Irish Sports
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
The first day with meaningful climbs and Roche has managed to improve his position into the Top 10 to claim 8th place in the GC. He seems to be riding with great confidence this year - keeping a good position and yet conserving energy for the latter part of the race - reading his diary in the Indo he says he hopes to be able to attack a few stages later into the 2nd and 3rd weeks and hopefully win a stage. Its good to have him flying the Irish flag again after his brief spell with the other Republic (whose name we wont mention).
Amongst the serious riders Contador & Schleck still have a minute on Armstrong as they head for hills. Could be an interesting day tomorrow !
Amongst the serious riders Contador & Schleck still have a minute on Armstrong as they head for hills. Could be an interesting day tomorrow !
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 39
|
By:
Roche is riding well in this tour so far.Last year he was really only a domestique with his team where this year he looks like he is team leader.I threw a few quid on him @ 14/1 with B@t 365 to finish in the Top 10.Really looking forward to the stage tomorrow as i can see alot of fireworks on that last climb.Fancy Basso E/W at about 18/1 to win the stage.
|
|
By:
Will let u in on a little secret - it isn't about the bike!
|
|
By:
And What a day it was ! The tour asked the riders to climb climb climb and with 10km you just have to climb to Morzine-Avoriaz. 10km that may have given us a glimpse as to who feeling strongest this year.
Early on Armstrong got caught up in a crash and was left for dead by the main bunch of contentders - up front 3 domisteques were away by up to 2 minutes but early on in the last climb they were reeled in and then it was a question of which of the big contenders could make a statement. Roache rode well all day to still be a part of this group but with Contador's team mates keeping the pace up he was dropped with 5km left. KREUZIGER made the first real attack but failed to get away - he followed by Sanchez who also failed as Contador took his wheel and tried to keep things tight but then shortly after Andy Schleck attacked and managed to get away. Contador failed to find the legs to counter and Sanchez managed to get around Contador and on to Schlecks wheel. In the last Km Sanchez led it out but Schleck was in the perfect position and easily took the understandably short sprint for the stage. They took 10 seconds out of the tour FAV and now AS has 41 seconds on Contador - Cadel Evans rode well to stay in the Contador group and he now takes the Yellow - but i doubt he has the overall game to stay there. Roache lost 2 min on the leaders today but is still in 16th place overall 3 11 down on the yellow jersey.(Hopefully for the Jigger he recovers some of that in the next stage) Its a rest day tomorrow - followed by a strange stage where most of the action is alpine but without a summit finish. 4 climbs and 5 descents and a flat finish. Enjoy. |
|
By:
Great summary Mayoman. The whole race is a great spectacle & the mountain stages are a savage test. Keep up the updates.
|
|
By:
Day 9 - featuring Madelaine (And after a tussle with her you're guaranteed to do what most men do and fall fast asleep!)
Early breaks on the first few descents and climbs were mainly point scoring excercises by those looking for the green and polka dot jerseys till they got to the Col de la Madelaine and just as we flagged yesterday Evans didnt have the legs to do another big climb and was dropped early - up ahead the group was still away . Schleck and Contador rode together with an AS teammate who took AS to near the summit. AS seems the stronger on the climb of all the riders but as Contador is considered the better time trialer he will have to maintain the advantage he has or even add to it to still be in contention come week 3. Roche couldnt do this pace and settled in a group 3 minutes down - Evans continued to lose ground and at 10 min down was waving goodbye to the yellow jersey. On the descent Contador lead Schleck (considered an inferior descender )who just hung on his wheel . The group ahead failed to press their advantage and Contador and Schleck continued to close and finally made it across to the leaders with 600 meteres left leaving some surprises on the faces of the leaders as Schleck swept past to lead for 50 meters. The group quickly recovered themselves however and Sandy Casar led it out from 200 m and ground the finish out of the others to take the Stage victory. Nearly all the leading GC contenders lost ground on Schleck and Contador today who seem destined to fight out this tour. Evans to his credit and in time honoured fashion of defending the yellow fought to end of the stage and from the height of his despair at 10 min down brought it back by nearly 3 minutes - and it was discovered later with a fractured elbow ! Tip of the Cap. So with a somewhat easier hilly stage on the agenda tomorrow the maillot jaune is now carried by the young Belgian Andy Schleck who leads his main rival by 41 seconds. I mentioned Contador is the better time trialer but I have just noticed there is only 1 time trial this year - 15 Km long through and around Bordeaux on the 2nd last stage - but there is lot of action to go before then - if maybe nowhere with the character of Madelaine ! |
|
By:
The time trial is 52Km long which should give Contador a significant edge over AS. Yesterday was surely one of the deciding stages with 2 men showing they are well ahead of the rest.
|
|
By:
Good Spot MR - It is indeed 52 Km - Thanks for the correction - Was thinking it was a bit short as i was writing - I would love to see Schleck get another bit of time on Contador to make it into really dramatic day and hopefully see Roche in contention for a stage win sometime.
|
|
By:
Stage 10 - Last of the days in the Alps and Bastille day!
After their hard day yesterday the peleton decided it would be nice to slow down a bit and admire a bit of the french countryside so they let a group away the highest rated of which was still 32 minutes down on the GC. Going over the Col de Noyer - the gap was out to 11 min and no sign of a chase. On the run into Gap - the 6 started to go for the Stage win and on a small rise the best climber Sergio Paulihno went for it and opened a gap which Kieryienka closed and these 2 worked the break to go for a stage victory - At the Finish it would be the Portugese Paulihno from team Radioshack who took the victory and the free Advertising plaudits. Best news of all though is that Nicholas Roche got away from the lethargic peleton and fashioned a lone minibreak which he worked out to 1 min 21 sec by the finish which moved him up 3 places on the GC - Its good to see he still has some legs after suffering (by his own admission in his diary in the Indo)on yesterdays torturous climbs. Hopefully he can get into a break on the flatter stages which might earn him back enough time to get a top ten finish. So no change on the GC between the Top 2 who basically had a rest day surrounded by their domestiques enjoying the la bonheur. Incidentally the green jersey which Sean Kelly used to make his own is with Norwegian Thor Hushovd presently but only by 8 points from Italian Alessandro Pettachi. So no French Fireworks on Bastille Day just a little drop of Irish. |
|
By:
Stage 11
This is goes something like what a policeman says when moving people along - nothing to see here folks move along now please - the tour travelled 184 Km today and 110 of them came home in the bunch sprint won by the back in form Mark Cavendish - with the rest of the peleton coming along in their won time mainly tired domestiques saving their energy for when they have protect leaders in the Pyrenees . No Sooner had I mentioned the leader of the Green jersey yesterday than it changed hands today in favour of Mr Pettachi from PizzaPasta land. Nicholas Roche kept up his focus by finishing well up in the bunch sprint in 17th place and retains his 13th place overall as do all the leaders. I suspect things may be quiet in this department until the 14th stage when there is a small matter of the Pyrenees.[;)] |
|
By:
nice updates mayoman, u reading Roches tour diary? brilliant stuff
|
|
By:
I am indeed - he strikes me as a nice lad - always says if you're around the start or finish come and say hello - I saw him interviewed for an hour by Daire on Setanta Sports- he came across well that night too. After his effort last year I've been looking forward to seeing him in this years tour. Says his goal is to finish in the top 15 riders so hopefully he hangs in there and achieves that.
|
|
By:
Stage 12 - I was WRONG.
Well sort of - Changes but more of a storm in a tea cup variety - A group full of point seekers for the various minor jerseys got away early in the day but with the max time diff at 3 50 sec it was never felt they were going to work hard enough to hold on and so it proved - once the points had been scored several of these riders retreated for the comfort of the peleton and most of the remaining few were caught with the meanest climb of the tour to go - its not the longest but very few got up it without leaving their seat such is the gradient. Vinikourov had surged ahead of the leaders but then Rodriguez attacked the leaders of the peleton and only Contador was able to respond - Schleck coulndt get Contadors wheel and he and Rodriguez forged on to catch and pass Vinikourov - Schleck didnt panic though and kept a sensible pace to the top - Rodriguez took Contadors slipstream and then beat him to the stage but putting 10 sec into schleck was his prize - Schleck was unperturbed afterwards and said that the climb suited Contador and that nothing had really changed - the Pyrenees is where the action is really going to happen. Roche came in 31seconds down but was happy enough with this as he had cracked a bit on the steep climb but said he didnt panic found his rythm again. He continues in 14th place. |
|
By:
Stage 13 Summary of Summaries
Group of 3 escape - peleton catches em with about 20km to go - Vinikourov goes on a solo run with about 9Km to go and wins the stage. No Change on the important Yellow Jersey positions. No Change for Nicholas Roche . Good Night |
|
By:
Stage 14 - The Washing Line
A Hard day work in the Pyrenees for the lads today with two climbs in the last 40Km the first being a real back breaker classified as 'Hors catagorie' or out of category. Coming into the last 60Km 3 men were away by over 3 minutes and the there were at different times 3 - 4 chasing groups followed by the peleton - on the Ascent to Port de pailheres one of the leaders broke away Christophe Riblon a teammate of Roches - back in the peleton Schleck continued to shadow Contador. Riblon began the descent with 40 seconds in hand but by the bottom Moreau had clawed this back to seconds but as they began to ascend the final category 1 climb Riblon re-established a break - the group who contained the leaders slowly picked up anyone in between and on the early part of the climb contador twice made breaks but Schleck was all over him today - late in the climb the silent assassin Denis Menchov who was lying in 4th and is considered a good time trialer made a good break - Samuel Sanchez caught him after he went too and the pair started to work to get away - meanwhile Contador looked at Schleck and he just shrugged his shoulders and seemed to say its only you I'm worried about - eventually it dawned on them that they better not let the Russian take too much time on them so they put in some teamwork for the final 2Km - Up ahead the frenchman Riblon was still away and brested the tape for a very deserved stage victory - Menchov and Sanchez got to the line 52 seconds later and the teamwork that Schleck and Contador put in brought them in at 1 min 11 sec later - losing only 19 seconds to Menchov although this gap was definitely dangerously more at one point. Roche was hard to spot today but came in 2min 27 down on the winner and 1 min 10sec down on the race leader - he does however hold on the 14th place and is now 8 min and 3 sec off the yellow jersey. The Commentaters seemed to think Schleck had a bad day today - I too thought he would try to take Contador after 2 of his attempted breaks failed and he may have been a little vulnerable after using some energy to make them - but he seemed happy just to hang with Contador however - maybe he has other plans for the next 3 days in the Pyrenees ! An exciting day and hopefully some more drama like this in the days to come. |
|
By:
Interested to know what you made of todays issue over not waiting for AS when chain slipped Mayoman. Fair or Foul?. imo not in the spirit of the race. If Henry Cecil was a rider you could never imagine him taking advantage like this.
|
|
By:
Stage 15 in the beautifull Pyrenees
2 category 2 climbs followed by climb to Port de Bales which is the star of this stage followed a descent to the finish line. The peleton rode hard early but even so a group of 3 took it out after 80 Km Voeckler, Balan and Arrieta Perez. Starting off on the Main climb of the day the frenchman Voeckler attacked and got free from his fellow insurgents. The race leaders started the climb altogether Roche starting out with them but bike problems meant he slipped off this group. Half way up the main men of Schleck and Contador injected a little pace but relaxed again and the group reformed. Voeckler continued on alone up front with a 5 min advantge while Balan and Arrieta Perez rejoined and worked towards the top together. And then came the minute we had waited for - a Tour defining moment The Yellow Jersey Attacked ! Schleck went on the offensive and it lasted all of about 30 seconds - trying to find a bigger gear he lost his chain and then Contador went for it ! Menchov who always seems to be around but hardly ever mentioned was with him - but Schleck was 25 - 30 seconds down now and had to ride to keep the gap down - over the top he had it down to 20 seconds but with another of his skillsets that could be tested to come - the descent to the finish. Voeckler still had 2 min advantage followed by the italian and spainiard and then the 5 man group of Contador Menchov Sanchez and 2 others. These 5 worked well together - Schleck had Van de Broeck and Vinikourov of Contadors team astana (so no help there then) with 15 km to go . The Commentators were divided on Contadors attack while Schleck was in technical trouble - so said he shouldnt have attacked as much other he was well within his rights - either way he showed no mercy from my point of view and was most of the time pushing the pace on the last few Km of the climb to the summit. With 5 km to go Schleck was basically on his own and losing seconds and it was a question of how much and could he hold the Maillot Jaune ? He was fighting a losing battle though with the 5 ahead still working hard. Voeckler went on to take a great solo stage win followed by Balan and Arrieta Perez at 1 min 20 down - another 2 min 50 to Contadors group and then the real clock started ticking as regards the GC and it would be 39 seconds before Schleck crossed the line - losing the Yellow to Contador by 8 seconds ! Nicholas Roche came in 37th today 7 min 52 seconds behind the winner and lost 4 places on the GC to drop to 17th overall - 12 min 34 seconds behind the yellow jersey of Contador . No doubt Schleck will be majorly pissed off after today - Many in the crowd made their feeling known about Contadors tactics by giving him a right royal booing whislt he was presented with his first Yellow of this years tour. Hopefully Schleck still has some power left after his chase today to make an impact on the race leaders and hopefully not lose a podium position come Paris. It should be bourne in mind that he still holds the white jersey for the best young rider and no matter happens this year it looks like a major new star has been born this year which bodes well for future tours. Another major day in the mountains beckons tomorrow - 2 category one climbs followed by 2 Hors Categorie ( a bunch of sadists these tour organisers if you ask me) over the first 138 Km followed by a 60 Km descent to the finish - I predict about 20km between 1st and last and a lot of gaps in between ! |
|
By:
Contadors a c#nt for that yesterday. Must have been afraid to do that. Poor show.
|
|
By:
I agree with ya there GS - He apologised today but thats got F all to do with the how the GC looks today !
|
|
By:
Just going back to yesterday when Roche had those bike problems it transpired that one of his teammates whom he had asked for his wheel said 'Non' and then rode by him and instigated an attack which resulted in Roche losing more time and one place - he is quoted in the Indo saying he felt like putting Gadrets head through the window when he boarded the team bus. With teammates like that who needs enemies - on second thoughts it just sounds like a Kerry training session !
|
|
By:
Stage 16 - The return of the Texan
Well everybody was wondering last week would Lance Armstrong retire or continue in his final tour and if so to what end - well today Lance wanted to make a bit of a statement and from the get go he was in the Van pushing for the Stage win with 18 others including Roche and Wiggins & Sastre - with everyone well down in the GC the group was allowed leeway but even so Roche and others failed to stay the pace and he fell back to the race leaders group. Over the first Col Charteau took the mountain points and on the descent Casar got away from the break to get to the bottom with a 20 second lead but he caught again by Armstrong and then others . At the top of the next climb Moreau took the points ahead of 12 others.At the base of the Col d'aubisque the peleton was over 6 minutes behind Armstrong, Horner, Casar, Konovalovas, Barredo, Van de Walle, Fedrigo, Moreau, Plaza and Cunego. Armstrong attacked on the climb but was eventually brought back by 4 and eventually 3 others. Barredo was attacking to the summit but didnt get away While the sprint at the top was won by Moreau. Contadors group reached the summit nearly 10 min later. With 45 Km to go Barredo went again and worked out a 45 sec advantage - eventually the group behind got it together and with just over 1Km to Barredo was caught. The stage win was then their focus but once Fedrigo got into his sprint it was all over and he crossed for his 3 stage victory. Hushovd led the peleton home some 6 min later and took enough points to win back the green jersey while the Contador and Schleck came in 21st & 22nd and Roche was with this group too. Unfortunately he lost a little more time today on one of his rivals and drops down 1 place to 18th position. So no move from Schleck today - but everybody is expecting it to come in the final km's of tomorrow as the tour's 17th stage finishes with the 'Hors Categorie' ascent to Col du Tourmalet - 33 km of a climb should give the strong riders a good opportunity to attack and maybe decide this tour one way or the other. I can't wait to see this one tomorrow night ! |
|
By:
isnt tommorow a rest day.
|
|
By:
Wednesday is rest day.
|
|
By:
roche could be in a little trouble about the comments he made about his teammate.......
|
|
By:
To be honest, Roche is a bit of a joke for what he said. He expects the whole team to be based around him to fulfill his aim of finishing Top 15??
If he was Top 5, you could understand him being furious but who will remember the Top 15 in a years time? Can't blame Gadret for being annoyed and if i was him i'd be furious at being asked to sacrifice myself fr some guy who seems to think Top 15 is actualy an achievement in the greater sense of the sport. |
|
By:
Rest day it is - only copped that after a few minutes fuming at Eurosport for having golf in the place where the tour highlights normally are !! Doh !
|
|
By:
Stage 17 - Duel in the Tourmalet Mist.
With this being the last day of the true mountain stages it was generally acknowledged that it would be the opportunity for Andy Schleck to attack Contador for the Maillot Jaune and in a press conference he gave on yesterdays rest day AS made no secret of the fact - Taking a leaf out of the Babs Keating coaching manual he said that the Col du Tourmalet was his kind of climb and that Plan A was to attack Contador's 8 second lead on the ascent. He was also questioned again about the stage where he lost his lead and I think he did himself and the sport proud by saying he had accepted Alberto's apology and thats the fans should do so also and move on. His entire focus was now on what can can do in the remainder of the race. When his older teammates speak about his maturity for a 23 year old I think we can see why with those comments. The weather took a turn for the worse on todays stage with rain and mist covering the Pyrenees. Typing from the comfort of my chair I couldnt tell you if this might actually make life more bearable for the cyclists with lower temperatures but no matter if was hot or cold the route wasnt going to deviate from going up Tourmalet.  A group of 7 got away early and built up a good workable advantage from the peleton. An early crash for Samuel Sanchez looked nasty and ironically Contador was trying to keep things together so that he could rejoin the group (AS may have forgiven him but I still have serious reservations about the guy [>o]) but Carlos Sastre had other ideas and sped down the road leaving his conscience well behind - justice was swift for this particular effort at GC advancement and 3 hours later never having caught the leaders he was done for the day when the peleton caught him. With 10.5 Km to go Schleck got out of the saddle - here it was - PLAN A - the leading group contained all the top 10 but only Contador responded. The two sped away from the other leaders and passed the stage leaders on the way up so it looked like AS was going to be right in that the first man to the top would win not only the stage but the tour. As they ground out the km's Schleck seemed the more smooth led all the way while Contador had his wheel - however he did seem to be out of the saddle more in an effort to keep with AS. A few times AS got out of the cycle to up the pace but each time AC matched him. They continued on at a greater pace that all the others - With 5km to go the difference was 1min 15 seconds - if nothing else Schleck was nearer to putting his seal on a Podium finish if not the top spot. A few times AS was looking for AC to come through but he refused the offer each time until with 3.8 Km to go Contador WENT for it and tried to break Schleck but AS was strong enough to get it back and rode back upsides and gave him a look as if to say I AINT for breaking today senor . With 3 km to go they were 1 min 47 ahead of the remainder. AS took the lead again - Contador hung with him . Its been a while since we've had this mano a mano scenario and this was one of those encounters that will go down in tour history. into the last 2 km and the fans (mainly basque) were going crazy - On Schleck went on AC followed. Into the last Km and the fans were so close neither could really go for it - and at this point I dont think either had the energy to go and as they came to the line Contador did the decent thing for once and didnt really contest the finish but left it to the one who had done most of the work - he was happy to keep his 8 sec lead . Schleck now has a 3 min 24 second lead to protect to keep second place and Sanchez put another 12 seconds into Mechov in the battle for 3 giving him a 21 second advantage over the Russian. Nicholas Roche rode to a brave 12th place today and improved his overall position to 15th - If he had better teammates he could be hitting 11th place. Well for me this duel has reignited my interest in the Tour - I've really enjoyed this years tour so far - they well us that Alberto is the better time trialist and I just looked back at the Prologue to see their respective times - Alberto was the better by 42 seconds over 10km so with 52 km on sat he may put even more time into Schleck. Interviewing Menchov after today they were asking him if he could catch AS and he thought maybe so that minute advantage that AS gained today maybe more vital than we think come Saturday. Tomorrows stage should really be called Pancake day as I'd say there are bigger climbs in the Zuider Zee than what they will encounter tommorrow. So one for Cavendish Hushovd or Pettachi to get their teeth into and maybe decide that green jersey. |
|
By:
Thanks for all your reports, MayoMan. Very enjoyable and interesting to read them.
Fans were extraordinary on the roads today! |
|
By:
'Diamond' Joe Quimby Joined: 14 Oct 05
i agree with joe but a great ride today by roche, seemingly a nice guy hopefully he can and will improve........... best of luck to him. |
|
By:
Stage 18 - The Dish serves up a storming finish
A better day for the tour today as they made their way for 198 flat kms towards the city of Bordeaux. 4 riders went for it at the 11 km mark (Oss ,Pineau, Vaugrenard and Breschel) - they managed to eek out a 3min 30 advantage at one point but with the peleton keeping up a fair degree of pressure it never really looked like thry were going to hang on - Pineau tried for a solo break but failed but then Oss made a successful break - they other 3 gave up the ghost at this point and were reeled in and the swift moving peleton sniffed the chance of setting up the stage now for their sprinters and worked to whittle away at Oss 32 second advantage. The stage victory and prime time publicity evaporated form Oss at the 4 Km mark and now it was pedal to the metal time as the stage was set for the gunslingers of cycling - even Alberto said he felt a little wary in the last 2 kms as they sped through the streets and Suburbs of Bordeaux - with 800m to go Hushovd was in the van on the right but then Pettachi came delivering his pizza pasta deal on the left. This was the surge that Cavendish got involved with and after getting Alessandro's wheel he surged near the line to easily take the stage victory from Julian Dean and Pettachi whose points today put him back in the green jersey tomorrow. However Cavendish is now just 16 points off the green himself having now won 4 stages this year after a dissappointing in the first few stages decided by sprints. So a great tour recovery by Cavendish who seemed so out of sorts with himself early on. Time trial day tomorrow with Alberto having the advantage of going out last and seeing how good or bad his main adversaries are going. I dont expect any difference at the top but maybe a swop of 3rd and 4th places between Menchov and Sanchez. Just looking back to last years tour when there was a 40.5 km timetrial on the 4th last day of the tour - Contador took the stage honours and was 1 min 45 s faster than Schleck . Nicholas Roche finished in 50th place 3 min 11 s behind Alberto. Denis Menchov was in 79th position 4 min 11 s down. So the stage is set for the real last chance to improve in the GC - Enjoy if your watching![;)] |
|
By:
http://www.lequipe.fr/Quotidien/home_v2.html
Just a quick glimpse of how France saw Duel up the Tourmalet. |
|
By:
Stage 19 - Le voyage de la vérité
If Thursday was Mano a Mano today was Mano a Tiempo Fabain Cancellero was out early and set a fantastic time coming in just under 1hr and 1 min . The young German Tony Martin did another fantastic days work to get within 17 sec of that but the real action of the day would come a couple of hours later. It was widely expected that Denis Menchov would have the legs of Samuel Sanchez in the battle for 3rd place and so it proved - Menchov covering the distance 2 minutes better than Sanchez. Behind him the battle for the Tour was unfolding and at the first checkpoint came a little bit of a surprise when Contadors lead was down to 2 seconds! Schleck and Contador have contested 6 trials in their careers and Contador has been the better rider in all 6. At the next point the difference was 6 seconds in favour of Contador and as the km rolled on through the vineyards of the region things began to go more with form and the valuable seconds ticked away from Schleck and in favour of Contador. He would go on to make it 7 from 7 with a 31 seconds advantage on the stage and a 39 second advantage overall. The conditions that the later riders encountered were much windier and on the plus side for Schleck it was probably his best effort at this particular discipline of the tour. Nicholas Roche covered the stage 6 min 42 sec behind the winner and 1 min 1 sec slower than Contador so I think its fair to say the windier conditions affected him also - crucially however he lost no time to the people behind him in the GC and retained his 15th position in the Tour - 16 min 59 seconds behind the yellow jersey. This represents a good deal of progress - he was 23 in last years tour 38 minutes and 20 seconds behind Contador - so provided he has no accidents he can look back on a very successfull tour in achieving his stated aim of 15 place - I noticed Mr Gadret his so called teammate who was 2 min behind him on time was 5 min behind Roche today and last overall today - making his refusal to give his wheel to Roche at the start of the week seem an even more crazy act now in that Roche could have come very close to a top 10 finish with help on that climb[>o]. The last day of the tour tomorrow is usually a chance for the Sprinters to show their wares although I do seem to remember a breakaway group doing the job too a few years ago but that was more the exception that the rule. For the leaders of the tour its about getting to the finish in one piece and on to that podium. |
|
By:
Mayoman -Many thanks for the well written updates throughout the tour.
|
|
By:
great write ups cheers
|
|
By:
Stage 20 - Coronation of Contador
Well we flagged it up yesterday that it would be a day for the sprinters and although a group of around 7 got away and made it into the last 20km it soon started to fall apart for them when for some reason they started to splinter all too soon and lost all chance of making it to the finish ahead of the peleton. After a few teams forcing the pace on the last lap of the Champs Elyesee circuit going into the last corner Brett Lancaster led out Hushovd Pettachi and Cavendish in that order. With 200 to go the 3 big boys split - Petacchi left Cavendish right and Hushovd straight down the centre of the road - all level across the road for a second before Cavendish exploded away from them to win by around 6 metres at the finish - Pettachi held on for second and Dean got into the frame again while Hushovd faded to 7th. It was It was an explosive end to a gripping tour and I dont think I,ve ever seen a sprinter this good when he is on form - There was a rumour about motorised bikes a few weeks back but they will never pin that on Cavendish cos we all know its not a motor he'd be hiding but a ROCKET with the acceleration he showed today - simply breathtaking.[:o] The Columbia rider was taking his 5th stage victory of the tour but left him 11 points shy of the green jersey mainly through loss of form in the 1st week . So Alberto Contador takes the 2010 tour making him the 9th three time winner. The Jersey Categories were as follows Green - Alessandro Pettachi Polka Dot - Anthony Charteau White - Andy Schleck Team - Radioshack Well done also to Nicholas Roche who made it to Paris in 15th position - no mean feat in what has been a rather attritional tour - particularly in the 1st week with numerous crashes. I just noticed a little story in the Indo today about Sean Kelly who was commentating on the Tour for Eurosport - An email came in reminding him of a descent he had made where he caught the climbers who had raced away from him on the ascent - Sean who had a reputation as being rather good at descents said it was a mountain where speeds could get as high as 110 kph - What was the top speed you made ? asked the co commentater 124 Kph replied Kelly - Thats 77mph  Maybe a little reminder that it is a sport on the very limits at some points - and that you'd want to have a lot of faith in your brake mechanic - and on no account sleep with his woman! Well thats it for another year - I've really enjoyed it and am looking forward to maybe a few years of battle between this years main protaganists who are both quite young and hopefully make it back to the starting line next year. Thanks too to all who contributed to the page. |
|
By:
Top man MM, here's hoping Nicholas can emulate the old man and win one in the next few years. Would love to see Schleck win too after what happened to him this year.
|
|
By:
Fair play MayoMan, you passion shines
 .Have to agree about descents, climbing is a skill alright but god you need some b*lls to descend like these guys do. Remember the colombians being hammered on descents in the 80s after building large time climbing. |
|
By:
Delighted as well to see Charteau and BBox get a jersey for all their hard work. A decent honest outfit imho
|
|
By:
Great win for the cousin in Poland.
|
|
By:
on the kelly story: i was caught once by a fella coming down the Galibier when i had set off 6 minutes previously. Now i went slowly... he on the other hand said his speedometer topped out at 100km.
A great read this thread, even if it is now and not during the action! |