Tour de France 2007

Dormant

2010-12-26T14:16:00.002+01:00

Just reaffirming that 2007 was nearly four years ago and this blog is dormant.

Go on over to Follow The Tour to see more posts on current Tours de France.

2008 is underway

2008-05-15T04:41:00.004+02:00

Not the Tour specifically, but I've begun to blog about the cycling season. You can find these posts at tdf08.com or 189riders.com or followthetour.com or tdf09.com or even tdf08.blogspot.com.

Here's the MAIN LINK.

Enjoy!

Domain thoughts

2008-04-23T19:35:00.002+02:00

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep tdf07.com or let it expire. I don't want to lose the posts that live here on blogger - and I think they'll still live - but I might have to find a new way for people to get to this valuable resource.

If you have suggestions, let me know.

Floyd out, what's next?

2007-11-07T19:29:00.000+01:00

I have to confess that I haven't really put much effort in the way of preparing for the Tour de France 2008. I do own 189riders.com and tdf08.com and will soon be forwarding this address here (tdf07.com) to that - or just changing the settings.

But for July 2008, I am still trying to figure out if I'll travel to France to cover it, if I'll be on sabbatical, or what the plan is.

In the meantime, go visit my blog or my other writing sites - jeffcutler.com, ideas2words.com and thingstoworryabout.com.

More to come...

tdf08.com is coming

2007-08-13T20:32:00.000+02:00

They announce the course for the 2008 Tour de France in two months. So I'm gearing up to have TDF08.com up and running soon.

I'm also working on two writing projects to accompany this event.

See http://www.jeffcutler.com for more details or follow along at http://www.bowlofcheese.com or http://www.tdf08.com

Latah!

The TDF07.com Photo Gallery

2007-07-30T19:13:00.000+02:00

Soon (or maybe already if I've worked quickly enough) you'll be able to click here and you'll find all my photos from the final Stage of the 2007 Tour de France.

I'm already in withdrawal. And MANY people are commenting that this great cycling race might be on the verge of extinction. I'll comment here a bit throughout the summer.

But soon I'll be launching http://www.tdf08.com and will maintain that through the 2008 edition of the Tour de France.

Best,

Jeff

Photos - Discovery Team - Lap 1

2007-07-29T20:18:00.001+02:00

And so the 2007 Tour de France is over!

2007-07-29T20:00:00.000+02:00

Alberto Contador takes first.
Cadel Evans takes second.
Levi Leipheimer takes third.

Here are the final standings all riders who finished this great race...

1 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 91:00:26.000 00:00:00.000
2 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 91:00:49.000 00:00:23.000
3 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 91:00:57.000 00:00:31.000
4 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 91:07:34.000 00:07:08.000
5 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 91:08:43.000 00:08:17.000
6 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 91:12:03.000 00:11:37.000
7 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 91:12:44.000 00:12:18.000
8 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 91:12:51.000 00:12:25.000
9 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 91:14:40.000 00:14:14.000
10 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 91:14:51.000 00:14:25.000
11 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 91:17:17.000 00:16:51.000
12 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 91:21:41.000 00:21:15.000
13 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 91:22:15.000 00:21:49.000
14 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 91:24:41.000 00:24:15.000
15 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 91:25:45.000 00:25:19.000
16 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 91:27:35.000 00:27:09.000
17 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 91:32:14.000 00:31:48.000
18 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 91:34:40.000 00:34:14.000
19 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 91:37:34.000 00:37:08.000
20 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 91:37:40.000 00:37:14.000
21 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 91:38:42.000 00:38:16.000
22 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 91:46:08.000 00:45:42.000
23 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 91:50:00.000 00:49:34.000
24 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 91:55:16.000 00:54:50.000
25 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 91:56:16.000 00:55:50.000
26 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 91:56:49.000 00:56:23.000
27 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 92:06:56.000 01:06:30.000
28 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 92:08:48.000 01:08:22.000
29 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 92:10:03.000 01:09:37.000
30 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 92:13:11.000 01:12:45.000
31 095 KOHL, Bernhard AUT GST 92:13:53.000 01:13:27.000
32 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 92:15:42.000 01:15:16.000
33 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 92:22:51.000 01:22:25.000
34 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 92:30:38.000 01:30:12.000
35 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 92:31:00.000 01:30:34.000
36 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 92:31:13.000 01:30:47.000
37 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 92:33:32.000 01:33:06.000
38 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 92:34:16.000 01:33:50.000
39 133 DUENAS NEVADO, Moises ESP AGR 92:36:59.000 01:36:33.000
40 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 92:37:10.000 01:36:44.000
41 084 BRUSEGHIN, Marzio ITA LAM 92:37:10.000 01:36:44.000
42 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 92:37:12.000 01:36:46.000
43 076 LANDALUZE, Inigo ESP EUS 92:37:16.000 01:36:50.000
44 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 92:45:20.000 01:44:54.000
45 158 WEGELIUS, Charles GBR LIQ 92:46:51.000 01:46:25.000
46 123 FLORENCIO, Xavier ESP BTL 92:52:45.000 01:52:19.000
47 185 KNEES, Christian GER MRM 92:53:49.000 01:53:23.000
48 079 VERDUGO, Gorka ESP EUS 92:53:58.000 01:53:32.000
49 205 DE LA FUENTE, David ESP SDV 92:55:16.000 01:54:50.000
50 077 PEREZ, Ruben ESP EUS 92:56:41.000 01:56:15.000
51 034 CUESTA, Inigo ESP CSC 92:59:11.000 01:58:45.000
52 062 ARRIETA, Jose Luis ESP A2R 93:00:33.000 02:00:07.000
53 202 CAMANO, Iker ESP SDV 93:05:43.000 02:05:17.000
54 066 GADRET, John FRA A2R 93:07:16.000 02:06:50.000
55 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 93:08:40.000 02:08:14.000
56 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 93:11:08.000 02:10:42.000
57 017 PORTAL, Nicolas FRA GCE 93:15:40.000 02:15:14.000
58 125 LEFEVRE, Laurent FRA BTL 93:15:43.000 02:15:17.000
59 152 ALBASINI, Michael SUI LIQ 93:19:01.000 02:18:35.000
60 098 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST 93:20:02.000 02:19:36.000
61 115 MARTINEZ, Egoi ESP DSC 93:20:42.000 02:20:16.000
62 028 MERCKX, Axel BEL TMO 93:21:26.000 02:21:00.000
63 048 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan BEL PRL 93:22:23.000 02:21:57.000
64 168 LÖVKVIST, Thomas SWE FDJ 93:23:16.000 02:22:50.000
65 117 PAULINHO, Sergio POR DSC 93:23:57.000 02:23:31.000
66 129 VOECKLER, Thomas FRA BTL 93:25:00.000 02:24:34.000
67 032 ARVESEN, Kurt-Asle NOR CSC 93:25:02.000 02:24:36.000
68 126 PINEAU, Jérôme FRA BTL 93:25:25.000 02:24:59.000
69 201 MILLAR, David GBR SDV 93:32:33.000 02:32:07.000
70 042 AERTS, Mario BEL PRL 93:33:24.000 02:32:58.000
71 161 CASAR, Sandy FRA FDJ 93:34:12.000 02:33:46.000
72 016 PEREZ SANCHEZ, Francisco ESP GCE 93:37:51.000 02:37:25.000
73 159 WILLEMS, Frederik BEL LIQ 93:37:56.000 02:37:30.000
74 065 ELMIGER, Martin SUI A2R 93:38:07.000 02:37:41.000
75 082 BENNATI, Daniele ITA LAM 93:38:56.000 02:38:30.000
76 154 CARLSTRÖM, Kjell FIN LIQ 93:40:00.000 02:39:34.000
77 208 RINERO, Christophe FRA SDV 93:41:25.000 02:40:59.000
78 184 GRIVKO, Andriy UKR MRM 93:42:07.000 02:41:41.000
79 181 ZABEL, Erik GER MRM 93:42:54.000 02:42:28.000
80 131 MERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP AGR 93:44:53.000 02:44:27.000
81 097 SCHOLZ, Ronny GER GST 93:45:05.000 02:44:39.000
82 074 AZANZA, Jorge ESP EUS 93:50:56.000 02:50:30.000
83 169 VAUGRENARD, Benoît FRA FDJ 93:51:20.000 02:50:54.000
84 121 FEDRIGO, Pierrick FRA BTL 93:54:08.000 02:53:42.000
85 055 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP RAB 93:56:24.000 02:55:58.000
86 057 NIERMANN, Grischa GER RAB 93:56:35.000 02:56:09.000
87 091 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER GST 93:56:56.000 02:56:30.000
88 081 BALLAN, Alessandro ITA LAM 93:57:31.000 02:57:05.000
89 156 KUSCHYNSKI, Aleksandr BLR LIQ 93:59:12.000 02:58:46.000
90 075 ISASI, Inaki ESP EUS 94:00:03.000 02:59:37.000
91 013 GARCIA ACOSTA, Vicente ESP GCE 94:01:04.000 03:00:38.000
92 139 VOGONDY, Nicolas FRA AGR 94:01:16.000 03:00:50.000
93 128 TSCHOPP, Johann SUI BTL 94:07:45.000 03:07:19.000
94 067 GERRANS, Simon AUS A2R 94:09:45.000 03:09:19.000
95 083 BOSSONI, Paolo ITA LAM 94:10:22.000 03:09:56.000
96 087 RIGHI, Daniele ITA LAM 94:11:01.000 03:10:35.000
97 166 JEGOU, Lilian FRA FDJ 94:14:37.000 03:14:11.000
98 124 GESLIN, Anthony FRA BTL 94:14:41.000 03:14:15.000
99 211 EFIMKIN, Alexander RUS BAR 94:14:45.000 03:14:19.000
100 033 CANCELLARA, Fabian SUI CSC 94:16:14.000 03:15:48.000
101 155 FISCHER, Murilo Antoniobil BRA LIQ 94:16:34.000 03:16:08.000
102 132 BICHOT, Freddy FRA AGR 94:17:24.000 03:16:58.000
103 203 CANADA, David ESP SDV 94:17:45.000 03:17:19.000
104 175 ROSSELER, Sébastien BEL QSI 94:18:51.000 03:18:25.000
105 026 GRABSCH, Bert GER TMO 94:20:24.000 03:19:58.000
106 212 CARDENAS, Félix COL BAR 94:20:24.000 03:19:58.000
107 105 DEAN, Julian NZL C.A 94:22:23.000 03:21:57.000
108 178 TOSATTO, Matteo ITA QSI 94:22:40.000 03:22:14.000
109 102 BONNET, William FRA C.A 94:23:25.000 03:22:59.000
110 045 HOSTE, Leif BEL PRL 94:23:28.000 03:23:02.000
111 213 CHEULA, Gianpaolo ITA BAR 94:23:37.000 03:23:11.000
112 167 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu FRA FDJ 94:23:43.000 03:23:17.000
113 157 QUINZIATO, Manuel ITA LIQ 94:24:08.000 03:23:42.000
114 137 JALABERT, Nicolas FRA AGR 94:24:28.000 03:24:02.000
115 116 NOVAL GONZALEZ, Benjamin ESP DSC 94:24:39.000 03:24:13.000
116 183 GRABSCH, Ralf GER MRM 94:25:01.000 03:24:35.000
117 163 DELAGE, Mickaël FRA FDJ 94:25:12.000 03:24:46.000
118 216 HUNTER, Robert RSA BAR 94:26:38.000 03:26:12.000
119 171 BOONEN, Tom BEL QSI 94:26:45.000 03:26:19.000
120 189 SIEBERG, Marcel GER MRM 94:27:14.000 03:26:48.000
121 024 EISEL, Bernhard AUT TMO 94:27:23.000 03:26:57.000
122 182 CORTINOVIS, Alessandro ITA MRM 94:27:30.000 03:27:04.000
123 173 DE JONGH, Steven NED QSI 94:28:11.000 03:27:45.000
124 217 LONGO BORGHINI, Paolo ITA BAR 94:28:14.000 03:27:48.000
125 138 SALMON, Benoit FRA AGR 94:29:25.000 03:28:59.000
126 085 CORIONI, Claudio ITA LAM 94:29:52.000 03:29:26.000
127 022 BURGHARDT, Marcus GER TMO 94:30:03.000 03:29:37.000
128 059 WEENING, Pieter NED RAB 94:32:15.000 03:31:49.000
129 094 HAUSSLER, Heinrich GER GST 94:32:56.000 03:32:30.000
130 162 CHAVANEL, Sébastien FRA FDJ 94:35:51.000 03:35:25.000
131 188 POITSCHKE, Enrico GER MRM 94:35:54.000 03:35:28.000
132 108 HINAULT, Sébastien FRA C.A 94:36:03.000 03:35:37.000
133 099 WROLICH, Peter AUT GST 94:36:31.000 03:36:05.000
134 053 DE GROOT, Bram NED RAB 94:38:12.000 03:37:46.000
135 092 FÖRSTER, Robert GER GST 94:40:36.000 03:40:10.000
136 104 CHARTEAU, Anthony FRA C.A 94:41:10.000 03:40:44.000
137 096 KRAUSS, Sven GER GST 94:41:17.000 03:40:51.000
138 176 STEEGMANS, Gert BEL QSI 94:42:04.000 03:41:38.000
139 101 HUSHOVD, Thor NOR C.A 94:42:23.000 03:41:57.000
140 215 GERAINT, Thomas GBR BAR 94:47:17.000 03:46:51.000
141 049 VANSEVENANT, Wim BEL PRL 94:53:20.000 03:52:54.000

Photos of today's stage to come. Really!! I was there. Hold please...

My Spot at the Tour

2007-07-29T09:00:00.000+02:00

Here's where I'll be at today's final stage of the 2007 Tour de France.

In the photo with all the magic marker, I'll be in that CIRCLE. The riders are going in the direction of the ARROWS and the Louvre is marked by three DOTS.

That's the pulled-back view.

In the close-up view, I'll be on the street corner indicated by the ARROW.

Look for me on TV as the bikes emerge from the tunnel.

By now you should know...SPOILER

2007-07-28T17:54:00.000+02:00

In case you're Tivo-ing the Time Trial be warned, this post tells you what occurs in Stage 19.

I'll wait while you click away...in fact, here's a photo or two to look at while you wait.

OK, here's the news. Contador is STILL in the lead by 23 seconds. And if tradition is any indicator, that's how the 2007 version of the Tour de France will end.

Alberto Contador in first.
Cadel Evans in second.
Levi Leipheimer in third.

There's your podium...I'll post a wrap up post tomorrow or when I get back in the United States. Until then, feel free to read my other blog for Paris info and photos. I'll be at the final stage tomorrow in Paris and will be taking probably 100+ shots.

Thanks for reading! Check out tdf08.com for the 2008 Tour de France!

No Rain So Far

2007-07-28T15:39:00.000+02:00

My guess and the Parisian weatherpeople have both been wrong. The roads in Paris are dry and the roads at the Time Trial are also in good, dry shape.

Times so far have been pretty fast and we may see no change in the standings.

20 riders left to go, including the top three - Contador, Evans and Leipheimer.

NO SPOILERS TODAY - I'll give the results ONLY after they are official.

Tomorrow's Time Trial - NOT A SPOILER

2007-07-27T22:27:00.000+02:00

This is being written at 10:28PM Paris time, so it can't tell you who will win tomorrow's 55KM time trial or who will win the 2007 Tour de France.

What it will tell you is who I THINK will take this race because of the conditions forecast and because of the circumstances.

Remember way back in THIS POST, how I said that Levi Leipheimer was likely going to be the 2007 winner of the Tour de France? I still feel that way.

Here's how it will shake out...

Levi goes third to last and puts more than a minute into Cadel Evans effectively taking second place.

Then Contador - in the slippery conditions - plays it too safe and loses a chunk of time in the stage so that Levi ends up wearing the Yellow Jersey to start the final stage in Paris.

Discovery Team said at the beginning of the Tour de France that Levi was their leader. They supported him from the get-go and it's only been Contador's valiant riding and happenstance that has put Contador in yellow.

So, the team management will have to make a decision and they will go with Levi in Yellow and Contador in white, finishing 1-2 on the podium on Sunday.

I'll see you tomorrow night after the time trial is complete.

Nuts and bolts

2007-07-27T22:24:00.000+02:00

Today's stage featured a long breakaway and a great sprint finish.

Not much more to say other than here are the standings after Stage 18 of the 2007 Tour de France. My next post will posit on what might happen tomorrow in the time trial...can you say Levi!!??

Here are the top 30...

1 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 86:04:16.000 00:00:00.000
2 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 86:06:06.000 00:01:50.000
3 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 86:07:05.000 00:02:49.000
4 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 86:10:18.000 00:06:02.000
5 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 86:10:45.000 00:06:29.000
6 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 86:14:34.000 00:10:18.000
7 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 86:15:52.000 00:11:36.000
8 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 86:17:03.000 00:12:47.000
9 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 86:17:47.000 00:13:31.000
10 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 86:17:58.000 00:13:42.000
11 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 86:18:23.000 00:14:07.000
12 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 86:22:14.000 00:17:58.000
13 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 86:23:26.000 00:19:10.000
14 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 86:26:30.000 00:22:14.000
15 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 86:27:28.000 00:23:12.000
16 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 86:28:43.000 00:24:27.000
17 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 86:32:54.000 00:28:38.000
18 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 86:34:04.000 00:29:48.000
19 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 86:37:37.000 00:33:21.000
20 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 86:38:48.000 00:34:32.000
21 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 86:40:29.000 00:36:13.000
22 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 86:49:39.000 00:45:23.000
23 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 86:50:10.000 00:45:54.000
24 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 86:58:21.000 00:54:05.000
25 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 86:58:26.000 00:54:10.000
26 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 86:58:51.000 00:54:35.000
27 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 87:06:03.000 01:01:47.000
28 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 87:09:00.000 01:04:44.000
29 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 87:10:00.000 01:05:44.000
30 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 87:12:03.000 01:07:47.000

Poker day

2007-07-27T15:43:00.000+02:00

With the 2007 Tour de France all but decided (unless Levi pulls a LeMonde or Cadel blows away the pack), I spent the morning at the Aviation Club of France playing poker. There I spoke with a bunch of Parisians who voiced concern for the sport and disgust for the doping that's going on.

It didn't help that I'm an American and they see us as getting away with one of the the worst dopers in history - Lance Armstrong.

I tried to explain that Lance used EPO to recover from his cancer treaments, but the guys at the club didn't understand. Either it was my French or their English or both, but they don't think that a true winner of the Tour has existed since 1996. That year, Miguel Indurain won his fifth Tour de France.

Since then, Parisians I talked to feel that Bjarne Riis, Jan Ullrich, Marco Pantani, Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis have all been doping winners. The only rider not proven to have doped is Lance, but sports fans in any country can be a little irrational.

This year if it ends with Contador, Evans and Leipheimer, we could be starting a new era of drug-free riders and winners.

By the way - SPOILER ALERT - with 73KM left to go in Stage 17, four riders lead the peloton by more than 16 minutes. None of the leaders are in contention for the Yellow jersey and the Discovery Team is keeping the pace in the peloton high.

Two days to decide

2007-07-26T18:27:00.000+02:00

Right now Contador is in the lead by about 90 seconds over Cadel Evans and by three minutes over teammate Levi Leipheimer.

The stage that will decide this race - now that Rasmussen is out - is #19. That's a 55.5KM individual time trial.

We could see a 1-2 Discovery Team finish in Paris this Sunday with Contador hanging on and Levi blasting Cadel Evans away.

This is just crazy!!

All the Riders in the GC

2007-07-26T18:17:00.000+02:00

Here are the top 141...

1 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 80:42:08.000 00:00:00.000
2 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 80:44:01.000 00:01:53.000
3 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 80:44:57.000 00:02:49.000
4 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 80:48:10.000 00:06:02.000
5 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 80:48:37.000 00:06:29.000
6 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 80:52:26.000 00:10:18.000
7 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 80:53:44.000 00:11:36.000
8 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 80:54:58.000 00:12:50.000
9 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 80:55:39.000 00:13:31.000
10 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 80:55:50.000 00:13:42.000
11 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 80:56:15.000 00:14:07.000
12 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 81:00:06.000 00:17:58.000
13 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 81:04:22.000 00:22:14.000
14 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 81:05:20.000 00:23:12.000
15 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 81:06:35.000 00:24:27.000
16 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 81:09:58.000 00:27:50.000
17 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 81:10:46.000 00:28:38.000
18 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 81:11:56.000 00:29:48.000
19 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 81:15:29.000 00:33:21.000
20 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 81:16:40.000 00:34:32.000
21 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 81:18:21.000 00:36:13.000
22 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 81:27:31.000 00:45:23.000
23 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 81:28:02.000 00:45:54.000
24 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 81:35:31.000 00:53:23.000
25 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 81:36:13.000 00:54:05.000
26 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 81:36:43.000 00:54:35.000
27 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 81:43:55.000 01:01:47.000
28 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 81:46:05.000 01:03:57.000
29 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 81:46:55.000 01:04:47.000
30 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 81:49:55.000 01:07:47.000
31 095 KOHL, Bernhard AUT GST 81:52:28.000 01:10:20.000
32 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 81:54:05.000 01:11:57.000
33 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 81:58:40.000 01:16:32.000
34 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 82:08:17.000 01:26:09.000
35 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 82:09:13.000 01:27:05.000
36 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 82:10:18.000 01:28:10.000
37 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 82:10:59.000 01:28:51.000
38 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 82:11:28.000 01:29:20.000
39 076 LANDALUZE, Inigo ESP EUS 82:12:37.000 01:30:29.000
40 133 DUENAS NEVADO, Moises ESP AGR 82:13:11.000 01:31:03.000
41 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 82:13:46.000 01:31:38.000
42 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 82:15:57.000 01:33:49.000
43 084 BRUSEGHIN, Marzio ITA LAM 82:16:00.000 01:33:52.000
44 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 82:18:41.000 01:36:33.000
45 158 WEGELIUS, Charles GBR LIQ 82:23:13.000 01:41:05.000
46 123 FLORENCIO, Xavier ESP BTL 82:28:18.000 01:46:10.000
47 205 DE LA FUENTE, David ESP SDV 82:29:03.000 01:46:55.000
48 185 KNEES, Christian GER MRM 82:31:09.000 01:49:01.000
49 079 VERDUGO, Gorka ESP EUS 82:31:26.000 01:49:18.000
50 034 CUESTA, Inigo ESP CSC 82:34:06.000 01:51:58.000
51 077 PEREZ, Ruben ESP EUS 82:35:39.000 01:53:31.000
52 062 ARRIETA, Jose Luis ESP A2R 82:37:19.000 01:55:11.000
53 066 GADRET, John FRA A2R 82:42:10.000 02:00:02.000
54 202 CAMANO, Iker ESP SDV 82:42:50.000 02:00:42.000
55 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 82:43:46.000 02:01:38.000
56 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 82:45:50.000 02:03:42.000
57 017 PORTAL, Nicolas FRA GCE 82:54:01.000 02:11:53.000
58 152 ALBASINI, Michael SUI LIQ 82:55:36.000 02:13:28.000
59 115 MARTINEZ, Egoi ESP DSC 82:56:01.000 02:13:53.000
60 098 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST 82:56:11.000 02:14:03.000
61 129 VOECKLER, Thomas FRA BTL 82:58:20.000 02:16:12.000
62 048 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan BEL PRL 82:59:48.000 02:17:40.000
63 126 PINEAU, Jérôme FRA BTL 83:00:30.000 02:18:22.000
64 125 LEFEVRE, Laurent FRA BTL 83:01:08.000 02:19:00.000
65 032 ARVESEN, Kurt-Asle NOR CSC 83:01:33.000 02:19:25.000
66 117 PAULINHO, Sergio POR DSC 83:01:57.000 02:19:49.000
67 168 LÖVKVIST, Thomas SWE FDJ 83:02:02.000 02:19:54.000
68 201 MILLAR, David GBR SDV 83:06:20.000 02:24:12.000
69 028 MERCKX, Axel BEL TMO 83:07:08.000 02:25:00.000
70 042 AERTS, Mario BEL PRL 83:08:52.000 02:26:44.000
71 159 WILLEMS, Frederik BEL LIQ 83:09:36.000 02:27:28.000
72 082 BENNATI, Daniele ITA LAM 83:13:10.000 02:31:02.000
73 016 PEREZ SANCHEZ, Francisco ESP GCE 83:13:11.000 02:31:03.000
74 065 ELMIGER, Martin SUI A2R 83:15:07.000 02:32:59.000
75 208 RINERO, Christophe FRA SDV 83:16:08.000 02:34:00.000
76 161 CASAR, Sandy FRA FDJ 83:16:48.000 02:34:40.000
77 181 ZABEL, Erik GER MRM 83:17:21.000 02:35:13.000
78 154 CARLSTRÖM, Kjell FIN LIQ 83:17:37.000 02:35:29.000
79 097 SCHOLZ, Ronny GER GST 83:19:35.000 02:37:27.000
80 131 MERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP AGR 83:19:54.000 02:37:46.000
81 184 GRIVKO, Andriy UKR MRM 83:21:13.000 02:39:05.000
82 074 AZANZA, Jorge ESP EUS 83:25:05.000 02:42:57.000
83 169 VAUGRENARD, Benoît FRA FDJ 83:26:35.000 02:44:27.000
84 055 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP RAB 83:31:19.000 02:49:11.000
85 057 NIERMANN, Grischa GER RAB 83:31:22.000 02:49:14.000
86 121 FEDRIGO, Pierrick FRA BTL 83:31:45.000 02:49:37.000
87 081 BALLAN, Alessandro ITA LAM 83:34:33.000 02:52:25.000
88 075 ISASI, Inaki ESP EUS 83:35:13.000 02:53:05.000
89 091 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER GST 83:36:07.000 02:53:59.000
90 139 VOGONDY, Nicolas FRA AGR 83:37:39.000 02:55:31.000
91 156 KUSCHYNSKI, Aleksandr BLR LIQ 83:37:53.000 02:55:45.000
92 013 GARCIA ACOSTA, Vicente ESP GCE 83:39:15.000 02:57:07.000
93 128 TSCHOPP, Johann SUI BTL 83:39:56.000 02:57:48.000
94 087 RIGHI, Daniele ITA LAM 83:44:39.000 03:02:31.000
95 067 GERRANS, Simon AUS A2R 83:45:20.000 03:03:12.000
96 083 BOSSONI, Paolo ITA LAM 83:45:32.000 03:03:24.000
97 211 EFIMKIN, Alexander RUS BAR 83:47:45.000 03:05:37.000
98 166 JEGOU, Lilian FRA FDJ 83:49:23.000 03:07:15.000
99 155 FISCHER, Murilo Antoniobil BRA LIQ 83:49:34.000 03:07:26.000
100 132 BICHOT, Freddy FRA AGR 83:50:18.000 03:08:10.000
101 124 GESLIN, Anthony FRA BTL 83:50:35.000 03:08:27.000
102 212 CARDENAS, Félix COL BAR 83:51:23.000 03:09:15.000
103 203 CANADA, David ESP SDV 83:52:30.000 03:10:22.000
104 033 CANCELLARA, Fabian SUI CSC 83:54:59.000 03:12:51.000
105 178 TOSATTO, Matteo ITA QSI 83:56:09.000 03:14:01.000
106 157 QUINZIATO, Manuel ITA LIQ 83:56:36.000 03:14:28.000
107 213 CHEULA, Gianpaolo ITA BAR 83:56:37.000 03:14:29.000
108 105 DEAN, Julian NZL C.A 83:57:42.000 03:15:34.000
109 175 ROSSELER, Sébastien BEL QSI 83:58:46.000 03:16:38.000
110 116 NOVAL GONZALEZ, Benjamin ESP DSC 83:59:16.000 03:17:08.000
111 167 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu FRA FDJ 83:59:26.000 03:17:18.000
112 137 JALABERT, Nicolas FRA AGR 83:59:43.000 03:17:35.000
113 026 GRABSCH, Bert GER TMO 84:00:06.000 03:17:58.000
114 171 BOONEN, Tom BEL QSI 84:00:57.000 03:18:49.000
115 022 BURGHARDT, Marcus GER TMO 84:01:21.000 03:19:13.000
116 183 GRABSCH, Ralf GER MRM 84:01:31.000 03:19:23.000
117 102 BONNET, William FRA C.A 84:01:51.000 03:19:43.000
118 216 HUNTER, Robert RSA BAR 84:01:56.000 03:19:48.000
119 024 EISEL, Bernhard AUT TMO 84:02:04.000 03:19:56.000
120 138 SALMON, Benoit FRA AGR 84:02:10.000 03:20:02.000
121 163 DELAGE, Mickaël FRA FDJ 84:02:30.000 03:20:22.000
122 217 LONGO BORGHINI, Paolo ITA BAR 84:02:49.000 03:20:41.000
123 182 CORTINOVIS, Alessandro ITA MRM 84:03:07.000 03:20:59.000
124 085 CORIONI, Claudio ITA LAM 84:03:08.000 03:21:00.000
125 189 SIEBERG, Marcel GER MRM 84:03:59.000 03:21:51.000
126 045 HOSTE, Leif BEL PRL 84:04:30.000 03:22:22.000
127 173 DE JONGH, Steven NED QSI 84:04:54.000 03:22:46.000
128 059 WEENING, Pieter NED RAB 84:05:52.000 03:23:44.000
129 094 HAUSSLER, Heinrich GER GST 84:07:43.000 03:25:35.000
130 099 WROLICH, Peter AUT GST 84:09:36.000 03:27:28.000
131 188 POITSCHKE, Enrico GER MRM 84:10:09.000 03:28:01.000
132 108 HINAULT, Sébastien FRA C.A 84:10:56.000 03:28:48.000
133 162 CHAVANEL, Sébastien FRA FDJ 84:10:59.000 03:28:51.000
134 104 CHARTEAU, Anthony FRA C.A 84:12:38.000 03:30:30.000
135 092 FÖRSTER, Robert GER GST 84:13:40.000 03:31:32.000
136 176 STEEGMANS, Gert BEL QSI 84:15:55.000 03:33:47.000
137 053 DE GROOT, Bram NED RAB 84:16:06.000 03:33:58.000
138 101 HUSHOVD, Thor NOR C.A 84:17:01.000 03:34:53.000
139 096 KRAUSS, Sven GER GST 84:19:27.000 03:37:19.000
140 215 GERAINT, Thomas GBR BAR 84:21:05.000 03:38:57.000
141 049 VANSEVENANT, Wim BEL PRL 84:26:48.000 03:44:40.000

Top 10 of Stage 17

2007-07-26T18:14:00.000+02:00

I'm still stunned with the withdrawal of Rasmussen (although I did call it back around Stage 8), and I'm just gonna give you the top ten for Stage 17.

Here you go. General Classification coming up.

The top 10 of the stage from Pau to Castelsarrasin is:
1. Daniele Bennati (ITA) LAM - 188.5km in 4h14’04" (44.515km/h)
2. Markus Fothen (GER) GST - at same time
3. Martin Elmiger (SUI) A2R) - at same time
4. Jens Voigt (GER) CSC) - at same time
5. David Millar (GBR) SDV - at 2’41"
6. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) QSI - at 2’43"
7. Manuel Quinziato (ITA) LIQ - at 3’20"
8. Daniele Righi (ITA) LAM - at 3’20"
9. Tom Boonen (BEL) QSI - at 9'37"
10. Sebastien Chavanel (FRA) FDJ - at 9'37"

Riders left in the race

2007-07-26T18:11:00.000+02:00

About a third of the way into Stage 17, Menchov (also of Rabobank) withdrew leaving 141 riders in the 2007 Tour de France.

Another one bites the dust

2007-07-26T18:07:00.000+02:00

OK. Take a deep breath. I do not know what today's stage did to the GC, but I do know that this blog has been right AGAIN.

Last night or early this morning the Rabobank team and Michael Rasmussen parted ways and therefore Rasmussen is OUT of the 2007 Tour de France.

His training program leading up to the Tour de France was suspect as were his preparations for this race. Because the team leadership couldn't verify that he was training according to the rules, they decided that he couldn't represent them.

Then, this morning, the Tour de France and organizer Mr Prudhomme decided to disallow Rasmussen's participation.

Now let me check the wires and race transcripts emailed to me to see how today's ride shook out.

Top 30

2007-07-25T17:44:00.000+02:00

The top three are separated by less than a minute. And we've got four stages left. I say again, "GREAT TOUR!"

Here are the top 30 as listed on Versus' site...

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 06:23:21.000 00:00:00.000
2 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 06:23:47.000 00:00:26.000
3 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 06:23:56.000 00:00:35.000
4 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 06:24:04.000 00:00:43.000
5 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 06:24:46.000 00:01:25.000
6 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 06:25:13.000 00:01:52.000
7 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 06:25:15.000 00:01:54.000
8 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 06:25:33.000 00:02:12.000
9 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 06:25:48.000 00:02:27.000
10 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 06:25:48.000 00:02:27.000
11 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 06:26:32.000 00:03:11.000
12 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 06:26:58.000 00:03:37.000
13 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 06:28:03.000 00:04:42.000
14 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 06:28:53.000 00:05:32.000
15 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 06:29:23.000 00:06:02.000
16 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 06:29:27.000 00:06:06.000
17 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 06:29:38.000 00:06:17.000
18 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 06:29:57.000 00:06:36.000
19 205 DE LA FUENTE, David ESP SDV 06:30:26.000 00:07:05.000
20 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 06:30:26.000 00:07:05.000
21 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 06:30:32.000 00:07:11.000
22 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 06:30:36.000 00:07:15.000
23 095 KOHL, Bernhard AUT GST 06:30:44.000 00:07:23.000
24 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 06:30:48.000 00:07:27.000
25 158 WEGELIUS, Charles GBR LIQ 06:31:11.000 00:07:50.000
26 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 06:31:21.000 00:08:00.000
27 133 DUENAS NEVADO, Moises ESP AGR 06:31:52.000 00:08:31.000
28 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 06:32:09.000 00:08:48.000
29 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 06:32:11.000 00:08:50.000
30 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 06:32:34.000 00:09:13.000

The GC after 16 Stages

2007-07-25T17:26:00.000+02:00

After the 16th Stage of the 2007 Tour de France, here are your general classification standings. Remember, TDF.com is courtesy of Jeff Cutler and Novel Ideas. Feel free to read my other blog - Bowl of Cheese (www.bowlofcheese.com) or visit my professional writing site Novel Ideas (www.ideas2words.com).

While we wait for the Tour de France officials to give us the figures, remember, as always, all sites can be reached via Jeff Cutler dot com (or if you prefer, www.jeffcutler.com).

Looks like they are waiting for more riders before giving us the numbers. I'll have the GC for you shortly.

Rasmussen wins another stage

2007-07-25T17:21:00.001+02:00

Rasmussen has taken Stage 16 of the 2007 Tour de France and has added a few seconds to Leipheimer and Contador.

Totals are 25 seconds for Leipheimer and about 12 seconds more than that for Contador.

Well, the only ways Rasmussen can lose this race now are for him to either live up to his nickname of Crashmussen or for him to get a positive doping test.

Wowsa. What a stage and what a finish.

2KM to Go - Three Still Together

2007-07-25T17:13:00.000+02:00

Cadel Evans is only about 10 seconds back while the three leaders continue to hammer up the hill.

Now there's 1.7KM to got and there are people everywhere.

The three riders are still hammering to the top of the mountain.

Official gaps right now are 14 seconds for Evans and 00:01:07 for the guy in the Polka Dot Jersey. I'll have to look up his name. He's Mauricio Soler.

What a dirty dog.

Rasmussen jumped with 1KM to go and is hammering to the finish ahead of Leipheimer and Contador by 70 yards already.

He let those two work hard up the entire hill and now is slamming them with time and mental anguish.

I'm annoyed. Levi and Contador are responding, but only 500meters remain to the end.

Best Stage So Far

2007-07-25T17:10:00.000+02:00

As predicted, this has been the best stage so far, even in light of Vinokourov's positive drug test and withdrawl.

The four leaders are almost all together (Cadel Evans is trying desparately to catch Leipheimer, Contador and Rasmussen) and then the next people are more than a minute back.

Three KM to go.

Top three - 4.7KM to go

2007-07-25T17:06:00.000+02:00

It's Rasmussen, Contador and Leipheimer leading Stage 16 of the 2007 Tour de France.

Cadel Evans is killing himself to bridge the gap. He's back about 11 seconds. He can see the riders ahead of him.

4.4KM left to go.

**Sastre is 00:01:08 back of the three leaders.

Leipheimer is setting the pace and Rasmussen made a signal with his hands of throwing in the towel. Odd. We shall see what happens in the next 20 minutes. 4KM to go. Cadel has almost caught them.

Rasmussen patted Leipheimer on the back.

Levi with Cadel, Contador and Rasmussen together

2007-07-25T17:03:00.000+02:00

Read the subject line.

There are 5.5KM left and Rasmussen has Contador firmly on his wheel.

This IS the Tour de France.

Levi and Cadel are 13 seconds back right now. They look like they're going to work together and try to catch the other two.

The rest of the riders in the race are a huge distance back. Carlos Sastre is the only guy in view and he's 500meters back.

Levi has jumped and is trying to bridge the gap alone. He's only five seconds back now.

I'm hyperventilating.

More attacks

2007-07-25T17:00:00.000+02:00

6.7KM left and Cotnador is keeping about 60 yards on the rest of the four lead riders. He's just hammering.

But here come the other three. Now it's Contador by 10 yards, then Rasmussen, then Evans and Levi has dropped a little.

Rasmussen has lept past Contador and now they're leapfrogging each other.

Both Evans and Leipheimer are back by about 100 yards.

Holy Crap. 6KM to go. Evans has caught up. Levi is still lagging.

9.2KM LEFT - SPOILER!!

2007-07-25T16:56:00.000+02:00

The top four in the GC - Levi, Contador, Rasmussen and Evans - were all leading the race and then right at the other side of a tunnel, Contador took off. He's now got a gap of 20 yards on the group.

Oops, they're back together with 8.1KM left to go.

Like I said earlier, one of these four is going to win today and win the entire 2007 Tour de France.

Holy moses!

LEVI just jumped hard. He's got 50 yards on the group and is putting more space into them.

Oh my, they're reeling him in.

I have no idea what's going to happen when they catch him and who might jump next.

151 Riders

2007-07-25T11:04:00.000+02:00

There are only 151 riders left in the race with the withdrawl of the Astana team.

Versus silent on the protest

2007-07-25T11:00:00.000+02:00

In Versus.com newsflashes, there is no mention of the mini protest at the start of the race. They must be monitoring race radio which didn't mention anything of the protest, but it was clearly shown on Eurosport.

By the way, the length of today's stage is 218KM and it's got some KILLER climbs. The person ahead in the GC at the end of today will most certainly be the 2007 champion.

Stage 16 DELAYED

2007-07-25T10:54:00.001+02:00

Most of the riders are rolling in the neutral zone right now, but amid all the interviews and excitement after the positive test of Vinikourov, there are about a dozen riders who refuse to start riding.

Standing astride their bikes at the start line of the neutral zone, these riders delayed the race for about 30 seconds to a full minute and then started riding.

I can only surmise that this was in protest to the way in which testing is handled.

If you're not aware, the way I understand drug testing in cycling is that you are guilty until proven innocent; there are precious few 'baseline' tests done (so if someone has a superhuman day like Landis last year - then there's no way to see if that person's hormones are within an acceptable range of THEIR 'normal'); the appeals process is convoluted and fraught with single chances and riders are seldom if ever allowed to present their own tests or science.

That said, I still think cycling has some dirt in it that needs to be cleaned out.

Right now there's a live interview with the director of the race...but Stage 16 is rolling.

And from a pure sports point of view, this stage should decide with finality the winner of the 2007 Tour de France. I believe it will be Rasmussen, Cadel Evans, Contador or Levi Leipheimer. Maybe I shouldn't go so far out on a limb, but race position seldom changes much this far into a Tour.

Vinokourov OUT OUT OUT

2007-07-24T22:59:00.000+02:00

After testing positive for a banned substance, Vinokourov and the entire Astana team have pulled out of the 2007 Tour de France.

As I wrote in an earlier post, my bet was for Rasmussen to test positive (as he was given a control test the other day), but the first rider to fall this year has been Vinokourov. Darn it.

Not because I was wrong, but because this was turning out to be a great Tour and the finish was not anywhere decided before today's rest day. Well, it's still not decided, but the main team that was putting chink after chink into Rasmussen's armor was Astana.

Now we'll see what shakes out from this development, how the comments come flying in from readers and fans alike, and if the final stage in Paris even occurs!

I worry for the sport and know that it might have to collapse completely to be reborn.

I'll be watching tomorrow's stage 16 to see if teams protest like they did in 1998 or if they go on like nothing happened. I also believe that control tests will be stepped up and UCI will spread the nets wider to collect a lot more riders before this tour ends on July 29.

I spent the day in Brussels talking with beer-drinking Belgians about Tom Boonen and the Tour in general and now I don't know what to feel. Paris might be great in the springtime and super around Tour time, but not if everyone and their brother is doped to the gills.

Pah, tre bien!!!

Top 10 in the GC after Stage 15

2007-07-23T19:38:00.000+02:00

Here is the list of the top ten in the Tour de France after 15 stages...

1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - 2,750.4km in 69h52'14" (39.359km/h)
2. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 2'23"
3. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 4'00"
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 5'25"
5. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST at 5'34"
6. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 6'46"
7. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS at 7'27"
8. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST at 7'54"
9. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO at 8'24"
10. Mikel Astarloza (EUS) at 9'21"

and here are the standings all the way back to Big George Hincapie (who, by the way, lead Contador down the descent on the other side of the last climb...cementing the Discovery Team rider's place in second)

11 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 70:02:55.000 00:10:41.000
12 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 70:04:43.000 00:12:29.000
13 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 70:06:44.000 00:14:30.000
14 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 70:07:14.000 00:15:00.000
15 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 70:09:25.000 00:17:11.000
16 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 70:10:41.000 00:18:27.000
17 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 70:11:11.000 00:18:57.000
18 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 70:11:14.000 00:19:00.000
19 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 70:17:22.000 00:25:08.000
20 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 70:18:16.000 00:26:02.000
21 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 70:18:39.000 00:26:25.000
22 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 70:19:00.000 00:26:46.000
23 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 70:20:35.000 00:28:21.000
24 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 70:21:10.000 00:28:56.000
25 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 70:25:00.000 00:32:46.000
26 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 70:25:12.000 00:32:58.000
27 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 70:27:42.000 00:35:28.000
28 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 70:30:31.000 00:38:17.000
29 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 70:31:39.000 00:39:25.000
30 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 70:32:01.000 00:39:47.000
31 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 70:32:31.000 00:40:17.000

Vinokourov!!

2007-07-23T19:34:00.000+02:00

Not saying he's won the stage yet, but he's been a maniac attacking the lead groups and keeps jumping off the front.

Here's the flash from Versus.com...

Vinokourov began his move 6km from the top of the final climb. He know leads by:
30" - Zubeldia
35" - Cobo

(NOTE: the misspelling in that flash belonges solely to Versus)

130KM in, Five Riders Escape

2007-07-23T19:30:00.000+02:00

At the 130KM mark (in a stage that is 196KM long, five riders have attacked the other leaders and are 00:00:20 ahead. But the disorganized 20 riders look a little winded and the five riders are putting some distance down quickly.

According to Versus, at the 138KM mark, the peloton had a deficit to the five stage leaders of 8'10". This was the same margin that the bunch was at when it passed the site of the 2nd intermediate sprint (at 127km).

Stage 15 - another shake-up?

2007-07-23T19:25:00.000+02:00

Who knows what today's stage 15 will bring, but here's a look...

I got up in time to watch the neutral zone roll-out and the early attacks. At one point a group of 25 riders was ahead of the peloton.

At 85KM into the race, the 25 guys in the lead group were more than eight minutes ahead. They were comprised of riders from 17 different teams. Here are the riders...

David Arroyo (ESP) GCE
Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (NOR) CSC
Christian Vande Velde (USA) CSC
Dens Menchov (RUS) RAB
Ludovic Turpin (FRA) A2R
Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS
Inigo Landaluze (ESP) EUS
Ruben Perez (ESP) EUS
Daniele Bennati (ITA) LAM
Patxi Vila (ESP) LAM
Bernhard Kohl (AUT) GST
Patrice Halgand (FRA) C.A
George Hincapie (USA) DSC
Laurent Lefevre (FRA) BTL
Johann Tschopp (SUI) BTL
Michael Albasini (SUI) LIQ
Benoit Vaugrenard (FRA) FDJ
Juan Manuel Garate (ESP) QSI
Christian Knees (GER) MRM
Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) AST
Serguei Ivanov (RUS) AST
Daniel Navarro (ESP) AST
Juan Jose Cobo (ESP) SDV

GC after 14 Stages

2007-07-22T17:20:00.000+02:00

Rasmussen is still in the lead, Contador is in second. Maybe ANOTHER Discovery Channel Team Tour win? Three in the Top 10.

Here's the rest of the GC's Top 10...

3 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 64:15:19.000 00:03:04.000
4 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 64:16:44.000 00:04:29.000
5 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 64:16:53.000 00:04:38.000
6 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 64:18:05.000 00:05:50.000
7 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 64:19:13.000 00:06:58.000
8 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 64:20:40.000 00:08:25.000
9 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 64:22:00.000 00:09:45.000
10 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 64:23:10.000 00:10:55.000

Hincapie WAY BACK

2007-07-22T17:17:00.000+02:00

George Hincapie, who I thought was doing some serious work at the front of the peloton late in the race, has yet to cross the line and we're 00:04:45 back right now.

Two Discovery Team in the Top Four

2007-07-22T17:14:00.000+02:00

Contador wins Stage 14. Levi Leipheimer takes 4th.

Top 10 will be posted shortly...I'm out of breath.

Sprint to the finish

2007-07-22T17:13:00.000+02:00

Contador is sprinting behind Rasmussen and takes the stage win!!!!!!!!

2KM to go

2007-07-22T17:07:00.000+02:00

With two kilometers to go, it's Contador and Rasmussen at the front.

Rasmussen is asking Contador to do the work and he said he would give him the stage win if he worked at the front.

It seems like Contador has agreed to do so and will likely take the stage win. That's just what I surmise.

They're both taking turns with 1.5KM left in the stage.

Leipheimer and Cadel Evans are in pursuing groups and will likely not lose too much time today.

Group of three at the front

2007-07-22T17:04:00.000+02:00

Now Contador, Rasmussen and the Colom (from Astagna) are at the front with 3.2KM left to go.

Looks again that Rasmussen is unbeatable.

**Bear in mind that Rasmussen is riding like a superman and he was in a control group for doping the other day. After his test he ran his mouth off about the testing and about doping and about the whole disgrace that drug use brings to the sport. I think he doth protest too much. We'll see what the results bring.

SEVEN SECOND GAP with 3.7KM to go

2007-07-22T17:03:00.000+02:00

Rasmussen and Contador have nearly caught the leader.

4.4KM left in Stage 14

2007-07-22T17:01:00.000+02:00

Contador and Rasmussen are a mere 17 seconds back.

Then there are three chasers.

Then Levi Leipheimer.

Then Kloden.

Then Valverde.

Then the pack...all sucking wind on the side of the mountain.

Stage 14 - Jeff-flashes

2007-07-22T16:59:00.000+02:00

With 5.1KM left in the race, the leader is 34 seconds ahead of Rasmussen, Contador, Leipheimer and four others.

THEN the rest of the pack is scattered all over the mountain.

Contador and Rasmussen are only 28 seconds back now and are trying to bridge the gap. I've lost sight of Leipheimer and am worried he may have dropped off into no-man's land.

More in a second.

How I watched Stage 13

2007-07-21T18:40:00.001+02:00

I spent most of today wandering around Paris looking for a memory card reader for a digital camera. Having located one at an electronics store in the Latin Quarter, I strolled down to the side of the Seine and popped into a small bar that had a big LCD HDTV on the wall.

In broken French I asked the bartender about the Tour de France and she replied that she would see if it were on.

IT WAS. The national television station here in France was running today's stage live. So the coverage began early and I got to see the racers in a more romantic and genuine atmosphere.

By the way, for snacks at the bar, they had boiled eggs. I had one just to be polite. Otherwise I would have eaten two.

I also found out that the reason more bars don't have the Tour stages on television is because people who care about the Tour - and she assured me they were legion - were either at the Tour or at home watching on their own television.

I decided to be like a Parisian and rushed home at 4:20PM to watch the final four riders finish.

SPOILER - TIME TRIAL RESULTS

2007-07-21T18:36:00.000+02:00

The leaderboard has been jumbled. Here's how the Top 10 finished today's Stage 13 Time Trial.

The top 10 in stage 13 is:
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) AST - 54.0km in 1h06'34"610
2. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 1'14"
3. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST at 1'39"
4. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST at 1'44"
5. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) COF at 2'14"
6. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR) DSC at 2'16"
7. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 2'18"
8. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) COF at 2'38"
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 2'39"
10. Mikel Astarloza (ESP) EUS at 2'42"

Rasmussen finished at 00:02:55 which allows him to remain in yellow, but the leaderboard now has a whole host of new names at the top. And other smiling faces have dropped down the board a ways.

Here's the new top 50...

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 58:46:39.000 00:00:00.000
2 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 58:47:39.000 00:01:00.000
3 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 58:49:10.000 00:02:31.000
4 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 58:49:13.000 00:02:34.000
5 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 58:50:16.000 00:03:37.000
6 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 58:51:02.000 00:04:23.000
7 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 58:51:24.000 00:04:45.000
8 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 58:51:46.000 00:05:07.000
9 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 58:51:49.000 00:05:10.000
10 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 58:52:08.000 00:05:29.000
11 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 58:52:27.000 00:05:48.000
12 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 58:52:27.000 00:05:48.000
13 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 58:53:38.000 00:06:59.000
14 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 58:53:43.000 00:07:04.000
15 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 58:54:16.000 00:07:37.000
16 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 58:54:24.000 00:07:45.000
17 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 58:54:28.000 00:07:49.000
18 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 58:54:57.000 00:08:18.000
19 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 58:55:52.000 00:09:13.000
20 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 58:57:04.000 00:10:25.000
21 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 58:57:16.000 00:10:37.000
22 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 58:57:29.000 00:10:50.000
23 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 58:59:48.000 00:13:09.000
24 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 59:00:02.000 00:13:23.000
25 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 59:00:20.000 00:13:41.000
26 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 59:00:25.000 00:13:46.000
27 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 59:01:59.000 00:15:20.000
28 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 59:02:00.000 00:15:21.000
29 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 59:02:26.000 00:15:47.000
30 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 59:02:29.000 00:15:50.000
31 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 59:06:00.000 00:19:21.000
32 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 59:06:21.000 00:19:42.000
33 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 59:06:34.000 00:19:55.000
34 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 59:07:33.000 00:20:54.000
35 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 59:13:50.000 00:27:11.000
36 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 59:14:04.000 00:27:25.000
37 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 59:14:32.000 00:27:53.000
38 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 59:17:12.000 00:30:33.000
39 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 59:18:16.000 00:31:37.000
40 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 59:19:40.000 00:33:01.000
41 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 59:20:11.000 00:33:32.000
42 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 59:22:00.000 00:35:21.000
43 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 59:24:13.000 00:37:34.000
44 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 59:25:23.000 00:38:44.000
45 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 59:25:23.000 00:38:44.000
46 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 59:26:00.000 00:39:21.000
47 193 IGLINSKIY, Maxim KAZ AST 59:26:51.000 00:40:12.000
48 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 59:27:21.000 00:40:42.000
49 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 59:29:22.000 00:42:43.000
50 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 59:31:33.000 00:44:54.000

Time (trial) to start focusing on Top Ten!!

2007-07-20T18:37:00.000+02:00

With the time trial ahead, the Tour has now become a race that Rasmussen can only lose. Some great names (and great climbers) are in the top ten right now. All Rasmussen has to do is hang on.

You realize that I hope he stops to sign autographs during tomorrow's stage and lets Levi up into second place. C'est la vie.

Here's the top ten after Stage 12...

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael
2 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro 00:02:35.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP 00:02:39.000
4 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS 00:02:41.000
5 112 CONTADOR, Alberto 00:03:08.000
6 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP 00:03:39.000
7 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas 00:03:50.000
8 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi 00:03:53.000
9 027 KIRCHEN, Kim 00:05:06.000

Of these guys, I can see any of the top eight spots winning this race. Smart money might go with Cadel Evans or Levi Leipheimer. Cagey money would pick Kloden or Mayo. And it will probably just be Valverde by two minutes in Paris on July 29.

Riders Remaining

2007-07-20T18:28:00.000+02:00

According to a race fan, one of her favorite riders (David Zabriskie) hasn't been seen or heard from recently. She wanted to know why.

Well, ma'am, that's because Zabriskie is now OUT of the Tour. He finished outside of the time allowance in stage 11 and therefore cannot continue.

I don't know what the exact formula is, but if the leaders in a stage finish at XX, then you must finish within XX% of that finishing time or you're out.

For example, if the stage took riders five hours to finish, then you might get a 10% time allotment. That would mean that anyone who finishes at 05:50:01 and later is OUT OUT OUT.

By the way, here's the list of countries with riders remaining. The count is down to 167 (this was current as of the start of today's Stage 12.

The 167 riders remaining in the 2007 Tour de France represent 26 countries.
The breakdown is:
36 – Spain. Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (AGR) abandoned during stage one after a crash; Xabier Zandio (GCE) abandoned during stage four because of injuries sustained in a crash in stage one. Oscar Freire (RAB) and Rubens Lobato (SDV) didn’t start stage seven. Igor Anton (EUS) abandoned during stage 11.
31 – France. Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ) didn’t start stage five after fracturing his elbow in a fall early in stage four. Geoffroy Lequartre (COF) didn’t start stage six after being caught up in a crash in stage five. Romain Feillu (AGR) abandoned during stage eight. Cedric Herve (AGR) finished outside the time limit in stage eight. Sylvain Calzati (A2R) abandoned during stage 11.
18 – Germany. Patrick Sinkewitz (TMO) didn’t start stage nine.
15 – Italy. Enrico Degano (BAR) abandoned during stage seven. Danilo Napolitano (LAM) finished outside the time limit in stage eight. Alberto Ongarato (MRM) crashed at the stage of stage 12 and abandoned shortly afterwards.
13 – Belgium
7 – The Netherlands
6 –Russia
5 – Switzerland and USA. Dave Zabriskie (CSC) finished outside the time limit in stage 11.
4 – Kazakhstan, Great Britain. Mark Cavendish (TMO) abandoned during stage eight.
3 – Austria.
2 – Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway, Ukraine, Australia and Colombia. Brett Lancaster (MRM) abandoned during the fifth stage. Michael Rogers (TMO) abandoned during stage eight after crashing and dislocating his right shoulder. Stuart O’Grady (CSC) abandoned during stage eight after crashing and breaking five ribs, dislocating his AC joint and sustaining numerous other injuries. Robbie McEwen (PRL) finished outside the time limit in stage eight. Ivan Parra (COF) abandoned during stage eight.
1 – South Africa, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden
Lithuania had one representative but Thomas Vaitkus didn’t start stage three because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash at the end of stage two.

Speed during the sprint

2007-07-20T17:37:00.000+02:00

Tom Boonen got his bike going 65.21KMH during the final sprint today. Not too shabby!

SPOILER - Stage 12

2007-07-20T17:32:00.000+02:00

More to come later, but as I sit in my Paris apartment watching Eurosport's coverage of the Tour de France, I wanted to impart my excitement and absolute chills after watching the end of Stage 12.

Tom Boonen = Superman, wins the stage and brings to six the number of wins he's got in the TDF.

Erik Zabel took second and Robbie Hunter - winner of Stage 11 - took third.

Rasmussen is still in the lead, Levi Leipheimer is in 8th position.

Top 50 and Last Place

2007-07-19T22:44:00.000+02:00

Here are the Top 50 riders in the Tour de France after 11 stages... down the bottom I've given you info on the last place rider too.

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 53:11:38.000 00:00:00.000
2 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 53:14:13.000 00:02:35.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 53:14:17.000 00:02:39.000
4 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 53:14:19.000 00:02:41.000
5 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 53:14:46.000 00:03:08.000
6 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 53:15:17.000 00:03:39.000
7 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 53:15:28.000 00:03:50.000
8 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 53:15:31.000 00:03:53.000
9 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 53:16:44.000 00:05:06.000
10 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 53:16:58.000 00:05:20.000
11 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 53:17:12.000 00:05:34.000
12 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 53:17:34.000 00:05:56.000
13 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 53:18:14.000 00:06:36.000
14 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 53:18:16.000 00:06:38.000
15 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 53:18:20.000 00:06:42.000
16 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 53:18:23.000 00:06:45.000
17 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 53:18:27.000 00:06:49.000
18 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 53:18:48.000 00:07:10.000
19 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 53:19:43.000 00:08:05.000
20 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 53:19:54.000 00:08:16.000
21 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 53:20:29.000 00:08:51.000
22 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 53:20:38.000 00:09:00.000
23 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 53:20:49.000 00:09:11.000
24 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 53:22:40.000 00:11:02.000
25 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 53:22:43.000 00:11:05.000
26 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 53:24:43.000 00:13:05.000
27 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 53:25:07.000 00:13:29.000
28 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 53:25:07.000 00:13:29.000
29 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 53:25:22.000 00:13:44.000
30 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 53:27:27.000 00:15:49.000
31 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 53:28:57.000 00:17:19.000
32 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 53:30:36.000 00:18:58.000
33 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 53:31:45.000 00:20:07.000
34 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 53:31:50.000 00:20:12.000
35 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 53:34:15.000 00:22:37.000
36 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 53:34:23.000 00:22:45.000
37 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 53:37:59.000 00:26:21.000
38 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 53:39:48.000 00:28:10.000
39 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 53:41:06.000 00:29:28.000
40 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 53:41:19.000 00:29:41.000
41 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 53:42:19.000 00:30:41.000
42 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 53:43:30.000 00:31:52.000
43 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 53:44:24.000 00:32:46.000
44 193 IGLINSKIY, Maxim KAZ AST 53:44:44.000 00:33:06.000
45 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 53:44:44.000 00:33:06.000
46 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 53:44:47.000 00:33:09.000
47 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 53:44:56.000 00:33:18.000
48 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 53:44:58.000 00:33:20.000
49 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 53:45:45.000 00:34:07.000
50 131 MERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP AGR 53:47:54.000 00:36:16.000

Last place in the race, at one hour 57 minutes back, is Wim Vansevanant of Belgium.

Other notables not in the top 50 include Juan Antonio Flecha and Sandy Casar.

The Top 10 in Stage 11

2007-07-19T22:40:00.000+02:00

Here you go...Robbie Hunter took it at the line and here are the rest of the top 10.

2. Fabian Cancellara (SUI) CSC
3. Murilo Fischer (BRA) LIQ
4. Filippo Pozzato (ITA) LIQ
5. Alessandro Ballan (ITA) LAM
6. Paolo Bossoni (ITA) LAM
7. Claudio Corioni (ITA) LAM
8. Philippe Gilbert (BEL) FDJ
9. William Bonnet (FRA) C.A
10. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO

By the way, Hunter is the first South African to win a stage of the Tour de France. Top 50 coming up.

38KM to go in Stage 11

2007-07-19T22:37:00.000+02:00

With 38KM left in today's stage, Rasmussen and the Yellow Jersey have caught all escapees and dashed any hopes people had of taking the jersey away today.

All that will likely change in the next couple of days with a time trial and a mountain stage on the horizon.

Mini attacks all day

2007-07-19T22:34:00.000+02:00

Stage 11 saw a handful of attacks all day, but none were of any consequence. It's interesting because the stage was all downhill (if you follow my earlier logic) and I assumed that someone would blow the field apart by jumping from the start.

In fact I had hoped someone like big George Hincapie or similar would just put the hammer down and gobble back some time. Didn't happen my friends. More results coming up.

Stage 11

2007-07-19T22:28:00.001+02:00

You'll notice that the posts on each Tour stage are coming pretty much on time, but not exactly. That's because I'm in Paris enjoying myself and trying to fit this blog in between my other pursuits.

Today I combined the two for a little bit.

In a tiny bistro/cafe in the Latin Quarter, I watched a bit of the Tour and was enthralled by the crowd that had formed to see the race. On the day after a Frenchman won a stage, the turnout was amazing.

AMAZING IN A BAD WAY!!

I'm am beside myself in trying to understand what has changed over here. Perhaps I'm expecting too much of the French, but I thought that the city of Paris ground to a halt for 21 days during the Tour de France. I was wrong.

After searching all over the city, I only found a handful of bars that had the Tour on television and in those bars I found only about half a dozen people watching.

OK, in the interest of full-disclosure, it is a school day and people have to work. But Eurosport doesn't run the Tour as a repeat and I'm not sure how prevalent Tivo is over here. SO, wouldn't you think that a three-hour lunch might happen daily for a couple weeks in July?

Me too.

I'm disappointed but will continue this experiment for a the rest of my stay.

Next few posts are about the race. If you're French, leave me a comment and tell me what's going on. If you're not French, give me your thoughts and ask me your questions.

Questions Questions Questions

2007-07-19T19:25:00.001+02:00

The questions keep rolling in. This one came from a reader who saw a weird thing in the feed zone of yesterday's stage.

Dear Jeff:

When I watched the coverage yesterday I saw a guy from rabobank who was at the front of the peloton go through his feed bag. And I am almost positive he pulled out a can of coke. Is that possible. Would any rider drink coke in the middle of the race? It was definitely a drink in a can as they showed him struggling a bit to pop it open. Thoughts?

SK in the USA

Dear SK:

Coke is great. It's got caffeine and sugar and liquid. Many riders I know who I used race with (mountain bikes) would shake up and pour out a can of coke so it would get flat. Then, during a race they would chug it between laps. It's even better that way because you don't get indigestion from the bubbles.

Gatorade has a lot more sugar than is necessary in a recovery beverage, therefore the teams mix their own recovery drink and prep all the bottles in the SAG wagon before each stage.

OK, you're gonna ask so here goes. I know there's a fancy name for the SAG wagon, but the way I remember it is that it's Support And Gear.

Send all your questions to me at jeff@jeffcutler.com and I'll try and answer them right here on TDF07.com.

Today - Stage 11

2007-07-19T09:57:00.000+02:00

At 182KM, today's Stage 11 is mostly downhill. Well, to look at elevations on a map, it is. The start in Marseille is 107KM above sea level and the finish in Montpellier is 72KM above.

Race starts at 12:45 and is expected to end between 5:08PM and 5:31PM depending on speed.

One note from my Parisian adventures yesterday. I went to no fewer than five cafes looking for the Tour on television. NOBODY had it on.

In fact, in one cafe they refused to turn the channel to Eurosport because MTV had given them the flatscreen and they had to keep the channel on MTV.

I don't know what to make of this apathy here in France, but I'll keep you up-to-date with the way Parisians see this event.

Gap of 00:10:39

2007-07-19T09:53:00.000+02:00

Forgot to mention that Vasseur finished 00:10:39 ahead of the main peloton (that of the yellow jersey).

Now the Tour de France standings look like this...

These are the top 52 taken from the Versus Standings page. You'll notice that Vasseur is still back a ways. That's because he was nearly 50 minutes behind the leader when he started stage 10.

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 49:23:48.000 00:00:00.000
2 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 49:26:23.000 00:02:35.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 49:26:27.000 00:02:39.000
4 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 49:26:29.000 00:02:41.000
5 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 49:26:56.000 00:03:08.000
6 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 49:27:06.000 00:03:18.000
7 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 49:27:27.000 00:03:39.000
8 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 49:27:38.000 00:03:50.000
9 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 49:27:41.000 00:03:53.000
10 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 49:28:54.000 00:05:06.000
11 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 49:29:08.000 00:05:20.000
12 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 49:29:22.000 00:05:34.000
13 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 49:29:44.000 00:05:56.000
14 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 49:30:24.000 00:06:36.000
15 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 49:30:30.000 00:06:42.000
16 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 49:30:33.000 00:06:45.000
17 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 49:30:37.000 00:06:49.000
18 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 49:30:58.000 00:07:10.000
19 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 49:31:21.000 00:07:33.000
20 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 49:31:33.000 00:07:45.000
21 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 49:31:53.000 00:08:05.000
22 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 49:32:04.000 00:08:16.000
23 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 49:32:39.000 00:08:51.000
24 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 49:32:48.000 00:09:00.000
25 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 49:32:59.000 00:09:11.000
26 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 49:33:33.000 00:09:45.000
27 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 49:33:57.000 00:10:09.000
28 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 49:33:57.000 00:10:09.000
29 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 49:36:08.000 00:12:20.000
30 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 49:37:32.000 00:13:44.000
31 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 49:37:47.000 00:13:59.000
32 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 49:39:57.000 00:16:09.000
33 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 49:40:40.000 00:16:52.000
34 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 49:42:46.000 00:18:58.000
35 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 49:42:56.000 00:19:08.000
36 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 49:46:33.000 00:22:45.000
37 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 49:49:47.000 00:25:59.000
38 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 49:50:09.000 00:26:21.000
39 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 49:50:09.000 00:26:21.000
40 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 49:51:58.000 00:28:10.000
41 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 49:52:11.000 00:28:23.000
42 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 49:53:13.000 00:29:25.000
43 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 49:53:46.000 00:29:58.000
44 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 49:53:48.000 00:30:00.000
45 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 49:54:29.000 00:30:41.000
46 063 CALZATI, Sylvain FRA A2R 49:54:33.000 00:30:45.000
47 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 49:54:35.000 00:30:47.000
48 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 49:56:34.000 00:32:46.000
49 131 MERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP AGR 49:56:35.000 00:32:47.000
50 193 IGLINSKIY, Maxim KAZ AST 49:56:54.000 00:33:06.000
51 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 49:56:57.000 00:33:09.000
52 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 49:59:53.000 00:36:05.000

Stage 10

2007-07-19T09:44:00.000+02:00

Another day of the Tour de France, another shake up. I'm writing this at 9:44AM local time (France) and am just stunned at the flip-flopping of riders, absence of a strong team and a cloudy outcome to the race.

Above all, I'm thrilled. This is how the Tour is supposed to shake out.

Better still, Stage 10 was won by a Frenchman!!

Just after the 73KM mark, there was a breakaway with ten riders in it. They were chasing two other riders and finally caught them at the 81KM mark. Then, the core of this 10-rider group stayed away to the finish.

In the lead group of 11 riders at 81KM were Burghardt (TMO), Voigt (CSC), Flecha (RAB), Bossoni (LAM), Halgand (C.A), Scheirlinckx (COF), Albasini and Kuschynski (LIQ), Casar (FDJ), Vasseur (QSI) and Grivko (MRM).

The group that broke off of this group was made up of Voigt, Casar, Halgand, Vasseur and Albasini.

They stayed away with around 18KM left in the race to give France a win by 3CM - that's right, three centimeters. Vasseur took the stage with the rest of the five riders zipping home right on his wheel.

Here's the top five list for Stage 10.

1. Cedric Vasseur (QSI) 229.5km in 5h20'24" (42.977km/h)
2. Sandy Casar (FDJ)
3. Michael Albasini (LIQ)
4. Patrice Halgand (C.A)
5. Jens Voigt (CSC)

Cycling Jerseys

2007-07-19T09:31:00.001+02:00

A reader wrote to me directly and asked about jerseys. She wanted to know how they had the 'right' jersey on hand each day when sometimes the stage winner is totally unexpected. My answer to her...

The organization - Le Tour - has a team of people who make up jerseys for each team of EVERY jersey. They bring them with them for the entire race to each finish and then they have a jersey ready for the podium no matter what the finish.

The excess jerseys are guarded 24-hours by armed guards and are transported in armored vehicle (if I recall this part correctly).

I saw a special on the jerseys a few years back and I was thrilled to find out because I had wondered the same thing.

**The jersey the people put on at the podium is NOT the same jersey they wear in the race. That one is purely for photo ops. It zips up in the back and is worn like a smock. The jersey they wear in the race is their choice of long or short sleeved and is a normal cycling jersey.

Coming up a recap - briefly - of stage 10 and some other Tour rambling.

Some random placements

2007-07-17T22:13:00.001+02:00

Here are a few of my faves and where they are after nine races...

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 43:52:48.000 00:00:00.000
2 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 43:55:23.000 00:02:35.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 43:55:27.000 00:02:39.000
4 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 43:55:29.000 00:02:41.000
5 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 43:55:56.000 00:03:08.000
8 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 43:56:38.000 00:03:50.000
9 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA
21 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ
47 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA
74 028 MERCKX, Axel BEL

Top 10

2007-07-17T22:08:00.002+02:00

The results for the ninth stage:
1. Juan Mauricio Soler (COL) BAR 159.5km in 4h14'24" (37.617km/h)
2. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) GCE - at 38"
3. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL - at 38"
4. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC - at 40"
5. Iban Mayo (ESP) SDV - at 42"
6. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - at 42"
7. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC - at 42"
8. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO - at 46"
9. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST - at 47"
10. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC - at 47"

Dog Crash

2007-07-17T22:08:00.001+02:00

One of the odd happenings in Stage 9 was a rider slamming into the side of a dog that was crossing the race course. The rider and dog were both fine.

Stuart O'Grady a Mess

2007-07-17T22:04:00.000+02:00

Again, according to Versus' newsflash, Stuart O'Grady, the CSC rider who crashed in stage eight and was taken to hospital in an ambulance, received several visitors yesterday. His brother, Darren, is in France and working as a host for guests of the CSC team during the Tour. He saw Stuart yesterday and said that, despite the injuries, he was in good spirits. "His legs and head are good," said Darren O'Grady, "even if the rest of his body is a mess.

"He has five broken ribs and has had a lot of treatment from the medical staff, but we managed to get a smile from him before we left."

The injuries are enough for most riders to consider ending their season but O'Grady told his brother: "I've got about seven weeks to get better, so I've told the team: sign me up for the Vuelta a Espana! I'm not wasting the good form I've got... a few broken ribs shouldn't slow me down for too long."

171 Riders Left

2007-07-17T22:03:00.000+02:00

Right from the scribes at Versus (even though they can't keep the show running to the end of a stage)...

The 171 riders remaining in the 2007 Tour de France represent 26 countries.
The breakdown is:
37 – Spain. Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (AGR) abandoned during stage one after a crash; Xabier Zandio (GCE) abandoned during stage four because of injuries sustained in a crash in stage one. Oscar Freire (RAB) and Rubens Lobato (SDV) didn’t start stage seven.
32 – France. Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ) didn’t start stage five after fracturing his elbow in a fall early in stage four. Geoffroy Lequartre (COF) didn’t start stage six after being caught up in a crash in stage five. Romain Feillu (AGR) abandoned during stage eight. Cedric Herve (AGR) finished outside the time limit in stage eight.
19 – Germany
16 – Italy. Enrico Degano (BAR) abandoned during stage seven. Danilo Napolitano (LAM) finished outside the time limit in stage eight.
13 – Belgium
7 – The Netherlands
6 – USA and Russia
5 – Switzerland.
4 – Kazakhstan, Great Britain. Mark Cavendish (TMO) abandoned during stage eight.
3 – Austria.
2 – Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway, Ukraine, Australia and Colombia. Brett Lancaster (MRM) abandoned during the fifth stage. Michael Rogers (TMO) abandoned during stage eight after crashing and dislocating his right shoulder. Stuart O’Grady (CSC) abandoned during stage eight after crashing and breaking five ribs, dislocating his AC joint and sustaining numerous other injuries. Robbie McEwen (PRL) finished outside the time limit in stage eight. Ivan Parra (COF) abandoned during stage eight.
1 – South Africa, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden
Lithuania had one reprentative but Toomas Vaitkus didn’t start stage three because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash at the end of stage two.

‘hors categorie’

2007-07-17T21:59:00.000+02:00

Stage 9 has two ‘hors categorie’ climbs in it.

That means the mountain climb the riders are about to undertake is so hard that the judges cannot even catogorize it. Sort of self-explanatory, but there it is.

By the way, looking at the way things shook out two days ago - a bunch of riders OUT OUT OUT and Rasmussen firmly in command - I think only more riders will be dropped today and that Rasmussen will either cement his place or end up with a position precariously close to sharing the Yellow at the end of the day.

YES, I am writing this without any knowledge of the resutls. Let's see how far off I am...

Tour de Jeff

2007-07-17T21:52:00.000+02:00

Holy cow. Today (and I use that term loosely) I have been in a car, on a boat, in a plane, on a train, in the Metro and finally in my bed in my Paris apartment.

I missed all of the Eurosport coverage of the Tour de France today so I'll give you a recap of my activities. By the way, I will look on various other sites to find out the news of the day and add those to a few upcoming posts.

Here's a list of the events, beginning at 3:50PM on Monday, July 16...

Finish packing
Hop in Limo
Wait 20 minutes for boat
Boat to Logan Airport
Wait for plane
Plane to Heathrow
Tube to Waterloo Station
FOUR hours early for the Eurostar
Check bags with some bag checking firm
Wander around London
Dine on sausages, ham, beans, toast and tea
Get tea to go and then wander back down the Thames
Get back to Eurostar with 100 minutes to go
Had a French beer
Played a slot machine
Retrieved our bags
Got in the queue at the Eurostar
Waited 45 minutes
Hopped on the train
Moved our seats
Then got booted from our new seats by 14-year-old French kids
Got off in Paris
Took the Metro to Republique
Walked to the apartment
Got the walk-through
Paid the money and the deposit
Went food shopping
Bought paper towels instead of toilet paper because I don't know French
Went out to eat
Saw the edge of Notre Dame
Came back to the room - The Tour is still not on Eurosport
Wrote this post

How's that?

SPOILER - TOP 45 OVERALL

2007-07-15T22:33:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is a rest day. I'll use it to complain about Versus and to cross my fingers for George and Levi.

I'll also be hopping on a plane to Paris so the next posts you read will probably go up online at 8 or 9PM Paris time.

Enjoy Stage 9 without my yammering. I will comment on the results of that stage but probably won't do play by play.

Here are the top 45 as promised. *The last place rider is at 01:17:14. David Zabriskie is second to last at 01:14:40 back. Yikes.

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 39:37:42.000 00:00:00.000
2 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 39:38:25.000 00:00:43.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 39:40:21.000 00:02:39.000
4 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 39:40:33.000 00:02:51.000
5 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 39:40:34.000 00:02:52.000
6 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 39:40:35.000 00:02:53.000
7 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 39:40:48.000 00:03:06.000
8 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 39:40:52.000 00:03:10.000
9 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 39:40:56.000 00:03:14.000
10 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 39:41:01.000 00:03:19.000
11 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 39:41:17.000 00:03:35.000
12 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 39:41:28.000 00:03:46.000
13 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 39:41:35.000 00:03:53.000
14 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 39:41:36.000 00:03:54.000
15 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 39:41:42.000 00:04:00.000
16 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 39:42:01.000 00:04:19.000
17 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 39:42:04.000 00:04:22.000
18 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 39:42:33.000 00:04:51.000
19 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 39:42:44.000 00:05:02.000
20 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 39:42:45.000 00:05:03.000
21 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 39:42:56.000 00:05:14.000
22 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 39:43:05.000 00:05:23.000
23 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 39:43:51.000 00:06:09.000
24 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 39:44:00.000 00:06:18.000
25 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 39:44:11.000 00:06:29.000
26 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 39:44:20.000 00:06:38.000
27 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 39:45:13.000 00:07:31.000
28 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 39:45:14.000 00:07:32.000
29 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 39:46:15.000 00:08:33.000
30 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 39:46:33.000 00:08:51.000
31 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 39:47:05.000 00:09:23.000
32 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 39:47:34.000 00:09:52.000
33 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 39:48:32.000 00:10:50.000
34 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 39:50:25.000 00:12:43.000
35 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 39:50:48.000 00:13:06.000
36 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 39:51:03.000 00:13:21.000
37 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 39:52:50.000 00:15:08.000
38 098 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST 39:53:06.000 00:15:24.000
39 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 39:53:53.000 00:16:11.000
40 076 LANDALUZE, Inigo ESP EUS 39:54:01.000 00:16:19.000
41 185 KNEES, Christian GER MRM 39:55:24.000 00:17:42.000
42 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 39:56:34.000 00:18:52.000
43 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 39:56:46.000 00:19:04.000
44 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 39:57:39.000 00:19:57.000
45 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 39:58:01.000 00:20:19.000

SPOILER - TOP 10 in Stage 8

2007-07-15T22:31:00.000+02:00

The top 10 in stage eight are:
1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - 165km in 4h49'40" (34.177km/h)
2. Iban Mayo (ESP) SDV - at 2'47"
3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP) GCE - at 3'12"
4. Christophe Moreau (DEN) RAB - at 3'12"
5. Frank Schleck (LUX) CSC - at 3'12"
6. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL - at 3'12"
7. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST - at 3'12"
8. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC - at 3'31"
9. Denis Menchov (RUS) RAB - at 3'35"
10. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC - at3'35"

Like I said, Versus blew it

2007-07-15T22:26:00.001+02:00

Their morning broadcast of Stage 8 went off the air with 5.1KM to go.

ARGHHHHH!

Versus VERSUS Eurosport

2007-07-15T22:19:00.000+02:00

If it kills me, I'm gonna scrap Versus television and set myself up with Eurosport. I cannot explain the full level of my frustration with Versus programming plan. I'm currently Tivo-ing through the morning broadcast and it looks again - FOR THE FOURTH TIME - that the broadcast is going to end without showing viewers the end of the stage.

Who's the idiot who purchased air time for the Tour? With 12.4KM to go, there are only 18 minutes left in the program. Why couldn't they be smart and do what the major networks do for NFL Football and other sports...add a half hour at the end so you NEVER miss the finish in the live broadcast.

IDIOTS. Now I'm gonna have to read the newsflashes and other news sites to see how Stage 8 ends.

I'll be back shortly with more about this stage.

FUMING!!!!

**Phil Ligget just mentioned that he'd "love to show you pictures of Rasmussen" but he can't because Versus hasn't sent enough staff to the Tour de France.

OK. This is a full-on rant. The thing that really burns me is that I spoke with Versus in December and January about heading over to France and helping them out with staffing and whatever they needed. BAH!

Attrition

2007-07-15T22:14:00.000+02:00

In a stage like this, you're going to see a lot of sprinters and other non-climbers drop off the back and sometimes even drop out of the race.

In no other sport do you have teams that lose players and are unable to add them back. If you lose a soccer player to injury, you can add one in his stead. If you have to pull out a fielder in baseball, you can substitute another player.

But in cycling, the teams are whittled down from a start count of nine riders. It's pretty severe.

By the way, at today's start of Stage 8, no team had lost more than one rider. When we see the figures later tonight and tomorrow morning, this WILL NOT be the case. Team CSC has had some bad luck as have a few other teams.

I would guess that many teams are down to 7 riders after all the dust settles.

ROGERS OUT!!

2007-07-15T22:11:00.000+02:00

After his crash and subsequent injuries, Michael Rogers has had to abandon with only about 29KM to go.

Bummer.

SPOILER - Rogers, Rasmussen and Hincapie

2007-07-15T22:06:00.000+02:00

Rasmussen is up the road at 00:04:30 with only one rider with him. The second group is about a minute and a half back.

Michael Rogers was leading the Tour on the road and then slammed into a road barrier and injured his wrist (this is what I have assumed from the video at this point - it could be something totally different when we get the final news tonight).

Hincapie is in the chasing group and looks really good.

33.9KM to go.

An amazing stage

2007-07-15T22:02:00.000+02:00

I'm still watching the broadcast of Stage 8 and they've got about 37KM to go and it's a ride that's being controlled by Rasmussen. One large climb left - Montee d'Haughterville - and Rasmussen is 00:04:16 ahead.

Sorry for today's delay in posting - got caught up in packing and finishing work for Grampys while watching the greatest show on two wheels.

Rest day tomorrow. Hooray - we can recap on all our info and see what the next 10 days will bring before we get toward the final few stages of the Tour de France.

Other resources

2007-07-15T06:26:00.000+02:00

As I've mentioned since last Friday (no, not the 13th, Friday the 6th - the night before the prologue of the Tour), there are many places to get information about the Tour de France.

I've mentioned Steephill and Versus, but here's a site I just found because of a google report. The site offers easy-to-digest bits of cycling news...and it's not all focused on the Tour, so you can read it to find out what bike stuff is happening all over the place.

Enjoy. The name of the site is Cyclelicio.us - pretty cool URL.

Field has been shattered

2007-07-14T17:09:00.000+02:00

Peloton of favorties shows up at the finish of Stage 7 almost four minutes back.

In a post-ride interview, Levi Leipheimer said that today went as expected and "Tomorrow's a hard day."

Stage 8 comes up in less than 24 hours.

Gerdemann is in the lead by 00:01:24.

Kloden is back 00:03:39.

Leipheimer is back 00:04:06

Hincapie is back (after being dropped on the final climb) 00:07:15

WOW.

Stage 7 Winner

2007-07-14T17:07:00.000+02:00

SPOILER

2007-07-14T16:51:00.000+02:00

LINUS Gerdemann wins!!

Takes Stage 7 in a commanding way and takes over YELLOW! The first change of the Yellow Jersey in the 2007 Tour de France.

Gerdemann rides for T-Mobile. More to come later.

180 Riders Left in the Tour

2007-07-14T16:49:00.000+02:00

I know the theme today has been riders remaining. But Stage 7 will certainly shake out the pack and I bet that no fewer than three more riders will abandon by the end of today.

Here's the overnight info from Versus (minus the abandon/non-abandon and re-abandon of Enrico Degano).

26 Nations Represented In 94th Tour

The 180 riders remaining in the 2007 Tour de France represent 26 countries.
The breakdown is:
37 – Spain. Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (AGR) abandoned during stage one after a crash; Xabier Zandio (GCE) abandoned during stage four because of injuries sustained in a crash in stage one. Oscar Freire (RAB) and Rubens Lobato (SDV) didn’t start stage seven.
34 – France. Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ) didn’t start stage five after fracturing his elbow in a fall early in stage four. Geoffroy Lequartre (COF) didn’t start stage six after being caught up in a crash in stage five.
19 – Germany
17 – Italy. Enrico Degano (BAR) abandoned during stage seven.
13 – Belgium
7 – The Netherlands
6 – USA and Russia
5 – Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia. Brett Lancaster (MRM) abandoned during the fifth stage.
4 – Kazakhstan
3 – Austria and Colombia
2 – Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway and Ukraine
1 – South Africa, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden
Lithuania had one reprentative but Toomas Vaitkus didn’t start stage three because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash at the end of stage two.

AND Now for some news

2007-07-14T16:45:00.000+02:00

About an hour into the race, Enrico Degano has abandoned the 2007 Tour de France. I confirmed this with a number of sources just to be sure.

ERROR

2007-07-14T16:42:00.000+02:00

Here's the apology from Versus Network. They rushed to report that a rider had abandoned yesterday, but they were wrong. Seems to me that the event is televised on Eurosport too, so couldn't they just look at the tape and see if a rider gets into a team car or an ambulance? I shake my head at shoddy reporting.

Correction: Enrico Degano Still In The Race

One of the Barloworld riders, Enrico Degano crashed in the feedzone of the sixth stage. It was announced during the live coverage on LeTour.fr (and in the stage summary) that the Italian sprinter – who currently holds the position of ‘Lanterne Rouge’ in the 2007 Tour de France – had, in fact, abandoned the race. This is incorrect and we offer our sincere apologies for any confusion caused by this error.
His team manager, Claudio Corti was contacted this morning by LeTour.fr and he explained that Degano did sustain some injuries in the crash but he still found the energy to finished 16th in the stage to Bourg-en-Bresse. “It will be difficult for him in the mountains today,” said Corti, “but hopefully we’ll have other riders who can perform in the mountains like the Colombians Felix Cardenas and Juan Soler.”
Once again, apologies for the error in yesterday’s report and best wishes to Mr Degano today.

Stage 7

2007-07-14T16:30:00.000+02:00

The photos below are from Stage 7 of the Tour de France with about 60KM left to ride.

I mention that because some readers (Tim McGuire for instance) are out in California and are probably still in bed as I write this. And he's certainly still in bed when the Tour begins each day.

Dear Tim - and others who don't want spoilers: Going forward each post will have SPOILER in the title if it gives away a 'critical' part of that stage's info. That would include the stage winner, an abandonment of someone notable, and a clear change of leadership in Yellow.

Keep reading and be assured that we've got your best interests at heart.

2007-07-14T15:46:00.001+02:00

2007-07-14T15:40:00.000+02:00

Top 25 Riders After 6 Stages

2007-07-13T21:03:00.000+02:00

Here are the top 25 riders in the 2007 Tour de France, through six stages.

CANCELLARA, Fabian
KLÖDEN, Andréas
POZZATO, Filippo
MILLAR, David
FREIRE, Oscar
HINCAPIE, George
GUSEV, Vladimir
KARPETS, Vladimir
ZABEL, Erik
ASTARLOZA, Mikel
DEKKER, Thomas
VAUGRENARD, Benoît
GUTIERREZ, José Ivan
CONTADOR, Alberto
KASHECHKIN, Andrey
EVANS, Cadel
PEREZ, Ruben
ROGERS, Michael
PEREIRO SIO, Oscar
GERDEMANN, Linus
FLECHA, Juan Antonio
LEIPHEIMER, Levi
MENCHOV, Denis
FOTHEN, Markus
VALVERDE, Alejandro

WOWSA, Cadel Evans has snuck quietly into the mix at 16th overall. Hincapie is still in there and Levi Leipheimer is sitting nicely at 22nd.

Poor Wiggins is now nine minutes and four seconds back of the leader and the last-place rider is a full 25 minutes and 19 seconds back.

Happy Bastille Day tomorrow.

Results of Stage 6

2007-07-13T20:56:00.000+02:00

The top 10 finishers for the 6th stage of the 2007 Tour de France are...

1. Tom Boonen
2. Oscar Freire
3. Erik Zabel
4. Sebastian Chavanel
5. Thor Hushovd
6. Daniele Bennati
7. Robert Forster
8. Robert Hunter
9. Romain Feillu
10. Murilo Fischer

Overall standings coming up.

By the way, Wiggins, who jumped off the front at the 2KM mark stayed away until there were just 7KM left in the race. Looking now to see where he finished as he got dropped off the back of the peloton with a mere 5KM to go in the stage.

HUGE Escape

2007-07-13T16:32:00.000+02:00

The Wiggins escape has now reached 15 minutes at the 50KM mark.

There are 199.5KM in today's stage 6.

According to Versus Television, Wiggins is currently 15'40" ahead of the peloton.

Only 183 Riders remaining

2007-07-13T16:30:00.000+02:00

Here's the newsflash from Versus...

The 183 riders remaining in the 2007 Tour de France represent 26 countries.
The breakdown is:
39 – Spain. Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (AGR) abandoned during stage one after a crash; Xabier Zandio abandoned during stage four because of injuries sustained in a crash in stage one.
34 – France. Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ) didn’t start stage five after fracturing his elbow in a fall early in stage four. Geoffroy Lequartre (COF) didn’t start stage six after being caught up in a crash in stage five.
19 – Germany
18 – Italy
13 – Belgium
7 – The Netherlands
6 – USA and Russia
5 – Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia. Brett Lancaster (MRM) abandoned during the fifth stage.
4 – Kazakhstan
3 – Austria and Colombia
2 – Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway and Ukraine
1 – South Africa, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden
Lithuania had one reprentative but Toomas Vaitkus didn’t start stage three because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash at the end of stage two.

Stage 6 Underway

2007-07-13T16:28:00.000+02:00

Erik Zabel is in Green and Stage 6 of the 2007 Tour de France is underway.

An early attack by Wiggins, nice weather and the glory of the French countryside. Sweet!

COMPLETE standings of the Tour de France

2007-07-12T19:16:00.000+02:00

Here is the whole group, all 184 riders, listed in their current position after Stage 5. You will notice, that the time gaps are starting to rise. The amount of time from first to worst is now 48 minutes and change.

This will continue to rise as more people crash, more climbs appear, and more time passes.

Cancellara still wears YELLOW.

1 033 CANCELLARA, Fabian SUI CSC 24:28:56.000 00:00:00.000
2 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 24:29:29.000 00:00:33.000
3 151 POZZATO, Filippo ITA LIQ 24:29:31.000 00:00:35.000
4 201 MILLAR, David GBR SDV 24:29:37.000 00:00:41.000
5 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 24:29:39.000 00:00:43.000
6 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 24:29:41.000 00:00:45.000
7 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 24:29:42.000 00:00:46.000
8 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 24:29:45.000 00:00:49.000
9 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 24:29:47.000 00:00:51.000
10 169 VAUGRENARD, Benoît FRA FDJ 24:29:48.000 00:00:52.000
11 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 24:29:49.000 00:00:53.000
12 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 24:29:51.000 00:00:55.000
13 056 FREIRE, Oscar ESP RAB 24:29:51.000 00:00:55.000
14 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 24:29:51.000 00:00:55.000
15 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 24:29:52.000 00:00:56.000
16 077 PEREZ, Ruben ESP EUS 24:29:52.000 00:00:56.000
17 021 ROGERS, Michael AUS TMO 24:29:53.000 00:00:57.000
18 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 24:29:53.000 00:00:57.000
19 181 ZABEL, Erik GER MRM 24:29:54.000 00:00:58.000
20 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 24:29:54.000 00:00:58.000
21 055 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP RAB 24:29:56.000 00:01:00.000
22 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 24:29:56.000 00:01:00.000
23 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 24:29:56.000 00:01:00.000
24 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 24:29:59.000 00:01:03.000
25 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 24:29:59.000 00:01:03.000
26 095 KOHL, Bernhard AUT GST 24:30:00.000 00:01:04.000
27 091 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER GST 24:30:01.000 00:01:05.000
28 144 MORENI, Cristian ITA COF 24:30:01.000 00:01:05.000
29 125 LEFEVRE, Laurent FRA BTL 24:30:02.000 00:01:06.000
30 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 24:30:03.000 00:01:07.000
31 115 MARTINEZ, Egoi ESP DSC 24:30:03.000 00:01:07.000
32 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 24:30:04.000 00:01:08.000
33 168 LÖVKVIST, Thomas SWE FDJ 24:30:04.000 00:01:08.000
34 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 24:30:04.000 00:01:08.000
35 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 24:30:04.000 00:01:08.000
36 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 24:30:05.000 00:01:09.000
37 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 24:30:05.000 00:01:09.000
38 161 CASAR, Sandy FRA FDJ 24:30:07.000 00:01:11.000
39 084 BRUSEGHIN, Marzio ITA LAM 24:30:07.000 00:01:11.000
40 129 VOECKLER, Thomas FRA BTL 24:30:08.000 00:01:12.000
41 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 24:30:09.000 00:01:13.000
42 065 ELMIGER, Martin SUI A2R 24:30:09.000 00:01:13.000
43 029 SINKEWITZ, Patrik GER TMO 24:30:10.000 00:01:14.000
44 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 24:30:10.000 00:01:14.000
45 028 MERCKX, Axel BEL TMO 24:30:10.000 00:01:14.000
46 081 BALLAN, Alessandro ITA LAM 24:30:11.000 00:01:15.000
47 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 24:30:12.000 00:01:16.000
48 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 24:30:13.000 00:01:17.000
49 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 24:30:13.000 00:01:17.000
50 043 CIONI, Dario ITA PRL 24:30:13.000 00:01:17.000
51 123 FLORENCIO, Xavier ESP BTL 24:30:13.000 00:01:17.000
52 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 24:30:14.000 00:01:18.000
53 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 24:30:16.000 00:01:20.000
54 062 ARRIETA, Jose Luis ESP A2R 24:30:17.000 00:01:21.000
55 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 24:30:17.000 00:01:21.000
56 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 24:30:18.000 00:01:22.000
57 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 24:30:18.000 00:01:22.000
58 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 24:30:19.000 00:01:23.000
59 083 BOSSONI, Paolo ITA LAM 24:30:20.000 00:01:24.000
60 063 CALZATI, Sylvain FRA A2R 24:30:22.000 00:01:26.000
61 042 AERTS, Mario BEL PRL 24:30:22.000 00:01:26.000
62 126 PINEAU, Jérôme FRA BTL 24:30:22.000 00:01:26.000
63 131 MERCADO, Juan Miguel ESP AGR 24:30:22.000 00:01:26.000
64 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 24:30:22.000 00:01:26.000
65 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 24:30:23.000 00:01:27.000
66 076 LANDALUZE, Inigo ESP EUS 24:30:24.000 00:01:28.000
67 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 24:30:28.000 00:01:32.000
68 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 24:30:32.000 00:01:36.000
69 066 GADRET, John FRA A2R 24:30:34.000 00:01:38.000
70 069 TURPIN, Ludovic FRA A2R 24:30:34.000 00:01:38.000
71 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 24:30:34.000 00:01:38.000
72 107 HALGAND, Patrice FRA C.A 24:30:39.000 00:01:43.000
73 205 DE LA FUENTE, David ESP SDV 24:30:42.000 00:01:46.000
74 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 24:30:43.000 00:01:47.000
75 146 PARRA, Ivan Ramiro COL COF 24:30:44.000 00:01:48.000
76 068 GOUBERT, Stephane FRA A2R 24:30:46.000 00:01:50.000
77 121 FEDRIGO, Pierrick FRA BTL 24:30:47.000 00:01:51.000
78 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 24:30:52.000 00:01:56.000
79 082 BENNATI, Daniele ITA LAM 24:31:01.000 00:02:05.000
80 171 BOONEN, Tom BEL QSI 24:31:02.000 00:02:06.000
81 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 24:31:06.000 00:02:10.000
82 184 GRIVKO, Andriy UKR MRM 24:31:09.000 00:02:13.000
83 128 TSCHOPP, Johann SUI BTL 24:31:21.000 00:02:25.000
84 138 SALMON, Benoit FRA AGR 24:31:21.000 00:02:25.000
85 137 JALABERT, Nicolas FRA AGR 24:31:25.000 00:02:29.000
86 016 PEREZ SANCHEZ, Francisco ESP GCE 24:31:28.000 00:02:32.000
87 179 VASSEUR, Cédric FRA QSI 24:31:29.000 00:02:33.000
88 072 ANTON, Igor ESP EUS 24:31:29.000 00:02:33.000
89 098 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST 24:31:29.000 00:02:33.000
90 024 EISEL, Bernhard AUT TMO 24:31:31.000 00:02:35.000
91 202 CAMANO, Iker ESP SDV 24:31:31.000 00:02:35.000
92 185 KNEES, Christian GER MRM 24:31:34.000 00:02:38.000
93 133 DUENAS NEVADO, Moises ESP AGR 24:31:36.000 00:02:40.000
94 166 JEGOU, Lilian FRA FDJ 24:31:39.000 00:02:43.000
95 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 24:31:44.000 00:02:48.000
96 124 GESLIN, Anthony FRA BTL 24:31:46.000 00:02:50.000
97 178 TOSATTO, Matteo ITA QSI 24:31:48.000 00:02:52.000
98 075 ISASI, Inaki ESP EUS 24:31:52.000 00:02:56.000
99 074 AZANZA, Jorge ESP EUS 24:31:52.000 00:02:56.000
100 208 RINERO, Christophe FRA SDV 24:31:57.000 00:03:01.000
101 203 CANADA, David ESP SDV 24:32:32.000 00:03:36.000
102 165 GILBERT, Philippe BEL FDJ 24:34:17.000 00:05:21.000
103 097 SCHOLZ, Ronny GER GST 24:34:30.000 00:05:34.000
104 122 CLEMENT, Stef NED BTL 24:34:32.000 00:05:36.000
105 149 WIGGINS, Bradley GBR COF 24:34:36.000 00:05:40.000
106 105 DEAN, Julian NZL C.A 24:34:46.000 00:05:50.000
107 139 VOGONDY, Nicolas FRA AGR 24:34:51.000 00:05:55.000
108 175 ROSSELER, Sébastien BEL QSI 24:34:52.000 00:05:56.000
109 017 PORTAL, Nicolas FRA GCE 24:34:57.000 00:06:01.000
110 163 DELAGE, Mickaël FRA FDJ 24:34:58.000 00:06:02.000
111 193 IGLINSKIY, Maxim KAZ AST 24:35:01.000 00:06:05.000
112 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 24:35:04.000 00:06:08.000
113 167 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu FRA FDJ 24:35:04.000 00:06:08.000
114 194 IVANOV, Serguei RUS AST 24:35:08.000 00:06:12.000
115 094 HAUSSLER, Heinrich GER GST 24:35:13.000 00:06:17.000
116 022 BURGHARDT, Marcus GER TMO 24:35:17.000 00:06:21.000
117 067 GERRANS, Simon AUS A2R 24:35:19.000 00:06:23.000
118 059 WEENING, Pieter NED RAB 24:35:23.000 00:06:27.000
119 188 POITSCHKE, Enrico GER MRM 24:35:23.000 00:06:27.000
120 147 SCHEIRLINCKX, Staf BEL COF 24:35:26.000 00:06:30.000
121 085 CORIONI, Claudio ITA LAM 24:35:32.000 00:06:36.000
122 217 LONGO BORGHINI, Paolo ITA BAR 24:35:39.000 00:06:43.000
123 102 BONNET, William FRA C.A 24:36:44.000 00:07:48.000
124 216 HUNTER, Robert RSA BAR 24:36:57.000 00:08:01.000
125 199 SAVOLDELLI, Paolo ITA AST 24:36:58.000 00:08:02.000
126 155 FISCHER, Murilo Antoniobil BRA LIQ 24:36:59.000 00:08:03.000
127 192 COLOM, Antonio ESP AST 24:37:03.000 00:08:07.000
128 117 PAULINHO, Sergio POR DSC 24:37:04.000 00:08:08.000
129 209 VENTOSO, Francisco ESP SDV 24:37:11.000 00:08:15.000
130 026 GRABSCH, Bert GER TMO 24:37:13.000 00:08:17.000
131 189 SIEBERG, Marcel GER MRM 24:37:15.000 00:08:19.000
132 211 EFIMKIN, Alexander RUS BAR 24:37:21.000 00:08:25.000
133 057 NIERMANN, Grischa GER RAB 24:37:21.000 00:08:25.000
134 162 CHAVANEL, Sébastien FRA FDJ 24:37:23.000 00:08:27.000
135 047 RODRIGUEZ, Fred USA PRL 24:37:25.000 00:08:29.000
136 183 GRABSCH, Ralf GER MRM 24:37:26.000 00:08:30.000
137 182 CORTINOVIS, Alessandro ITA MRM 24:37:29.000 00:08:33.000
138 173 DE JONGH, Steven NED QSI 24:37:30.000 00:08:34.000
139 127 SPRICK, Matthieu FRA BTL 24:37:39.000 00:08:43.000
140 079 VERDUGO, Gorka ESP EUS 24:37:43.000 00:08:47.000
141 099 WROLICH, Peter AUT GST 24:37:45.000 00:08:49.000
142 136 HERVE, Cédric FRA AGR 24:37:46.000 00:08:50.000
143 034 CUESTA, Inigo ESP CSC 24:37:53.000 00:08:57.000
144 212 CARDENAS, Félix COL BAR 24:38:12.000 00:09:16.000
145 092 FÖRSTER, Robert GER GST 24:39:09.000 00:10:13.000
146 116 NOVAL GONZALEZ, Benjamin ESP DSC 24:39:13.000 00:10:17.000
147 087 RIGHI, Daniele ITA LAM 24:39:45.000 00:10:49.000
148 013 GARCIA ACOSTA, Vicente ESP GCE 24:39:47.000 00:10:51.000
149 197 NAVARRO, Daniel ESP AST 24:39:49.000 00:10:53.000
150 032 ARVESEN, Kurt-Asle NOR CSC 24:40:27.000 00:11:31.000
151 157 QUINZIATO, Manuel ITA LIQ 24:41:03.000 00:12:07.000
152 148 VERBRUGGHE, Rik BEL COF 24:41:10.000 00:12:14.000
153 176 STEEGMANS, Gert BEL QSI 24:41:15.000 00:12:19.000
154 215 GERAINT, Thomas GBR BAR 24:41:18.000 00:12:22.000
155 046 MC EWEN, Robbie AUS PRL 24:41:20.000 00:12:24.000
156 096 KRAUSS, Sven GER GST 24:41:21.000 00:12:25.000
157 048 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan BEL PRL 24:41:23.000 00:12:27.000
158 159 WILLEMS, Frederik BEL LIQ 24:41:26.000 00:12:30.000
159 158 WEGELIUS, Charles GBR LIQ 24:41:27.000 00:12:31.000
160 152 ALBASINI, Michael SUI LIQ 24:41:27.000 00:12:31.000
161 154 CARLSTRÖM, Kjell FIN LIQ 24:41:32.000 00:12:36.000
162 132 BICHOT, Freddy FRA AGR 24:41:35.000 00:12:39.000
163 198 RAST, Gregory SUI AST 24:41:37.000 00:12:41.000
164 064 DESSEL, Cyril FRA A2R 24:41:39.000 00:12:43.000
165 145 NUYENS, Nick BEL COF 24:42:12.000 00:13:16.000
166 206 LOBATO, Ruben ESP SDV 24:42:22.000 00:13:26.000
167 213 CHEULA, Gianpaolo ITA BAR 24:42:50.000 00:13:54.000
168 035 O’GRADY, Stuart AUS CSC 24:42:51.000 00:13:55.000
169 187 ONGARATO, Alberto ITA MRM 24:42:55.000 00:13:59.000
170 101 HUSHOVD, Thor NOR C.A 24:43:31.000 00:14:35.000
171 037 VANDEVELDE, Christian USA CSC 24:44:05.000 00:15:09.000
172 045 HOSTE, Leif BEL PRL 24:44:13.000 00:15:17.000
173 142 AUGE, Stéphane FRA COF 24:44:25.000 00:15:29.000
174 134 FEILLU, Romain FRA AGR 24:44:34.000 00:15:38.000
175 053 DE GROOT, Bram NED RAB 24:44:58.000 00:16:02.000
176 108 HINAULT, Sébastien FRA C.A 24:45:23.000 00:16:27.000
177 104 CHARTEAU, Anthony FRA C.A 24:45:33.000 00:16:37.000
178 039 ZABRISKIE, David USA CSC 24:47:20.000 00:18:24.000
179 049 VANSEVENANT, Wim BEL PRL 24:47:41.000 00:18:45.000
180 156 KUSCHYNSKI, Aleksandr BLR LIQ 24:49:12.000 00:20:16.000
181 086 NAPOLITANO, Danilo ITA LAM 24:49:29.000 00:20:33.000
182 023 CAVENDISH, Mark GBR TMO 24:51:25.000 00:22:29.000
183 214 DEGANO, Enrico ITA BAR 24:54:15.000 00:25:19.000
184 143 LEQUATRE, Geoffroy FRA COF 25:14:34.000 00:45:38.000

Results of Stage 5 - SPOILER!!

2007-07-12T19:07:00.000+02:00

I may have to reevaluate my choice for the Tour overall champion. Please notice that George Hincapie is again in the top 10 at the finish line. He's hanging tight and doesn't look like he's even suffering at all.

I'll let you know if I swap Levi for George.

Here are the top 10 finishers today...

1. Filippo Pozzato (LIQ) 182.5km in 4h39'01" (39.244km/h)
2. Oscar Freire (RAB)
3. Daniel Bennati (LAM)
4. Kim Kirchen (TMO)
5. Erik Zabel (MRM)
6. George Hincapie (DSC)
7. Cristian Moreni (COF)
8. Stefan Schumacher (GST)
9. Bram Tankink (QSI)
10. Jerome Pineau (BTL)

Only 184 remain

2007-07-12T19:05:00.000+02:00

Here's the update on how many riders from individual nations are left in the 2007 Tour de France.

Again, thanks to Versus for this information.

15:06:40 - 26 Nations Represented In 94th Tour

The 184 riders remaining in the 2007 Tour de France represent 26 countries.
The breakdown is:
39 – Spain. Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (AGR) abandoned during stage one after a crash; Xabier Zandio abandoned during stage four because of injuries sustained in a crash in stage one.
35 – France. Remy Di Gregorio (FDJ) didn’t start stage five after fracturing his elbow in a fall early in stage four.
19 – Germany
18 – Italy
13 – Belgium
7 – The Netherlands
6 – USA and Russia
5 – Great Britain, Switzerland and Australia. Brett Lancaster (MRM) abandoned during the fifth stage.
4 – Kazakhstan
3 – Austria and Colombia
2 – Belarus, Luxembourg, Norway and Ukraine
1 – South Africa, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden
Lithuania had one reprentative but Toomas Vaitkus didn’t start stage three because of a broken thumb sustained in a crash at the end of stage two.

Update as of 2:28PM France Time

2007-07-12T18:58:00.000+02:00

At around the 50KM mark of today's 190+KM Stage 5, the three men who attacked the peloton are 14:28:04 ahead.

This is a huge lead that has been made easier because the CSC team has decided not to exhaust itself trying to maintain possession of the yellow jersey.

They seem to realize that with the mountains coming up soon, that Cancellara won't be able to hang on to the lead for much longer so they are conserving energy and preparing as a team for the next 14 stages.

Jerseys still in the same spot

2007-07-12T18:55:00.000+02:00

Yellow, Green, Polka-dot and White are all still on the backs of the same riders as yesterday.

Stage 5 is underway! Updates coming up (hmmm, redundant).

00:09:31

2007-07-11T21:52:00.001+02:00

That's the amount of time that separates the top rider in the Tour de France from the last guy at 186th after four stages ridden.

Here are the standings after today's Stage 4...

1 033 CANCELLARA, Fabian SUI CSC 19:49:55.000 00:00:00.000
2 101 HUSHOVD, Thor NOR C.A 19:50:24.000 00:00:29.000
3 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 19:50:28.000 00:00:33.000
4 201 MILLAR, David GBR SDV 19:50:36.000 00:00:41.000
5 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 19:50:38.000 00:00:43.000
6 149 WIGGINS, Bradley GBR COF 19:50:38.000 00:00:43.000
7 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 19:50:39.000 00:00:44.000
8 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 19:50:40.000 00:00:45.000
9 171 BOONEN, Tom BEL QSI 19:50:41.000 00:00:46.000
10 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 19:50:41.000 00:00:46.000
11 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 19:50:44.000 00:00:49.000
12 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 19:50:45.000 00:00:50.000
13 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 19:50:46.000 00:00:51.000
14 157 QUINZIATO, Manuel ITA LIQ 19:50:47.000 00:00:52.000
15 169 VAUGRENARD, Benoît FRA FDJ 19:50:47.000 00:00:52.000
16 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 19:50:48.000 00:00:53.000
17 184 GRIVKO, Andriy UKR MRM 19:50:48.000 00:00:53.000
18 151 POZZATO, Filippo ITA LIQ 19:50:50.000 00:00:55.000
19 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 19:50:50.000 00:00:55.000
20 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 19:50:50.000 00:00:55.000
21 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 19:50:51.000 00:00:56.000
22 102 BONNET, William FRA C.A 19:50:51.000 00:00:56.000
23 077 PEREZ, Ruben ESP EUS 19:50:51.000 00:00:56.000
24 021 ROGERS, Michael AUS TMO 19:50:52.000 00:00:57.000
25 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 19:50:52.000 00:00:57.000
26 181 ZABEL, Erik GER MRM 19:50:53.000 00:00:58.000
27 139 VOGONDY, Nicolas FRA AGR 19:50:53.000 00:00:58.000
28 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 19:50:53.000 00:00:58.000
29 199 SAVOLDELLI, Paolo ITA AST 19:50:53.000 00:00:58.000
30 216 HUNTER, Robert RSA BAR 19:50:54.000 00:00:59.000
31 175 ROSSELER, Sébastien BEL QSI 19:50:54.000 00:00:59.000
32 148 VERBRUGGHE, Rik BEL COF 19:50:54.000 00:00:59.000
33 055 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP RAB 19:50:55.000 00:01:00.000
34 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 19:50:55.000 00:01:00.000
35 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 19:50:55.000 00:01:00.000
36 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 19:50:58.000 00:01:03.000
37 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 19:50:58.000 00:01:03.000
38 192 COLOM, Antonio ESP AST 19:50:58.000 00:01:03.000
39 095 KOHL, Bernhard AUT GST 19:50:59.000 00:01:04.000
40 176 STEEGMANS, Gert BEL QSI 19:50:59.000 00:01:04.000
41 117 PAULINHO, Sergio POR DSC 19:50:59.000 00:01:04.000
42 091 SCHUMACHER, Stefan GER GST 19:51:00.000 00:01:05.000
43 144 MORENI, Cristian ITA COF 19:51:00.000 00:01:05.000
44 097 SCHOLZ, Ronny GER GST 19:51:00.000 00:01:05.000
45 165 GILBERT, Philippe BEL FDJ 19:51:01.000 00:01:06.000
46 125 LEFEVRE, Laurent FRA BTL 19:51:01.000 00:01:06.000
47 215 GERAINT, Thomas GBR BAR 19:51:02.000 00:01:07.000
48 122 CLEMENT, Stef NED BTL 19:51:02.000 00:01:07.000
49 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 19:51:02.000 00:01:07.000
50 056 FREIRE, Oscar ESP RAB 19:51:02.000 00:01:07.000

Results of Stage 4

2007-07-11T21:49:00.000+02:00

Thanks again to Versus for this information. Next year I'll get a head start on working for them in Europe. This year I was a little late to the line...just like Robbie Hunter in today's stage.

The top 10 in stage four is as follows:
1. Thor Hushovd (NOR) C.A 193km in 4h37'37 (41.687km/h)
2. Robbie Hunter (RSA) BAR
3. Oscar Freire (ESP) RAB
4. Erik Zabel (GER) MRM
5. Danilo Napolitano (ITA) LAM
6. Gert Steegmans (BEL) QSI
7. Robert Forster (GER) GST
8. Tom Boonen (BEL) QSI
9. Sebastien Chavanel (FRA) FDJ
10. Mark Cavendish (GBR) TMO

187 Riders Still

2007-07-11T15:15:00.000+02:00

The race today started with 187 riders, but after only two hours of riding Xabier Zandio (who crashed in Stage 1) has abandoned the Tour de France. Now there are 186.

In an upcoming post, probably over the weekend, I'll list which teams still have all their riders as I expect a handful of cyclists to drop out by the end of Stage 7.

Stage 4 - Jersey list

2007-07-11T15:10:00.000+02:00

Cancellara is still in Yellow

Tom Boonen is still in Green

Stephane Auge of Cofidis is now in Polka Dot (taking it away from Millar)

And in the White jersey (the youth classification open to riders born after 1/1/82) Vladimir Gusev of Team Discovery

They're racing now in France and there shall be spoilers to come later today.