Tour de France 2012 Stage 6 Review

Stage 6

Stage 6 turned out to be one of the most dramatic days of the Tour of recent years. This day shaped the General Classification and decided who will have the chance to fight for the Tour in the mountains. Stage 6 was not tipped as an important stage- with only one categorised climbs with many straight, wide roads. The morning breakaway consisted of Dave Zabriskie, Karsten Kroon, Romain Zingle and Davide Malacarne. Early in the stage Andre Greipel crashed with Lieuwe Westra but nothing serious: they easily rejoined the peloton. Peraud, Gesink and Valverde ( 3big GC threats) were caught on in this crash and where all involved also- with no real underlying injury. The intermediate sprint soon came after around 100km with Greipel not participating ( the injury from the crash more serious than first thought).

The top of the cote de Bruixieres resulted in Dave Zabriskie getting the only point of the day. However, at the bottom of this climb, a massive pile up occurred in the peloton with Gesink, Greipel, Mollema and Farrar being the big names caught up. Greipel was well and truly hurt but kept going.

More bad news for the peloton with the third and final crash of the day involving more than half of the peloton with riders including Frank Schleck, Ryder Hesjedal, Wouter Poels, Mark Cavendish and Edvald Boasson Hagen being only a few of the riders caught up in the horrific crash. The depleted peloton continued on to catch David Zabriskie but only in the final kilometre. Lotto-Belisol decided that Greipel was going to sprint despite his injuries (which turned out to be a dislocated shoulder!)- with an amazing leadout train for him. However, Sagan jumped out of Greipel’s wheel and took his 3rd stage of the Tour but the first in the bunch sprint.

Cote de Bruixieres (4th Category)

1. David Zabriskie 1pt

Intermediate Sprint Results

1. Karsten Kroon 20pts
2. Dave Zabriskie 17pts
3. Romain Zingle 15pts
4. Davide Malacarne 13pts 
5. Matt Goss 11pts
6. Mark Cavendish 10pts
7. Peter Sagan 9pts
8. Kris Boeckmans 8pts
9. Edvald Boasson Hagen 7pts
10. Yauheni Hutarovich 6pts
11. Stuart O’Grady 5pts
12. Daryl Impey 4pts
13. Yaroslav Popovych 3pts
14. Michael Albasini 2pts
15. Lars Bak 1pt 

Stage Result 

1. Peter Sagan 4hrs 37mins 0s
2. Andre Greipel +0s
3. Matt Goss +0s
4. Kenny Van Hummel +0s
5. Juan Jose Haedo +0s

Mountains Classifcation

1. Michael Morkov 9pts
2. Ivan Basso 2pts
3. Peter Sagan 2pts
4. David Moncoutie 2pts
5. Anthony Delaplace 2pts

Points Classification 

1. Peter Sagan 209pts
2. Matt Goss 178 pts
3. Andre Greipel 167pts
4. Mark Cavendish 129pts
5. Alessandro Petacchi 109 pts

Overall Classification 

1. Fabian Cancellara 29hrs 22mins 36s
2. Bradley Wiggins +7s
3. Sylvain Chavanel +7s
4. Tejay Van Garderen +10s 
5. Denis Menchov +13s 
6. Cadel Evans +17s 
7. Vincenzo Nibali +18s
8. Peter Sagan +19s
9. Andreas Kloden +19s
10. Maxime Monfort +22s

 

Tour De France 2012 Stage 5 Review

Stage 5

Stage 5 was the first transition stage of the Tour and the first without a classified climb. The escape group struggled to get away at first but after 5km they got away: a group including Jan Ghyselinck, Julien Simon, Pablo Urtasun and Mathieu Ladagnous. The breakaway quickly established a lead of around 5 minutes (with Kittel becoming the fourth abandonment of the Tour with Rojas, Siutsou and Tjallingii). Lotto-Belisol set the pace and keep the peloton at a decent distance from the break. The intermediate sprint came but was not contended by the breakaway: with the sprinters after the points behind: Cavendish taking 5th. The breakaway did not seem to pose a big threat to the peloton with the break slowly brining it back at their own pace. With 7km left, the gap was only 40seconds. However, panic in the peloton as with under 3km left, a huge crash occurred in the peloton. Ghyselinck stayed on the front until the final 600m with a depleted sprint ready to take place ( Sagan not in the group). Griepel hit the front with Henderson leading him out to his second stage win in two days: Cavendish getting held up in the sprint resulted in him getting 5th in the stage.

Intermediate Sprint Results

1.  Mathieu Ladagnous 20pts
2. Pablo Urtasun 17pts
3. Julien Simon 15pts
4. Jan Ghyselinck 13pts
5. Mark Cavendish 11pts
6. Matt Goss 10pts
7. Mark Renshaw 9pts
8. Peter Sagan 8pts
9. Edvald Boasson Hagen 7pts
10. Kenny Van Hummel 6pts
11. Yauheni Hutarovich 5pts
12. Alessandro Petacchi 4pts
13. Patrick Gretsch 3pts
14. Daryl Impey 2pts
15. Brett Lancaster 1pt

Stage Result 

1. Andre Greipel 4hrs 41mins 28s
2. Matt Goss +0s
3. Juan Jose Haedo +0s
4. Mark Cavendish +0s
5. Samuel Dumoulin +0s

Climbing Classification

1. Michael Morkov 9pts
2. David Moncoutie 2pts
3. Ivan Basso 2pts
4. Anthony Delaplace 2pts
5. Peter Sagan 2pts

Points Classification 

1. Peter Sagan 155pts
2. Matt Goss 137pts
3. Andre Greipel 132pts 
4. Mark Cavendish 119pts
5. Alessandro Petacchi 91pts

General Classification 

1. Fabian Cancellara 5hrs 5mins 32secs
2. Bradley Wiggins +7secs
3. Sylvain Chavanel +7secs
4. Tejay Van Garderen +10secs
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen +11secs 
6. Denis Menchov +13secs
7. Cadel Evans +17secs
8. Vincenzo Nibali +18secs
9. Ryder Hesjedal +18secs 
10. Andreas Kloden 19secs 

Tour De France 2012 Stage 4 Review

Stage 4

Stage 4 was almost certainly going to be a sprinters stage with the run in to the finish being almost pan-flat on a day with relatively few categorised climbs as well. The morning breakaway consisted of Yukiya Arashiro, David Moncoutie and Anthony Delaplace- with Arashiro being the most eager: attacking as soon as the flag waved. The breakaway flew away from the cruising peloton gaining a time gap of over 8 minutes within the first 45 minutes of the stage. The first categorised climb of the day involved David Moncoutie bursting away to take the lone point and to start his pursuit in the polka-dot jersey competition. This quells rumours that he is only here to warm up for the Vuelta and the mountains competiton there.

Moncoutie easily took the second and third climbs of the day as well- on the Cote de Dieppe and the Cote de Pourville Sur Mer. This was how it looked before a correction by the organisers who say that Delaplace took it on the line- meaning he only took 2 points on the day. The intermediate sprint approached quickly with the 3 breakaway riders just cruising across the line: Arashiro coming first. The sprint for 4th behind went reasonably comfortably to Mark Cavendish beating Goss and Renshaw: his former lead-out train. With around 45km to go, there was a crash with Cantwell going down and Nibali  being held up. However, it did all come back together. Arashiro tried to attack his breakaway group but didn’t gain anything more than a few hundred meters. The breakaway were gradually brought back and then were quickly swallowed up with 10km to go. However, this must have been too early with riders jumping off the front of the peloton: Grivko, Gilbert, Pineau and Bouet. Again, they were brought back within a few kilometres which promoted another attack: this time from Poels, Chavanel and Dumoulin with Dumoulin going it alone and staying by himself.  In the peloton, a massive crash occurred with Cavendish and Hutarovich being the main sprinters going down: Wiggins getting held up (but no time gap as he fell within the final 3km). Argos-Shimano, Lotto and Vaconseleil see that Cavendish is down and begin their leadout at full speed: Lotto’s longer train staying out for longer with it eventually being the main train. Veelers, Goss and Sagan fought for Greipel’s wheel but he opened his trademark sprint beating the late charge from Petacchi.

Cote du Mont Huon (4th Category)

1. David Moncoutie 1pt

Cote de Dieppe (4th Category)

1. Anthony Delaplace 1pt

Cote de Pourville Sur Mer (4th category)

1. David Moncoutie 1pt 

Cote de Troussiant (4th category)

1. Anthony Delaplace 1pt

Intermediate Sprint Results 

1. Yukiya Arashiro 20pts
2. Anthony Delaplace 17pts
3. David Moncoutie 15pts
4. Mark Cavendish 13pts
5. Matt Goss 11pts
6. Mark Renshaw 10pts
7. Peter Sagan 9pts 
8. Alessandro Petacchi 8pts
9. Kenny Van Hummel 7pts
10. Yauheni Hutarovich 6pts
11. Marcus Burghardt 5pts
12. Aliaksander Kuchynski 4pts
13. Brett Lancaster 3pts
14. Daryl Impey 2pts
15. Mathieu Ladagnous 1pt

Stage Result 

1. Andre Greipel 5hrs 18min 32s
2. Alessandro Petacchi +0s
3. Tom Veelers +0s 
4. Matt Goss +0s 
5. Peter Sagan +0s

Climbing Classification

1. Michael Morkov 9pts
2. David Moncoutie 2pts
3. Ivan Basso 2pts
4. Anthony Delaplace 2pts
5. Peter Sagan 2pts

Points Classification 

1. Peter Sagan 147pts
2. Matt Goss 92pts
3. Andre Greipel 87pts
4. Mark Cavendish 86pts
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen 81pts

General Classification 

1. Fabian Cancellara 5hrs 5mins 32secs
2. Bradley Wiggins +7secs
3. Sylvain Chavanel +7secs
4. Tejay Van Garderen +10secs
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen +11secs 
6. Denis Menchov +13secs
7. Cadel Evans +17secs
8. Vincenzo Nibali +18secs
9. Ryder Hesjedal +18secs 
10. Andreas Kloden 19secs 

Tour De France 2012 Stage 6 Preview

Stage 6

Stage 6

The final flat, sprinters stage for around a week, so the competition for stage honours in Metz will be as heated as ever. This stage is again nearly pan flat, with the Cote de Buixeres the only major difficulty on the stage.

Expect to see Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel pushing hard for a victory due to the stage being very close to the German border. However, still expect to see Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan and perhaps Tyler Farrar take the fight to them for the win.

My opinion on stage winner: Andre Greipel

Surprise of the stage: No crashes!

 

Tour de France Stage 2 Review

Stage 2

Stage 2 looked very different to the first road stage- with this day favouring the sprinters due to the near pan flat run in. This being said, their was one categorised climb near the start of the day: the Cote de la Citadelle de Namur. This beautiful cobbled climb was the only difficulty of the day and Michael Morkov in the polka-dot jersey- who broke away yesterday, was again in the break beating Christophe Kern and Anthony Roux to the top (admittedly they showed little resistance).

The intermediate sprint soon followed with the breakaway picking up the first three places with there being a battle for the 4th position behind. This was taken by Goss who out sprinted Renshaw, Sagan, Cavendish and Greipel to take the points.

With only around 30km to go, Roux attacked the breakaway group as Kern and Morkov were quickly brought back. The peloton continued to increase the pace and brought Roux back with only 14km to the end: with Lotto-Belisol as the prominent team. This continued until the final km burst where Argos Shimano (without Kittel who had been dropped due to stomach problems) set the pace with help from BMC (keeping Evans out of harm). Griepel hit the front with around 250m to go and burst for the line; with Cavendish on his wheel and Goss and Sagan behind him. Cavendish nicked out of the wheel with 175m to go and held Greipel off by half a wheel.

Cote de La Citadelle de Namur 

1. Michael Morkov 1pt

Intermediate Sprint 

1. Christophe Kern 20pts
2. Anthony Roux  17pts
3. Michael Morkov 14pts 
4. Matthew Goss 13pts
5. Mark Renshaw 11pts
6. Mark Cavendish 10pts 
7. Peter Sagan 9pts
8. Kenny Van Hummel 8pts
9. Daryl Impey 7pts
10. Brett Lancaster 6pts
11. Kris Boeckmans 5pts
12. Baden Cooke 4pts
13. Danilo Hondo 3pts
14. Alessandro Petacchi 2pts 
15. Nicki Sorensen 1pt

Stage Results

1. Mark Cavendish 4hrs 56mins 59secs
2. Andre Greipel +0s
3. Matt Goss +0s
4. Tom Veelers +0s
5. Alessandro Petacchi +0s
6. Peter Sagan +0s
7. Yauheni Hutarovich +0s
8. Juan Jose Haedo +0s
9. Mark Renshaw +0s
10. Tyler Farrar +0s

Mountains Classification

1. Michael Morkov 4pts
2. Pablo Urtasun 1pt
3. Peter Sagan 1pt

Points Classification 

1. Peter Sagan 78pts
2. Mark Cavendish 63pts
3. Fabian Cancellara 55pts
4. Matt Goss 52pts 
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen 42pts
6. Andre Greipel 42pts
7. Phillipe Gilbert 33pts
8. Mark Renshaw 31pts
9. Tom Veelers 26pts
10. Michael Morkov 25pts

General Classification

1. Fabian Cancellara 5hrs 5mins 32secs
2. Bradley Wiggins +7secs
3. Sylvain Chavanel +7secs
4. Tejay Van Garderen +10secs
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen +11secs 
6. Denis Menchov +13secs
7. Phillipe Gilbert + 13secs
8. Cadel Evans +17secs
9. Vincenzo Nibali +18secs
10. Ryder Hesjedal +18secs 

Tour De France 2012 Preview: Green Jersey

Green Jersey

The green jersey is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points in all the stages. This can be from intermediate sprints to stage finishes with the hillier stages rewarding less points than pan flat stages. There is a bucket load of contenders to consider

Mark Cavendish

Cavendish is the fastest sprinter in the world and id the undisputed favourite for this jersey in many people’s eyes. However, he has publicly come out saying he will work for Wiggins and not target the green jersey- partly due to the Olympics 5 days afterwards. I do still think he will be a threat but we will have to see if he contends in the intermediate sprints before we consider him favourite.

Matt Goss

Goss is a former team-mate of Cavendish who is one of the few sprinters who can stay with Cavendish at full speed. Goss will be hoping to take his shot at the green jersey if Cavendish will not be- in his first year out of the Cavendish lead-out. If he can consistently finish in the top 5 in overall sprints as well as taking as many points in intermediate stages, he could be a threat. Furthermore. he is better in the hills than Cavendish and other contenders like Greipel so he will make it to more finishes than them. If he can take points there, he will have a significant advantage.

Andre Greipel

Greipel will be seen as the favourite for the Green jersey if Cavendish really does not contend for it as he is a rider who can match and sometimes beat Cavendish for pure speed and power in the sprint. He has okay form from the early season and will need to replicate his successes. One main advantage he has is a very strong leadout train that involves strong men as well as some very good sprinters. He has a big chance.

Marcel Kittel

Riding his first Tour this year, he could be a big threat for the green Jersey this year and for years to follow- an amazingly strong sprinter for his age. He won his first Grand Tour stage at last years Vuelta a Espana- beating some top sprinters. He will threaten but will need to track Cavendish and Greipel as he does not have a leadout train to the strength of Greipel. He will challenge for stage wins but I don’t see him as a threat to the green jersey by the end.

Peter Sagan

My favourite for the green jersey- the best rider in the world at this moment in time. The 22 year old is an amazing sprinter who can make it to any finish he wants to- be it flat or mountainous. On pan flat stages, he is not quite as fast as he is  up an incline but will still be posting top 5 or better finishes. His consistency and pure ability make him my favourite.

The next few sprinters have a chance of stage victories but, in my opinion, don’t have either the outright speed or consistency to really win it.

Jose Joaquin Rojas

Rojas was Cavendish’s main rival last year- taking the green jersey contest right to Paris despite never winning a stage. His consistency could put him in the race early on but will struggle to keep up with the pure speed of Greipel, Goss et al.Again, he can climb relatively well so will have more oppourunities than other sprinters. An outside bet for a stage win and maybe a top 5 in the Green Jersey Classification.

Tyler Farrar

This time last year, Farrar was seen as Cavendish’s main rival for green. A year on, it looks like he will struggle to get a stage win. He just hasn’t evolved as a sprinter like Cavendish, Greipel and Goss. He will try and challenge and I expect a few top 5’s and top 10’s throughout. I’m not saying he won’t take a stage win, I’m just saying if he does, many of the main protagonists must have fallen out by withdrawal or crash.

Alessandro Petacchi

Petacchi is an amazing sprinter- especially at the age of 38. He will definetly challenge for top 10’s and might even take a win. I don’t see him taking green due to his lack of consistency and pure speed. However, if he took a stage win, I would not be surprised nor disappointed.

The other sprinters in the race contending for stage wins (or consistent high finishes) are:

Juan Jose Haedo 

Mark Renshaw 

Borut Bozic 

Tony Gallopin 

Kenny Van Hummel 

Yauheni Hutarovich 

Jonathan Cantwell 

Edvald Boasson Hagen 

All of these riders will be fighting for minor honours and I don’t see any of them really challenging Cavendish and the big dogs up front.

I see the green jersey as a massive fight between Cavendish and Sagan with Greipel and Goss contending. However, I believe Sagan will win it in the end due to his ability and form.

 

 

 

Tour De France 2012 Team Rosters: Lotto-Belisol

Lotto-Belisol

Lotto-Belisol formed after a split between Omega Pharma and Lotto. Many of the riders went to the new Omega Pharma Quickstep, with Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Bart DeClercq and Jelle Vanendert being the few names staying. This team will be focused around stage wins for Greipel but a top 3 GC for Van Den Broeck

Jurgen Van Den Broeck

Van Den Broeck is a rider who consistently promises to feature right at the top of the GC but never quite gets there. He has finished 4th in the 2010 Tour De France and 8th in the 2011 Vuelta but is yet to get the podium many expected of him. This being said, he has had a very good season thus far, finishing 5th in the Dauphine, 12th in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, 3rd in the Volta a Catalunya and 3rd in Volta ao Algrave. He will be hoping for a top 5 position in the GC with an eye on the podium and perhaps the polka dot jersey if things don’t go to plan.

Lars Bak

Bak is the definition of an attacking rider and is evidence to the opinion that if you attack enough, your rewards will come eventually. he showed this in the Giro where he attacked on each stage in his home country of Denmark and attacked twice more before winning stage 12- and then attacking again on stage 16. He is an incredibly strong rider who will attack with 20-25km to go in the early days and may even be utilised to bring breakaways back due to his impeccable ability on the flat. One of the strongest riders of all-time.

Francis De Greef

De Greef will likely be Van Den Broeck’ main assistant in the mountains- showing he can climb well with two top 30 performances in the Giro and Vuelta last season. This year he has backed it up again with a steady 19th in the giro D’Italia- never challenging for a stage win and a long way behind 18th. He will be aiming for a top 30 position whilst helping Van Den Broeck to a potential podium. Don’t expect attacks- just steady riding.

Andre Greipel

Greipel is without a doubt one of the worlds finest sprinters and will be relishing a chance at the green jersey after Cavendish’s recent comments saying he is after stage wins and not that jersey. He can consistently challenge Cavendish and I will expect him to take at least a stage win this Tour. His season, as always, started strongly winning 3 stages of the Tour Down Under and 2 stages of the Tour of Oman. Expect him to be in the top 5 of the Points classification but maybe not win it.

Adam Hansen

Hansen is another strong rider who can attack- similar to Bak. He can also hold his own on the climbs (finishing 4th in the Australian Championships). He will be utilised as a domestique and be used at the front of the sprint train (behind Bak?). Furthermore, he finished the Giro so he has some good climbing in his legs. Expect a strong domestique performance.

Gregory Henderson

A very strong sprinter as long as it is flat. If there are even a few hills expect to see Gregory fall off the back and be of little assistance to his team. However, on the flat stages, he will be a key lead out to Greipel as he is very strong in the sprints- seen in his Vuelta stage win in 2009.

Jurgen Roelandts

Roelandts is a young sprinter with heaps of potential- shown by placing 5th in the world Championships last year and by giving Greipel consistently strong lead-outs in last years Tour. He will be doing the same this year but a real star for the furture when he moves out of Greipel’s shadow.

Marcel Sieberg

Sieberg has had a quiet season thus far but is in this team as a pure member of the Lotto lead out train. He has a decent sprint on him but will be key with 10km to go when he will probably take the front. Sieberg will be crucial to Lotto’s success with little victory chance himself.

Jelle Vanendert

Vanendert came to the fore in the 2011 Ardennes Classics- finishing respectably in the top 20. Then in the Tour De France, he took a stage win and challenged for the mountains jersey- eventually finishing 19th overall. This year, he came second in the Amstel Gold Race, 4th in Le Fleche Wallone and 10th in Liege-Bastonge-Liege. He has not really shown this form in the Dauphine but will be hoping to help Van Den Broeck in the GC and also maybe even contend for the Polka Dot Jersey.

Lotto-Belisol have a very balanced team that could surprise many- challenging for stage wins and 3 of the 4 jerseys.