Friday, July 20, 2007
Stage 12: Montpellier to Castres
168 riders started today, with no overnight abandons noted. There are some smaller climbs today, a single category two about 3/4 of the way through the stage, and then a long downhill finish. It is unlikely that there will be many big changes in the general classification unless there are some strong winds splitting up the peloton (like yesterday) or some crashes that take riders out.
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!
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
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
