Tour de France 2011

Leipheimer exits Tour, shares surgery via Twitter

A lot has been said about the use of social media in this year's Tour de France, but today we really saw it in action. I happened to wake up at about 4:30 a.m., and checked in on my Twitter stream on the iPhone.

I saw several tweets about Levi Leipheimer's wrist fracture, including one about 15 minutes old from Lance Armstrong, with a picture of Leipheimer in his cast.

Then, during the stage today, Leipheimer was actually Twittering from the operating room, including photos of the man himself on the operating room table, of the preparation of his wrist, and of the final X-ray, showing his 22mm titanium screw in place.

Here's a screen shot of the whole exchange.

All of this was straight from the riders involved, and within minutes of it actually happening. It's a brave new world, kids.

Also:

CNET News | Twitter takes the Tour de France on new course

Stage 12 on the road

It's a transitional stage down toward Narbonne. There's a single 4th-Category climb, the Col du Camperie, then 2 sprint lines. Jersey leaders:
Cadel Evans, Silence-Lotto
Oscar Freire, Rabobank
Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas
Sebastian Lang, Gerolsteiner (not being worn)

The polka-dot jersey (formerly Riccardo Ricco's) is not being worn today; the runner-up was Ricco's teammate David de la Fuente. I'm not sure about the white jersey, which Ricco also held -- I'll keep an eye out for it.

Versus broadcaster picks:
• Hummer: Mark Cavendish
• Sherwen: Thor Hushovd
• Liggett: Oscar Freire
• Roll: Robbie McEwen

Baden Cooke is the latest Barloworld rider to abandon. He crashed about 10 miles into the stage, rode on briefly, but then left the race. There are 156 riders on the course, with the exit of Saunier Duval and Cooke.

Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis and Arnaud Gerard attacked at around 36 kilometers ridden, and have mostly been given their head, out to more than 4:00. A stiff tailwind has the average speed for the day up over 50 kms/hr.

1st Climb, the 4th Category Col du Camperie
1. Samuel Dumoulin, Cofidis, 3 pts
2. Arnaud Gerard, Française des Jeux, 2 pts
3. Sebastian Lang, Gerolsteiner, 1 pt

The gap has been coming down since the climb.

Sprint 1:
1. Arnaud Gerard, Française des Jeux, 6 pts
2. Samuel Dumoulin, Cofidis, 4 pts
3. Oscar Freire, Rabobank, 2 pts @ 1:40

Freire came out of the field and sprinted for the 2 points available at the sprint line. The leaders have 1:13 with 54 miles to ride.