Tour de France 2008

And the Winner is...

Carlos Sastre of Spain who ride for Team CSC.






It's been a great sports year for Spain. Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon and the soccer team won the Euro Cup.

145 of the 180 riders who started the race finished the ordeal today.

The Final Jersey Standings

The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC

Tour de France 2008

Stage 19 - Friday, July 25: Roanne - Montluçon, 165.5km

The Tour heads back into the centre of the country almost to where it was two weeks ago as the peloton makes its weary way towards Paris. The profile is almost as rolling as yesterday's, beginning with a third and a fourth category climb inside the first 42 kilometres. The mid-section is fairly flat, but then the final 50 kilometres become much lumpier, although there are no classified climbs in this part.

Today is more suited to the sprinters than yesterday, but with a potentially decisive time trial tomorrow the overall contenders may not want a hard day and so a breakaway might succeed.

Roanne is yet another first time stage town, but Montluçon has been visited five times before. Last time was in 2001 when Belgian Serge Baguet (Lotto) beat Dane Jacob Piil (CSC) in a two-up sprint after the remains of the breakaway was swallowed by the peloton. A similar scenario may well play out this year.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com

This will be one of those stages that only serious tour watchers will enjoy. I know I will. Not a lot will seem to be happening. Riders will try to break away but depending on which teams are represented, will decide if they are allowed to get away

As a side note, Damiano Cunego had a nasty crash yesterday. He did Man-Up and finish the stage but withdrew from the race this morning. It was his 4th crash of the tour. Bad luck for the lad.



A great day for the host country. 2 Frenchmen, Sylvain Chavanel and Jérémy Roy, broke away from the peloton and battled it out for the stage win with the Team Cofidis rider Sylvain taking his first ever stage win. It’s good to see Chavanel get the win. He’s been attacking off and on for 3 weeks and never could quite get the win. Well done young warrior.



The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC



Tour tidbits
Individual time trials

In an individual time trial each rider rides individually. The first stage of the tour is often a short time trial known as a prologue. The prologue is to decide who wears yellow on the opening day, and provide a spectacle for the organizing city.
There are usually three or four time trials during the Tour. One may be a team time trial. Traditionally the final time trial has been the penultimate stage, and effectively determines the winner before the final ordinary stage which is not ridden competitively until the last hour.

On a few occasions, the race organizers made the final stage into Paris a time trial. The most recent occasion on which this was done, in 1989, yielded the closest ever finish in Tour history, when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds overall. Fignon wore the yellow jersey for the final stage, with a lead of 50 seconds, and was beaten by LeMond's superior time trial performance. LeMond's unusual handlebars which placed his forearms close together and reduce wind resistance, and his streamlined helmet, were considered to be a large factor in his victory.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 18 - Thursday, July 24: Bourg d'Oisans - Saint Étienne, 196.5km
The Alps are behind us now, but this stage is by no means flat with a third, a second and a fourth category climb to deal with. The course doesn't suit the sprinters, but neither is it tough enough for the climbers and overall contenders, for this reason it has breakaway written all over it. Anyone who has managed to save a bit of energy over the preceding few days will have a go here and in all likelihood the time gap allowed will be enormous providing nobody of any note is in the break.

Bourg d'Oisans has been a stage start time 19 times before, but has never hosted a finish. Sitting as it is at the foot of Alpe d'Huez, it is a natural choice for the next day's stage. The last time a stage started here was in 2006 when the course headed north to another mountaintop finish at La Toussuire. Danish super-climber Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) took the victory alone on his way to taking the polka dot mountain jersey.

Saint Etienne is another regular Tour host, having been a stage town 23 times before, partly because it used to be the centre of the French bicycle industry. Last time the Tour was here it saw Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) cement his seventh and final Tour de France by taking victory in the final time trial of the 2005 race. That day also saw the tragicomic end to Michael Rasmussen's (Rabobank) hope of a podium place, as a disastrous ride saw him crash twice and change his bike three times.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com

Today was a status quo day. Other than the sprint at the end by the 2 riders out in front, not much happened. I suspect tomorrow will be the same as everyone is saving themselves for Saturday’s individual time trial.

Marcus Burghardt took home another Tour stage win for Team Columbia on the 196.5 kilometre trip away from the. Burghardt bested his breakaway companion, Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) in a hotly contested sprint. The Quick Step rider, desperate to salvage his team's lackluster Tour, attacked repeatedly in the final kilometres, but just could not shake the big German.




The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC


Tour tidbits - There are three riders away on their own, why isn't the peloton chasing them?

There may be any number of reasons why the peloton doesn't chase down a breakaway. The first is that nobody has decided to chase it down yet. A few riders will often escape in the early part of a stage, tear up the road for a while, gain some valuable exposure for themselves and their sponsors and get reeled in later in the day when the peloton decides to start taking the race seriously.

Alternatively, it may be that the break is composed of little-regarded riders who are no threat to any of the leaders. If that's the case, it may simply not be worth anyone's while to make the effort to chase.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 17 - Wednesday, July 23: Embrun - L'Alpe d'Huez, 210.5km

This is the stage that all climbers want to win. Those mythical 21 hairpin bends have become synonymous with the Tour de France and a year without the Alpe seems somehow to have something missing. This is a long stage that takes in the familiar – but no less brutal – Cols du Galibier and Croix de Fer, although as a change they are tackled in a different order from usual.

In all likelihood, the main contenders will sit behind their team-mates for as long as possible and look to make their move on the final steep climb to Alpe d'Huez. The non super-climbers high up in the overall – if there are any left at this stage – will be looking to hold on for as long as possible. For the sprinters however, this will be a day of pure suffering.

The small town of Embrun must think all of its Christmases have come at once as this is their second stage of the Tour this year (they have been awarded the start of stage 15 due to rock falls in the Alps forcing a course change.) Alpe d'Huez on the other hand has hosted the Tour 25 times since that first time in 1952 when Fausto Coppi won, this equates to almost every other year.

Last time the Tour finished here, in 2006, it saw the emergence of Fränk Schleck (CSC) as a future major force in Grand Tours as he dropped riders like former Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre) on the way to victory.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com

The tour might not be won today but lots of riders could definitely lose it today. The top riders will need to stay close. If the top riders finish the day within a minute or so of each other than the race will be decided on Saturday during the last Individual Time Trial. Hopefully it will be close otherwise watching a time trial can be real boring.

Cadel Evans is only 9 seconds back. He is very good at time trialing. If Teams CSC wants Frank Schleck (or even Sastre) to have a chance to win, they are going to have to try and get rid of Cadel today.

Riders have been fallen off the back of the Peloton all day. The sprinters especially are getting hit hard. They just need to hang on and make sure they don’t miss the time cutoff and get booted from the race.

2-4 riders have been around 5-6 minutes in front all day. But I got a feeling they are going to get reeled
in.

Yes they were caught by all the contenders. And Sastre broke away from that group.

The crowds are nuts on these final KM’s.

Sastre has a 2 minute lead with 2 mile to go. Evans is trying to cut the lead so he can get the yellow jersey back during the time trial on Saturday..


Carlos Sastre of Spain and Team CSC takes the stage win and the Yellow Jersey so is he the team leader of CSC or is Frank Schleck? I guess it’s Sastre. He’s the better time trailer of the two.



So the top five overall are as follows. Evans is the best at time trialing and Saturday’s time trial is a decent length () so he might be able make up the time.


1 Carlos Sastre (Spa) CSC-Saxo Bank
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) CSC-Saxo Bank 1.24
3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.33
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 1.34
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.39





The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC

Tour tidbits

What's the protocol for kissing the podium girls? Sometimes it's left cheek, right cheek... other times, left, right, left... or maybe it's right, left, right. Anyway, what gives?
Generally speaking, the custom for kissing an "acquaintance" in France is on the cheek, three times, starting with the left cheek. In Italy, it's twice, also starting with the left cheek. So in the Giro d'Italia you'll see that most of the Italians will kiss the podium girls twice, and in the Tour de France, most of the French riders will kiss the podium girls three times. But if you win, whatever you do, no kissing on the lips, and definitely no tongue!

Tour de France 2008

Stage 16 - Tuesday, July 22: Cuneo - Jausiers, 157km

After an Italian rest day, the Tour heads back over the Alps to France. After a fairly flat, but gradually rising 50 kilometres, the course tackles the first of the day's two hors catégorie climbs: the Col de la Lombarde, which marks the border crossing. After a long descent, the roads begin to rise again to the second of the day's massive climbs: the Cime de la Bonnette-Restefond, the highest point of this year's Tour, which at 2802 metres is also the highest paved road in the Alps.

There then follows a 23.5-kilometre descent to the finish in Jausiers, the smallest town to host a stage finish at just over 1000 in population. Once again, the high mountains should provide plenty of opportunity for the favourites to attack one another, but that long descent will allow any dropped riders a chance to make up some ground, keeping the gaps relatively small.

Unsurprisingly, it is the first time that either town has hosted the Tour – although Cuneo was the venue for yesterday's rest day. One of the Cuneo's most famous sons is Michele Ferrero, whose eponymous company has given the world Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tacs.


A big couple of days in Alps. Today and tomorrow could decide this thing. The next 2 days should pretty much trash already tired legs.



The stage winner was Cyril Dessel of France.

Christian Vande Velde had a rough day and dropped back to 6th which doesn’t sound too bad but he is now 3:15 back and in big trouble for the overall race.

Only the top 5 have realistic shot of winning the whole thing. But we will know more tomorrow.
The top 5 are and their times are:

1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 68.30.16
2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.08
4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa)Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.49
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.13

It’s been a good tour so far for the Schleck brothers. Older brother, Frank, holds the yellow and Andy wears the white.

The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Frank Schleck of Luxumborg who rides for CSC

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC


Tour Tidbits –

Feeding. What are the rules or etiquette for feed zones/stations? For example, do all the riders hold their position while everyone eats, or is permissible to attack?
Just as with taking a comfort break of the urinal variety, the same level of etiquette applies to a comfort break of the gastronomic kind. It is considered very bad form to attack in a feed zone, and you will normally hear about it further down the road if you're brave enough to try. Once the peloton has collected their musette bags (cloth bags that contain water bottles and various items of food) in the feed zone, the race is back on; there's no requirement to ask the whole peloton if they've finished their meal before attacking. In general, feeding is permitted at any time starting from the 50 km marker up to the distance marker indicating "end of feeding", which is 20 km from the finish.

Tour de France 2008

I was away all weekend but the race went on.

There was some good action yesterday in Italy (the tour is in Italy for a bit - as they play in the Alps).

The top 5 changed a bit with the yellow jersey going from Cadel Evans, who is in 3rd now, to Frank Schleck. American Christian Vande Velde is in 4th place and not to far back.

Any one within a minute or so of the leader is in good shape.

Today is a rest day for the boys before a couple of tough stages in the Alps. The next few days could break the race open and decide who will be the winner on Sunday in Paris.

Tuesday they ride 157km in the Alps as they leave Italy and head back into France. Wednesday is 210km including the almost mystical climb up the L'Alpe d'Huez with its 21 hairpin turns. It really is cool to watch.

Stay tuned.

Tour de France 2008

My last Tour update until Monday. Heading to the hills of WV for the weekend.

Stage 13 - Friday, July 18: Narbonne - Nîmes, 182km

With just three fourth category climbs in the way, this should once again be a stage for the sprinters. The route continues its way across the southern edge of France between the Pyrenees and the Alps. It's likely that a break will try to get away, but even more likely that the sprinters' domestiques will bring them back before they reach the finish.

The stage travels from one Roman settlement to another: leaving the oldest one in Narbonne, and arriving in probably the most famous one in Nîmes. The capital of the Gard department, Nîmes is home to probably the highest concentration of historic Roman sites outside Italy. These include the best preserved arena in France – which still gets used for concerts and bullfights, the Maison Carrée – a temple dedicated to the sons of Agrippa, and most famously: the Pont du Gard – a three level aqueduct which lies 20 kilometres to the north.

Nîmes' other big claim to fame is as the origin of Serge de Nîmes, an indigo blue fabric that has changed the world. Over the years its name has been shortened to one word that most people will recognise: Denim.

The city has hosted the Tour 15 times before, with Aitor Gonzales (Fassa Bortolo) taking the victory in 2004, the last time it finished here.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com

158 riders started this morning…out of 180 who started the first day.

So as we head to the big show-down in the Alps where the Tour should be decided, we will probably have another bunch sprint to the finish.

A couple riders have broken away early and have a 10 minute advantage. The sprinters teams will take their time and slowly pull them back in before the finish.

The Peloton spent the day slowly reeling in the 2 (Niki Terpstra and Florent Brard) in the break. They were pretty much doomed from the start but hung on for a 100 km’s or so.

Terpstra broke away from Brard around the 30km to go mark. For some reason he has decided to have a go at it himself.

By the 10km to go banner, the leaders up front were swallowed up by the peloton.

So it’s going to be bunch sprint for the line.

Holy Moley. 4 times is the charm. 4 for Cavendish! Mark Cavendish took an exciting sprint to the line for his 4th stage win!!!

So do I get excited about him and hope he is a clean rider? Or wait and see what happens?



No changes in the Jersey's today

The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Cadel Evans of Australia who rides for Silence - Lotto

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Sebastian Lang of Germany who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - NIBALI Vincenzo Nibali of Italy who rides for Liquigas


Tour Tidbits -

domestique
A domestique is a road bicycle racer who works solely for the benefit of his or her team and leader. The French domestique literally translates as "servant", though the French term for such a team worker is porteur d'eau (literally: water carrier, like the German Wasserträger).

Some general important tasks carried out by the domestiques include retrieving water and nutrition from team cars and bringing it back up to the rest of the team and shielding teammates from aggressive opponents.

Domestiques are also important for racing in a way that is in the tactical interest of their own team, or against the tactical interest of the opposing teams. By putting themselves in a breakaway they force other teams to chase the given breakaway. In turn, they may have to get to the front of the peloton to chase a breakaway that threatens their team's goals.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 12 - Thursday, July 17: Lavelanet - Narbonne, 168.5km

With the Pyrenean stages over, the Tour now begins its journey across to the Alps. This stage features just one fourth category climb as it descends steadily towards the Mediterranean and so is a prime opportunity for the sprinters to reopen their accounts after a hard few days.

Lavelanet, situated in the heart of Cathar country with its hilltop castles, has hosted the start of a Tour stage once before: in 2002. That day saw a very similar course profile – although an entirely different route – and finished not far from today's Narbonne finish in the Herault department's capital Beziers. The stage was won by Scot David Millar (then Cofidis, now Slipstream-Chipotle) from a breakaway group that finished almost ten minutes ahead of the peloton.

Narbonne, with its 13th century Saint-Just cathedral, has been in existence since 118BC when the Romans settle there. The city has hosted the Tour seven times before, most recently in 2003 as it saw the start of the stage to Toulouse that was won by Juan Antonio Flecha. The last stage to finish here – or more accurately at Narbonne-Plage – was the second of five stages won by Belgian sprint legend Freddy Maertens in 1981.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com


Today’s stage was over-shadowed by the news that Riccardo Ricco of team Saunier Duval has been kicked out for testing positive for EPO. The Italian was taken into police custody before the start of today’s stage. Ricco was 9th overall, first in the young rider competion (white jersey) and had won 2 stages with impressive performances. Now we know why.

The entire Saunier Duval team has withdrawn from the Tour and suspended their operations. This means that besides Ricco being gone, David De La Fuente (the polka dot jersey - mountain competition leader) is now gone and so is Juan Jose Cobo who was 8th overall. The Tour would have let the team continue but they decided not to.

This is all on top of Spanish rider Moises Duenas getting kicked out yesterday for the same thing.

Whenever someone has a great performance that comes out of the blue, there is always the thought in the back of my mind that they are dopers. But I had really hoped he was one of the new young super talented riders who were going to help change the sport. Someone as cynical as me shouldn’t be so naïve.

Ricco the Cheater Being Given the Boot from the Tour

My New Favorite Bike Jersey - Honey Buy Me One for Christmas

Anyway we did have a race today. Today’s relatively flat stage setup nicely for a bunch sprint finish.

A sweet bunch finish with Mark Cavendish from Great Britain who rides for Team Columbia taking the win. This was his 3rd stage win of the tour, I first for a rider from the UK. One can only hope he is clean.

The Hat Trick

There were no changes in the top ten riders but there were jeresey changes.

The Jersey statuses

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Cadel Evans of Australia who rides for Silence - Lotto

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Sebastian Lang of Germany who rides for Gerolsteiner

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - NIBALI Vincenzo Nibali of Italy who rides for Liquigas


Tour Tidbits - today's selection comes to us at the suggestion of Lady Catherine of France.

The Broom Waggon (also referred to as Sag Waggon) is the affectionate name for the vehicle that follows a Cycle Road Race picking up stragglers (or sweeping them up) who are unable to make it to the finish the race within the time permitted.

In the Tour de France the vehicle used was traditionally a Citroën H Van. The expression broom waggon is a translation of the French, voiture balai. The broom waggon of the Tour de France did indeed once carry a broom fixed above the driver's cab - except in the years that it was sponsored by a vacuum-cleaner company.

The broom waggon is colloquially known as the sag wagon. SAG is an acronym which stands for Supplies and Gear. By extension, cycle-touring groups which have a vehicle to carry their luggage and food are now said to be "sagged" in that they have a vehicle that carries supplies and gear for the participants in the ride.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 11 - 168km

Despite still being in the region of the high mountains (Lannemezan is in the Haute-Pyrénées department, and Foix is the capital of Ariège) this stage features very little serious climbing: the only serious obstacle of the day being the first category Col de Portal. Consequently, the course has breakaway written all over it and will suit strong riders who have lost enough time over the preceding two mountain stages for the contenders' teams to let them go.

This mornings news. Team Barloworld's Moises Duenas Nevado has been thrown out of the race due to a positive A-sample test for EPO. That makes it the second-such occurrence in the Tour, with fellow Spaniard Manuel Beltran (Liquigas) also having been shown the exit for the same reason.

Nevado the Cheat

A dozen or so riders broke away early from the peloton. None of the riders in the break are a threat to win the overall race so the group probably won’t waste the energy chasing them down today. Instead they will take it a bit easy (as easy as you can riding 100+ miles) and save themselves for the Alps.

Amael Moinard as made a nice break from the lead riders and put up 1:30 advantage. The lead riders have responded and with around 10 miles to go they are hunting him down.
With 5 miles to go it appears that Moinard will be caught and we will have a sprint finish.

Nice finish. 3 crossed the line around the same time. The stage win goes to Kurt-Asle Arvesen of Norway who rides for team CSC. The photo finish shows that Arvesen won by perhaps two centimetres.

Race leader Cadel Evans (Silence Lotto) finished safely in the main bunch after a largely uneventful day for the general classification contenders. He thus retained his one second lead over Frank Schleck (CSC – Saxo Bank), with Christian Vande Velde (Garmin Chipotle) remaining 38 seconds back in third overall. Evans and the rest of the peloton finished 14.51 back from the leaders.

Arvesen with the narrow victory

The Jersey statuses (no changes today)

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Cadel Evans of Australia who rides for Silence - Lotto

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) - Riccardo Ricco of Italy who rides for Saunier Duval - Scott

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - NIBALI Vincenzo Nibali of Italy who rides for Liquigas



Today's Tour Tidbit:

Peloton - from French, literally meaning ball and related to the English word platoon. The peloton or bunch is the large main group of riders in a cycling road race

Tour de France 2008

Stage 10

More high mountains in this stage which, despite being just 156 kilometers (99 miles) in length, should prove to be one of the toughest of this year's Tour. Despite a reasonably flat start, the stage finishes with the legendary ascents of the Col du Tourmalet and Hautacam. This stage should see some real gaps appear between the overall contenders as the favorites for victory in Paris start to show themselves.

Hautacam, a ski resort nestled above the pilgrimage centre of Lourdes, has been a stage finish three times before. The riders my want to make a brief stop in Lourdes, I’m sure they could use some of the healing waters and St Bernadette’s intercession. But they will get a bit of a rest since tomorrow is a rest day, no racing. They will still go for a short ride to loosen up the old legs.

I watched some of this stage before heading to work and then listened to the rest of it on the Internet. Will watch the replay tonight. The women in the household are sick of seeing men in spandex on bikes. But the boys have been having fun watching, although they seem to like the crashes the best.

Team CSC has been driving a hard pace all day.

Kirchen is hanging in on the last climb for now but hurting. Valverde and Cunego aren’t fairing as well.
Kirchen has been dropped, can he get back on? It’s not looking like it. Looks like we will have a new Yellow Jersey after today’s stage.
Evans and Sastre are hurting too.
Christian Vande Velde is having a good day, so far.

There’s a French rider in the lead group. Will it be a Bastille Day win for him?

Leonardo Piepoli and Juan José Cobo (Saunier Duval-Scott) are going to be the first to the line. They are on the same team, which one will be given the win? Looks like the team is going to let Cobo have the win for all his hard work helping Ricco. No it’s Leonardo Piepoli of Italy crossing first.

Major shakeout of some of the top 10 contenders. Let me try and sort this out.

Today’s biggest winners:
Cadel Evans moved up from 2nd to 1st and is in the lead my 1 second! 9 days of racing. Over 42 hours and he’s ahead by a second. Great job by the Aussie. One day after crashing and banging himself up nice and good.
Frank Schleck jumped all the way from 11th to 2nd overall.
Christian Vande Velde is still comfortably in 3rd.
Bernhard Kohl moved all the way from 13th to 4th.
Juan Jose Cobo and Riccardo Ricco both moved into the top ten. 8th and 9th place respectively.

The biggest losers for the day were:
Obviously Kim Kirchen losing the yellow jersey and dropping from 1st down to 7th.
Stefan Schumacher was 4th and he dropped out of the top ten.
Alejandro Valverde, Stijin Devolder, Oscar Pereiro and Samuel Sanchez all dropped out of the top ten also.


The Jersey status

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Cadel Evans of Australia who rides for Silence - Lotto

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) - Riccardo Ricco of Italy who rides for Saunier Duval - Scott

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - NIBALI Vincenzo Nibali of Italy who rides for Liquigas

Piepoli of Italy crossing first
The new Yellow Jersey wearer

Tour Tidbits

How do riders go to the toilet?

Generally, they pull over to the side of the road, stop, and shed liquid ballast in the usual way. Sometime in the first couple of hours of the race, a senior rider (a team leader or team captain) will organize a comfort break and the whole peloton will slow down enough that riders can stop for a break and easily catch up afterwards.

The etiquette is that you don't attack while a large-scale comfort break is in progress, and you certainly don't attack the yellow jersey when he's taking a leak, as we saw in stage 6 2002 when Domo and Rabobank were berated by Armstrong and ONCE for attempting to go after a breakaway while race leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was answering nature's call.

On some days there will be no organized break. If the stage is short, fast or very hot it may simply not be necessary, but on a cold morning at the beginning of a long day's trek across Northern France a mass disposal of that last cup of coffee will almost certainly happen.

Tour de France 2008

Riccardo Ricco of Italy crossing the finish line to win the ninth stage of the Tour de France

Stage 9

The Pyrenees! Lots of hills with two major climbs at the end.

Riccardo Ricco of Italy crushed up the last hill and held off everyone to take his second stage win of the tour. Viva la Italy.

The American Christian Vandevelde moved up from 4th to 3rd overall.

Cadel Evans hung on to 2nd overall despite crashing.

The Jersey status (the white jersey was the only one that changed hands):

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team of Team Colombia

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank. Kim Kirchen is actually the points leader but since you can’t wear two jerseys at once…

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) - David De La Fuente of Spain who rides for Saunier Duval - Scott (he rode a heck of a race today)

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - Andy Schleck of Luxembourg who rides for CSC

Tomorrow's stage 10 - More high mountains in this stage which, despite being just 156 kilometres in length, should prove to be one of the toughest of this year's Tour. Despite a reasonably flat start, the stage finishes with the legendary ascents of the Col du Tourmalet and Hautacam. This stage should see some real gaps appear between the overall contenders as the favourites for victory in Paris start to show themselves.

À demain


Today's Tour Tidbit:

Twice in the history of the race has the rider awarded the win being disqualified at a later date. The first time was in 1904 when the leader was found to have caught a train for part of the event, and then at the 2006 race Floyd Landis of America was disqualified for elevated testosterone levels found in a urine sample taken after one of his stage wins.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 8

Hills at the beginning then it flattened out for a sprinters finish.

Team Columbia did a great job setting the pace at the end of the race and chasing down the break.

Then Mark Cavendish of Great Britain made all their hard work payoff by taking the stage win. It was the young sprinters second stage win of the tour.



The Jersey status (no change from yesterday):

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team of Team Colombia

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank. Kim Kirchen is actually the points leader but since you can’t wear two jerseys at once…

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) - David De La Fuente of Spain who rides for Saunier Duval - Scott (he rode a heck of a race today)

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden who rides for Team Columbia

À demain

Today's Tour Tidbit

What's the deal with the stuffed lion that the yellow jersey holder is given after each stage by one of the Poduim Girls?

One of the major sponsors of the tour is Credit Lyonnais (they are the yellow jersey sponsor) and their corporate symbol is a lion.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 7

Today's stage is one of the shortest of the tour (159km). But there is not a lot of flat and the country roads are twisty. The stage starts in Brioude and ends in the town of Aurillac

A very active stage todayu. Lots of atacking and other action. It was a great stage win by Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain who rides for Caisse D’Epargne.

The Spaniards had a great day today. A stage win, the green jersey and the polka dot

The Jersey status:

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team of Team Colombia

Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank. Kim Kirchen is actually the points leader but since you can’t wear two jerseys at once…

Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) - David De La Fuente of Spain who rides for Saunier Duval - Scott (he rode a heck of a race today)

Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) - Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden who rides for Team Columbia

À demain




On the negative news side of things:

Veteran Spanish rider Manuel Beltran has tested positive for EPO at the Tour de France.

And 5 riders today either withdrew or didn't make the time cutoff. That brings the total to 9 who are no longer in the race - from 180 at the start. Not too bad so far. But the real mountains await.

Tour de France 2008

Stage 6

Nice stage today. Cool long uphill finish. While it’s not the mountains yet, it was enough to make the day more interesting. Pyrenees are coming!

Ricardo Ricco won the sprint to the line. Nice ride by the youngster. He’s having a very good tour so far.

The Yellow Jersey (Schumacher) went down in the last kilometer. Normally if you crash in the last 3 kilometers you get the same time as the others but this was an uphill finish so that rule doesn’t apply.

Kim Kirchen moved into the yellow jersey. Nice job by the new team from American, Team Columbia


The French countryside is beautiful.


The Jersey status:

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team of Team Colombia

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) – Thor “the god of thunder’ Hushovd of Norway who rides for CREDIT AGRICOLE. Kim Kirchen is actually the points leader but since you can’t wear two jerseys at once…

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - CHAVANEL Sylvain of France who ride for French team Cofidis Credit Par Telephone (how do you fit that on a jersey?)

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden who rides for Team Columbia

à bientôt


Ricco winning today's stage

Tour de France 2008

Stage 5

Today was the longest stage of the tour, 232 km’s, but a flat one. This lead to a bunch sprint for the last few hundred meters. Nothing really changed with the overall leaders. The green jersey is the only one to change hands today.

Tomorrow is when it gets interesting. We will finally start getting some hills to break things up and make the riders really work. the race resumes its southerly course across France's hot Massif Central and has an 11 km uphill finish to Super Besse, a ski resort.

The Jersey status:

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) - Stefan Schumacher of Germany who rides for Gerolsteiner

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) – Thor “the god of thunder’ Hushovd of Norway who rides for CREDIT AGRICOLE

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - Thomas Voeckler of France who is the leader of the French team BOUYGUES TELECOM

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden who rides for Team Columbia

à bientôt

Tour de France 2008

Today's 4th stage is a 29.5 KM (18.3 miles) individual time trial in the town of Cholet.

The riders start every 2 minutes and they are racing the clock. No team for support. They get to use their time trial bikes. It's basically 35-40 minutes of pain.

The time trial was won by Stefan Schumacher of Germany which put him into the yellow jersey over Kirchen and Millar by 12 seconds.


The Jersey status:

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) - Stefan Schumacher of Germany who rides for Gerolsteiner

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) - Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team, Team Columbia

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - Thomas Voeckler of France who is the leader of the French team BOUYGUES TELECOM

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Thomas Lovkvist of Sweden who rides for Team Columbia

Au revoir

Tour de France 2008

Stage 3

It was a good day for the host country. A Frenchman, Samuel Dumoulin of team Cofidis, took the stage win. And another, Romain Feillu of team Agritubel, is now the holder of the Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey). Neither of them is expected to be in contention when the race reaches Paris, but it’s nice for now. Feillu is a young rider who is also now the holder of the White Jersey but since you can’t wear both and the yellow is 1000 times better, the white will pass to the second place youngin’.

William Frischkorn of the US and a member of the Garmin Chipotle team took second in the stage. A nice showing for the new US team and a young rider.

There may be some trash talking tonight as the peloton was split in a few pieces towards the end of today’s stage by a crash. It’s a rule of etiquette that you let the riders affected by a crash get back to the group before pressing the pace. But the front end of the peloton just kept hammer away. In their defense they were trying (unsuccessfully) to catch the 4 man break away before the end of the race.

Tomorrow is a 30km individual time trial.

Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) - Alejandro Valverde of Spain who is the leader of the Spanish team CAISSE D’EPARGNE team

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) - Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team, Team Columbia

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - Thomas Voeckler of France who is the leader of the French team BOUYGUES TELECOM

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Andy Schleck of Luxembourg who rides for Team CSC Saxo Bank of Denmark.

Au revoir!

Dumoulin winning the stage with a hurting Frischkorn coming in second

Tour de France 2008

Stage 2 is over. The results haven't change much. Just the Green Jersey will change hands. The stage was won in a sprint by Thor Hushovd of Norway who rides for the Credit Agricole team.

Yellow Jersey (overall leader) - Alejandro Valverde of Spain who is the leader of the Spanish team CAISSE D’EPARGNE team

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) - Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg who rides for the American team, Team Columbia

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - Thomas Voeckler of France who is the leader of the French team BOUYGUES TELECOM

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Riccardo Ricco of Italy who rides for the Spanish team SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT

Tour de France 2008

The tour has started and stage 1 is in the books.


Yellow Jersey (overall leader) - Alejandro Valverde of Spain who is the leader of the Spanish team CAISSE D’EPARGNE team

Green Jersey (points leader for sprinting) - Philippe Gilbert of Belgium who rides for the French team FRANCAISE DES JEUX

Polka Dot Jersey (best in the mountains) - Thomas Voeckler of France who is the leader of the French team BOUYGUES TELECOM

White Jersey (best young rider - under 25) - Riccardo Ricco of Italy who rides for the Spanish team SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT