Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Stage 16: Orthez to Gourette to Col d’Aubisque
It seems that all 151 remaining riders are on their bikes today in the toughest stage of the '07 Tour. However, there was a small anti-doping protest at the start:
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. . . .
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
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Mass exodus
The entire Astana team is out of the Tour, due to a positive blood doping test for Alexandre Vinokourov.Antonio Colom Mas (Spain)
Maxim Iglinskiy (Kazakhstan)
Serguei Ivanov (Russia)
Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan)
Andreas Klöden (Germany)
Daniel Navarro (Spain)
Grégory Rast (Switzerland)
Paolo Savoldelli (Italy)
Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)
That is the FIRST PLACE TEAM in the Tour standings. Leaving the Tour.
Their website at http://www.team-astana.eu/f/home.php is apparently overloaded and not responding.
The 5th place rider Klöden.
The 8th place rider Kashechkin.
The double stage winner Vinokourov.
The lowest-placed Astana rider was Gregory Rast, a Swiss cyclist formerly on the Phonak team, who held 108th place overall out of 160.
Yes, this is Huge.
None of the team riders had yet withdrawn from the Tour, all 9 were still competing. This brings the number of riders down to 151, suddenly. And puts Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) and Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery) into the top ten riders.
Update: The Astana website is now responding, and a news item there says (in French, badly translated here): "As opposed to what certain media could claim, Astana Cycling TEAM continues its activities and will be thus present at the time of Sachsen Tour (July 25 - 29) and of Brixia Tour (26 - July 29). The direction of the team, still present in Pau (FRA), received the unconditional support of the President of the Kazakhe Federation of Cycling, Mr. Danial Akhmetov."
Labels: Colom, Iglinsky, Ivanov, Kashechkin, Klöden, Navarro, Rast, Salvoldelli, Vinokourov
Monday, July 23, 2007
Stage 15: Foix to Loudenvielle
Here's a poetic tribute to the Lanterne Rouge.
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
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
Spectator woes
Vino was having problems already, but it went from bad to worse today:
"A fan waved a flag when he and (Serhiy) Ivanov were on the ascent of the Plateau-de-Beille," an Astana spokesman told Reuters by phone. "The flag got caught in Ivanov's wheel. He fell off his bike and so did 'Vino', who was following him. He just has small bruises and his knees have not been hurt." However, Vinokourov had already been dropped in the first climb of the day, a 16.8-km ascent to the Port de Pailheres, which he reached five minutes behind the main contenders. "
Andrew Hood from VeloNews said: "the driver of the medical car chased down the spectator, who was hiding among the crowd behind a car. The fan pleaded that the incident was a mistake." Um, I wonder what the driver would have done otherwise? Put him in the hospital?
I've looked for photographs of the incident but haven't found any. Readers, have you seen any? There's some sad post-crash finishing photos of Vino here and here.
Also from Stage 14, the other medical reports:
Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) stomach ache.
Fischer (Liquigas) stomach ache.
Sprick (Bouygues Telecom) digestive problems, insect bite.
Gilbert (FDJeux) digestive problems, fever.
Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) digestive problems.
Chavanel (FDJeux) stomach pain.
Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) crash at beginning of stage, minor cuts and scrapes.
Martinez (Discovery Channel) crash at beginning of stage, minor cuts and scrapes.
Vinokourov (Astana) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, various scrapes.
Ivanov (Astana) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, cuts to hand, scrapes.
Perez Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, various cuts.
Jury decisions: No rulings
I have to wonder if all those stomach problems were riders feeling like they wanted to throw up when they caught sight of the Plateau de Beille climb.
"A fan waved a flag when he and (Serhiy) Ivanov were on the ascent of the Plateau-de-Beille," an Astana spokesman told Reuters by phone. "The flag got caught in Ivanov's wheel. He fell off his bike and so did 'Vino', who was following him. He just has small bruises and his knees have not been hurt." However, Vinokourov had already been dropped in the first climb of the day, a 16.8-km ascent to the Port de Pailheres, which he reached five minutes behind the main contenders. "
Andrew Hood from VeloNews said: "the driver of the medical car chased down the spectator, who was hiding among the crowd behind a car. The fan pleaded that the incident was a mistake." Um, I wonder what the driver would have done otherwise? Put him in the hospital?
I've looked for photographs of the incident but haven't found any. Readers, have you seen any? There's some sad post-crash finishing photos of Vino here and here.
Also from Stage 14, the other medical reports:
Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) stomach ache.
Fischer (Liquigas) stomach ache.
Sprick (Bouygues Telecom) digestive problems, insect bite.
Gilbert (FDJeux) digestive problems, fever.
Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) digestive problems.
Chavanel (FDJeux) stomach pain.
Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) crash at beginning of stage, minor cuts and scrapes.
Martinez (Discovery Channel) crash at beginning of stage, minor cuts and scrapes.
Vinokourov (Astana) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, various scrapes.
Ivanov (Astana) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, cuts to hand, scrapes.
Perez Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) crash on the Plateau de Beille climb, various cuts.
Jury decisions: No rulings
I have to wonder if all those stomach problems were riders feeling like they wanted to throw up when they caught sight of the Plateau de Beille climb.
Labels: Ivanov, Vinokourov
Stage 14: Mazamet to Plateau-de-Beille
An exciting stage to watch! Waiting for the official stage results to pop up. . . .
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:
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
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Stage stats
Velonews seems to be a good source for the medical reports and jury decisions of each stage that I can't find routinely posted elsewhere. I wish they would post them officially on the Tour website, but they don't seem to make them available online (unless I'm just looking in the wrong place). Here's part of the report for stage 10:
The peloton: No abandons. The peloton is now 171 riders.
Medical report:
Cobo (Saunier Duval-Prodir) crash in first kilometer, pain in hip and coccyx
Cancellara (CSC) insect bite
Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) insect bite
Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) crash at 37km, cuts and scrapes on both hands, right elbow
Calzati (Ag2r) pain in both knees and Achilles tendon
Anton (Euskaltel) crash at 69km without complications
Verbrugghe (Cofidis) pain in right knee
Vinokourov (Astana) persistent pain in both knees
Jury decisions:
Moreau (Ag2r) fined 100 CHF for not signing in
The peloton: No abandons. The peloton is now 171 riders.
Medical report:
Cobo (Saunier Duval-Prodir) crash in first kilometer, pain in hip and coccyx
Cancellara (CSC) insect bite
Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) insect bite
Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) crash at 37km, cuts and scrapes on both hands, right elbow
Calzati (Ag2r) pain in both knees and Achilles tendon
Anton (Euskaltel) crash at 69km without complications
Verbrugghe (Cofidis) pain in right knee
Vinokourov (Astana) persistent pain in both knees
Jury decisions:
Moreau (Ag2r) fined 100 CHF for not signing in
Labels: Anton, Calzati, Cancellara, Cobo, Gutierrez, stage stats, Verbrugghe, Vinokourov, Voeckler
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
