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Tour de France, 2006
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| The moment that decided the stage. Kessler attacks near the top of the Cauberg. Behind him Philippe Gilbert tries to go with him but just doesn't have the suds. | ||
Results.
GC after Stage 3:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The finish: The sprinter's teams hesitated just a bit and a determined Kessler held his lead to the end to get a nice win. There was a split in the field and Hushovd was in the second group so the GC will have to await the judges decision. Looks like Micahel Rogers won the field sprint for a 1-2 foir T-Mobile. Boonen was in the first group so he might be the Yellow Jersey.
Km 207, 7 to go: Voigt and Laurent have been caught. Arrieta is alone off the front with a lead of 1min 2sec.
Km 204: Arrieta has gone clear. Voigt and Luarent can't go with him.
Km 199, 17 to go: Euskaltel's Iban Mayo flatted. Almost the entire team went back to pace him back to the pack. Clearly the team thinks Mayo is on form and will be a serious contender as the race progresses. The attacks are starting to come from the riders in the break Laurent has made a second attempt to break loose. Voigt and Arrieta have bridged up to Laurent. Pineau and Extabarria are gone. Big crash in the peloton. Alejandro Valverde went down hard and looks like a broken collarbone. Looks like the now-3 breakaways have a lead of 1min 20sec.
Km 189: Pineau takes the third climb, the Loorberg. He's now the leader of the Climber's competition. The break's lead is down to 1min 48sec. Lots of big guns are sitting near the front of the peloton. Rabobank's Michael Boogerd tried to get away but the peloton was having none of that. No one wants to be caught napping when a move goes on one of the last climbs.
Km 170: This is awful! This from the TDF site: Both [Freddy]Rodriguez and [Erik] Dekker have finished their 2006 Tour de France in an ambulance. There are now 173 riders left in the race. Dekker has fractured a collarbone but we don’t have details of Rodriguez’s injuries. This was supposed to be Dekker's last season. Pineau took the third climb so he is tied with de la Fuentes on KOM points. The gap from the break to the peloton is 3min 40sec. Stage 1 winner Casper is yo-yoing off the back as is Magnus Backstedt.
Km 155, 65 to go: Pineau was first over both of the climbs so far. He's closing on de la Fuente's Polka Dot jersey. With the break's lead at 4min 35sec, he'll surely be abel to contest a couple more climbs. Credit Agricole has swarmed to the front of the peloton.
Km 132: The lead is back to 4min 40sec. Phonak, Saunier Duval, Quick Step and Davitamon-Lotto have moved to the front of the peloton and are helping Credit Agricole with the chase. Landis looks comfortable up near the front.
Km 126: The lead has grown to 5min 50sec
Km 96: The lead has grown to 5min 35sec. The riders covered 42.2 km the second hour for an average speed of 43.6 km/hr for the first 2 hours.
Km 63: At about the 15th kilometer Jens Voigt took off and was joined by 4 others. The riders are: Jens Voigt (CSC), Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Jose Luis Arrieta (Ag2R), Christophe Laurent (AgGR) and Jerome Pineau (BTL). Thery had a lead of 5min 20sec but now it's 5min with Yellow Jersey Hushovd's Credit Agricole doing the chasing. These guys are hauling. The average speed for the first hour was 45 km/hr.
Voigt is the best-placed rider in the break. After the end of stage 2 he was 47th in GC, only 36 seconds behind Hushovd. You can bet Credit Agricole is going to work to bring him back to the peloton before they get to Valkenburg.
Elevation and map of stage 3
Stage 4, Wednesday, July 5: Huy (Belgium) - Saint-Quentin (back to France), 207 km
2 categorized climbs:
Cote de Peu d'Eau (category 3, 4.9% gradient at km 13) and Cote de Falaen (category 4, 5.4% gradient at km 57.5).
Weather: Cooler today, 70F (21C), wind SE at 5 mph (8 km/h). Rain is likely. It's raining in Brussels. But it looks like it held off from raining on the race course.
Results:
GC after Stage 4:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The finish: How does he do it? McEwen sneaks up to the front and takes a clean win. Credit Agricole rider Julian Dean crashed in the middle of the lead-out but everyone went around him.
2 km to go: They are caught. All together. Zabel has a flat tire.
3 km to go: The trio is hammering away but the gap is only 9sec
10 km to go: Martinez, Lefevre and Coutoulyhave taken off and leaving the other 2. The gap to the trio is only 28 seconds
Km 189: Martinez won the third intermediate sprint. With his total of 18 bonus seconds earned today he should be in 5th place in the GC when the day is over. The gap to the break is 1min 10sec. The break is still working together well and are working hard to keep away to the end. Iban Mayo got caught in a crash. His team is waiting and he should get back ok.
Km 182: Lampre and Credit Agricole have also joined in the chase. With 25 km to go the gap is 1min 22sec
Km 170: The gap is really coming down now. It's 2min 10sec. Milram, Quick Step and Davitamon are all working to bring the breakaway back to the field.
Km 153: The break's lead is down to 2min 45sec. Quick Step mostly (with some Davitamon-Lotto) has the peloton pulled into a long line. Floyd Landis got a puncture but his teammates zapped him back up to the peloton.
Km 139: Martinez won the second intermediate sprint and picked up another 6 seconds. The peloton is really strung out as a Davitamon-Lotto rider (Christophe Brandt?) has joined Quick Step in the chase. The lead is now 3min 29sec
Km 126: There are 4 Quick Steps at the front of the peloton. Average speed for the first 3 hours is 39.6 km/hr. Stuart O'Grady, who crashed yesterday, turned out to have cracked a vertebrae. He started today, describing the pain as a "knife in the back". The gap back to the break is 4min 25sec.
Km 113: Jerome Pineau won the fist climb and Lefevre (in the break) won the second climb so Pineau retains his leadership in the Mountains competition. He'll start the race Thursday in Polka Dots. It hasn't rained on the race yet. Martinez won the first intermediate sprint so with the 6 seconds bonus he's moved well up on the GC ranks. The gap between the break and the peloton is 4min 17sec.
Km 94: At the 18th km, 5 riders went clear: Egoi Martinez (Discovery), Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis), Christophe Mengin (FDJ), Cédric Coutouly (Agritubel) and Laurent Lefevre (Bouygues Telecom). Martinez broke first and the otherf 4 chased and caught him and is the best-place rider in the break, he's 22nd in GC at 28sec. Their lead is currently 4min 45sec. The average speed for the fist 2 hours of riding is 38.9 km/hr.
Elevation and route of stage 4
Stage 5, Thursday, July 6: Beauvais - Caen, 225 km
Rated climbs:
Weather in Caen: 73F (23C), wind WNW at 5 mph (8 km/h). Slightly overcast.
Results:
GC after Stage 5:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The Race:
The finish: Oscar Freire (Rabobank) takes the stage. It looks like McEwen hesitated. Boonen looked like he was going to get it when Oscar Freire went through a hole and emerged going a lot faster than the others. Martinez could not regain contact with the petlon and finished at least 10 seconds behind. His 5th place is lost.
3.6 Km to go: Another big crash in the peloton. Dumoulin and Schroder are caught. It looks like a big sprint is coming up.
6 km to go: 17 seconds
8 km to go: 49 seconds
15 km to go: Discovery's Egoi Martinez, one of the heros of yesterday's break and 5th in GC has gone down hard in a crash. Dumoulin is doing most of the work in the break whioch now has a lead of 1min 28sec. Martinez is back on his bike. He's being looked at by the Tour doctor on the fly.
20 km to go: The 2 breakaway riders are pounding for all they are worth but the lead is down to 2min 15sec. Davitamon-Lotto, Credit Agricole, FDJ and Quick Step are all driving the peloton hard.
Km 192, 33 to go: The lead is down to 3min 36sec. Chapatte's Law says that a determined peloton needs 10km to close a minute lead to a break. It looks close.
Km 178: Dumoulin won the final intermediate sprint. Davitamon-Lotto sent Vansummeren up the road again to sweep up the the third-place points, which he did. The duo currently has a lead of 4min 35sec.
Km 164: Pineau has had taken the thrid-place climber's point on the Boulay. Pineau went over the climb 6 minutes behind the led duo of Schroder and Dumoulin. Davitamon has send Christophe Brandt up front to help Quick Step with the chase. The lead is now down to 5min 38sec.
Km 139: The rain has stopped. Zabriskie gets a quick rear flat repaired. Then he rides next to the CSC team car to have his radio worked on. Indicative of CSC's ambitions for Zabriskie is that no other CSC riders dropped back to help him. It looks like Zabriskie is not a protected rider. Pineau beats de la Fuente for the 3rd place point for the 3rd climb the gap to the 2 riders up front is 7min 3sec. Davitamon-Lotto has sent Vansummeren up the road to suck up the remaining third-place points on the upcoming intermediate sprint and deny them to the other guys who have Green Jersey ambitions.
Km 126: It's raining on the Tour for the first time this year. It's not raining at the finsih line in Caen. Update on the break. Their lead is down to 8min 42sec. Phonak has made sure Landis is up near the front.
Km 122: Schroder took the second climb.Back in the peloton Fabina Wegmann beat Pineau for the remaining 3rd place climber's point. The break's lead is down to 9min 45sec because Quick Step has put 3 riders at the front of the pack.
Km 94: 172 riders started. There were no overnight abandons. Polka-Dot Jersey holder Jerome Pineau won the first climb, the Mont des Fourches. A group of 8 went clear after the first climb but the peloton about reeled them in. 2 of these riders jumped clear just before the catch and they have been allowed thier freedom. Currently Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2R) and Bjorn Schroder (Milram) have a lead of 12min 50sec. The average speed for the first 2 hours of the race is 42.9 km/hr. Demoulin is the better-placed of the duo, 123rd, down 3min 52sec in the GC.
Elevation and route of stage 5
Stage 6, Friday, July 7: Lisieux - Vitre, 189 km
Weather in Caen, near the start: 68F (20C), Wind: West at 7 mph (11 km/h). At the time of the start is had just stopped raining and it was raining at the finish line.
Results:
GC after Stage 6:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The Race:
The finish: Lampre started the leadout train and then Quick step took over. McEwen look buried, 20 places back. Then Gert Steegmans, his new leadout man after Rodriguez crashed out a few days ago, jumped and brought him right up to the front and then it was over. McEwen wins another one.
4 km to go: They're caught. It's all together. So it will be a big sprint again.
Under the 10 km banner: 26 seconds. All the service cars behind the break have been pulled out. We're on the outskirts of Vitre. It might rain at the very end.
Km 174, 15 km to go: The lead has now fallen under a minute. It's 50 seconds.
Km 156: The peloton looks like a TGV speeding across the road. The trio has only 1min 30sec. The peloton can see the break up the road. The catch should come soon.
Km 145: Lead is 2min 36sec. The peloton is stretched out. Brard and Backstedt are now sharing the work of driving break more evenly. Quick Step, Credit Agricole, Davitamon-Lotto and Rabobank are at the the front of the peloton.
Km 134: The trio is leading by 3min 32sec. The roads are undulating and curvy. Geslin is doing most of the work in the break, pulling almost half the time.
Km 112: The lead is 4min 34sec. It had been 5min 15sec.
Km 92: OK, this break is all right. The peloton has relaxed and the Backstedt trio has a gap of 3 min 53sec. Th second hour was ridden at 44.7km/h. The average for the first two hours is 45.8km/h. Geslin is the best-placed rider in the break, 74th at 1min 15sec in the GC. Quick Step has 3 men at the front keep thing under control.
Km 83: I'm wrong. Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas), Florent Brard (Illes Balears) and Anthony Geslin (Boygues Telecom) are still off the front But Boonen's group has been caught by the peloton.
Km 76: Ho ho ho. It's a race! Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas), Florent Brard (Illes Balears) and Anthony Geslin (Boygues Telecom) have broken loose from the Boonen lead group. Nope. They're back in the break and the peloton is chasing like the Hounds of Hell and have reduced the lead to 25 seconds.
Km 65: The group has gown to 17 riders with Tom Boonen, Pavel Padrnos, Patrik Sinkewitz and Thor Hushovd, among others. Davitamon has hit the front. the gap is 1 minute.
Km 46: Breaks had gone off, but they had all been brought back. Discovery rider Egoi Martinez who crashed yesterday is OK and started today. There was only 1 rated climb, the 3rd category Côte de la Hunière at km 27.5. Here's how it went: 1. Guiseppe Guerini, 2. David Lopez Garcia, 3. Jerome Pineau, 4. Juan Manuel Garate. So Pineau has padded his lead with another 2 points. The first hour was pretty speedy: 46.9 km/hr. As I was wirting this a group has gone clear: Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ), Stephane Auge (Cofidis), Christian Knees (Milram) and Florent Brard (Illes Balears). They have a 45-second gap. The roads are dry.
Elevation and map of stage 6.
Stage 7, Saturday, July 8: Saint Gregoire - Rennes, 52 km individual time trial
Weather: 72F (22C) , it has rained but it has stopped and the roads are mostly dry for the start. It could rain during the stage. Little wind.
The race: The riders are going off in reverse GC order every 2 minutes. Sebastian Joly (FDJ) is first off. Yellow Jersey Tom Boonen will be last, departing at 4:28 French Time (7:30 AM PDT).
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| Honchar on his way to winning the stage and the Yellow Jersey. | ||
Final Results:
GC after Stage 7:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
3rd intermediate time check at 46.3 km, with everyne through:
2nd Intermediate time check at 36.5 km, with everyone through:
Everyone through the first intermediate time check, 16.5 km:
138 riders in: Everyone is on the road. Leipheimer is having a poor ride. His 2-minute man, Christian Vendevelde has caught him. He went through the first 14 km time check 2 minutes slower than Honchar, who has set the fastest time so far at the first time check. Guys who started fast seem to have faded at the end. There's a bit of wind near the finish, making things harder for the late starters.
132 riders in: Top 3 finishers haven't changed. Hincapie just took off. All the Americans are on the road. Left to start: Freire, Rogers, McEwen and Boonen. Andreas Kloden burned up the first 16 km and is leading at the first check point.
Damnation!!! Bobby Julich's bike lost traction as he was speeding through an "S" curve and he crashed hard. Doctors are looking at him. He's being put into an ambulance. His Tour is over.
115 riders in: Leipheimer is on the road. We're into the top 25 GC men. Now we're into the part of the race that matters. No change yet to the top 3, Lang is still the leader.
107 riders in: There are 171 riders left in the Tour. The fast men in contention for the GC won't start for a while. The sun has come out, shouldn't rain now. Landis is warming up. Damiano Cunego has finished and he was 5min 19sec slower than Lang. The standings right now:
With 94 riders in the barn, German time trial champion is leading with a time of 1hr 2min 48sec. French time trial champion Sylvain champion went out blazing and was leading at the first intermediate time check, but he faded badly and finished 2 minutes slower than Lang.
Stage 8, Sunday, July 9: Saint Meen le Grand - Lorient, 181 km
Rated climbs:
Weather: 68F (20C). Raining, but not as hard as it had been. Wind: SW at 11 mph (18 km/h) By km 100, the rain has stopped.
Results:
GC after Stage 8:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The race:
The finish: Calzati started celebrating with 4 km to go, slapping hands with his director in the Ag2R car. He's got it, a solo win for Sylvain Calzati.
2 minutes later Carlstrom just nips Halgand for second place. The peloton can be seen less than 100 meters back down the road.
McEwen gets the field sprint for 4th place.
6 km to go: Calzati is gone. He won't be caught. He has extended his lead to 3 minutes. In between Halgand and Carlstrom are 2 minutes behind him and a minute ahead of the pack.
Km 165: The Zabriskie/Aerts/Kessler trio has been caught
Km 158: The break is in 3 pieces: Calzati, followed by Halgand and Carlstrom @ 42sec and then Zabriskie, Arts and Kessler a further 32sec back and then the peloton @ 1min 22 or 2min 42sec behind Calzati.
Km 142: Other teams have come to help wiuth the chase and Phonak looks like it has stopped working. The lead is down to 2min 36sec. Calzati has attacked the break and has a good gap. Halgand has gone after him. The other 3 don't seem to be reacting.
Km 133: The lead is down to 4min. FDJ has moved to the front to help Phonak with the chase. Up in the break, as expected, T-Mobile's Kessler isn't working, since T-Mobile has the Yellow Jersey.
Km 112: The lead is down to 5min 4sec with all Phonak riders not named Landis at the front working the chase. They'll probably keep the break within reach and hope the sprinter's teams will finish the job. They shouldn't expect any help from Davitamon and Liquigas with Aerts and Carlstrom up ahead.
Km 97: With the withdrawl of Bobby Julich, 170 riders remain in the Tour. The first hour of racing covered 45.5 km. There were several attmpts to form breaks, but they were all chased down until about the 47th kilometer. A break of 6 has gone clear and seems to have the approval of the peloton: David Zabriskie (CSC), Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile), Mario Aerts (Davitamon-Lotto), Sylvain Calzati (Ag2R), Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) and Patrice Halgand (Credit Agricole). They had a lead of 7min 30sec. Currently it's 6min 55sec. It' a powerful, fast-moving breakaway. Good move by T-Mobile, getting Kessler in the break so they don't have to waste energy controlling the race. Phonak doesn't want Kessler to get too far away so they are leading the chase.
Stage 8 map and elevation.
Stage 9, Tuesday, July 11: Bordeaux - Dax, 169.5 km
Pan flat. No rated climbs, hence no points in play for the Polka-Dot Jersey
Weather: In Bordeaux at the start: 77F (25C). It should climb to 86F (30C), wind NW at 5 mph (8 km/h). Partly sunny.
Results:
GC after Stage 9:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The Race:
The finish: McEwen got boxed in. He went right and left and finally found the front, but Freire beat him by millimeters.
4 km to go: They are caught. All together. On the streets of Dax.
5 km to go: Knees and Beneteau take turns attacking the break. Gap is 23sec.
7 km to go: The gap is 35sec.
14 km to go: Knees attacked the break again and now there seem to be some hard words being exchanged in the break. They've clearly lost their momentum. The gap is 1min 37sec.
Under the 20 km to go banner: The gap is 2min 7sec. The riders in the break are clearly digging deep, hoping to stay away, but that looks unlikely. Now the gap is 1min 58sec.
Km 140: Knees attacked his companions but was brought back. Auge told Knees what he thought of the attempt. With 28.6 km to go now the lead is at 2min 55sec. Cedric Vasseur, one of the hardest working of the chasers is at 231 watts and his heart rate is 164 bpm out of his max of 186. They're working hard.
Km 129. It looks like a team time trial at the front with riders from the sprinter's teams taking short, hard pulls. Bram Tankink, one of the chasers, is kicking out 238 watts. The lead is now 3min 52sec.
Km 120: The guys working at the front of the peloton dropped the hammer. The lead is down to 5min. The sprinter's teams won't have another chance for a win for a while with the first Pyreneen stage coming up tomorrow. And it looks like they don't want to give another stage to a break. Chapatte's Law: A determined peloton will close in on a break at the rate of 1 minute per 10 kilometers. Oops, the lead is down to 4min 50sec.
Km 112: the second hour of racing covered 44.7 km. For the first 2 hours the average speed is 45.5 km/hr. Zoom! The break still has a 5min 55sec. Both the break and the peloton are moving fast with a slight tailwind. The peloton remains very strung out, nose to tail.
Km 81: The peloton is strung out in a long line as T-Mobile, Quickstep, Lampre and Credit Agricole lead the chase. The break's lead is starting to come down, it's 6min 40sec.
Km 54: The first hour was ridden at 46.3 km/hr. The lead trio have a lead of 7min 43sec. Beneteau won the first intermediate sprint.
Km 25: There were no withdrawals over the rest day. 170 riders started the stage. It looks like the day's breakaway has flown the pack: Walter Beneteau (Bouygues Telecom) and Stephane Auge (Cofidis) chased and caught earlier escapee Christian Knees (Milram). Their lead is currently 2min 30sec.
Stage 10, Wednesday, July 12: Cambo les Bains - Pau , 190.5 km
Weather: 75F (24C), little chance of rain today.Mild winds, 19 mph (15 kph).
Results:
GC after Stage 10
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The race:
5 km to go: Mercado has stopped working. Dessel has plenty of motivation, waiting for him in Pau is the Yellow Jersey and the lead in the KOM. In the peloton Gonchar is leading the chase. Ag2R is sitting right behind T-Mobile so that the other teams don't get involved with the chase.
Km 178, 11 to go: Landaluze wasn't able to close the gap which is now 51 seconds. Dessel and Mercado didn't want to try their luck sprinting with Landaluze. The peloton is now 9min 35sec. Dessel should spend the night in Yellow.
Km 161: With the pair off the mountain that have a lead of 9min 15sec. Landaluze is just hanging behind the duo, about 10 seconds behind. Rasmussen was caught by the peloton on the descent.
Km 151: Rasmussen, Landis, Moreau and Hincapie are right at the front of the peloton as they ride the fnal kilometers of the mountain. Bam!! Rasmussen goes. Is this a KOM play or his trying to get away and gain time? Oh no!. Leipheimer is having trouble staying with the peloton. So is Cunego. Gonchar was able to stay with the peloton by teh skin of his teeth.
Km 147: The gap is 9min 40sec. I'm sure the break is long gone. The mountain approaches an 11% gradient near the top and these riders are working hard to keep their bikes going. Phonak riders have moved upbehind the T-Mobile leaders. Dessel take the crest of the Marie Blanque, making him the now owner of the Polka Dot Jersey. Landaluze is only about 30 seconds behind the 2 leaders.
Km 143: On the lower slopes of the Marie Blanque. Dessel and Mercado have immediately dropped the other members of the break. Sitting behind the T-Mobile leaders in the peloton are 3 Discovery riders: Jose Azevedo, Yaroslav Popovych and Egoi Martinez. Think they're up to anything?
Km 140: Cedric Vasseur and Cristian Moreni have made it up to the front 5: The now 7-man strong break's lead is 11 minutes. Mayo has joined the peloton. The front of the peloton continues to be led by T-Mobile. Rogers is not doing any of the tempo work, so they are clearly saving him. Kloden isn't at the front either from what I can see. Cyril Dessel is easily the Virtuel Yellow Jersey.
Km 121: Several of the former breakways have made it up to Mercado and Dessel on the descent. It's now 5 together: Christophe Rinero, Inigo Landaluze, Cyril Dessel, Juan Miguel Mercado, Inaki Isasi. T-Mobile continues to lead the peloton on the descent with the skilled Michael Rogers getting a gap off the front. Gonchar managed to hang on. Average spped for the bthird hour was 31.2 km/hr. Speed for the first 3 hours is 39.6 km/hr.
Km 101: Over the top of the Soudet: Mercado tried to go the the points at the top of the climb but went far too early. Dessel came back to him, dropped him and took the 20 KOM points. 9 min 25 seconds back in the peloton Matthias Kessler is the first of several T-Mobile riders. What!?!? I don't see Gonchar. He's a better climber than that. There he is, at the back of the bunch lead by his teammates. I think T-Mobile must be planning on letting him go if he gets into trouble. I don't see any of his teammates riding with him. He looks awful, but nothing like Mayo. The air is thick with fog and mist, limiting visibility.
Km 96: On the Col du Soudet.169 riders started. Laurent Brochard did not start. An original break of 13 that went away around the 40th kilomter is now down to 2 riders: Juan Miguel Mercado (Agritubel) and Cyril Dessel (Ag2R). The other members of the break are scattered back behind them. dThe Yellow Jersey group is 9min 13 sec behind. The big doigs are all there except shocker Iban Mayo who is turning squares and looks like he is in terrible shape. T-Mobile is riding tempo at the front of the Yellow Jersey group. Levi Leipheimer seems to have gotten over his bad patch and up there with Gonchar and the others.
Stage 11, Thursday, July 13: Tarbes - Val d'Aran, Pla-de-Beret (Spain), 206.5 km
Weather: It's supposed to be warm, 86F (30C) and sunny.
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| Leipheimer's attack in the closing kilometers shelled Evans as Sastre | ||
Results:
GC after Stage 11:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The finish: Landis led most of the last couple of kilomters. Menchov leads it out and takes the stage win with Leipheimer second and Landis third.
3 km to go: Leipheimer attacks, Menchov and Landis go with him. Menchov attacks and takes Landis with him while Leipheimer digs deep and gets back.
7 km to go: Landis goes to the front. Now they all pause a bit. Menchov and then Landis are at the front again. Boogerd and Kloden are chasing back with the slowdown of the leaders.
8 km to go: BAM!! Menchov goes. Kloden and Boogerd are off. Leipheimer attacks. Menchov brings him back.
9 km to go: Boogerd is wrecking the lead group, leaving only Boogerd, Menchov, Evans, Landis, Leipheimer, Sastre and Kloden in the front group.
13 km to go: After working for Menchov, Rasmussen has come off. The Tour has announced that the top 5 riders will have thier bikes weighed. Simoni, Parra, Fothen, Moreau, Azewvedo, Zubeldia, Schleck are off.
Km 183: The Cunego/Arroyo/de la Fuente group has been caught by the Boogerd-led peloton. We're set up for the finale with the 21 best riders all together. They are: Sastre, Schleck, Kloden, Rogers, Moreau, Leipheimer, Fothen, Totschnig, Menchov, Boogerd, Rasmussen, Evans, Landis, Arroyo, Zubeldia, Parra, Simoni and De la Fuente. Cunego was just dropped.
Km 178: Cunego and Arroyo have caught de la Fuente. The Landis group is 53 sec back. Because the Landis group slowed after the descent of the Portillon, the Dessel chasing gorup is 1min behind. Unless the Landis groups gets going, Dessel will save his Yellow Jersey. Rabobank is driving the Landis group, probably working for their Denis Menchov.
Km 174: Cunego did get back on. Now that the road has started to rise for the final climb Damiano Cunego and David Arroyo have attacked. No reaction.
Km 173: Landis is a very skilled descender and is leading his group, throwing high heat. It's going to be very difficult for a dropped rider to get back up to this elite group.
Km 164: De la Fuente went over the top with 1min 33sec. Rasmussen took the second place, leading the very small peloton. On the descent Boogerd wants to make some time and is upset at the television moto which is blocking his way. Carlos Sastre crashed but remounted. I think Azevedo is the only Discovery rider left in the front group. Hincapie came off the Yellow Jersey chase group and is now in a group 5 minutes behind de la Fuente.
Km 160: Boogerd and Rasmussen have moved to the front. Simoni and Parra are off.
Km 158: It looks like Hincapie has been dropped. Left in the lead group chasing de la Fuente, Wegmann has been caught: Azevedo, Sastre, Schleck, Kloden, Kessler, Rogers, Moreau, Leipheimer, Totschnig, Fothen, Boogerd, Menchov, Rasmussen, Evans, Landis, Cunego, Arroyo, Zubeldia, Parra and Simoni.
Km 156: The hotter tempo is dropping lots of riders. Boogerd and Landis have moved up. Dessel is dropped. Leipheimer and Evans are still there.
Km 153: The break has gone through Luchon 3min 27sec ahead of the peloton. Flecha is only 35sec ahead of the pack. Next, the first category Portillon. The peloton didn't swell with lots of dropped riders catching on the descent. A few made it back, but I think there are lots of broken legs. Flecha has been caught by the peloton.Wegmann has attacked and dropped de la Fuente. Fuente answered and then went by Wegmann.Iban Mayo has abandoned the Tour. Ag2R has the peloton strung out on the lower slopes. Voeckler has been dropped by the peloton.
Oops! T-Mobile has gone to the front.Kloden is leading. Is this the big move?
Km 137: De la Fuente tried to get Wegmann to take a pull near the top of the Peyresourde, but Wegmann demurred. De la Fuente jumped and got a big gap and took hte KOM points. De la Fuente should be the leader nowof the KOM. The peloton has caught Camano. Voeckler cracked and the peloton has caught him. Popovych is dropped by the peloton. He's looking for the team car. Again Boogerd and Rasmussen are looking for the third-place KOM points. So far there haven't been any real attacks. We still don't know who really has the suds to win the Tour. The pack is about 3min 15sec behind de la Fuente who has taken off by himself. Wegmann has caught him on the descent.
Km 132: Wegmann attacked the break on the Peyresourde and took de la Fuente with him. Flecha is abut 30sec behind. Camano is well off, having been passed by the hard chasing Voeckler. The peloton is about 4min behind Wegmann and de la Fuente. Stefano Garzelli, winner of the 2000 Giro is dropped by the peloton.
Km 120: The break is finished descending the Aspn and is going through the feed zone. Voeckler is 1min 10sec back. Next up, the Peyresourde.
Km 106: Wegmann went a bit early for the KOM points on the Aspin and caught de la Fuente by surprise. Now the break is on the technical descent of the Aspin. Rasmussen and his Rabobank teammate Boogerd led the peloton over the top.
Km 102: There are 4 Ag2R riders at the front of the peloton with Dessel tucked in just behind them The Aspin is not have the same effect upon the peloton, being a milder ascent. Voeckler loks like he's closing the gap to the 4 breakaways. He's at 1min 50sec now.
Km 97: We're on the Aspin. The 4 leaders still have 5min 36sec. Thomas Voeckler took off alone after the Tourmalet ands he's still somewhere in between the peloton and the break. The peloton has swelled on the descent with lots of the dropped riders.
Km 75: Discovery is getting hammered on the Tourmalet. Egoi Martinez, Viatscheslav Ekimov & Benjamin Noval have been dropped. Hincapie, Popovych and Azevedo are still up there. Jose Rujano, who has been suffering from an infection on his foot and David Zabriskie have been dropped. The break has just gone over the crest of the Tourmalet with a lead of 4min 26sec. Wegmann and de la Fuente sprinted hard for the KOM points with de la Fuente. Rasmussen went for the third place points but the cagey Thomas Voeckler scooted by him. Now the long, very fast descent.
Km 70: Robbie McEwen won the first intermediate sprinbt, pading his lead for the Green Jersey with another 6 points. 4 riders escaped before the Tourmalet began: Iker Camano (Euskaltel), David De la Fuente (Saunier Duval), Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank). We are now on the Tournmalet proper, just after the ski town of La Mongie. The 4 riders have a lead of 5min 25sec over the peloton, containing the Yellow Jersey and almost all of the big dogs. Iban Mayo and Gilberto Simoni have already been dropped by the Yellow Jersey group. A motorcycle camerman has been following a lone Mayo who is very unhappy about the attention to his plight. Giovanni Lombardy has abandoned, reducing CSC to 6 riders. Ag2R is at the front of the peloton, riding a warm but not hot pace. Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery), Chris Horner have been dropped.
Stage 11 map and elevation
Stage 12, Friday July 14: Luchon - Carcassonne, 211.5 km
The rated climbs:
Weather: It's Hot!! 100F (38C) at Carcassone.
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| The field sprint. Boonen finally gets the better of McEwen | ||
Results:
GC after Stage 12:
Climber:
Points:
Young Rider:
Team GC:
The finish: Popovych goes hard. Ballan can't do it and Fr
