Stage 7 - Cav Turns Back The Clock

Mark Cavendish turned back the clock on Stage 7 to Chateroux, winning his second stage at this year’s Tour and the 17^th of his career. The win was extra special for the Manx Man who recorded his first ever stage victory in this very city back in 2008. Cavendish defeated last years Green Jersey winner Alessandro Pettachi, who at least showed some signs of a return to form, and his former teammate Andre Greipel, who finished the podium in third. But perhaps the bigger news of the day was the massive crash mid-stage that split the peleton, and led to the abandonment of Britian’s national champion and GC contender, Bradley Wiggins, who had to abandoned the race with a broken collarbone.

The crash was the story of the stage, with the main field split into two peletons, the second, larger, group finishing 2 minutes behind Cavendish in the lead group. Apart from Wiggins, the only real GC contenders to finish in the second pack where the Radioshack pair of Levi Leipheimer (who lost time yesterday) and Chris Horner, who actually finished 13 minutes down after making several trips back to the race doctor for a broken nose. This marked a bad 48 hours for the US team after their young GC hopefully Janez Brajkovic was forced to abandon yesterday’s stage. The teams hopes now lie in 36 year old German Andreas Kloden, a former podium finisher, but surely a rider well past his best. To be honest, while the anglo’s will be disappointed with the abandonment of Wiggins, and the Radioshack collapse, these were B grade GC candidates at best, and I don’t think their collapse has altered the overall flavour of the race too much (although it may alter the final destination of the team’s classification).

Jose Joaquin Rojas returned to the lead in the green jersey competition. Although he was a fair way back in the final sprint, he was still well ahead of Philippe Gilbert, and also defeated Gilbert in the intermediate sprint. Still, it would seem he is just keeping the jersey warm for Cavendish, who defeated Rojas and Gilbert in the intermediate sprint on his ear. The final sprint to the finish was also little more than a training drill for Cav. HTC set up the perfect 6 man lead up with over 2 kilometres to go and were never troubled. While former HTCer Andre Greipel tried to pinch the win with an early jump, Cavendish was never going to lose once he jumped off Mark Renshaw’s wheel and sped away to the finish.

Yellow Jersey – Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey – Johnny Hoogerland
Green Jesrey – Jose Joaquin Rojas
White Jesrey – Robert Gesink

Stage 6 - Norwegian Would

On another day that resembled a classic, it was the classic men who were gain to the fore. And it was the cycling power of Norway that dominated. 24-year old phenom Edvald Boasson Hagen outpowered his rivals in the uphill finish to take his, and Team Sky’s, first ever Tour stage win, in this years longest stage, a 226km slog from Dinan to Lisieux. The win denied HTC back-to-back stage victories with Australian Matt Goss showing his classic qualities to finish second, while fellow Norwegian and GC leader Thor Husvhod finished 3rd to retain his Yellow Jersey.

The run into the finish was a lot tougher than many experts (i.e. me) had expected, and as a result the majority of the pure sprinters were eliminated from contention well before the flamme rouge. That just left the tough men of the spring to fight the race out, and Boasson Hagen was delivered the stage on a platter following the perfect lead-out from team-mate and White Jersey wearer Geraint Thomas. But the young Norwegian, slated by some as a future overall winner of the race, took full advantage, powering away to take his maiden stage victory with aplomb. Philippe Gilbert managed to hang on to the Green jersey by the slenderest of margins after finishing 7th on the stage. Despite finishing 5th on the day, and being the second of the main bunch through the intermediate sprint, Jose Joaquin Rojas still trails the World No.1 by a point in this classification.

The tough run into the finish caused a number of splits in the peleton but none of the main GC leaders were caught out. The only really notable GC event of the day was another bike change required by favourite Alberto Contador, but the Spaniard had no problems in reintegrating himself into the race.

With Stage 6 the first stage to contain more than two categorised climbs the Polka Dot Jersey again changed hands, and now sits on the shoulders of Belgian Johnny Hoogerland, yet again a participant in the day’s break. And while I may have missed the call yesterday, Stage 7 truly does look like a pure flat sprinters stage. And I’m sure Mark Cavendish will have been saving his legs in Stage 6 for a crack at his second stage victory tonight (although he did win the day’s intermediate sprint), in Chaterauox, the town where he took his first ever stage win back in 2008.

But all the honours on the day must go to Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian has been viewed as a prodigy by many on the tour for some time, and while he disappointed at his Tour debut last year, he has certainly lived up to expectations in 2011. It will be interesting to see his performance in the mountains this year, as today’s win may be the first Tour victory for a future Tour champion.

Yellow Jersey – Thor Husvhod
Green Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
Polka Dot Jersey – Johnny Hoogerland
White Jersey – Geraint Thomas

Stage 5 - Missile Fires on Crash Filled Stage

Mark Cavendish got his first stage win of this year’s Tour, and the 16^th of his career, on Stage 5, a crash marred journey from Carhaix to Cap Frehel. After missing out on the Tour’s first real sprint finish two days ago, the Manx man made amends with one of his toughest stage wins yet, storming home over the top of his rivals to take the victory from Philipe Gilbert and Jose Joaquin Rojas. Despite just missing out on his second stage win, Gilbert’s second was enough to take over the lead in the points competition from Rojas by 8 points. Cavendish moved up to fourth in the points competition. Thor Hushovd produced another top 10 display to retain the Yellow Jersey.

As had been expected, the final 100km of the day’s stage along the Normandy coast caused carnage in the peleton with a number of crashes marring the stage. While GC candidates Alberto Contador and Robert Gesink both hit the deck, they managed to rejoin the race and did not lose any time on the day. Janez Brajkovic was not so lucky, the young Radioshack rider unable to finish the day’s stage following his tumble. Tom Boonen also limped home some 13 minutes behind the winners after hitting the deck, and word is he is unlikely to start Stage 6.

Now I know the heads of the peleton will be complaining post race about the organisers taking the race along such a dangerous route – but the fact is the public loves this type of racing, and stages like this are much more exciting than the stock standard flat sprint stages that the Tour usually serves up.

All the props have to go to Cavendish though for showing the ability to win on such a tough day’s racing. While most of the pure sprinters, such as Tyler Farrar, finished well back in the field, Cavendish was able to overcome the lack of his usual HTC lead-out to defeat classic type specialists such as Gilbert and Rojas. With two deadpan flat stages to come over the next two days, it would be a brave man to suggest Cavendish will not have two more stage wins to his credit come Friday night. That should put him right back up the top of the green jersey standings before the race enters the Massif Central.

Yellow Jersey – Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey – Cadel Evans
Green Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
White Jersey – Geraint Thomas

Stage 4 - Cadel Shows Champion Qualities

Cadel Evans once again proved he is one of the world’s great one-day races with a champion performance to win Stage 4, a 172km classic from Lorient to the Mur-de-Bretagne. Evans tactics on the final climb up the Wall of Brittany were superb. He marked all the main moves before going for home with 150m to go, and was able to hold off defending champion, Alberto Contador, by the barest of margins at the finish. Astana’s Alexander Vinokourov completed the podium in third, while Thor Hushovd managed to hold onto his yellow jersey by a single second, producing an extremely brave display to finish 6^th on the stage.

While Hushovd hung on for yellow, the tough final climb up the wall left a number of splits in the peleton, and Evans and Contador were able to gain time on a number of the GC rivals, most importantly Andy Schleck, who finished 8 seconds down. These are not great signs for Andy given that he did no work at all in the closing kilometres, in contrast to the powerful attacks of Evans and Contador. Although he has already built up a buffer over Contador, he cannot afford to throw away valuable seconds on stages such as this. More importantly, the fact he conceded time on such a short climb must throw into question the form he had at this years race. In contrast, his brother Frank (apparently not concerned about looking after Andy) finished with the top 10, and moved up to third overall.

The green jersey battle continues to excite, with Evans moving to within 2 points of Rojas in the sprinters competition. Rojas held on gamely though to finish 12^th on the stage, and was the second of the peleton over the line on the days intermediate sprint. That sprint was almost a replica of that on Day 1 with Farrar leading the peleton over the line after Mark Cavendish faded badly in the final 100.

But all the day’s plaudits must go to Evans who took the first Tour de France road stage win of his career, and took a one point lead in the King of the Mountains competition in the process. Evans will still be talked up as a potential overall winner this year, but as I have said before, he is definitely a better one-day specialist than a three week GC man. There is more than enough evidence of that in his performances on Stage 1 (second) and his win here in Stage 3. While he has the ability to put a few seconds into his rivals in the closing stages of races, the fact is he does not have that explosive sustained speed on the big mountain passes to put enough time into his rivals to win a Grand Tour.

Yellow Jersey – Thor Hushovd
Green Jersey - Jose Joaquin Rojas
Polka Dot Jersey – Cadel Evans
White Jersey – Geraint Thomas

Stage 3 - Farrar Breaks His Duck

On the day that the US celebrates its independence, young American Tyler Farrar finally broke his Tour de France hoodoo in winning stage 3, a 198km journey from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon. But rather than dedicate the victory to his homeland, Farrar’s win was in memory of his dear friend, Wouter Weylandt, who tragically died during Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia earlier this year. Farrar shaped a ‘W’ with his hands as he crossed the line, in a moving tribute to the young Belgian.

The first pure sprint stage of the 2011 edition was marred by a messy final kilometre which eliminated most of the other leading sprinters from contention. Mark Cavendish almost crashed into the barriers rounding the final bend, and despite this large loss of momentum still managed to finish fifth on the stage. Last year’s green jersey winner Alessandro Pettachi was also caught up in the chaos, as Sammy Dumoulin flew into the barriers in the final turn. With many of the big names hindered, Farrar took advantage of the perfect lead out train from his Garmin Team (led out by none other than Yellow Jersey wearer Thor Hushovd) to cruise to the line for his maiden tour victory. Farrar won with relative ease, despite Romain Feillu storming home for second in what was a nice return to form. Jose Joaquin Rojas, 4th on the opening stage, completed the podium in 3rd, and took over the lead in the Green Jersey competition in the process. I doubt he has any chance of holding the thing long term. While Farrar did also win the intermediate sprint in the opening stage with relative ease, I would like to see him take a stage win with Cavendish and Pettachi in an even contest before labelling him a legitimate contender for the Green Jersey this year.

The green jersey competition was not without its usual controversy, with Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish disqualified from the day’s intermediate sprint after bumping into each other on the approach to the line. This will only cost them 9 and 10 points respectively in the competition and I don’t think it will have that much impact, given the new points structure, on the final standings in Paris. What it does show however, is that given a fair run to the line, Cavendish is still the man to beat on the flat stages. Let’s not forget, after missing out on the first two sprint stages in 2010, Cavendish went on to collect 5 stage victories, and I would not put it past him to do similar again. The bigger concern was the disorganisation in the HTC-High Road train coming into the finish. Normally they are flawless at delivering the Manx man to the finish but they looked all over the shop last night. It will be interesting to see if they can get their act in order next time out.

There was no change to the overall standings with the only heart palpitations for the GC boys occurring when Ivan Basso missed a split in the peleton caused by crosswinds on the run into the finish. The peleton managed to re-form however and no time was lost (and in any case Basso is a B-grade GC candidate at best this year).

Yellow Jersey – Thor Husvhod
Green Jersey – Jose Joaquin Rojas
Polka Dot Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
White Jersey – Geraint Thomas

Photo courtesy of cyclingnews.

Stage 2 - From Rainbows To Gold

Norway’s God of Thunder, Thor Husvhod, exchanged the rainbow bands of World Champion for the Yellow Jersey, after his Garmin Cervelo team took out last night’s 23km Team Time Trial around Les Essarts. The jersey tantalisingly slipped from the fingers of Australia’s Cadel Evans, who missed the golden fleece by just 47 hundreds of a second, after his BMC team put up a brave performance to finish second on the stage, 4 seconds behind their American rivals. Philippe Gilbert’s Omega Pharma Lotto squad also battled, and the Belgian had to forfeit the Yellow Jersey after his team finished 39 seconds back on the stage.

As had been expected on such a short TTT stage, the time gaps across the entire field were relatively small, with less than 90 seconds separating Garmin in first and the Basque boys of Euskatel in last. Again the major losers on the GC scene where the Spanish pair of Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez. Contador’s Saxo team finished in 8th, 28 seconds behind Garmin, and 24 seconds behind Andy Schleck’s Leopoard Trek outfit, to put the defending champ 1:40 behind the other pre-race favourites. Sanchez’s podium ambitions are in early difficulty, and he sits outside the top 100 over 2:30 back.

The honours on the day all go to Garmin though, who finally cracked the big TTT win they so long craved. And to be honest, outside of that, there was not too much to say about the stage. Given the relative lack of time gaps covering the field it would be nit-picking to say any of the teams truly shone or underperformed. Liquigas were probably the major disappointment, finishing almost a minute behind Garmin. They are normally a powerhouse in this speciality in the Giro, and Ivan Basso will not be happy coughing up that kind of time to the likes of Evans and the Schlecks.

HTC may be disappointed to only finish 5th but they were hampered by an early crash to Bernard Eisel. Sky and BMC were the two big outperformers, both teams dragged along by their GC men in Bradley Wiggins and Evans respectively.

Tonight see’s the first true flat stage of this year’s Tour so we should get a much better guide on the contenders for the Green Jersey come the end of the day.

Yellow Jersey – Thor Husvhod
Green Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
Polka Dot Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
White Jersey – Geraint Thomas

Stage 1 - GC Carnage in the Vendee

The Tour is back! And what a stage to kick things off! On a course reminiscent of a world championship route, Philippe Gilbert took the first yellow jersey, and pre-race favourite Alberto Contador lost over a minute to his main rivals after a massive pile up just 10 kilometres from the finish on the 191km trek from Passage du Gois to Les Herbiers. In fact the final 10km had everything, and race director Christian Prudhomme should be acknowledge for creating such an exciting first day.

It all happened in the last hour after the day’s break was caught. As the entire peleton flew towards the finish, an Astana rider clipped a spectator on the edge of the road and bounced into the middle of the peleton, taking down around 30 riders in the process and blocking the road for around 75 per cent of the peleton. The MASSIVE loser was Contador, who had been loafing in the back half of the bunch, and as a result was caught up in the hold up and missed the split in the race. Realising this, the leading bunch, which contained almost all the other GC contenders (with the exception of another Spaniard, Sammy Sanchez), put the hammer down to put as much time into Contador as possible, and by the finish they had put over a minute into the three time champion. Amazingly that has left Andy Schleck as the outright favourite for the race. Personally I think that swing in sentiment is a little over done and Contador has more than enough time to make up his losses. Let us not forget he won the Giro by over 4 minutes earlier this year with relative ease. I still want to be on Contador at this stage.

The final climb up to the finish at the Monte des Alouettes was just as exciting as the crash 10km out. The peleton was again thinned following a crash at the base of the climb, with a number of GC contenders being held up. But unlike Contador, with the crash coming in the final 3km of the stage they lost no time. The hot pre-race favourite for the stage, Gilbert, missed the carnage, but looked to have blown his chance for victory when Fabian Cancellara produced a massive acceleration with just over a kilometer to go. But the Swiss superstar could not maintain his pace up the final ascent, and Gilbert showed why he was so dominant in this year’s Ardennes Classics, with a perfectly timed counter burst to overtake Cancelllara and put the race beyond doubt. Even a star such as Gilbert was struggling by the last 100 metres of the finishing climb, and a late charge by Cadel Evans was only thwarted by the arrival of the finishing line. Evans ride was superb and showed again that he is one of the world’s premier riders. It also allowed to put a few valuable seconds (3) between himself and his GC rivals. With Cancellara washed away over the last 500 meters, world champion Thor Husvhod made it a podium to die for, finishing third on the stage.

But the plaudits must go to Gilbert, who defied all the pressure of being the pre-stage favourite to take the first yellow jersey with ease. Gilbert is easily the best one day rider in the world at the moment, and with the form he is showing at the moment he is laying claims to being one of the top 5 one day riders in the history of cycling. A world championship is now the only thing missing from his CV.

The big loser was obviously Contador, who showed some tactical naivety to lose time simply by not riding at the front of the peleton in the final hour. We will have to wait and see whether the Spaniard will pay for his mistake come the finish in Paris.

Yellow Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
Green Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
Polka Dot Jersey – Philippe Gilbert
White Jersey – Geriant Thomas