Stage 12: BEWARE THE ECHELON

Stage 12, nice flat stage before the big mountains.  Easy day, right?  Sprinter stage, right?  No, today's stage turned in to an opportunity for several major riders to gain time on Froome because ECHELON.  A nasty side wind allows for opportunistic attacks, and as Jens Voigt spurned the attack in the Tour of California earlier this year, Contador and SaxoBank timed it just right to drop Froome by forming the allmighty echelon.  Making the cut of the small lead group were Sagan and Cavendish, and Cav made up for his miss yesterday, taking the stage and pushing Sagan to another 2nd place.

I don't even see another rider in the shot

Also making the cut were Bauke Mollema and Laurens Tem Dam, both making up just over a minute on Froome.  Missing the move, and even further back after some poor timing with a flat, was Valverde.  He dropped WAY out of 2nd place.  And my prediction which I was oh so proud of a few days ago is toast.
Not to beat a dead horse here, but one of the reasons Froome missed the move and couldn't catch back up was that he only had 2 Sky riders along side.  Contador was riding with 4 or 5 teammates for the last 30km.

Week 3 preview coming tomorrow, stay tuned!

Parting Thought: ech·e·lon  (sh-ln)

n.

1.

a. A formation of troops in which each unit is positioned successively to the left or right of the rear unit to form an oblique or steplike line.

b. A flight formation or arrangement of craft in this manner.

c. A similar formation of groups, units, or individuals.

Stage 12: Kittel the World

What the what?  It's not like Marcel Kittel was an unknown sprinter or anything, but I think there would be few people outside of Ma and Pa Kittel who would have bet on him winning 3 stages in this year's tour.  Matching the wins by Cav, Greip, and Sag combined (I thought they all needed 1 syllable nicknames).  I'm done making excuses for him, too.  Sure, it was another finish that wasn't clean, but you know what?  He's the constant survivor.  He's the one that's gotten through the mess and put himself in position to win.  3 times.  And today over the Manxman himself, Mark Cavendish.
Congrats Marcel.  And congrats Ma and Pa Kittel for going with the name "Marcel".  It's cool.

Another photo finish (letour.fr)

Rider update:
I am usually writing this in a hurry, because for some reason I don't get paid for this, so I forgot a couple notes from yesterday:
1) Why is Andy Schleck SO BAD at time trials?  Even when he was in top form, he lost the TdF on a TT to Cadel.  I don't get it.  And with the latest breed of top cyclists excelling at the TT, that's just minutes to lose.
2) Where did Tejay go?  I thought he was back in it again (he keeps teasing me) when he came through the first TT time check in 2nd.  And then he slipped down, down, down.  I really hope he's back in form for the Pro Challenge later this summer in CO...

Parting Thought: Here's some things I think are awesome to go check out: Chance's End music, and Rumblin Buffalo's CU sports blog

Stage 10/11: Brawlin

Stage 10: WW(td)F
OK, that title's double meaning may be a bit of a stretch, I was attempting to reference ye old World Wrestling Federation (sorry World Wildlife Fund).  Stage 10 played out mostly to expectations, with the early break getting caught (quite late, actually) and setting up for a sprint of the world's fastest men on a bike.  But then things got weird.  It seemed to start with the medians on the road, that kept splitting the peleton, and causing ripples back through the group and people tried to rejoin a slip-stream.  And as fascinating as I always find it to watch the dynamic nature of the peleton at high speeds, this just seemed chaotic before it got to the final sprint.  The teams weren't able to set up as efficiently as they're used to... and then it got downright fighty.
I've been looking for solid video to post here, but it seems there is little to find.  If you find some, pay attention to Peter Sagan and a Movistar guy I haven't been able to identify.  They repeatedly are biking in to each other.  There's always bumping, but this just looked like a little battle between the two.  Someone must have been talking smack.  Ahead of them, shortly before the finish, as Cavendish attempts to get involved in the sprint that's leaving him behind, he clearly (imho) shoulders in to Tom Veelers at high speed and knocks him to the ground.  He was not penalized, and the race official even said that if anyone were at fault it was Veelers.  Go check it out, there's no way.

Kittle edged out the Gorilla

This left Stage 1 winner (thanks to the cluster that was Stage 1) Kittel to battle with what appeared to be an exhausted Greipel, and Kittel was the first man to take 2 stage wins this year.
There was essentially no change in standings, as everyone finished at the same time.  A couple more sprint days ahead before the Alps for them to deal with their emotions and try again.  Deep breaths, guys, use your ears not your elbows.
Another Sky note: Froome's teammates fell off again.  He's clearly shown he doesn't need them, but he was not surrounded by his Team Sky guards as is typical of the Yellow Jersey wearer.  This will probably not matter, but I imagine it keeps him up for a little bit at night.

Stage 11: No Pain No Gain
World TT champion Tony Martin, who I've mentioned a couple times sustained some pretty serious injury on Stage 1, stayed in this race for this stage.  And his suffering over the last week and a half paid dividends today, as he went very early in the day and his time held up all the way through to Chris Froome, and he gets to tack on a TdF stage win to the resume.  Froome's second place increases his lead on the GC, and Kwiatkowski's strong 5th place showing increased his lead for the White.

Parting Thought: 2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven.

Stage 9: Don't count your chickens

Team Sky is fallible
That's what I took out of today's epicness.  Richie Porte, yesterday looking very much like last year's Chris Froome, got dropped like a hot potato today.  Movistar, I think sensing that Porte overdid himself a bit yesterday protecting Froome, didn't let Sky control the pace for even a second, instead pushing the race hard and dropping all of Froome's teammates.  Froome, for his part, is still a beast and wasn't phased.  But this still served to show that there is a chink in the armor.  If day 2 of mountains caused his vanguard to combust, there's hope deep in the week 3 Alps.  Not to mention, Movistar had 3-4 men up front the whole race.

Movistar putting in the work (letour.fr)

The Winner

Attacking midway up the final cat 1 of the day, Dan Martin launched to a gap and saw no attempt by the lead group to follow him.  He was joined by Jakob Fuglsang, and together they burned the trail to the finish.  They worked very well together, taking turns in the lead, and didn't start to play cat and mouse until inside the final kilometer.  In the end, it was Martin making a move before the last turn and taking the victory.

Martin steals the show (velonews.com)

The Strategy

In addition to burning up Sky riders, Movistar did something else that entertained me a lot on the last climb.  After leading the whole race, they brought their young rockstar from Stage 8, Nairo Quintana, to the front to attack Froome.  At the same time, the rest of their workhorses moved behind Froome.  Quintana was close enough to a threat to overall that Froome had to reel him in, but he was certainly left to do so on  his own while Movistar had a turn just riding his wheel and reacting to him.  They may had let Dan Martin steal the victory, but that wasn't a huge concern of theirs.  Either way, the 4 or 5 attacks by Quintana were entertaining.

Wrapup

Froome stays in Yellow, 1:25 over Valverde and now 1:44 over Bauke Mollema (whom I thought was looking in excellent form at TdSuisse).  Pierre Roland back in the Polka Dots for reals (wore them today, but technically Froome was the leader).  Quintana has 1:23 lead in the White.  No change for Sagan's Green.  And Movistar has established themselved for the time being as the leading team.

Now a rest day!

Parting Thought: As long as I got my suit and tie, Imma leave it all on the floor tonight

Stage 8: And boom goes the dynamite

Well, I got pretty much everything I wanted out of today's gnarly mountain stage.  Shattered peloton, a Columbian climber, and Chris Froome sipping a pina colada and checking his watch while waiting for anybody else to cross the line.  OK, it wasn't quite that bad, but it could have been.  After a truly impressive attack on the HC Col de Pailheres by young Nairo Quintana (new holder of the White jersey), Froome told everyone to just chillax while he shows them what riding is all about.  I give him this, I never thought Bradley Wiggins did work on his own last year, which is one of the reasons I didn't care for him.  Today, Froome truly took it in his own hands on the way up Ax 3 Domaines, and earned the yellow jersey for himself.

Froome is all alone up there.  Also, eat a sandwich, man.

What I was missing from today's stage?  Tejay!  Tejay, where are ya brah?  He finished over 12 minutes back (which wasn't that bad compared to the sprinters... seriously, Froome might've changed and headed to the hotel before Cav finished).  On the other side of the coin... Talansky!  Dude only finished 2:34 back, and now sits in 12th overall.  Get it!

Abandons
Besides Ted King the other day, the Tour now has 11 abandons, sadly including Christian Vande Velde, who couldn't get over some injuries sustained while riding.  Other notables include Janez Brajkovic, Fredrik Kessiakoff, and Jurgen Van Den Broeck.  Geraint Thomas (Sky), however, is still racing with a fractured pelvis, as is Tony Martin who I mentioned after stage 1 (and I saw a quote from the team doctor stating "There was just no skin left on his elbow that we could stitch.”  Mmm).

But can I just say:

Above, current standings.  Below, my initial prediction.

Parting Thought: "GC is over." ~ Cadel Evans

TdF 2013 Week 2 Preview (and week 1 final recap)

Stages 5, 6, 7
7 stages under our belts this year, and we've had just about everything.  A bus crash, a peloton crash, uphill attacks, breakaways (and a short-lived Jensie breakaway), photo finishes!  And now, over the last 3 stages, wins by each of the big men in sprinting.  Cav took stage 5, and wasn't even really challenged.  Greipel took stage 6, perhaps aided by a crash that caught Cav earlier on.  He caught up and was part of the sprint, but he may have been hurting and a little worn from catching up.  And in stage 7, after another second place finish, Peter Sagan finally got his.  Using the hills to drop the sprinters that can't climb as well, his Cannondale team kept up the pace and kept them out of the mix.  He also got ALL the sprint points today, putting him well ahead in the points.
Blel Kadri managed to take enough mountain points, and with an assist by a teammate to keep Pierre Roland from scooping up the remaining points on the second climb, puts on the Polka Dots today.  Hard to say if he'll be able to keep it with big mountain points coming up in the next couple of days.

Congrats on making history, Daryl Impey.  Sorry you'll be losing it again tomorrow.

In a somewhat planned moved by Orica Greenedge, Simon Gerrans passed the Yellow jersey on to the shoulders of Daryl Impey, making him the first African to wear the leader's jersey in the TdF.

Here's looking at the next 7 stages...

(Again, stage profiles from letour.fr)
Stage 8 (7/6)
This is the first stage of this year's tour where the climber's really get to stretch their legs.  Fully in the Pyrenees now, this stage ends with an HC (beyond categorization), and steep drop, and an uphill cat 1 finish at Ax 3 Domaines.

Hope they're ready to climb

The long flat start and spring point at Quillan will make the first half of the race interesting though, and I expect a good battle for those sprint points.
How to call a winner on this stage?  I'm not sure the main GCers necessarily want to ride with the Yellow for 2 whole weeks (it's adds pressure), but this is the opportunity to show the rest of the pack how well they're riding.  I expect a mountain goat from, say, Europcar to win the stage from the dying remnants of a breakaway, but Froome to beat the rest of the pack up and stake his claim (mmm, steak).

Stage 9
No mountain top finish today, but they did manage to pack in 4 cat 1 climbs in a relatively short course.  I see this as less of an opportunity for the big GC contenders to show off, but will definitely splinter the peloton and a breakaway of the right riders could stay off.

It's a pack of camels?

I think the sprint point is early enough that the breakaway will steal the points, but with a rest day the following day, you could see some strong attacks, and maybe even someone like a Sagan getting up in the break to get those.  Guys wanting to get a move on in the Mountains classification will attack on Col de Peyresourde, given the relatively short distance between that and the following ones they might be able to nab 2 or 3 with a gap there.  It seems like the climbs will destroy the peleton, but with 30km descent, I think a regrouping of the top teams will occur before finish, and a "sprint" will occur.  Let's give it to Phillipe Gilbert.

REST DAY!
Which probably means riding more.  Can't let the body think it's recovery time!

Stage 10
Rest day, plane transfer, sprint stage.  GC guys are gonna be feeling real relaxed after stage 10.  A tiny cat 4 in the 197km stage to Saint-Malo won't disrupt the sprinters.  Assuming no more crashes, Cav takes his 2nd stage of this year's tour, but still finds himself 100 points down for Green.

Stage 11
First ITT of the TdF, at 33km this is a much shorter event than last year's 41 and 53 km jaunts.  First half has some bumps, second half is downhill-ish.  This should favor the traditional TTers.  Of course, with multi-time world TT champion Tony Martin nursing injuries from the day 1 crash, it's anybody's guess.  Depending on how stage 8 and 9 placed the GC leaders, this could be prime battleground for Chris Froome and Cadel Evans, both excellent TTers.

Stage 12/13
Stage 12 is perhaps the flattest stage of the tour, Stage 13 has a cat 4, but these are part of the transition from Pyrenees to Alps.  Both very long, both aimed at the sprinters.  There's nothing here calling me to pick someone in particular, so, you know, one of those bigwigs.

Stage 14
Getting back in to some mountains, but still not a climber's stage exactly.  Perhaps another good opportunity for Peter Sagan, the hills might drop the other sprinters.  No single climb is very big, but there's 7 (7!) categorized climbs, which means some points up for grabs for the Polka Dot jersey.

Stage 14.  No clever caption.

The giant time gaps are coming next week still, as we tackle some really crazy stuff in the Alps.  However, after the 2 big Pyrenees stages and the ITT, I think the person wearing the Yellow at the end of this week will be Chris Froome.

Parting Thought: It was I who put bop in the bop-sha-bop-sha-bop.  But I swear I'm not responsible for the ram in the ramalamadingdong.

TdF 2013: The Americans

Are you an AmeriCAN or, um, the other 97% of the field.  In honor of the impending 4th of July, I'm dedicating this edition to the Americans in the TdF this year.  Stage 4 TTT summary below...

U.S.A.!
The good ol' US of A has a stable of rising stars in cycling, but this year's field is noticeably short on Stars n Stripes.  Only 6 of the 198 starters this year are American, but there is some fresh, and unexpected, talent in there.

This guys likes the US.  And Italy.  And flashing bikers.

The 6 riders are Ted King of Cannondale, Brent Bookwalter and Tejay VanGarderen of BMC, and Tom Danielson, Andrew Talansky, and Christian VandeVelde of Garmin-Sharp (Team BMC and Garmin-Sharp are US-based teams).  Gone is George Hincapie and his 16 straight finishes in the Tour, and gone is Levi Leipheimer, one of the most consistent American riders over the past decade.

Talansky and King are first-timers in the Tour, having taken slightly different routes to losing their TdF virginity.  Ted King has actually been around cycling for a while (he's 30), but didn't make a high level team until 2011.  He'll be participating as support for Peter Sagan's bid to repeat Green jersey glory.
Talansky, at the tender age of 24, is the breakout surprise of American cycling this year.  A handful of Best Young Rider victories already under his belt, he's taken a Paris-Nice stage victory already this year.  And as I referenced on my rider summary, owns one of my favorite moments of the early cycling season.  Coming up the Risoul among fog and snow, Froome and Porte seemed to be jockeying for 2nd place having dropped everyone else.  Talansky came up out of nowhere, and made Froome sprint to the summit.  It was an epic battle.

Talansky (behind) made my day... so close.

CVV and Tommy D (hey, that rhymes) are the "old" guys.  Christian has started 10 TdFs over the last decade and a half, and won the USAPCC last year.  This is just Tommy D's 3rd, but he's got a top 10 in the Tour and Vuelta.  He also likes to tear up my home state of CO, owning the record on the Mt Evans Hill Climb.  I don't know if they have the ok to go for personal glory, or they're working full time for Canadian Ryder Hesjdal, but both are capable of getting wins.

Bookwalter was at the top of a lot of people's list for this year's US National Road Race (won by Fast Freddie Rodriguez), but ended up 2nd in both the road race and TT.  This is his 3rd Tour, and though he will be working for either Cadel or Tejay, he'll try to make some noise in the 2 TTs.

Tejay likes winning...

Tejay is truly the next great hope of American cycling.  He's got a closet full of White jerseys, and earlier this year nabbed his first GC win at the Tour of California.  A 5th place last year in the TdF proves he can handle the Grand Tours.  When will his time come to be a primary team lead?  I'd say soon, but this year it's still backseat to Cadel.  I still wonder if it might have been different this year if he had won the TdSuisse...

So, let that nationalism flow, now you know who to root for.

--

Stage 4 Summary
Where did you come from, Orica-Greenedge??  After winning the sprint yesterday with Simon Gerrans, the OG team (hehe) won the TTT today over the favorites and TTT/TdF royalty (Sky, Garmin-Sharp, BMC,...).  Oh, and by the way, they rode the 25 km course averaging over 36 mph (yes MILES per hour, 58 some-odd kph).  This puts Gerrans in the Yellow jersey (tied with 2 of his teammates), and provides some actual separation in the overall standings.  He's still just 1 second over two riders from Omega Pharma-Quick Step.
And in a rare turn of me calling something, American Andrew Talansky has taken over the White jersey!
Other news: Aforementioned Ted King, riding the TTT mostly alone due to injuries suffered on day 1, finished 7 seconds outside the 25% time limit for the stage, and was promptly cut by race officials.  The protest is in progress, as exceptions are frequently made when it's a close call, but it doesn't look good for him to continue his first tour and try to shake off his injuries.


Parting thought: Come and and support American cycling this year, at the USA Pro Challenge.  It's the chance for the Americans to show off in front of a home crowd.  The 3 above-mentioned teams will be there, so you will likely see all of those guys, in addition to (probably): Taylor Phinney (my hometown hero, and owner of what I assume to be the best shoe collection in professional cycling), Joe Dombrowski (winner of last year's Best Young Rider on the youthful Bontrager team, now big-timing it on Team Sky), and countless others.