Showing posts tagged stage 1
Phil Gil Thrills | Stage 1 Hot favourite for the opening stage victory of the 2011 Tour Philippe Gilbert once again demonstrated his brilliance in a superbly taken victory on the uphill finish into Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers. Few riders handle pressure the way Gilbert does and even fewer win as often while doing so. The Belgian seems unflappable in all kinds of race conditions and his self-belief was contagious today as his team-mates controlled the race impeccably on his behalf on Stage 1. Gilbert’s brilliant season now made even more brilliant with the recently crowned Belgian Champ assuming the first Maillot Jaune of this year’s Tour. The other big story of the day was the time loss suffered by Contador after he was caught up behind a crash inside the final 10 kilometres. Most of the big GC favourites avoided the trouble, including Evans who was an excellent 2nd behind Gilbert. Although the headlines will focus on El Pistolero’s losses and what it means - a number of other top 10 GC hopefuls suffered similar misfortune. GC contender time losses 1:20   Alberto Contador Velasco (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 1:20   Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) 1:55   Thomas Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) 1:55   Roman Kreuziger (Astana) 1:55   Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard) 3:41   Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) View high resolution

Phil Gil Thrills | Stage 1

Hot favourite for the opening stage victory of the 2011 Tour Philippe Gilbert once again demonstrated his brilliance in a superbly taken victory on the uphill finish into Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers. Few riders handle pressure the way Gilbert does and even fewer win as often while doing so. The Belgian seems unflappable in all kinds of race conditions and his self-belief was contagious today as his team-mates controlled the race impeccably on his behalf on Stage 1. Gilbert’s brilliant season now made even more brilliant with the recently crowned Belgian Champ assuming the first Maillot Jaune of this year’s Tour.

The other big story of the day was the time loss suffered by Contador after he was caught up behind a crash inside the final 10 kilometres. Most of the big GC favourites avoided the trouble, including Evans who was an excellent 2nd behind Gilbert. Although the headlines will focus on El Pistolero’s losses and what it means - a number of other top 10 GC hopefuls suffered similar misfortune.

GC contender time losses
1:20   Alberto Contador Velasco (Saxo Bank-Sungard)
1:20   Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Euskaltel - Euskadi)

1:55   Thomas Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo)
1:55   Roman Kreuziger (Astana)
1:55   Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-Sungard)

3:41   Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo)

Boom! Crash! Petacchi! | Stage 1 On a day when the wind refused to blow in from the North Sea as was expected - much to the relief of diminutive Spanish cyclists everywhere, mind you - chaos still reigned supreme on the first open road stage of this year’s Tour. Massive crowds lined the route, often 4, 6 and 8 deep, crowding the already narrow roads and making life extremely difficult for the peleton. From the get go, local boy and uber-talent Lars Boom (Rabobank) dropped the hammer, taking Quick Step’s Maarten Wynants and Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) along with him. The trio worked well together, quickly establishing a lead of over seven minutes as the chase of the following bunch was repeatedly interrupted by crashes. At the 30km mark, the lead had been whittled down to under a minute and Wynants took this as his cue to skip away from his breakaway companions. While Alexander Pliuschin (Katusha), the champion of Moldova, was able to bridge up to Wynants, Perez and Boom were re-absorbed by the bunch. With the peloton chasing hard, the teams of the sprinters were in control at the front. Garmin, HTC-Columbia and Lampre the most prominent, with riders from Cervelo and Team Sky also visible - and the two off the front were absorbed at 8km to go. Other than a sharp right hand bend at 3km to go, the finish should have been straightforward for the competing trains of the fast men. Instead, Cav (not Jez Hunt as was reported) miscalculated horribly, taking out Hunt and Oscar Freire amongst others - meaning HTC-Columbia had to quickly recalibrate its plan for the closing finish. The trains of Lampre for Petacchi and Garmin for Farrer were quick to seize the initiative and some semblance of order appeared to have been restored until another massive pile-up stopped all but 30 or so riders inside the last kilometre. Amazingly, with only 15 riders left to sprint inside the final 300m, AG2R’s Lloyd Mondory saw fit to initiate one final crash, narrowly avoiding bringing down McEwen before hitting the deck and taking out Tyler Farrar’s rear derailleur - crueling any chance of a first Tour de France stage win by the likeable American. Up front, Ale-Jet had launched his sprint and despite the best efforts of Renshaw, Hushovd and McEwen, none of them were able to reel in the powerful Italian. View high resolution

Boom! Crash! Petacchi! | Stage 1

On a day when the wind refused to blow in from the North Sea as was expected - much to the relief of diminutive Spanish cyclists everywhere, mind you - chaos still reigned supreme on the first open road stage of this year’s Tour. Massive crowds lined the route, often 4, 6 and 8 deep, crowding the already narrow roads and making life extremely difficult for the peleton.

From the get go, local boy and uber-talent Lars Boom (Rabobank) dropped the hammer, taking Quick Step’s Maarten Wynants and Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) along with him. The trio worked well together, quickly establishing a lead of over seven minutes as the chase of the following bunch was repeatedly interrupted by crashes.

At the 30km mark, the lead had been whittled down to under a minute and Wynants took this as his cue to skip away from his breakaway companions. While Alexander Pliuschin (Katusha), the champion of Moldova, was able to bridge up to Wynants, Perez and Boom were re-absorbed by the bunch.

With the peloton chasing hard, the teams of the sprinters were in control at the front. Garmin, HTC-Columbia and Lampre the most prominent, with riders from Cervelo and Team Sky also visible - and the two off the front were absorbed at 8km to go.

Other than a sharp right hand bend at 3km to go, the finish should have been straightforward for the competing trains of the fast men. Instead, Cav (not Jez Hunt as was reported) miscalculated horribly, taking out Hunt and Oscar Freire amongst others - meaning HTC-Columbia had to quickly recalibrate its plan for the closing finish.

The trains of Lampre for Petacchi and Garmin for Farrer were quick to seize the initiative and some semblance of order appeared to have been restored until another massive pile-up stopped all but 30 or so riders inside the last kilometre.

Amazingly, with only 15 riders left to sprint inside the final 300m, AG2R’s Lloyd Mondory saw fit to initiate one final crash, narrowly avoiding bringing down McEwen before hitting the deck and taking out Tyler Farrar’s rear derailleur - crueling any chance of a first Tour de France stage win by the likeable American.

Up front, Ale-Jet had launched his sprint and despite the best efforts of Renshaw, Hushovd and McEwen, none of them were able to reel in the powerful Italian.

2010 TDF | Stage 1 The stage profile for the 224km stage from Rotterdam to Brussels screams bunch sprint but there should be plenty of shenanigans along the way. A skittish bunch on the first open road stage will mean for lots of spills and thrills as the field races along the narrow Dutch roads - and to throw in to the mix all that nasty Dutch street furniture seems a cruel an unusual punishment. Even more exciting will be the chaos that ensues should the wind blow in from the North Sea. Nothing like a flatland echelon bashfest to sort out the grimpeurs from the rouleurs. Whatsmore, with the chunks of time lost in the Prologue considerably larger than would have been anticipated by Directeurs Sportif Riis, White and Brailsford, it will be Saxo Bank, Garmin and Sky even more keen to animate things than Bruyneel and his Radioshack tough guys - which is nothing but bad news for Team Astana but brilliant news for cycling fans. My tip: Cav rediscovers his mojo on cycling’s biggest stage and takes the win. Farrar and a rejuvenated McEwen hot on his heels.

2010 TDF | Stage 1

The stage profile for the 224km stage from Rotterdam to Brussels screams bunch sprint but there should be plenty of shenanigans along the way.

A skittish bunch on the first open road stage will mean for lots of spills and thrills as the field races along the narrow Dutch roads - and to throw in to the mix all that nasty Dutch street furniture seems a cruel an unusual punishment.

Even more exciting will be the chaos that ensues should the wind blow in from the North Sea. Nothing like a flatland echelon bashfest to sort out the grimpeurs from the rouleurs. Whatsmore, with the chunks of time lost in the Prologue considerably larger than would have been anticipated by Directeurs Sportif Riis, White and Brailsford, it will be Saxo Bank, Garmin and Sky even more keen to animate things than Bruyneel and his Radioshack tough guys - which is nothing but bad news for Team Astana but brilliant news for cycling fans.

My tip: Cav rediscovers his mojo on cycling’s biggest stage and takes the win. Farrar and a rejuvenated McEwen hot on his heels.