Tour de France 2008

Cunego drops out after Stage 18 crash

VeloNews | Cunego injuries force him to drop out of Tour

AFP is reporting that Lampre team leader Damiano Cunego has pulled of the Tour, after injuries suffered on a crash during today's 18th stage. Cunego fell face-first, and injured his chin and chest.

He struggled alongside 3 teammates to finish within today's time cutoff (20:12 behind winner Marcus Burghardt), falling from 14th overall before today's stage to 20th at stage's end.

It was the 3rd crash of the 2008 Tour for Cunego, who won the Giro d'Italia in 2004, then took the white jersey in the 2006 Tour de France. His biggest win of 2008 was the Amstel Gold Race, and he reportedly was targeting the Beijing Olympic road race in August.

"I want to really thank my teammates — they waited for me and helped me back, although at one point I wasn't sure of finishing within the time limit,” he said.

"One of our team managers suggested I should just pull out. I didn't want to as that would have risked my teammates missing the time limit as well."

Sastre takes stage, yellow jersey on l'Alpe d'Huez

CSC-Saxo Bank struck the Luxembourg flag, posted Spanish colors, and opened up on the field on the Tour's queen stage today.

Yellow jersey Fränk Schleck played the loyal lieutenant as Carlos Sastre put 2 full minutes into the whole field, with a dominating climb of l'Alpe d'Huez, the Tour's most famous climb. Meanwhile, Fränk and Andy Schleck shadowed Cadel Evans, covering every attack through switchback after switchback.

Sastre launched immediately as the field left Bourg d'Oisans at the base of the climb. He was briefly joined by Rabobank's Denis Menchov, but a second attack dropped Menchov not only from Sastre's wheel, but from the yellow jesrsey group, as well. Menchov would claw his way back into that group well up the climb.

While first Valverde, then Efimkin, then Vande Velde would try to escape the gravitational field around the Schlecks, every attack was pulled back while Sastre continued to climb into the yellow jersey, steadily building a lead of more than a kilometer on the road that was worth 2:15 to Evans, Menchov, and Kohl on the line.

Even though Sastre looks to be in command right now, with the stage win and the leader's jersey, it seems unlikely he can hang within 1:35 of Cadel Evans on Saturday's long 53k/33-mile time trial. In the final TT last year, Evans made 2:33 on Sastre, even more than Sastre's winning margin today.

Stage 17 Top 10:
1. Carlos Sastre, CSC-Saxo Bank, Spain, in 6:07:58
2. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain @ 2:03
3. Andy Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, Luxembourg, same time
4. Alejandro Valverde, Caisse d'Epargne, Spain, @ 2:13
5. Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, Luxembourg, same time
6. Vladimir Efimkin, AG2R, Russia, @ 2:15
7. Cadel Evans, Silence-Lotto, Australia, same time
8. Denis Menchov, Rabobank, Russia, s.t.
9. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Chipotle, USA, s.t.
10. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, Austria, s.t.


General Classification after Stage 17:
1. Carlos Sastre, CSC-Saxo Bank, Spain, in 74:39:03
2. Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, Luxembourg, @ 1:24
3. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, Austria, @ 1:33
4. Cadel Evans, Silence-Lotto, Australia, @ 1:34
5. Denis Menchov, Rabobank, Russia, @ 2:39
6. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Chipotle, USA, @ 4:41
7. Alejandro Valverde, Caisse d'Epargne, Spain, @ 5:35
8. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain, @ 5:52
9. Tadej Valjavec, AG2R-La Mondiale, Slovakia, @ 8:10
10. Vladimir Efimkin, AG2R-La Mondiale, Russia, @ 8:24

Also:
VeloNews | Who won: Sastre or Evans?

Stage 17 on the road

The window of opportunity for the climbers pretty much slams shut after today, so Alejandro Valverde, Carlos Sastre, and even race leader Fränk Schleck all need to put time into Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov, the better TT men in the overall contest.

Jersey leaders:
Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank
Oscar Freire, Rabobank
Andy Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank
Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner

Versus broadcaster picks:
Sherwen: Fränk Schleck
Liggett: Denis Menchov
Roll: Carlos Sastre
Hummer: Bernhard Kohl

As yesterday, there's a breakway that could factorn on the late climbs: Kohl's Gerolsteiner teammate Stefan Schumacher, FdJ's Remy di Gregorio, Milram's Peter Velits, and Euskaltel's Ruben Perez.

1st Climb, 3rd Category:
1. Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, 4 pts
2. Remy di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 3 pts
3. Ruben Perez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 2 pts
4. Peter Velits, Milram, 1 pt

1st Sprint:
1. Remy di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 6 pts
2. Peter Velits, Milram, 4 pts
3. Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, 2 pts

Once again, it's CSC running the peloton, but with Stuart O'Grady and Nicki Sorensen, for now.

Atop the Galibier, the gap to the peloton was 4:50.

Hors Categorie Col du Galibier:
1. Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, 20 pts
2. Remy di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 18 pts
3. Peter Velits, Milram, 16 pts
4. Ruben Perez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 14 pts
5. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, 12 pts
6. Thomas Voeckler, Bouygues Telecom, 10 pts
7. John Lee Augustyn, Barloworld, 8 pts
8. Amets Txurruka, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 7 pts
9. Kantstantsin Siutsou, Team Columbia, 6 pts
10. Carlos Barredo, QuickStep, 5 pts

Voeckler, as he always seems to, continued his unlikely attack into the valley, and is riding ahead of the peloton. For now. Joined by Nibali and two others, Voeckler was quickly recaptured.

Up the Croix de Fer, CSC continued to set the pace, and reeled in the escape, one man at a time, until only Under-23 world champion Peter Velits rode alone over the top, with 54.5k to the finish and 1:15 in hand.

Hors Categorie Croix de Fer
1. Peter Velits, Milram, 20 pts
2. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, 18 pts
3. Kurt-Asle Arvesen, CSC-Saxo Bank, 16 pts
4. Andy Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, 14 pts
5. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Chipotle, 12 pts
6. Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, 10 pts
7. Chris Froome, Barloworld, 8 pts
8. David Moncoutie, Cofidis, 7 pts
9. Kim Kirchen, Columbia, 6 pts
10. Carlos Sastre, CSC-Saxo Bank, 5 pts

The group is reforming somewhat on the descent. Fabian Cancellara and Damiano Cunego are among those rejoining the Schleck group.

Jerome Pineau bridged to Velits on the descent, and the pair rode together into Bourg d'Oisans, but never more than 1:30 ahead. The two would lead across the days's last sprint.

Sprint 2:
1. Jerome Pineau, 6 pts
2. Peter Velits, 4 pts
3. Kurt-Asle Arvesen, 2 pts

Immediately at the base of l'Alpe d'Huez, Sastre was off like a shot. Denis Menchov matched him briefly, but couldn't stay with Sastre. Evans rode with both Schlecks, Christian Vande Velde, Bernhard Kohl, Alejandro Valverde, and Menchov was dropped from the yellow jersey group.

It's the shoes!

Expecting many Vs. viewers spotted those bright, yellow shoes on Cyril Dessel today. Those are the new superlight Mavics. Bike Hugger checked those out last month at a Mavic media event. Below is video from the event.

Photos and more posts.

Stage 16 on the road

It's just a little bitty 98 mile ride today, but spiced with two massive hors categorie climbs, the Col de la Lombarde at 2351 meters/7713 feet, and the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond at 2802 meters/9192 feet. After that highest pass in Europe, the riders will race down a technical descent to Jausiers, down at 1210 meters/3970 feet.
Jersey leaders:
Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank
Oscar Freire, Rabobank
Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas
Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner

Vs. broadcaster picks:
Hummer: Alejandro Valverde
Sherwen: Denis Menchov
Liggett: Carlos Sastre
Roll: Christian Vande Velde

Roll justifies his pick based on Vande Velde's descending ability and the Rockies-like altitude of the Cime de le Bonette-Restefond, the tallest mountain ever on the Tour de France. Note also that Liggett suggests that the stage today may be the hardest single stage since World War II.
Lots of early attacks today. Eventually, five riders got a lead: Samuel Dumoulin, Thomas Voeckler, Christophe Le Mevel, Stefan Schumacher, and Sebastien Rosseler. The were quickly countered by 24 top lieutenants from a variety of teams, including Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen of CSC-Saxo Bank, Yaroslav Popovych of Silence-Lotto, George Hincapie and Kanstatsin Siutsou of Team Columbia, and Danny Pate and Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin-Chipotle.

The five leaders survived through the 2nd (and last) sprint of the day.

Sprint 2:
1. Samuel Dumoulin, 6 pts
2. Stefan Schumacher, 4 pts
3. Christophe Le Mevel, 2 pts

As the riders move onto the Col de la Lombarde, Dumoulin is immediately dropped from the 5 leaders, who were 4:25 ahead of the field, but only :40 ahead of the 24 chasers.

Schumacher proceeds to shed Le Mevel, then Voeckler, and rides alone at the head of the stage. Meanwhile, Damiano Cunego is first off the front of the field, joined by teammate Sylvester Szmyd, Tadej Valjavec, Sandy Casar, and Maxime Monfort. Riders stretch all over the mountain now, with CSC leading the yellow jersey group, 5:30 behind.

With 58 km to ride, Schumacher leads the 24 lieutenants at 2:00; Cunego's group at 4:25; another quintet, including David Moncoutie at 4:55, and the main field at 5:30.

Freire and Marcus Burghardt were dropped from the lieutenants' group. Cunego's group, now 9 riders, are about 1:00 behind the 22-man lieutenants' group. Sebastien Chavanel decides the race for the lanterne rouge is too tough, and abandons the Tour, leaving Wim Vansevenant in the familiar position of last-placed rider in the Tour.

Over the top of the Col de la Lombarde, Schumacher has nearly 9 minutes on the yellow jersey.

Hors Categorie Col de la Lombarde
1. Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, 20 pts
2. Christophe Le Mevel, Credit Agricole, 18 pts @ 2:10
3. Thomas Voeckler, Bouygues Telecom, 16 pts @ 3:15
4. Yaroslav Popovych, Silence-Lotto, 14 pts @ 4:35
5. Kantstantsin Suitsiou, Columbia, 12 pts
6. Jens Voigt, CSC-Saxo Bank, 10 pts
7. Cyril Dessel, AG2R, 8 pts
8. John Lee Augustyn, Barloworld, 7 pts
9. Sebastien Rosseler, QucikStep, 6 pts
10. José Ivan Gutierrez, Caisse d'Epargne, 5 pts

Cunego's group passed only :30 behind Popovych. The yellow jersey and the surviving peloton summitted 9:25 behind Schumacher.

On the descent, Cunego's group joins up with Voigt's, and there are 31 riders chasing together:

• Silence-Lotto: Popovych
• CSC-Saxo Bank: Arvesen, Voigt
• Euskaltel-Euskadi: Txurruka
• Caisse d'Epargne: Arroyo, Gutierrez, Portal
• Columbia: Hincapie, Siutsou
• Barloworld: Augustyn, Cheula
• Liquigas: Fischer
• Lampre: Cunego, Szmyd, Tiralongo
• Credit Agricole: Pauriol
• AG2R: Dessel, Valjavec
• Agritubel: Lequatre
• Rabobank: Flecha
• Bouygues Telcom: Voeckler, Tschopp
• Française des Jeux: Casar
• Cofidis: Sylvain Chavanel, Dumoulin, Moncoutie, Monfort
• Garmin-Chipotle: Pate, Hesjedal
• Milram: Knees

Pate is dropped from this group, as is Dumoulin. Back in the pack, CSC is still running things, with 5 riders leading, 10:35 behind Schumacher.

On the day's biggest climb, the lieutenants group slowly dragged in Stefan Schumacher, whittling their large group down to 9, while CSC once again ground the yellow jersey peloton down to a nub, until only 8 riders rode beside Fränk Schleck. Brother Andy was a baby-faced killer, riding monster pulls that discouraged attacks. CSC didn't hestitate to bring Arvesen, then Voigt, back from the break to assist on the front.

On the steepest part of the climb, Barloworld's John Lee Augustyn attacked from the leading group of Valjavec, Hincapie, Casar, Dessel, Siutsou, Portal, Popovych and others, and was first over the top of the Tour's highest climb, with the yellow jersey group chasing barely more than 2 minutes behind.

Early on the descent, Augustyn went off the side of the mountain, had to crawl back up to the road, and left his bike far below. Augustyn waits by the road for a new bike.

Popovych, Dessel, Arroyo, and Casar now lead the stage.

Hors Categorie Cime de la Bonette-Restefond
1. John-Lee Augustyn, Barloworld, 40 pts
2. Cyril Dessel, AG2R, 36 pts @ :12
3. David Arroyo, Caisse d'Epargne, 32 pts
4. Yaroslav Popovych, Silence-Lotto, 28 pts
5. Sandy Casar, Française des Jeux, 24 pts
6. George Hincapie, Team Columbia, 20 pts
7. Tadej Valjavec, AG2R, 16 pts
8. Kanstantsin Siutsou, Columbia, 14 pts
9. Nicolas Portal, Caisse d'Epargne, 12 pts
10. Stefan Schumacher, Gerolsteiner, 10 pts

Samuel Sanchez is scorching the descent, with Dessel, Arroyo, Popovych, and Casar in the stage lead.

For near-real-time updates, follow my Twitter feed.

Ride on Christian Soldier

Check the Times Online profile of Christian Vande Velde and how he went from a domestique to a Tour contender.

There’s a lot more cheating and a lot more losing and he struggles constantly with injury. And two weeks ago, when he starts his sixth Tour de France, Christian Vande Velde is still a minor leaguer, performing unnoticed in the shadow of the gods. He has no ambition of winning. He has no idea how good he is. But what if he just found out?

Photo Credit: Reuters.

Cross-posted from Bike Hugger.

Schleck in yellow as Gerrans takes Stage 15

It was a day for the breakaway, as the overall contenders had bigger fish to fry, with the Tour climbing into the Alps.

Credit Agricole's Simon Gerrans, who fell off the breakaway but battled back to Egoi Martinez and Danny Pate, found a second wind on the mountaintop and easily dropped Martinez and Pate for his first career stage victory.

Back in the field, CSC again stamped a jackhammer tempo at the front to shatter the field, leaving Cadel Evans without teammates on the day's last climb, up to Prato Nevoso, and putting three CSC men -- both Schlecks and Carlos Sastre -- in the final group of 10 that included Evans.

Andy Schleck did the lion's share of the pacesetting on the 11-kilometer final climb, and Sastre, Menchov, Kohl, Alejandro Valverde and Fränk Schleck forced a gap to Evans, who tried to keep his head and ride to the summit with Christian Vande Velde,

Oscar Pereiro left the race after a tumble over a guardrail from the top to the bottom of a hairpin turn. Pereiro, who was awarded the 2006 Tour when Floyd Landis was disqualified, injured his shoulder and couldn't continue.

Stage 15 on the road

Welcome to the Alps! The Tour moves into France's highest mountains, and finishes up in Italy, atop Prato Nevoso for the first time.

The elements are in place for another exciting stage, as Valverde and Cunego sit far enough back that they may be given some slack on the final slope, while Fränk Schleck can move into yellow if he can pull more than a single second back on Cadel Evans.

It's a rainy day at the start, and the stage starts uphill almost immediately, up to 9,000 feet on the hors categorie Col Agnel, whose summit comes 58 kilometers from the start. We've got two intermediate sprints, and wind up with a 3rd category climb as a warmup to the 1st Category climb to Prato Nevoso.

In the U.S., Versus offers wire-to-wire live coverage, and Johan Bruyneel will be joining the commentary team.

Versus Stage 15 predictions:
Roll: Damiano Cunego
Hummer: Alejandro Valverde
Sherwen: Fränk Schleck
Liggett: Andy Schleck

Team Columbia's Mark Cavendish has called it a Tour, resting up for his Beijing Olympic races.

The day's first successful breakaway is Danny Pate, José-Luia Arrieta, and Egoi Martinez. They collected the day's first sprint points, then were joined by Simon Gerrans of Credit Agricole.

Sprint 1:
1. Egoi Martinez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 6 pts
2. José Luis Arrieta, AG2R, 4 pts
3. Danny Pate, Garmin-Chipotle, 2 pts

The four leading riders are about 3:30 ahead of the field with almost 25 kilometers ridden.

On the first climb, the gap continued to go out, to almost 14 minutes, before Lampre put some men on the front, and began to put a dent in the lead.

Two more riders abandoned on the climb -- Mark Renshaw of Credit Agricole, and QuickStep leader Stijn Devolder, whose performance is among the bigger (non-pharmaceutical) disappointments of this Tour.

1st Climb, the HC Col de Agnel:
1. Egoi Martinez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 20 pts
2. José Luis Arrieta, AG2R, 18 pts
3. Simon Gerrans, Credit Agricole, 16 pts
4. Danny Pate, Garmin-Chipotle, 14 pts
5. Thomas Voeckler, Bouygues Telecom, 12 pts, @ 11:50
6. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, 10 pts
7. Remy di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 8 pts
8. Yaroslav Popovych, Silence-Lotto, 7 pts
9. John Lee Augustyn, Barloworld, 6 pts
10. Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, 5 pts

On the descent into Italy, the gap continues to fall, now a little more than 11 minutes, then went out a bit as riders began taking nature breaks in advance of the feed zone. Voeckler continued to ride ahead of the field, on a quixotic solo attack that seemed unlikely to close down the 10+ minute gap.

On a hairpin with around 90 kilometers to ride, Oscar Pereiro went over a guardrail at the top of a hairpin, landing on the road below, and fractured his femur and collarbone. He was taken away in an ambulance. Pereiro was awarded the 2006 Tour win when Floyd Landis was disqualified for doping.

The gap went out to more than 16 minutes as the peloton's pace fell after the accident.

At the day's second sprint, the gap was more than 17 minutes.
Sprint 2:
1. Simon Gerrans, Credit Agricole, 6 pts
2. Danny Pate, Garmin-Chipotle, 4 pts
3. Jose Luis Arrieta, AG2R-La Mondiale, 2 pts

The breakaway appears likely to succeed. Pate hasn't established the climbing bona fides of the other three, and has been gapping slightly on the climbs so far.

Colle del Morte, 3rd Category climb:
1. José Luis Arrieta, AG2R, 4pts
2. Egoi Martinez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, 3 pts
3. Simon Gerrans, Credit Agricole, 2 pts
4. Danny Pate, Garmin-Chipotle, 1 pt

CSC-Saxo Bank has moved to the front, and on the Colle del Morte, set a pace high enough to split the field. Will they be able to launch Schleck to yellow? Or will Carlos Sastre deliver their final punch?

You can follow my updates in near real-time on Twitter.

Oscar wild on Stage 14

Rabobank's Oscar Freire extended his lead in the green jersey race in the sweetest way possible, with a stage win at Digne les Bains.

A late climb marooned 4-stage winner Mark Cavendish in a 2nd group, so his Team Columbia worked instead for Kim Kirchen, but to no avail. Erik Zabel was well-placed, following Marcus Burghardt into the final 300 meters, but when Freire got his cranks turning, he easily outdistanced Zabel and Leonardo Duque for his 4th career stage victory.

Freire extended his green jersey lead, as Thor Hushovd could manage only 10th on the day.

Stage 14 Top 10:
1. Oscar Freire, Rabobank, Spain, in 4:13:08
2. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, Colombia, same time
3. Erik Zabel, Milram, Germany, s.t.
4. Julian Dean, Garmin-Chipotle, New Zealand, s.t.
5. Steven de Jongh, QuickStep, Netherlands, s.t.
6. Alessandro Ballan, Lampre, Italy, s.t.
7. Ruben Perez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain, s.t.
8. Jerome Pineau, Bouygues Telecom, France, s.t.
9. Matteo Tossato, QuickStep, Italy, s.t.
10. Thor Hushovd, Credit Agricole, Norway, s.t.

Overall standings are, once again, unchanged. That will probably change tomorrow.

General Classification, after Stage 13:
1. Cadel Evans, Silence-Lotto, Australia, in 59:01:55
2. Fränk Schleck, CSC-Saxo Bank, Luxembourg, @ :01
3. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Chipotle, USA, @ :38
4. Bernhard Kohl, Gerolsteiner, Germany, @ :46
5. Denis Menchov, Rabobank, Russia, @ :57
6. Carlos Sastre, CSC-Saxo Bank, Span, @ 1:28
7. Kim Kirchen, Columbia, Luxembourg, @ 1:56
8. Vladimir Efimkin, AG2R-La Mondiale, Russia, @ 2:32
9. Mikel Astarloza, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Spain, @ 3:51
10. Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas, Italy, @ 4:18