Ok, I admit it: I didn't watch yesterday's stage of the Tour because I preferred watching Harry Potter 7 in 3D. And, apparently, I made the right choice.
However, dear readers, the important stage was today's one: in fact this afternoon the Tour officially started also for the serious GC contenders - or, at least, it started for the GC contenders who are still up and running (and they aren't a lot).
So: 12th stage of the Tour de France 2011, from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden, on the 14th of July. A big day for Thomas Voeckler, a French rider who rides for a French team and who could wear the yellow jersey on one of the most important days for the French people. And, to my surprise, Thomas managed to keep the leader jersey without problems, so that he'll be able to wear it also tomorrow.
Actually, Logic thought that Voeckler could have been able to keep the leadership in the race, but she would have never imagined that he could have made it in such a brilliant way. In fact, the Frenchman managed to remain with the best climbers of the world for the whole day, showing his determination and his love for the French race to the whole world. Therefore, miss Fede takes the chance to send a big chapeau to monsieur Thomas Voeckler, also known as 'Give me a yellow t-shirt and I'll smash the world'.
Anyway, let's go back to the start of the stage. This morning the riders had three difficult climbs on their menu: Hourquette d'Ancizan, Tourmalet (aaah, sweet memories!) and Luz Ardiden, where Ullrich once waited for Armstrong, who had crashed because of a young supporter who had accidentally hit him with his rucksack. Since Lance was wearing the yellow jersey, the German rider decided to wait for him, thus becoming the protagonist of a good action that is still remembered nowadays.
Apparently, the stages to Luz Ardiden never bring good luck to the riders who wear the yellow jersey during them. This afternoon in fact also Voeckler crashed at the beginning of the descent towards Tourmalet. However, the Frenchman could immediately hop back on his bike and get back in the peloton, which waited for him. 'When the yellow jersey crashes, the peloton must wait for it', the Italian chronist said. Apparently, last year no one had informed Contador about that (or, perhaps, that rule doesn't apply if the yellow jersey has a mechanical).
Unfortunately, Voeckler wasn't the only one who crashed. In fact the athletes who were involved in his crash were a few and amongst them there were also important guys like Peter Velits and Andreas Kloeden. Luckily for Radioshack, tomorrow's stage ends in Lourdes, so that they'll be able to make a pilgrimage there in order to ask Virgin Mary for some good luck.
Also Geraint Thomas, who was one of the breakawayers du jour, had previously crashed in the very same point as Voeckler. The Welsh rider this afternoon showed us that his biking skills aren't actually that good, since in the descent towards Tourmalet he lost 40" from his companions of adventure (Kadri, Roy, Gutierrez, Mangel and Ruben Perez). However, the Sky rider could use his good uphill skills to catch his companions on Tourmalet and he was one of the last riders to get caught by the best climbers.
Talking about breakaways, this afternoon there were many guys who tried their luck. Amongst them there were also Chavanel and Kreuziger, who escaped from the peloton at the beginning of the first climb. I think that Chavanel attacked especially because he wanted to show off his jersey of National French Champion on the Bastille Day, whereas Roman probably hoped to win the stage. Kreuziger gave it all, but he never managed to reach the other breakawayers (the ones who had abandoned the company of the group after a few kms of race), so that his attack was in vain.
Johnny Hoogerland tried to break free from the peloton too this afternoon, probably because in that way he thought he had more chances to finish the stage within the time cut . Considering that our boy ended the stage 21 minutes after the winner and 12 minutes before the gruppetto, I think he can say 'Mission accomplished!' as he goes to bed tonight.
Talking about time cut and gruppetto: poor Denis Galimzyanov won't start tomorrow's stage because he didn't make it to the finish-line within the time cut. The gruppetto itself ended the stage 33' after the winner, which means that today's stage was really hard. Still talking about the gruppetto, this afternoon it was formed by a great amount of riders: 79 riders out of 175 ended the race all together, a few minutes before Galimzyanov. The other riders instead crossed the finish-line slowly, one after the other.
The toughness of the race was also a consequence of Leopard Trek's great efforts at the front. In fact, at the beginning of Tourmalet the whole Luxembourgian team got ready to set the pace at the head of the peloton. Unfortunately, I think that things didn't actually go as planned. Let me explain you why.
The first one to set a high pace at the front was Cancellara, whose efforts were followed by those of O'Grady and Voigt. The German engine made an amazing job and he managed to pull until the end of Tourmalet (and he even remained with the brothers until the beginning of the last climb). 'What's the problem then?', I hear some of you ask. Well, the problem is that, if Jens hadn't felt as good as he actually felt this afternoon, the brothers would have remained without helpers even before the end of the Tourmalet. In fact halfway through the climb guys like Gerdemann, Monfort and Fuglsang had already got dropped. So, what if one of the brothers had had a serious mechanical? Would have they remained all alone because they had run out of teammates? I can understand that some riders can have a day off, but apparently this afternoon half of the Luxembourgian team didn't feel well. And, considering that this should be the strongest team of the world, I don't think they can be satisfied with that - or, at least, I think they can't be satisfied.
Anyway. End of the first bitchy moment du jour. Let's go on.
On the Tourmalet some important riders (Toni Martin, Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal, Peter Velits, Andreas Kloeden and Christian Vandevelde) were dropped, whereas an amazing Gilbert kept the wheels of the best riders until the end of the climb. Then the wonderful Belgian champion attacked. His move was a bit suicidal, since it didn't bring him any benefit - but still, it was nice to see a Classic rider giving it all in one of the hardest mountain stages of the Tour.
Shortly after the beginning of the ascent towards Luz Ardiden, Kreuziger was caught by the group of the yellow jersey, whereas Roy and Thomas still had a little gap on the best climbers.
With 8 kms to go, Jelle Vanendert and Samuel Sanchez attacked. They found a good pace and they kept on riding together until the finish-line, when Samu managed to get the victory ahead of the 26 year old Belgian. Samu was really happy to win in front of his people (Pyrenées = Basque Country) and to be back in the top spots of the GC, whereas Jelle confirmed his great talent once again. Finally, after getting over some injuries of the past, this young man is ready to give his best - not only in the Classics but, as he showed us this afternoon, also in the GTs.
While Sanchez and Vanendert were riding happily to the finish-line, thus overtaking all the guys who had gone on a breakaway earlier, the battle between the giants of the Tour began. Andy and Frank Schleck, Contador and Evans were all there, but the one who started the duel was Basso, who ordered to his teammate Szmyd to start riding full gas. Sylwester is an excellent and loyal helper, who couldn't do well in the Giro because of a bad bronchitis. But now he's recovered and everyone could see that this afternoon.
While Szmyd was pulling, some talks were going on in the group of the best climbers. Frank and Andy talked to each other, whereas Contador talked to his teammates. Unfortunately, the magic trio of Saxo Bankers formed by Jesus Hernandez, Richie Porte and Chris Sorensen (it was strange to see him riding against my favourite brothers!) soon got dropped together with Nicolas 'Finding Nemo' Roche. The Irish rider soon started to suffer because of Szmyd's hellish pace (the poor thing has a sore knee right now) and it was touching to see him being helped by some teammates who, if only had they been allowed to, would have immediately hopped off their bikes in order to push Nicolas.
When Szmyd ended his turn at the front, just a few riders remained in the group of the yellow jersey, so that the Schleck brothers thought it was time to do something. The first one to attack was Frank, followed by Andy. Then the older brother attacked again until he finally managed to disappear from the sight of the other riders. Frank's attack was really impressive and, in about 3 kms, he almost managed to get back on Sanchez and Vanendert, who crossed the finish-line a few seconds ahead of the Luxembourgian.
In the meanwhile, Ivan Basso tried to attack twice, whereas Andy kept on paying attention to Contador. 'Attack!', I screamed. 'Attack!', I screamed again. 'ATTACK!!!', I shouted. And instead no, the one who attacked was Evans. Our Glorious Leader followed him together with Basso and the magic trio managed to cross the finish-line 13" ahead of Contador (and 20" after Frank Schleck). Cunego lost 5" to these three riders, whereas Voeckler arrived 7" after the Giro winner and thanked his teammate Rolland as they crossed the finish-line. Andy Schleck looked extremely tired as he crossed the finish-line, whereas Basso used some of his energy to turn his head and watch where Contador was.
So, this was today's stage. What can we say about the big GC contenders?
First of all I think that, although this afternoon Contador got dropped, no one should underestimate him. As Basso keeps on saying, 'one can win a Tour with just one attack'. And Alberto, if he's on a good day, can gain lots of seconds with just one attack made at the right moment.
Talking about the other riders, I must say that I loved Frank's attitude during today's race. But still, I think Andy should have tried to attack Evans. Cadel in fact is a very strong rider and, if bad luck doesn't hit him, he can make it to the top spot of Paris podium without many problems. He has the final TT on his side and, considering that he seems very solid also in the mountains, I think that Andy (and all those who want to win this Tour) should try to attack him as much as they can. In about 10 days the race will be over and, until there, the tough stages aren't that many. We're not in the Giro, where everyday there's at least one tough climb. We're at the Tour, a race in which a historical climb like Aubisque will be faced more than 40 kms far from the finish-line. Perhaps Andy had a bad day this afternoon or he was afraid to be worse than Contador, but I hope that in the next days he'll try to get some seconds of advantage on the Aussie. Because, unless he has some serious problems, it seems that this year it'll be hard to take the victory away from Evans.
Anyway, here's the GC after today's stage:
| 1 | Thomas Voeckler (Fra) | 51:54:44 | |
| 2 | Fränk Schleck (Lux) | 0:01:49 | |
| 3 | Cadel Evans (Aus) | 0:02:06 | |
| 4 | Andy Schleck (Lux) | 0:02:17 | |
| 5 | Ivan Basso (Ita) | 0:03:16 | |
| 6 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) | 0:03:22 | |
| 7 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) | 0:04:00 | |
| 8 | Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) | 0:04:11 | |
| 9 | Thomas Danielson (USA) | 0:04:35 | |
| 10 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) | 0:04:57 |
I'm very happy about Cunego and Roche's placements and I hope that they'll keep the good stuff coming also in the next days. In the meanwhile, let's enjoy Frank and Andy's placements and let's hope they'll improve again in the next days.
As far as tomorrow is concerned, I'm going to bet 5 euros on Hushovd and 5 on Gilbert. Although, to say the truth, I think we shouldn't rule Cavendish and Farrar out of the 'possible winners list' either.
(Pic 1 by Sirotti, pic 2 by Bettini)
Hi Fede! :D
RispondiEliminaMy Eurosport broadcast the entire stage today, all the way from 12 o'clock. I slept through about half of the thing, on and off, anyway (hey, Olivia sleeps, I sleep, it's that simple :P).
I correctly predicted that Voeckler would keep yellow today, but I too am impressed by the way he made it. He and his team were on the top at any given moment, way to go.
That crash you mention I missed. I only heard it had happened when I woke up. I did, however, notice how closely (and brilliantly, may I add) that Europcar rider who was leading the peloton avoided what could have been a really nasty crash before the Ancizan climb. I don't know if anyone else caught it, but the guy very nearly hit a little wall on his left-hand side. Had he actually hit it, I think he'd have been catapulted over his handles off to God knows where. I got goosebumps from seeing it.
I also must mention that my respect for Johnny Hoogerland is rapidly increasing. What he's doing these days is just amazing, plus I've liked him since always. If I'd had a fall like that, I'd probably just lay around and wait for the emergency vehicle to pick me up. And, just this morning I heard that the pole he'd hit is getting auctioned off for a children's cancer charity. :) I really, really hope he makes it to Paris.
I also noticed that about Leopard Trek. If Jensi happened to have a bad day, Andy and Frank would have ended up alone at the top. Besides, Andy did have a mechanical. While climbing the Ancizan I believe. He changed his rear wheel. I wouldn't be satisfied if I was Kim Andersen. Kim did, in fact, mention something about the guys falling off too early, but other than that he seemed quite pleased in his interview they showed right after the finish. I don't know if your broadcast shows those things.
And while we're at bitchy moments, I can't help but notice that the spectators tend get a bit too close for comfort. I understand wanting to see your favorite riders from as close as possible and I can't even guarantee it wouldn't be me acting like a crazy woman on the road should I ever actually attend a race, but still. Maybe it's just my perception as the roads are narrow, but it seems quite dangerous to be waving your flags and hands at only centimeters away from the guys. It's like calling for trouble. Bitchy moment over. :D
Today also showcased one of the reasons I absolutely love Philippe Gilbert. That guy always gives it all until he's absolutely finished. That's a quality I generally appreciate in people.
Frankie today was just awesome. He caught a minute's advantage in like seven kilometers, if I remember correctly. However, as soon as he went off and Andy stayed, I knew Andy wouldn't keep trying today.
I do, however, think that they should both stop joking around and start making some serious advantage on their opponents. I'd say they need a comfortable 4-5 minute margin on Cadel and Contador heading into Grenoble. They do claim to have improved in the TT, but let's face it - we saw none of it this far.
On a couple random notes, I smile at Jelle Vannendert's name. No idea how it's actually pronounced, but it looks like Jell-O :D
And I really have to mention a loose thought floating around my head - just how, and more importantly why, would anyone even need a road on a mountain such as Tourmalet?
And there I go with another of my ginormous comments *sheepish smile*.
Gimme a break, it's been a while ;-)
I agree with you Fede in regards to LT tactics. Jensi was phenomenal and I hope he got lots of thanks from the team after the race. Trying to spread the peloton and drop riders didn't work as they just succeeded in destroying their team. If anything it was an advantage to Evans, Basso and Contador as they just sat back and allowed themselves to be carried up the mountain by LT. I bet Bjarne was having a good laugh watching. I'm not an expert but it seemed to be a bit amateurish.
RispondiEliminaFrank definately looks stronger than Andy at this stage. I wish they would stop rubbernecking at Conti who is not the only major threat. Basso can slip under the radar and Evans will watch them watching conti and just go soon. OGL seems so hung up on Conti that he'll go down a ravine or dislocate his neck the way he keeps looking back.
I think Contador is definately struggling at the moment as he has lost a lot of time since his crashes, has a sore knee, tired from Giro and psychologically from the doping, boos etc. However I do believe he is still capable of coming back and taking the lead.
Love Johnny H too. So brave, cute dimple and love it when a man shows emotions. He deserves some form of reward if/when he finishes the tour (as does the other rider who got hit but can't remember his name).
Geraint Thomas is also looking like a star of the future. I was happy to see Sanchez take the win to ( I know some don't like him).
Phil G is a rider who brings out mixed feelings in me. Sometimes I think he is to cocky but then he will do something for his team which shows him to be a team player. He is either an oustanding rider or has an amazing 'programme' that the other teams haven't bought yet.
Sorry for ramble but these late nights are taking their toll. Hurry up restday- I need some sleep! Jen (not Jennifer)
@ Cristin: Given the way he rode yesterday, people are now rating Voeckler as one of the main GC contenders. He rode in such an impressive way!
RispondiEliminaI missed the Europcar rider risking to crash because I usually have headaches when I watch tv for too long. Therefore I decided to watch the race from the first climb, so that my brain could still work correctly at the end of the day ;)
Those guys risk so much every day, they're so brave!
Voeckler's crash was 'funny' because poor Thomas smashed the door of a parked car while trying not to fall. Let's hope that the owner of that car considered that fact as a honour and not just as a problem! (Personally, I'd prefer to have my car smashed by the yellow jersey on the Bastille day rather than having it smashed by a drunkard at a roundabout :P)
I don't usually watch Eurosport during the Tour, since I prefer RAI (they're really doing a great job this year, they broadcast the Tour from 1 pm to 6 pm every day!).
I can understand why Kim was happy (Frank was simply amazing yesterday!), but I think that in the evening he probably said something to his boys. It can happen to have a bad day on the first mountain stage of a GT, but yesterday there were definitely too many Leopards who had problems on Tourmalet.
Of course they didn't do it intentionally (Fuglsang was really disappointed by his performance), but it was worrying to see los Schlecks all alone on the last climb, while Basso still had Szmyd and Contador still had 3 helpers.
Now that you mention it, I remember that mechanical too! Luckily it didn't cause any problem to OGL!
Supporters are really getting worse and worse year after year. Yesterday Voeckler and Basso risked to hit their heads against the photocamera of a supporter on the last climb and this afternoon Roy told off a man because he had hit him with a flag.
Cyclists do their work while they climb and I'm sure that none of the supporters would like to work with a half-naked, fat and drunk man running next to them and shouting in their ears. The riders deserve much more respect, they already make enough efforts even if people don't disturb them by staying too close to them.
PhilGil is such a great rider! He tried to get back in the GC even today and this makes me think that next year he may try to go for the GC of a GT. After all, I'd expect everything from a guy like Phil.
I completely agree with you about the brothers. Frank was amazing yesterday, but Andy really needs to attack in the next days. Right now, in fact, the only one who can afford himself to race without attacking is Cadel Evans.
Jelle, that's a very weird name indeed! At
first, I believed it was a name for girls :P
According to Italian tv, the first carriages drove up Tourmalet under the reign of Napoleon III, who had some roads built in that area of France because, apparently, it is full of thermal zones.
Feel free to leave ginormous comments whenever you want! And send a big kiss to our little princess Olivia! ;)
@ Jen: I'm sure that Jens received thousandth of thanks after the race, but this wonn't help the team to solve its problems.
RispondiEliminaI remember that in the Tour 2008 Saxo Bank had a super team, they used to start pulling at the beginning of the first climb and they would end their work on the last climb du jour...They were simply amazing and, considering the difference between that team and LT, me too thinks that Bjarne laughed a lot yesterday (or, better, I think that he laughed as long as Conti didn't get dropped) :P
Basso has been very underestimated in the rest of the world, but here in Italy everyone was sure that he would have made a great Tour. And, so far, he's showed us that he's one of the best climbers of the world.
Ivan's a tough guy and he's not afraid of attacking, so I think we can expect something from him also tomorrow. Also because he has a special motivation, since yesterday evening his son Santiago told him off because he hadn't won the stage!
Ah, finally someone mentions Andy's risk of dislocating his neck while watching Contador! Really, yesterday it looked as if OGL was a bit blocked. And that's a pity, because he had the great chance of dropping Contador but he didn't even try to make it. In fact, according to Italian medias the one who dropped Alberto was Basso, whereas Evans and Andy simply followed the Italian rider.
I don't trust Contador either: with his climbing skills, he can win the Tour with just one attack.
I pretty like Samu, although I made a mistake in ruling him out of the Tour victory after his terrible TTT.
I know some people don't like Phil, also because it's always difficult to appreciate those who win so much. To me, he's always come across as a very nice guy, one that never refuses interviews and that is always kind with supporters. Given that, I think he's probably a good teammate too (although I know that he did have some problem with VDB this year).
The rest day isn't that far, but you'd better have some good hours of sleep before tomorrow! You can't lose the stage towards Plateau de Beille (or how else it's called)!
I really agree with all of you concerning the LT tactics. Without Jens, that would have been a disaster. What happened to Fuglsang and Montfort?! I was screaming (tonelessly because I was at the office) at my screen to tell them it's waaayyy too early to start pulling the peloton... well, thank God for Jens.
RispondiEliminaI don't agree with all of your Andy statements though. I don't think he should attack when Frank is riding up front. He would only bring the other GC contenders closer to Frank. If one of the brothers is up front, the other one has to stay with the main contenders unless he is ABSOLUTELY sure that noone can follow.
I knew that Evans was really strong, but I was very impressed by Basso. He was my favourite GC rider in 2006 (let's not talk about it, please), and I'm happy to see he's in form. I'm a little scared for the Schlecks though, I think Andy has an obsession with Contador and underestimates Cadel and Ivan.
For me, the best rider of the Luz Ardiden-stage was definitely Rolland (Voeckler's team mate)! He was simply amazing!
So I wasn't the only one who screamed at the screen some tactical suggestions yesterday afternoon! ;)
RispondiEliminaAs far as Andy is concerned, you're actually right: Andy didn't want to create problems to Frank and that's why he didn't attack.
But still, yesterday he gave me the clear impression of paying too much attention to Contador . He kept on turning his head, his first attack wasn't strong at all, he kept on talking with Frank... It looked almost as if Andy was afraid of an attack by Contador and I think that, if he keeps on racing in this way, this won't bring him any good result.
Ivan is really flying in these days and I'm sure he'll do something good also tomorrow! Here in Italy everyone is going bananas about him and Cunego, it's great to see two Italians doing so well at the Tour (it last happened in 1997, so it's been a while since we last experienced this feeling)!
Rolland was very good yesterday, especially if we consider that he's just 14. The boy has a bright future ahead, no doubts about it!
Don't you mean 1998? I'm pretty sure, unlike that year, today's winner will not be the winner of the TdF... Frankie didn't look as good today as thursday, and I expected more of this stage. I hate it when they just look at each other and nobody attacks! I know that it's tactics and all that, but it really annoys me!
RispondiEliminaI definitely meant 1998 :)
RispondiEliminaI expected much more from this stage too. Frankie didn't feel very well, and this can happen in a GT, but I don't think that Andy should have sacrificed his own chances of dropping the other guys because of Frank. Imo the brothers need to talk clearly to each other and to understand which of them has more chances to win this Tour. Then, one of them should become the helper of the other one. Getting on the podium together would be a dream that comes true not just for them, but also for their supporters and, I think, for the whole Luxembourg, but perhaps the brothers should understand that, if they keep on following their dream in this way, none of them will ever make it to the Tour's victory.
Unfortunately, the brothers and Basso are those who need to attack to win this Tour. This afternoon Andy did try something, until he realised that Frank wasn't feeling too well. Basso gave it all, but spectacular attacks don't belong to his racing style.
Also Contador needs to attack in this Tour, but perhaps this afternoon he didn't do anything because he still doesn't feel very well. I just hope he won't be in a perfect shape next week, otherwise I think that someone will have to curse himself...
All in all, the only ones who did well this afternoon were Voeckler, Vanendert, Evans, Péraud and Rolland. All the other ones were pretty disappointing (and annoying, if I must be honest).