Tour de France 2011

Taking the DeLorean back to 1998

Peleton 3,
originally uploaded by conibonjovi.

Somebody posted photos from the Tour's 1998 visit to Ireland today. That was, of course, the Tour made infamous by the Festina affair, and eventually won by Marco Pantani.

I see a few recognizable faces here, and in shots of the body of the peloton here and here. It would be very cool if you could tag the photo with notes of riders you recognize.

Also, does anyone know which stage this is? I think that's Chris Boardman in yellow, which means it's Stage 1 or the beginning of Stage 2, when he crashed out. The pictures are marked as “March 2004”, which is obviously wrong.

Some help: the 1998 review from letour.fr, including team rosters.

I promise no more games like this once there's some actual racing...

Hushovd adds Paris to Strasbourg; Landis triumphs

A late escape attempt by Discovery Channel may have overcooked Robbie McEwen, as Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd easily outsprinted Davitamon-Lotto's sprint king to take the final stage of the 2006 Tour de France. CSC's Stuart O'Grady, recovering from a fractured spine suffered early in the race, took 3rd on the day.

Hushovd completed an unusual set of bookends, winning the Prologue time trial 3 weeks ago yesterday and now taking the final stage into Paris.

Floyd Landis stayed near the front early and stayed out of the dicey sprint at the end to nail down his first-ever Tour de France victory, finishing 69th on the day, 8 seconds behind Hushovd. It's the 8th straight US win of the race, after Lance Armstrong's 7 consecutive wins.

McEwen can take some solace from his 3rd green jersey win, resulting from his 3 stage wins.

Michael Rasmussen's tremendous breakaway win to La Toussuire, overshadowed by Landis's attack the following day, shot him to the lead, and the overall win, in the climber's polka-dot jersey competition.

Damiano Cunego, already a winner of the Giro d'Italia, takes the best young rider's white jersey, just 38 seconds ahead of Marcus Fothen of Gerolsteiner. The pair were about 90 minutes ahead of the next competitor in the under-25 competition.

Saunier Duval's David de la Fuente, the climbing jersey leader until Rasmussen's big day out front, takes the overall “most combative rider” prize.

Landis took his final yellow jersey of the Tour with his daughter Ryan on the podium.

Post-race interview with Frankie Andreu: Landis says, “Right now, I have no intention of switching teams.” Leaves a little wiggle room, but sounds like the iShares team (as Phonak will be called next year) has its Tour captain for 2007.

Top 10:
1) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole, Norway, in 3:56:52
2) Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto, Australia, same time
3) Stuart O'Grady, CSC, Australia, s.t.
4) Erik Zabel, Milram, Germany, s.t.
5) Luca Paolini, Liquigas, Italy, s.t.
6) Samuel Dumoulin, AG2R, France, s.t.
7) Bernhard Eisel, Française des Jeux, Austria, s.t.
8) Anthony Geslin, Bouyges Telecom, France, s.t.
9) Alessandro Ballan, Lampre, Italy, s.t.
10) Peter Wrolich, Gerolsteiner, Austria, s.t.
Stage results

Overall:
1) Floyd Landis, Phonak, USA, in 89:39:30
2) Oscar Pereiro, Caisse d'Epargne, Spain, at :57
3) Andreas Klöden, T-Mobile, Germany, at 1:29
4) Carlos Sastre, CSC, Spain, at 3:13
5) Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto, Australia, at 5:08
6) Denis Menchov, Rabobank, Russia, at 7:06
7) Cyril Dessel, AG2R, France, at 8:41
8) Christophe Moreau, AG2R, France, at 9:37
9) Haimar Zubeldia, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain, at 12:05
10) Michael Rogers, T-Mobile, Australia, at 15:07
Final overall standings

O'Grady doubtful for Stage 4

VeloNews | O'Grady doubtful after crash

Team CSC has suffered another blow, as Australian sprint specialist Stuart O'Grady may exit the Tour tomorrow. O'Grady finished the day's stage more than 11 minutes down, then was taken to a hospital where doctors diagnosed a fractured vertebra. CSC, already down a rider with the withdrawal of team leader Ivan Basso, will wait until Wednesday morning to decide whether O'Grady can ride Stage 4.

CyclingNews.com reports that American Chris Horner believed he had broken his hand during today's stage, but X-rays were negative, and Horner should start tomorrow.

CyclingNews also notes that Horner's teammate Fred Rodriguez suffered a concussion, and that Erik Dekker of Rabobank suffered both a concussion and “serious facial injuries: abrasions, facial trauma, a contusion, a ripped upper lip, as well as a couple of broken teeth. He was kept unconscious on Tuesday night so that his face could be cleaned.”

Valverde, Rodriguez, Dekker out of Tour

Fast Freddie,
originally uploaded by Frank Steele.

Fast Freddie Rodriguez of Davitamon-Lotto, a 3-time U.S. champion, and Erik Dekker, a 4-time Tour stage winner (including 3 in the 2000 Tour alone), have abandoned the race after an accident on today's 3rd stage.

In a later accident, race favorite Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne broke his right collarbone, and was taken away in an ambulance.

Stage 3 on the road

Jerome Pineau of Bouygues Telecom, former yellow jersey Jens Voigt of CSC, Unai Etxebarria of Euskaltel-Euskadi, Christophe Laurent of Agritubel, and José Luis Arrieta of AG2R are about 4:30 off the front. Voigt is one of the riders being tracked on the Ubilabs Google Maps mashup. Pineau has taken max climber's points over the first climb, while Voigt went hard to take the 6 seconds (and 6 points) at the first two sprint lines.

At the day's second climb, a 3rd Category, Pineau again took max points, ahead of Etxebarria, Laurent, and Voigt.

Fast Freddie Rodriguez was involved in a crash, apparently with Rabobank's Erik Dekker. Doctors were looking at Rodriguez' right collarbone, and Dekker had facial injuries. Both have been taken away by ambulance, and are both out of this year's Tour. Rodriguez was Robbie McEwen's leadout man, although McEwen seems just as likely to use another sprinter for that. Dekker was probably in his final Tour at 35.

The day's last intermediate sprint went to Arrieta ahead of Voigt and Laurent. That means Boonen's only chance to move up to the yellow jersey is to make 5 seconds on a finish line bonus. First takes 20 seconds, second takes 12, and third is 8 seconds. Backstedt and Pozzatto have both been at the back of the pack today. I was hoping Backstedt was taking it easy yesterday in preparation for an effort today, but it may be he's not in good Tour shape.

Gap is down to less than 2 minutes, but Jerome Pineau led the break over the day's 4th climb, so he's currently leading the King of the Mountains competition, with a 3rd Category and 4th Category climb to go.

With less than 20 kilometers to go, it's down to 1:20, and the breakaway is splitting. Laurent was first to attack; Arrieta bridged, and Voigt finally came across. Etxebarria and Pineau have fallen off the back.

There's a big crash in the peloton. Alejandro Valverde has hit the pavement! He's sitting on the roadside in obvious pain. Again, they're looking at his right collarbone. He was the oddsmakers favorite to take the Tour, and a smart pick for today's stage as well. They've brought a stretcher and Valverde, one of the sport's rising superstars, is out of the Tour in Stage 3.

Meanwhile, Arrieta has attacked out of the leading group of 3. He leads over the day's 5th climb, 10 seconds up on Agritubel's Christophe Laurent and 15 seconds on Voigt. Etxebarria and Pineau are in no-man's land with the peloton at 1:15 behind Arrieta.

The Tour website reports that Stuart O'Grady has been involved in yet another accident, but the OLN broadcasters haven't mentioned it.

Laurent is caught, Voigt is caught, and only Arrieta is still up the road. Boonen is just off the front of the pack, Michael Boogerd is right there, and the gap is down to 49 seconds with 5 kilometers to ride. O'Grady is off the back, so it looks like he was caught in an accident, but he's back on the bike.

Arrieta is rocking as the peloton closes him down. Arrieta has 14 seconds in hand. He's onto the Cauberg, and a Credit Agricole rider has tried to bridge. Oscar Friere, Michael Boogerd, Philippe Gilbert, and Tom Boonen (all Benelux riders or on Benelux teams) are killing themselves up the Cauberg as they capture Arrieta. Sandy Casar has punctured on the Cauberg. The Française des Jeux leader will lose a minute or more on the day.

T-Mobile's Matthias Kessler attacks out of the local boys! He takes the points over the top of the Cauberg, ahead of Sebastian Joly and Michael Boogerd. After getting caught with 50 meters yesterday, he's attacked with 2 kilometers to ride today. At the 1 kilometer mark he's got a few seconds in hand, and the Cauberg has broken up the leadout trains. This one may work.

Kessler is going hard all the way to the line, and he's got the win for T-Mobile. The select group that survived over the Cauberg is coming just behind, and there's another T-Mobile rider who takes the sprint. It's Australia's world TT champion, Michael Rogers, just ahead of Daniele Bennati of Lampre.

Rabobank finalizes Tour team

CyclingPost.com | Rabobank reveals Tour de France line-up

It will be a double-Dekker squad at the Tour for Rabobank, which will introduce budding superstar Thomas Dekker to the Tour, riding alongside 12-time Tour rider Erik Dekker.

Denis Menchov is showing excellent form, taking the stage to the top of Mont Ventoux during this month's Dauphiné Libéré. He'll have help in the mountains from last year's King of the Mountains, Michael Rasmussen.

There are stage wins all over this team: Erik Dekker has 4, Freire, Boogerd, Rasmussen, Juan Antonio Flecha, Pieter Weening (nipped Klöden on Stage 8 last year); and that doesn't even mention Menchov's Vuelta championship (when Roberto Heras was DQ'ed) or his white jersey at the 2003 Tour.

Rabobank 2006 Tour de France squad:
• Denis Menchov
• Michael Boogerd
• Erik Dekker
• Michael Rasmussen
• Thomas Dekker
• Oscar Freire
• Juan Antonio Flecha
• Pieter Weening
• Joost Posthuma

Reserves:
• Bram de Groot
• Pedro Horrillo

Landis dominates Stage 3 to take Paris-Nice lead

VeloNews | Landis seizes lead at Paris-Nice

Graham Watson

Floyd Landis is in monster shape early this year. He won the inaugural Amgen Tour of California convincingly, and today, he put major time into every overall rival for the overall win at Paris-Nice.

On the day's last climb, Johan Vansummeren and Alberto Martinez were the first to strike. David Moncoutie struggled to bridge, followed by Samuel Sanchez, Frank Schleck, Toni Colom, Landis, and eventual stage-winner Paxti Vila of Lampre. Nearing the summit, Landis turned up the heat, and slowly dropped his break-mates.

On the 18-kilometer descent to St. Etienne, Landis rode like he stole something, with Vila mostly wheelsucking, stretching the pair's lead out to over a minute. At the line, Vila came around for his first pro victory, but Landis was the day's big winner.

AP Photo/Patrick Gardin

Some interesting names are lurking 90 or so seconds back, including Haimar Zubeldia, Jose Azevedo and Chris Horner, no mean climbers themselves, as well as Axel Merckx and Erik Dekker.

On the day, Landis lost teammates Robbie Hunter, who left the race with a sinus infection, and Aurelien Clerc, who was outside the time limit. He's got to try to hold on to the jersey with just 5 teammates.

Bobby Julich lost 8:47 on the day, finishing with Andrey Kaschechkin of Liberty Seguros.

Overall Top 10 after Stage 3:
1) Floyd Landis, Phonak, in 14:46:28
2) Patxi Vila, Lampre, at 0:09
3) Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:13
4) Antonio Colom, Caisse L'Espargne-Illes Balears, at 1:23
5) Frank Schleck, Team CSC, same time
6) Jose Azevedo, Discovery Channel, at 1:35
7) Haimar Zubeldia, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:37
8) Pietro Caucchioli, Credit Agricole, at 1:39
9) Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, same time
10) Jose Luis Rubiera, Discovery Channel, at 1:40

Also:

VeloNews | Complete results
cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice Stage 3: Floyd Landis takes lead at crucial point

Photos:

GrahamWatson.com | Paris-Nice Stage 3 Photo Gallery
cyclingnews.com | Paris-Nice Stage 3 Photo Gallery

Stage 5 wrapup

BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Cycling | McEwen takes fifth stage sprint

McEwen dedicated his stage win to his Davitamon-Lotto team:

"My team's done a mountain of work - it's good to pay them back."

He still says he's out of the green jersey chase:

"I haven't changed my mind... I was 44 points down this morning, now I'm down to 45 because I didn't do the intermediate sprints," he said.

"It would be a miracle to make it back into contention or it would take Tom a lot of very bad luck which, of course, I don't wish on him. Now I'm here for stage wins."

Also:

VeloNews.com | McEwen takes stage 5; Armstrong holds lead

cyclingnews.com | Robbie gets it right

Cyclingnews sources have confirmed that Armstrong had hoped to wear the maillot jaune from start to finish in his final Tour De France, but his plans were foiled by CSC's Zabriskie. Now some observers in the Tour De France press room are saying that the Tour De France is over and that Armstrong and his strongest ever supporting squad will just keep the maillot jaune until Paris. CSC's Bjarne Riis might disagree with that. Despite his teams loss in Stage 4's Team Time Trial, the phlegmatic Riis was as positive and upbeat as he usually gets when Cyclingnews spoke with him before Stage 5. "We (Team CSC) talked a lot about what happened yesterday and now we're feeling OK. Yes, it was disappointing but Ivan (Basso) is well placed."

cyclingnews.com | Stage 5 Photo Gallery

Changing, Flecha's breakaway, and
color-coordinated Dekker from cyclingnews.com

cyclingnews.com Stage 3 photo gallery

www.cyclingnews.com | Stage 3 Photo Gallery

Dekker's breakaway, Ullrich on the road and
the other side of Boonen from cyclingnews.com

Also:

VeloNews.com | Casey Gibson Stage 3 photo gallery

Boonen again! Takes Stage 3 into Tours

Tom Boonen confirmed he's the favorite for the green jersey this year, exploding out of a catfight to take the stage win.

Boonen actually used McEwen as his leadout man, while Credit Agricole was trying to build a train for Hushovd, trailing Jaan Kirsipuu with 100 meters to ride.

McEwen really leaned hard into Stuart O'Grady, and race officials "relegated" McEwen to the back of the field for his frustration-driven maneuvering.

Top 10:
1) Tom Boonen, Quick Step
2) Wrolich, Gerolsteiner
3) Stuart O'Grady, Cofidis
4) Bernhard Eisel, Française des Jeux
5) Allan Davis, Liberty Seguros
6) Robert Forster, Gerolsteiner
7) Magnus Backstedt, Liquigas-Bianchi
8) Anthony Geslin, Bouyges Telecom
9) Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole
10) Angelo Furlan, Domina Vacanze

Credit Agricole needs some new moves: Looked like they were executing exactly to plan, but Hushovd couldn't bring either the funk or the noise.

And I didn't see Baden Cooke: Are FdJeux switching off their sprinters, with Eisel one day, Cooke another, or is it every FDJ sprinter for himself?

Zabriskie will hold the yellow jersey into tomorrow's team time trial showdown, likely to be between Phonak, CSC, and Discovery. CSC will start last, and have intermediate splits for every other team, since the lead the team competition.

Erik Dekker takes over the King of the Mountains jersey, while Boonen holds the green sprinters' jersey and Fabian Cancellara hangs on to the white jersey for riders under 25. Boonen is sneaking up on Cancellara: He's now 3rd, 7 seconds behind Cancellara. Dekker also wins the red race numbers for most aggressive rider for the tremendous heart he showed trying to keep his break away to the finish.

Also:

cyclingnews.com | Full stage results

Stage 3 underway

Typical sprint stage going. Three men are away: Erik Dekker of Rabobank, AG2R's Nicolas Portal, and Saunier Duval-Prodir's Rubens Bertogliati. Bertogliati briefly was the race leader on the road, and has taken 14 bonus seconds on the day, but the peloton is starting to close them down now.

Bertogliati was one of the last 2 riders named to their team's Tour squad.

Bouyges Telecom did a lot of the early chase work to try to preserve Thomas Voeckler's polka-dot jersey, taken over by Erik Dekker, who took 1st over the last two 4th-category climbs today.

There was a minor disruption near the back of the field when the road suddenly narrowed; doesn't look like anyone is hurt.

The leaders are only a little more than a minute up the road from the peloton now, with Davitamon-Lotto, Quick Step, and Credit Agricole driving the field.

Dekker is pouring his heart into staying away, but the field is 45 seconds back. I can't see the trio surviving.

Now Bertogliati has fallen back into the field, but Dekker and Portal continue to fight maybe 25 seconds up the road, with 10 kilometers to ride. The escapees are hoping there will be some hesitation in the peloton, but the gap is now 15 seconds -- the duo is doomed.

With 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to ride, the leaders are in sight. Dekker and Portal have 5 seconds, but they're still driving as hard as they can.

With 2 kms to ride, Dekker and Portal are swallowed up, and Fabian Cancellara takes a flyer! Strange to see a Fassa Bortolo breaking away late in a sprinters' stage. Cancellara is swept up with 1 km to go.

Sprinters to full boil, and Boonen takes another stage win, ahead of McEwen, Hushovd, Cooke, O'Grady: Right at the end, O'Grady and McEwen got into it as O'Grady tried to slingshot off Boonen as McEwen was trying to do likewise. McEwen leaned pretty heavily into O'Grady for a lot longer than was necessary.

Boonen takes stage, lead at Paris-Nice

VeloNews | Boonen takes weather-shortened stage at Paris-Nice

Tom Boonen took another sprint finish, and the 10-second bonus for the win put him in the overall lead.

Riders transferred to Aigueperse, planned to be at 144.5 km, for the start, shortening the stage to just 46.5 km, which they covered in 53:51. Clearly, nobody wanted to stay out in the weather.

Wednesday's third stage, scheduled to include a first-category climb and finish at about 1000 m above sea level, may also be shortened. Update: In a members-only story at ThePaceline.com, Johan Bruyneel said tomorrow's stage is likely to include the two climbs (including the first-category Cote de Lavet) which are in the first 80 kms, then a 40-kilometer loop not on the scheduled course.

Today's top 10:

1. Boonen, QuickStep, 53:51
2. Kurt-Asle Arvesen, CSC, same time
3. Yaroslav Popovych, Discovery, same time
4. Vicente Reynes, Illes Balears, s.t.
5. Olaf Pollack, T-Mobile, s.t.
6. Erik Dekker, Rabobank, s.t.
7. Constantino Zaballa, Saunier Duval, s.t.
8. Jerome Pineau, Illes Balears, s.t.
9. Vladimir Gusev, CSC, s.t.
10. Alejandro Valverde, Illes Balears, s.t.

In the overall, CSC is lurking, with riders lying 3, 4, and 5:

1. Boonen, QuickStep 5:17:55
2. Erik Dekker, Rabobank, at :03
3. Kurt-Asle Arvesen, CSC, at :05
4. Vladimir Gusev, CSC, at :09
5. Jens Voigt, CSC, at :09

Also:

letour.fr | Boonen, again...

Erik Dekker takes lead as Boonen takes Paris-Nice Stage 1

Eurosport | Boonen blazes victory trail

Northern Europe's fastest sprinter, QuickStep's Tom Boonen, won the first stage at Paris-Nice Monday.

Boonen nipped Luciano Pagliarini and Jaan Kirsipuu at the line, after a crash with 4.5 miles (7 kms) left 20 riders out in front of the pack.

Erik "How old am I anyway?" Dekker, who finished with the leaders and got some bonus time, takes over the race lead. Also among the leaders was Spain's Alejandro Valverde, and Guido Trenti, often of the US, who was 8th for the stage.

Discovery's Lance Armstrong reportedly went down in the crash, and needed some repairs. Like most of the field, he lost 40+ seconds to the leaders.

Also active today was Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of Liberty Seguros, who took a flyer at the 45-km mark, and rode with Fabien Sanchez for 120 kms, or almost 80 miles.

Bobby Julich sits 9th overall, 7 seconds back, but will likely ride in support of Jens Voigt.

Also:

Daily Peloton | Paris Nice Stage One Live Coverage

BBC Sport | Boonen impresses in opening stage

Stage standings
1. BOONEN Tom, QuickStep, in 4:19:15
2. PAGLIARINI Luciano, Liquigas, same time
3. KIRSIPUU Jaan, Credit Agricole, same time
4. CASPER Jimmy, Cofidis, same time
5. DE JONGH Steven, Rabobank, same time
6. VALVERDE  Alejandro, iBanesto, same time
7. GILBERT Philippe, FDJeux.com, same time
8. TRENTI Guido, QuickStep, same time
9. ZABALLA Constantino, Saunier-Duval, same time
10. DEKKER Erik, Rabobank, same time

Overall standings
1. Erik Dekker (Rabobank) 4hr 24min 30sec
2. Jens Voigt (CSC) same time
3. Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo) at 02sec
4. Vladimir Gusev (CSC) at :03
5. Tom Boonen (QuickStep) at :04
6. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (CSC) at :07
7. Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux.com) at :07
8. Thomas Voeckler (Fra) at :07
9. Bobby Julich (CSC) at :07
10. Vicente Reynes (iBanesto) at :09
Also: 70. Lance Armstrong (Discovery) at 1:08