Stage 11 14-7-10
Transition stage today. That means that nothing much happens, and that most of the peloton take it easy while they get ready for some hard work ahead. Often on these stages, depending on the mood and the terrain, a breakaway can get going, and maybe even stay away. Not the case today. Although they climbed up a wee hill about a third of the way into the stage, the rest was more or less downhill and the sprinters' teams were not going to let this one go. The sprinters have only two more chances after this, Bordeaux and Paris, so the teams were not interested in wasting this opportunity. They more or less toyed with the escape, keeping them one or two minutes ahead, the work at the front being shared by several teams, Garmin, HTC, Cervelo, Lampre and anyone else who had a sprinter ready to win. Nice easy stage. Much of it along a valley I know a bit, the Drome, where a friend has an organic farm. Reminds me, I have not chatted with him for yonks. Must do it. Soon. I looked for the curve in the river where his family live, but failed to find it.
In the end, it was a sprint, a mass sprint, won by Cavendish, but full of controversy. There is always a bit of elbowing, pushing, leaning, moving across lines of sprinting (sprints are meant to be on straight lines), 'closing the door' (cutting people off), lead-out men slowing down who 'accidentally block other sprinters, and it is always up to the commissars to decide if the rules have been broken. I don't even know where they are written down, but they certainly don't cover all the cases. A bit like fouls in football or rugby, a lot is left to the judges or referees. Sprinters are relegated to last place for infractions, and in rare cases they are kicked off the Tour. Usually they are kicked off when they do something illegal, but also blatant, naughty and showing a bad image to the public. So in 1997, Tom Steels was booted off for throwing a water bottle at another sprinter. But complete banishment is rare. Today it happened. It was, in fact, the main news of the day, although Pettachi donned the green jersey for finishing second, and Tyler Farrar finished third. Thor Hushovd continued his bad form and finished well behind. His inability to finish in the top three or four has probably made his chances for the green jersey much worse than they seemed to be several stages ago. I really thought he would do better this year, but he has just not been up to the job. On the other hand, no one dreamed Pettachi would win it, although he has yet to pass through the Pyrenees. Mind you, I am surprised he even lasted through the Alps, so who can tell.
So what happened in the sprint? To see for yourself, you can check it out, stop the clip study it. http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/1040 It started when Julian Dean, the last lead-out man for Tyler Farrar reached the level of Mark Renshaw, the last lead-out man for Mark Cavendish. Dean stuck out his elbow and moved over a bit, trying to force Renshaw into the boards on the left side, and away from Cavendish who was following his wheel. He was trying to break up the HTC train, a strategy that worked this Tour on more than one occasion. This happens all the time in sprinting, and the response is to lean back and not let yourself be moved. All this at 75 kph. The difference here is that as well as leaning back, Renshaw tapped, or whacked, his helmet against Dean, twice. Then very quickly, he did it once more. This had the desired effect and Dean stopped pushing him. Soon after, Cavendish saw an opening and thought, I am out of here. He won by sprinting way further than usual, 375 metres instead of 200. Renshaw then drifted away, in doing so he slightly blocked Farrar, who had picked the wrong side of Cavendish to go around. All of this is totally normal and would not have been sanctioned in any way, EXCEPT the head-butting was a little bit obvious, tasteless, and probably deemed to be 'bringing the sport into disrepute'. It WAS a little gross actually. The commissars, reviewing the film, decided not just to relegate Renshaw to last place, the normal 'yellow card' punishment. They gave him red, and kicked him right out of the Tour. There will be many debates about this. My view is that it was a harsh punishment, and relegation to last place,with a big fine, would have been enough. No punishment was given to Dean, nor to Cavendish. Voila, that is the story. You can review it yourself. The effect of this will be that HTC will have to review their usual plans for a lead out train, probably giving the last man job to Bernard Eisel. But overall it will mean that Cavendish will be slightly handicapped, and might not win another stage. He, on the other hand, will be trying to prove he can win in any case. Story to run for a few days, maybe longer.
Interview with Renshaw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-TJNg6rp8s
Interview with Cavendish http://www.youtube.com/user/ozcyclingdotcom
Interview with Farrar (mentioning the second irregularity, but not the one Renshaw was punished for) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7t1uapa7jo
Cavendish being told (he is a bit stunned, but kept his mouth shut) http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/MG_Tour/MG_verslagen_nieuws/1.826673
Interview with Aldag, Cav's manager
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/15072010/58/aldag-cav-win-renshaw.html
Otherwise, there were changes, but not terribly important. Pettachi got the green jersey, mainly due his consistently excellent sprinting this year, but also due to the failure of Hushovd to finish in the top three, even if he cannot win a given sprint. Hushovd has really been quite ineffective during this Tour, in the actual sprints, being beaten by second rate sprinters often enough. I have to add that the previously unknown Sebastian Turgot did NOT fish sixth as he has four times in a row, but finished respectably nevertheless. France has found a new sprint hope! Pineau added a point to his trivial total of points for the spotted jersey. I still find it embarrassing that he has the jersey, and that the next two riders, both French, also are not real climbers. It would be different if someone like Le Mevel or Gadret were wearing it, as they actually can climb. I am desperately hoping that someone will take the jersey away before Paris. The funny thing is that I have never heard in the interviews any modesty on the part of Pineau ('I am just lucky' and 'keeping it warm' for someone else) nor any sense on the part of French commentators that the whole thing is without honour and a joke. It should be noted that there are, even in the next few mountainous stages, sprint points available that might be fought for by Pettachi and Hushovd. Looks like Cav is not so interested. Andy keeps both the yellow and the white jerseys. It was a transition stage, we could expect no big changes. The GC remains the same.
Green jersey standings.
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 161 pts
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team 157
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha 138
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team HTC - Columbia 132
There was another issue today. I have not got to the bottom of it, but it involves one or more teams not going to sign in before starting the race. Normally, each rider walks up to a big podium in full view of all the punters, and is introduced by Daniel Mangeas, the 'voice of the Tour'. He recites their honours and tells a bit about them as they sign a big register. Everybody claps and cheers and maybe catches one or two of them for an autograph or a photo. Part of the 'tradition of the Tour'. If they don't sign in, they are fined. Its like taking attendance at school. Today someone stayed in their bus, hung loose, relaxed, avoided the crowds and did not make themselves visible to the punters. This annoyed the French commentators for sure, and clearly the ASO organisers as well. Some felt this was part of the star mentality, hiding behind smoked glass and refusing to follow protocol. I don't really care much, but it was apparently some kind of big deal.
So tomorrow one of my favourite areas of France (I guess I have more than one), as they head into Lozere, and the finish outside Mende. It is a three k pretty steep climb, and some riders are going to lose many seconds. I doubt that the big guns will ride up in a group. Certainly other riders will attack for the stage victory, so at least the last few minutes should be full of action and the previous hour full of gorgeous scenery.
Vive le velo.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Stage 10 14-7-10
I am not absolutely sure about this, since I missed parts of many stages in the last ten days. But I reckon the scenery today was absolutely stunning. Alps are nice enough, but they are too big, too developed, too rocky and generally both too inhuman and too human. This area seems a lovely mix. Just enough awesomeness to keep your mouth open, and plenty of settlements of a less developed sort that help you be friendly to the area and sympathetic to its history. One of my favourite areas of France for sure. Good thing too, as the race was a little bit slow today. So slow they got into Gap about forty five minutes late, having slowly cruised all day long. The break that got away also cruised all day. So for the most part, nothing happened to disturb any of the standings and any of the jerseys. True, there was a bit of race for points in the green jersey competition, but nothing that makes a big difference. Although come the end, maybe these points will be a big deal. True, Nicolas Roche managed to do a pre planned attack to gain a few places in the standings. He is now 13th instead of 17th and only 6.23 back instead of 7.44. Good to see guys like him racing to gain a few places, as it must mean he still cares about being in the top ten and might do some attacking in the next days. Radio Shack got their first victory in their Tour history (this year is their first), with Serge Paulinho, the Portuguese who came our attention when he got a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic road race. I especially liked the descent into Gap, which is pretty scary. It was there, and they have memorialised the location, that Beloki had his career ending crash (he kept riding, but did nothing after that crash) and Lance did his equally famous cross country run. Must go to that area on a bike holiday, while I can still climb the hilly bits.
Got lucky today and was able to watch the very first 45 minutes of the race, that exceptional time when the peloton was going like blazes, and various rides are shooting off the front trying to establish the 'break of the day'. Many times they try, and although sometimes the first try works, most likely it takes some time until the right combination is allowed to go off. The decision making process of the peloton, which teams are willing to ride to bring back a break, which riders are the ones allowed to get away, and that whole process is fascinating. Eventually a break gets away because riders do not stop trying to do the job. After all, like today, a stage victory could be at stake. And a stage victory in the Tour makes a career, not matter how it is achieved. The successful break usually consists of riders way down on the GC, who are not harmful to anyone, who do not threaten any team. If you ever get a chance, do watch those first few kilometres. It does not matter much in the General Classification, of course, but it is rather important part of the race. If you keep watching long enough you get to see a 'royal escape'. Like a royal flush, this is rare. It consists of guys who ARE important in the GC, who have somehow escaped the peloton and also escaped some of their competitors in the GC. Now THAT kind of escape gets really interesting, almost exciting. It can change the face of the race. In some small way, the Contador/Schleck escape on the Madeleine was like that.
Small gift for some of us, Laurent Fignon is gong to be commentating nearly every day until the end. His voice is much better. And although neither my wife nor I are fond of his sense of humour, he is the sole commentator who is telling it straight. He is not trying to advertise the event and convince us that there is racing when there is not.
A friend of mine rang up and thought I had suggested that someone else might win, other than Alberto or Andy. Of course, 'if something happens' one or both can be out of the race in one day. And certainly if somehow one of the other dozen riders below them succeeds in making a huge escape, things can change. But it is very unlikely that the entire might of Astana and SaxoBank would let anyone escape. And it is highly unlikely that one of them won't win the Tour. Just so you know I agree with nearly everyone else on that question. But like everyone else, I have no idea which one it will be. Contador merely has to stick with Andy all the way to win. The reason is that the 52k time trial the second last day of the Tour is pretty much certain to be where Alberto can gain up to two minutes on Andy. Whoever is wearing the yellow jersey will have motivation, but so will the one who COULD wear it after the TT. Either way they will both be racing like crazy men. But if Andy actually beats Alberto in the TT, it will be one of the greatest surprises in the history of the Tour. In fact, if he loses less than two minutes Andy will be doing very well indeed. So Andy has to attack in the Pyrenees. Alberto has to stick with him, or better yet, attack himself. No one knows who will do what and when. Lovely. Uncertainty.
I still enjoy the huge displays that various rural folks make by the side of the road. There was a great one today with vast posters of cycling greats, the giants of the road. I thought how moving they were, until the end. Then somehow they put up naughty seaside post card type nudes or partially bared bums of women. Tacky, I thought. But genuinely expressive of the rural mentality I guess. Clearly no one in that town thought it was tacky at all.
We got a long analysis of the Katusha team's origins from Fignon,who apparently knows something about it. He said the guy who runs Itera, the huge Russian gas company, used to be a superb track rider and still rides a lot. He was keen, and put together the consortium of sponsors with the help of Putin, who named the team. It is a huge programme of cycling development as well as the team. They advertise that on their bus. As far as I am concerned a team named after a missile, or rather a slightly sophisticated artillery shell (Google it) is a tacky name. Even if they pretend it is 'just a girl's name' in Russia (which it is).
Christophe Moreau is third in the mountains competition. Not THAT far behind. So when the peloton got to the top of the second category climb at the end of the stage, he sprinted out of the group to get the points. The last climb of the day is double points, so he was especially keen. Sadly, there were already six guys who were in the break and a second category climb only awards points to the first six riders. So Moreau, riding his thirteenth Tour (or whatever), in his last year, to crown his career, sprinted for double zero points. He did not even know the rules. The entire peloton was probably snickering behind his back and he must be terribly embarrassed today. Fignon was quite harsh on him calling him unprofessional and a bad example to kids. Moreau is a prat, and I enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself. I didn't hear his explanation, but I would love to listen.
As for the finish, I watched the replay and noticed something. It was well known that Vasil was faster than Sergio. The Belorussian should have been the first man from his country to win a stage in the Tour. Kiriyenko was in front, and kept turning his head to see where his rival was, as one does. The thing I noticed was that Paulinho waited until Kiriyenko turned his head to the front (so he couldn't see him) and at that exact moment, Sergio attacked. So Paulinho had a couple of pedal strokes, and nearly two bike lengths before Vasil saw him and could react. Such superb timing, the only way he could have won. Nice one for the Portuguese. Although honestly I fancied Kiriyenko since he and I share a name.
The next couple of stages might be for breakaways, although the sprinter's teams might like to change that. Especially tomorrow the sprinters might get a chance, as the race limbs one hill and then goes downhill the rest of the day. While I don't know most of the route, I can say that the bit at the end, down the valley which has Die in it, is rather lovely.
Good night.
I am not absolutely sure about this, since I missed parts of many stages in the last ten days. But I reckon the scenery today was absolutely stunning. Alps are nice enough, but they are too big, too developed, too rocky and generally both too inhuman and too human. This area seems a lovely mix. Just enough awesomeness to keep your mouth open, and plenty of settlements of a less developed sort that help you be friendly to the area and sympathetic to its history. One of my favourite areas of France for sure. Good thing too, as the race was a little bit slow today. So slow they got into Gap about forty five minutes late, having slowly cruised all day long. The break that got away also cruised all day. So for the most part, nothing happened to disturb any of the standings and any of the jerseys. True, there was a bit of race for points in the green jersey competition, but nothing that makes a big difference. Although come the end, maybe these points will be a big deal. True, Nicolas Roche managed to do a pre planned attack to gain a few places in the standings. He is now 13th instead of 17th and only 6.23 back instead of 7.44. Good to see guys like him racing to gain a few places, as it must mean he still cares about being in the top ten and might do some attacking in the next days. Radio Shack got their first victory in their Tour history (this year is their first), with Serge Paulinho, the Portuguese who came our attention when he got a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic road race. I especially liked the descent into Gap, which is pretty scary. It was there, and they have memorialised the location, that Beloki had his career ending crash (he kept riding, but did nothing after that crash) and Lance did his equally famous cross country run. Must go to that area on a bike holiday, while I can still climb the hilly bits.
Got lucky today and was able to watch the very first 45 minutes of the race, that exceptional time when the peloton was going like blazes, and various rides are shooting off the front trying to establish the 'break of the day'. Many times they try, and although sometimes the first try works, most likely it takes some time until the right combination is allowed to go off. The decision making process of the peloton, which teams are willing to ride to bring back a break, which riders are the ones allowed to get away, and that whole process is fascinating. Eventually a break gets away because riders do not stop trying to do the job. After all, like today, a stage victory could be at stake. And a stage victory in the Tour makes a career, not matter how it is achieved. The successful break usually consists of riders way down on the GC, who are not harmful to anyone, who do not threaten any team. If you ever get a chance, do watch those first few kilometres. It does not matter much in the General Classification, of course, but it is rather important part of the race. If you keep watching long enough you get to see a 'royal escape'. Like a royal flush, this is rare. It consists of guys who ARE important in the GC, who have somehow escaped the peloton and also escaped some of their competitors in the GC. Now THAT kind of escape gets really interesting, almost exciting. It can change the face of the race. In some small way, the Contador/Schleck escape on the Madeleine was like that.
Small gift for some of us, Laurent Fignon is gong to be commentating nearly every day until the end. His voice is much better. And although neither my wife nor I are fond of his sense of humour, he is the sole commentator who is telling it straight. He is not trying to advertise the event and convince us that there is racing when there is not.
A friend of mine rang up and thought I had suggested that someone else might win, other than Alberto or Andy. Of course, 'if something happens' one or both can be out of the race in one day. And certainly if somehow one of the other dozen riders below them succeeds in making a huge escape, things can change. But it is very unlikely that the entire might of Astana and SaxoBank would let anyone escape. And it is highly unlikely that one of them won't win the Tour. Just so you know I agree with nearly everyone else on that question. But like everyone else, I have no idea which one it will be. Contador merely has to stick with Andy all the way to win. The reason is that the 52k time trial the second last day of the Tour is pretty much certain to be where Alberto can gain up to two minutes on Andy. Whoever is wearing the yellow jersey will have motivation, but so will the one who COULD wear it after the TT. Either way they will both be racing like crazy men. But if Andy actually beats Alberto in the TT, it will be one of the greatest surprises in the history of the Tour. In fact, if he loses less than two minutes Andy will be doing very well indeed. So Andy has to attack in the Pyrenees. Alberto has to stick with him, or better yet, attack himself. No one knows who will do what and when. Lovely. Uncertainty.
I still enjoy the huge displays that various rural folks make by the side of the road. There was a great one today with vast posters of cycling greats, the giants of the road. I thought how moving they were, until the end. Then somehow they put up naughty seaside post card type nudes or partially bared bums of women. Tacky, I thought. But genuinely expressive of the rural mentality I guess. Clearly no one in that town thought it was tacky at all.
We got a long analysis of the Katusha team's origins from Fignon,who apparently knows something about it. He said the guy who runs Itera, the huge Russian gas company, used to be a superb track rider and still rides a lot. He was keen, and put together the consortium of sponsors with the help of Putin, who named the team. It is a huge programme of cycling development as well as the team. They advertise that on their bus. As far as I am concerned a team named after a missile, or rather a slightly sophisticated artillery shell (Google it) is a tacky name. Even if they pretend it is 'just a girl's name' in Russia (which it is).
Christophe Moreau is third in the mountains competition. Not THAT far behind. So when the peloton got to the top of the second category climb at the end of the stage, he sprinted out of the group to get the points. The last climb of the day is double points, so he was especially keen. Sadly, there were already six guys who were in the break and a second category climb only awards points to the first six riders. So Moreau, riding his thirteenth Tour (or whatever), in his last year, to crown his career, sprinted for double zero points. He did not even know the rules. The entire peloton was probably snickering behind his back and he must be terribly embarrassed today. Fignon was quite harsh on him calling him unprofessional and a bad example to kids. Moreau is a prat, and I enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself. I didn't hear his explanation, but I would love to listen.
As for the finish, I watched the replay and noticed something. It was well known that Vasil was faster than Sergio. The Belorussian should have been the first man from his country to win a stage in the Tour. Kiriyenko was in front, and kept turning his head to see where his rival was, as one does. The thing I noticed was that Paulinho waited until Kiriyenko turned his head to the front (so he couldn't see him) and at that exact moment, Sergio attacked. So Paulinho had a couple of pedal strokes, and nearly two bike lengths before Vasil saw him and could react. Such superb timing, the only way he could have won. Nice one for the Portuguese. Although honestly I fancied Kiriyenko since he and I share a name.
The next couple of stages might be for breakaways, although the sprinter's teams might like to change that. Especially tomorrow the sprinters might get a chance, as the race limbs one hill and then goes downhill the rest of the day. While I don't know most of the route, I can say that the bit at the end, down the valley which has Die in it, is rather lovely.
Good night.
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