More Glory for Thor; More Vino for Micah; Evans Sticks Le Boot into the Frandy Schlecks July 20, 2011
Posted by atomicsaddles2011 in Tour De France 2011.Tags: Cadel Evans, Thor Hushovd
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Zut alors! Well, Saddles Atomique predicted that a stage winner would grab his deuxieme of Le Tour 2011, and Thor Hushovd duly obliged. Thus Micah G gets a bottle of Beaujolais It-was-Nouveaux-Once-Upon-A-Time Uzbeckistanie.
From CyclingNews: “Gap is a good place for riders who like to toil off the front of the bunch and once again the day’s break produced the stage winner, with Thor Hushovd prevailing in the city at the base of the Alps. It was his second victory in this year’s Tour and came after a massive effort in the day’s escape group.
“The Garmin-Cervélo rider managed to take his place in the much-anticipated move off the front of the peloton – which was at a premium today – and benefited from the presence of his teammate Ryder Hesjedal in the finale to overcome countryman Edvald Boasson Hagen, with the Canadian in third.
Atomic Saddles says: For your information, good readers, this man’s great grandparents were.. Norwegian. Someone writing on his homepage, possibly Grandma Halldora, tells us: “When Hesjedal’s stock started to soar during last year’s Tour de France en route to a stunning seventh-place finish overall, his cycling team came up with a T-shirt — Ryder Hesjedal: Weight of a Nation. It’s become his nickname on the Garmin-Cervelo squad”.
Cycling News continues: “It was also the second time the two Norwegians finished in the top three on a stage, after Boasson Hagen’s stage win in Lisieux 12 days ago, when Hushovd finished third.
“It’s unreal,” said Hushovd after the finish. “It started well with the team time trial and seven days in the yellow jersey, then I won the stage alone and now I’ve won the stage today against my countryman and with my teammate Hesjedal behind me.
“I was thinking that it was a bit like a national championships, which is incredible. We’re the only two Norwegians in the race and we’re fighting it out for the win.”
“Hesjedal was a vital support in the final 10km and in particular the last three kilometres, where he made life very difficult for Boasson Hagen.
“It wasn’t that complicated in the finale; it was two against one and Thor and Edvald are a lot faster than me,” said Hesjedal after the stage. “I just had to keep the pace high and it was up to me to ensure Thor had the best chance at the finish.
“It was an unreal day – so hard from the start – but we showed that there’s no better team than Garmin-Cervélo in terms of teamwork. Four stage wins and it keeps getting better,” he added.
“It was also the day Cadel Evans showed what he’s got in terms of the general classification, joining Alberto Contador and Samuel Sanchez in a late-stage move that netted the Australian time over his closest rivals – Ivan Basso, Andy and Frank Schleck plus Thomas Voeckler – ahead of the next few days in the Alps, where the overall title fight will become intensify.
“Evans is well poised overall and now sits 1:45 behind Thomas Voeckler, with the elder Schleck a further four seconds back and his younger brother facing a deficit of 3:03 to the race leader and a massive task ahead of him in the coming days.
Will ‘Monsieur Personality’ make le podium in Paris? The mademoiselles du presentation are rather hoping not.
Miraculous Thor Triumphs in Lourdes; Jeremy Roy ‘Encore Une Fois Le Bridesmaid’; Micah G bags the Chardonnay Soudannaise July 16, 2011
Posted by atomicsaddles2011 in Tour De France 2011.Tags: General classification in the Tour de France, Thor Hushovd, Tour de France 2011
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Criquey Monsieur Moses! What a rider! World Champion Thor Hushovd put the hammer down yesterday on the road to Lourdes proving that he can beat the best of ’em even in the mountains. The huge Norwegian rode with panache and intelligence, destroying rivals David Moncoutie and Jeremy Roy in a classic ‘divide and conquer’ movement. His kick in the final kilometers – having just cycled over a couple of Pyrennees, let us oublier – was just spectacular. When he found that extra gear, his rivals were history. Congrats to Monsieur Micah G for bagging the Sudanese Chardonnay.
That was Thor’s ninth Tour de France stage win (when he first rode in 2001, I remember getting excited about the new Flying Norseman, but he conked out after a very short time) and without a doubt his most memorable.
Hushovd is also one of the world’s best downhillers. As Pierre Le Ballepoint, French cycling correspondent of ‘Paris Ce Matin’ probably said, “He is also, ‘ow you say?, not un petit peu locomotif in the ‘ead, n’est-ce pas? When ‘e drops off the mountain with the vitesse of Madame Bardot’s falling negligé, we can see ‘e as no fear. Peut-etre ‘e is a little derangé entre les oreilles”.
C’est vrai. When the ITV commentary team call him one of the World’s best descenders, they really mean one of the world’s most certifiable maniacs. Well, it was bloody magnificent! Vive les maniacs! The Hammer himself admits it: “Winning alone, after going over the Col d’Aubisque in the rainbow jersey, is incredible… It is the craziest thing I’ve ever done.”
Spare a though for this poor homme très combatif, France Des Jeux’s Jérémy Roy. The battling Frenchman has been in breakaways for nearly 700km this year in the Tour, and has yet to win a stage. Yesterday he held off the Peloton, Hushovd and Moncoutie, riding solo over the Col d’Aubisque (that takes some courage, mon braves), only to be caught in the final few kilometers. As he crossed the line, he punched his heart – yes, Jérémy, we feel your pain (Shouldn’t that be ‘we feel your baguette?’ – Ed).
For further stage couverage, check Cycling News (‘Hushovd Wins Miracle Stage in Lourdes’, here) and The Grauniad (here, where Thor reiterates that trying to win the Green Jersey is not in his jouxplan). I am not so sure about that latter assertion. Cavendish is now favourite to take that competition (proving that the new intermediate sprint rules actually suit him fine), but Thor looks good in green.
More from Atomic later today if I have time… My prediction to take today’s mountain-filled stage? Our wee gurning man in yellow, Tommy Voeckler.
Ca va!
Tyler wins it for the W as Garmin-Cervelo rule the roost in Redon; Gilbert seeks to scale the heights once more as the race heads into bike-bonkers Brittany; Joe B bags the Booze July 5, 2011
Posted by atomicsaddles2011 in Tour De France 2011.Tags: Cadel Evans, Geraint Thomas, HTC-High Road, José Joaquín Rojas, Lampre, Linus Gerdemann, Romain Feillu, Thor Hushovd, Tommy Voeckler, Tyler Farrar
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Bonjour mes amis de shaven legs and drunken vino!
Success is clearly habit forming. Fresh from yesterday’s maiden tour victory in the Team Time Trial, in which Thor Hushovd also took the Maillot Jaune, Garmin-Cervélo made it two out of two as the yellow-clad World Champion propelled his sprint ally Tyler Farrar to victory in Redon, ahead of Vacansoleil’s Romain Feillu and Movistar’s José Joaquín Rojas. Farrar has now won stages in all the major classics: the Tour, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta Espana, and yesterday’s victory must have tasted all the sweeter after his miserable year to date. As he crossed the line, Farrar made a “W’ sign with his two hands in tribute to his close friend and training partner Belgian Wouter Weylandt, who died after crashing on the third stage of May’s Giro d’Italia.
With 5km to go the Lampre team was lining up its train ready for the attack, with the crafty Danilo Hondo looking to set up Alessandro ‘Alejet’ Petacchi for the final attack. Team HTC-High Road responded in kind, bringing Cavendish up on the right. Then it all went haywire. The sprint broke early, Cav was blocked off by Feillu and Joaquín Rojas, and Petacchi stopped for a pastry and a Cappucino. The mighty Thor was on hand to lead Farrar to the kill zone, and the American pushed all the right buttons to win the stage. Vacansoleil’s Roman Feillu finished like a rocket but just ran out of road, with Movistar’s José Joaquín Rojas storming to third place to grab the Green Jersey.
Prior to this year’s Tour there was much chin-scratching by pundits wondering how Garmin would shoehorn two world-class sprinters into one team, but yesterday the Thor-Tyler axis looked pretty damn good to this observer. Quoth Farrar: “It just shows what a champion Thor is and how classy he is. A world champion in the yellow jersey doesn’t have to lead out the sprint for a teammate.”
Thus a bottle of cut-price Mongolian Muscadet goes to punter# , un certain Monsieur Joe B.
It was something of a chaotic sprint yesterday inRedon, with Cavendish’s HTC-Highroad team mistiming their attack and hitting the front too early. For once Cavendish did not get the smooth lead-out that suits him so well, and was swamped by the other sprinters. He then got tangled with Romain Feillu of France and José-Joaquín Rojas of Spain on the left-hand bend leading into the finish.”I finished with the front four so I stayed in contention for the points” muttered Blabbermouth before skulking off to the team bus, kicking a few harmless old French grand-mamans on the way. To add insult to injury he and Hushovd were both relegated to last place in the bunch for unnecessary shoulder-to-shoulder aggro when contesting the intermediate sprint.
From the Oirish Independent: “As American Tyler Farrar celebrated a first stage win a few metres away in the dusty bowl of the coach park, pre-race favourite Mark Cavendish was sitting on a step bemoaning his luck. The Manx rider accused officials of picking on him after docking him points in the intermediate sprint which he had gained in typically abrasive fashion.. Cavendish had a strong opinion, too, on Romain Feillu’s riding into the sharp left-handed corner 600 metres from the line, approached by the peloton at speeds approaching 70kph. “I was fighting with Jose Rojas into the last corner and kamikaze Feillu came flying in,” said Cavendish. “He causes havoc in every sprint. You ask every sprinter who causes havoc — you might get a couple of Garmin guys saying me — but most of the guys will say Feillu.”He took me out on the last corner. I thought I was going to crash.”
Wish he had. Tyler Farrar bears a Tibetan tattoo on his wrist that symbolises ‘inner peace’. Cavendish instead bears chips on both shoulders.
General classification after stage 3:
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo 9:46:46 (Punter #9 Micah G)
2 David Millar (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo (Punter #26 Colin D)
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:01 (Punter # John H)
4 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:04 (Punter #21 Eric J)
5 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Leopard Trek (Punter #23 Tom B)
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling (Punter #20 Naomi W)
7 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek (Punter #18 Jack H)
8 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek (Punter #7 Dannie R)
9 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek (Punter #4 Kevin R)
10 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling (Punter #5 Takako R)
Green points jersey standings after stage 3:
1 José Joaquín Rojas Gil – 60 points (Punter #6 Charlie R)
2 Tyler Farrar – 58 points (Punter #17 Joe B)
3 Philippe Gilbert – 52 points (Punter #14 Stefano B)
Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish currently sit in 4th and 9th respectively. In his piece in the Oirish Independent today (on the same page as the ad that recommends you to ‘Find an Irish lawyer’), Nicolas Roche tips Philippe Gilbert as a dark horse candidate for the points jersey in Paris, should he keep snatching stage wins and intermediate sprints. Let’s see what unfolds aujourd hui. He is certainly in the form of his life, having won all three Ardennes classics (Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege) this year.
Today the race enters into France’s cycling heartland, Brittany, for the first time since 2008. Expect plenty of bike-mad Bretagnois to be lining the route. The 172km stage 4 from Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne, with its ２km uphill finish, looks perfectly suited for Monsieur Gilbert to repeat his heroics of day one, assuming that he stays clear of the argy-bargy, that is. The finish is a particularly technical one, so the fight to get to the front of the bunch for the final 10km will be even more gnarly than usual, making the risk of crashing even greater. Blood may well flow. If Atomic Saddles were a gambling man, he’d put money on a Rabobank or Europcar rider getting an asphalt sandwich today (though with Dennis Menchov no longer with Rabobank the odds naturally lengthen somewhat).
The finish is known as the “Breton wall” a.k.a the “L’Alpe-d’Huez of Brittany”. It is a two-kilometre climb, starting at one in 10, with sections at one in eight and ending with an 800m drag to the line. It entails about 90sec flat-out effort, and is preceded by a series of smaller climbs and a high-speed descent to the foot of the finish hill (it sez ‘ere – Ed).
We can expect a change in the leader’s jersey again today, as the giant Norseman won’t like the hilly finale to the stage. It would be great to see Geraint Thomas take the maillot jaune, though BMC will be putting pedal to the metal bigtime today to try to get Cadel Evans into yellow. Look out too for Leopard Trek’s Linus Gerdemann (pictured here) who will try to put his stamp on the race before it hits the Alps and the brothers Schleck come to the fore. Atomic Saddles would most like to see French favourite Tommy Voeckler of Europcar win today, as no doubt would the partisan crowd.
Garmin-Cervelo take the TTT as Thor Thunders to Yellow; Today the Sprinters Get it on in Redon July 4, 2011
Posted by atomicsaddles2011 in Tour De France 2011.Tags: Bernie Eisel, Cadel Evans, Garmin-Cervelo, Geraint Thomas, Mark Cavendish, Nicolas Roche, Sky Procycling, Thor Hushovd
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Bonjour mes amis de velo.
Yesterday’s team time trial saw Team ‘always the bridesmaid but never the bride’ Garmin-Cervelo finally make it to the TdF altar as they powered to the slimmest of victories over rivals Leopard-Trek, Sky, BMC and HTC-High Road on the pancake-flat 23km course in Les Esarts. The US outfit covered the course in 24 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 55.6kmph which is about the same as Atomic Saddles’ Honda deux chevaux on a good day with a tailwind. As Atomic Saddles predicted, bébé!
David Millar, currently lying in second place overall, spoke to the Grauniad wot wrote: “Emotionally and physically, David Millar has been through the mill in his chequered 14-year cycling career and this team time trial was no exception. On his bike, he “suffered like a pig”. The outcome was something new for him: shared joy when his Garmin-Cervélo team took their first Tour stage win, after a host of near-misses.
They were seeded midway down the field (Not be me, alors! Zut! Egad Moriarty! etc – AS), and had a long wait before the win was confirmed, which meant, said the Scot, the day felt unlike any other win in his career, which has included three solo stage wins in the Tour.
“It’s not like winning an individual time trial, when you go through all the emotions on your own. This was a team experience, the tension was high, emotions were running. I love it. I’ve won plenty of time trials in my career but this was a whole different ball-game. (What did I say just hier soir, mes amis? did I not write ‘today’s TTT is a whole different kettle of pommes de terre.’? Whatever that means -Ed).
Thus World Champion Thor Hushovd wears yellow. It was incongruous seeing the giant Norwegian sprinter squeezed into a polka dot King of the Mountains jersey yesterday, a garment usually reserved for pipe-cleaner thin stick-insect lokalike grimpeurs. I wonder if his mum, Flora Hushovd, had to knit it for him specially?
Cadel Evans’s BMC team, the Schleck brothers’ Leopard-Trek squad, and those splendid British chappies of Sky Procycling gave the Garmin boys a run for their yankee dollar yesterday. Rod Stewart Wiggins (as Mrs Saddles has christened him), and the flying Welsh youth Geraint Thomas looked impressive in huge turns on the front of the Sky Procycling train. The Boyo from the Valleys who carries daffodils with him at all times and sings rugby songs on the team bus was rewarded with the white jersey for his pains (I for one would be delighted to see him retain it all the way to Paris, but I think he must surely get sunk by Monsieur Gesink). had the Skyboys flown just a wee bit faster, Geraint (below) would have woken up this morning as the first Welshman ever to wear the Maillot Jaune.
Also missing out on yellow by the smallest of margins was the Cadel guy, BMC’s Monsieur Evans, though his third place in the GC will be some consolation. One gets the feeling that if Evans doesn’t win it this year, he might as well go back to his former trade as cornflake quality controller in Gooliebongee, NSW. If the man with ‘the personality of an outback dunny’ doesn’t parlay his minute+ advantage over the Cobra into victory this time, one senses he never will. (He has twice stood on the second step of the podium in Paris – losing to the Cobra in 2007 by a mere 23 seconds, and by 58 seconds to Carlos Sastre in 2008).
Though Atomic never misses the opportunity to have an anti-Cavendish rant (readers will not be disappointed; see below), I must confess to feeling a little sorry for HTC- High Road and Bernie Eisel. It was a shame to see the Austrian sliding down the road arse first after he lost a wheel on a corner just several meters into the course – a shame not only because BE is one of the most personable blokes in the Peleton, but also because for the briefest of moments Atomic Saddles thought it was Mark Cavendish who was being treated to an asphalt enema. Herr Eisel was being treated to a nasty case of shadenfreude having predicted his own crash (and others’) prior to the stage. From Cycling News:
Did Bernie psych himself out?
Bernhard Eisel issued a public apology to his HTC-Highroad teammates after he crashed during Sunday’s team time trial, a day which the Austrian road captain described as “the worst day” of his career. “The boys did a great ride!” he said on his facebook page. “They didn’t expect too much from me today, I just had to stay upright and help them a lil, but I crashed in the first real corner and nearly tooked [sic] out 3 teammates. The team lost because of me today and I didn’t hear any bad word from them. Thanks boys, but I know that I fu…. it up! No excuses, it was my fault!” The statement was all the more pertinent after Australian broadcaster SBS showed footage of the HTC-Highroad team having what could almost be described as a heated argument, over what to do if Eisel were to crash as he was suggesting. Mark Cavendish and Matt Goss differed in their opinion over whether to attempt to hold Eisel up, with Mark Renshaw asserting it was best just not to crash in the first place.
Quel surprise, Cavendish vociferously expressing an opinion (I would like to see the no-nonsense Tasmanian Matt Goss clock him one).
Today’s 198km stage from Olonne-sur-Mer to Redon is tailor-made for the fast men, and has Blabbermouth written all over it. Indeed it is one of the stages ‘targeted’ by the Manxman in his pursuit of the Green Jersey. However, all may not be well in the Cavendish universe. He was outwitted (does outwitting a half-wit really count, AS wonders?) in the intermediate sprint on Saturday by Tyler Farrar, and though in the brilliant Mark Renshaw he undoubtedly has the best lead-out man in the business, Cav rivals –Petacchi, Boonen, Farrar – are no pushovers. Farrar will be catapulted towards the chequered flag by the mighty Norwegian in yellow. Watch out too for the new Yorkshireman sur le block, Sky’s appropriately monickered Ben Swift (pictured here).
BTW, If anyone doubts the Flying Dolt’s asinine nature, witness Cavendish’s cultured and critical evaluation of Philippe Gilbert’s Stage 1 victory, recorded for posterity on Twitter: “Just saw todays last kilometre. Gilbert humbled everyone with the equivalence of pulling down his pants to reveal a 13 incher. #YIKES”.
Classy.
And anyway, any fule kno that the most spectacular downtube in the Peleton must belong Paolo Longo Borghini.
Et finalement mes amis, may I recommend Nicolas Roche’s writing from the Tour that runs daily in the Irish Independent. Roche may not be the cycling giant that his father was, but like his dad he is clearly a top feller, and his insider writing often throws up some gems. It is his birthday today – Bonne fête, Nico.
Overall standings
1) Thor Hushovd (Norway/Garmin) 5hr 06min 25sec
2) David Millar (Britain/Garmin) same time
3) Cadel Evans (Australia/BMC Racing) +1sec
4) Geraint Thomas (Britain/Team Sky) +4
5) Linus Gerdemann (Germany/Leopard)
6) Frank Schleck (Luxembourg/Leopard)
7) Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland/Leopard)
8) Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway/Team Sky)
9) Manuel Quinziato (Italy/BMC Racing)
10) Andy Schleck (Luxembourg/Leopard)
Atomic Saddles’ prediction for today’s stage. Grudgingly:
1 Cavendish (Punter#6: Charlie R)
2 Petacchi (Punter#4: Mitsumi S)
3 Farrar (Punter#17: Joe B)
BTW, sorry the updates are taking so long to put up. Atomic is a bit busy these days.
Atomic Saddles' Tour de France 2012 Blog 