Steegmans Closes Tour As Sastre Carries Yellow To Paris

The 2008 Tour de France came to a close with Gert Steegmans rescuing Quick Step's tour by taking the famous sprint on the Champs Élysées in Paris. Carlos Sastre lost a handful of seconds as the peleton split on the run in to the finish but it was not enough to seem him lose the overall title. He proudly wore the yellow jersey during the day's race from Étampes to Paris becoming the third consecutive Spanish rider to take the title since Lance Armstrong's seven year reign ended (Oscar Pereiro won in 2006, Alberto Contador in 2007).

As is almost always the case the stage came down to a sprint finish and it was Steegmans, taking on his teams sprinting duties in the absence of Tom Boonen, who finally got it right to land the victory. He beat home Gerald Ciolek and green-jersey winner Oscar Freire who filled the podium just behind Australian Robbie McEwen who had to leave the 2008 Tour without a stage win to his credit. In what was possibly his last Tour, German veteran Erik Zabel finished 11th.

So with the Tour done and dusted for another year it is time for a rundown of the competitions. The yellow jersey goes to Carlos Sastre who finished 58 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans. Bernhard Kohl filled the podium in Paris finishing third some 73 seconds behind Sastre. The green jersey goes to Oscar Freire, the first Spaniard to win the points classification. He was dominant in the 2008 Tour taking the title by 50 points from Thor Hushovd, with Erik Zabel a further 3 points in arrears. The polka dot jersey was also won comprehensively by Bernhard Kohl, by 48 points from CSC teammates Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck. CSC also has a white jersey to go with their yellow, as Andy Schleck won the Best Young Rider classification by 1 minute 27 seconds from Roman Kreuziger. Vincenzo Nibali was third in the competition, 17 minutes 1 second behind Schleck.

Looking back over this years event there are a number of highlights and (unfortunately) low lights to recall. Feel free to choose your own but here are mine:

Highlights:

1. Stage 17 - Carlos Sastre wins on L'Alpe d'Huez - Sastre climbs to a solo victory that not only puts his name alongside the greats who have conquered the Alpe, but also laid the foundations for his overall victory.
2. Mark Cavendish - 4 stage wins - The 23 year old Brit proved himself the fastest man on two-wheels with 4 dominant stage wins. If he was there at the finish there was no one who could match him. Enjoy this guy for years to come.
3. Stage 15 - Simon Gerrans wins at Prato Nevoso - Simon Gerrans becomes the first Australian to win a high mountains stage, clawing himself up to the Italian ski resort before unleashing a devastating sprint to defeat his breakaway companions.

Honourable mentions go to Andy Schleck (watch out next year), Oscar Freire (first Spaniard to win the Green Jersey), the whole of Team CSC, and Tour organisers for a very creative course this year.

Low lights:

1. Riccardo Ricco - tests positive for EPO - Fairly obvious. Lights up the first week with climbing displays one could only dream of, then tests positive to the latest advanced strain of EPO. Good riddance!
2. Cadel Evans - deja vu - There was enough hype to fill a hot air balloon but after pushing motorbike riders, headbutting cameras, and carrying his dog around like a Hollywood starlet we were left with the bitter taste of defeat in the final time trial yet again.
3. Silence Lotto - conspicuous by their absence - Sure Evans was disappointing but his team were a disgrace. They disappeared faster than last weeks pay any time the road tilted upwards and big $ man Yaroslav Popovych was about as effective as a UN peace-keeping force.

In conclusion, the 2008 Tour was certainly one to remember and with a host of new young riders coming through the greatest race on earth looks set to enter another golden era. My early tip for 2009? Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador to fight it out all the way to Paris.

And stay tuned for The Falcons Definitive 2008 Olympics Guide in coming weeks.

Deja Vu For Evans As Sastre Shines In Gold

On a day that was supposed to be Cadel Evans crowning glory, a plucky Spanish climber once again spoiled the party. Twelve months on from Alberto Contador's 2007 win, Carlos Sastre produced a career-best time-trial display to hold off the charges of Evans, Bernhard Kohl, and Denis Menchov to hold his yellow jersey. Sastre will now ride into Paris tomorrow as the winner of the 2008 Tour de France. No one can doubt he is the most deserving in the race being the only rider, apart from Alejandrdo Valverde, in the top 10 who actually won a stage this year.

On a day when the time-trial specialists were expected to shine, it was Sastre who shined brightest. While the true specialists against the clock, world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and stage winner Stefan Schumacher (who has apparently found this amazing time trial ability somewhere in the last three weeks), would have gained more than enough time to take the jersey of Sastre, for the leading GC men the challenge never eventuated. While Schumacher took the 53km test from Cérilly to Saint Amand Montrond by 21 seconds from Cancellara (Kim Kirchen filled the podium finishing third), the likes of Menchov and Evans never looked like making up enough ground. In the end Evans only managed to pull back 29 seconds on Sastre, leaving the Spaniard with a minute to spare over the Australian on the general classification. An impressive ride from Kohl saw him hold his podium position for Paris ahead of Menchov and Christian Vande Velde. Frank Schleck had a horrible day against the clock, finishing over five and half minutes behind Schumacher. His podium dreams evaporated and he slipped from 2nd to 6th overall.

As bad as Frank Schleck's performance was, the most disappointing man on the day was Evans. We had been told time and time again that he was a so called specialist against the clock, and that his rivals needed time over him in the mountains, but when the pressure was on once again he was no where to be seen. I don't know where this myth of Evans time trialling ability has come from, but the fact is he has never looked like taking a time trial stage at the Tour. He barely outperformed Kohl last night. He was never going to get near Sastre. Evans leaves the 2008 tour without the final yellow jersey or a stage win. In fact he can thank Vande Velde for dragging him up Hautacamp to the maillot jaune - the only positive thing he has got out of the whole tour. The sad fact is that Evans is a pretender and never will, nor deserves to, win the Tour. On all the main rendezvous (Hautacamp, L'Alpe d'Huez, the final time trial) he was below expectations, but below expectations defines his career in all honesty. This year's Tour was handed to him on a plate and he dropped it. Next year Andy Schleck will be a year older and more mature and most likely Contador will be back so Evans will be lucky to hang onto a podium position. We can now add the 2008 Tour de France to Evans previous failures when the pressure has been on him - the 2000 Sydney Olympics (MTB), and last years Tour.

So, with only the neutralised final stage into Paris to come the competitions are decided. Carlos Sastre will win the 2008 Tour de France. The points competition will go to his countrymen Oscar Freire, who will be the first Spaniard to win the green jersey. Bernhard Kohl will be the King of the Mountains (possibly an investigation needs to be made of Gerolsteiner's drinking water with both Kohl and Schumamcher performing far above any ones expectations this year), while Andy Schleck will hold onto the white jersey for Best Young Rider despite a penultimate day assault from Roman Kreuziger.

However, all honours go to Carlos Sastre, who showed on the climb up to L'Alpe d'Huez that he has all the qualities a Tour winner should have.

Yellow Jersey - Carlos Sastre
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey Andy Schleck

France Victorious on D-Day -1

One day before the final epic rendezvous of this year's Tour one of France's favourite sons, Sylvain Chavanel, finally got the stage victory he had desired for almost a decade. After breaking away with compatriot Jeremy Roy halfway through the stage from Roanne to Montluçon, Chavanel had too much strength and experience in the sprint, ensuring France's third stage win of this years Tour. Roy was brave finishing second while German Gerarld Ciolek filled the podium leading the main bunch home in third.

In another stereotypical third week tour stage the main field were basically happy to let the break go, and finished as a group around 1 minute behind with none of the overall contenders losing time. After crashing yesterday Damiano Cunego's horror Tour ended after he failed to take to the start overnight. Cunego's 2008 performance has once again proved that the Tour is not the Giro, and the Italian prince seems to be much better suited to the climbs of the Dolomites rather than the Alps or the Pyrenees. The stage was run at a hectic pace and heartbreakingly close to Paris Romain Feillu, Juan Antonio Flecha, and German national champion Fabian Wegmann missed the time cut off after being dropped by the peleton on the first climb of the day.

Going into tonight's penultimate stage, a 53 km time trial, Carlos Sastre maintains his 1 minute 24 second lead over teammate Frank Schleck, with hot favourite Cadel Evans a further 10 seconds back. Experts tip the jersey to change hands overnight with most expecting Evans to take around 2 minutes off Sastre by stage end. Andy Schleck leads the white jersey competition by just under 2 minutes from Roman Kreuziger and this competition too may go down to the wire given Kreuziger's dominant display in the time trial that helped him win the Tour de Suisse. With an early breakaway taking all the mountains points there was no change to the race for the polka dot jersey which will be won by Bernhard Kohl so long as he can cross the finish line in Paris. Oscar Freire's lead in the points competition was reduced slightly with both Erik Zabel and Thor Hushovd beating him home in the final sprint but with a 42 point lead over Zabel he should hold the green jersey in Paris barring an absolute catastrophe.

But after 20 days and over 80 hours of racing it has come down to this: D-Day. Tonight's time trial will decided the winner of the 2008 Tour de France. Who are you on? Evans to use his time trial expertise to power away to victory? Sastre to heroically hold on to his yellow jersey just as countrymen Alberto Contador did last year? Or Denis Menchov to blow the field away with a penultimate day victory that would be talked about for years to come? Whatever happens, cycling fans all around the globe will be watching the climax to what must arguably be the closest Tour de France in living memory.

Yellow Jersey - Carlos Sastre
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

GC Riders Mark Time As Colombia Takes Another Stage

After three hard days in the Alps, the GC riders took a back seat on Stage 18 from Bourg d'Oisans at the foot of L'Alpe d'Huez to the industrial town of Saint Étienne. Marcus Burghardt proved the strongest of the successful breakaway riders to deliver Team Colombia their 5th stage victory of the tour. He defeated Carlos Barredo in the final sprint, with Roman Feillu filling the podium by leading home a small chase group some 3 minutes back.

All of the favourites finished together, although Roman Kreuziger and Andy Schleck did gain a few seconds when Kreuziger tried to reduce Schleck's lead in the White Jersey competition with a late attack. However, Schleck was wary of the Czech's tactics and matched him to the finish to record the same time. Damiano Cunego's horror tour continued as he was dropped by the peleton after crashing very early in the day's stage. He had to be guided home by his teammates some 20 minutes in arrears. He will now be lucky to garner a position in the top 20. After being put on hold in the Alps, the battle for the green jersey was renewed on the run in to Saint Etienne. Oscar Freire increased his lead in the competition leading home rivals Thor Hushovd and Erik Zabel at the head of the main pack. With the breakaway and chase group taking all the points on the climbs there was no change to the King of the Mountains standings.

Obviously the previous stage to L'Alpe d'Huez has led to a major shake up in betting markets. Going into the time trial Cadel Evans is now a clear favourite at $1.50. Carlos Sastre ($3.50), and Denis Menchov ($25) are the only other riders given any realistic chance of winning the overall classification. Honestly, there does not appear to be value in any of these prices. Evans looks especially poor value at the $1.50 but I am not willing to lay him given his exceptional time trialling ability.

Yellow Jersey - Carlos Sastre
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

Tour To Go Down To The Wire After Sastre Produces L'Aple d'Huez Miracle

Bravo Carlos Sastre! Knowing he needed major time over his rivals, more accomplished in the time trial caper, Spanish climber Carlos Sastre produced a performance for the ages on the mythical climb to L'Alpe d'Huez. Hitting the bottom of the Alpe alongside his GC rivals, Sastre wasted no time in attacking. After surging away from the field in the first couple of kilometres of the climb, Sastre put on a feat of climbing that will go down in Tour history as one of the greatest individual performances of all time. At the summit, some 14 km's later, Sastre had built a two minute buffer over the rest of the field and surged to the top of the General Classification. In another Tour marred by drug controversy, the sight of Sastre climbing into the heavens with everything on the line will have warmed the hearts of cycling purists around the globe.

The rest of the overall contenders finished basically together, but none of them could match the epic performance of Sastre. With the Schleck brothers causing havoc like a couple of school boys in the yellow jersey group, the chase could never really gather momentum, and it was up to Cadel Evans to drag the rest of the field up to Sastre over the closing 3 km's in order to limit his losses to something he may be able to overturn in the final time trial. No one helped him and by the end they had all lost over 2 minutes to the Spaniard. Sastre now holds the yellow jersey by 84 seconds from Frank Schleck. Bernhard Kohl is at 93 seconds, with Evans at 94, and Denis Menchov at 2 minutes 39 seconds.

The result leaves the race on tenterhooks. We now seem to have a race in two - Evans v Sastre. The question being is Sastre's 94 second lead enough to hold off Evans over Saturday's exceptionally long 53km time trial. Sastre lost 76 seconds to Evans in the first time trial, a much shorter 29.5km affair, but he did finish in the top 30 on the stage so he is by no means a muppet against the clock. On a normal stage I would expect Evans to put at least 2 minutes into Sastre in a time trial of this length, but Saturday will not be a normal stage. Riders in yellow have a habit of over performing in the final time trial, just as Alberto Contador did last year when in theory Evans should have been able to claw back sufficient time to steal the maillot jaune from him. I am expecting a similar above average performance from Sastre on Saturday.

For that reason I see the probabilities of either rider taking this years tour as 60-40 in favour of Evans, although betting markets will most likely have Evans much shorter. Sastre will have the advantage of having Evans times to ride too which may allow him to limit his losses to an mount that still leaves him with the yellow jersey for the ride into Paris. Frank Schleck and Kohl do not have enough of a buffer of Evans and will slip below him in the GC. The wild card is Menchov, who would expect to move onto the podium given his time-trialling ability, and with a miracle performance would be an outside hope at taking the title in Paris. In summary, my prediction for the final podium in Paris is currently: Cadel Evans - Carlos Sastre - Denis Menchov.

In the other classifications there was again no change to the points competition with all the sprinters finishing in the groupetto. Bernhard Kohl increased his lead in the King of the Mountains competition to a seemingly unassailable 45 points, with Sastre's efforts on L'Alpe seeing him climb to second in the competition, equal on points with Frank Schleck. The race for the White Jersey has been reduced to two riders. Again Vincenzo Nabali lost time on the day's climbs, allowing Andy Schleck to increase his lead in the competition to 1 minute 58 seconds, from Tour de Suisse winner Roman Kreuziger.

Yellow Jersey - Carlos Sastre
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

Evans Holds Firm As Menchov Loses Time; Vande Velde Loses Tour

On a day when the French celebrated a stage quinella with Cyril Dessel defeating countrymen Sandy Casar, Denis Menchov lost 30 seconds on the descent from Restefond, while Christian Vande Velde saw his tour hopes go up in smoke after he finished three and a half minutes behind his main GC rivals.

The stage again saw a breakaway survive the high mountain passes with Dessel having the strongest legs at the end of Stage 16 from Cuneo to Jausiers. His sprint was enough to defeat fellow breakaway companions Casar, and David Arroyo who filled the podium in third. The remainder of the ten man break that included stars such as George Hincapie and Yaroslav Popovych finished in gaps up to a minute back.

In terms of the GC the big losers on the day were Menchov and Vande Velde. Menchov again found a creative way to lose time, this time getting skittish on the descent from the final climb of the day, while Vande Velde showed his first sign of weakness for the Tour after cracking on the climb up the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond and then crashing on the descent. He can no longer win the tour. Cadel Evans importantly held his ground on the remainder of his rivals, and now is only one high mountain stage away from winning the tour given his time trialling ability (but what a mountain stage it will be!). With the rest of the favourites finishing together Frank Schleck still holds a seven second lead over Bernhard Kohl in the race for the yellow jersey.

Again the high mountain stage meant there was no change to the points competition, and with a 10-man breakaway taking all the points on the climbs there was no real change to the King of the Mountains competition either. However, poor day from Vincenzo Nabali, who lost over 5 minutes to the winner of the stage, has seen a change in the Best Young Rider classification. The White Jersey now passes to Andy Schleck by just six seconds, a well deserved reward for a man that has worked tirelessly for his brother in the Alps so far.

But the inability of the better climbers to put more time into Evans on the stage means we are likely to see some major fireworks on the slopes of L'Alpe d'Huez tonight. Frank Schleck, Kohl and Carlos Sastre (currently trailling Evans) will all need more advantage than they currently have to hold him off in the final time trial. Given the seeming reluctance of Team CSC to blow the peleton apart overnight, it seems everything is being left down to tonight's stage. We can expect to see the time-trial specialists, Evans and Menchov hit repeatedly by the CSC boys and Kohl as they try to get as much time as possible heading into Saturday's final time trial. Menchov will also have to put time into Evans somehow, as he is unlikely to beat him by a minute (if at all!) in the race against the clock. It is unfortunate that the powerful Russian seems to lose time on the most random and unneccessary of occasions.

Yellow Jersey - Frank Schleck
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

Menchov Closes In On Favouritism

With last night's shake up in Italy there has been a marked re-assessment of prices in betting markets on the Tour. Cadel Evans has drifted from $1.80 to around $2.80 (not surprisingly - does this look like a man with the hardness to win the tour), with Denis Menchov (would be some chance of eating a dog were it to get him the yellow jersey in Paris!) now challenging for favouritism at $3.80 in from $5. It is then $10 each of three - Frank Schleck, Carlos Sastre, and Bernhard Kohl.

Given current pricing the best option would appear to be to lay Kohl at $10. He was a relative no-name before the start of the race and doesn't really have the cycling pedigree of the other riders at the top of the GC. It would be a massive shock if he wore the yellow jersey in Paris. Just ask Lance Armstrong (c/o cyclingnews.com):

"To be honest I have been surprised by [Bernhard] Kohl though. I've simply never heard of that guy before the race. Who is he?"

Photo c/o Yahoo Sports.

Bittersweet Day For Australians In Prato

It was a night of mixed emotions for Australian cycling fans as the Tour de France ended a stage in Italy for the first time since 1999. While Simon Gerrans continued his stellar 2008 season by becoming the first Australian to win a high mountain stage in Tour history, Cadel Evans lost his yellow jersey to Frank Schleck and slipped to third overall on the GC after being subject to repeated attacks from Team CSC and Rabobank's Denis Menchov on the day's parcour from Embrun to Prato Nevoso.

Gerrans was part of a four man breakaway that gained a maximum advantage of over 17 minutes on the peleton. That was more than enough to see the quartet survive up the final climb to the Italian ski resort. While Gerrans was dropped halfway up the climb as Egoi Martinez and Danny Pate tried to reduce the break to two, he managed to slowly pull himself back to the pair over the final 5 km's. As the roads flattened out over the final 200 metres, Gerrans used his superior kick to accelerate away from his companions to record the biggest victory of his career. Martinez finished second, 3 seconds back while Pate had nothing left over the last few metres, but still filled the podium in third a further 7 seconds back.

Meanwhile the race for the yellow jersey in Paris was rocked to its foundations on the final climb. After countering attack after attack from first Carlos Sastre, then Andy & Frank Schleck, and finally Denis Menchov and Bernhard Kohl, Cadel Evans finally snapped towards the top of the climb. Sastre, Menchov, and Kohl raced ahead with Alejandro Valverde to gain half a minute on Evans, finishing around 4 minutes behind Gerrans. Frank Schleck, not willing to drag Evans up to his teammate Sastre up the road, waited till the final kilometre to breakaway with Christian Vande Velde, but picked up more than the single second he required to take the yellow jersey. At the top of the climb Evans had lost a total of:

• 47 seconds to Kohl and Sastre
• 38 seconds to Valverde
• 27 seconds to Menchov
• 9 seconds to Frank Schleck and
• 7 seconds to Vande Velde

This leaves us with the astonishing situation of three riders within 8 seconds of each other at the top of the GC, with another 3 riders within three quarters of a minute. Frank Schleck now holds the yellow jersey by 7 seconds from surprise packet Bernhard Kohl, who has the new lead in the King of The Mountains jersey for comfort. Evans is a further second back followed by Menchov (@ 38 seconds), Vande Velde (@ 39 seconds) and Sastre (@ 49 seconds).

Given that we have now hit the second rest day and have completed one day in the Alps it is again time to re-asses where the race is headed. To my surprise, we are probably less closer to finding the winner of this year's Tour then we were a week ago. The problem for Evans now is that Menchov and Vande Velde are closing in - and they can time trial! Previously I thought they would not be able to out-climb Evans but the stage into Italy shows they can. Evans weakness also means that we could see the pure climbers like Schleck and Sastre put such time into him in the last two mountain stages that he cannot make up the ground in the time trial. I could easily see Frank Schleck putting in a similar performance in the final time trial to what Alberto Contador did last year if he is defending the yellow jersey.

I will make the claim now that I don't think Vande Velde or Kohl can win the overall title. I would be very surprised if either could pull off the GC. I am predicting Vande Velde will lose time in the Alps, while Kohl will lose more time than he can gain in the mountains in the final time trial. That leaves us with Schleck, Evans, Sastre, and Menchov. At this moment in time I would rank Evans on top from Menchov, Schleck and then Sastre. I still think Evans will most likely win the Tour, but to me he just does not have the presence that a Tour winner seems to command. Simon Gerrans has more first place finishes over the line in his Tour career than him for Christ's sake! Evans does have a stage win to his credit but it was when Alexandre Vinokourov was thrown out of the race for doping last year after beating the field by panels in the second time trial. Menchov looked imperious last night and may be in the golden fleece right now if he had not crashed when attacking his rivals on the final climb. He has the power to put Evans under pressure on the climbs and match him in the final time trial. Schleck will probably have to win in the style of Contador last year. Put sufficient time into Evans on the climb that he cannot make it up in the time trial. Castre will need a superhuman victory (5 minutes plus!) on L'Alpe d'Huez to win.

In the minor classifications there was no change to the Green Jersey competition with none of the sprinters getting anywhere near the top 10 on the day's stage. Oscar Freire still holds the lead and will win the competition so long as he gets to Paris. The lead in the King of The Mountains competition has passed to Bernhard Kohl. Given that his nearest rival is his team-mate Sebastian Lang he can most likely hold the jersey just by attempting to maintain his high overall position. Vincenzo Nabali still holds the White Jersey but Roman Kreuziger and Andy Schleck have closed on him with superior performances up to Prato Nevoso. This competition will go right down to the wire in Paris.

On a sadder note, Oscar Pereiro is out of this years Tour after an horrific crash on the descent of the Col Agnel saw him break his shoulder blade, and Mark Cavendish chose to exit the race voluntarily in order to focus on the Beijing Olympics. The Tour will be a lesser event for both their departures.

Yellow Jersey - Frank Schleck
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Vincenzo Nabali

Freire's Rivals Green With Envy In Digne

Oscar Freire finally got the stage win he desperately wanted wearing the green jersey, on the eve of the Tour's entrance to the Alps. With a late cat-4 climb seeing a number of specialist sprinters, including Mark Cavendish, dropped Freire made the most of his opportunities to take the stage from Nimes to Digne les Bains. Leonardo Duque and veteran sprinter Erik Zabel were also able to drag themselves over the final climb to finish second and third respectively. Freire now seemingly has an unassailable lead in the points competition, providing he can get over all the high mountain passes in the Alps. He holds the green jersey by over 40 points from Thor Hushovd who could only manage 10th on the day's stage.

The pace at which the peleton hit the small last climb saw half the field lose at least some time, but all of the main GC riders managed to finish with the leading bunch so there was no change to the overall classification. Bernhard Kohl took second over the final climb of the day to reduce team-mate Sebastian Lang's lead in the King of the Mountains competition to a single point.

With the first major mountains of the Alps in tonight's stage we should see a shake up of both the GC and the KoM competition. Riders well tackle the massive Col Angel (HC) as they pass from France into Italy before finishing with a cat-1 climb up to the Italian ski station of Prato Nevoso. Cadel Evans can expect to see a full blown assault on his yellow jersey as his rivals attempt to put some time between themselves and Cadel before the final 50km time trial next Saturday.

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Sebastian Lang
White Jersey - Vincenzo Nibali

Comet Cavendish Shines Brightly Over Tour

Number of genuine sprint finishes at this years Tour de France: 4
Number of stage wins by Mark Cavendish: 4

No other rider in this year's peleton can get near new sprinting sensation Mark Cavendish. The Brit became the first sprinter since Allesandro Pettachi in 2003 to take out 4 stages in a single Tour with yet another powerful display in Stage 13 from Narbonne to Nimes. Cavendish again showed his superiority over the old guard this time relegating Robbie McEwen and Roman Feillu into second and third respectively. Rumours have persisted that their is pressure on the Cavendish from back in the UK to quit the race in order to prepare for next month's Olympics. Let us hope he shrugs off this pressure. Nothing would be more magical than seeing Cavendish explode away to victory on the last day in Paris. And he is still an outside chance to win the green jesrey!

Today's win saw Cavendish move into second position in the points competition, trailling only Oscar Freire who finished 5th on the days stage. Thor Hushovd is equal on points with Cavendish but lost ground to Freire by finishing 6th in the bunch sprint. The bulk of the main field (bar the usual stragglers) finished together so there was no change to the overall classification with all of the favourites finishing in the bunch. Sebastian Lang increased his lead in the King of the Mountains classification slightly, picking up third on all three of the days cat-4 climbs. In the usual transitional stage from mountain range to mountain range the major highlight was a spectacular crash by Sven Krauss who managed to split his bike in half after hitting a sign post on the road. He managed to complete the stage but lost over 15 minutes to the winner.

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Sebastian Lang
White Jersey - Vincenzo Nabali

Ghost Of Pantani Haunts Tour As Ricco Tests Positive

In yet another dark day for the Tour de France, up and coming superstar Riccardo Ricco was thrown out of the race after testing positive for EPO. In a move more honourable than that of their former team-mate Saunier-Duval have withdrawn from the race, taking stage winner Leonardo Piepoli, Top 10 rider Juan Jose Cobo, and King of the Mountains leader David De La Fuente with them in the process.

The positive test by Ricco is a stake in the heart of all cycling fans around the world. He burst onto the scene in a manor which suggested he was the new king of cycling. A new, clean, athlete that could drag cycling back to its rightful place in the upper echelon of world sports after the doping controversies that have plagued the sport, and especially the Tour, for the last decade. Ten years on from the Festina affair and we are almost back where we started.

Ricco often stated how he admired former Italian cycling legend Marco Pantani. His story now follows an eerily similar script to the ill fated Il Pirata. Riccco will no longer be remembered for his dynamic attacks up the slopes of Super Besse and the Col d'Aspin in this years tour, but rather for the chemical laboratories which inspired those efforts. While Ricco is now as good as dead to the sport of cycling, let us hope his life does not now follow a similar path to Pantani's who slipped into a spiral of drugs and depression that eventually led to his death in 2004.

Oh, there was a race on today too. Stage 12 from Lavelanet to Narbonne ended in a bunch sprint and not suprisingly Mark Cavendish won - again! The performances of the young Brit at this years tour have been a bright spark to coutner the dark stain of Ricco's antics. Sprinters generally build up their strength in the weights room rather than the laboratory. But as one door closes another one generally opens and in losing one great young hope for the sport it is clear another one has been revealed in Cavendish. Already 3 stage wins in the Tour to go with 2 in the Giro. Perhaps an Olympic crown on the road awaits (he already has one on the track!) - cycling as a sport could sure use that. None of the favourites lost time on the day as the peleton finished together. Sebastian Lang inherits the tainted polka dot jersey as new leader of the King of the Mountains competition while the white jersey moves on to the shoulders of another young Italian Vincenzo Nibali. Let us hope he doesn't disgrace it as the previous wearer did. Oscar Freire increased his lead in the points competition beating home rivals Thor Hushovd and Kim Kirchen in the final sprint. However, Cavendish may find himself falling into the Green Jersey if we end up with any more bunch sprints in upcoming stages.

In closing, one positive on this dark day is that cycling appears to be winning the fight. In the last 3 years superhuman and unbelivable performances from Floyd Llandis, Michael Rasmussen, Alexander Vinokourov, and now Ricco have been revealed for what they truly were. Inhuman performances. In an interview with cyclingnews.com, David Millar sums up my thoughts exactly:

"It is bullshit... I think it's unfortunate that when things look too good to be true, generally they are too good to be true - and he did look pretty f***ing good!"

And while seeing riders like Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, and Carlos Sastre drag their tired bodies up the high mountain passes may not be as exciting as seeing a juiced up Marco Pantani or Riccardo Ricco explode away from the peleton in a devastating attack, it does return the Tour to what it is meant to be. A hard, tough, energy sapping, 3 week slog around one of the most beautiful countries on earth.

Vive Le Tour!

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Sebastian Lang
White Jersey - Vincenzo Nabali

Kurt & Drugs - Tour's Nirvana In Foix?

On a day that mirrored the classic developments of a transitional stage, the Tour was subject to its second positive drugs result in 2008 with Barloworld's Moises Duenas Nevado thrown out of the race after he tested positive for EPO. As was the case with Liquigas earlier in the race, the Barloworld team will be allowed to remain in the race after suspending Nevado.

The day's stage, from Lannemezan to Foix was taken out by Norwegian national champion Kurt-Asle Arvesen. The rider with the rock star name had a little too much for his breakaway companions, edging out Switzerland's Martin Elmiger in an extremely tight photo-finish (the final margin reported as 2 cm's!). Classics specialist Alessandro Ballan filled the podium finishing third, finally getting some small piece of joy for Lampre who have had a difficult tour so far. The rest of the 12 man breakaway group were split back along the road up to 30 seconds back, with Amael Moinard the last home after his 60km solo effort at victory was reeled in with 3 km's remaining.

The main field finished just under 15 minutes behind the leading trio with all the leading contenders present. Another Norwegian, Thor Hushovd won the sprint for 13th to pare back some ground on Oscar Friere in the Green Jersey competition. There was no chanage to any of the major competitions. Cadel Evans still holds the yellow jersey by 1 second from Frank Schleck, while Riccardo Ricco holds both the white and polka dot jersies. Freire increased his lead in the points competition over Kim Kirchen, after taking minor points at the first intermediate sprint of the day and by beating him home in the final sprint. Hushovd sits in third and it looks to be down to those three to contest the competition all the way to Paris.

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Riccardo Ricco
White Jersey - Riccardo Ricco

Evans In Yellow As Valverde, Cunego Crack On Tourmalet

In a stage that perhaps posed more questions than it answered, Saunier-Duval continued their domination of the Pyrenees, Cadel Evans took the yellow-jersey by a single second from Frank Schleck, while Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego saw their Tour dreams turn to dust on the roads of the Col du Tourmalet. The questions: How well can Frank Schleck time trial? Just how good is Cadel Evans form? What trick do Saunier-Duval have up their sleeve next? Is Alejandro Valverde the most gutless rider of all time?

In a sight rarely seen on a high mountain finish in the Tour, Leonardo Piepoli led his jubilant teammate Juan Jose Cobo across the line to complete a Saunier-Duval quinella on the final climb of the 156km stage from Pau to the ski-station of Hautacam, just as Riccardo Ricco had predicted at the end of the previous stage. The yellow-clad team again used their tactics to perfection to deliver Piepoli a much deserved stage win after the work he has done to set up Ricco's victories at Super Besse and Bagnères de Bigorre. Cobo can now start targeting a podium possession as he moved into 8th overall just over 2 minutes behind Evans. Frank Schleck, the only one of the overall contenders to launch any real attack on the stage, completed the podium finishing 3rd.

The stage saw the yellow jersey handed over to a new rider for the first time in 5 days as Kim Kirchen was finally dropped by the elite riders on the climb to Hautacam, finishing over 4 minutes behind the winner. With Schleck up the road in third, the remaining overall contenders (Evans, Denis Menchov, and Carlos Sastre) followed 2 minutes later, just in time for Evans to take the maillot jaune for the first time in his career. However, it was a close call and Schleck will be heartbroken to miss out on the jersey by just a single second. Valverde (has any tour contendor ever had less heart?) and Cunego who were broken earlier on the Tourmalet, arrived a further three and a half minutes behind the Evans group as their overall chances went up in smoke. They must now look towards individual stage victories if they are to get anything more out of this years tour.

As expected, Ricco took over the lead in the King of the Mountains competition from teammate David De La Fuente with another excellent climbing display, this time to set up his teammates for a 1-2 finish on the stage. Ricco also took over the lead in the White Jersey competition. His 6th place finish on the stage far exceeded the performance of previous holder Andy Schleck, who unlike his brother cracked badly on the final climb and lost over 8 minutes to the stage winner. Kirchen had to suffer the pain of losing the Green Jersey as well as the yellow one and will ride Stage 11 in relative ignominy after Oscar Friere picked up the 12 available sprint points (and the lead in the points competition) by getting into the day's breakaway.

With the first rest day of this year's race tonight it is probably a good time to take stock of the event. In my opinion, there are only 5 men left who can win this tour:

• Cadel Evans (70% winning chance) - this is Cadel's Tour to lose. He is the best time-trialler of the favourites and the only men that can climb better than him while likely lose a bucket load of time to him in the time trial. Would be a certainty if he had more of a killer instinct and you could guarantee me he was 100% over the crash.
• Riccardo Ricco (15% winning chance) - superstar in the making. Will lose time to Evans in the time trial but no one can match him on the slopes it seems. Could easily see him gaining 5 or so minutes on a climb like L'Alpe d'Huez and may be an outside chance at the title if the rest of his rivals are watching each other.
• Frank Schleck (10% winning chance) - proved a superior climb to all his rivals (bar Ricco) at Hautacamp and hasn't really looked in trouble in any of the mountain stages (as evidenced by the fact he is only 1 second off Evans overall). Time trial ability will be his question mark.
• Denis Menchov (4% winning chance) - a poor man's Evans. Can't climb as well and can't time trial quite as well either. Would need a monumental collapse from one of the other three to be a chance.
• Carlos Sastre (1% winning chance) - a superior climber to Menchov and possibly Evans but has a massive weakness in the time trial caper. Could hope for a rain shortened time trial or an Oscar Pereiro type breakaway? Would be a massive shock but funnier things have happened.

Yellow Jersey - Cadel Evans
Green Jersey - Oscar Friere
Polka Dot Jersey - Riccardo Ricco
White Jersey - Riccardo Ricco

Cobra Srikes Again As Evans Crashes

While Mark Cavendish may be the new star of the sprinting ranks, 2008 has also seen a new star born amongst the climbers. Just as Cavendish did yesterday, Riccardo Ricco (aka 'The Cobra') won his second stage of this year's Tour with a dominant climbing display on the 224km stage from Toulouse to Bagneres de Bigorre. Ricco finished over a minute clear of Vladimir Efimkin with Cyril Dessel leading the remnants of the peleton home in third as part of an elite group containing all the overall contenders, including Cadel Evans who crashed earlier in the stage just after the feed zone.

But the delay belonged to Ricco who burst out of the peleton on the Col d'Aspin to record one of the more memorable solo victories the race has seen. While Evans received medical attention from the doctors car after his crash, he managed to rejoin the lead group without too many problems. While he survived the day, the effect of a crash on a rider tends to be felt in following days. And with Stage 10 taking the field over the epic climb of the Col du Tourmalet and up to the mountain top finish at the ski-station of Hautacam (this years first HC climbs), Evans better hope that his body has not stiffened up too severely overnight. Given that all the major contenders finished with each other overnight though, Evans still remains the race favourite. Although for those financially investing on the event Evans now looks a more risky prospect, and it may pay to wait a few days to see how the crash effects him.

Improved performances were seen from Damiano Cunego, who finished with the lead group for the first time for a few stages, and Australian youngster Trent Lowe who showed his potential for the future with an excellent climbing performance that saw him finish around half a minute behind cycling's biggest stars. Stefan Schumacher was not so lucky. He was cracked on the ascent of the d'Aspin and slipped from third to fourth overall after losing around 40 seconds to the lead group. He is likely to lose more and more time from here on in and will continue to fall from his currently elevated GC position.

While this was the first high mountains stage of the tour, Kim Kirchen's 12th place finish was enough to see him regain his leads in the points competition from Oscar Freire who lost around 20 minutes on the stage. Kirchen also maintained the yellow jersey with his performance and still holds his 6 second lead over Evans. David De La Fuente picked up sufficient points on the day's mountains to hold his lead in the King of the Mountains competition, but stage winner Ricco is closing in. Trailing De La Fuente by only 11 points, he must be some chance of stealing the jersey tonight, and is now my favourite to be wearing the polka dot jersey in Paris. Thomas Lovkvist finally lost his White Jersey, after finishing around 6 mintues back from Ricco on the stage. The lead in the Best Young Rider competition now passes to Andy Schleck, and he too will be well favoured to wear it the rest of the way to Paris.

Yellow Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Green Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Polka Dot Jersey - David De La Fuente
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

Cavendish Too Srong On Eve Of Mountains

Number of genuine sprint finishes at this years Tour de France: 2
Number of stage wins by Mark Cavendish: 2

On the eve of the first high mountain passes of the 2008 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish again showed why he is the next big thing in professional cycling by taking out his second stage win at this year's event. Cavendish now has two Tour wins to go with his two wins at the Giro d'Italia. Another exceptional lead out from his Team Colombia teammates was enough to see the young Brit power to victory over the final 300 metres of the days race from Figeac to Toulouse. Colombia managed to quinella the stage with lead-out man Gerald Ciolek finishing second. France's Jimmy Casper filled the podium finishing third in the stage, while Oscar Friere's fourth was enough to see him take the lead in the points competition from overall leader Kim Kirchen on a count back.

On a rain-soaked stage, the race ended in a bunch sprint leaving no change to the overall classification as the race heads into the Pyrenees tonight. David De La Fuente led the main field over the early small climbs to increase his lead in the King of the Mountains competition. With the first cat-1 climbs of the Tour (the infamous Col de Peryresourde and Col d'Aspin) appearing in tonight's stage we can expect a shake up of both the overall classification and the King of the Mountains competition come the morning.

Yellow Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - David De La Fuente
White Jersey - Thomas Lovkvist

Doping Cloud Envelopes Tour As Sanchez Wins In Aurillac

The Tour de France is once again surrounded by doping controversy after Spanish rider 'Tricky' Beltran was thrown out of the race last night by his Liquigas team after he tested positive for EPO. The news overshadowed the impressive maiden Tour victory of Luis Leon Sanchez who broke away from the main lead group with 5 km's to go, holding off the charging peleton (containing all the favourites except for Damino Cunego) for a 6 second victory in the stage from Brioude to Aurillac.

But the bigger news of the day was Beltran's positive test. He was immediately suspended by his Liquigas team in a move seemingly designed to ensure the team is not thrown of the race entirely. The ASO (the Tour's organising body) seems to have accepted this and will allow Liquigas to race on for the time being, at least until the B sample is tested. This seems somewhat hypocritical given their decision to throw out Cofidis and Astana last year after riders from those teams tested positive, and given that they prevented Astana from even taking the starting line up in this years event.

But getting back to more important matters...the days stage. The race was hectic despite its fairly short distance with a rapid pace seeing the peleton split up into a number of groups. The only major race favourite to miss the front split was Cunego. And while yesterday it was his poor form that saw him lose time to the leaders, today it was more a case of poor luck. Cunego crashed after 60km's just as CSC began to wind the peleton up in order to chase down a breakaway consisting of yellow jersey hopeful David Millar. While his Lampre team worked hard to get him back to the main group by the final climb, the work told in the closing stages and Cunego was again dropped, and lost another 30 seconds to the elite lead group.

Up front, it was Sanchez burning the candle at both ends. After participating in a mid-race breakaway which was caught, the Spanish time-trial champion decided to try another solo attempt right at the death and succeeded. The result was even more impressive considering the quality of the main group that finished behind him. Former yellow jersey wearer Stefan Schumacher led the main pack home with 'Pippo' Pozzato finishing 3rd. Kim Kirchen was 4th to maintain his race lead and increase his lead in the points competition, while race favourites Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans finished comfortably with the main group.

Thomas Lovkvist saw his lead in the White Jersey competition reduced, as he finished in the second main group on the road with Cunego, losing around 30 seconds to Andy Schleck. With another two cat-2 climbs on the day the lead in the King of the Mountains competition changed hands for a second straight day. After leading the breakaway over both mountains, David De La Fuente has grabbed the polka dot jersey by a single point from previous leaders Sylvain Chavanel and Thomas Voeckler.

Yellow Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Green Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Polka Dot Jersey - David De La Fuente
White Jersey - Thomas Lovkvist

Ricco Explodes As Lotto Disintegrates Over Super-Besse

The expected shake up on the day's stage from Aigurande to the ski-resort and extinct volcanoe of Super-Besse eventuated. The peleton finished strewn across this years first mountain top finish after a hectic tempo was set by Caisse D'epargne up the final climb.

Enigmatic Italian Riccardo Ricco showed his form from the Giro d'Italia had carried over to the Tour as he used his explosive climbing ability to power to victory in the stage, launching his attack just as his Saunier Duval teammate Leonardo Piepoli was caught by the lead group. Ricco's sprint over the last 1.5km (the steepest part of the climb) was matched only by overall favourites Alejandro Valverde, and Cadel Evans who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, 1 second back. It is unfortunate that Ricco's sole focus this year had originally been the Giro (he finished second), because with his ability he would have been able to match the leading riders at this years Tour had he set himself for it. At 24 though time is still on his side and his shot at a yellow jersey in Paris will surely come in the future.

Again the Tour proved that while you might not be able to win the tour on the first mountain stage you can certainly lose it. And it seems that at the conclusion to Stage 6 we can already strike one of the pre-race favourites from the list of contenders for overall honours this year. Damiano Cunego could not much it with his fellow GC rivals and lost over 30 seconds to Valverde and Evans on the final climb. He is clearly the weakest time-trialler of the yellow jersey hopefuls and cannot afford to lose any time in the mountains. Today's finish looked made for him and his performance suggests he does not have form good enough to win the tour this year.

All the other major favourites will have been fairly happy with their performance with Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre losing only a handful of seconds to the winner. The greatest concern may be that of Evans who saw his Silence-Lotto team absolutely blown apart on the final climb. While Valverde's team set a solid tempo, none of Evans teammates were to be seen ( Yaroslav Popyvich finished the closest 50 seconds back). While some have suggested that this means Evans is 'there for the taking', he is lucky that the majority of this years contenders (except perhaps Valverde) seem unlikely to be willing to attack him at this point of the race. In terms of overall honours, I still have Evans as a strong favourite, but have revised up my expectations of how close Valverde can get to him given the relative strength of their teams. Menchov would be the only other man I could see winning the title at this stage. Cunego was a huge disappointment today after supposedly setting himself for this years race. Let's hope it was just a bad day and he bounces back in the high mountains.

The stage saw the 5th change in the overall race leader in just 6 days. Yellow jersey wearer Stefan Schumacher had seemed destined to save his lead in the race before crashing in the final kilometre after clipping the wheel of new race leader Kim Kirchen. Schumacher could not recover in time and with Kirchen finishing 5th on the stage the lead in the race passed to the Luxembourgian, who now leads the GC by 6 seconds from Evans. It is nothing more than Kirchen deserves after finishing heart-breaking seconds in two stages already. He has also regained his lead in the points competition after losing it to Thor Hushovd the day before. With the first category 2 climbs of the tour appearing in the stage there was also a shake-up in the King of the Mountains competition. Sylvain Chavanel now holds the Polka Dot Jersey (tied on points with previous wearer Thomas Voeckler) after picking up a stack of points by participating in the days breakaway. Ricco's win sees him move into third place in the competition, and without the GC title as his goal he could really target the spotted jersey over the next two weeks. Thomas Lovkvist retains his hold over the White Jersey after an impressive ride to finish only 23 seconds behind Ricco back in 15th place.

Yellow Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Green Jersey - Kim Kirchen
Polka Dot Jersey - Sylvain Chavanel
White Jersey - Thomas Lovkvist

Cavendish Ends British Drought At Châteauroux

Number of genuine sprint finishes at this years Tour de France: 1
Number of stage wins by Mark Cavendish: 1

Mark Cavendish proved himself as the fastest man in the peleton, taking his first ever Tour de France stage win in Stage 5 this years longest, a dead flat 232km journey from Cholet to Châteauroux. In doing so he ended a 5 year drought for British riders in the tour, which dated back to David Millar's (drug assisted) victory in the Nantes time trial in the Centenary edition of the race.

In the first pure sprint finish of this years event Cavendish had the pace and the power to take the win from pre-eminent sprinters Oscar Freire and veteran Erik Zabel who filled the podium places. Thor Hushovd could not repeat his stage 2 performance but his 4th place finish on the stage was enough to secure him his first lead in the points competition this year. He will pull on the maillot vert tomorrow. The 2km long finish was perfect for the sprinters, and while Hushovd got the early jump on the field, he was unable to hold off Cavendish who was led out beautifully by his Team Colombia train, and had enough left in the tank to hold off the fast finishing Freire and Zabel. Aussie Baden Cooke had his best tour finish for many a year finishing 5th, while Robbie McEwen will be disappointed to finish in the back half of the top 10 after leading the peleton home yesterday.

However, it was so nearly too little too late for the peleton who again let a French-led breakaway dangle out in front tantalisingly close to the line. This time it was heartbreak for French National Champion Nicolas Vogodny who was swept up just 75 metres from the line after surviving in a 3-man breakaway for the preceding 220km.

The entire peleton finished together (barring a few single stragglers) leaving no change to the overall classification, although Alejandro Valverde gave his Caisse d'Epange teammates a scare by hitting the deck midway through the stage. Luckily he managed to escape with only a grazed knee and was quickly guided back to the peleton by his team. Australian born German Heinrich Haussler was not so lucky, crashing just outside the final 3kms after clipping another riders wheel and limping to the line over 6 minutes behind the peleton. Had he crashed inside the 3km banner, race rules would have seen him awarded the same time as the rest of the main field.

With no mountain points on the days stage, and with no time gaps amongst the field there was no change to either the King of the Mountains competition or to the Best Young Rider standings.
2007 King of the Mountains winner Mauricio Soler's brave effort to defend his jersey ended at Stage 5. The Colombian was forced to retire, unable to continue with the injuries he received in a number of crashes in the first few days of this years event. His horrible 2008 Tour was summed up by the fact that he even managed to crash in the neutral zone at the depart reel of today's stage.

Tonight's stage sees the next real rendezvous of this years Tour, with the first category 2 climbs of the race, including the finishing 11km drag up to the ski-resort of Super Besse. This should see another reshuffling of the GC, and a possible new leader of the King of the Mountains as it will be the first time the mountain climbers have stretched their legs so far in 2008.

Yellow Jersey - Stefan Schumacher
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Thomas Voeckler
White Jersey - Thomas Lovkvist