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Tour de France, 2005
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| Upper left: Zabriskie gets to wear the Yellow. Upper right, Armstrong put all doubts to rest. Lower left: Ullrich is starting off the Tour giving Armstrong a full minute. Where can he make that up? Pictures from Fotoreporter Sirotti. | |||
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Results
GC after stage 1. No time bonus this stage.
Points (Green Jersey)
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey) No points awarded.
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
10:20 PDT: Armstrong finishes just a couple of seconds slower than Zabriskie, So Zabriskie wins the stage and the Yellow Jersey.
10:13: Armstrong steams right by Ullrich!!! What a display of power.
10:03. Armstrong went through the first check just a couple of seconds slower than Zabriskie but Ullrich is almost a minute slower. Wil Armstrong catch Ullrich?
9:50 PDT: Armstrong just took off. He pulled a foot out of the pedal just as he was exiting the ramp, but got cleated in immediately. Ullrich betrayed no nervousness in the starthouse. He looked lean. Iban Mayo isn't going well, turning in slow intermediate times.
With 163 riders in:
9:26 PDT: with 137 riders in, no change in the top five. The big dogs are starting to ride. Hincapie and Bradley McGee are on the course now.
9:09 PDT: With 119 riders finished and 70 to go, here are the standings:
Here's the start order of the last 10 riders:
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Stage 2, Sunday, July 3: Challans - Les Essarts, 181.5 km.
1 rated climb: At Km 165 - Côte du lac de la Vouraie, .9 km climb, 3.4 %, 4th Category
Weather: Sunny, 29C (84F). Humid.
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| Above: Boonen is just startng to go by McEwen (yellow shoulders and helmet). Below, Boonen gets his first leg up on his quest for the Green Jersey in Paris. Both photos from Sirotti. | ||
Results: All 189 riders finished.
GC after stage 2.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The Finish. Liquigas brings the speed to a white-hot pitch. In the final sprint Robbie McEwen went up the right hand side. Tom Boonen got a perfect lead out and blew by McEwen as did Thor Hushovd, for the win. Looks like McEwen ran out of gas.
4 km to go: Walter Beneteau (Bouygues Telecom) has a go. He has a small gap. He's caught. All together. Zaballa (Saunier Duval) tries to get away. It doesn't last long.
Km 172: Erik Dekker attacks and gets a gap with Carlos da Cruz (FDJ) on his wheel. Da Cruz won't help. They get caught. The breakaway trio is holding on to their 13 seconds.
OK, the break sits up. They are caught. All 189 riders are together. Armstrong in his green jersey is staying up near the front. Looks like a sprint finish.
Km 167: Bodrogi gave up on the climb and has been caught by the peloton. The gap between the peloton and the breakaway trio is a little over 30 seconds. Cofidis and Domina Vacanze are at the front now as well.
Km 160: The gap fell to under 1 minute. The breakaways are not surrendering. They are pushing themselves hard. They are on only the only rated climb of the day. The first to the top will get to wear the Polka-Dot climber's jersey. Canada attacks hard and gaps the other three. Ah, he's gone too early. Voeckler, the local who knows these roads, times it just right. He closes the gap and then goes by Canada after a slight rest on Canada's wheel. He easily takes the win and will get the Maillot Pois. Nicely done.
Km 150: The riders rolled through the last of three intemediate sprints without contest. Bodrogi got the 6 bonus seconds for winning it. He also got the 2nd intermediate sprint, so he has moved up in GC to third place, displacing Vinokourov from the podium. Voeckler in the break looks sharp, animated and is working hard. Even though the gap is coming down, now 1min 50sec, the break is moving fast and still working well together.
Km 138. The break looks doomed. The gap is 2min 15sec with more than 40 km to go. There was a crash in the peloton, but everyone is up and chasing. The roads the Tour is using in this area of France called the Vendee are often very narrow.
Km 126: The gap is down to 3min 5sec. The breakaways seem to working well together and sharing the burden of the escape.
Km 112: The gap dropped under 4 minutes as FDJ and Davitamon-Lotto has joined in the chase to bring back the break. The peloton is strung out as the speed increases.
Km 104: Quick Step is starting to help CSC. They are thinking about getting a stage victory for Tom Boonen. The race is now at the city of L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer and is turning inland. They've had a tailwind so far. Now they will have a head or crosswind from the left. The gap is 4 minutes 10 seconds to the 4 breakaways. With the higher speeds of the final kilometers it will get tough for some of the smaller riders.
Km 87: CSC is lined up like a team team trial working the front of the peloton. Zabriskie in Yellow is sitting 6th in the line. The gap to the 4 breakaways is about 4 minutes. Believe it not, there was a time when a man the size of Magnus Backstedt could win the Tour de France. Francois Faber, winner of the 1909 Tour, weighed 91 kg. He never won again because in 1910 the Tour introduced high mountain passes in the Pyrenees.
Km 78: The gap of the 4 breakaways is 3min 40sec. The big question is being answered. CSC is at the front working to limit the gap. At times all 9 CSC riders have been at the front. They are defending Zabriskie's Yellow Jersey.
Km 28: A break of 4 emerged from an earlier break of 14. They are: Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole), 5th in GC at 59", Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom), 131st at 2'48" (Voeckler got and kept the Yellow for a long time last year by taking advantage of an opportunistic break, David Canada (Saunier Duval), 137th at 2'52", Sylvain Calzati (Ag2R),155th at 2'59".
Some interesting statistics were released by the Tour organization as a result of the pre-Tour medical exams.
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Stage 3, Monday, July 4: La Châtaigneraie - Tours, 212.5 km.
Rated climbs:
Weather: 18C (64F) with a chance of rain. The streets are dry at the start.
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| That makes two in a row for Tom Boonen. Sirotti Photo | ||
Results: There has been change posted because McEwen was relegated to 186th place
GC after stage 3.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The race:
The Finish. Quick Step then Liquigas and then Credit Agricole hit the front. Boonen took over and led it out, with McEwen trying to go through a hole that wasn't there, bumping into Stuart O'Grady. O'Grady didn't budge. Boonen made it through the pack and then just pounded it out in a long drag race and took a clean win.
1 km to go. Cancellara is caught. It's all together for a sprint finish.
3 to go. Dekker and Portal keep driving. What a pair of athletes! 5+ seconds. They're caught. Fabian Cancellara takes off.
7 to go: The race is in Tours. The pack is completely stung out in single file. 15 seconds.
11 to go: The peloton doesn't seem to have a real impetus. It seems to have slowed. 16 seconds between the pack and the leaders.
13 to go: The peloton can see the lead trio. It's about 33sec. The leaders have been away since the 27th kilometer. Bertogliati has sat up and is caught.
15 km to go: The gap is 45sec. Dekker is driving hard.
Km 186: The gap is 1min 15sec. Dekker isn't giving up. Credit Agricole is helping Davitamon-Lotto with the chase. The road gets spooky-scary narrow as it goes through a little town (Chielle?). There are hay bales funneling the riders through one narrow point and some riders have to go off the road as too many riders try to get through the skinny road at one time. The pack is hauling now.
Km 179: Dekker takes the final climb and will get the KOM polka dot jersey. It looked like Bertogliati gave it a bit of effort and then just let Dekker have it.
Km 175: The peloton is going 52 km/hr with the tailwind. The gap is 1min 41sec. They should make it to the third climb and Dekker may spend the night in dots.
Km 162: Dekker easily took the Chinon climb from Bertogliati. The gap is at 1min 55sec. He'll do what he can to stay away until the last climb and probably get the KOM jersey from Voeckler.
Km 144: Bouygues Telecom is workng the front hard. They don't want the lead trio to grab the climbing points, thereby protecting Thomas Voeckler's KOM lead. The gap is down to 1min 44sec. The chase eased a bit while several members of the peloton, including Armstrong, took a chance to take a pee break.
Km 136: The gap is still coming down. It's now 2min 48sec. the average speed for the third hour was 44.9 km/hr. The average for the day so far is 44.3 km/hr.
Km 125: The gap is down to 3min 30sec. The peloton is looking a little strung out. The breakways are looking good. Dekker and Portal are riding on the handlebar drops while Bertogliati is on the tops. T-Mobile and Fassa Bortolo have a few riders up front now as does Rabobank. Rabobank won't be helping in the chase with their man Dekker off the front. The peloton is back to being a compact mass.
Km 115: The collective effort has had its effect. The gap is now down to 4min. The clouds look threatening, but so far, the rain has held off.
Km 103: The gap has grown to 5min 30sec. Quick Step and Davitamon-Lotto have joined the chase.
Km 94: The gap is up to 5 min. CSC is at the front of the peloton but they aren't killing themselves. They just have to keep the trio of Dekker, Portal and Bertogliati within a catchable distance until the sprinter's teams take over at some point in the second half of the stage. Quick Step will surely want to keep Tom Boonen in Green. The average speed for the second hour was 45.4 km/hr. The first two hours have averaged 44 km/hr.
Km 82: A little after the 27th kilometer 2 riders escaped: Erik Dekker (Rabobank) and Nicolas Portal (Ag2R). They were joined shortly by Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval). They now have a gap of 4min 20sec. The winds are from the peloton's back. After the first hour the average speed was only 42.6 km/hr. Current Polka Dot jersey holder Thomas Voeckler went for the points on the first climb at Km 33, but Fabian Wegmann beat him to the punch.
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Stage 4, Tuesday, July 5: Tours - Blois 67.5 km Team Time Trial.
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| Dueling teams. Above, Discovery. Below, CSC before disaster struck Zabriskie. Both photos by Sirotti. | ||
Weather: 21C (69F). Tailwind. Little cotton puffs of clouds in the sky. Could rain late in the day.
Results
GC after stage 3.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The race:
8:07: In Blois with 1.5 km to go Zabriskie crashed!! The team has to continue. Zabriskie has to finish alone.
8:07: The 61.5 km checkpoint results:
8:04: Discovery is still intact. they went throught the 61.5 km checkpoint in first place with 24 seconds faster than T-Mobile. CSC still to come through.
7:50 AM: It's still really tight at the 45.8 km checkpoint. Zabriskie is still in Yellow. Armstrong is taking nearly 1/2 km pulls. Phonak has lost 3 men. That's going to cost them.
7:30 AM: Wow, here are the results for the 25 km checkpoint. Discovery and T-Mobile are tied:
7:20 AM: Liquigas has posted a new fastest time, 6 seconds faster than Davitamon. After Discovery and CSC go through the first intermediate time check at Km 25 we'll post those results. Through the 25 km and 45.8 km checkpoints Liberty Seguros is currently leading.
7:00 AM PDT: The last team, CSC rolls down the start ramp. Julich takes the first pull and Zabriskie in Yellow looks to be the last man in the line. We've got 6 teams in the barn:
6:55 AM PDT: Discovery takes off. Like everyone else, they're doing a single pace line.
6:00 AM PDT. FDJ took off. They have rear discs as well with spoked aero front wheels. Bradley McGee was their first man to lead the pace line. So far it looks like everyone is riding single pace lines.
Cofidis is on the road. They have rear discs and front deep section spoked front wheels. They are riding a single pace line. I counted out about an 18-second pull for one lead rider.
The Tour has a complex set of rules regarding how much time a rider can lose in the Team Time Trial. To keep it simple, the maximum is 3 minutes. Lots of American writers have gone on about how this "new" rule has been put in place to deprive Armstrong and Discovery of the real fruits of their superiority. There may be elements of truth here. But the fact is that "stop-loss" rules in team time trials has a long history in the Tour. It prevents a good rider from having his Tour chances ruined by being on a weaker team. This goes to the core of Tour DNA. Tour founder Henri Desgrange wanted the Tour de France victor to win by the virtues of his own talents as much as possible.
The teams will depart in reverse order of their Team General Classification standing. Euskaltel goes first and the rest follow in 5-minute intervals. The teams will get the time of the fifth rider crossing the line.
The final 10 teams with their departure times in French local time:
CSC should finish about 8:18 AM PDT.
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Stage 5, Wednesday, July 6: Chambord - Montargis, 183 km.
1 rated climb at Km 73.5, Côte de Bellevue, 1.0 km climb @ 4.2%, 4th Category
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| Robbie McEwen times it perfectly for his stage 5 win. Tom Boonen in green is just on his right. Picture from Fotoreporter Sirotti. | ||
Results
GC after stage 3.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The Race:
The Finish: Cofidis and FDJ kept the speed high and the pack went through the final right hander without trouble. In the final rush to the line is looked like FDJ's Berhard Eisel was leading it out. Then Boonen went for it with McEwen on his wheel. McEwen timed the drag race perfectly and this time McEwen got it by the length of half a wheel. Robbie McEwen wins stage 5.
5 km to go: Quick Step is stepping on the gas. They are really moving fast. Some riders overshot the hard right at 4 to go and crashed.
Km 170: The break is caught. It's all together. The teams are trying to get control. Cofidis, Credit Agricole, Davitamon and Quick Step are up front with Quick Step having the most bodies up there. The big GC men are up front as well, wanting to keep out of trouble.
15 km to go: 26 seconds. Now it's 22 seconds. Armstrong is staying up near the front with a few Discovery deputies by him for protection.
Km 161: It's 35 seconds. The break keeps working. The sun has come out. With the hard right turn with 500 meters to go in the final sprint, it would be good to have dry streets. It's going to be dangerous enough.
Km 153: Ag2R has also moved to the front of the peloton. They want a win from their sprinter Jean-Patrck Nazon. The quartet has 1min 13sec.
Km 138, 44 to go: The gap is now 1min 30sec. Commesso took the final intermediate sprint. Little drops of rain are falling again.
Km 129: The chase is startng to bite. The gap is down to 2min 15sec
Km 126: The gap is 3 minutes. The was some rain on the race, but it has stopped. Boonen's Quick Steps and McEwen's Davitamons are at the front working hard. I see a white FDJ jersey at the front as well.
Km 109: At the base of the Bellevue climb there was some agression in the break. It looked like Commesso was refusing to work and so Flecha stopped working as well as they slowed and talked. Finally Commesso took after the other two with Flecha chasing. After the climb, taken by Bodrogi, they came back together. That bit of nonsense cost them. The gap is now down to 3min 10sec.
Km 101: There was a crash just after the feed zone. Ivan Basso was involved. The CSC team is now riding a team time trial to get back up to the peloton. They regained the peloton quickly. Davitamon-Lotto and Quick Step are at the front chasing the break. The gap is 3min 20sec
Km 93: Flecha appears to have eased a bit to let the others catch him. They are now a quartet with a 3min 30sec lead. At one point the gap had been over five minutes. The sprinter's teams are coming to the front to help Discovery chase the break. The race is moving very fast. The first hour's racing covered 52 km.
Km 72: Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) escaped a little before the 30 km mark. Erik Dekker tried to go after him, but was caught. Now three riders are chasing him: Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas), Salvatore Commesso (Lampre) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole). Flecha has about 3 minutes on the peloton and is not waiting for the chasing trio who are about two minutes behind him.
Because Armstrong became the race leader as a result of Dave Zabriskie's crash he didn't want to wear the Yellow Jersey today. After the end of the neutral part of the start the race was stopped. Lance had started in a regular Discovery jersey and race officials had him don the Yellow. He pulled it on over his Discovery shirt. Lemond and, I believe Merckx (after Ocana's crash on the Col de Mente in 1971), have refused to wear the Yellow Jersey after getting it as a result of another rider's misfortune. Zabriskie started despite his bruises and cuts. He has no broken bones. Zabriskie still doesn't know why he crashed. All 189 of the original starting riders started the stage today, but Constantino Zaballa (Saunier Duval) has abandoned. He's the first to do so.
Tom Boonen won the first intermediate sprint for another 6 points.
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The rated climbs. It's going to be a little bumpier stage, but the sprinters will still consider this one of theirs:
Weather: 17C (62F) and raining lightly with a tailwind.
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| Lorenzo Bernucci prevails on a wet, dangerous course. Vinokourov is on the right in the light blue Kazakh national champion's colors. Sirotti photograph. | ||
Results: With the crash happenng within 3 km to go, it did not affect the GC times.
GC after stage 6.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The Race:
The Finish: The rider who went with Vinokourov was Lorenzo Bernucci (Fassa Bortolo). He went by Vinokourov in the corner and kept on going. Vino couldn't close the gap. Bernucci gets the win and Vinokourov is second. Lots of big name riders were caught in the crash including Robbie McEwen and Tom Boonen. As they limp in to the finish Rodriguez, McEwen and Boonen are discussing the situation, looking angry and disgusted. Vinokourov helped his cause a lot with the time bonus and gap to the field.
1 km to go. Damn! Mengin slides and crashes in a hard right hand corner. Vinokourov has help and keeps on going. the peloton piles up on the crash at the corner as they come through.
2 Km to go: Vinokourov takes off! The sprinter's teams have not taken control of this race.
3 km: 11 seconds
4 km to go: Mengin still has at least 16 seconds. The pack has split in half.
Km 190: Liquigas' Dario David Cioni has taken off after Mengin. It's dicey as the riders go around the corners with the painted white stripes.
Km 185: The break broke up on the climb. It started with Kroon and Auge playing sprinter's games each wanting the other guy to take the lead on the climb. They came off as the remaining trio continued. Then Gerosa came off. Then Kirsipuu cracked. Mengin, the local boy is continuing. As the pack hit the climb riders in the peloton were shelled. Thomas Voeckler came off very early. Lots of other riders are comong off. The high speed of the last several days has taken its toll.
The pack has caught Kroon and Auge. CSC is now at the front. Bobby Julich is working the pointy part of the peloton.
Now Gerosa and Kirsipuu are caught. Mengin is away alone with 30 seconds with 10 km to go.
Km 180: A little before the final climb. The gap is still 1min 26sec. Cofidis big dog Sylvain Chavanel flatted and is chasing alone. Tough time for him with the field moving so fast.
Km 161: The gap is is just a tad under 3 minutes. Armstrong is taking off his rain jacket. Probably expecting some hard attacks on the final climb (km 185). But, did the pack let the lead quartet get too much time? Might they make their flight stick? Lots of flat tires in the rain since objects can stick to the tires. Basso was the latest victim. He got help from some teammates and is back on. With the high speed, the pack is under stress. Echelons are forming as the crosswind is making things tough for the guys in the back of the pack.
Km 141: Kroon, Dekker's teammate and Auge battled it out for the points at the top of the Côte de Montigny. Kroon took it. Then, they both smiled at each other, bumped fists. I am pretty sure Karsten Kroon (Rabobank) is the new vitual owner of the Polka Dot Jersey. Both Kroon and Auge have 7 points. The average speed for the third hour is 45.1 km/hr. The average for the three hours is a quick 47.5 km/hr. The gap is 4min 12sec.
Km 134: The gap has fallen below 5 minutes. It's 4min 45sec. The front of the peloton is mostly Quick Step and Davitamon, all taking really hard pulls. It's still raining, getting harder, in fact. Now the gap is 4min 30sec.
Km 121: Kirsipuu, one of the breakway riders, flatted. He got back on with no trouble. Their lead is down to 5min 37sec. We've had another abandon. Fassa Bortolo's Claudio Corioni has quit the Tour. No news yet as to why. Zaballa, the first abandon, had to quit with knee troubles.
Km 112: It looks like a dreary, wet day. The peloton is strung out. Domina Vacanze is helping out with the chase. Lots of teams have hopes for sprint-finish glory so the break has a lot to fight against. The gap is down to 6min 20sec. As the break goes through a little town the riders take the corners very carefully around the corners on the slippery, wet streets. The guys at the front of the peloton are riding hard. Stephan Auge has managed to gain 5 climbing points while in the break. He is now threatening Dekker's ownership of the polka dots. Dekker is leading with 6 points. There are two more rated climbs to go so he may wrest the lead in the climbing competition from Dekker.
Km 105: Davitamon-Lotto and Quick Step have decied to bring the break back. The gap is already down to 7min 30sec. Again, these guys are moving very fast. For the first two hours the average speed is 48.7km/hr.
188 riders started. No one abandoned overnight. Last year, by the beginning of the 6th stage 7 riders had quit the Tour. After a few attempts to establish a break, Christophe Mengin scooted off at Km 23km. Frst Mauro Gerosa (Liquigas), then Karsten Kroon (Rabobank), Stephane Auge (Cofidis) and Jaan Kirsipuu (Credit Agricole) chased him down. By Km 38 they were together and riding away from the field. At Km 101 the break has a big gap, 8min 10sec
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Stage 7, Friday, July 8: Lunéville - Karlsruhe, 228.5 km.
Two rated climbs. I think this is the first stage with a category 3 climb in this Tour, Armstrong noticed that lots of riders got shelled on the 4th category Maron climb on Thursday. He said that the very high speed of this Tour has already taken its toll on the riders. The guys are getting tired.
Weather: 15C (59F). Rain overnight but the streets are dry right now.
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| Again Robbie McEwen combines perfect timing with blazing speed for the stage 7 win. Big Magnus Backstedt is on his left. Sirotti photo. | ||
Results:
GC after stage 7.
Points (Green Jersey).
Climber (Polka Dot Jersey)
Young Rider (White Jersey)
Team GC
The Race:
The Finish: It was a long straight drag race. The full sprint started late. Boonen kept moving up but was still too far back. McEwen and Magnus Backstedt duked it out and McEwen got the win.
2 km to go: FDJ is lining up at the front for McGee. Boonen looks to be a way back.
5 Km to go: It's not raining. The crowds are huge. Davitamon is pounding hard at the front. There's lots of bumping as riders are trying to move up.
Km 217, 11 to go: It's still all together with no attacks that I have seen. It's raining again. Vinokourov has moved up to the front, near Armstrong. Discovery is sitting well up front right behind the sprinter's pacemakers.
Km 210: Credit Agricole, Quick Step and Davitamon are keeping the pace high to discourage breakaways. It's still not raining.
Km 205: Wegmann sits up. He's caught. The pack is all together.
Km 202: The crash victims are all back in the field. T-Mobile's mountain domestique Giuseppe Guerini flatted and got a super-fast wheel change. He should get on. Wegmann has less than 30 seconds and they've pulled the follow vehicles out from behind him. The peloton can see him now.
Km 200: The gap is down to about 1 minute.
Km 197: There was a crash in the middle of the peloton as they crossed an oblique set of railway tracks that were probably a bit wet and slippery. It looks like almost everyone is back up and chasing. Wegmann takes the final intermediate sprint. Then, a minute and a half later Boonen easily takes second place as Hushovd can't even move off his wheel.
Km 191: It's down to 2min 14sec. The crowds lining the streets are really big. No German has won a Tour de France stage that ended on German soil. I don't think Wegmann will change this record. About 5 km to the third intermediate sprint.
Km 186: Wegmann made it alone into Germany. Her still has 2 min 45sec. They sky over the peloton is black with heavy clouds. The streets are dry right now. At the front of the peloton are Quick Step and Domina Vacanze.
Km 169: Wegmann's time alone seems to be coming to an end. The gap is now 3min 30sec. He may make to the German border. Quick Step has moved up to the front and is helping with the chase. Domina has also sent a rider to help.
Km 156: Davitamon is stringing out the peloton. The lead is now 5 minutes.
Km 151: Oh yeah. The second intermediate sprint. Credit Agricole and Quick Step set up parallel lead-out trains that then came together. Tom Boonen and Thor Hushovd went for it. When Boonen jumped Hushovd saw he would be beat and sat down. Boonen got second place (Wegmann, off the front won it, of course) easily. The rain has stopped agin. With the increased speed Wegmann's lead fell to 6 minutes. Davitamon has moved to the front of the peloton now.
Km 147: Wegmann still has 8 minutes. Credit Agricole has sent Christophe Moreau to the front to help with the chasing. They would like to see their Thor Hushovd win today.
Km 130: Christophe Mengin has made it back to the pack. Discovery is doing the work of pulling the field. The sprinter's teams don't seem to be in evidence at the front.
Km 125: After a series of attacks, Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) went away on the first climb (Km 45) and is still away. At one point he had 8min 35sec. It's down to 8 minutes now. It's been raining off and on. It's raining now. With the finish in Germany, he's hoping to be a German winner finishing in a German town.
Everyone who finished yesterday started today (187 riders,), no overnight abandons but during the stage Phonak's Steve Zampieri quit. Yesterday's tragic hero, Christophe Mengin who crashed on a slick corner just before the finish while leading was dropped very early by the pack. Both of the rated climbs have been completed. Gerolsteiner's Fabian Wegmann is now the mountain's competition leader.
The results of the Col du Hantz:
The results of the Chipotte:
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Stage 8, Saturday, July 9: Pforzheim - Gérardmer, 231.5 km. Into the Vosges mountains and the Tour's first second category climb. We should see some changes to the GC.
The climbs:
Weather: 19C (66F), dry roads and sunshine. There is a chance of rain later in the stage.
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| Above, Weening wins by in infinitesimal margin. Is this what lawyers call a distinction without a difference? Below: Alejandro Valverde, with Ullrich on his left, wins the field sprint for 3rd. Sirotti photographs. | ||
Results: Interesting post-race comments by Armstrong. He was left isolated on the climb. He said he didn't feel that good. He says there will be a talk about this at dinner. I'll bet. He said that Discovery decided to let Kloden go and that the dangermen are Vinkourov and Ullrich. David Zabriskie was able to escape elimination by beating the cutoff time by 1 minute. He came in 51 minutes after Weening. Here's what the Tour organization had to say about the finish: "The official timing system has sensors on every bike in the race. The finish of today's stage was so close that a photo had to be used to determine the winner. It's difficult to tell if Pieter Weening's tyre was ahead of Andreas Kloden's but the timing system declared the Rabobank rider the winner. The winning time was just 0.0002 of a second!"
GC after stage 8.
