Tour De France 2012 Stage 11 Preview

Stage 11

In my my opinion, this stage will decide the Tour. The stage begins with a shirt flat run in to the opening climb of the day- a 25.3km climb of the hors-categorie climb of the Col de Madeleine. This climb averages out at 6.2%. However, if you look at the profile of the climb specifically, you will notice that 3 of these km are either descending or are flat- reducing the average.  After passing over the Madeleine, the significantly smaller peloton will then pass over the 22.4km climb of the Col de la Croix de Fer. This climb averages out at 6.9% and may provide a spring board for attack for a rider such as Thomas Voeckler. The descent to the Col du Mollard is not overly technical and sets them up perfectly for this shorter, 2nd category climb. 16km of descending later and the riders will reach the final climb of the day (and the second of 3 summit finishes) la Toussuire. This 18km climb averages at 6.1% but with many areas exceeding that. The flat section with 7km to the end  may provoke an attack from a GC contender but one thing is for sure- if you are not in the front group today; you will not win the Tour De France.

This stage will be crucial for all GC contenders- especially Bradley Wiggins who will be able to see whether he can stay with the likes of Cadel Evans and Frank Schleck. Again, I can see Schleck ( who is in good form after a strong Tour De Suisse), challenge for stage honours with Wiggins, Menchov, Nibali, Van Den Broeck and Evans fighting it out behind.

My opinion on stage winner: Jurgen Van Den Broeck

Surprise of the stage: Wiggins holding onto Evans

Tour De France 2012 Stage 10 Preview

Stage 10

Stage 10

After the efforts expended on Mondays  time trial being recovered on the previous rest day, the Tour goes back to the Mountains- climbing possibly the hardest mountain in France- the Col du Grand Colombier.  This 17.4km climb averages only at 7.1% but has sections reaching 18%- with the middle 3 km averaging 10%. The average is severely reduced by a plateau near the top (0.6% for 1km) but is still a fearsome climb. Especially considering there is still one more climb- although only a 3rd category.

This stage is difficult to predict because the main climb of the Colombier is 40km away from the finish. However, expect a group of 5-10 of the strongest climbers to get away and fight for stage victory for themselves. If the break is missed by a main contender- expect fireworks.

This stage could suit Vincenzo Nibali and Samuel Sanchez perfectly due to their descending prowess. However, expect Cadel Evans to try and pressurise likely yellow Jersey holder Bradley Wiggins on the Richemond and the kick up to the finish.

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 3 Review

Stage 3

Stage 3 was tipped as a relatively easy stage which will liven up slightly nearer the end of the stage; no real drama. 5km into the stage a breakaway of 5 riders broke away: Michael Morkov for the third consecutive stage, Ruben Perez, Andriy Grivko, Giovanni Bernaudeau and Sebastien Minard. After 11km, the lead had grown by 3 minutes and it was clear the break was going to work. At 79km there was a massive crash, with Janez Brajkovic being the big rider going down ( easily getting back into the peloton). The intermediate sprint came with Minard winning and Cavendish leading the peloton over the line. Then  the climbs began.

Morkov took the climbs of the cote de L’Eperche and the Cote de Mont Violette. There was then a string of punctures with Hesjedal and Hunter being the big names dropped. Then drama struck with a massive crash at the front of the peloton involving Farrar, Siutsou, Vandevelde and Voeckler.  Siutsou was the first withdrawal from the 2012 Tour De France-with a broken leg. After that, Morkov took another point in the mountains classification. More drama than struck with Phillipe Gilbert puncturing and failing to rejoin the peloton but Samuel Sanchez and his team managed to change his bike and get back to the charging peloton.

As the remnants of the break was caught, Morkov fought back up to Grivko who had got away and took the penultimate climb of the day (barring the finish). Grivko finally did get away from Morkov on the extremely steep Cote du Mont Lambert. Basso led the peloton up here with Peter Sagan in mind. As the climb ended, Sylvain Chavanel attacked, easily establishing a lead of 15 seconds. As the final kick got closer, the gap steadied at around this until Chavanel overshot a corner and lost a little time. However, Alejandro Valverde also did this and struggled to keep up with the speeding peloton. Chavanel was finally caught with 450m to go with Albasini setting the pace a the front. A crash happened behind the front 5 or 6 riders with his leadout man riding into another rider. Sagan then jumped off of Albasini’s wheel and burst away with no response (despite efforts from Cancellara and Boasson Hagen). Sagan ‘ran’ across’ the line like the result was never in any doubt.

Cote de L’Eperche (4th category)

1. Michael Morkov 1pt

Mont Violette (3rd category) 

1.  Michael Morkov 2pts
2. Sebastien Minard 1pt

Cote de Herqulingue (4th category)

1.Michael Morkov 1pt

 

Cote de Quehen (4th category)

1. Michael Morkov 1pt

 

Cote du Mont Lambert (3rd category)

1. Ivan Basso 2pts

2. Tony Gallopin 1pt

 

Boulogne-Sur -Mer (4th category)

1. Peter Sagan 

Intermediate sprint results

1. Sebastien Minard 20pts
2. Giovanni Bernaudeau 17pts
3. Michael Morkov 15pts
4. Ruben Perez 13pts
5. Andriy Grivko 11pts
6. Mark Cavendish 10pts 
7. Kenny Van Hummel 9pts
8. Peter Sagan 8pts
9. Brett Lancaster 7pts
10. Yauheni Hutarovich 6pts
11. Mark Renshaw 5pts
12. Alessandro Petacchi 4pts
13. Matt Goss 3pts
14. Kris Boeckmans 2pts
15. Baden Cooke 1pt

Mountains Classification 

1. Michael Morkov 9pts
2. Ivan Basso 2pts
3. Peter Sagan 2pts

Points Classification

1. Peter Sagan 116pts
2.  Fabian Cancellara  74pts
3. Mark Cavendish 73pts 
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen 67pts
5. Matt Goss 55pts 

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 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: Prologue Review

Prologue

The prologue will not tell us who will win the Tour De France nor will it show us who will lose it. However, it does show us who has form and the power in the time trials for the later stages. It also gives a rider a chance to take the yellow jersey for a day or two- an oppourtunity some would not normally have.

The prologue began with the Ukrainian National Time Trial Champion Andriy Grivko setting a time of 7 minutes 28 seconds which stood  for the first 70 riders or so before Australian Brett Lancaster took the lead with a time of 7 minutes 24 seconds. Just 10 minutes later, Lancaster was knocked of the top of the leader board by Boasson Hagen- by only half a second. He also only held the jersey for a short amount of time as Sylvain Chavanel, the French time-trial champion set an amazing time of 7 minutes 20 seconds- beating the leader by another 4 seconds.

The day was not completely free of controversy with World time trial champion Tony Martin suffering a mechanical issue- after going joint fastest at the time split. He still finished just 15 seconds down on the time of Chavanel- which shows the speed he has in this discipline. Another well-tipped rider, Peter Sagan, had a small slip going around a roundabout- lucky to stay on. He eventually came through, 17 seconds behind Chavanel.

As the day grew older, the big GC contenders came out to set their times, with Menchov showing some amazing form- finishing just 6 seconds behind long term leader Chavanel. However, the Tour favourite Bradley Wiggins took this lead off Chavanel by less than half a second- showing he is still in amazing form. The favorutie for the stage in may peoples eyes, however, was the penultimate man out: Fabian Cancellara. He destroyed the time of Wiggins- finishing 7 seconds clear of him (his first victory after his injury of the Tour of Flanders). The final man out was last years winner, Cadel Evans who matched Wiggins at the first time check but fell away nearer the end- finshing 13th- 10 seconds behind Wiggins and 17 seconds behind Cancellara.

Results

1. Fabian Cancellara 7minutes 13seconds

2. Bradley Wiggins 7minutes 20seconds

3. Sylvain Chavanel 7minutes 20seconds

4. Tejay Van Garderen 7minutes 23 seconds

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen 7minutes 24 seconds

6. Brett Lancaster 7minutes 24seconds

7. Patrick Gretsch 7minutes 25 seconds

8. Denis Menchov 7minutes 26seconds

9. Phillipe Gilbert 7minutes 26 seconds

10. Andriy Grivko 7minutes 28 seconds

GC Contenders Times

1. Bradley Wiggins 7 minutes 20 seconds 

2. Tejay Van Garderen +3seconds 

3. Denis Menchov +6seconds 

4. Chris Froome +9seconds 

5. Peter Velits +10seconds 

6. Cadel Evans +10seconds 

7. Vincenzo Nibali +11seconds

8. Ryder Hesjedal +11seconds

9. Andreas Kloden +12seconds

10. Bauke Mollema +13seconds

11. Maxime Monfort +14seconds

12. Janez Brajkovic +14seconds

13. Rein Taaramae +14seconds 

14. Jean Christophe Peraud +15seconds 

15. Wouter Poels +16seconds 

16.Dan Martin +16seconds

17. Nicholas Roche +17seconds 

18. Pieter Weening +17seconds

19. Jerome Coppel +17seconds

20. Robert Gesink +18seconds

21. Alexandre Vinokourov +19seconds

22. Frederik Kessiakoff +19seconds

23. Jurgen Van Den Broeck +21 seconds 

24. Levi Leipheimer +21 seconds

25. Ivan Basso +22seconds 

26. Steven Kruijswijk +23 seconds

27. Vladimir Karpets +24 seconds 

28. Tom Danielson +24 seconds 

29. Rob Ruijgh +25 seconds 

30. Thomas Voeckler +26seconds 

31. Chris Horner +27seconds

32. Alejandro Valverde +28 seconds 

33. Michele Scarponi +30 seconds

34. Frank Schleck +31 seconds 

35. Samuel Sanchez +33 seconds

36. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo +37seconds

37. Pierre Rolland +38 seconds 

 * Thibaut Pinot-  +16seconds 

Tour De France 2012 Preview: Yellow Jersey

Yellow Jersey  (* team-mate- only have GC chance if leader struggles)

The yellow jersey is given to the rider who finishes the whole Tour De France in the lowest accumulative time. The rider who wins it has to be a good climber, decent on the flat and a strong time triallist- master of all trades. This year, two big protaganists in Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador miss out on competeing- making the race more wide open. Each of the contenders will be marked out of 15 on climbing, time trialling and team with a mark out of 5 given for form

KEY

35-50= Main Protagonist

20-34= Top 10 contender

19 or lower= No real hope of top placing

Cadel Evans

Climbing Ability 13/15 

Time Trial Ability 12/15

Team 13/15

Form 5/5

Overall 43/50

Bradley Wiggins

Climbing Ability 12/15

Time Trial Ability 14/15

Team 14/15

Form 4/5

Overall 44/50

Vincenzo Nibali

Climbing Ability 13/15

Time Trial Ability 12/15

Team 11/15

Form 3/5

Overall 39/50

Jurgen Van Den Broeck

Climbing Ability 13/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 10/15

Form 4/5

Overall 37/50

Jean-Christophe Peraud

Climbing Ability 9/15

Time Trial Ability 12/15

Team 9/15

Form 1/5

Overall 31/50

Janez Brajkovic

Climbing Ability 8/15

Time Trial Ability 12/15

Team 10/15

Form 4/5

Overall 34/50

Alexandre Vinokourov

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trialling Ability 10/15

Team 10/15

Form 1/5

Overall 31/50

Rein Taaramae

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 8/15

Form 2/5

Overall 31/50

Samuel Sanchez

Climbing Ability 13/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 10/15

Form 2/5

Overall 35/50

Thibaut Pinot

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trial Ability 7/15

Team 8/15

Form 4/5

Overall 29/50

Ryder Hesjedal

Climbing Ability 12/15

Time Trial Ability 12/15

Team 12/15

Form 4/5

Overall 40/50

Tom Danielson

Climbing Ability 9/15

Time Trial Ability 9/15

Team 12/15

Form 4/5

Overall 34/50

Denis Menchov

Climbing Ability 13/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 9/15

Form 3/5

Overall 35/50

Michele Scarponi

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time trial Ability 7/15 

Team 9/15

Form 3/5

Overall 29/50

Alejandro Valverde

Climbing Ability 12/15

Time Trial Ability 9/15

Team 10/15

Form 4/5

Overall 35/50

Juan Jose Cobo Acebo

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 10/15

Form 0/5 

Overall 31/50

Levi Leipheimer

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 13/15

Team 8/15

Form 4/5

Overall 36/50

Peter Velits

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trial Ability 11/15

Team 8/15

Form 3/5

Overall 32/50

Peter Weening

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trial Ability 8/15

Team 2/15

Form 4/5 

Overall 24/50

Robert Gesink

Climbing Ability 12/15

Time Trial Ability 11/15

Team 13/15

Form 4/5

Overall 40/50

Steven Kruijswijk*

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 13/15

Form 4/5

Overall 37/50

Bauke Mollema*

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 13/15

Form 3/5 

Overall 37/50

Frank Schleck

Climbing Ability 14/15

Time Trail Ability 7/15

Team 13/15

Form 3/5

Overall 37/50

Christopher Horner

Climbing Ability 12/15

Time Trial Ability 9/15 

Team 13/15

Form 3/5 

Overall 37/50

Andreas Kloden

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trail Ability 13/15

Team 13/15

Form 2/5

Overall 38/50

Maxime Monfort

Climbing Ability 9/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 13/15

Form 2/5

Overall 34/50

Jerome Coppel

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 10/15

Team 10/15

Form 3/5

Overall 34/50

Christopher Froome*

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 11/15

Team 14/15

Form 4/5

Overall 40/50

Pierre Rolland

Climbing Ability 11/15

Time Trial Ability 9/15

Team 9/15

Form 3/5

Overall 32/50

Wouter Poels

Climbing Ability 10/15

Time Trial Ability 8/15

Team 8/15

Form 4/5 

Overall 30/50

There are many riders in with a shout of a top 10 overall but only a handful who have the ability to take the win. I cannot see past Wiggins in his form but Evans, Gesink and Nibali will give him a big challenge

Tour De France 2012 Team Rosters: Team Sky

 Team Sky

The best team in the world on paper and, up until now, on the road as well. They have power to fight in all stages- mountains, time trials, hills and all-round stages. This team has a rider who can win on each stage.

Bradley Wiggins

The best rider this season; in the form of his life. Wiggins has been near unbeatable this season, winning Paris-Nice, the Tour De Romandie and the Criterium de Dauphine. He came 3rd in the Volta ao Algrave (where his team mate Porte won) and did not finish the Volta a Catalunya as the queen stage was  cut short so he withdrew. Wiggins is the undisputed favourite for the Tour De France- due to his amazing time trialling ability and his amazing ability in the mountains- which has got better as the seasons have passed. Wiggins, and his team, are the ones to beat.

Edvald Boasson Hagen

Boasson Hagen is the definition of an all-round rider-he can do everything. He can sprint to a world class standard, is great on cobbles, an amazing descender, strong on the flat and can even climb relatively well (stronger on shorter climbs). He may be utilised to lead out Cavendish on the early stages but when the hillier stages come, expect to see him near the front of the race- challenging for stage honours- an outside bet for the Green Jersey.

Mark Cavendish

Cavendish is the undisputed best sprinter in the world. However, he has publicly ruled himself out for the Green jersey for sprinters. This was a surprise to many. In the same interview, he said that in preparation for the Olympics, he has improved his climbing ability but lost a bit of his famous speed. He is here primarily for stage wins but we will see on the first road stage if he goes for the points at the intermediate sprint. If he does, the fight for green between Cavendish, Sagan, Greipel and Farrar is on.

Bernhard Eisel

Eisel is Cavendish’s main man. He can help with the lead out and also nurses Cavendish through the mountains. He is an extremely strong rider which helps him on the longer climbs but is best on cobbled roads. He is here to help Cavendish.

Christopher Froome

Froome came to the public eye in the 2011 Vuelta, where he finished a magnificent 2nd behind JJ Cobo Acebo. His climbing ability is undisputed and it was only a matter of time before he showed this. He has had a quiet year but the races he has ridden have gone okay- working for Wiggins in the Tour De Romandie and finishing 4th in the Dauphine. He will be looking for a top20 overall whilst helping Wiggins to victory. An outside podium bet.

Christian Knees

Knees is a very good time triallist who hangs in there on the climbs for his team leader. He will be just one of the men helping Wiggins in the Mountains and will be aiming to get into a breakaway on a later stage of the Tour, to help Wiggins from the front. He is good enough to be team leader of a lesser team but at Sky he is a top domestique.

Richie Porte

After a good first year with Saxobank, the second year went sour, when he was forced to work for Contador in the Grand Tours- a year after coming 7th in the Giro himself. He moved to Team Sky in pursuit of success and may be given the oppourtunity of this at the Vuelta later on in the season. He is in good form ( winning Volta ao Algrave, 4th in the Tour De Romandie and 9th in the Dauphine) and will be there to help Wiggins whenever he needs. A top GC contender when given his chance.

Michael Rogers

Rogers had a poor first year at Sky but he has really come alive this year, placing 4th in the Tour Down Under, 5th in the Tour De Romandie, winning Bayern Rundfarht and coming 2nd in the Criterium du Dauphine. He is in the form of his life and will hope to do well for Wiggins here. I would not be surprised if we saw a top 30 finish this Tour for Rogers (maybe even better).

Kanstansin Siutsou

Siutsou has climbed very well this season and worked well for his team leaders. He came 5th in the Bayern Rundfarht, helping Rogers to win the overall. He will be a big man for Wiggins in the mountains.

Team Sky has an impeccably talented outfit and my tip for the teams classification due to their power in the mountains. Wiggins has a lot of support and stage wins are nearly certain with Cavendish and Boasson Hagen as well.