Contador Fights Off Schleck
July 25, 2010
Alberto Contador has virtually claimed the 2010 tour de France cycling crown after a strong performance in the stage 19 time trial.
The Spaniard stretched his lead to 39 seconds over Andy Schleck after going into the stage with an eight-second lead. The 52km time trial was won by Fabian Cancellara.
As the final stage is normally not contested by they yellow jersey rivals it is likely that Contador will claim his third race title. Schleck is set to come in second as he did in 2009. Last year he was 4 minutes 11 seconds behind the race winner so this year he has improved.
Maybe next year is the one for Schleck.
What happened while I was away
July 16, 2010
I have just returned from a ten night cruise on the Pacific Jewel. While onboard I had limited internet access so was not able to post to this blog. Since my return I have been catching up with what has happened in the world of sport.
The big news was of course Spain winning the World Cup soccer, or was it LeBron James deciding to leave the Cavs and signup with the Miami Heat?
Spain defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in extra-time. I managed to watch some of the match on the ship and was glad to see Spain win. The Netherlands came so close to scoring when a shot by Arjen Robben was just deflected wide by the boot of the Spanish keeper Iker Casillas. As the teams battled it out in extra-time it was Andres Iniesta’s 116th-minute strike that saw Spain get the one goal that gave them the World Cup victory.
The big news in the NBA was of course the LeBron James decision to join Miami Heat and create the dream team of himself, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. He said the reason was that he wants to win championships. You can see the reasons why for yourself in the video below.
Mark Webber winning the Brittish Formula One grand prix was another big item. Webber was a bit annoyed with his team after they gave exclusive use of an updated front wing to Sebastian Vettel. Vettel took pole ahead of Webber however the Australian got the jump on his teammate at the start of the race and was never headed. The win moved Webber to third on the driver’s championship.
“I’ve always loved Silverstone,” said Mark. “I won at the track in Formula Ford, Formula 3000 and in Sportscars and to win there in F1 is the icing on the cake. The British Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races on the calendar; every driver wants to win it and I’ve now got the trophy sitting on my mantelpiece.”
Another big event taking place right now is le Tour de France. I saw that Australia’s Cadel Evans had taken the leader’s yellow jersey only to see him drop off the pace in a later stage. It was revealed later that he had broken a bone in his elbow after a fall. Following stage 11 Evans was in 18th position 7 minutes 47 seconds behind race leader Andy Schleck.
The big news out of stage 11 was the disqualification of Mark Renshaw for headbutting Kiwi Julian Dean during a sprint finish.
Tour de France has started
July 3, 2010
Amongst all the excitement of the FIFA World Cup it has to be noted that the bid daddy of all cycling road races has started with a prologue ride in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
The ride was just 5.5 miles through the rain-dampened streets.
Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara who the world and Olympic time trial champion grabbed the yellow jersey with a time of 10 minutes flat. Tony Martin was ten seconds behind, then David Millar at 20 seconds off the pace and Lance Armstrong was 22 seconds slower to hold down fourth spot.
The 2010 Tour de France is held over 20 stages and ends in Paris on Sunday July 25th.
Armstrong a team player but is Contador?
July 23, 2009
“The harmony is back in the team, at least it was, we will see how everyone feels about what happened on the Colombiere,” admitted Astana team manager Bruyneel.
The above comment came after stage 17 of the Tour de France. It is about Alberto Contador who made a move that split his Astana team and allowed the Schleck brothers to move to second and third on the classification.
Frank Schleck won the 17th stage ahead of Contador and Andy Schleck.
Bruyneel had made it clear that Contador had gone against team orders when he made his break which only the Schleck brothers could match.
Instead of a possible 1-2-3 for Astana the Schleck brothers have moved up in the classification. The Astana team know that the individual time trial comes tomorrow and that Armstrong and Contador are far superior than the Luxembourg brothers. Astana’s main concern was Bradley Wiggins and they had done the job of dropping him.
It will be interesting to see how team Astana handle the singlemindedness displayed from Contador.
Stage 18 is a 40.5 time trial held in Annecy.
Stage Win For Aussie at Tour de France?
July 18, 2009
Heinrich Haussler is a name that not too many Australians were familiar with when he came onto the cycling scene around four years ago. You look at it and think it is a German. SBS commentators admitted the same when talking about him in years gone by. Why would Australians want to know about him?
It is not until you dig into his history that you become aware that he was actually born in Australia and spent the first 14 years of his life in Inverell and inland town in New South Wales, Australia. He was born to a German father and an Australian mother. He decided it was best for his cycling career to go to Germany when he was 15.
Haussler is now someone you can put down as a Tour de France stage winner. On a wet miserable day in the east of France and not far from his base in Germany Haussler took advantage of some steep climbs to break away from the field. It was a 200km stage from Vittel to Colmar.
It was after going over the summit of the category one-rated Col du Platzerwasel along with Sylvain Chavanel that the Cervelo team rider attacked on the descent to quickly open up a gap on the Frenchman.
Haussler, who said he loved the wet and cold conditions was now out on his own with the stage to be won. He had around a seven minute advantage as he headed towards the finish line in Colma . In the end he crossed 6min 43sec ahead of the peloton. The look on his face said it all as he crossed the line. He was overcome with emotion and thanks to his huge advantage he could enjoy the moment.
Chavanel really bombed and could only just manage to cross the finish line seconds ahead of the peloton. Spaniard Amets Txurruka of the Euskaltel team was second, at just over four minutes behind, while Frenchman Brice Feillu of Agritubel was third at 6:13.
In an interview after the stage it was clear that Heinrich Haussler had spent time in Australia as he still had more of an aussie accent than a German one. There is also talk of him now wanting to get and Australian cycling license which will see him compete for Australia in the future.
In the overall classification things did not change up front. Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong are still poised to snatch the yellow jersey from Rinaldo Nocentini who is just six seconds ahead of the Spaniard and eight ahead of Armstrong.
Not much is expected to change in stage 14, it is Sunday’s 207.5km 15th stage from Pontarlier to Verbier in Switzerland that is likely to see the yellow jersey hopefuls put up their hand.
Can Lance Armstrong win Le Tour de France?
July 7, 2009
The Tour de France started on Saturday in Monaco. The first stage was a time trial which was taken out by Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara. Lance Armstrong who is making his return to the tour after leaving the sport in 2005 completed the stage 40 seconds off the pace. This placed him 10th after day 1.
In the second day Armstrong just went along with the bunch and maintained 10th position. Stage three is where things have become interesting. With around 30km left in the stage the Columbia team decided to chase down a small breakaway. Much to everyone’s surprise when they did this the peloton was left behind.
A group of 29 riders ended up ahead of the rest with a nice gap back to the peleton. The group consisted of the entire Columbia team and more importantly, Lance Armstrong. As the stage unfolded it was Stage 2 winner Mark Cavendish who took the stage victory. He has to be the hottest sprinter around at the moment.
With Armstrong part of the winning group he now finds himself in third spot overall. He is still 40 seconds behind Cancellara who holds the Yellow jersey.
Many of the big names were caught out in the windy conditions that meant working together to chase down the breakaway. It has been said that 2007 winner Alberto Contador allowed the break to happen. According to French rider Christophe Le Mevel it was Contador who failed to stick with the wheel ahead of him and that created the gap.
Now with Armstrong sitting in third position the question has to be asked, Can Armstrong Win? The man himself is not ruling himself out. He won the tour seven times in the past and despite having a disrupted return to cycling he has experience on his side.
The tour continues with stage 4 on Tuesday. This stage is a team time trial and is to be held in Montpellier. The team time trial was dropped from the race after 2005 but obviously makes a return in 2009.
Sastre draws inspiration from yellow jersey
July 27, 2008
In the time trial stage 20 of the tour de France it was Carlos Sastre who rode an inspired race to keep his challengers at bay. In the 53km time trial many expected Cadel Evans to chase him down.
It did not turn out this way as Sastre rode the time trial of his life to keep a lead of just over one minute going into the final stage. Evans was seventh in the stage and this was not good enough to grab the yellow jersey.
Unless there is some accident that claims Sastre on the final day it appears that the tour victory is his. There is an unwritten rule that prevents riders from challenging the yellow jersey on the 143km ride into Paris.
In stage 20 it was Stefan Schumacher who won the time trial as he powered home in 1 hour 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
Time trial to decide le Tour de France?
July 26, 2008
Since Carlos Sastre grabbed yellow at the summit of L’Alpe-d’Huez we have witnessed two flat stages that as expected did not see any changes in the top places in the tour.
The real action is likely to place in stage 20 on Saturday. The riders will participate in a 53km time trial that takes them from Cérilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond leaving the start at regular intervals. The stage is quite flat and is not very technical.
The key to the stage is just how much juice do the riders have left in the tank after battling it through the French Alps. In a one off time trial of this length Cadel Evans is always expected to be able to take around two minutes from Sastre.
Going into stage 20 Evans needs to make up 1 minute 34 seconds to be wearing yellow at the end of the stage, providing Denis Menchov does not better him. Frank Schleck and Bernhard Kohl are not expected to figure in proceedings during the time trial. This makes the tour a race between three riders. Sastre, Evans and Menchov.
Can Sastre use the inspiration of wearing the yellow jersey to keep him ahead of the chasing Evans and Menchov? All will be revealed on Saturday 26 July as the riders take to the roads of France.
There is some talk that if after the time trial there is a slim margin to one of the riders the final stage into Paris may be a competitive stage. In more recent years it has been more a procession stage where the riders just cruise into the French capital and no effort is made to change the placings.
Can Evans peg pack Sastre to win le Tour de France?
July 24, 2008
The Tour de France riders have completed the tough stage 17 mountain stage which took in the famous L’Alpe-d’Huez. The ride went from Embrun to L’Alpe-d’Huez. The stage included three sizable climbs which tested the legs of the riders and sorted the men from the boys.
Team CSC helped their rider Carlos Sastre take the stage win and with that the yellow jersey. The Spaniard now holds a 1 minute 24 second lead over his teammate, Frank Schleck. Bernhard Kohl is nine seconds further back. The pre-race favorite in many eyes, Cadel Evans is just one second behind Kohl and 1 minute 34 behind Sastre.
In stage 17 Sastre got his break going up the final climb to the summit of L’Alpe-d’Huez. Evans without the help of his team was not strong enough to accept the challenge of Sastre. Evans did at least battle to the line the best he could to not let Sastre take too much of a lead.
Stage 18 sees a return to the flatter terrain and should see a more predictable stage. The riders will travel from Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint Etienne in this 196.5km stage.
CSC who appear to be the team in control of the race will be working today to consolidate the lead Sastre has established. They know that Evans has the potential to chase him down in the time trial and re-claim the yellow jersey. Will this happen? The talk at work was that Sastre knowing he is close to victory will put in a do or die effort in the time trial and that Evans may only make up 30-40 seconds on the leader.
It will be an exciting few days as the tour makes its way to the French capital this weekend. As an Aussie I will be cheering for Evans as he attempts to become the first ever Australian to win the le Tour de France.
The tour concludes with stage 21 from Etampes – Paris on Sunday 27 July. In recent times whoever is wearing the yellow jersey going into this stage is not challenged and they just cruise into Paris and get to bask in the glory.
Cadel Evans claims Tour de France yellow jersey
July 15, 2008
A day after almost crashing out of the Tour de France, Australia’s Cadel Evans has achieved his dream to wear the leaders jersey in the Tour de France.
During stage 9 of the Tour Evans had a nasty tumble over the handlebars of his bike. A team mate said a bag got blown onto the course and went into the spokes of the front wheel on Evans’ bike. There was talk that the favourite to win the tour may have broken a collarbone. Luckily this did not turn out to be true and Evans fought back and completed the stage still six seconds behind the leader.
Stage 10 saw the riders go from Pau to Hautacam Argeles Gazost. This was another testing ride through the Pyrenees. Evans knew he had to attack in the mountains to achieve his dream of wearing the yellow jersey. That is what he did. He did not keep with the leaders of the stage however he completed the stage around two minutes behind the stage winner Leonardo Piepoli riding for team Saunier Duval – Scott.
Denis Menchov also went after the leaders jersey however Evans was able to pip him by 1 second to take the lead. The Australian now knows he has some work to do to keep the Tour de France leaders jersey when the tour ends in Paris on July 27.
It is a rest day on Tuesday for the riders. This will help Evans recover from the bumps he picked up in the stage 9 crash.
Stage 11 will see the riders once again battle the mountains as they ride from Lannemezan to Foix.
