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 8+9 Review

Stage 8

Stage 8 of the Tour de France was tipped for being a stage for breakaway riders to succeed and get a stage win. This was undoubtedly seen by the big number of attacks early that morning; with many riders who were chasing the King of the mountains jersey knowing they have to attack today. The first break contained 19 riders but none from Astana so they quickly brought everyone back except Jens Voigt who attacked and took the opening points of the day on the 4th category climb. Voigt led the escape over the next climb but was then quickly brought back into the bunch. The breakaway finally got away after 20km and the break included 20 riders: Moinard, Gallopin, Kern, Marzano, Nerz, Peraud, Cherel, Kadri, Moncoutie, Jeandesboz, Hoogerland, Valls Ferri, Caruso, Pinot, Kruiswijk, Mollema, Ten Dam, Kiriyenka, Sorensen, Kisierlovski, De Weert and Weening. Jeremy Roy caught the group and rode straight through them. Back in the peloton, Valverde and Sanchez crashed, with the Olympic champion pulling out fo the race with a suspected broken collarbone.

Kessiakoff attacked the group on the third to last climb of the day catching and riding past Roy. This lead was sustained until the final category one climb of the day when Pinot rode up to and straight past Kessiakoff ( after leaving Gallopin behind). Tony Gallopin stayed in the group  : led by Vanendert and Van Den Broeck who were trying to get Van Den Broeck some time back after the bad luck on Le Planche des Belles Filles. A group of 9 riders:  Wiggins, Froome, Evans, Menchov, Nibali, Zubeldia, Schleck, van den Broeck and Horner could stick with this pace: with Gallopin and Kessiakoff being caught and finishing in the group. Evans and van Den Broeck tried to attack Wiggins on the run-in but could not get away. Up the road, Thibaut Pinot took the stage win: the youngest rider beating the established favourites in the run in.

Stage Results

1. Thibaut Pinot
2. Cadel Evans +26s
3. Tony Gallopin
4. Bradley Wiggins
5. Vincnenzo Nibali
6. Jurgen Van Den Broeck
7. Chris Froome
8. Denis Menchov
9. Haimar Zubeldia
10. Frank Schleck +30

General Classification 

1. Bradley Wiggins 38:17:56
2. Cadel Evans +10
3. Vincenzo Nibali +16
4. Denis Menchov +54
5. Haimar Zubeldia +59
6. Chris Froome +1:32
7. Maxime Monfort +2:08
8. Jurgen Van Den Broeck +2:11
9. Nicholas Roche +2:21
10. Rein Taarame +2:27

I will not be reviewing the TT due to time constraints but will post the results and GC results here. 

Time Trial Results

1. Bradley Wiggins
2. Chris Froome +35
3. Fabian Cancellara +57
4. Tejay Van Garderen +1:06
5. Sylvain Chavanel +1:24
6. Cadel Evans +1:43
7. Peter Velits +1:59
8. Vincenzo Nibali +2:07
9. Denis Menchov +2:08
10. Andreas Kloden +2:09

General Classification

1. Bradley Wiggins 
2. Cadel Evans 1:53
3. Chris Froome 2:07
4. Vincenzo Nibali 2:23
5. Denis Menchov 3:02
6. Haimar Zubeldia 3:19
7. Maxime Monfort 4:23
8. Tejay Van Garderen 5:14
9. Jurgen Van Den Broeck 5:20
10. Nicholas Roche 5:29

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 8 Preview

Stage 8

The Tour De France takes a detour into Switzerland today and throws 3 second category climb and a first category climb into the second half of the stage. By the time the peloton reach the Col De La Croix, it will be a reasonably select group anyway but the first category climb that averages a whopping 9.2%,( with some areas reaching 17%) will leave only the riders in the best shape near the front. However, there may be time for dropped riders to rejoin the peloton on the descent and the flat run into the finish.

It is possible on a stage like today that the overall contenders that are weaker at time trialling will again attack. However, riders such as Albasini, Gerrans and even Peter Sagan (if he wants to) will get over these climbs and challenge for stage victory. Furthermore, the peloton would be unlikely to chase as they have minimal chance of taking the overall.

My prediction for stage winner: Peter Sagan

Surprise of the stage: Cadel Evans failing to pressurise Bradley Wiggins

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 2012 Stage 5 Preview

Stage 5

This stage is almost as flat as you get in modern Tour De France with there being no categorised climbs for the first time all Tour. The sprint point on today’s stage will also be highly contested as the breakaway will likely only be a very small one because of the rolling terrain in the first half of the stage. After then the stage almost flattens out completely providing the sprinters teams with an ideal opportunity to pounce.

This stage suits Mark Cavendish nearly perfectly with climbing being minimal. Normally, he would have very little competition on a stage like this- especially if he is at the front with 200m remaining. However, the rise of Peter Sagan has meant that he has becoming a strong force in stages like these- sprint stages with a steady gradient finish but it may not be steep enough for him.

My opinion on stage winner: Peter Sagan

Surprise of the stage: Cavendish being out-sprinted by Sagan! 

Tour De France 2012 Stage 4 Preview

Stage 4

Stage 4 looks like it is going to be another day for the sprinters: with distance, not the terrain, providing the biggest problem. the 214 km stage is predominately flat. However, 12km from the end, the terrain rises to a steady gradient for around 3km. This could promote attacks from the bunch from ‘lesser riders’ to try and get a stage win or to inject some pace into the peloton.

However, all things being equal, this stage will end up as a sprint finish between the usual protagonists.Mark Cavendish will be hoping to take advantage of this finish but Matthew Goss will be hoping the short sharp climb near the end will have taken something out of the legs of his ex-team mate. Other sprinters such as Greipel, Kittel, Farrar and even Rojas and Feillu could play a part today- hoping to usurp Cavendish as the king of sprints.

My opinion on stage winner: Greipel (Goss as outsider)

Surprise of the stage: Farrar failing to finish in top 5

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