Cycling and other bike racing

TDF, 4th stage : Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Lille
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So the TDF has finally arrived in France. This was a flat stage, won in a sprint.

1. Marcel Kittel
http://www.wielerflits.nl/wielerpics/389kittel.jpg
2. Alexander Kristoff
3. Arnaud Démare
4. Peter Sagan
5. Bryan Coquard

Andy Schleck (winner of the TDF 2010 after original winner Alberto Contador was disqualified because of doping) didn't start today. He was one of quite a few riders who fell yesterday on the way to London. Personally, I think Andy Schleck's days are a top rider are over. He is mentally fragile and tends to give up whenever something bad happens to him.
http://news.velonation.com/Men/Road/...TrekHS14-1.jpg
Andy Schleck

There was an accident in the peloton again today early on the race, with perhaps the peloton's most high profile rider : Chris Froome, winner of last year's TDF, fell in the beginning of this stage. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt badly and was able to continue.
http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive...oome-getty.jpg
Chris Froome


Meanwhile, the traditional breakaway had already formed. Today's escapees were France's most popular rider Thomas Voeckler and Spanish rider Luis Angel Maté.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...ticleLarge.jpg
Voeckler (on the right, this is not a pic from the actual stage) is a former French national champion, temporary bearer of the yellow jersey in the TDF about ten years ago and winner of various stages in the TDF. Although he is a fan favorite in his home country quite a few riders and commentators slightly dislike him because he is very aware of the cameras, which seems to influence his behavior. The pic above is typical of him... People say that as soon as Voeckler spots the camera, he makes 'suffering faces'.
http://cdn2.media.cyclingnews.future...708606_600.jpg
Luis Angel Maté is relatively unknown. He rides for French team Cofidis.

Voeckler and Maté never managed to get a very big lead on the peloton. Towards the final part of the stage Voeckler left Maté behind. Voeckler was able to stay in front of the race until 15 kilometers before the finish line.

There was another accident in the peloton, causing three riders to fall, all members of Belgium's Lotto Team. New Zealander Greg Henderson had to give up because he was too badly injured. His Belgian team mate Bart Declercq (who was member of a breakaway earlier on in this TDF) was injured rather badly too, but was able to continue. Declercq is mainly a rider for the mountain stages. Fortunately, he has a few days left until 'his' stages come up. Danish rider Lars Bak was able to continue as well after having fallen.
http://news.velonation.com/Men/Road/...eg_TDU12-1.jpg
Greg Henderson, lead out man for sprinter André Greipel.

The sprint was very interesting this time around. It seemed as if Mark Renshaw was going to win the stage with 600 meters to go. His sprint train was very strong and had brought him to the front of the peloton at the right spot in the sprint. But Renshaw (who is normally a lead out man for Cavendish) isn't very 'explosive' (as they say in cycling) and didn't manage to jump out of the pack 300 meters later.
http://www.dewielersite.net/db2/wiel...ark%202011.JPG
Mark Renshaw

About 100 meters later sprint favorite Marcel Kittel didn't see the finish line and started sprinting too early (not in the first position of the peloton, though), 500 meters away from the finish line. As soon as he realized this, he waited and started sprinting again at the 250 meters mark. Meanwhile, Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff held the second spot in the peloton, only preceded by a lead out team mate.
http://www.katushateam.com/img/upload/Kristoff1.jpg
Alexander Kristoff.

Kristoff's sprint train was one man short so Kristoff was left without any team mates at about the 400 meters mark, leading the peloton. In normal circumstances, this is way too early for a sprinter to still win the stage. But Kristoff made the best of it and lead until the very last 20 meters. Only then Marcel Kittel passed him. Kittel was so tired he didn't even throw his arms up in the air to celebrate.

Sprinter André Greipel finished 6th, due to his sprint train being shaken up by the accident mentioned above.

This marks Kittel's third stage win in this TDF. Overall, he has won 7 stages in TDFs. As many as his famous compatriots Rudi Altag (back in the 60s) former overall TDF winner Jan Ullrich (in the 90s).

WATCH TODAY'S SPRINT HERE
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_4

There were no important changes in the GQ. Italian Vincenzo Nibali gets to keep the yellow jersey (= overall leader). Peter Sagan, who finished 4th today, keeps his green jersey (best sprinter) as well. In case you're wondering why Sagan still has this jersey while Kittel is winning so many stages... There are also sprints during the stage, next to the final sprint. These smaller sprints also count for the green jersey classification. Cyril Lemoin gets to keep the polka-dot jersey (best climber). There were only 2 small hills (4th category, which is the lowest category) in today's stage.
http://blogimages.seniorennet.be/mar...6c606937c5.jpg
Peter Sagan in the green jersey.

Tomorrow's stage will be the most interesting stage yet. It incorporates some of the infamous cobble stone roads of the classic French one day race Paris-Roubaix. Normally, tomorrow's stage will not end in a sprint. We will get to see other kinds of riders in the lead, those who are used to riding 'the classics' in spring (Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix etc.)

It is no secret that the GQ favorites are afraid of tomorrow's stage. They cannot win the TDF there, but they can sure lose it there. If there are strong winds, chances are the peloton gets split up into various big parts. The GQ favorites have to make sure they are all in the first part of the peloton. Because of the cobble stones more riders will fall tomorrow too. The GQ riders have to be attentive all day, trying to avoid being involved in accidents in the peloton.

All GQ riders have explored this stage beforehand, with their whole team, including specialist cobble stone riders. Some of them were shown around by retired riders who have won Paris-Roubaix.

This two-and-a-half-minute video captures the atmosphere of Paris-Roubaix perfectly and shows you what tomorrow's stage is all about.

This just in... Seems I was too harsh on Andy Schleck. A check up in the hospital revealed a serious knee injury. In fact, he has just been operated on.

Well, I guess Team Sky got what they deserved for putting all their eggs in one basket.

Hoping that Richie Porte can take this opportunity to shine, now that he does not have to be someone's domestique. Hopefully he can put some of the other top GC riders into some bad situations once they get to the Alps.

Unfortunately, I haven't watched any stages. Sounds like I'm missing out on some good action.

^^Porte can definitely do his own thing now, but personally I think 3 weeks might be just a bit too long for him. I agree with you that the one leader tactic for a team is very risky. Team Sky should have been able to convince Bradley Wiggins to participate in the TDF as well.
http://www.ridemedia.com.au/wp-conte...z_dsc_7463.jpg
Richie Porte

TDF, 5th stage : Ypres (Belgium) - Arenberg (France)
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The most feared stage of them all for GQ riders... And indeed, this stage did deliver. Drama abounded. The stage was meant to be a smaller version of the spring classic race Paris-Roubaix, with its characteristic cobble stone roads. Lots of riders are unfamiliar with these kinds of circumstances. Most Italian and Spanish riders have practically no experience with cobble stone roads. To add insult to injury the weather was really bad. (Riding on dry cobble stone roads is immensely different from riding on wet ones, because the latter are extremely slippery.)
http://bikeraceinfo.com/images-all/a...ages07/PR1.jpg

Because of the incessant rainfall and strong winds ASO (the organization behind the TDF) decided to skip two of the nine cobble stone roads one hour before the race started. Predictably, some teams were fiercely angry (those teams with cobble stone specialists who were aiming for the stage win). Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (multiple winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders) was especially venomous in an interview for Belgian TV, claiming 'the ASO has done its job in a half-assed way'. Teams with GQ hopefuls on the other hand were happy those 2 cobble roads (a total of 3 1/2 km) were skipped as they feared their main riders risked falling, having a flat tyre and thus losing a lot of time for the GQ.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...n_2293783b.jpg
Fabian Cancellara

In pre-stage interviews riders predicted it would be a quick race because of the strong wind. This proved to be true as the average speed in the first hour of the stage was a whopping 49km/h. Pretty soon after the official start a breakaway formed, consisting of Frenchmen Samuel Dumoulin and Tony Gallopin, Australian spring classic specialist Mathew Hayman, young Australian rider Simon Clarke, Dutch allrounder Lieuwe Westra(team mate of yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali and winner of a stage in this year's Dauphiné Libéré, the so-called 'small Tour de France'), German multiple time trial world champion Tony Martin, German spring classic specialist Marcus Burghardt and odd men out Estonian climber Rein Taaramae and Colombian climber Janier Acevedo, who both showed their inexperience with cobble stone roads pretty quickly.

Due to the torrential rain riders were falling at an alarming pace. One of them was last year's TDF GQ winner Chris Froome, who had already fallen yesterday as well. In fact, Froome fell twice in the early part of this stage and decided to give up. Surrounded by cameras he got into the team car, stilling wearing his helmet, obviously confused and shaken up. Too bad we had to say goodbye to one of this year's main contestants.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/...67_634x455.jpg
Chris Froome (picture taken after his first fall yesterday)

Meanwhile Team Astana, which yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali belongs to, were riding as fast as possible at the forefront of the peloton, trying to gain an advantage on Chris Froome, who had just fallen for the first time. Because of the high speed and the cobble stone roads the peloton split into several parts, with important riders like Spanish hopefuls Alberto Contador (former winner of the TDF) and Alejandro 'El Imbatide' Valverde and American Teejay Van Garderen ending up in the background, losing precious time to GQ favorites Vincenzo Nibali, Belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck and American Andrew Talansky (overall winner of this year's Dauphiné Libéré).

The first part of the peloton also included other notable riders such as - quite surprisingly- polka-dot jersey Cyril Lemoine and cobble stone specialists Fabian Cancellara,Sep Van Marcke, Lars Boom (a Dutchman who is a former world champion of off road cycling, a sport which is mainly popular in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland) and green jersey Peter Sagan.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ropping%29.jpg
Lars Boom

An enormous amount of riders took a (often spectacular) dive or had a puncture during the stage, making both the breakaway group and the various parts of the peloton increasingly smaller. While yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali was able to keep various team mates on board in the first part of the peloton (including a very impressive Jacob Fuglsang), GQ favorites Andrew Talansky and Jurgen Van Den Broeck fell and had to join later parts of the split up peloton.
http://bikeraceinfo.com/images-all/g...i-vincenzo.jpg
Vincenzo Nibali
http://garmin.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8345...9a86970c-600wi
Andrew Talansky
http://cdn.velonews.competitor.com/f...DB-659x440.jpg
Jurgen Van Den Broeck

In the second half of the race the first part of the peloton caught up with the breakaway. T[his group then rode together for quite a few kilometers, until Lars Boom, Vincenzo Nibali, Lieuwe Westra and Jakob Fuglsang left the other riders behind on one of the last cobble stone roads.
http://www.omropfryslan.nl/data/file...stanashirt.jpg
Lieuwe Westra, who won today's prize for rider who attacked most fiercely

Lieuwe Westra gave it his all for his GQ team mate Nibali, as did Fuglsang. Their plan was to gain as much time as possible on all of the other GQ favorites, specifically their biggest threat, Alberto Contador. They were not interested in the stage win (after all, Nibali has already won a stage in this year's TDF) and of course Lars Boom realized this. On the last cobble stone road Boom rode as fast as he could and left the others behind.

Boom won the stage with a lead of 19 seconds on Fuglsang and Nibali. This marks Boom's first stage win in the TDF ever, and the first victory for a Dutchman in the TDF since 2005 (back then Dutch climber Pieter Weening won a stage). Boom is a good rider who (amongst quite a few other races) won a stage in the Vuelta d'Espana earlier on in his career.

This stage was full of surprises :
*Nobody had expected yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali to excell on cobble stone roads, but he did. He was even able to leave behind absolute stage win favorites (cobble stone specialist riders) Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan.
*Last year's overall TDF winner Chris Froome abandoned the race today.
*There were even more accidents in the peloton than expected today. Chances are it will take ten years or more before the ASO (TDF organization) decides to include this kind of stage again.

Find tweets and videos of this amazing 5th stage of the TDF here :
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_5

and here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/

A lot has changed in the GQ today. It includes very significant changes for the GQ at the end of the TDF in two weeks. Let's have a look...

1 ITA Vincenzo Nibali AST 20u26'46"
2 DEN Jakob Fuglsang AST +2" (team mate of Nibali)
3 SLW Peter Sagan CAN +44" (still wears the green jersey, also nr 1 in the white jersey classification now)
4 POL Michal Kwiatkowski OPQ +50" (2nd in the white jersey classification)
5 SWI Fabian Cancellara TFR +1'17"
6 BEL Jurgen Van den Broeck LTB +1'45"
7 FRE Tony Gallopin LTB +1'45"(first Frenchman, very important to the French)
8 AUS Richie Porte SKY +1'54"
9 US Andrew Talansky GRS +2'05"
10 SPA Alejandro Valverde MOV +2'11"
11 FRE Romain Bardet ALM +2'11"
12 US Tejay van Garderen BMC +2'11"
13 POR Rui Costa LAM +2'11" (current world champion)
14 GBR Geraint Thomas SKY +2'16"
15 FRA Thibaut Pinot FDJ +2'25"
16 NED Tom Dumoulin GIA +2'25"
17 RUS Joeri Trofimov KAT +2'25"
18 NED Bauke Mollema BEL +2'27"
19 SPA Alberto Contador TCS +2'37"
20 BEL Jan Bakelants OPQ +2'39"


Other supposed contestants for the GQ can be forgotten about now, as they are already far behind. I'm referring to riders such as ...
*last year's Vuelta d'Espana winner Chris Horner, an American rider (who's already 42 years old btw)
*Pierre Roland, a Frenchman who earned the 4th spot in this year's Giro d'Italia
*Luxemburger Fränk Schleck (former top 10 TDF rider)
*Spanish rider Joaquim Rodrigez (last year nr 3 in TDF, but he's just competing now to prepare for this year's Vuelta d'Espana)

ANALYSIS OF TODAY'S GQ - who realistically still has a shot at winning the TDF?
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Leaving out the names of 'domestiques' (helpers of GQ riders) and riders who will not make an impression in the mountain stages at all, we are left with the following riders from the GQ top 20...

1 ITA Vincenzo Nibali AST 20u26'46"

4 POL Michal Kwiatkowski OPQ +50"

6 BEL Jurgen Van den Broeck LTB +1'45"

8 AUS Richie Porte SKY +1'54"

9 US Andrew Talansky GRS +2'05"

10 SPA Alejandro Valverde MOV +2'11"

11 FRE Romain Bardet ALM +2'11"

12 US Tejay van Garderen BMC +2'11"

13 POR Rui Costa LAM +2'11" (current world champion)

15 FRA Thibaut Pinot FDJ +2'25"

16 NED Tom Dumoulin GIA +2'25"

17 RUS Joeri Trofimov KAT +2'25"

18 NED Bauke Mollema BEL +2'27"

19 SPA Alberto Contador TCS +2'37"

Having a closer look at the list above, I can tell you riders like Trofimov and Dumoulin will not likely improve their GQ slot over the course of the TDF. Kwiatkowski will probably lose (quite) a few slots, since he doesn't perform well on the really high mountains.

Then there are dark horses like Bardet, Porte, Costa and Pinot. Some analysts say Costa is a top 5 contender this year (as he is no longer part of Valverde's team and can do his own thing). This might be the case, but Costa has already spent a lot of his resources on winning this year's Tour of Switzerland. We'll see. As for Bardet and Pinot, one of them will likely end up being the first Frenchman in the overall GQ at the end of the TDF (a big thing for the French - which is kind of sad if you think about it, as it seems more of a consolation prize), but it is difficult to predict whether they will end up in the actual top ten, or rather in top 15 or top 20. The biggest mystery is probably Richie Porte, who might do really well (top 3 or top 5) or might have one or two complete off days in the mountain stages in the final week of the TDF.

This leaves us with the following names to really pay attention to in the next two weeks (next to the aforementioned Porte):

Nibali
Van Den Broeck
Talansky
Valverde
Vangarderen
Mollema
Contador

These are all riders who have already proven they can take a top 3, top 5 or top 10 spot in the GQ of the TDF.

Contador will of course end up much higher than he is now, as he is the overall best climber of the peloton. But he's already lost 2 and a half minutes to Nibali and about one minute to Van Den Broeck. They are also very good climbers (Nibali being slightly better than Van Den Broeck.)

Exciting stuff!

TOMORROW'S RACE
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The riders will race to Reims. This will very probably be an uneventful stage, most likely ending in a sprint. Will Marcel Kittel win his 4th stage? Or will this be Peter Sagan or André Greipel's first one? We'll find out soon enough...

TDF, 6th stage : Arras - Reims
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This stage in the Champagne region ended in a sprint.

1 André Greipel
http://1.nieuwsbladcdn.be/Assets/Ima...80.jpg.568.jpg
2 Alexander Kristoff
3 Samuel Dumoulin
4 Mark Renshaw
5 Peter Sagan

German sprinter and current national champion André Greipel has finally won his first stage in this year's TDF. Last year he won only one stage in the TDF. Let's see if he gets to win more stages this year. However, to find that out we'll have to be patient as for the next ten days hilly stages, mountain stages and a day of rest are on the menu.

As predicted by analysts and riders this was quite the uneventful stage, except for the many accidents in the peloton. This is typical TDF stuff by the way : there's always a huge amounts of accidents in the first week, due to every rider being very nervous, wanting to be in the first part of the peloton. And then there's the pressure on each team to win a stage in the year's biggest race...

The most important riders who fell today were GQ rider Jurgen Van Den Broeck (remains 6th in the GQ) and current green jersey Peter Sagan, who coincidentally both fell in yesterday's epic stage as well. But they weren't too beat up and were able to continue. As you can see above Sagan even sprinted for the stage victory, earning his 6th top five spot in 6 stages! No wonder he's wearing the green jersey at the moment, leading with an impressive bonus of 80 points. On the other hand, he doesn't look very happy whenever he's called on stage to receive his green jersey after the race. I'm sure he thought he would have won a stage by now.
http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/P...DXXekBwKYl.jpg
Slovakian rider Peter Sagan.

But Sagan will get his chance tomorrow, as the last few kilometers contain two hills which fit his profile (sprinter who is strong uphill too) perfectly.


Quite a few cyclists either gave up today or simply didn't start (due to all of yesterday's accidents). Since no big names are involved I will spare you the names. It might be important to note that one of Contador's team mates (Hernandez) gave up, so that means less help for Alberto Contador.
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/A...McAyWbl8sl.jpg
Alberto Contador (winner of all three major rounds by the age of 25!)

Today's breakaway group consisted of four riders: Tom Leezer (Dutch), Luis Angel Mate (Spanish), Jérôme Pineau and Arnaud Gérard (both French). These riders led the race for a very long time, but at about 20 kilometers before the end the peloton caught up with them.
http://www.iamcycling.ch/pro/wp-cont...e_Pineau_a.jpg
Jerome Pineau, the most well known rider of today's breakaway group. He is a former temporary bearer of the polka-dot jersey.

As the peloton was preparing for yet another sprint, Team Omega Pharma (which has lost sprinter Cavendish) decided to ride EVEN FASTER than everybody else. Since the wind was strong in this open area (low fields all over the place), the peloton was thus split up into various parts. This is of course what Team Omega Pharma had wanted all along.

While practically everybody on their team was still in the first group, some sprinters like Arnaud Démare and 3 time stage winner Marcel Kittel ended up in one of the other groups. What Team Omega Pharma did, not only suited its replacement sprinter Mark Renshaw, but it was also beneficial for its Polish GQ rider Michal Kwiatkowski (overall 4th at the moment, last year he snatched the overall 11th spot in the GQ at the young age of 23).

Kwiatkowski was hoping some of the other GQ riders would end up in one of the smaller groups behind the first part of the peloton. However, this only happened to Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (ended 10th in the 2012 edition of the TDF). He ended up losing about 40 seconds to all of the other GQ riders and is no longer part of the top 20 of the GQ.
http://cache.20minutes.fr/img/photos...baut-pinot.jpg
Thibaut Pinot

Since Team Omega Pharma knew their replacement sprinter wasn't good enough to leave the real top sprinters behind at the finish line, they then proceeded to execute the second part of their attack plan... With only about a kilometer left Michal Kwiatkowski himself jumped out of the peloton, hoping to get away from the sprint and winning the stage. While he was strong, the sprinters did catch up with him eventually and we were set for a real sprint. Without Kittel and Démare.
http://www.radsport-aktiv.de/files/f...91_1_gross.jpg
Michal Kwiatkowski


None of the sprinters had many team mates left to get their own 'sprint train' going, so this sprint was more of a one on one battle, so to speak. German André Greipel eventually won the stage, leavingNorwegian Alexander Kristoff and the other sprinters behind. The finish photo showed a clear difference between Greipel and the other sprinters.

The top 10 of the GQ has remained the same, with Vincenzo Nibali wearing the yellow jersey. The green and polka-dot jersey are still for Peter Sagan and Cyril Lemoine. Lemoine is riding really strong these days. He has ended up in the first part of the peloton in most stage so far. It will be interesting to see how long he can keep this up.

You can find pictures and videos of the stage here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/

and riders' tweets here
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_6

Tomorrow's stage might be more exciting, as it includes some hills close to the finish line.

VIDEO TIME...
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Peter Sagan has an extra set of eyes. Check the vid here

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone...agan_helm_ogen

Ugh.


The most spectacular stage so far was the fifth. ASO has now made footage available of the cameras mounted on the steering wheels of various riders in that stage. Interesting! Feels as if you're right there in the peloton with the riders, in apocalyptic conditions.

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone...t5_fietscamera

people watch this?

^^It's very popular in Europe, especially West Europe.

Don't know about the US these days. Maybe publicity has waned since LA retired and it was proven he had doped?

Are you located in the US?

Greg Lemond is popular in the US. Does he still race?

LeMond raced in the eighties and early nineties. He stopped racing in the mid nineties.

Early on in his career LeMond became world champion (first American to ever do so). Later on he won the TDF 3 times. (He's still the only American who has OFFICIALLY won the TDF, as LA & Floyd Landis lost their victories because of doping.)

There was a large gap in between LeMond's TDF victories because of a freak accident he was involved in. I think his brother-in-law accidentally shot him on a hunting trip. He was very close to dying.

http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/rid.../lemond_g5.jpg

LeMond won the most exciting TDF ever in 1989. His big rival and two time TDF winner Laurent Fignon (a French rider nicknamed 'the Professor' because of his glasses) entered the final stage, a time trial, with a 50 second lead.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_atrK-jBKJK...rent-figon.jpg
Laurent Fignon, easily recognizable with his long blonde hair and glasses.

Fignon was an established time trialist, had already won his two TDFs, so everybody thought he would surely win his third TDF at that moment. However, LeMond had extensively tested his riding position (= aerodynamic position on the bike) in winter AND he had opted for the latest technology in aerodynamica, including a full rear wheel, clip-on bars on his steering wheel and an aerodynamic helmet. Back then aerodynamica wasn't a big thing yet in cycling. LeMond introduced a lot of new technology into the peloton.

LeMond rode the time trial of his life and won the TDF with the smallest margin ever : 8 seconds. Upon realizing his loss Fignon collapsed on the tarmac and started weeping.



Laurent Fignon died from cancer in 2010.

LeMond was my favorite rider in my childhood.

TDF, stage 7 : Epernay-Nancy
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It was a bad day for the Americans in this long stage (234 km). Both Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky (both aim for a spot in the top 10 in the GQ) fell. Talansky is 8th in GQ, van Garderen is a few slots lower now and is overall 18th.

http://bikesandbidons.files.wordpres...m-de-waele.jpg
Tejay Van Garderen

http://cdn.velonews.competitor.com/f...y2-659x440.jpg
Andrew Talansky

Today's stage was won in a sprint.

1 Matteo Trentin ITA
http://www.wielerflits.nl/wielerpics...eo_trentin.jpg
(Picture of his TDF stage win in Lyon last year.)
2 Peter Sagan SLW
3 Tony Gallopin FRA
4 Tom Dumoulin NET
5 Simon Gerrans AUS

I have been writing a lot about Peter Sagan. I feel I have to mention him again. He has finished in the top 5 in all stages so far, without actually winning. This marks the third time he ends up in the 2nd slot. By now his lead in the green jersey classification is huge (a lead of over 100 points). He is also still in possession of the white jersey (classification for youngsters).
http://catenacycling.com/frontend/fi...13-victory.jpg
Peter Sagan performing his trademark 'wheelie' after a stage win in a famous race in Belgium earlier this year.

So what happened today?

Six riders attacked today: Edet, Elmiger, Pichot, Delaplace, Huzarski and Busche. Edet attacked in the first stage as well. They didn't gather a big lead as [bPeter Sagan[/b] knew his chances of winning today's stage were very high. The final climb a few kilometers before the finish line was just his cup of tea. His plan would be to escape there on his own and last until the finish line. So Sagan had his team mates work hard to get back the breakaway group.

Tejay van Garderen fell in the peloton due to careless behavior of one of his team mates riding in front of him. Fortunately, he was able to continue, but he had to ride one of his team mates' bike. (That makes a huge difference.) Three of his team mates waited for him and tried to bring him back to the peloton but it was too late. At the end of the stage van Garderen had lost just over a minute to all of the important riders in the GQ.

On the first of today's two hills, at about 17km to the finish line there were only 2 leaders left: Swiss champion Martin Elmiger and Polish rider Bartosz Huzarski. The peloton caught up with them at the beginning of the climb. Since this climb was rather steep (although short) a lot of riders, including some sprinters, couldn't keep up with the pace of the peloton.
http://www.arcinfo.ch/multimedia/ima...me_zoom945.jpg
Martin Elmiger.

Near the end of the climb Belgian rider Greg Van Avermaet (who placed 2nd in the 2nd stage) jumped out of the peloton. He had already announced on Belgian TV he was going to try and win this stage. Sagan and Van Avermaet know each other very well because they compete against each other a lot in other races, so Sagan knew there was a clear danger here. He felt forced to go after Van Avermaet on his own.
http://1.nieuwsbladcdn.be/Assets/Ima...t.jpg.h380.jpg
Greg Van Avermaet

When Sagan caught up with Van Avermaet just before the hill top they had a small lead over the peloton and decided to team up. There were only about 5 km left to go. However, their lead didn't prove large enough and at about 2 km before the finish line the peloton caught up with them.

We were in for another sprint... It was slightly disrupted by two accidents. At the back of the first group a team mate of yellow jersey Nibali fell, taking down Belgian GQ favorite Jurgen Van Den Broeck with him. This was his 3rd accident in 3 days! Fortunately, he was able to continue after a while. It is important to note that (except for the stages that end in a climb) any time loss due to accidents happening in the final three km of a stage are not taken into account. This is the reason why van Garderen lost time in the GQ, but Van Den Broeck did not.
http://www.wielerzone.be/images/blog...rance_2013.jpg
Jurgen Van Den Broeck

The second accident happened about thirty seconds later, in the middle of the sprint. American rider Andrew Talansky, who isn't a sprinter but a GQ rider instead, tried to opt out of the sprint by cycling left of the sprinters. But as he was looking in the wrong direction while making his move he was hit by Simon Gerrans,one of the sprinters, on the other side. Talansky fell, sat there for a while but fortunately he was able to continue later on. Because of the 3km rule Talansky didn't lose any time in the GQ.
http://resources0.news.com.au/images...on-gerrans.jpg
Simon Gerrans, who wore the yellow jersey for a short while last year.

The sprint itself was very exciting, with Gerrans seemingly coming back from a lost position, Samuel Dumoulin placing himself very well towards the very end, but on the finish line Matteo Trentin andPeter Sagan clearly crossed over before the other sprinters.

But who had won? Trentin though Sagan had won, seeing as he patted Sagan on the back right after the sprint. However, when the finish photo was shown on TV (and to the jury) you could tell Trentin had won by the smallest of margins. Trentin was informed of his victory by the TDF radio and was suprised and happy. Footage of Sagan hearing of this news were obviously not as upbeat.

The GQ has not changed much. Vincenzo Nibali still leads. Only famous Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara and American GQ rider van Garderen fell back in the GQ today.

Tomorrow's race includes the first 'real' mountains, in this case two second category climbs. Polka-dot jersey rider Cyril Lemoine will most probably lose his jersey to a more accomplished climber tomorrow.
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/451...WoQ1%2FZ158nXq
Cyril Lemoine sporting the jersey for best climber so far.

You can find tweets & pics of the 7th stage by following the link below
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_7

Find videos of today's stage - including the exciting sprint- on the official TDF site (with text in English) here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/

no pantani no tour
RIP LEGEND

^^Pantani was one of the best to ever do it, no doubt about it.

RIP 'il Pirato'.



http://savpeople.com/images1/marco-pantani-4.jpg

Toul welcomed yesterday's TDF with a yellow fountain (no watersports jokes please ;) )

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone...7_gele_fontein

Chris Froome broke his left wrist and right hand in the last stage he participated in. A hospital visit revealed this yesterday.

He should be able to start training again in a few weeks.

http://www.dw.de/image/0,,17770802_303,00.jpg
Chris Froome leaving this year's TDF.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 5th state

^^Pantani was one of the best to ever do it, no doubt about it.

RIP 'il Pirato'.



http://savpeople.com/images1/marco-pantani-4.jpg

---

repped

TDF, stage 8 : Tomblaine - La Mauselaine
--------------------------------------------------
This stage in les Vosges (mountain range in northeast France) contained three mountains towards the end, starting at the final 27km mark. This stage was won solo.

1 FRA Blel Kadri
http://static.ladepeche.fr/content/m...1109161072.jpg
2 SPA Alberto Contador +2'17"
3 ITA Vincenzo Nibali +2'20"
4 AUS Richie Porte +2'24"
5 FRA Thibaut Pinot +2'28"


As you can tell by looking at the top 5 the mountain finish brought out the big guns. Only French rider Kadri, who also attacked in the second stage (back in the UK), managed to stay in front of the GQ favorites.

It took a lot of effort today for the breakaway group to actually escape. French rider Sylvain Chavanel and Dutch rider Niki Terpstra (winner of this year's Paris-Roubaix, a spring classic race over cobble stones ) were the first to actually get away. Later on Blel Kadri, a French rider of Morrocan heritage, his compatriot Adrien Petit and young British rider Simon Yates joined them.
http://img.skysports.com/14/01/496x2...09_3064344.jpg
Simon Yates, who is enormously talented and sure to win lots of races in the future.



Since the 'closest' rider in the GQ, Sylvain Chavanel, was about 18 minutes behind yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali, the latter's team was not interested in taking back the breakaway group. Thus their lead rose to a staggering 11 minutes.
http://france3-regions.francetvinfo....?itok=tHwBdSfz
Sylvain Chavanel, 35, winner of a lot of spring classic races, some TDF stages, and temporary bearer of the yellow jersey in 2010. Nicknamed 'la machine'.


However, because of the 3 mountains (2nd and 3rd category) the team mates of some GQ favorites increased the pace anyway, hoping some other GQ riders in the peloton wouldn't be able to keep up and thus lose some time in the GQ.

The breakaway's lead dwindled down to about 5 minutes, so Sylvain Chavanel decided to leave his fellow escapees behind. After a while Blel Kadri in turn left the other ones behind, in search of Chavanel. Kadri, who clearly is the better climber, caught up with Chavanel in a matter of minutes and soon left him behind.

Kadri was the only one who was not caught by the peloton by the end of the stage, finishing about 2 minutes before them. This was a triple victory for Kadri. Not only did he win the stage, he also grabbed Cyril Lemoine's polka dot jersey (best climber) since Kadri crossed all three mountains first. To top that off, the TDF jury also decided to award him the daily prize of rider with the most impressive attack ('prix de combativité').

Needless to say Kadri was overjoyed.

Meanwhile, interesting things were happening in the peloton. Spanish GQ favorite Alberto Contador, who had to make up for lost time (from the cobble stone stage) had his team mates increase the pace at the forefront of the peloton immensely on the first mountain slope. Soon enough the peloton became much smaller. On the second mountain slope, which was much steeper, current top 10 riders who don't handle climbing very well were left behind. People like green jersey and 3rd in GQ Peter Sagan, 4th in GQ Michal Kwiatkowski and 6th in GQ Tony Gallopin were left behind.
http://www.lottobelisol.be/pictures/...jpg?1388413480
French rider Tony Gallopin, team mate of GQ favorite Jurgen Van Den Broeck.


Others were stranded because of punctures (such as current 2nd in GQ Jakob Fuglsang, team mate of yellow jersey Vincenzo Nibali) or because of accidents (American GQ favorite Andrew Talansky unfortunately fell again, for the second day in a row).
http://images.fyens.dk/49/1941149_60...1000_562_2.jpg
Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang, who placed 7th in last year's TDF.


Then on the final climb (1 1/2 km to the finish line) Alberto Contador himself picked up the pace, causing real GQ riders like Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Bauke Mollema to get left behind. In the last 500 meters of today's race only Richie Porte (Team Sky's replacement for Chris Froome), Alejandro Valverde and American rider Tejay van Garderen along with French riders Pinot, Péraud and Bardet managed not to let Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali get away too far.
http://www.feltet.dk/octo_cms/files/...o_Contador.jpg
Alberto Contador, clearly the strongest GQ rider today.


In the last 50 meters Nibali finally had to let Contador go, allowing the Spanish rider to steal back 3 seconds. Of course this is only a small amount of time, but there is the psychological damage for Nibali who has now realized Contador is slightly better than him uphill. Also, this was just a test for Contador. You could tell Contador was timing his jump very close to the finish line, as he couldn't tell just how good Nibali was. (He was afraid of a counterattack by Nibali.) But now Contador also knows he is the better climber in the TDF. Surely, he will attack (much) sooner in the next two stages. These are also mountain stages in les Vosges, with lots of slopes (6 and 7 in the next stages).

The next two days will definitely change the GQ even more. Contador has already jumped from the 16th to the 6th slot, and by the day of rest (Tuesday) he will be even closer to Nibali.

Should current yellow jersey Nibali be worried? Probably. Even though he still has a big lead over Contador (2 1/2 minutes), Contador is the more explosive climber and seems to have a team which is better fit for the mountain stages. While Contador's team mates Nicolas Roche and Michael Rogers rode a fantastic stage, Nibali's team was nowhere to be found on today's final mountain slope.
http://news.velonation.com/Men/Road/...inkoffHS13.jpg
Nicolas Roche, nephew of famous '80s rider Stephen Roche (winner of the TDF, Giro d'Italia and world champion - all in 1987!)

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/M...ywrEynw0al.jpg
Michael Rogers, who won two very difficult mountain stages in this year's Giro d'Italia.


Here's the updated GQ.

1 Vincenzo Nibali
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...the-po-008.jpg

2 Jakob Fuglsang +1'44" (instead of only 2" yesterday ; team mate of Nibali)
3 Richie Porte SKY +1'58"
4 Michal Kwiatkowski +2'26" (lost touch of the peloton but managed to hold on to his spot)
5 Alejandro Valverde +2'27"
6 Alberto Contador +2'34"
7 Romain Bardet +2'39" (first French rider)
8 Rui Costa +2'52"
9 Bauke Mollema+3'02"
10 Jurgen Van den Broeck +3'02"

As you can see the time differences are getting bigger.

American riders Tejay van Garderen (13th) and Andrew Talansky (16th) are in the top 20. van Garderen has gained some time on some of his rivals, while Talansky has lost some because of his accident. Talansky was not seriously hurt and will continue riding.

You can find tweets & videos of today's stage here
http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcent...nce_2014_rit_8

and more videos and pictures here
http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2014/us/

So 5th state, you seem to be "in the know" with cycling. Is it going to be 11 more stages of celebration for Nibali or do you see any major challenge from anyone? It seemed like Nibali and Contador were on another level and now that Contador is out and Nibali has a 2-min advantage on anyone close to him, he seems like a near-sure winner.

- Rodriguez seems like his only focus is the polka-dot jersey, as he blew up in the last 500m's of today's stage.
- Tejay doesn't seem to have the form he did last year.
- Frank Schleck is past his prime and can't do shit now that he's off the drugs.
- Porte I don't think is ready to step up to the plate and is probably happy with aiming for a podium spot and not 1st.

The tour might be a bust now. I guess watching the Alps will still be exciting.

Well, I road 265km's on Thursday solo with no issues. Then today I crashed for the first time on a road bike 50km's in, washing out on some train tracks in the pouring rain. Road rash all down the side of me. I now know a little bit how it feels in the tour.

5th state died lol

--- Lance Armstrong Drops Out Of 'Beer Mile' Attempt After Finishing Only One Lap


The Beer Mile has come a long way from its days as a fringe event organized by college and high school runners in Canada.

Now there are world championships, and everyone from 44-year-old mothers of six to Olympians are trying out the race. But as you can imagine, the event is not for everyone. Take Lance Armstrong, the disgraced former cyclist, who could not get through one-fourth of the race.

Even without the seven Tour de France titles of which he was stripped for admitting that he used performance enhancing drugs, Armstrong is still an incredibly accomplished athlete. A former standout triathlete, Armstrong has completed the New York City Marathon twice in under three hours.

But the beer mile -- in which participants must drink one beer, run a lap on the quarter-mile track, and then repeat the sequence three times -- was too much for Armstrong. In fact, the 43-year-old dropped out after one lap.

Because he's older than 40, Armstrong would be competing in the "super masters" group and would have to run the race in 5:51 to set a world record. By comparison, 44-year-old mother of six Chris Kimbrough recently set a women's world record of 6:28 in her first attempt.

The overall men's world record in the beer mile is 4:57.1, set by James Nielsen on April 27.

In case you think you've got what it takes to compete in this grueling event, the Flotrack Beer Mile World Championships will be held in Austin, Texas, next month.

Don't expect to see Armstrong in the field.

"One and done," he said after his failed attempt.

^^too much dope, not enough beer.

he gets it right in the second half

spectacular crash mid sprint in this year's Tour Down Under...

--- Lance Armstrong hit two parked cars, fled, then girlfriend took the blame

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-tu...193612173.html

sounds like him alright

---- Lance Armstrong ordered to pay company $10 million for web of lies

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lance-ar...r-web-of-lies/

he deserves to pay up for lying

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by check two

--- Lance Armstrong hit two parked cars, fled, then girlfriend took the blame

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-tu...193612173.html

---

He has now admitted to it.

http://www.therooster.ca/wp-content/...utfit-fail.jpg

wardrobe malfunction

Colombian, of course

Man breaks World Record for cycling up steps in Taipei 101 tower

Watch a Polish cyclist break his own World Record by scaling 3,139 steps in one of the world's tallest buildings



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...101-tower.html

extreme weather conditions in this weekend's Flemish semi classic race Gent-Wevelgem. only 39 of over 150 riders finished

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone...aylist=7.37896

the guy at the very end of the vid (Geraint Thomas) came in third when all was said and done btw

^Thanks for posting.

I went out yesterday and the wind was so demoralizing I cut the ride short (32km). I was averaging 30km/h until I had to go into the wind and my speed dropped to 20km/h in 39km/h winds. This winter and cold temps are dragging on too long. I ended up going out for a second ride a couple hours later and logged 20km's and accepted the winds and my slow pace.

the Giro d'Italia has gone through its first of three weeks. it's been exciting so far with mountain stages very early on and the GC favorites already attacking each other; never a dull moment this past week

today's race caused a lot of controversy. Richie Porte, one of the three riders who are expected to end up on the podium when all is said and done had a flat tire 10 k before today's stage ended. he was presented with another wheel not by his team mechanic, a neutral mechanic or a team mate, but by a rider from a different team. Simon Clarke (the good Samaritan) and Richie Porte are both Australians you see.

Richie Porte only lost 47 seconds to the other GC favorites at the end of the stage. but fellow riders (from various teams) were extremely angry when the Giro d'Italia jury decided to punish both Porte & Clarke with an additional 2 minutes of time loss. this makes Porte lose his top 3 spot, he's not even in the top 10 anymore.

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/1296/Giro/a...n-Clarke.dhtml (PICS)

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/Giro/1.2344696 (lots of TWEETS by fellow riders at the end of this article)

the reason why a lot of these riders are so angry is that in the Giro (also to a smaller extent in the Tour de France) riders who grab onto the latch of the door on a team car in a mountain stage for sometimes minutes on end (when no cameras are around, in the background) are hardly ever punished by the jury. but then this happens!

of course Alberto Contador, who currently holds the number one spot in the GC is very happy with the jury's decision

as of now Alberto Contador's only real threat seems to be Fabio Aru, a young Italian rider who performed very well in last year's Giro d'Italia and Vuelta Ciclista a Espana

maybe the jury would like to see Fabio Aru win this Giro?

^Do you cycle?

That seems like a harsh punishment. Just from reading what you wrote, I don't think any punishment should have been given. Contador is a dick. I can't believe the race organizers would want to make their race less competitive and attractive to watch now that there's only two real GCs left.