13 posts tagged “france”
Rasmussen takes it all
Rasmussen takes it all (AFP Photo)
Denmark's Michael Rasmussen strode towards a third consecutive King of the Mountains title after claiming victory on the Tour de France's eighth stage to pull on the leader's yellow jersey.
The Rabobank rider finished the 165km run from Le Grand-Bornand to the first summit finish of the race Sunday with the same classic display of climbing that has won him the race's polka dot jersey for the past two years.
On the second of three days in the Alps the race sprang into life on the day's climb to the first summit finish, on which yellow jersey favourites Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden lost more time to their rivals. The Astana team pair, riding with injuries picked up on Thursday's fifth stage, could do little when French champion Christophe Moreau launched the first of a series of attacks late on the 18km climb to the summit finish.
They eventually finished over four minutes behind Rasmussen, and pre-race favourite Vinokourov lost nearly a minute and a half to a handful of his more credible rivals.
Rasmussen took over what should be temporary possession of the yellow jersey from German race debutant Linus Gerdemann, who battled hard over the day's six climbs but missed out by less than a minute. Rasmussen now leads the 24-year-old T-Mobile rider by 43secs in the general classification going into Monday's first rest day, but the skinny Dane said he has no aims of keeping it all the way to Paris.
"There's still two weeks of racing left, and 110km of time trialling - and I think I've showed in the past it's not exactly my speciality," said Rasmussen, who now has three stage wins on the race. The Dane famously crashed a number of times in the race's second time trial in 2005.
Rasmussen started his attack on the Cormet de Roselend after 81km with a small group of riders, and he left his only remaining companion, Antonio Colom of Astana, 18km from the summit of the final climb.
In the end Rasmussen came over the finish with a lead of 2min 47sec on Spaniard Iban Mayo, of Saunier Duval, with Alejandro Valverde finishing 01sec ahead of a handful of fellow yellow jersey contenders, including Christophe Moreau, Cadel Evans and Andrey Kashechkin.
Rasmussen didn't celebrate at the finish, and later admitted: "I knew it would be pretty tight for the yellow jersey, that's why I didn't celebrate today. We can do that tonight. It was just a matter of taking as much time out of my competitors as possible."
Some of the more credible yellow jersey contenders meanwhile will be nursing their wounds.
Vinokourov, who struggled in the final kilometres of the day's sixth and last climb as Moreau launched attack after attack, finally came in 19th at 4:29 behind Rasmussen. More importantly, the Kazakh lost over a minute to Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans and Moreau and is now 5min 23sec behind the overall leader.
A defiant Vinokourov, riding his third consecutive day with over 30 stitches in deep cuts on his knees following a crash, says his Tour is far from over. "If I had lost five minutes today, it would have been over," he said.
Evans said it had been one of the most dramatic days of racing his career. "I've never seen the GC (general classification) riders attacking each other so much. When there's no one to ride (with), trust me, it's not easy."
Evans, who finished fifth overall last year, is one of the few remaining Australians on the race. Michael Rogers, of Gerdemann's T-Mobile team, was in the virtual race lead when he crashed out of the race while travelling in excess of 60km/h on the descent of the Cormet de Roselend. He later abandoned with injuries to his right hand, shoulder and knee.
Half an hour earlier compatriot Stuart O'Grady, of the CSC team, was taken to hospital after he also crashed on the descent of the Cormet de Roselend climb.
A third Australian, Robbie McEwen of Evans' Predictor-Lotto team, failed to finish within the time limits.
© AFP 2007
Also see: stage 8 live report.
Results
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den ¦ Rabobank) 04:49:40
2 Iban Mayo (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:02:47
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:03:12
4 Christophe Moreau (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:03:13
5 Frank Schleck (Lux ¦ Team CSC) 00:03:13
6 Cadel Evans (Aus ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:03:13
7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz ¦ Astana) 00:03:13
8 Alberto Contador (Spa ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:03:31
9 Denis Menchov (Rus ¦ Rabobank) 00:03:35
10 Carlos Sastre (Spa ¦ Team CSC) 00:03:35
11 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:03:59
12 Levi Leipheimer (USA ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:03:59
13 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:03:59
14 Manuel Beltran (Spa ¦ Liquigas) 00:04:13
15 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:04:13
16 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:04:29
17 David Arroyo (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:04:29
18 Andréas Klöden (Ger ¦ Astana) 00:04:29
19 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz ¦ Astana) 00:04:29
20 Linus Gerdemann (Ger ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:05:05
21 Tadej Valjavec (Slo ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:05:05
22 Kim Kirchen (Lux ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:05:10
23 Mikel Astarloza (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:05:41
24 Jens Voigt (Ger ¦ Team CSC) 00:05:47
25 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr ¦ Barloworld) 00:05:47
26 Michael Boogerd (Ned ¦ Rabobank) 00:06:32
27 Christopher Horner (USA ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:06:32
28 Vladimir Karpets (Rus ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:06:39
29 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:07:40
30 Amets Txurruka (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:08:23
31 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:08:23
32 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:08:23
33 Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez (Col ¦ Barloworld 00:08:48
34 Christian Knees (Ger ¦ Team Milram) 00:09:44
35 Vladimir Gusev (Rus ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:09:44
36 Markus Fothen (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:09:44
37 Bram Tankink (Ned ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:12:45
38 Christian Vandevelde (USA ¦ Team CSC) 00:12:45
39 José Ivan Gutierrez (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:12:45
40 Ludovic Turpin (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:12:45
41 Simon Gerrans (Aus ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:13:12
42 Kjell Carlström (Fin ¦ Liquigas) 00:14:13
43 Fabian Wegmann (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:14:13
44 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:14:13
45 Patxi Vila Errandonea (Spa ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:15:16
46 Thomas Voeckler (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:15:33
47 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita ¦ Astana) 00:17:26
48 Antonio Colom (Spa ¦ Astana) 00:17:26
49 Axel Merckx (Bel ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:17:26
50 George Hincapie (USA ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:17:26
51 Carlos Barredo (Spa ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:17:26
52 Cristian Moreni (Ita ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:18:06
53 Serguei Ivanov (Rus ¦ Astana) 00:19:17
54 Mario Aerts (Bel ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:19:17
55 Thomas Dekker (Ned ¦ Rabobank) 00:19:17
56 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor ¦ Team CSC) 00:19:17
57 Erik Zabel (Ger ¦ Team Milram) 00:19:17
58 Johan Van Summeren (Bel ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:19:17
59 Cédric Vasseur (Fra ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:19:17
60 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz ¦ Astana) 00:19:17
61 Sylvain Calzati (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:19:17
62 Stephane Goubert (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:19:17
63 Jérôme Pineau (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:19:17
64 Grischa Niermann (Ger ¦ Rabobank) 00:19:17
65 Gorka Verdugo (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:19:17
66 Inigo Cuesta (Spa ¦ Team CSC) 00:19:17
67 Gregory Rast (Swi ¦ Astana) 00:19:17
68 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:19:17
69 Inigo Landaluze (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:19:17
70 Sergio Paulinho (Por ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:20:05
71 Francisco Ventoso (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:20:05
72 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:22:03
73 Dario Cioni (Ita ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:22:59
74 Bernhard Kohl (Aut ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:24:18
75 Ronny Scholz (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:24:18
76 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:29:11
77 Martin Elmiger (Swi ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:29:11
78 Matthieu Sprick (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:29:11
79 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa ¦ Agritubel) 00:29:11
80 Ruben Perez (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:29:11
81 Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:29:11
82 Patrice Halgand (Fra ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:29:11
83 John Gadret (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:29:11
84 Iker Camano (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:29:11
85 Michael Albasini (Swi ¦ Liquigas) 00:29:11
86 Daniele Bennati (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:29:11
87 Frederik Willems (Bel ¦ Liquigas) 00:29:11
88 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra ¦ Liquigas) 00:29:11
89 Freddy Bichot (Fra ¦ Agritubel) 00:29:11
90 Alessandro Ballan (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:33:45
91 Fabian Cancellara (Swi ¦ Team CSC) 00:33:45
92 Daniel Navarro (Spa ¦ Astana) 00:33:45
93 Philippe Gilbert (Bel ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:33:45
94 Stefan Schumacher (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:33:45
95 Egoi Martinez (Spa ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:33:45
96 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:33:45
97 Stef Clement (Ned ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:33:45
98 Jorge Azanza (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:33:45
99 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:33:45
100 Laurent Lefevre (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:33:45
101 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:33:45
102 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra ¦ Agritubel) 00:33:45
103 Gianpaolo Cheula (Ita ¦ Barloworld) 00:33:45
104 Daniele Righi (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:33:45
105 Félix Cardenas (Col ¦ Barloworld) 00:36:49
106 Filippo Pozzato (Ita ¦ Liquigas) 00:39:07
107 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr ¦ Liquigas) 00:39:07
108 Matteo Tosatto (Ita ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:39:07
109 Robert Hunter (RSA ¦ Barloworld) 00:39:07
110 Steven De Jongh (Ned ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:39:07
111 Manuel Quinziato (Ita ¦ Liquigas) 00:39:07
112 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:39:07
113 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
114 Tom Boonen (Bel ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:39:07
115 Claudio Corioni (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:39:07
116 Cyril Dessel (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:39:07
117 Alberto Ongarato (Ita ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
118 Ralf Grabsch (Ger ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
119 Bert Grabsch (Ger ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:39:07
120 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:39:07
121 Andriy Grivko (Ukr ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
122 Marcel Sieberg (Ger ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
123 Wim Vansevenant (Bel ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:39:07
124 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:39:07
125 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:39:07
126 Anthony Geslin (Fra ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:39:07
127 Mickaël Delage (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:39:07
128 Paolo Bossoni (Ita ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:39:07
129 Leif Hoste (Bel ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:39:07
130 David Millar (GBr ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:39:07
131 David Canada (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:39:07
132 Christophe Rinero (Fra ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:39:07
133 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:39:07
134 Nicolas Portal (Fra ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:39:07
135 Benoit Salmon (Fra ¦ Agritubel) 00:39:07
136 Alexander Efimkin (Rus ¦ Barloworld) 00:39:07
137 Lilian Jegou (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:39:07
138 Sébastien Hinault (Fra ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:39:07
139 Anthony Charteau (Fra ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:39:07
140 Robert Förster (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:39:07
141 Gert Steegmans (Bel ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:39:07
142 Igor Anton (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:39:07
143 Inaki Isasi (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:39:07
144 Bradley Wiggins (GBr ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:39:07
145 William Bonnet (Fra ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:39:07
146 Johann Tschopp (Swi ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:39:07
147 Enrico Poitschke (Ger ¦ Team Milram) 00:39:07
148 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita ¦ Barloworld) 00:39:07
149 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra ¦ Agritubel) 00:39:07
150 Peter Wrolich (Aut ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:39:07
151 Pieter Weening (Ned ¦ Rabobank) 00:39:07
152 Heinrich Haussler (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:39:07
153 Sven Krauss (Ger ¦ Gerolsteiner) 00:39:07
154 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa ¦ Agritubel) 00:39:07
155 David De La Fuente (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:39:07
156 Stéphane Augé (Fra ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:39:07
157 Xavier Florencio (Spa ¦ Bouygues Telecom) 00:39:07
158 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:39:07
159 Thomas Geraint (GBr ¦ Barloworld) 00:39:07
160 Sandy Casar (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:39:07
161 Thor Hushovd (Nor ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:39:07
162 Bernhard Eisel (Aut ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:39:07
163 Julian Dean (NZl ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:39:07
164 Bram De Groot (Ned ¦ Rabobank) 00:39:07
165 Nick Nuyens (Bel ¦ Cofidis Credit Par Telephone) 00:39:07
166 David Zabriskie (USA ¦ Team CSC) 00:39:07
167 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa ¦ Rabobank) 00:39:07
168 Fred Rodriguez (USA ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:39:07
169 Marcus Burghardt (Ger ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:39:07
170 Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:39:07
171 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra ¦ Francaise Des Jeux) 00:39:07
172 Charles Wegelius (GBr ¦ Liquigas) 00:39:07
General classification after stage 8
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den ¦ Rabobank) 39:37:42
2 Linus Gerdemann (Ger ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:00:43
3 Iban Mayo (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:02:39
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:02:51
5 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz ¦ Astana) 00:02:52
6 Cadel Evans (Aus ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:02:53
7 Christophe Moreau (Fra ¦ Ag2R Prevoyance) 00:03:06
8 Alberto Contador (Spa ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:03:10
9 Frank Schleck (Lux ¦ Team CSC) 00:03:14
10 Denis Menchov (Rus ¦ Rabobank) 00:03:19
11 Carlos Sastre (Spa ¦ Team CSC) 00:03:35
12 Andréas Klöden (Ger ¦ Astana) 00:03:46
13 Levi Leipheimer (USA ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:03:53
14 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:03:54
15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:04:00
16 Manuel Beltran (Spa ¦ Liquigas) 00:04:19
17 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa ¦ Quick Step - Innergetic) 00:04:22
18 David Arroyo (Spa ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:04:51
19 Kim Kirchen (Lux ¦ T-Mobile Team) 00:05:02
20 Tadej Valjavec (Slo ¦ Lampre-Fondital) 00:05:03
21 Mikel Astarloza (Spa ¦ Euskaltel - Euskadi) 00:05:14
22 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz ¦ Astana) 00:05:23
23 Vladimir Karpets (Rus ¦ Caisse D'Epargne) 00:06:09
24 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr ¦ Barloworld) 00:06:18
25 Christopher Horner (USA ¦ Predictor - Lotto) 00:06:29
26 Michael Boogerd (Ned ¦ Rabobank) 00:06:38
27 Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez (Col ¦ Barloworld 00:07:31
28 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr ¦ Discovery Channel Team) 00:07:32
29 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus ¦ Credit Agricole) 00:08:33
30 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa ¦ Saunier Duval - Prodir) 00:08:51
Hushovd: Ahead Of The Rest
Thor Hushovd won his fifth stage of the Tour de France after receiving an ideal lead-out from Julian Dean. The New Zealand champion towed his Norwegian colleague up to the 250 meter to go mark and delivered him into an unbeatable position. It was a clean sprint without incident and it was the result of a pragmatic collaboration from all the sprinters’ teams who timed their capture of five escapees to perfection. Matthieu Sprick instigated a move at the 30km mark and was joined by four others including Sylvain Chavanel but they were caught five kilometers from the finish and the sprint specialists took charge. The victory moves Hushovd from ninth to second place in the general classification.
The 193km fourth stage of the 2007 Tour de France – from Viller-Cotteret to Joigny – began at 1.00pm. There were 187 riders at the sign on with no overnight retirements. The day included four cat-4 climbs, they were: Cote de Veuilly-la-Poterie (at 23.5km), the Cote de Doucy (at 62.5km), the Cote de Galbaux (at 144km) and the Cote de Bel-Air (at 148.5km). The three intermediate sprints were evenly dispersed throughout the stage: the first in La Ferte-Gaucher (at 69km) the next in Soligny-les-Bains (at 122.5km) and the final one in Theil-sur-Vanne (at 158.5km).
Zandio Crashes & AbandonsThere were no early attacks in the stage. The first bout of action came at the first climb when three of the eight riders with points for the polka-dot jersey raced ahead of the peloton. The points at Veuilly-la-Poterie climb were won by Kuschynski (LIQ), Millar (SDV) and Auge (COF) 1pt. Di Gregorio (FDJ) and Zandio (GCE) crashed heavily; the Spaniard broke his right collarbone and abandoned the race while the Frenchman continued but received treatment from the race doctor numerous times during the stage.
Sprick Sparks Escape
Sprick (BTL) was the first to launch a serious attack. It happened at the 30.5km mark. He was chased by Verdugo (EUS), Flecha (RAB), Chavanel (FDJ) and, 3km later, by Knees (MRM). At the 40km mark, the advantage of the five escapees was 1’25”. The average speed for the first hour was 40.7km/h. At 48km the lead was 3’20” and then the peloton increased its pace to keep the escape within a reasonable distance. At 56km, the advantage had grown to 3’45”. Chavanel was the best-place on GC at the start of the day, 23rd overall, 56” behind Cancellara. At the 2nd climb the peloton was 4’00” behind ;his was the maximum gain of the escape. Liquigas came at the 62km mark and split the peloton. Flecha, Chavanel and Sprick took the sprint points at the 69km mark; CSC was back in charge of the bunch and had reduced the lead significantly to just 1’55”. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 40.7km/h.
CSC Defend Cancellara’s Lead
With 100km to go, the advantage was back to 3’45”. Flecha led Chavanel and Knees to the line for the second intermediate sprint. The average speed for the 3rd hour was 42.2km/h. The sprint teams – Predictor, Quickstep and Lampre – joined CSC at the head of the peloton with 70km to go and the lead diminished rapidly: 2’45” with 67km to go; 2’00” with 60km to go. At the third climb Chavanel led Knees and Flecha to the top. The peloton was at 1’40”. The order over the fourth climb was: Knees, Sprick and Chavanel… the peloton was 1’50” behind.
Flecha led Chavanel and Verdugo over the line for the first intermediate sprint. The peloton was just 1’35” behind. With 25km to go, the five led by 55”. Knees attacked with 24km to go he was reeled in and the five cooperated again and it wouldn’t be until 8km to go that there was another attack: the peloton was just 30” behind and Sprick tried his luck… it was a surge that lasted about 20 seconds and then he surrendered. The escape was over 4.8km from the finish.
Setting Up The Sprint
Quickstep and T-Mobile dominated the head of the peloton in the closing kilometers. It was Credit Agricole, however, that rode the perfect finale. Thor Hushovd calls Julian Dean "the best lead-out man in the world" and the New Zealander delivered the Norwegian to the 300m to go mark and that’s when Hushovd bolted into the lead. He was never truly challenged although Hunter (BAR) didn’t give in until the very end. It is Hushovd’s fifth victory in the Tour de France.
Fabian Cancellara finished 47th with the same time as Hushovd. The CSC rider will wear the yellow jersey for stage five.
The opening ceremony
© A.S.O.
The permanence and press center
The Permanence will be at ExCeL, London’s premier exhibition and convention centre.
It is located next to London City Airport and is served by two stations, Custom House and Prince Regent station.
The opening ceremony
On Friday 6th July 2007 the teams will be presented in Trafalgar Square, the very centre of London.
At the south side of the square is a plaque that marks the point that all distances to London are measured from.
In the square is Nelson’s Column, on top of which stands a statue of Lord Nelson, surrounded by fountains and four bronze lions.
The National Gallery stands on the north side of the square. The square was transformed into a pedestrian only area in front of the National Gallery in 2003 and now welcomes thousands of Londoners and visitors every day.
It is a focal point for celebrations to mark events, such as New Year’s Eve and English victories in the 2003 Rugby World Cup and 2005 “Ashes” cricket tournament.
The prologue
On Saturday 7th July 2007, starting on Whitehall, in front of Trafalgar Square, the riders will race past Downing Street towards Parliament Square on an 8 km course.
Turning at the Houses of Parliament, the route goes along Victoria Street, past Westminster Abbey and in front of Buckingham Palace.
After the Palace the riders will pass through the middle of Wellington Arch, before looping through London’s most famous park, Hyde Park.
Finally the riders will pass back around Hyde Park Corner and along Constitution Hill, before ending on The Mall with Buckingham Palace as a backdrop.
Stage 1
On 8th July 2007 the Tour will take in some of Britain’s most picturesque and historic towns. The route starts on The Mall, runs through Admiralty Arch and then proceeds alongside the Thames down to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. The riders will cross The Thames before riding past the London Eye and looping back to take in St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. The riders will pass over Tower Bridge, through Bermondsey and Deptford to Greenwich where they will cross the Greenwich Meridian Line, where all time zones are measured from. The route then passes through Woolwich, Abbey Wood and Erith, before leaving London for Dartford in Kent.
The route then goes through Gravesend and on to Medway, dominated by Rochester Castle and Cathedral. Passing on through Maidstone the route will take the riders to Tonbridge and then on to Royal Tunbridge Wells. The route winds through the beautiful Kent countryside, through the picturesque town of Tenterden and past Ashford to a potentially nail biting finish in Canterbury.
Getting to London
London is well served by excellent transport links from the rest of Europe and further afield.
London has five airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton Airport and London City Airport. Long-haul travellers will usually land at either Heathrow or Gatwick. Many low-cost airlines operate from Stansted or Luton while London City offers convenient flights to Paris and is located 4 kms from ExCeL for the Permanence.
London has many rail stations. The Eurostar terminal is at Waterloo and other major stations include Victoria and King’s Cross. The main station for coach arrivals from Europe is Victoria Coach Station (close to Victoria train station).
By car, London is well served with motorways and major roads, while access from mainland Europe is both by ferry and via the Channel Tunnel.
The Tour in U.K.
It was in 1974, after a start from Brest, that the Tour de France first travelled from Brittany to England, with a circuit stage in Plymouth. It aroused interest and praise from the critics, but no more.
However, twenty years later, when the Tour crossed the Channel (via the Tunnel) to visit England for the second time, it was an immense public success on the roads leading from Dover to Brighton, and then in Portsmouth.
From a sporting point of view Bill Burl and Charles Holland were the first British riders to attempt the Tour de France in 1937, but it wasn’t until the first British team took part in the 1955 race that a British rider made it to the finish in Paris. Of the ten members of that 1955 team two men, Tony Hoar and Brian Robinson, managed to finish the race, while their team mates fell foul of saddle sores, broken bones and a plague of punctures.
Brian Robinson from the 1955 team went on to complete a further 6 Tour de France races, winning 2 stages in 1957 and 1956. Tom Simpson followed Robinson into riding in the Tour and rode 7 times. Barry Hoban rode an impressive 12 Tours between 1964 and 1978, winning 8 stages over this time. Michaël Wright competed in 8 over the same period and won 3 stages.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Paul Scherwen participated seven times in the Tour de France and Graham Jones five times. Robert Millar was present at the start eleven times between 1983 and 1993, winning three stage victories, along with the Best Climber classification in 1984. As for Max Sciandri, he took part in seven editions of the Tour in the 1990s and won one stage victory.
In 1994, Chris Boardman broke a record by winning the prologue in Lille at a staggering average speed of 55,152 Km/h. The “yellow shirt” was worn by Sean Yates that same year.
British riders have won 23 stages in total and the first to wear the Yellow Jersey was Tom Simpson in 1962. He was also ranked sixth in the overall final classification that year. David Millar was the last British rider to wear the Yellow Jersey, in 2000. That same year, during the time trial at the Start of the Tour from the Futuroscope, he won the first of his three stage victories on the Tour.
MILAN - Italy's Damiano Cunego has confirmed that will not be participating in this year's Tour de France, despite finishing as the best young rider in the 2006 race.
The 25 year-old finished fifth in the recent Giro d'Italia, which he surprisingly won in 2004, and has decided to race the Tour of Switzerland next instead of the sport's big event.
"I left the Giro d'Italia in excellent condition and having confirmed my decision not to participate in the Tour, its seems interesting for me to try to take advantage of my good shape in a competition with a challenging and stimulating distance like the Tour of Switzerland," Cunego told his Lampre team Web site (www.lampre-fondital.com).
TMobile cycling team fires Ukrainian rider Serhiy Honchar after blood tests
Germany (AP) -The T-Mobile cycling team fired Ukrainian rider Serhiy Honchar on Tuesday following the results of unannounced blood tests.
T-Mobile said the 36-year-old Ukrainian, who won two stages at last year's Tour de France, had been suspended from competition since May 11 when the blood tests were taken at the Tour de Normandie. He had been under internal investigation since then.
T-Mobile said Honchar violated the team's code of conduct. The German team and Danish team CSC have installed what they call the toughest anti-doping program of the 20 ProTour teams that compete at the sport's big races." With respect the right to privacy of all parties and cannot release any further information at this time, said T-Mobile General manager Bob Stapleton. In this case its seems another dirty cyclist has come to the forefront of teams, seeking to change the appearance in the sport. Though I am sad to see another cyclist caught up in the swwp of El Porto, it goes to show you, team in the pelotin are doing their best to police themselves.
With past experience showing that cyclist are very secretive in their training, it comes to show how team like Team Slipstream are presenting more and more evidence of science being used in cycling for prevention of abuse, in doping or use of sysnthetic ways to enhance cycling. This years Tour De France is still under a shadow, and will continue till the which hunt is over with, and cyclist become clean. Hear Hear to TMobile doing what was needed, after Jan Ullrich and Bjarne Riis bad press.
Danielson to miss 2007 Tour
Buried in the VeloNews coverage of today's stage at the Dauphiné Libéré, there's a story:
Tom Danielson's illness will keep him out of the Tour de France this year.
“Tom is off the Tour team,” Discovery Channel boss Johan Bruyneel told VeloNews's Andrew Hood. “He’s sick. We’re trying to find out exactly what the problem is. He’s had stomach problems throughout the year at several key moments. It’s definitely a disappointment.”
Danielson, 29, won the 2005 Tour de Georgia, and led Discovery Channel at the 2006 Vuelta, where he won Stage 17, and was 6th overall. He was expected to make his first Tour start this season.
Veteran German Jens Voigt won the Criterium International for the third time with a typically attacking display in Sunday's road stage.
Voigt, along with Sébastien Joly (Française des Jeux) and Gorazd Stangelj (Lampre-Fondital), attacked 13km into the 98.5km stage from Les Vieilles Forges to Monthermé which featured nine climbs.
They built up a two minute lead before the CSC rider left his fellow escapees with 34km and two hills remaining.
He eventually crossed the line 48 seconds ahead of an elite bunch of a dozen riders that included Alejandro Valvarde (Caisse d'Epargne), Andréas Klöden (Astana), Frank Schleck (CSC) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre).
The 35-year-old then finished seventh, 14 seconds behind Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden, in the 8.3km time trial in the afternoon to seal the overall victory.
Française des Jeux's Lovkvist was second on GC after edging out Valverde by three seconds on the roads around Charleville-Mézières.
- 14:57
NOTHING IS DECIDED: With three category one climbs left in a 129.5 kilomtre final stage of Paris-Nice, the final stage could prove decisive! Join us tomorrow to follow all the action LIVE!
- 14:54
Going into Sunday's final stage in Nice, Davide Rebellin still leads Alberto Contador by six seconds, with Sanchez moving into third overall at 16 seconds back and Tadej Valjavec (SLO) dropping to fourth at 23 seconds back.
- 0 km
LUIS SANCHEZ TAKES THE WIN: But not the yellow jersey.... What will the gap be?? A mass sprint is won by Milram sprinter Mirco Lorenzetto, who takes second-place a futher 28 seconsd back with all fo the main favourites and the yellow jersey Davie Rebellin, who should maintain his lead and take this edition of Paris-Nice! Sanchez should move into third overall..... Rebellin finishes ninth in this penultimate stage.
- 2 km Sanchez might not take the yellow jersey! His lead is 40 seconds, and 33 seconds over the escapees......
- 4 km
LUIS SANCHEZ IS ATTACKING!! The Caisse D'Epargne rider has left his team-mate and Contador and has a 40-second lead over the peloton and 23 seconds over his former comrades.... Dramatic finale in this dramatic Race to the Sun....
- 6 km Chavanel cracks! The Frenchman's day is over as the three Spaniards are flying across the coastline....
- 8 km
The lead has dropped, but is not gone.... 24 seconds with less than 10-km left to go....
- 12 km Sanchez (Esp/Gce) waits for team-mate Lopez-Garcia. The trio of Spaniards are attacking the GC!
- 17 km Lopez-Garcia and Contador have caught Chavanel, who has clearly lost a step. The Frenchman, who is excellent on the descent, is obviously waiting to play his card on the final climb.
- 20 km
Contador attacks! No hesitation from the Discovery leader, who senses this is his moment to claim victory. Rebellin is losing ground and likely his yellow jersey!!
- 23 km
Discovery Channel pick up the pace to try and protect Contador in the GC, Chavanel's lead is starting to drop.
- 25 km CONTINUING TO DROP! Sylvain Chavanel is not giving up, but the escape group seems to be. The final col du Tanneron (cat.2), in 5 km, will be decisive as will be the final descent.
- 28 km The lead is dropping! Chavanel (Fra/Cofidis) has 40 seconds over the escape group and 1'16" over the peloton....
- 30 km Leipheimer doesn't seem motivated to counter! Chavanel is going for the win: 30" lead for the Frenchman.
- 33 km
Chavanel attacks! The Frenchman from Cofidis took advantage of a flat to launch his offensive. He takes 15 seconds over his fellow escapees, and could even have a shot at Rebellin's yellow jersey!
- 38 km
Final intermediate sprint Chavanel (3 pts), Leipheimer (2 pts) and Sanchez (1 pt).
- 40 km Voeckler (Fra/Bouygues Telecom) and Leipheimer (USA/Discovery Channel) are arguing over the workload now as the break-away begins to struggle....
- 48 km With a few descents until the final sprint the escapees are being helped by the course. The road is slippery, which is helping the Frenchmen Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) and Chavanel (Cofidis).
- 50 km The peloton accelerates to close the gap by a bit (1'30").
- 52 km
Crash in the peloton! Matthew White (Discovery) loses hsi balance and takes out Fernandez with him (Saunier-Duval).
- 57 km
One more climb to go. Celle de Mons (cat.3) does not hurt our leaders, who advance their lead (1'45").
- 61 km
SUMMIT OF OUR DAY'S BIGGEST CLIMB: The col de Bourigaille (cat.1) - Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) still leads the escape. Danielson (USA/Discovery), Sanchez (Esp/Gce), Leipheimer (USA/Discovery), and Vandevelde (USA/CSC) are all still there. Chavanel is falling back and the peloton still has a 1'40" gap to make up.
- 82 km At the summit of the Saint-Arnoux (cat.3): Chavanel rides the wheel of Voeckler, who still leads this escape group, which still has two minutes over the peloton. The lead has been stable for about 15 kilometres.
- 90 km
New abandons, with a Bouygues Telecom trio quitting. Rous, Crosbie and Lefèvre are done, along with Calzati (Fra,AG2R). Baldato (Ita/Lampre) and Wielinga (Ned/Saunier Duval) have also abandoned.
- 96 km
Voeckler conserves his lead at the col de Défens (cat.2). Leipheimer (USA/Discovery) is just behind him. Danielson (E-U/Discovery), Sanchez (Esp/Gce), and Chavanel (Fra/Cofidis) follow.
- 103 km Escapees at the top of the côte de Saint-Andrieux (cat.2): Voeckler takes the points, Danielson charges to second in front of Sanchez, Chavanel and Leipheimer, who can smell the yellow jersey.
- 112 km Slight change in the group at the summit of the Tuillières: Leipheimer (USA/Discovery) arrived fourth behind Sanchez (Esp/Gce). Voeckler (Fra/Bouygues Telecom), Chavanel (Fra/Cofidis), and Danielson (USA/Discovery) form the lead trio. The escapees have lost some of their lead: 1'40".
- 115 km Leaders approaching the côte des Tuillières (cat.2).
- 125 km
Voeckler (Fra/Bouygues Telecom) takes the points at the Taradeau, followed by French compatriot Chavanel (Cofidis), and then Danielson (USA/Discovery), Sanchez (Esp/Gce), and Leipheimer (USA/Discovery). The five men have a 2'15" lead over the peloton.
- 127 km The six escapees (Sanchez, Chavanel, Danielson, Voeckler et Vandevelde) attack the Taradeau with a 2'05'' advantage over the peloton.
- 140 km
Today's stage takes the riders over eight climbs, in addition to the côte de Réal Martin: the côte de Taradeau, cat. 2 (km 73,5), the côte des Tuillières, cat. 2 (km 88), the col de Saint-Andrieux, cat. 2 (km 96,5), the col du Défens, cat. 2 (km103, 5), the col de Saint-Arnous, cat. 3 (km 117,5), the col de Bourigaille, cat. 1 (km 138,5), the côte de Mons, cat. 3 (km 143) and the col du Tanneron, cat. 2 (km 180).
- 149 km The stragglers fall back into the peloton, while the escap group steady their lead at1'30''.
- 155 km Chavanel and company are still in it, with a 45'' gap over the peloton.
- 160 km Four more abandons in this killer maiden stage, two at Gerolsteiner, Zberg (Sui) and Haussler (Ger), plus Baranauskas (Ltu/Agritubel) and Nazon (Fra/AG2R).
- 164 km Six men break out of the peloton to take the lead: Sanchez (Esp/GCE), Vandevelde (USA/CSC), Leipheimer (USA/Discovery), Danielson (USA/Discovery), Chavanel (Fra/Cofidis), Voeckler (Fra/Bouygues Telecom). That is good news for Levi Leipheimer, who will need to make his attack on the GC today if he has any hope of winning this race. Riding with a fellow Disco, and not a bad one at that as Tom Danielson is a top-notch domestique.
- 16 km First abandon of the day: Veneberg (Ned/Rabobank).
- 174 km Chavanel was caught...without a fight. The Frenchman waited for the litte group, then surrendered his lead of about 100 metres over the peloton.
- 175 km First bonus points go to the French: Chavanel, then Pineau (Bouygues) and Julich (USA/CSC) take the intermediate sprint points at Tavernes (km 25).
- 179 km Gilbert (Bel/Française des Jeux) tried a stunted attack, but Chavanel was able to counter quite nicely. The French rider from Cofidis takes 10'' over a group of 15 riders and 20'' over the peloton.
- 181 km Two early escapes caught. A group of six riders led by Rodriguez (GCE), then Flecha (Rabobank) were very quickly reeled back into the peloton.
- 187 km
Points and bonus seconds for the top-three to reach the intermediate sprint points at Tavernes (km 25) and Montauroux (km 165,5).
- 194 km AT THE SUMMIT OF THE FIRST CLIMB: Sinkewitz (GER/T-Mobile), Rodriguez (ESP/GCE) and Posthuma (NED/Rabobank) were the first at the summit of the côte de Réal Martin.
- 196 km Nine climbs on today's stage. We start with the Réal Martin, a Cat. 3, at kilometre 5.
- 200 km Three men did not take today's start : Francisco Ventoso (Esp - Saunier Duval), Iban Velasco (Esp - Euskaltel) and Xavier Florencio (Esp - Bouygues Telecom). 147 rider's at the day's start in this penultimate stage.
- 200 km REAL START GIVEN AT 10:00 CET!
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Popo' hangs on to win by 14 seconds over the raging pursuit |
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photo: AFP |
Popovych dropped the ax with 30km to go on the last of four rated climbs in Friday's intense 178km fifth stage from Sorgues to Manosque to motor away from a breakaway that included Dave Zabriskie (CSC) and sent a panic jolt through the peloton.
Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) eventually held his slim six-second grasp on the maillot jaune after the main group burst into Manosque at 14 seconds back of the solo-flying Popovych, but not before the aggression fractured the peloton and put everyone else on notice.
"It wasn't easy today and there was a moment there we were really sweating it," a relieved Rebellin said at the finish. "The stage was really hard today and it was difficult to control it. Luckily, we had some other teams helping out.
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Rebellin had to fight to keep the jersey |
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photo: Graham Watson |
Rebellin had reason to sweat. Although Popovych started more than two minutes adrift, at one point with less than 15km to go, the former U-23 world champion was powering into the yellow jersey.
Rebellin was left scrambling with only Austrian national champion Bernhard Kohl and Markus Zberg to help in the fractured front group before Lampre and Predictor-Lotto surged to the front to help narrow the margin.
Popovych's win makes it two in a row for Discovery Channel and the team's confidence is sky high. Thursday's winner Alberto Contador is poised in second place at six seconds back and the team promises more aggressive riding in a pair of hilly, highly unpredictable stages in the final weekend of the Race to the Sun.
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Popo' was the leader on the road at one point |
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photo: Graham Watson |
After snagging the stage win, Popovych was back to his cackling old self at the finish line. Journalists peppered him with questions about the Tour de France, his future with the team and whether they can shake Rebellin.
Popovych just waved them off.
"I'm living this beautiful victory right now!" he said with exasperation. "I need to sleep and then we can think about tomorrow."
Words to live by.
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Grabsch leads the break |
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photo: Graham Watson |
Fine weather but brisk winds welcomed the peloton for Friday's bumpy ride across Provence.
T-Mobile's Michael Barry didn't start Friday, hoping to shake a cold he's had since last month. He will return to his home base in Girona, Spain, to get back on track for the Vuelta al País Vasco in early April and the Ardennes classics.
"I've been sick since the Tour of California and I made the decision not to race today so I can get better," Barry told VeloNews. "It's some kind of viral infection and it's been lingering for awhile."
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Gerolsteiner on the job |
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photo: Graham Watson |
One racing got under way at 9km, 13 riders peeled off the front. In the move were: Popovych, Nicolas Portal (Caisse d'Epargne), Johan Van Sumeren (Predictor-Lotto), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), David Zabriskie (Team-CSC), Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank), Bert Grabsch (T-Mobile), Jurgen Van de Walle (Quick Step), Hubert Dupont (AG2R), Markus Zberg (Geroslteiner), Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), Igor Abakoumov (Astana) and Murilo Fischer (Liquigas).
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Zabriskie takes a pull |
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photo: Graham Watson |
With the lead getting trimmed to about three minutes, Popovych attacked after coming through on a first passage in the ancient town center at Manosque on the Cat 3 Col de le Mort d'Imbert with about 40km to go.
The others couldn't answer and Popovych was ripping over two more unrated climbs before dropping back into Manosque where it seemed the entire student population of the town had turned out to cheer on the race.
"I was more interested in covering the move than thinking about any chance of winning a stage," Popovych recounted. "It was only later that the possibility of a stage win became possible."
Behind Popovych, there was some real suffering as the main pack split on the narrow, twisting roads under the heat of the fast pursuit. The surging peloton eventually brought Popovych within a reasonable distance, close enough to keep the sweating Rebellin in the leader's jersey.
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Horner and Predictor-Lotto lend a hand to the chase |
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photo: Graham Watson |
"It was very hard on the legs today, but we have options for tomorrow," Contador said. "It was a shame that I lost the time on the stage to Limoges [17 seconds relative to Rebellin] but the team is very strong and I am feeling good. We will keep fighting to see if we can gain the overall victory."
Race notes
The UCI "vampires" swept down on eight teams Friday morning for pre-race blood screenings. Some 48 riders from Agritubel, Cofidis, T-Mobile, Rabobank, Predictor-Lotto, Discovery Channel, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Caisse d'Epargne were screened. No riders were deemed "inapt."
Medical report
Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel) - crash at 148km, multiple cuts and scrapes on the left shoulder, elbow and hip, he finished the race; Alberto Ongarato (Milram) - pain in right elbow; Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Ag2r) - abandon with digestive problems; Clasica San Sebastian winner Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) - digestive problems
Peloton
Five riders pulled out, including Canadian Michael Barry (T-Mobile), Pietro Caucchioli and Anthony Charteau (both Credit Agricole), Christophe Detilloux (FDJeux) and Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Ag2r)
Jerseys
Maillot jaune - Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner); points jersey - Daniele Bennati (Lampre); best climber - Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner); best young rider - Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel); best team - Caisse d'Epargne
Click here to open our Live Update Window. Then stay tuned for a race report and more photos.
Top 10
1. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel, 178km in 4:11:51 (42.406 km/h)
2. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:14
3. Samuel Dumoulin (F), Ag2r, same time
4. David Lopez (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, s.t.
5. Jérôme Pineau (F), Bourgues Telecom, s.t.
6. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, s.t.
7. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, s.t.
8. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
9. Joaquim Rodriguez (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, s.t.
10. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), Lampre, s.t.
1. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner, 21:52:39 (42.538kph) 2. Alberto Contador (Sp), Discovery Channel, at 0:06
3. Tadej Valjavec (Slo), Lampre, at 0:23
4. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas, at 0:31
5. Joly Sébastien (F), Française des Jeux, at 0:32
6. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:35
7. David Millar (GB), Saunier Duval, at 0:42
8. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC, s.t.
9. David Lopez Garcia (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:43
10. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 0:46
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