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28.07 to 01.08.2007: 27th Tour de Wallonie
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01.08.2007 5. Hotton - Barvaux (152 km)
Borut Bozic takes overall win
Results:
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Lars Bak
Borut Bozic
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39th at 7'47"
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41st at 19'35""
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Lars Bak has saved the Tour of Wallonia for his team by winning taking a solo vitory in the ultimate stage, whereas Borut Bozic took the overall win. CSC has been in the good break every day during the five stages, but was never able to snatch the win until today. Just like yesterday, the stage was dominated by a big group that went away early and took a big advantage. Next to Bak among the eleven was also his team-mate Mathew Wilson, as well as Branisiau Samoilau, Christophe Kern, Bert de Waele, Wim Van Huffel, Greg Van Avermaet, Mathew Wilson, Sven Nevens, Kevin Hulsman and former leader Luis Pasamontes. With 25 kilometers to go, they still had more than 7 minutes of advantage and it was pretty clear that the winner of the stage was among them. Mathew Wilson was the first to make an attempt, but Hulsmans and Bak bridged up to him. The Dane then launched a powerfull attack at around 10 kilometers from the finish and flew away to a nice solo victory. With the other two being joined again by the next chasers, it was Christophe Kern who won the sprint for second place, 23 seconds behind the Danish rider. In the very hilly final, the peloton splitted up more than 7 minutes behind the break, but Borut Bozic was able to hold up with the first group and finished the stage in 23rd position, making the final overall victory his own. Andy Schleck crossed the finish line in 39th position, 7'47" behind his team-mate and half a minute down on the strongest out of the main field. There are not many overall changes for him today as he is ranked in 41st position in the final classifications, 19'35" down on Bozic. Andy hasn't made any big result this week, but with its changing profiles, the race certainly was a good preparation for his next goals like for example the Clasica San Sebastian next Saturday.
31.07.2007 4. Sambreville - Jemelle (211 km)
New situation: Bozic takes the lead. peloton far behind
Results:
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Remi Pauriol
Borut Bozic
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42nd at 19'13"
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43rd at 19'18""
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The fourth stage passed not far away from the Grand-Duchy with a trip to the South of the Province Luxemburg, to the picturesque town of Bouillon and the finish in Jemelle, near Marche-en-Famenne. It was a very tough stage with no less than 9 climbs, three of them being in the last 25 kilometers before the finish. Of course, this kind of stage brought some changes in the overall classification: exit Celli and Pasamontes, it is now the Slowenian rider Borut Bozic who is on top of the list, whereas it was Remi Pauriol who won the stage. The two were part of the good break of 6 riders that remained in the lead out of a bigger group of 15 which took off early in the stage and had up to 9 minutes of advantage. In addition to Pauriol and Bozic, Mauro Facci, Frédéric Gabriel, Pietro Caucchioli and Francesco Di Paolo were also present in the good break. Shortly before the finish, Facci and Pauriol managed to leave the other riders behind and it was the French rider from Crédit Agricole who was fastest in the two-men sprint. Bozic finished in third place and took over the yellow jersey. The other former members of the big break finished several minutes down, whereas the main peloton with Andy Schleck was more than 19 minutes late. CSC had with Kolobnev and Klostergaard 2 riders in the break and so they didn't chase behind. Andy could do nothing else than hide himself in the peloton and he finished the stage in 42nd position. In the overall classification, he is of course now also very far behind (43rd at 19'18") and has lost all chances for an overall victory.
30.07.2007 3. Chièvre - Thuin (217 km)
Another sprint: Palumbo first
Results:
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Guiseppe Palumbo
Luis Pasamontes
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25th at 7"
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31st at 53"
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The Tour of Wallonia moved West today into the Hainaut province. After a long stage of 217 kilometers, the victory was again decided in a sprint, despite the wall of Thuin that dressed in front of the riders with just one kilometer to go to the finish line. Guiseppe Palumbo had the fastest legs today ahead of yesterday's winner Gredg van Avermaet. They were still about twenty riders having passed the selection on the "Mur", among them also Wouter Weyland, who finishes in fourth position after having been third three times already, Luca Celli, the second overall as well as Luis Pasamontes, who finishes 8th in the stage and retains the overall leader jersey. 7 seconds later, a groupe of around 10 riders came into the finish, among them Andy Schleck who took 25th position and his team-mate Lars Bak. In the overall classification, the Luxemburgish rider moves up several positions and before the last two stages, he is now 31st, 53 seconds late on Pasamontes.
29.07.2007 2. St-Georges - Perwez (157 km)
Van Avermaet wins bunch sprint
Results:
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Greg Van Avermaet
Luis Pasamontes
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87th at 0"
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63rd at 46"
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The second stage of the Tour de Wallonie developped around the Valley of the Meuse, also known from the Flèche Wallonne with the climb of Peu d'Eau near Andenne. But the final of the stage was flat and the last 40 kilometers rather pleased to the sprinters. And so it wasn't a big suprise that the early break, consisting of Thierry Marichal, Dimitri Champion, Anthony Ravard and Kasper Kloostergard, was chased down by Quick-Step and Unibet with just 15 kilometers to go, after having had up to 5 minutes of advantage during their long periple. Despite a last attempt by Yuriy Krivtsov, the bunch sprint was unavoidable and it was the young and talented Greg Van Avermaet, who had been the only one in January to be able to beet Tom Boonen once at the Tour of Qatar, who took an easy stage victory, two bike length ahead of Aurélien Clerc and Wouter Weylandt, already third yesterday. Luis Pasamontes keeps the overall lead due to the hard work of his team, whereas Andy Schleck, who finished the stage in the last part of the pack, should have had a more or less relaxed day despite several crashes in the peloton.
28.07.2007 1. Haccourt - Welkenraedt (144 km)
Pasamontes wins opener
Results:
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Luis Pasamontes
Luis Pasamontes
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51st at 27"
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51st at 46"
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After having relaxed during several weeks from the physical and emotional fatigue after his fantastic performances in the Giro d'Italia, Andy Schleck has resumed cycling life in the Tour de Wallonie, 5 stages long. And the first one wasn't an easy one with half a dozen climbs around the city of Liège, two of them being in the last 20 kilometers. And it was a climber who took the stage win in the streets of Welkenraedt after a two-men sprint together with his break companion Luca Celli. These two had already left the peloton after 27 kilometers, together with Julien Belgy and Ludovic Auger and the four of them had up to 6 minutes of advantage. On the tough course, the peloton splitted in two parts, with Andy Schleck being in the firs group of around sixty riders. They chased hard behind Pasamontes and Celli, who had dropped Auger and Belgy, but it was already too late: with five kilometers to go, the advantage of the leaders was still well over a minute. Finally, the duo managed to keep 27 seconds on the line, on a first group in which Andy Schleck finished 51st.
28.07.2007 20. Marcoussis - Paris Champs-Elysées (146 km)
The last one for Bennati, Contador overall winner
Results:
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Daniele Bennati
Alberto Contador
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34th at 5"
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7th at 12'18"
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71st at 15"
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17th at 31'48"
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The traditionnal showdown on the Champs-Elysees with of course, as usual, lots of fun during the first kilometers, but then it was again hard work: head and hammer down during the 8 laps on the course next to the Arc de Triomphe to find out the stage winner on the must beautifull avenue of the cylcing world. Freddy Bichot was the first rider to attack at the entrance onto the local circuit, but there were 10 other riders who managed to get a bigger gap: José Gutierrez, Nicolas Portal, Juan Flecha, Simon Gerrans, Alessandro Ballan, Ronny Scholz, Anthony Charteau, Murillo Fischer, Mikael Delage and Christian Knees who took 45 seconds advantage on the 5th lap, despite serious chasing behind from Barloworld. Thor Hushovd's Crédit Agricole had to give a helping hand to the red squad around Robert Hunter to chase down the break, which had some famous "rouleurs" in it with Ballan, Flecha, Gutierrez or Knees. They were caught on the penultimat lap and after that, Lampre took over to prepare for Bennati. But it was Quick-Step's Sebastien Rosseler who launched the sprint out of the last corner. He returned himself just to see that he had Bennati on his wheel and not his team-mate Tom Boonen. Bennati didn't ask for more and took off for the stage victory ahead of Hushovd, Zabel and Hunter. Tom Boonen was in fifth position, but it turned out that he hadn't sprinted for the stage victory but instead just concentrated on staying in the wheels of Zabel and Hunter in order to be sure to win the green sprinter jersey. Several seconds later, Alberto Contador crossed the line in the pack and officially took the overall victory in a Tour de France that will be reminded more for the doping polemics than for the race itself, but also a Tour de France that remained interesting and passionate until the end. Next to the yellow jersey, Kim Kirchen also arrived at the finish in 34th position. He had to do some hard work in the last lap to get sprinter Bernhard Eisel in position before letting the fast men away to fight out the stage victory. Kim has of course done great things during this Tour de France with a 7th place overall, the first Top 10 position by a Luxemburgish rider since more than 40 years. But even more impressive than the result is the way it was achieved. Kim rode very intelligently and he never gave up fighting, nor in the offensive racing like on the way to Loudenvielle where he took second place in the stage, nor in defensive racing like in the Aubisque stage, where he was dropped a total of four times from the peloton, but always fought his way back and finally lost only 6 minutes to the stage winner. In addition, Kirchen was very good in the time-trials (18th and 13th) and he had only one really bad day, on the way to Plateau de Beille. If Kim certainly was very happy with his Tour, Frank Schleck surely is a little bit disappointed, as the expectations for him were very high, too high maybe after his big achievements of last year. Frank was brillant on the first stage in the Alps, all the way up to Tignes, but he has a first setback already the day after on the Galibier. At the end in the Pyrenees, Schleck was good again and used to stay up with the very best until the last kilometers of the stage. But it was already too late for a good overall classification and in addition, he didn't have the necessary luck to integrate a good break and have the opportunity to go for a stage victory. But the overall performance of Schleck is everything but bad and he has already promised that next year, he could focus more on the Tour de France and have a specific preparation for the race. Let's not forget that since the beginning of the season, Frank fought for the victory in every race that he competed, in Paris-Nice (8th), the Tour of the Basque Country (8th), in the Tour de Suisse (7th) and in the spring classics, to mention only these. This is certainly not the case for Contador, Evans and Leipheimer, those riders that are on top of the list today on the Champs Elysees.
28.07.2007 19. Cognac - Angoulême (56 km ITT)
Suspense until the end: Contador keeps yellow
Results:
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Levi Leipheimer
Alberto Contador
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13th at 3'00"
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7th at 12'18"
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36th at 5'18"
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17th at 31'38"
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It was the last deciding act for the Tour de France 2007 with a flat time-trial of 55,5 kilometers between Cognac and Anoulême. The final podium in Paris was practically sure, but not the order. Cadel Evans would he be able to gain nearly two minutes on Contador, known as excellent time-trialer, or would he on contrary see Leipheimer come back on him for second place? Well, the answer to these questions only occured in the very last kilometers, the gaps were tight and the suspense enormous until the end and this evening, the first three riders are within 31 seconds overall. This has never been seen yet in the Tour de France !! Stefan Schumacher, who didn't show himself much during this Tour de France, and Fabian Cancellara were very fast at the intermediate timings, but both of them were beaten at the finish by Leif Hoste and his extraordinary finish. The Belgian champion set a first reference time in 1h05'33", at a fantastic average speed of 50,8 km/h, and this time stayed at the top of the list until the arrival of Hincapie and then Karpets. The Russian rider did a tremendous job and he finished third in the stage. Only Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer did better and it was the Californian who impressed the most. Lying flat on his machine, the tiny but powerfull rider pushed the big gear and improved one intermediate time after the other. At one given moment, he even seemed able to take over the yellow jersey. After 35 kilometers, Leipheimer had already resolved half of his deficit in Evans and with 5 kilometers to go, he was within 8 seconds on the Australian in the overall classification. But on the hilly final, the Discovery rider was a little bit slower than before and he didn't take any more time on Evans. Despite his extraordinary performance, Leipheimer is still in third position overall this evening because if Evans limited the losses on the last kilometers, Contador also did. At the first intermediate point, the Spanish rider only had lost 22 seconds on Evans, but after 35 kilometers, it was nearly a minute. If they continued like that, it could have been Leipheimer in the end. But Contador turned the pedals faster and faster on the last, tough part of the course and he has finished 1'27" down on Evans and 2'18" down on his team-mate at the end. This means that he retains the yellow jersey with 23 seconds advantage on the Australian and 31 seconds on Leipheimer. The latter has a nice consolation prize with a brillant stage victory in 1h02'45", at an average speed of 53 km/h. Breathtaking !! Kim Kirchen also was breathtaking today and astonished lots of people, maybe even himself. He took off very fast and set the second time after 17,5 kilometers, just 2 seconds late on Karpets. Only Leipheimer, Evans and Contador were faster than the two at the point, so that Kim is credited with 5th fastest time out of all the riders. After that, Kim had to slow down a little bit, but has well limited the damage. He was 9th at the second intermediate point, 1'50" slower than Leipheimer but still in 7th position overall, even if Yaroslaw Popovych, who did a very good time-trial, approached very dangerously. With 5 kilometers to go, Kirchen passed in 11th place and he only had 12 seconds margin left on Popovych. On the other side, he had taken some ground to a disappointing Valverde and could even had the 6th place overall in sight. Kim gave everything he had in the last kilometers and he finally finished in 1h05'45", three minutes exactly down on Leipheimer. This means that he took the 13th position in the stage classification, at 50,6 km/h average speed, one place and 5 seconds only behind world champion Cancellara. Kirchen has lost 59 seconds on Popovych and gained 37 on Valverde, so that he stays in 7th position overall, 12'18" late on Contador, 41 seconds behind Valverde in sixth place and 12 seconds only ahead of Popovych in 8th. Frank Schleck was a little bit less motivated for this time-trial, as he didn't have any really big overall challenge left. He has nevertheless made a good performance and passed 31st, 32nd and 35th at the different intermediate timings. He rode very steadily and lost around 5-6 seconds per kilometer on Leipheimer. Schleck finished in 1h08'02" at 49 km/h average speed. This time meant a 36th position for him in the stage classification, 5'18" late on Levi Leipheimer. In the overall classification, Frank retains the 17th place, 31'38" behind Contador and he will surely enjoy the finish in Paris tomorrow.
27.07.2007 18. Cahors - Angoulême (211 km)
Casar stands up and wins
Results:
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Sandy Casar
Alberto Contador
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24th at 8'37"
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7th at 11'36"
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29th at 8'37"
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17th at 28'38"
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Just like in the stage of the day before, the beginning of the race has been very tought: several attacks, high speed and lost of small hills, with four of them being in fourth category in the King of the Mountain competition. But unlike yesterday, five riders could break away relatively early and were granted a big advantage. They were Axel Merckx and Frederik Willens, who both will also participate in the Gala Tour de France, organized by the ACC Contern in Luxembourg-town on August 5, as well as Michael Boogerd, Laurent Lefèvre and Sandy Casar. Willems fell out of the lead group after a crash together with Casar a few kilometers later and they were only four left to challenge the sprinters and their teams. But the latter accepted the defeat without fight because with 70 kilometers to go, they still hadn't initiated a chase. Only Discovery Channel set a moderate speed at the head of the peloton and the gap to the break increased up to 17 minutes. In the last 10 kilometers, attacks started in the leading group. Especially Michael Boogerd tried several times to escape, after the tragic moments that his team knew in the last days and after having realized that he had worked really much for nothing in the last two weeks, he maybe had a little extra motivation to win the stage. But nobody managed to get away and despite a bleeding leg, Sandy Casar had no problems to win the sprint with a big advantage over Merckx and Lefèvre, after having opened it right from the first place. Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen didn't show themselves today, on the contrary, they tried to hide in the peloton and protect as much as possible from the head and to recover for tomorrow's time-trial, if this is possible on a long, long stage of 211 kilometers like today. The most critical moment of the day for Kim surely was when the advantage of the break passed to over 16 minutes and Boogerd virtually passed before him in the overall classification. But other teams also feared for their positions like Euskatel, who started the chase in the peloton, so that the gap had decreased to eight and a half minutes at the finish, where Kirchen and Schleck took the places 24 and 29.
26.07.2007 17. Pau - Castelsarrasain (189 km)
The show must go on: Bennati wins, Contador in yellow
Results:
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Daniele Bennati
Alberto Contador
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31st at 9'39"
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7th at 11'36"
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37th at 9'39"
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17th at 28'38"
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After the exclusion of Michael Rasmussen by his Rabobank team due to incorrect behaviour, the peloton has started in Pau wihout yellow jersey in it, which didn't happen since 1991. But the identity of the succeeding rider wasn't a big secret: the stage was flat and didn't have any major influence on the overall classification, so that Alberto Contador, overall runner-up after yesterday's stage, could change his white jersey for a yellow one. But if there was no overall battle today, it was one of the very last chances for a break to succeed which made the stage again very fast. Jens Voigt of course was one of the first to try his luck together with Martin Elminger, Daniele Bennati, Markus Fothen, Daniel Righi, Manuel Quinziato, Matteo Tossato and David Millar. But the 9 riders had to battle very hard in order to get a gap because the peloton didn't want to let them go. After 100 kilometers of chase, their advantage still didn't exceed 2 minutes but suddenly Caisse d'Epargne, who did most of the work in the peloton for the team classification, stopped their work and the gap finally could grow. With 20 kilometers to go, attacking started in the break and soon they were only four left in the lead: Bennati, Fothen, Elminger and Voigt despite a puncture. Despite several attacks from Voigt and Fothen, these four have battled out the win on the line and sprint specialist Daniele Bennati had no problems to take the victory ahead of Fothen. Voigt, who had already won a Tour stage in Castelsarrasain in 2001, had to settle down with third place. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck have passed the day in the peloton, trying to recover from the tough last stages, but that wasn't quite easy because of the high speed that even broke the pack into pieces for a while. They surely would have wanted a more quiet stage begin, but they have achieved the most important: crossing the finish line in the middle of the pack, even nearly 10 minutes behind the stage winner. Kim has arrived in 31st position and Frank in 37th, but both of them have gained some places overall due to riders that did not start or finish the stage. Kirchen is now in 7th position overall, 11'36" late on Contador, whereas Schleck is noticed in 17th place, 28'38" late.
25.07.2007 16. Orthez - Col d'Aubisque (220 km)
Rasmussen confirms, tough day for Kirchen
Results:
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Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
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15th at 6'02"
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8th at 14'46"
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13th at 4'42"
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18th at 31'48"
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The last moutain stage had another very tough series of climbs with the Port de Larrau (1573 m), the Alto Laza (1129 m), the col de la Pierre St-Martin (1760 m), the col de Marie Blanque (1035 m) and the col d'Aubisque (1709 m). Party time for the climbers though, especially the Spanish ones and four of them escaped early together with Columbian rider Soler, namely Mayo, Sastre, Garcia Acosta and Verdugo. With such dangerous clients at the front, the speed was of course very high in the Rabobank led peloton, especially in the col de la Pierre St.Martin, third difficulty of the day. Whereas Frank Schleck was well positionned shortly behind the orange armada, Kim Kirchen and several other riders were dropped at the back of the group. The five leading riders went over the summit of the climb with a little bit less than five minutes advantage on the yellow jersey and one more over Kirchen. Fortunately, he had his team-mate Linus Gerdemann with him and with other riders like Voigt and Gusev, they came back into the Rasmussen group on the descent. But on the col de Marie-Blanque, the most steep one of the day, the speed was also very high and the first peloton decreased again. Kim Kirchen seemed a little better and he was able to hang on until 3 kilometers form the finish, when he was dropped with 3 kilometers to the summit. In the lead, they were only four now, Sastre, Mayo, Verdugo and Soler, and arrived on top with 2'15" on the group maillot jaune which was only composed by 12 riders, among them Frank Schleck who looked very easy. Rabobank has put the hammer down on the descent, so that the gap to the leading riders decreased to under a minute and no other rider, including Kim Kirchen, was able to bridge up from behind. In the Aubisque, where Sastre and Mayo isolated themselves in the lead, it was Popovych who worked the most, preparing an attack from Contador, whereas Frank Schleck still could hang on to the group. But at 10 kilometers from the finish, the Luxemburgish rider wasn't able to follow Popovych's rythm any more and he was dropped together with Valverde and Pereiro, the Caisse d'Epargne duo. Sastre and Mayo were joined a little bit later, so that everything was set up for the big showdown between Rasmussen and Contador. The attack of the white jersey took place with 8 kilometers to go, but Rasmussen did not panic and slowly, but surely closed the gap, whereas Frank Schleck was already one minute down in a small group. Two more times, Contador has jumped out of the box, but without ever bringing the yellow jersey into difficulties. On the contrary, Rasmussen himself accelerated in the last kilometer and flew away to the stage victory, with 26 seconds advantage on Leipheimer and 35 on Contador. The Danish rider has rewarded his team for their extraordinary work during the stage and even if he has lost the mountain jersey for good to Soler, he has increased his overall advantage to now 3'10" on Contador and 5'03" to Evans. The two time-trial specialists now have one more chance to challenge the Danish rider in the test against the clock on the penultimate stage. The Schleck group has disintegrated in the last kilometers and the Luxemburgish rider arrived in 13th position at the finish, 4'42" behind Rasmussen. After this brillant performance, Frank moves up once again several places overall, where he is now in 18th position, 31'48" late. Kim Kirchen, as for him, showed a fantastic finish in the stage. He was dropped three times today and since the penultimate climb, he was chasing alone behind the yellow jersey group. But he had enough strengh left to limit the damage. He was able to ride up the Aubisque in his own rythm and that's where he is best. One by one, he caught the riders before him and finished very strong in 15th position, only 6 minutes behind Rasmussen. He was able to save his good overall classification that way and stays inside the Top 10, precisely in 8th position at 14'46"
23.07.2007 15. Foix - Loudenvielle-le-Louron (196 km)
Kim Kirchen Second after long break
Results:
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Alexander Vinokourov
Michael Rasmussen
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2nd at 51"
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9th at 8'24"
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25th at 7'21"
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22nd at 26'46"
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The second stage in the Pyrenees didn't have any climb as hard as yesterday, but in exchange, there were a few more of them:
the col de Port at the beginning and then, on the second half of the course, the Portet d'Aspet, the very steep col de Menté, the port de Balès of the highest category and the col de Peyresourde just before the descent towards the finish in Loudenvielle-le-Louron. A big program an an opportunity for the two Luxemburgish riders to show themselves. After having lost some time yesterday, Kim Kirchen wanted a revenge and he didn't hesitate to attack in a long break. He has integrated a group that chased after Kohl and Tschopp, the two men who had escaped on the first climb of the day. After a regroupement at kilometer 55, they were 25 riders in the lead, among them Kim Kirchan and people like Vinokourov Arroyo, Arvesen, Vandevelde, Menchov, Kohl, Hincapie, Zubeldia, Landaluze, Perez or Cobo. At 46 km/h average speed, the group quickly took some advantage and they have tackled the next climb more than 8 minutes ahead of the peloton lead by Rabobank. On the Portet d'Aspet and the col de Menté, both the leading and the main group road at a steady pace, so that at
the foot of the port de Balès, the most difficult climb of the day, the gap was still around 8 minutes. On this uphill, the first group exploded and only Menchov, Arroyo, Landaluze, Kohl, Tshopp, Cobo and Vinokourov found themselves in the lead, whereas Kim Kirchen battled a few meters behind to join them. He bridged up together with Zubeldia and accelerated immediately to chase behind Johann Tschopp, who had attacked shortly before. In the meantime, the peloton also had accelerated after an attack from Kaschechkin and only a few riders managed to keep up with Michael Boogerd who made most of the work, among them Frank Schleck. Shortly before the end of the climb, Kirchen joined the leading Swiss rider with Arroyo and the three of them have crossed the summit together led by Kim, with 40 seconds advantage on the group Vinokourov and six and a half minutes on the group yellow jersey with Frank Schleck and the other favourites. In the col the Peyresourde, Kim has accelerated with Arroyo at the beginning, leaving Tschopp behind but Vinokourov, Zubeldia and Cobo were able to bridge up to them. With the powerfull accelerations of the Spaniards and Vinokourov, Kirchen was dropped a little bit, but he was able to find his own rythm and hang on a few meters behind the leaders. Finally, after several attacks in the lead, it was Vinokourov who isolated himself and he crossed the summit of Peyresourde with around 30 seconds advantage on Kirchen and Zubeldia. In the peloton of the favourites, Contador had attacked with a few kilometers to go in the Peyresourde and only Rasmussen was able to follow him, whereas Frank Schleck was dropped, after having given a last hand and a bottle of water to his leader Sastre. Vinokourov did not commit any error in the downhill and was able to snatch his second stage victory in this Tour with 51" of advantage on the next chasers Kirchen and Zubeldia. Kim didn't leave any chance to Zubeldia in the sprint and so he was able to take a fantastic second place after more than 160 kilometers in the lead of the race. Contador and Rasmussen have finished five and a half minutes later, whereas the other favourites like Klöden, Evans or Leipheimer needed another minute more. Shortly behind them, Frank Schleck came in at the 25th place, 7'21" behind Vinokourov. Of course, Kim Kirchen jumps up in the overall classification, where he moves to 9th place, 8'24" behind Rasmussen. After his extraordinary performance of today, he is also in 14th position in the best climber competition and in the points competition. Overall runner-up Alberto Contador is now 2'23" late on Rasmussen and the third rider Cadel Evans is 4 minutes late. After having done a good stage, Frank Schleck also moved up a little bit to 22nd position at 26'46"
22.07.2007 14. Mazamet - Plateau-de-Beille (197 km)
Bad day for the Luxemburgish riders
Results:
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Alberto Contador
Michael Rasmussen
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29th at 7'35"
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14th at 13'16"
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62nd at 16'55"
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24th at 24'56"
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Another very important stage with the first day in the Pyrenees and one of three mountain top finishes of the Tour de France 2007 at Plateau-de-Beille. A very difficult climb of 16 kilometers at nearly 8 % average slope, even more because the riders had already climbed the nearly as steep and even longer Port de Pailhères before. And it was Kim Kirchen who was among the first to animate the race togther with maillot jaune Rasmussen and some other riders like Voigt, Popovych or Zubeldia in a big break. They had up to one minute of advantage on the peloton but then the second overall Cadel Evans reacted and sent his team-mates to the front. Most of the riders in the group were caught again on kilometer 36, but 6 men were allowed to stay away and they tackled the Port de Pailhères with an advantage of 7 minutes. But the gap melted as fast as the size of the group yellow jersey because Saunier Duval and later Rabobank set a very, very high speed on the climb. Main victims: Moreau and Vinokourov, the winner of yesterday's time-trial, but unfortunately alos Frank Schleck. Perez, Txurruka, Colom and Gutierrez have crossed the summit of the climb with three minutes advantage on the group Rasmussen which contained only around 20 riders any more, among them Kim Kirchen. The Luxemburgish rider had to battle hard at the back to stay in contact, he felt the accumulated fatigue since the beginning of the Tour and didn't feel fresh any more. Frank Schleck has passed at the top around two minutes later, whereas Vinokourov and Moreau were a lot more backwards. On the climb to Plateau de Beille, Rabobank and Discovery road once again at a very high rythm and one of the first victims of the tremendous speed was Kim Kirchen. He did not try to follow the best, instead he slowed down a little bit with 12 kilometers to go and rode his own rythm, trying to loose as less time as possible instead of risking a major setback. The result for the T-Mobile rider was rather negative: 7'35" deficit on Contador the stage winner and Rasmussen the yellow jersey, who were clearly the two strongest rider in the peloton today. All the other favourites have lost time: Leipheimer and Sastre one minute, Klöden and Evans two minutes to mention only these. Other riders have lost a lot more time like Frank Schleck, who did not manage to come back into the first group on the descent of the Port de Pailhères and found himself in a small group with riders like Van Summeren, De la Fuente or Martinez. He has finished the stage in 62nd position, at nearly 17 minutes of Contador. Of course, the overall classification has been changed after this dramatic stage where the selection has been huge. Rasmussen of course keeps the yellow jersey and has now 2'23" advantage on Contador, whereas Cadel Evans as third is now 3 minutes late. Vinokourov and Kirchen fall out of the Top 10 and Kim now finds himself in 14th postion at 13'16" of Rasmussen and 2'21" of Popovych in 10th position. Frank Schleck falls back to 25th place, 25 minutes late on the yellow jersey. It is of course sad that both of them have lost their good position after the Alps, but if the legs are good on the next two tough stages, the new situtation will give them more tactical liberties to succeed in a big break.
21.07.2007 13. Albi - Albi (54 km time-trial)
Alexander the Greatest
Results:
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Alexander Vinokourov
Michael Rasmussen
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18th at 3'18"
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10th at 5'29"
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34th at 4'48"
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17th at 7'49"
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The moment of truth for Michael Rasmussen and the other climbers on today's long and tough time-trial around Albi. Would they have a chance to resist over 54 kilometers to the rouleurs like Klöden, Evans or Leipheimer? The suspense was of course big when Win Vansevenant opened the race on a very hilly course, even more because the weather was fairly unsteady and the conditions weren't the same for everybody. On the wet and slippery roads, there were several crashes, like the one of Fabian Cancellara, who had to sit and watch another time-trial specialist, Bradley Wiggins, set the first reference time at the finish in 1.08'48". During a long time, this performance was on top of the list, until Alexander Vinokourov set off. Already at the first intermediate timing, the Astana rider exploded the result of Wiggins and it was obvious that he was on his way to a very strong performance. At all the intermediate points, Vino has passed in the lead and at the finish, he was 2 minutes faster than Wiggins in 1h06'34", at an average speed of 48,7 km/h. The performance of the Astana team as a whole has to be rated as fantastic because they placed three riders among the four best with Klöden as Third despite a crash and Kaschechkin in fourth position. The only rider to be faster than the boys in blue was Cadel Evans who managed to take the second place at the finish, "only" 1'14" behind Vinokourov and the Australian confirms himself as one of the major favourites for the final overall victory in Paris. The other good surprises come from Michael Rasmussen, who was able to retain his yellow jersey by taking an excellent 11th place, 2'55" late and Alberto Contador, 7th of the time-trial at 2'18" and still in the battle for the overall victory. The bad performances go on the account of Menchov (21st), Sastre (26th), Mayo (46th) or even worse, Valverde who looses 6 minutes in 47th position and Moreau who looses more than nine (125th). The two Luxemburgish riders have delivered solid results, mostly Kim Kirchen, although he started relatively slowly in the first part of the course with long and slightly uphill straight lines. At the first intermediat timing, Kim was in 30th position, already 1'44" behind Vinokourov. In the second part of the course, he did a lot better and moved up to 19th position on top of the hill, which he has climbed only 10 seconds lower than Vinokourov. At that moment, the Luxemburgish rider was 2'48" late on the Kazakh and he lost 30 seconds more on the very last part. He was still fresh because he moved up another place in the rankings, towards position 18. The time of Kirchen 1'09'52" (46,4 km/h average speed) allows him to stay in the Top 10 overall because, if he is passed by Astarloza and Vinokourov, he has passed himself Valverde and Mayo, two of today's main victimes, and is now in 10th position, 5'29" behind Rasmussen and 4'29" behind the new runner-up Cadel Evans. Frank Schleck has also opted for a rather slow start and was only in 48th position after 18 kilometers. He had already lost 2'28" on Vinokourov at that moment but fortunately, he limited the damage a lot better after that. Frank has passed at the top of the climb 4 minutes late, but had moved up by a dozen places in the rankings, compared to the first intermediate time. Finally, he has finished very strongly because on the last kilometers, he only lost one single second on Vinokourov. With a time of 1.11'22" (average speed 45,4 km/h), he crossed the finish line in 34th position, 4'48" late on the winner. In the overall classification, he nevertheless looses some positions since riders like Menchov, Popovych or Gerdemann move past him and he is now in 17th position, 7'49" late on Rasmussen.
20.07.2007 12. Montpellier - Castres (179 km)
Royal sprint in Castres
Results:
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Tom Boonen
Michael Rasmussen
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35th at 0"
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9th at 5'06"
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86th at 0"
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12th at 5'56"
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In between the extremely tough stage of yesterday and tomorrow's time-trial, the stage between Montpellier and Castres was on paper perfect for an early break, even more with the climb of second category around 50 Kilometer from the finish that they could use to their advantage. But despite lots of attacks in the first racing hour and two bigger groups that were in the lead for a while, nobody really managed to get away. Only after 60 kilometers, the peloton let a group drive away and they were only two: former French champion Pierrick Fedrigo and Amets Txurruka managed to get up to 9 minutes of advantage. But at the moment they tackled the 10 kilometer long montée de la Jeante, the gap had already reduced to 6 minutes because Liquigas chased behind in the peloton. The Italian team continued to set a steady pace in the climb and the peloton stayed more or less together, with lots of sprinters still being present at the front. Of course, their teams didn't hesitate to participate into the chase. Quick-Step and Lampre were very active and the two unlucky leaders were caught just under the red flag, after practically 120 kilometers at the front of the race. The sprint had already been opened by Steegmans, with Boonen in his wheel and the green jersey finished off the work in style by taking the win ahead of Zabel, Hunter, Bennati and Eisel. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck have passed a quiet day in the peloton, trying to protect themselves from the wind. But like the other riders, both of them are beginning to feel tired after several days of hard racing at high speed. They have crossed the finish line in the main group, Kim in 35th position and Frank in 86th. There are no overall changes before the time-trial and the Pyrenees.
18.07.2007 11. Marseille - Montpellier (183 km)
Hunter takes very tough stage
Results:
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Robert Hunter
Michael Rasmussen
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10th at 0"
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9th at 5'06"
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76th at 0"
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12th at 5'56"
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Another flat stage in the Bouches-du-Rhône department between Marseille and Montpellier. But this so called transistion stage was transformed by the crosswinds into a big overall battle. From the beginning of the stage, Freddy Bichot accelerated and he has started a real festival of attacks because if a break should go away, everyone wanted to be there. Like Jens Voigt who hasn't had enough for his money in yesterday's stage and tried it again today. At kilometer 10, the German attacked, but just like the other 8 riders in the break, he was caught again more than 20 kilometers later. After 50 kilometers of hard racing, the peloton had to rest a little bit and 5 riders were allowed to break away: Gilbert, Fofonov, Wegmann, Florencio and Millar took up to 7 minutes of advantage. But the wind blew strong and on the unsheltered roads, the peloton split up several times. Nearly the whole Astana team set the speed at the front, whereas French champion Chrisophe Moreau, who had crashed earlier on, as well as the sprinters Förster, Hushovd and Zabel were trapped behind. Frank Schleck and Kim Kirchen have caught the right train and both of them were present up front. Under this circumstances, the break didn't have any chances to succeed and the five were caught with around 40 kilometers to go. The peloton continued with tremendous speed towards Montpellier where Alexander Vinokourov, who had suffered all day, showed a nice reaction by attacking with 4 kilometers to go. But he was caught again soon and then it was time for Cancellara to attack, with Kim Kirchen in his wheel. The Luxemburgish rider found himself in the lead with 500 meters to go and didn't have any choice than to launch the sprint very early. Around 10 riders managed to stay in his wheel as he took the last turn still leading. But it was a little bit too early and in the last straight line, Kim was overtaken by Hunter, Cancellara, Fischer and Pozzato in this order to finish in 10th position. Frank Schleck had less luck in the final and he was involved in a crash that also took down Tom Boonen. Nothing too bad for the Luxemburgish rider who finishes the stage in 76th position and doesn't loose any time due to the fact that the incident took place less than 3 kilometers from the finish. The group Moreau arrived at the finish more than 3 minutes late and the French champion moves out of the Top 10 in the general classification where both Kirchen and Schleck move up one position. Kim is now in 9th place, 5'06" late on Rasmussen and Frank is 12th, 5'56" behind.
18.07.2007 10. Tallard - Marseille (229 km)
Vasseur wins out of major break
Results:
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Cédric Vasseur
Michael Rasmussen
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46th at 10'36"
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10th at 5'09"
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40th at 10'36"
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13th at 5'56"
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After three stages and a rest day in the mountains, the riders have found a flat profile again today on a big stage of 230 kilometer towards Marseille and the Mediterranean sea. A long ride alongside the Durance river was followed by two category 3 climbs at the end of the stage in the beautifull region of Cassis and they surely had an influance on tactics, because no sprinter team wanted to support the race entirely without being granted a massive sprint. With this constellation, it was clear that today, a big break had chances to succeed and the beginning of the stage was very hectic. After around 50 kilometers of hard racing where everyone jumped into everyones wheel, Markus Burghardt, a team-mate of Kim Kirchen, managed to create a break by attacking in the côte de Châteauneuf-Val-Saint-Donat. This year's winner of Gent-Wevelgem took with him some more solid "rouleurs" like Voigt, Flecha, Albasini, Casar, Halgand, Vasseur, Scheirlinckx, Kuschynski, Grivko and Bossoni. In the peloton, Rabobank set a steady, but moderate tempo, so that the Eleven were able to take up to 11 minutes of advantage, at around 100 kilometers from the finish. No other team has given its support to the Rasmussen armada and with 40 kilometers to go, the leaders have tackled the more hilly part of the stage with still around 10 minutes of gap. There were several attacks at the front and the most strongest riders were Voigt, Albasini, Casar, Halgand and Vasseur, who left the others behind shortly before Cassis. The col de la Gineste didn't change anything in this situation and the five took together the descent towards Marseille. Despite several attacks from Jens Voigt in the streets of the city, the stage was decided in a sprint: Cedric Vasseur took off very fast and resisted until the finish to the return of Sandy Casar, even though by a very narrow margin. The peloton with Kim Kirchen in 46th position and Frank Schleck in 40th arrived ten and a half minutes later at the famous football stadium. There were no major changes overall where the two Luxemburgish riders stay in 10th and 13th place.
17.07.2007 9. Val d'Isère - Briançon (160 km)
Surprise win for Soler, Kirchen 8th
Results:
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Mauricio Soler
Michael Rasmussen
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8th at 46"
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10th at 5'09"
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24th at 3'24"
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13th at 5'56"
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On the stage of the Galibier, the stage which was in 2005 theater of one of the worst day in Kim Kirchen's career and where he had to quit the Tour, the Luxemburgish T-Mobile rider has shown a tremendous performance by taking 8th place in Briançon. Because despite the presence of the roof of the Tour, the col de l'Iseran at 2.770 meter of altitude at the beginning of the stage, everything was focused today on the other climb, the col du Galibier and its little brother, the col du Télégraphe. The contestants had to tackle this monster with 1.900 meters of change in altitude between the kilometers 85 and 120, with a descent of 40 kilometers into Briançon remaining after that. 6 riders have started the Télégraphe with 2 minutes and a half advantage on the main peloton, but the small group composed by Popovych, Gusev, Vaugrenard, Gutierrez, Clement and Astarloza quickly exploded after the attack of Mikel Astarloza. The peloton of the favourites also decreased more and more on the climb due to the speed set by Saunier Duval and Rabobank. At the beginning of the Galibier, Astarloza was joined again by Popovych, Gusev and Gutierrez, just to be dropped a little bit later when Columbian rider Soler bridged up to the lead group out of the peloton. An acceleration by Valverde had reduced the group of the favourites further more with Vinokourov and Gerdemann dropped, whereas Kim Kirchen and also Frank Schleck, in his light pedalling style, still were well up there. But after another attack of Valverde, the Luxemburgish CSC rider was dropped and he fell back into the group with Vinokourov. He certainly had problems in finding a good rythm on such a short und intense stage, just after the rest day. Then came the big hour of Alberto Contador, who jumped away alone with a very powerfull attack and crossed the summit of the Galibier still 2 minutes late on the surprisingly strong Soler. 30 seconds later, Cadel Evans arrived at 2.645 meters of altitude and 30 more seconds behind, there was the first group with Kim Kirchen. Also in this group was the man with the yellow jersey, Rasmussen, as well as Arroyo, Valverde, Sastre, Leipheimer, Klöden, Cobo, Mayo and Moreau, whereas Schleck arrived at the top less than a minute later. He was together with riders like Vinokourov or Menchov and of course wasn't allowed to lead any more in this groupe, his team-mate Sastre being at the front and having the opportunity to gain time on these riders. Contador find some very important support in the downhill with Popovych but with 10 kilometers to go, the duo still was one minute late on Soler and they were soon joined by Kirchen, Valverde, Arroyo, Rasmussen, Astarloza and the others. It remained only a small climb in the centre of Briançon to make the difference and Soler attacked it with 55 seconds advantage left. Enough to take the stage win and the Columbian rider managed to keep 38 out of them on runner-up Valverde at the finish. Shortly behind, Kim Kirchen took behind Evans, Contador, Mayo, Rasmussen and Leipheimer the 8th place at 46". After this big performance, he moves of course up several places overall, where he is now in 10th position, about 5 minutes late on Rasmussen, who is still leader with now two and a half minutes of advantage on the second Valverde. Frank Schleck crossed the finish line in 24th place in a small group with his team-mate Vandevelde as well as riders like Vinokourov, Kaschechkin, Horner, Pereiro or Karpets. They arrived 3'24" late on stage winner Soler and so Frank looses several places overall where he finds himself now in 13th position, 5'56" behind Rasmussen. After the first mountain stages in the Alps, the two Luxemburgish riders are both among the Top 15 overall, a performance that now other country except Spain realizes.
15.07.2007 8. Le Grand Bornand - Tignes (165 km)
Triple win for Rasmussen, Schleck fifth
Results:
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Michael Rasmussen
Michael Rasmussen
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22th at 5'10"
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19th at 5'02"
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5th at 3'13"
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9th at 3'14"
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After yesterday's opener, here is the main dish with one of the most difficult stages of the 2007 Tour de France. In less than 100 kilometers, the riders had first to cross the Cormet de Roselend, culminating at 1967 meters of altitude, than the montée de Hauteville (1639 m) and the final climb up to 2068 meters of height at the finish in the ski resort Tignes. In this first really deciding stage, the Luxemburgish rider showed excelling performances, materialized by a 5th place at the finish for Frank Schleck, who also makes his appearance under the Top 10 overall in 9th position. But the man of the day was without doubt Michael Rasmussen who did a tremendous job today, passing the three major climbs in first position, and was reminded by a triple score: stage victory, yellow jersey and polka-dot jersey of best climber. However, the Dane hasn't even be part of the early break that went away after 30 kilometers and had riders in it like Hincapie, Voigt, Rogers, Aerts, Schumacher or Kohl, but despite a gap of more than 3 minutes, he has bridged up to then in a few kilometers only on the Cormet de Roselend. Only Rogers, Kohl, Goubert, Arroyo and Colom managed to hold onto the wheel of "chicken" in the climb and like yesterday, T-Mobile had a tactically perfect day with Rogers up front and Kirchen with yellow jersey Gerdemann waiting behind in the peloton. But then, everything turned around in just one moment, after a turn, when Rogers went down onto the ground. The Australian tried to continue for several kilometers, but the damage was quickly obvious: he suffered form a severe shoulder injury and had to quit the race. Rasmussen had gotten rid of his biggest opponent and flew away to the stage victory. After having had up to 6 minutes of advantage on the first bigger chasing group, he still had nearly 3 of them at the finish on runner-up Iban Mayo. Mayo has been with French champion Moreau one of the strongest riders in the first group of favourites and had attacked in the very last slopes up to Tignes to take the second place. Also in this group was Frank Schleck who did a fantastic job, even if the final wasn't really like he wanted. The group formed itself with also Moreau, Mayo, Valverde, Evans, Kashechkin and Contador, but all those riders played tactical games. Accelerations and attacks were followed by observation rounds, whereas Schleck had prefered a more regular pace. This would have suited him better would also have helped the group to gain more time on Rasmussen on the lead as well as on dropped riders like Vinokourov, Klöden, Menchov, Sastre or Leipheimer for example. But only Moreau and Mayo worked in the group, the others preferred to wait and fight out the next places behind Rasmussen in a sprint, in which Frank Schleck took a nice fifth place. The gaps between the favourites though remained very small, whereas Rasmussen had enough advantage to become the new overall leader, 43 seconds ahaed on Gerdemann and 3'14" ahead of Frank Schleck, now in 9th position. Kim Kirchen also had made a good impression and was well situated in the second group of favourits, just 20 seconds behind the Schleck group. But his team-mates had worked a lot the whole day and after Rogers' crash; Kim was the only T-Mobile rider left at the side of yellow jersey Gerdemann. When the latter showed signs of weakness, Kim was oredered by his diercteur sportif to stay with him, even though he felt himself very strong. Out of the Vinokourov group, Kirchen waited for his team-mate and tried to bring him most rapidly to the finish line. This was partly a succes because Gerdemann lost the yellow jersey, but nevertheless is still second overall this evening. Kim Kirchen was very sad at the finish to have lost 2 minutes on the other favourites that he shouldn't have. After a 22nd position in the stage, he is now 19th overall, more than 5 minutes behind Rasmussen. The future will show if his team has made a tactical mistake or not.
14.07.2007 7. Bourg-en-Bresse - Le Grand Bornand (198 km)
The big day out for Linus Gerdemann
Results:
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Linus Gerdemann
Linus Gerdemann
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22th at 3'38"
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20th at 4'14"
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19th at 3'38"
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28th at 4'23"
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There it is, the first mountain stage in the Alps, that are crossed this year before the Pyrenees. It wasn't really a big mountain stage as a whole, but the col de la Colombière, just before the finish in Grand-Bornand, is one of the most feared summits in the peloton with its 16 kilometers of length. But the main favourites for the overall classification have neutralized themselves and it was a young German rider of 24 years who was able to take the opportunitie to snatch the stage win as well as the overall classification. Linus Gerdemann was in fact the strongest rider out of a group of 15 that broke away early in the stage, among them people like Flecha, Savoldelli, Fofonov, Tankink, Gutierrez or Wegmann. Almost every team was represented at the front, so that the break was able to take a big advantage of up to 8'30" at 100 kilometers from the finish. The best out of the group would never be caught again and on the Colombière, Gerdemann has dropped one after the other De la Fuente, Fofonov and Landaluze. At the summit, the German had 18 seconds advantage on the latter and he didn't do any mistakes in the descent, so that he finally crossed the finish line 40 seconds ahead of Landaluze and three minutes and a half ahead of the peloton with the favourites. Nearly 35 riders were still together in this group, among them the suffering Klöden and Vinokourov as well as Kirchen and Schleck. If the two Luxemburgish riders have crossed the finish line nearly side by side in 22nd respectively 19th position, they surely will not have the same satisfaction about their day. For T-Mobile, the day was exceptionnal, with Gerdemann at the front, both Kim Kirchen and Michael Rogers could hide in the peloton and wait for the things to come. In addition, they took a nice treasure at the finish: stage victory, yellow jersey, white jersey, yellow backnumbers as best team and prize for the most aggressive rider. Difficult to find better. On the other hand, CSC was with Predictor-Lotto the only team that was not represented by a rider in the break. They had to work at the front of the peloton today in order to limit the gap, just like they have done it since the beginning of the Tour. Among the most active riders was Fabian Cancellara who has transformed over night from protected rider into domestique and even with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, he took long turns at the front of the pack and went back to the team cars to take drinks for Schleck and Sastre.
13.07.2007 6. Semur-en-Auxois - Bourg-en-Bresse (200 km)
Boonen takes last chance before the mountains
Results:
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Tom Boonen
Fabian Cancellara
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46th at 0"
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34th at 1'08"
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68th at 0"
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48th at 1'17"
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The riders had another occasion to see wineyards today on the fifh stage of the Tour de France, through the regions of Côte d'Or or Mâconnais. It was the last chance for the sprinters before the mountains, because only two small hills waited for them on the 200 kilometers between Semur-en-Auxois and the town of the chicken, Bourg-en-Bresse. The conditions for them were optimal, even more because the traditionnal early break of the stage consisted of only one rider, Englishman Bradley Wiggins. A little bit more than 10 minutes was the gap that the fast men and their teams accorded to the poursuit world champion, before starting the chase. With 100 kilometers to go, the advantage of Wiggins had dropped under 10 minutes again and in the peloton, calculation started in order to catch the leader the latest possible, but without risking not to catch him at all. The timing was pretty good, because Wiggins was caught with 7 kilometers to go, after having ridden around 190 kilometers alone in the lead. Quick-Step, Predictor, Milram, but also Kim Kirchen's T-Mobile team for Cavendish prepared the bunch sprint, but with less than one kilometer to go, the rider from Britain collided with Tom Boonen and ruined his front wheel. Concerning the Belgian rider, it was the derailleur that didn't work any more. Tom Boonen was stuck on the 53 x 11, but this was exactly the developement he needed to win the final sprint ahead of Freire and Zabel and take back the green jersey from the latter. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck have had a more or less relaxed day in the peloton, their mission today was to hide in the pack, to protect themselves from the wind and save as much strength as possible for tomorrow's stage, which could already be deciding for the overall classification. Both of them have finished the stage in the peloton, just like Fabian Cancellara who will be another day in yellow tomorrow, but maybe this one could well be his last one.
12.07.2007 5. Chablis - Autun (183 km)
Pozzato wins, Kirchen misses victory
Results:
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Filippo Pozzato
Fabian Cancellara
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4th at 0"
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34th at 1'08"
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15th at 0"
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48th at 1'17"
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The "wine stage" of the Tour de France led the riders form the pictoresque white-wine-town Chablis over 182,5 km alonside the Bourgogne region to Autun, near such famous places as Chassagne-Montrachet or Santenay. But not only for sigthseeing, the stage was very interesting because no less than eight climbs were on the program, the last one with just 10 kilometers to go. The final promised to be very animated, but before that, the spotlights were on an early break. Sylvain Chavanel wasn't satisfied with the failure of yesterday's attempt and the Frenchman attacked once again very early in the stage, together with Philippe Gilbert, Gianpaolo Cheula and William Bonnet. CSC had announced that they would not defend the yellow jersey with all their energy today, and so the group was able to build up a 14-minute lead. But in the meantime, a coalition had formed in the peloton and around a dozen teams have sent a rider to the front for the chase. On the unceasing up and downs of the course, the gap melted quickly and Chavanel, the last rider left of the break, was caught in the côte de la Croix de la Libération, just a few kilometers from the finish. Some of favourites had contact with the tarmac today like Moreau, Mayo, Klöden or Vinokourov, and the latter crashed in a very bad moment. He had to chase for serveral long kilometers to limit the time loss on the other GC contenders. The difficult course naturally made a selection and on the last climb, a group of around 80 riders established itself in the lead, among them of course Frank Schleck and also a very good looking Kim Kirchen. The Luxemburgish rider even led the first group over the summit of the côte de la Croix de la Libération, just behind the escaped Lefèvre. But despite several attacks, nobody managed to get away in the last kilometers and the leading group sprinted for the stage win. Unfortunately, Kim Kirchen was a little bit stuck in on the last turn and he started the sprint a lot too far back. Filippo Pozzato showed out to be the Best and he took the stage victory ahead of Freire and Bennati. But it was Kirchen who was the fastest in the last meters and the Luxemburgish rider moved past his opponents one by one to finish in 4th position, just one bike length away from the win. Frank Schleck, who was often at the front of the pack in the climbs today, didn't sprint for the stage victory and he crossed the line in 15th position. Also present in the leading group was Fabian Cancellara, who was able to hold on with the Best and retain the lead in the overall classification. Kim Kirchen moved up several places here to the 34th position and Frank Schleck to the 48th, but Vinokourov finally has lost one minute and twenty seconds and moved down a lot in the classification.
11.07.2007 4. Villers-Cotterêts - Joigny (193 km)
Good sprint by Thor the Viking
Results:
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Thor Hushovd
Fabian Cancellara
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29th at 0"
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55th at 1'08"
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43th at 0"
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89th at 1'17"
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The peloton continues heading south with another long day of 193 kilometers in the champagne region. There were only a few small climbs in a typical sprinter stage, but 5 riders decided to give it a try to avoid the bunch sprint. It was quite a strong break with Juan-Antonio Flecha, Sylvain Chavanel, Christian Knees, Gorka Vedugo and Mathieu Sprick who quickly took up to 4 minutes of advantage on the CSC-led main peloton. This gap remained steady for more than 100 kilometers, before Quick-Step, Predictor and Lampre intensified the chase in the peloton. Those teams surely wanted to avoid what happened yesterday, where the break was caught only at the very end and the sprint couldn't be prepared in a proper way. With 15 kilometers to go, the gap had dropped under a minute and the escape was in sight; 7000 meters later, they were caught and it was time for the massive sprint. Kim Kirchen worked at the front for T-Mobile, but it was Julien Dean who started the sprint for his team-mate Hushovd. Thor the Viking finished the job in impressive style in the middle of the road and he took his first win for the season, ahead of South African Robert Hunter and Oscar Freire. Kim was among the very first when the sprint started, but after he was stuck in a little bit at the right side of the road, he stopped sprinting and crossed the finish line without pedalling in 29th position. After having led the peloton for a long while today to protect the yellow jersey, CSC was not interested in the sprint finish today and Frank Schleck has crossed the line in the middle of the peloton, in 43rd place. There are few changes in the overall classification, where Hushovd moves up to second position, 29 seconds behind Cancellara.
10.07.2007 3. Waregem - Compiègne (237 km)
Cancellara surprises the sprinters
Results:
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Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
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27th at 0"
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53rd at 1'08"
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20th at 0"
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91st at 1'17"
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Today was the longest stage of this year's Tour with 237 kilometers between Waregem and Compiègne and the riders have finally entered France for good. Like yesterday, the course went over some famous roads, those of Paris-Roubaix, and passed at legendary places like Wallers or Denain. But luckily enough for the riders, no cobbled section was on the program. The first news of the day were good ones because they said that Frank Schleck did not seem to have any big damage after yesterday's crash and that he only suffered some cuts and bruises. Two riders have animated the stage and once more the smallest team in the Tour, Agritubel, was well present up front, with Nicolas Vogondy this time. Together with Matthieu Ladagnous, the Frenchman established himself in the lead for a long, long journey with a very doubtfull issue. Because if they had up to 13 minutes af advantage after one hour and a half of racing, the work of CSC at the front of the pack quickly brought back the gap into decent dimensions. The speed was rather moderate on the long straight roads of the Aisne department, in the break as well as in the peloton, and the gap remained steady around 5 minutes for a while. With around 50 kilometers to go, things accelerated, Vogondy and Ladagnous were joined in the lead by Augé and Willems. After that, it was a matter of mathematics and the sprinter teams had made their homework: the break was caught in the last straight line, long of one kilometer. But it was Fabian Cancellara who surprised everyone by attacking just under the red flag and resisting to the sprinters until the line and snap the stage win ... in the yellow jersey. A fantastic performance that Frank Schleck celebrated by crossing the line in the middle of the peloton with his hands up in the sky. Zabel and Napolitano came in just half a bike length too late, whereas Kim Kirchen also finished in the front of the pack in 27th position, shortly behind Schleck as 20th. In the overall classification, Cancellara of course keeps his yellow shirt and the Luxemburgish riders also remain more or less in the same positions.
09.07.2007 2. Dunkerque - Gent (169 km)
Double victory at home
Results:
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Gert Steegmans
Fabian Cancellara
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23rd at 0"
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53rd at 48"
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92nd at 0"
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95th at 57"
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It seems difficult to find a flatter course than the one of today between Dunkerque and Gent, on the roads of the Ronde van Vlaanderen of Gent-Wevelgem, but without the Flemish hellings. The danger for the riders instead come from the natural elements, the wind and the rain that started falling down on the riders towards the end of the day. The beginning of the stage was fairly calm and the first attack of Marcel Sieberg after 18 kilometers, just before the Belgian border, was already a success. Together with Ruben Perez and Cédric Hervé, the tall German rider managed to get a gap, whereas the other riders didn’t react, convinced that the sprinter teams, especially the Belgian Predictor and Quick-Step, wouldn’t permit anything else than a bunch sprint today. Along the Belgian coast, the three riders took up to 6 minutes of advantage, before heading to the inside of the country, direction Gent. A crash in a roundabout around 30 kilometres from the finish line involved Frank Schleck who found himself on the ground with some bruises on his elbow. Fortunately and thanks to the help of his team-mate Cuesta, he was able to take his place again in the peloton, after some kilometres of hard chase and despite the very high speed. A high speed that was set as expected by Predictor and Quick-Step, causing the advantage of the break to decrease dramatically. Despite some strong turns from Sieberg, the three riders were caught with around three kilometres to go, just before another massive crash happened, throwing more than half of the field onto the tarmac. A small group of around 20 riders led by Kim Kirchen escaped after the crash and the Luxemburgish rider took a very strong turn at the front, hoping to bring his team-mate Bernhard Eisel in good position for the sprint. But Quick-Step also had a very strong presence at the front and they were able to take a double victory at the finish with Geert Steegmans in front of Tom Boonen. Other sprinters like McEwen, Zabel or Freire were well there in the first group, but on the slightly uphill finish line, nobody was able to match up with the former world champion and his team-mate. Kim Kirchen has finished in 23rd position just behind the first group whereas Frank Schleck lost some time in the crash and finished in 93rd position. Because the incident happened in the last kilometres, all of these riders were given the same time as the winner, according to the regulations. There hasn’t been any overall changes today, but these could occur tomorrow when the damage of these crashes will last to their full extend on the bodies of the riders. Fabian Cancellara looked bad among others when he crossed the finish line holding his left arm, but for the moment, the Swiss riders is still owner of the yellow jersey.
08.07.2007 1. London - Canterbury (203 km)
McEwen comes back after crash
Results:
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Robbie McEwen
Fabian Cancellara
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27th at 0"
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51st at 48"
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32nd at 0"
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93rd at 57"
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After a last tourist trip through the town, the riders have already left London for a journey of 203 kilometers through the county of Kent with some typical landscape, some charming villages ant the finish in Canterbury. A mostly flat course with only three small climbs, the last one being only 20 Kilometers away from the finish line. David Millar surely wasn’t really happy with his performance at the prologue (13th at 33 seconds) and had decided today profit from the last day on his home soil to show himself. The Scotsman attacked as soon as the riders left London and established himself alone in the lead. Some 30 kilometers later, Millar was joined in the lead by three more riders, Stéphane Augé, Freddy Bichot, Andriy Grivko and Aleksandr Kuchynski. No really dangerours rider was up there and CSC controlled the pace in the field, maintaining the gap around a reasonable mark of 5 minutes, before heading over to the sprinter teams. Under their control, the peloton came closer and closer to the break and the last rider, Frenchman Augé, was swallowed up with 18 kilometres to go. Just before the last climb, on narrow roads where everyone wanted to be at the front, a crash occurred in the peloton with among others the sprinters Cavendish, McEwen and Zabel as victims. After an impressive chase by their team-mates, the latter two were able to come back into the peloton, just in time to participate in the massive sprint. Despite a hurting hand and bleeding knees, McEwen took the lead with around 150 meters to go and won his usual stage, in front of Hushovd and Boonen. Kim Kirchen and Frank Schleck were attentive during the whole day and they made the necessary efforts to be at the front of the pack in the most strategic moments. Especially during the dangerous final, the two Luxemburgish riders were at the front, without mixing up with the sprinters however. Thanks to that and with a little bit of luck, both of them were able to avoid the crashes and finished in the main peloton, in 27th respectively 32nd position. There were of course no major changes overall, where Fabian Cancellara is ready for another day in yellow.
07.07.2007 P. London - London (Prologue 8 km)
Swiss precision work against the clock
Results:
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Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
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53ème à 48"
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53ème à 48"
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95ème à 57"
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95ème à 57"
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It was some kind of curious to see the start of the Tour de France in the middle of London with as backdrop such famous places like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace or the Mall, the most prestigious street of London, the one the leads to the palace of the queen and the one that hosted today the finish of the prologue of the Tour de France. A totally flat prologue with some turns, but whose most important characteristic certainly was its length of 8 kilometers. A real time-trial as prelude to the Tour, that has already done some damages. The name of the winner wasn't really a surprise: world champion Fabian Cancellara had made out of this prologue a major goal of his season and just like a swiss precision watch, he was ready on D-day for the challenge against the clock. He didn't really take things easy: 13 seconds of advance on his runner-up Andreas Klöden and 23 seconds advantage on the fourth George Hincapie and the fifth, world and Olympic poursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, the other big favourite with home advantage. What a performance !! Among the favourites for the overall classification, there are already some gaps too: some of them have seazed a good opportunity like Klöden (second), Gusev (fifth), Karpets (sixth) and Vinokourov (seventh) and others (Leipheimer, Menchov, Valverde) have lost more than 30 seconds on them, some more(Moreau, Sastre, Mayo) even more than 30 seconds. The two Luxemburgish riders didn't play a first role either. In 9'38", Kim Kirchen has finished the prologue in 53rd position, 48 seconds behind Cancellara. With regard to his latest good performances, like for example the prologue on a similar course at the Tour de Suisse, the T-Mobile rider surely hoped for more today. But on a course that was made difficult by the wind, at 49 km/h of average speed, Kim has nevertheless realized the same time than for example Jens Voigt and has done better than Moreau, Hoste or Bruzeghin. Frank Schleck wasn’t at his Best either and in front of the massive crowds, he finished in 9’47” at the 95th position. With an average speed of 48,4 km/h, he needed for the way to Hyde Park and back 57 seconds more than Cancellara. But he has at least one thing to console himself: the victory of his team-mate and the fact that he will be riding next to the yellow jersey in front of the pack for the next couple of days. And remember last year, where his prologue was even worse and he finished far beyond the 100th rider, but nevertheless did have an exceptional final week in the Tour.
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Kirchen
