PolkPanther

A fabulously entertaining stage on Bastille Day, giving fans everything we thought we’d get out of Day 1 in the Pyrenees. My pick for the stage, Frank Schleck, attacked just a bit too late to come in third as Sammy Sanchez kicked at the end to beat Jelle Vanendert. Just behind them, a wonderful duel among the big GC names took place with Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, and Ivan Basso dropping Alberto Contador in the final meters to open a bit of a time gap. Frank Schleck ends up second overall, moving ahead of Cadel Evans while Thomas Voeckler somewhat unexpectedly retains the yellow jersey.


JERSEY CHANGES

Polka Dot: Sammy Sanchez takes it from Johnny Hoogerland
White: Arnold Jeannesson takes it from Robert Gesink

GC TOP 10

1. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)
2. Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek), +1:49
3. Cadel Evans (BMC), +2:06
4. Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek), +2:17
5. Ivan Basso (Liquigas), +3:16
6. Damiano Cunego (Lampre), +3:22
7. Alberto Contador (SaxoBank), +4:00
8. Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel-Euskadi), +4:11
9. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervélo), +4:35
10. Nicolas Roche (AG2R), +4:57


TRENDING UP

▲ Sammy Sanchez and Jelle Vanendert: The pair went out from the pack on Luz-Ardiden, passing Geraint Thomas and Jeremy Roy and then holding off Frank Schleck at the end. Sanchez had a great kick at the end to win the mountaintop finish.

▲ Leopard-Trek: They had been quiet. They stayed out of trouble. And today, they pounced. Leopard-Trek did a phenomenal job of pace-making up the Tourmalet, putting seven on the front of the peloton to pull back the leaders. Jens Voigt was an absolute beast on the final climb, doing work to set up the Schlecks, who teased Alberto Contador before Frank burst away to try and bridge the gap to the front.

Also we learned that L-T’s mechanic has a sick mohawk, so they have that going for them.

▲ Geraint Thomas and Jeremy Roy: Entering the day 5:51 behind the leader, 31st overall, Sky’s Geraint Thomas got out in the opening six-man breakaway and for a time was the virtual leader, building a large 9:00+ lead to the intermediate sprint at the base of the Hourquette d’Ancizan. He stayed out over the first climb, but nearly killed himself in a pants-shitting moment when he suffered a brake issue and skidded off the steep descent twice, miraculously emerging unhurt. The Welshman dropped Roy and Ruben Perez past La Mongie on the Tourmalet, but Roy rallied to go over the top first. The pair finally succumbed on Luz-Ardiden.

▲ HTC’s sprint tactics: HTC-Highroad is in full-on protect mode of Mark Cavendish’s green jersey now, and they pulled off a brilliant intermediate sprint to lead out Cav to a nine-point win over the field. Bernie Eisel and Matty Goss (glad he’s feeling better) smartly led Cavendish out, but then kept on sprinting to block their rivals behind, turning in a 1-2-3 finish to deny them the points.

▲ Damiano Cunego: He’s just waiting, isn’t he? He’s right there, and you never hear his name. He’ll be a dangerous threat in the Alps.


TRENDING DOWN

▼ Alberto Contador: See below.

▼ Andreas Kloden: RadioShack is official cooked. Kloden had a miserable day, crashing early on the Hourquette d’Ancizan and then falling behind on the next two climbs.

▼ Peter Velits: HTC’s best GC hope was a victim of bad luck, getting a couple of punctures and then changing machines on the mountain to drop to 14th in the overall classification.


ALBERTO CONTADOR KARMA WATCH
Where to start? Contador got straight up dropped near the end. Andy Schleck, Evans, Basso, and Cunego left him behind, finishing 13 seconds ahead of the defending champion. The Schlecks merciless taunted Contador all the way up, attacking him on both sides.

On the upside for Alberto, Saxobank isn’t the worst team in the Tour anymore! Lampre and Saur-Sojasun are both worse, although I don’t put a lot of stock in the rankings since RadioShack is inexplicably third.


RUSSIAN CYCLING HERO VLADIMIR KARPETS WATCH

Our favorite mulleted Katusha rider got dropped off the back going up the Tourmalet, no doubt weighed down by his beautiful flowing locks. Clearly this led to Alberto Contador looking over his shoulder the entire stage, missing Frank Schleck’s attack while waiting for Karpets to strike with his recently aquired Acme-brand rocket launcher.


STAGE 13 PREDICTION

This is a tough one to forecast. The HC Col d’Aubisque sits in the middle of the stage, but then there is a 42 KM downhill to the finish in Lourdes, which should be enough to bring the pack back together. An early breakaway with a strong climber could survive, or perhaps someone looking to make a name for himself. Or perhaps, someone who needs a big move to get back into things who has nothing left to lose and won’t need team support to do it - someone like Levi Leipheimer, perhaps?

It was about time we had a relatively boring and uneventful stage. The riders deserved one. No change in the overall classification as Mark Cavendish earns the sprint finish and the green jersey.

TRENDING UP

▲ Mark Cavendish: He will not lose twice in a row. Cavendish exacted his revenge on André Greipel, beating yesterday’s stage winner by a length in a fantastic sprint finish in terrible conditions. Cavendish played his lead-out from Mark Renshaw perfectly, bursting out to his right to cut off Tyler Farrar and then holding off a hard-charging Greipel. More importantly for Cav, he captures the green jersey off the back of Philippe Gilbert thanks to the stage win and the intermediate sprint win over the field. He has a 20 point lead - and remember, it could be more if he and Thor Hushovd hadn’t been relegated on that intermediate sprint earlier in the Tour.

▲ Rain: The one drama-maker today was the rain. Or more accurately, the crazy downpour they rode into for the final 10 KM, turning what was an otherwise bland-but-quick stage into a slippery mess. But (thankfully) the chaos never materialized, with no one going down.

▲ Lars Boom: Caught with 2 KM to go after a brave effort to stay out in the rain, Lars Boom had a good ride today. He attacked his breakaway group when the peloton came into sight, but ended up with nothing to show for it as the peloton maintained a torrid pace in the closing kilometers.

▲ Mickael Delange: Delange became the year’s top attacker when he went out again today, and he ended up winning the intermediate sprint (not that it was much of one) and picked up a KOM point as well. FDJ has gotten their money’s worth out of Delange this year, for sure.


TRENDING DOWN

▼ Matthew Goss: Poor Matty Goss. He’s been ill the last two days, getting dropped on both stages and vomiting profusely on both. He’s one of my favorites, hope he can stay in the Tour.


ALBERTO CONTADOR KARMA WATCH

Contador came in safe and sound today. Karma is waiting for tomorrow, just like…


RUSSIAN CYCLING HERO VLADIMIR KARPETS WATCH

Comrade Karpets didn’t do anything today, keeping in line with Katusha’s reputation of being that team that you can’t figure out why they’re in the Tour. But I’m sure he was out there giving the evil eye to smaller, weaker opponents, while keeping tabs on his order of Acme-brand exploding chain grease.


STAGE 12 PREDICTION

This is the one we’ve all been waiting for, isn’t it? The real Tour starts tomorrow with a brutal stage that includes a category 1 climb up La Hourquette d’Ancizan before two HC climbs up the legendary Col du Tourmalet and then a mountain-top finish at Luz-Ardiden. Will we see scenes like Armstrong and Mayo’s legendary duel there in 2003? I hope so. Take your pick of the big GC guys who will have the kick at the end to win it, but I’m taking Frank Schleck, who will ably protect Andy Schleck up the mountain and be rewarded for his work.

After a rest day calmed down the tone of the race following last week’s collective freak-out, week 2 began with one for the sprinters. A very, very fast pace by the peloton soaked up the late attacks to set up an improvised sprint finish that had André Greipel beat a very pissed-off-looking Mark Cavendish by a quarter of a wheel. New yellow jersey holder Thomas Voeckler was aggressive with a late attack, and green jersey holder Phillipe Gilbert also went away late. The biggest story was that of Johnny Hoogerland, who rode in polka dots and a significant amount of gauze, bravely making his way through the stage despite what had to be a lot of pain.


TRENDING UP


▲ André Greipel: Greipel pipped former teammate Mark Cavendish at the line to earn the stage win, outsprinting the Manx Missile with a huge effort after a poor leadout from HTC. Cavendish was without Matty Goss, who was surprisingly dropped by the field, and Greipel had to overcome a lack of support as well to mash it for a photo finish win. Jose Rojas was third and Thor Hushovd was fourth, continuing his outstanding Tour.

▲ Tactical cycling: Today was one of the most tactically fascinating stages in this year’s tour, mostly thanks to maillot jaune Thomas Voeckler covering an attack from Cofidis’ Tony Gallopin with 14 KM to go. That sent the peloton into a frenzy, taking Philippe Gilbert with him along with Tony Martin (HTC) and Dries Devenyns (QuickStep). Behind them, a number of riders tried to bridge the gap on the final descent of the day to bring back their sprinters, who stuck with the peloton over the final category 4 climb. Gilbert eventually broke free from the group with a brilliant downhill surge before being caught inside 5 KM left.

▲ BMC: Not for anything they did today, but the rumors were flying this morning that the upstart American team will sign world champion Thor Hushovd and Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert for next season. If that’s true - and if BMC can hang to former world champion Cadel Evans - they could be extremely strong next year. BMC currently lacks a true sprinting threat like Hushovd, and Gilbert would be a versatile complement to Evans.

▲ Doping: It took nine days, but the Tour had its first doping ejection on Monday’s rest day. Katusha’s Alexandr Kolobnev was kicked out, giving fodder once again for the critics who love to hate the sport and its unclean image. Personally, I think cycling is cleaner than it’s been in decades, thanks in large part to the new bio passport and no-needle rules, but public perception is truth these days.


TRENDING DOWN

▼ RadioShack: Decimated RadioShack lost another rider when Yaroslav Popovych did not start due to a fever. They’re down to five riders, and Leipheimer was caught in another early crash. The Shack must be in survival mode now, with little hope of making an impact unless they can steal a stage somewhere.

▼ Crashes: One minor spill early on today involved a number of riders with no lasting effects. I tweeted on Sunday that I thought it would be a huge shame if NBC/Versus decided to latch onto this year’s carnage - and especially the Flecha/Hoogerland incident, which has become international news - to promote professional cycling in the United States. While I’m normally for whatever it takes to popularize the sport here, I don’t think misrepresenting what cycling is about is the right way to win fans. Hoogerland’s crash is not right to leverage, but Hoogerland’s response is - that is, bravely riding on, accepting and holding the polka dot jersey, and crossing the line today with blood soaking through his dressings. The “suffering is success” angle is what is so compelling and unique about cycling, not that fans should come to expect accidents like in auto racing.


ALBERTO CONTADOR KARMA WATCH

All’s quiet for Contador today. Must have been karma’s rest day, because based on Contador’s excuse-making yesterday, he’s setting himself up for some expected failure in the mountains.


RUSSIAN CYCLING HERO VLADIMIR KARPETS WATCH

Karpets lost teammate Alexandr Kolobnev to doping yesterday, but that didn’t stop our 6’3” mullet-loving comrade from continuing his 2011 form by doing absolutely nothing today. I prefer to think he is just waiting for his opportunity, psychologically intimidating certain small Spanish riders into thinking he is liable to, say, drop a box of thumb tacks on the road up Alpe D’Huez.


STAGE 11 PREDICTION

One of the last chances for the sprinters comes tomorrow with a relatively easy go into Lavaur. A late category 4 climb shouldn’t be anything to prevent Mark Cavendish from winning the stage - and you know he’s got to be fuming after today’s result.

Today was one of those days that makes you question the sanity of professional cycling. Two more scary incidents topped anything else the Tour de Crash has thrown at us this week, including a disgraceful sideswipe of a Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland by a media car while riding in the lead group. When you see something like that happen (on top of the motorbike incident earlier this week), you start to question the safety of this riders with the circus of vehicles on the road with them. I would not be surprised to see a smackdown from the organizers on the conduct and use of vehicles.

THE CRASHES
Three notable incidents today. A solo butt-on-the-ground from Alberto Contador began the day (details below), but the main event was a terrible chain reaction at the front of the peloton that saw Alexandre Vinokourov fly down an embankment and into the woods, breaking his femur and presumably ending his career. He had a brave ride yesterday, and it’s a damn shame to see him go out that way. The carnage wasn’t limited to Astana, however, as Rabobank lost top GC’er Jurgen vanden Broeck with a broken clavicle and Garmin-Cervélo lost American Dave Zabriskie to a broken wrist.

The more spectacular and horrifying incident came with 35 KM left at the leading group. A media car inexplicably swerved to sideswipe Juan Antonio Flecha, knocking him into polka-dot-to-be Johnny Hoogerland, who went flying (literally) off the road and into a barb-wire fence. It was a disgraceful piece of driving by the camera car; both men were able to continue, but a bleeding and hurting Hoogerland struggled to finish in order to claim his climber’s jersey. Both men were awarded the day’s “fighting spirit” award - the first time more than one man has ever gotten it.

TRENDING UP
▲ The French: Thomas Voeckler, who rides for the wildcard Europcar team, had been aggressive all Tour long, and he was rewarded today with the yellow jersey and a very sizeable lead in the overall classification. Compatriot Sandy Casar was third after working with him all day long in the breakaway. Voeckler should ride in yellow all the way to the mountains, which could be a perfect opportunity for…

▲ Luis Leon Sanchez: The Rabobank rider now stands in second place, 1:49 behind Voeckler, and he has to be licking his chops to make a move in the Pyrenees in his home nation of Spain. Sanchez had a strong ride today, not always working with the front group, but doing his own thing and winning his third career stage with a strong kick at the end.

▲ Big GC guys: Forget the big time advantage for Voeckler - he won’t hold it. Sanchez is a threat but can be caught. For the guys like Cadel Evans, the Schlecks, Andreas Kloden, and a surprising Peter Velits, they are in a solid position to attack by the end of the week. The top of the GC stands:

1. Thomas Voeckler, Europcar
2. Luis Leon Sanchez, Rabobank, +1:46
3. Cadel Evans, BMC, +2:26
4. Frank Schleck, Leopard-Trek, +2:29
5. Andy Schleck, Leopard-Trek, +2:37

STUCK IN NEUTRAL
◄ ► Omega Pharma-Lotto: A mixed bag for OPL, which keeps Philippe Gilbert in green with a sizeable lead, but loses vanden Broeck and Frederik Willems for the tour. Gilbert had to race back to the peloton with a late puncture, finishing fourth overall.

TRENDING DOWN
▼ Garmin-Cervélo: We knew it would be the final day in yellow for Thor Hushovd, but the American team took a huge hit when they lost Dave Zabriskie to a broken wrist in the same crash that took out Alexandre Vinokourov and Jurgen van den Broeck. Zabriskie had been a good worker for Garmin-Cervélo this week and was a big reason why Hushovd managed to hang onto the yellow jersey as long as he did.

ALBERTO CONTADOR KARMA WATCH
Still favoring karma! Contador went down early again today, but the Twitterverse is abuzz with exactly WHY he crashed. From initial viewing, it appeared he had perhaps clipped a wheel and skidded off, going face-first into a spectator before a hard fall on his butt. But in the Twitter Conspiracy Universe, Katusha’s Vladimir Karpets appears to have pushed him - as in, he reached out and shoved him - to the ground. You be the judge.

Rest day tomorrow, I’ll do a little something anyway.

A thrilling stage that saw its first successful breakaway of the Tour thanks to Movistar’s Rui Costa surviving as the last of a nine-man group to win. It was a day for tactical cycling with superb rides by Tejay van Garderen and Thor Hushovd, who miraculously stayed in yellow as the peloton pulled back a late attack by Alexandre Vinokourov. 
TRENDING UP
▲ Thor Hushovd: Did not see that coming. But then, who did? Everyone just assumed that Hushovd would be out of yellow after today - including Hushovd himself, who said after yesterday’s stage that Garmin-Cervelo would not try to defend the yellow. It would take another herculean effort to keep it tomorrow - but it’s so much fun to watch this guy.
▲ Tejay van Garderen: The young American riding for HTC-Highroad made sure everyone knows his name, putting on a brave performance as part of the early break to be the first over the Col de la Croix Saint-Robert. He dueled with Rui Costa, Christophe Riblon, and Cyril Gautier for the better part of 20 KM, earning not only the day’s most combative award, but the polka dot jersey. He’s just 22 years old, but he got a heck of an education today.
▲ Rui Costa and Movistar: For the first time in this year’s Tour, a breakaway stayed out as Costa punched his way from a nine-man group and then from the group with van Garderen, Riblon, and Gautier. He fended off the late charge by Alexandre Vinokourov to earn Movistar its first win - a well-deserved one, I think, considering how aggressive they’ve been this week.

STUCK IN NEUTRAL
◄ ► Alexandre Vinokourov: So much effort with nothing to show. A gutsy attack going up the category 2 Col de la Croix Saint-Robert got him clear of the peloton, and the Astana rider sliced his way past a variety of breakaway riders to nearly catch up with late leader Rui Costa and get himself in virtual yellow. But Vino blew up on the final climb and the peloton (including Hushovd) caught him to end what may have been his one best chance in this Tour.
◄ ► BMC: A mixed bag for the American team today. On the one hand, they avoided any major damage to Cadel Evans, who stays a second off the yellow jersey. But they appeared caught out on Vinokourov’s attack, being nowhere near the front despite having done the vast majority of the early pace-making in the stage. All’s well that ends well, but they avoided a tactical bomb today.

TRENDING DOWN
▼ Alberto Contador: He looked awful on that final climb. You have to wonder if something’s wrong - his formerly fluid, almost musical climbing style seemed stilted and awkward going in the final kilometer, and he was unable to cover late attacks by Philippe Gilbert and Cadel Evans.

BEST WISHES
Chris Horner: Seeing the video of Horner after stage 7, not knowing where he was or if he had finished, was absolutely heartbreaking. Thankfully, reports say he’s doing well.

STAGE 9 PREDICTION
Sunday’s stage is similar to today’s, albeit with eight categorized climbs, including three cat 2’s in the middle. The intermediate sprint and finish, however, are after the major hills, which means the field could have a chance to catch anyone who goes out early. If Thor has enough in the tank, he could keep yellow for one more day - the stage is anybody’s guess, but it might be a day for someone like Philippe Gilbert, who regained the green jersey today and will no doubt want to keep it.

The manta of the first week of this year’s Tour de France has been, “stay in the front, stay out of trouble.” It’s been useful advice, and even more valuable today after a massive crash split the peloton late in the stage, forcing the abandonment of Bradley Wiggins and causing a 3:06 loss of time for the likes of Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, Ryder Hesjedal, and Roman Kreuziger.

TRENDING UP

▲ HTC-Highroad: Mark Cavendish returned to the scene of his first-ever TdF stage victory to do it again. There was never a doubt after the crash split the peloton and the entire HTC-Highroad team managed to stay up front, leaving behind most of his main rivals including Tyler Farrar. Cavendish also took the intermediate sprint over the field, though not before the four-man break was caught.

▲ BMC and Leopard-Trek: Cadel Evans and the Schleck boys stayed out of trouble, quietly staying above the fray to position themselves before the mountains begin. Evans remains a second off the lead, Frank Schleck is four seconds back, and Andy Schleck 10 seconds back. Meanwhile, Leopard-Trek teammate Jakob Fuglsang is also 12 seconds back, and Linus Gerdemann has been putting in strong stages as well.

▲ Wildcard teams: Getting into the Tour means plenty of valuable camera time for your sponsors, and so far the five wildcard teams (Cofidis, Vacansoleil, FDJ, Europcar, and Saur-Sojasun) have been in a break every day so far. Vacansoleil’s Johnny Hoogerland is also riding in polka dots. Several of their riders - most notably FDJ’s Jeremy Roy and Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler - have been especially aggressive with early attacks and would be deserving of a stage win in the next few days before they hit the big climbs.

▲ Karma: Still trending up! Why? Because SaxoBank is dead last in the team standings, that’s why.

▲ My Movistar Crush: Jose Joaquin Rojas, still in green! I don’t really understand why or how, but he is.


STUCK IN NEUTRAL

◄ ► Garmin-Cervélo: The American team has had a great tour so far and suffered perhaps its first nick today with top GC’er Ryder Hesjedal getting caught in the crash to lose over three minutes. However, Thor Hushovd stayed in yellow (for perhaps the final day), finished in the top 10 again, and topped his day by handing his podium flowers to a nearby mademoiselle, like a pimp.


TRENDING DOWN

▼ Sky: After popping their stage win cherry with Edvald Boassen Hagen yesterday, things turned disasterous for Sky today with Bradley Wiggins abandoning due to a broken collarbone in that big crash. Virtually the entire Sky team waited to find out Wiggins’ status, then put together an impromptu team time trial to get back to the chasing peloton. That cost Geraint Thomas his white jersey.

▼ RadioShack: Karma has fairly punished SaxoBank, but I’m not sure what RadioShack has done to deserve this. Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner got caught up hard in the crash; Horner’s Tour is basically done as he lost 12:41 to finish dead last, and he appeared hurt. Meanwhile, Leipheimer, who crashed just outside 3 KM left yesterday to lose over a minute, got caught in the chaos and then flatted while chasing back to 3:06. Yaroslav Popovych and Sergio Paulinho each finish 6:38 back. The one silver lining: Andreas Kloden stayed with the front group and is quietly sitting in fifth overall, only 10 seconds off yellow.

▼ Tom Boonen and Quick Step: Poor Tom Boonen. The Quick Step leader and former world champion has always been one of my favorite riders to root for, but his Tour is done after that nasty crash on Wednesday forced him to abandon today. He bravely rode through the pain on yesterday’s long stage, but it became clear he couldn’t do anything more. It’s a huge blow for Quick Step, which also has Sylvain Chavanel riding with a hurt shoulder.


STAGE 8 PREDICTION

Now then, time for the big boys to come out and play. An early catogory 4 climb before the intermediate sprint will make things interesting, then a constant uphill before a big cat 2 climb up the Col de la Croix Saint-Robert. The finish is a cat 3 kick up to Super-Besse Sancy. The sprinters will be out of it, and some one new will be looking for yellow - someone like Cadel Evans.

After yesterday’s carnage, the peloton played it cool today in slippery conditions, and Sky earned its first-ever stage win thanks to Edvald Boasson Hagen. It was not a stage for the sprinters as some thought, and an all-out finish never really developed despite Matty Goss and Thor Hushovd being right there. Levi Leipheimer’s hopes took a big hit with a late crash, while Mark Cavendish was on-form with a convincing intermediate sprint win over the field (Anthony Roux, in a five-man break, took the full intermediate sprint points).

Many more winners than losers today as almost everyone stayed out trouble, despite the rain…


TRENDING UP

▲ Sky: Edvald Boasson Hagen has been right there all week long, and he was the man to get Sky their first-ever Tour stage win with a brilliant move just inside a kilometer to go. The field had to fend off two really good attacks by Jelle Vanendert and Thomas Voeckler up a steep uncategorized climb, and Boassen Hagen helped pull them back and take the stage despite a lack of team support up front. It was Boassen Hagen, you’ll recall, who launched an ambitious but unsuccessful attack with around 800m left yesterday.

▲ Adriano Malori: Lampre needed a boost and Malori provided it, deservedly winning most combative honors for a long breakaway that ended with a solo jaunt through the rain until he was caught with just 2.7 KM left. Lampre had been, in my opinion, not living up to potential this year, with the likes of Alessandro Pettachi being all but invisible so far.

▲ Karma: Has there been a day yet where Alberto Contador hasn’t either crashed or had some sort of mechanical malady? Just sayin’.

STUCK IN NEUTRAL

◄ ► Christian Vande Velde: He’s been quiet. Too quiet. Sitting 1:57 down in the overall classification, Garmin-Cervélo’s best GC hope has been all but invisible this week after that disasterous first day. With such a strong team, when will he make his move? Certainly not tomorrow, but after that…

TRENDING DOWN

▼ Levi Leipheimer: It has not been a good three days for RadioShack. Leipheimer was really the only casualty of the rain today, hitting a painted road line just outside 3 KM to go and skidding down. Although apparently unhurt, he ended up losing about 1:05 in the general classification.


STAGE 7 PREDICTION

Probably the best sprinter’s stage in this year’s Tour, but with a curious catch - the intermediate sprint is not in the middle, but rather, it’s just 26 KM from the finish. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out and if anyone will try to double up… someone like, say, Tyler Farrar.

What a weird, nervous, carnage-filled day. Watching this stage was one of those times where I found myself wincing every 15 minutes as one rider after another crashed out. The big GC guys managed to stay out of trouble, and it was Mark Cavendish who came out of nowhere from behind a pack to burst out for his 16th career stage victory, just ahead of my pick, Jose Rojas.

TRENDING UP

▲ Mark Cavendish: The Manx Missile grabbed his first stage win of 2011, coming back from around 10th place with 300 meters to go to pip Philippe Gilbert and Jose Rojas at the line.

 ▲ Attacking: With the crosswinds, today was almost the day that an attack stayed out as Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler separated from FDJ’s Jeremy Roy late. After earning the most combative honor yesterday in Stage 4, Roy attacked again with 33 KM and took Voeckler with him; Voeckler went again after the catch. Today’s aggressive award went to Jose Gutierrez, who attacked early for the second time in this tour (and in my opinion should have gotten it on Stage 2).

▲ The Big GC’ers: Everybody who needed to stay out of trouble did so for the most part. Although Alberto Contador was put down in a relatively heavy spill, he got back without too much trouble. 

STUCK IN NEUTRAL

◄ ► Jose Rojas: The Movistar man keeps his green jersey for another day, but was unconvincing on both sprints. At the intermediate sprint, it didn’t seem like his timing was on, setting up a nice three-man lead-out but ultimately going too early as Tom Boonen came up on the right to beat the field. At the finish, Rojas looked to have an edge before Cavendish surged past - although, not much you can do against someone like that. 

TRENDING DOWN

▼ Crashes, everywhere: I’ve lost count. My gosh, that was rough. I’m sure I’m missing someone, but I saw Bradley Wiggins, Sylvain Chavanel, Levi Leipheimer, Geraint Thomas, Carlos Barredo, Janez Brajkovic, Robert Gesink, Contador, Nicki Sorensen, Yaroslav Popovych, Tom Boonen, Lars Boom, Gert Steegman, and Ivan Velasco all go down in eight or nine different incidents. Of them, Brajkovic was sadly forced to abandon, Boonen was very banged up and dropped well off the back (but I believe he still made the time cut), Velasco clipped a barrier and looked very hurt, and Sorensen is lucky to be alive after being dragged by a stupid motorbike (thankfully he appeared OK and finished). Christophe Kern (Europcar) also abandoned due to a pre-existing injury.

▼ Albert Contador: The frustration continues. This was just a day when he and the other GC’ers had to stay out of trouble, but he went down hard midway through the day, throwing his bike off the side of the road in disgust. Physically he seemed OK after switching, but you have to feel like some of Cadel Evans’ bad juju from last year has rubbed off on Contador. Karma much?

▼ RadioShack: Losing Brajkovic really hurts RadioShack’s other three GC’ers, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, and Andreas Kloden. He’s somebody who could’ve really helped them in the mountains. 

Stage 6 Prediction

The Tour’s longest stage is another mixed bag, with a pair of category 3 climbs and a push up a cat 4 before the finish in Lisieux. There’s bound to be a split at some point, especially if it stays windy. I like Philippe Gilbert, who has had a really strong tour so far and seems custom-made for a stage like this.

YAY NEWS MEDIA!

Jan. 14, 2011
Freakout over “Ground Zero mosque” ramps up
(Meanwhile… the Tunisia revolution sparks Arab Spring)

March 7, 2011
Charlie Sheen not #winning, shitcanned from CBS
(Meanwhile… Libyan fighting intensifies)

April 1, 2011
It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday
(Meanwhile… Six US soldiers die in Iraq)

April 29, 2011
World introduced to Pippa Middleton’s ass
(Meanwhile… Tornadoes kill more than 280 in the southern US)

May 21, 2011
World does not end
(Meanwhile… Dozens of children buried in Malaysian landslide)

June 16, 2011
Anthony Weiner resigns for tweeting dick pics
(Meanwhile… Libya military cost reaches over $700 million)

July 5, 2011
Casey Anthony declared not guilty, but is totally guilty
(Meanwhile… Pres. Obama calls bipartisan debt talks to head off US default)

Another day, another great finish as the big boys came out to play on Stage 4. With rain and slick roads as a backdrop causing tons of mechanical difficulties for the field, Cadel Evans recovered from his own mishaps thanks to a phenomenal ride by his BMC teammates to win the stage by inches over an aggressive Alberto Contador.


TRENDING UP

▲ BMC: Cadel Evans rode like someone who absolutely is convinced he can win the Tour de France. And after seeing what BMC brought to the table today, I’m not so sure he’s wrong. BMC shared the load at the front with Omega Pharma-Lotto all day long, working to keep Evans out of trouble; the Aussie twice suffered mechanical difficulties on course, however, only to be brought back to the peloton and put on the front. You have to love George Hincapie pulling the field up the start of the final wall, doing a superhuman ride to stretch the front out and force Alberto Contador’s hand. Evans won’t wear the yellow tomorrow (and he shouldn’t care) but he will get a nice bonus of the polka dot jersey.

▲ Thor Hushovd: Who saw THAT coming? Can someone tell Thor he’s supposed to be an elite sprinter? Yesterday, he’s leading out Farrar. Today, he’s pulling himself up a severe incline and covering attacks by the likes of Contador, Evans, and Jurgen van den Broeck. So much fun to watch and he earns a well-deserved extra day in yellow.

▲ Tyler Farrar: The young American pulled off a nice encore to his first stage win yesterday, capturing the intermediate sprint over the field for the second time in this Tour. That signals he is serious about going after the green jersey, which will be held by Jose Rojas for another day.

▲ FDJ and Movistar: Aggressive once again as both teams put men out in the early break. FDJ’s Jeremy Roy initiated the five-man attack, and Movistar’s Imanol Erviti went with him to win the intermediate sprint and take over the virtual yellow for a time. I’d love to see Movistar get a stage win at some point this week out of green-jersey holder Jose Rojas. OK, fine, I’ll admit it - I’m getting a Eurocrush on Movistar.


STUCK IN NEUTRAL

◄ ► Alberto Contador: There wasn’t much more Contador could do with a short climb like this, and I doubt he expected his attack with 1.5 KM to go to be covered so adeptly by Evans and Hushovd, of all people. As it stands, Contador came away with no stage victory and no time gained - but he didn’t lose anything either, and the field now knows he is serious about racing back into it.


LOSERS

▼ Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner: RadioShack actually had a good ride, putting their GC guys out front and finishing all of them within eight seconds of the lead. But it was Andreas Kloden who stuck with the first group, gaining eight seconds on his teammates. It’ll be really interesting to see how RadioShack plays this now with Kloden sitting in fifth overall, 10 seconds off Hushovd.

▼ Bike Mechanics: Bad day to be a bike tire in France. With the weather we saw mechanical problems all day long, although the stage was thankfully crash-free except for a tumble during the neutral start.

STAGE 5 PREDICTION

My Movistar crush continues - stage 5 is one for the sprinters and I like Jose Rojas.

Not a lot of drama on stage 3 until the finish when Tyler Farrar captured a deserved first career stage win for Garmin-Cervélo. That makes me 2-for-2 on stage predictions so far. Just saying.

TRENDING UP

▲ Tyler Farrar: On the Fourth of July, the young American picked up his emotional first stage win, immediately paying tribute to Wouter Weylandt as he came across the line. With Thor Hushovd in yellow as the lead-out and Mark Cavendish no where to be found, Farrar had little trouble with what ended up being an anemic sprint after disorganization behind.

▲ Jose Ivan Gutierrez and Movistar: Has any continental (EDIT: My bad. They’re full UCI Pro. Thanks MaverickIsAirborn) team gotten more facetime in the opening three days than the aggressive Movistar squad? Jose Ivan Gutierrez got out in the opening five-man break, making it twice out of two road stages that the former Caisse d’Epargne has had a man out front to earn their sponsorship euros. This time, Gutierrez put together a brilliant tactical ride, mugged for the camera the whole time, and initiated a late attack with FDJ’s Mickael Delage to hold off the peloton, no doubt pleasing his new Spanish telecom overlords. To top it off, Movistar’s Jose Rojas will ride in green tomorrow after a strong sprint finish.

▲ Mickael Delage: Speaking of Delage, he won the day’s most aggressive award after winning the intermediate sprint and the King of the Mountain point up the Saint Nazaire Bridge. Still, it was Gutierrez who did the bulk of the work for the 150 km they were out.

STUCK IN NEUTRAL

◄ ► Mark Cavendish: After an admitted “lack of enthusiasm” on the intermediate sprint during Stage 1, Cavendish went all-out to beat the field on Monday. He ended up in a nice battle with Thor Hushovd and Phillipe Gilbert, leaning in on the former while using the latter as a makeshift lead-out. At the finish, however, HTC-Highroad’s lead-out broke up with a kilometer to go after a strong pull by Tony Martin, and Cavendish was no where near the front after getting caught in the pack, winding up fifth. At what point do we get to start slapping the “mercurial” tag on Cavendish? (EDIT: Turns out both Cav and Hushovd were stripped of their intermediate sprint points for getting into each other. To me that seems harsh on Hushovd as it looked like Cavendish leaned into him).

TRENDING DOWN

▼ Lampre-ISD: Lampre put together a great lead-out at the midway sprint for Alessandro Petacchi, but it all blew apart a kilometer from the line. The Italian had five teammates pulling two kilometers out, but their form quickly fell apart to leave him out cold.

▼ Ivan Basso: Poor Basso. As if the first two days didn’t go badly enough for him, he gets caught out and dropped at the Saint-Nazaire Bridge. He and Sylvan Chavanel worked to get back, but sitting around at the back of the peloton during even a short climb, you have to wonder if he’s even convinced himself he has a shot to get back in the GC. 

STAGE 4 PREDICTION
A tough stage for four days in, with a category 4 climb just before the intermediate sprint and then a cat 3 climb to the finish line at Mûr-de-Bretagne. I like Sky’s Geraint Thomas, who will have visions of yellow in his eyes if he can win.

A team time trial that delivered on drama but not quite as much seperation in the general classification as expected. World champion Thor Hushovd ends the day in yellow, while all the big names sans Alberto Contador stayed at the top. 

WINNERS

▲ Garmin-Cervélo: As predicted, Garmin-Cervélo put together a monster time trial on the backs of Dave Zabriskie and Ryder Hesjedal to put Thor Hushovd in yellow. Hushovd can well expect to keep that through stage 7.

▲ U-S-A! U-S-A!: The four Yankee squads - Garmin-Cervelo, BMC, HTC-Highroad, and RadioShack - dominated the team time trial, taking the top two spots and four of the top six. RadioShack, in sixth, only loses 10 seconds for their trio of GCers in Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, and Andreas Kloden. The ride of HTC-Highroad was remarkable after recovering from the loss of Bernie Eisel on a fall in an early corner.

▲ Andy Schleck: The biggest surprise, to me, was the form of Andy Schleck, who stuck with it and was pulled to a fourth-place finish by Fabian Cancellara just five seconds adrift of Hushovd. More importantly, it added 23 seconds to his GC gap over Alberto Contador. And how much of a TT beast is Cancellara? He spent three times more time pulling in front than his teammates over the course.

▲ Cadel Evans: How can it be a GOOD thing to finish a second off the yellow jersey in what has to be considered a disappointment? Look, everybody knows Evans finds his way into unlucky situations. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing for him and BMC to sit back and watch everyone else go at Garmin-Cervelo for a week. Hushovd isn’t going to ride into Paris with yellow - may as well let him take the pressure for the first week.

LOSERS

▼ Alberto Contador: Every other major GC contender smelled blood and went after it. Contador willed and dragged a disorganized Saxobank team to the line in a respectable eighth, but he still lost anywhere from 18 to 28 seconds more to his top competitors, including 24 seconds to Bradley Wiggins, Leipheimer, and Horner, and 23 seconds to Andy Schleck. Contador stands 1:42 back.

▼ Ivan Basso: Liquigas laid a stinker, finishing 57” back in 15th. Basso is still in better shape than Contador at 57” off the lead, but it’s just more work he’ll have to do in the mountains.

▼ Sammy Sanchez: Cooked. Nobody expected Euskatel-Euskadi to do anything special with the TTT, but a 2:36 gap might have ended his Tour hopes before they began.

AMAZING

Edvald Boasson Hagen: Poor dude has shingles? That sucks. Still second in the white jersey classification and eighth overall, which is more than Tony LaRussa can say.

Bernie Eisel: An embarassing spill on one of the opening corners looked like it doomed HTC-Highroad, but they bounced back for a good finish, and Eisel miraculously finished in time despite riding virtually the entire course himself.

STAGE 3 PREDICTION

One for the sprinters, albeit with a late category 4 climb and the potential for some wind havoc. I’ve got a hungry Tyler Farrar winning in a sprint.

I’m so fucking bored and I feel like writing, since I haven’t been to work in days and I won’t get to go back until next week. So I’m going to write my Tour de France thoughts each night until I don’t feel like it anymore (give or take five days).

Wow. What an opening stage. The organizers killed it this year - dropping the prologue for this beauty of an opener was perfect, and simplifying the intermediate sprint point made for a nice bit of drama in the middle. Add in Sunday’s team time trial, and the general classification is already potentially a shambles only two days into the race.

Ride of the Day: Cadel Evans, BMC. After getting snake-bitten year after year with stupid opening-week errors, Evans stayed at the front with a couple of teammates in a bid to keep out of trouble. This paid off huge when the first crash happened with 8 km to go, separating Evans from Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez. A number of other GC’ers also stayed ahead of the trouble - most notable Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinokourov, and Levi Leipheimer - which will only add pressure on Contador on Sunday since he is on what is perceived to be a weak TT team.

Biggest Loser: Alberto Contador, SaxoBank. Granted, 1:20 isn’t a ton of time to make up once you hit the mountains, and in years past he has been content to sit out of yellow for the opening week or two before killing the field in the climbs. But to spot Schleck such a lead - especially when Leopard-Trek has a TT master like Fabian Cancellara to put more pressure on tomorrow - it won’t be easy.

What Was He Thinking?: Mark Cavendish, HTC-Highroad. Cavendish sat up at the intermediate sprint as Tyler Farrar earned the well-deserved sprint points, but seemingly didn’t even realize the American was coming up on his left. This was not a stage Cavendish was going to win after all with that more-brutal-than-expected Cat 4 finish, but he’ll have to show more coming up.

Stage 2 Prediction: High winds are forecast for the team time trial on Sunday. So many intriguing questions only a day into the Tour. Can Cancellara pull along Andy Schleck and help bury Contador? How much will Contador lose riding on SaxoBank? Can Leipheimer recapture that magical TT finish from the Tour de Suisse and turn in a big result for RadioShack? I think Leopard-Trek will be hampered by the Schlecks, who have never quite figured out TTing, and it’ll be Garmin-Cervelo that hammers it out.