) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
148 VERBRUGGHE Rik (BEL) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
147 SCHEIRLINCKX Staf (BEL) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
145 NUYENS Nick (BEL) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
142 AUGE Stéphane (FRA) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
141 CHAVANEL Sylvain (FRA) COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE non partant
58 RASMUSSEN Michael (DEN) RABOBANK non partant
51 MENCHOV Denis (RUS) RABOBANK abandon
Many people are feeling very badly for Denis Menchov who worked hard for Rasmussen and now has been cheated by his teammate, and probably was exhausted already at the beginning the stage today, doubtlessly with little sleep last night.
Velonews tells the tale: "Menchov has pulled out of the Tour. He has climbed off of his bike in the feed zone. We don't see a physical reason... but an emotional reason? For sure. Do recall that Menchov won the Vuelta a Espana in 2005... but he was denied the chance to celebrate that victory, because Roberto Heras got to spend the day on the podium in Madrid. Folks thought that Heras had won... until the guy tripped the dopo-meter. Menchov, who began the Tour as Rabobank's team leader, deferred to Michael Rasmussen and then worked his arse off to help the skinny little cheat hold the lead. You have to feel for Menchov... sigh."
At the finish line today there were just three stragglers with familiar names, after a huge group of 124 riders came in at 9:39:
139. CANCELLARA Fabian 33 TEAM CSC 4h 24' 12" + 10' 08"
140. GUSEV Vladimir 113 DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM 4h 24' 12" + 10' 08"
141. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 4h 24' 26" + 10' 22"
Is Wim trying to conserve his position? That's just the way to do it! I don't see any mention of him during the stage -- perhaps he worked hard to protect Cadel Evans today in his probable podium spot. He's got over a 4 minute gap to the next rider now.
So here are our final five in the standings after the stage:
137. DE GROOT Bram 53 RABOBANK 84h 16' 06" + 3h 33' 58"
138. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 84h 17' 01" + 3h 34' 53"
139. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 84h 19' 27" + 3h 37' 19"
140. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 84h 21' 05" + 3h 38' 57"
141. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 84h 26' 48" + 3h 44' 40"
Sadly, the folks at VeloNews appear to have been too busy today to produce Stage Stats for Stage 17, so I don't have any medical reports or jury decisions from them to pass along here. If anyone else has another place that those are available online, please let me know!
We now have late-arriving brief Stage Stats:
Medical report: no report
Jury decisions:
Voigt (CSC) fined 50 CHF, penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for pull on team car during mechanical
Pineau (Bouygues Telecom) fined 50 CHF, penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for bidon pull
Labels: Auge, Chavanel, De Groot, Hushovd, Krauss, Menchov, Nuyens, Rasmussen, Scheirlinckx, Thomas, Vansevenant, Verbrugghe, Wiggins
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
Stage 16: Orthez to Gourette to Col d’Aubisque
Cyclingnews.com says, "The French and German teams stayed at the start for a minute or so to protest at doping in the sport. Others such as Discovery Channel, Euskaltel, Lampre, Caisse d'Epargne and Preditor Lotto didn't feel the same way and left. Michael Rasmussen also left with these. Strangely, T-Mobile and CSC also moved off, even though they have strong anti-doping programmes. Hmm, what about solidarity, guys? . . . There was some booing from the crowd. We don't know if that was for those who left, or those who stayed."
According to Reuters, it was Rasmussen who was booed by the crowd.
Velonews.com summarized it: "Today's stage began with a riders' protest, from teams expressing frustration at yesterday's news of a positive doping test from Alexander Vinokourov. The teams were also angry that the Tour is being led by a man many regard as suspicious."
While I'm on the topic (and I don't intend to dwell on it on this blog, because - call me naive - I honestly don't think most of the riders in the back of the pack are dopers), I particularly liked this viewpoint on the subject of unannounced tests by Bobby Julich, who is in a position to know.
And Rasmussen wins the stage and probably the Tour, but loses in the court of public opinion - he is booed at the finish line. That's the first time I've heard of that happening to a stage winner.
Ronan Pensec said, "People along the road today were whistling at him and telling him things I won’t translate here. It is really like no one wants to see him win anymore with all these drug-taking problems. The atmosphere is more than tense, it is really bad. Everybody is tired of all these problems and they all pretty much want to be at the end already."
Matthieu Sprick, a French rider for Bouygues Telecom, withdrew during the stage, bringing the peloton down to 150 riders. A note on the BT team website says, in a funny translation, "It should be noted that Matthieu SPRICK has to pose foot with ground after respiratory problems." I suppose that means "step down from the Tour" in English.
The autobus arrived at 41:49 today, and contained 72 riders, nearly half the active remaining cyclists in the Tour. No stragglers.
That leaves the bottom of the standings essentially unchanged:
146. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 79h 53' 18" + 3h 38' 03"
147. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 79h 55' 44" + 3h 40' 29"
148. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 79h 57' 22" + 3h 42' 07"
149. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 79h 59' 23" + 3h 44' 08"
150. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 80h 02' 22" + 3h 47' 07"
Barring any major crashes or climbs in the rankings from a breakaway, this may be what we see in the back of the rankings all the way to Paris. But we must never forget that these riders have already been able to accomplish what 39 others have failed to do: survive the Alps and the Pyrenees and remain in the Tour.
Probably the peloton will be down to no more than 149 tomorrow, since Christian Moreni of Cofidis tested positive for exogenous testosterone. He finished 41st in today's stage and was 54th overall. Unless the entire Cofidis team chooses to withdraw as well. . . .
Cyclingnews.com and TDFBlog note with some irony that the Cofidis squad was part of the anti-doping protest today.
Cyclingnews.com discusses the scoring issues that have arisen from the Astana team's departure - since their riders were all technically a DNS today, since Vinokourov was not disqualified. Yet.
Update: Um, I was joking. But yes indeed, the entire freaking Cofidis team is leaving the 2007 Tour too. I have to go look at the standings again. . . .
Here is part of the stage stats again, from Velonews. Maybe I'm the only one who finds these tidbits interesting, but I can't find them anywhere else, and there's a lot of stories in each item, I'm sure:
Medical report:
Horner (Predictor-Lotto), Quinziato (Liquigas), Tosatto (QuickStep-Innergetic) all digestive problems.
Barredo (QuickStep-Innergetic) contusion on left knee.
Sprick (Bouygues) abandon for abdominal pains.
Ballan (Lampre) crash at 134, superficial cuts and scrapes.
Voigt (CSC) crash at 137km, superficial cuts.
Jury decisions:
Arrieta (Ag2r) and Camano (Saunier Duval-Prodir), fined 50 CHF, penalized five points and 10 seconds in GC for pushing off vehicles.
Flecha (Rabobank), Kohl (Gerolsteiner), Tankink (QuickStep), fined 50 CHF, penalized five points and 10 seconds in GC for bidon pulls.
Niermann and Weening (both Rabobank), fined 100 CHF, penalized 20 seconds in GC (two infractions each) for following too long behind vehicles.
Rabobank sport director fined 400 CHF for above infractions.
Arrieta (Ag2r), Zubeldia (Euskaltel) and Fofonov (Credit Agricole), fined 50 CHF for irregular feeds.
Ag2r, Euskaltel and Credit Agricole directors each fined 200 CHF for above infractions.
Cofidis sport director fined 200 CHF for not respecting commissaire.
After receiving news about failed doping control taken after 11th stage into Montepellier, Moreni (Cofidis) accepts the results without request for "B" sample.
Labels: Geraint, Hushovd, Julich, Krauss, Moreni, Nuyens, Rasmussen, Sprick, Vansevenant, Vinokourov
Monday, July 23, 2007
Stage 15: Foix to Loudenvielle
I don't yet have confirmation of any DNSs for the day. Possibly Philippe Gilbert? Ah, yes, Velonews says: "We see that Francaise des Jeux's Philippe Gilbert and Liquigas's Filippo Pozzato opted not to start." Pozzato was the Lanterne Rouge of Stage 3 in 2006. There are 163 riders at the start of the day.
Here's a somewhat garbled note in the Cyclingnews.com coverage about our Lanterne Rouge: "Philippe Gilbert had a fever yesterday and struggled to last place, some 40-odd minutes down. He made the time cut but Wim Vansevenant didn't (Predictor-Lotto) didn't think he'd be able to start and he didn't. Vansevenant for himself told Brecht Decaluwè that he is the master of managing the time cuts, but acknowledged it will be really hard today to make it. It's a very difficult stage. We'll keep you posted on the Belgian rider, who wants to save his Lanterne Rouge place all the way to Paris.""
They said on Versus that Cyril Dessel (Ag2r Prevoyance) abandoned today. Yes, at around 39 km into the stage. The head count is now 162, with 27 riders lost en route thus far in the Tour.
Alexandre Vinokourov should be nicknamed Rasputin. They can't kill him. Stabbing? Poison? Clubbing? Shooting? Drowning? Stupid spectators? Nothing can get that man down for long.
Oh no! The web updates reveal some more abandons that weren't covered on TV. Here's the full list for the day of riders who are finished with the 2007 Tour de France:
165 GILBERT Philippe (BEL) FRANCAISE DES JEUX non-starter
151 POZZATO Filippo (ITA) LIQUIGAS non-starter
109 LE MEVEL Christophe (FRA) CREDIT AGRICOLE withdrawls
64 DESSEL Cyril (FRA) AG2R PREVOYANCE withdrawls
47 RODRIGUEZ Fred (USA) PREDICTOR - LOTTO withdrawls
Le Mevel was the C.A. rider who crashed going around a right-hand curve at about the 40 km mark and then a rider in orange flipped over him, Jorge Azanza from Euskaltel-Euskadi.
I haven't found word about exactly what happened to Fast Freddie Rodriguez today, but he abandoned before the fourth climb. He said on his blog before the stage, "I managed to survive yesterday’s race with a real bad stomach. Don't ask me how. I think I really went deep mentally, because physically I was empty. I woke up with the same bad stomach this morning. This will be my chance to fight again and hang on."
Rik Verbrugge, Cofidis rider who was in our final five yesterday, had a great ride today and finished in 56th place, moving him up from the penultimate rider in the GC to 144th overall. There was a huge autobus of 47 riders who arrived at the finish line at 35:45 after the stage winner, with no late stragglers. Wim Vansevenant, the Lanterne Rouge, arrived about 4 minutes ahead of it, so that modified his time gap slightly. There are 160 remaining in the Tour.
Our final five in the standings are now:
156. HUSHOVD Thor 101 CREDIT AGRICOLE 72h 48' 08" + 2h 55' 54"
157. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 72h 50' 34" + 2h 58' 20"
158. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 72h 52' 12" + 2h 59' 58"
159. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 72h 54' 13" + 3h 01' 59"
160. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 72h 57' 12" + 3h 04' 58"
(Um, their name in the official Tour standings is backwards, not me, the given name is Geraint, the family name is Thomas).
It seems that Thor Hushovd threw out his back while taking a leak off the bike earlier in the Tour. He indicated he might have been unable to continue if the rest day hadn't fortunately been next.
And here are the stage stats, courtesy of VeloNews:
Medical report:
Le Mevel (Credit Agricole) fall on the Col de Port, traumatism on right shoulder, transferred to hospital in Saint-Girons, X-rays revealed a fracture in the right clavicle
Efimkin (Barloworld) crash on Col de Port, superficial cuts and scrapes
Iglinskiy (Astana) crash at 100km, without apparent serious injuries
Rodriguez and Van Summeren (Predictor-Lotto), Moreau (Ag2r), Mercado (Agritubel), Nuyens (Cofidis), Sieberg (Milram) - all digestive problems
Jury decisions: No rulings
Labels: Azanza, Dessel, Gilbert, Hushovd, Krauss, Le Mevel, Nuyens, Pozzato, Rodriguez, Thomas, Vansevenant, Verbrugge, Vinokourov
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Stage 14: Mazamet to Plateau-de-Beille
There was one non-starter today:
209 VENTOSO Francisco (ESP) SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR non-starter
. . . which brings us down to 165 riders starting the stage today. Ventoso was not mentioned in the medical report from the ITT yesterday. From the Saunier-Duval Prodir Team website: "The rider of SAUNIER DUVAL-PRODIR had been suffering terribly with his left hand since he fell in Montpellier, and thus decided to quit. As the swelling didn´t go down, he left for Spain early in the morning, departing from Toulouse."
I haven't heard of any abandons today, but it's possible some riders may not make the cutoff time at the finish.
Ahhhh. . . . all is revealed.
There was an enormous group of 77 riders who finished at 34:52 after the stage winner (not far behind Vinokourov, who finished at 28:50 - ouch! dropping him from 9th place to 30th place overall). Then there was one final rider over the line at 42:08 after the stage winner: Belgian Philippe Gilbert, riding for Francaise de Jeux.
Former Lanterne Rouge Alexandr Kuschynski (the rider from Belarus on the Liquigas team) had a fantastic finish today, 38th for the stage with a time gap of 11:10 from the stage winner, which blasts him out of the back of the General Classification into 113th place overall. Similarly, the Frenchman riding for Credit Agricole Anthony Charteau (who was next to last in the standings) had a strong day in the mountains and finished at 26:26 and 69th place for the stage, lifting him to 159th place overall. Here are the final five overall after Stage 14:
161. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 66h 40' 21" + 2h 28' 06"
162. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 66h 41' 59" + 2h 29' 44"
163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 66h 44' 00" + 2h 31' 45"
164. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 66h 44' 26" + 2h 32' 11"
165. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 66h 50' 53" + 2h 38' 38"
Geraint Thomas, the Welsh rider for Barloworld, is the youngest rider in the Tour at 21 years of age. To his credit, he "is finding the going tough - but he keeps going."
Wim Vansevenant, the Belgian on the Predictor-Lotto team, holds his position as Lanterne Rouge and now has a time gap of 6:27 to the next closest rider in the standings. He has held that position for seven consecutive stages now, and if he continues to finish in the main peloton each day it's entirely possible that he will earn the overall Lanterne Rouge title for two consecutive Tours de France. He's still got a lot of work to do to support his team leader, Aussie Cadel Evans!
This (perhaps prophetic?) photo of Vansevenant on the roadside with the peloton passing by was taken during the Stage 1 rollout from London by placid casual:
Labels: Evans, Geraint, Gilbert, Krauss, Kuschynski, Nuyens, Vansevenant, Ventoso, Verbrugge, Vinokourov
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Stage 13: Albi 54km individual time trial
Here are standings of the last five riders in the GC after Stage 12 and the current provisional Stage 13 ITT time gaps from the interim leader, Bradley Wiggins, after the ITT is partially complete:
Was 162. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 4:43
Was 163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 5:55
Was 164. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 7:01
Was 165. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 3:39
Was 166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 7:06
At the end of the day: the slowest time trials of the day were:
162. AERTS Mario 42 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 1h 18' 33" + 11' 59"
163. HALGAND Patrice 107 CREDIT AGRICOLE 1h 18' 52" + 12' 18"
164. RODRIGUEZ Fred 47 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 1h 19' 16" + 12' 42"
165. VENTOSO Francisco 209 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 1h 19' 59" + 13' 25"
166. JALABERT Nicolas 137 AGRITUBEL 1h 20' 18" + 13' 44"
So the slowest of 166 cyclists in the Tour completed this ITT course at an average pace of 40.34 km/hr or 25.07 mph. That pace includes any slips, crashes, bobbles, flats, tire changes, new bikes, or whatever else can happen in 54 kilometers of wet, slippery roads.
AFTER completion of the time trial, the last five riders in the General Classification are only very slightly shuffled with Verbrugghe's ride lifting him up one notch:
162. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 60h 41' 48" + 1h 55' 09"
163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 60h 43' 20" + 1h 56' 41"
164. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 60h 43' 46" + 1h 57' 07"
165. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 60h 45' 12" + 1h 58' 33"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 60h 50' 13" + 2h 03' 34"
Wim Vansevenant retains his position as Lanterne Rouge after this individual time trial with a 5-minute gap to the next rider in the overall standings.Thanks again to VeloNews for providing us with Stage Stats, including:
Medical report:
Cancellara (CSC), Isasi (Euskaltel), Gusev (Discovery Channel), Jalabert (Agritubel), Kashechkin and Klöden (both Astana) all crashed but did not require medical attention
Jury decisions:
Saunier Duval-Prodir sport director fined 200 CHF and relegated to last position in Sunday's stage for driving dangerously and provoking an accident
Elsewhere: I just noticed this short video entitled "The lantern rouge, and the suffering" at Cyclingnews.com, but it really only mentions the Lanterne Rouge in passing and focuses on how tough the Tour is on the riders, with lots of shots of sweaty grimacing pro cyclists.
Tomorrow's stage 14 entering the Pyrenees should be a classic to watch: 2 HC summits and a mountaintop finish on Plateau de Beille, where Armstrong and Pantani were victorious. Velonews says, "Given the climb's history, the stage winner could be standing on top of the podium in Paris."
Labels: Aerts, Cancellara, Charteau, Halgand, ITT, Jalabert, Kuschynski, Nuyens, Rodriguez, Vansevenant, Ventoso, Verbrugghe
Friday, July 20, 2007
Stage 12: Montpellier to Castres
Speaking of crashes, Alberto Ongarato, an Italian rider for Milram, crashed at the 7 km mark and after checking with the race doctor, abandoned the Tour. He was in 159th place in the general classification. The peloton is now down to 167 riders, and Erik Zabel has one less leadout man.Most riders finished within 7 minutes of the winner, but four riders came to the finish line in a grupetto, 9:27 after the stage winner:
163. MERCADO Juan Miguel 131 AGRITUBEL 4h 34' 59" + 09' 27"
164. BURGHARDT Marcus 22 T-MOBILE TEAM 4h 34' 59" + 09' 27"
165. KRAUSS Sven 96 GEROLSTEINER 4h 34' 59" + 09' 27"
166. VENTOSO Francisco 209 SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h 34' 59" + 09' 27"
Stef Clement, a Dutch rider for Bouygues Telecom, was over the time limit at the finish line and will not be starting tomorrow. He crashed at about 117 km into the stage.
Geraint Thomas seems to be riding better in the temperatures of southern France (finishing 19th for the stage), so we have the following five at the end of the general classification now, with no change in the Lanterne Rouge:
162. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 59h 28' 18" + 1h 51' 08"
163. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 59h 28' 38" + 1h 51' 28"
164. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 59h 29' 24" + 1h 52' 14"
165. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 59h 31' 20" + 1h 54' 10"
166. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 59h 34' 20" + 1h 57' 10"
Vansevenant has a 3:00 gap now until the next-placed rider. His placing earns him the right to roll down the ramp first at the individual time trial tomorrow. Anything can happen over 54 kilometers of roads!
Labels: Burghardt, Charteau, Clement, Krauss, Kuschynski, Mercado, Nuyens, Ongarato, Vansevenant, Ventoso, Verbrugghe
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Stage 11: Marseille - Montpellier
It's a flat sprinter's stage with no abandons reported. Christophe Moreau of AG2R had a small crash but is back on the bike. None of the BOP (back-of-the-peloton) riders that we have been following are in the current breakaway.
I'm usually a good speller, but I can never remember how to spell peloton. Peleton. Whatever. I'm only a good speller in American-English.
Don't you love it when CSC lets Jens Voigt off his leash? He's always fun to watch.
Later. . . .
Sadly, we lost three more riders today:
72 ANTON Igor (ESP) EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI withdrawls
63 CALZATI Sylvain (FRA) AG2R PREVOYANCE withdrawls
39 ZABRISKIE David (USA) TEAM CSC outside time limit
This is what I just posted over at Bruce Hildebrand's blog concerning the Big Z:
"Dave Zabriskie was listed as last place finisher in 2 stages (once when he arrived in an autobus of ~70 riders), but was never last place in the General Classification. Calling him the Lanterne Rouge is like calling the stage winner the yellow jersey wearer. Wim Vansevenant is the Lanterne Rouge and has been for 4 stages, and was also Lanterne Rouge for the 2006 Tour."
Although Zabriskie might have been the Lanterne Rouge now, if he had finished inside the time limits today. What a shame he didn't make it to the long individual time trial on Saturday! Seems that spare cycles agreed.
Today a grupetto of 14 riders finished at 10:13 after the stage winner, then Frenchman Benoit Vaugrenard from FdJ was the final official finisher of the stage at 12:26.
That leaves our final five in the General Classification (with Zabriskie gone, Steegmans finishing 57th for the stage, and Hoste finishing 140th) as:
164. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 54h 57' 14" + 1h 45' 36"
165. VERBRUGGHE Rik 148 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 54h 59' 14" + 1h 47' 36"
166. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 55h 00' 12" + 1h 48' 34"
167. GERAINT Thomas 215 BARLOWORLD 55h 02' 25" + 1h 50' 47"
168. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 55h 08' 48" + 1h 57' 10"
So Wim Vansevenant remains Lanterne Rouge of the Tour de France for the fourth consecutive stage.
Labels: Anton, Calzati, Charteau, Moreau, Nuyens, Thomas, Vaugrenard, Vergrugghe, Voigt, Zabriskie
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Stage 3: Waregem - Compiègne
Stéphane Vervalle captured Tomas Vaitkus's pain after the crash in Stage 2. He had surgery that evening for multiple breaks of his thumb.Despite the incredible size of the pileup in yesterday's stage, and an endless 236.5-km stage to ride today, Vaitkus was the only rider involved to leave the Tour. 187 riders remain.
Fully 14 riders lost small amounts of time in today's stage as they straggled in after a long, long ride:
174. ARVESEN Kurt-Asle 32 TEAM CSC 06:36:52 + 00:00:37
175. ANTON Igor 72 EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 06:36:58 + 00:00:43
176. TOSATTO Matteo 178 QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 06:36:58 + 00:00:43
177. HINAULT Sébastien 108 CREDIT AGRICOLE 06:37:04 + 00:00:49
178. ZANDIO Xabier 19 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
179. CUESTA Inigo 34 TEAM CSC 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
180. BENNATI Daniele 82 LAMPRE-FONDITAL 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
181. DE GROOT Bram 53 RABOBANK 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
182. NUYENS Nick 145 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
183. CHARTEAU Anthony 104 CREDIT AGRICOLE 06:37:07 + 00:00:52
184. ONGARATO Alberto 187 TEAM MILRAM 06:37:12 + 00:00:57
185. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 06:37:12 + 00:00:57
186. O’GRADY Stuart 35 TEAM CSC 06:37:12 + 00:00:57
187. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 06:37:20 + 00:01:05
Cuesta, O'Grady, and Zabriskie probably wore themselves out working hard to protect the yellow jersey on their teammate Cancellara - which paid off enormously, saving Cancellara enough energy on the long route to allow him to dramatically won another stage today.
However, with a 9-minute deficit, our current Lanterne Rouge Aleksandr Kuschynski may not be dislodged until the mountain stages. Here are our final five riders in the General Classification after Stage 3:
183. AUGE Stéphane 142 COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 15:16:22 + 00:04:14
184. VANSEVENANT Wim 49 PREDICTOR - LOTTO 15:16:29 + 00:04:21
185. HERVE Cédric 136 AGRITUBEL 15:16:29 + 00:04:21
186. ZABRISKIE David 39 TEAM CSC 15:16:32 + 00:04:24
187. KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr 156 LIQUIGAS 15:21:09 + 00:09:01
Auge joined the breakaway today at about 58 km before the finish, and tonight will sleep in the polka-dot jersey.
Labels: Anton, Arvesen, Auge, Bennati, Charteau, Cuesta, De Groot, Herve, Hinault, Kuschynski, Nuyens, O'Grady, Ongarato, Tosatto, Vaitkus, Vansevenant, Zabriskie, Zandio
