Liverpool lose fight with beach ball

Liverpool 0 - Beach Ball 1.

Have a look at this fantastic goal from the weekends English Premier League game between Liverpool and Sunderland.



Darren Bent gets his name on the score sheet but we know who the real hero was - B.Ball. As a Man U supporter there is nothing better than seeing Liverpool go down ( OK maybe Chelski but everyone hates Chelski), the Liverpudlians going down to an own goal in these circumstances even better!

Mischievous fans of rival teams have flocked to Liverpool's official online store to buy the club out of beach balls. Opposition fans reveling in Liverpool's misery have bought all remaining 'beach sets' from the online shop, which consist of a towel, a bag and the now-infamous beach ball. The sets had been reduced from £20 to £10 and have now sold out. They will be a must-have item for traveling supporters visiting Anfield in coming weeks.

Most annoyingly for reds fans, the beach ball ball was thrown on to the pitch by a young Liverpool supporter – who is unlikely to find himself too popular with the red half of Merseyside this weekend. Apparently the search is on so he can be banned, but i feel the fans might be looking for a bit more than a ban.

As the great Liverpool Manager Bill Shankly once said "Football isn't a matter of life and death. It's much more important than that."

eek!

"which one do i stop" thinks Liverpool Goal Keeper Pepe Reina

Usain Bolt is your new God.

Last week we saw Usain Bolt front up at a press conference for he world athletics championships wearing a pair of yellow foam arms on his back. Sure he did not need them but it was a marketing gimmick for those in the crowd attempting to strike the pose of the big Jamican. It was a great media conference, he questioned why everyone was always so serious. I just turn up and run fast he said, im here to deliver he said.

So being the avid athletics fan and also having something of a man crush on Bolt that has been sticking around since the Olympics, I got on line and got me some bolt on arms.

But back to Bolt........ though the heats and semis he meandered, never really getting out of first gear. Did not even have to break 10 seconds in his heat - he ran 2nd. A false start in the Semi. He laughed, got back down on the blocks and ran 9.89 - pulling up 50m from the line. All along he said he would deliver in the final. The media were at pains to tell us that Tyson Gay was a legitimate challenger, a man who could beat Bolt, he has run a faster time this season they harped, more consistent etc etc etc.

Cue Mens 100m final.

Time to Deliver.

On the starting blocks the camera settled on Bolt.

He mouths the words "the game is on"

Then this happended

if you missed it - 9.58 seconds.

Quite simply stunning.

Usain Bolt says he will do it. Then he delivers…9.58secs for the 100m is frightening. But then again based on his Olympics win we knew it could happen. Nothing is impossible.

It is like witnessing a force of nature. A gift from God, harnessed, then released.

The saviour of athletics they are calling him.

This man is an icon, he transcends sport.

He is more than a gift from God.

He is a God

He just might end up ursurping Muhammed Ali as "The Greatest"

And im not taking my Bolt Arms off for the next week.

The Tour de France wrap up!

What a tour.

The highlights for me:

Alberto Contador.

The win of Alberto Contador in the 2009 Tour de France was the triumph of a man that is set to dominate this great race for years to come. Yes he was on the strongest team, but he won this race in the face of adversity from within that team. Also consider that he won one individual time trial and was second in the other. He won a mountain top finish and on the two others did not lose any time to his opponents. This is a very important factor and it is the reason that he has won the last 4 grand tours he has ridden in. He has only ridden 5 - the 2005 Tour de France (as a 22 year old) was the only one he did not win. He one of only 5 men to have won all 3 grand tours and is the youngest rider to do so, completing the hat trick at 25 years of age.

He was won
2007/09 Tour de France
2008 Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy)
2008 Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain)

The Tour de France has a history of domination. When you look at the list of winners you see the pattern, domination by a rider, a few year gap then another rider dominates, then gap etc etc. Armstrong won 7, before him there were 3 different winners, before that Indurain won 5 in a row, before that Lemond, then Hinault, then Merckx, the Anquetil.

The common thread among these dominant winners?
They all won multiple Time Trials stages and also could win mountain stages.
You have to be able to win against the clock and you have to be able to climb.

Who in the current group of riders that would be contesting the Yellow Jersey can compete with Contador in a time trial?

Wiggins? Armstrong? Evans? maybe, but not on 2009 form.
He showed this year that he has become a TT force.

Who can climb with him?
Andy Schleck.

Contador attacked on stage 7 to Arcalis - the first summit finish. Make no mistake he could have won that stage and put himself in yellow but with queries on Astana leadership and 2 weeks of riding to follow meant that he did enough to jump into second and leave himself 6 seconds adrift of Italian Rinaldo Nocentini (who??) He then attacked on the second summit finish to Verbier and won the stage, taking yellow and destroying the hopes of, well, everyone really. At the final summit finish on Mount Ventoux he rode defensively and just marked Andy Schleck, he never ever looked under pressure. To me he could have won this race by a long way if he chose to grind his opponents (and team mates) into the ground.

In short there is no one in the current group that can beat Contador in a Grand Tour.
Not without significant improvement in the TT from Andy Schleck or the youngsters Vincenzo Nibaldi, Roman Kreuziger, Bryce Feilu or Tony Martin taking a big step up.

But there is always the team aspect. He rode in the strongest team in history this year. I'm going to be bold and say that it would not have made a difference to the outcome if he rode for another team. Sure he would not have got an advantage like he did in the team TT, but still he would have made up for it in the hills. Next year he will not have a team as strong (there are various rumours about his likely destination) and he is not a team player as we saw - that is my only knock for him. You can bet that next year everyone will be super keen to knock him off so it is going to be very very interesting.



Mark Cavendish.



Unbelievable.

6 stage wins this year. 10 over the past 2 Tours. I think i ranted enough here.

He is that much superior to the rest of the sprinters, that given flat finish only bad luck or poor tactics are going to beat him. When you have a team like Columbia-HTC working for him and Mark Renshaw delivering him to the perfect spot every time, the poor tactics factor rarely comes into play and as for luck, you generally make your own in cycling and his team makes sure that rarely enters the equation either.

A big mention to team Columbia-HTC. They were awesome. Astana was powerful but Columbia repeatedly showed the peleton on each and every flat stage who was boss. They got on the front for long stretches to chase down breaks and then still had enough left to get their man to the front. Cavs win on stage 19 after Columbia chased down a break and then stuck together over a cat 2 climb only 20km from the finish was an amazing team effort. The best sprint train i have ever seen, watching them over the last kilometer of a flat stage was astonishing.

The Green jersey issue is the only sour note here. Sure Hushovd won it with intermediate sprints and a stage win on a non sprinters stage, he was consistent and brilliant and that is what wins you the jersey. But if he had not have protested against cavendish on stage 14 and gained 13 points on him, Cave would have won the green jersey. 6 stage wins vs 1 stage win. Cavendish beat Hushovd every single time they went head to head.

We know who the best sprinter at the tour was!

Front on views do not do justice to his speed, they never show hom much he wins by - always wait for the overhead. Only once did anyone get within a bike length of Cavendish. Amazing.

Erik Zabel said he rated Cav in the top 3 sprinters of all time - and that was before this tour.

He might just stand alone now.

The race itself.

What a grand plan, the penultimate stage finishing on top of Mount Ventoux, the hardest hill in France. For race director Christian Prudhomme, the dream was for the bald mountain to be the deciding moment of the 2009 Tour. Unfortunately Contador conspired against him but the dream went very close to happening. Ventoux is always a spectacle, but this year it was special, there were over 500,000 fans on the mountain. If the race was up for grabs, imagine the crowd then - it has the scope to be the ultimate way to decide the race. The scenery is always breathtaking, the coverage just gets better. I am sure Christian Prudhomme will continue to tweak this race and make it better as he has done each year. Removing time bonuses, returning team time trials (although the jury is out there) less ITT, more summit finishes and i think we will see a penultimate summit finish rather than an ITT again in the near future.


Lance Armstrong.

A freak.

You are the youngest ever world champ, you get cancer, you come back and win 7 consecutive Tours. Retire, get bored and then at 37 decide you are getting back on the bike to try and win again (under the guise of raising cancer awareness of course!) . Why? Because you are Lance.

What an amazing story that keeps getting better. Lance is good for sport, good for cycling, good for everything. That he almost got the Yellow jersey in stage 4 (missed by 0.022 seconds) is testament to the man and his self belief. I did not think he could win. I thought he could finish 3rd at best and he did that. But deep down, i wanted Lance to win.

With a new team next year Lance & Johan Bruyneel will again prove formidable. He will return to France in 2010 with the intention of winning his 8th Tour title, and he'll have full say into who he brings with him to his new Radioshack team. Already Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden are rumored to be riding for Armstrong's new team, and other top names can't be far behind. Expect that Armstrong will come to France with an extremely strong squad to support him, as he looks to teach Contador a lesson in teamwork and tactics.



The Schlecks and Saxo Bank.

Bjarne Riis is the best mind in cycling. He did not have the strongest team in the tour but had the best brains. The team managed to win 3 stages, hold the yellow jersey for 7 days and beat everyone but Contador. Andy Schleck needs to get faster in the time trial or they need to put more hills and less time trials in the tour next year! Andy did everything he could to break contador but it was not going to happen, at 24 though they have a long rivalry ahead of them and I see him as the only man possibly able to topple Contador - but he needs a big improvement in the TT. He has a brother that is willing to die for him and a team of workhorses that are willing and able to put everything on the line. They gambled last year and won with sastre, this year they gambled, threw everything at Contador and came up second.

I cant wait for next years rematch.

Doping
None.
Nada.
No positive tests in the tour. Drug free. No scandals and nothing for the cycling bashers to grab hold of. fantastic. But of course Greg Lemond still finds the time to sledge the winner and throw a few accusations in. Bitter old man.

Brits
eh?
The british track cycling renaissance has now spread to the road. Cavendish was awesome, Wiggins surprised everyone with his amazing form in the mountains, not bad for a guy who usually only rides 4000m on the track! David Millar put in his usual honest performance as well. A british team from 2010. Watch out!

The Youngsters.

Contador is 26, Kreuziger 23, Andy Schleck 24, Vincenzo Nibali 24. The elder Schleck is 29, Wiggins is 29. The only guys in the top 10 this year over 30 are Armstrong , Vande Velde and Kloden. Add to that Tony Martin 24, Nicholas Roche 24 , Brice Feillu 24 & Robert Gesink 23 and then the sprinters - Gerald Ciolek 22, Tylre Farrar 25 and of course, Mark Cavendish 24.

This year was the changing of the guard. Out with Sastre, Evans, Pereiro in with a new world order.

Cycling is in good hands.

The Lowlights:

Cadel Evans
Just plain bad. Always has an excuse and always has something to whinge about. In 9 years as a pro he seems to have learned nothing about cycling or the media or how to speak like a normal human being. Was second overall in 2 very weak years, he is a consistent rider. World class but consistent. Not a world beater. This year he climbed poorly, time trialled fairly. Sure he can't help the fact that his team recruited Thomas Dekker, a very capable climber who was previously with rabobank. Before the tour he unfortunately had a positive result of a re-test of an out-of-competition sample taken in December 2007. Whoops.
But the reality is Evans was either very out of form (on paper he wasn't, he was 2nd at the Dauphine Libere, his main lead up for the 3rd year in a row) Sick (which was denied by his team) or just plain old cracked the shits. Took his bat and ball and went home. I'm leaning towards the latter. He said on his website it was 'fun' riding in the back of the race in stage 17, losing almost 30 minutes to the leaders. Fun eh? how much must his bosses have liked reading that!

He has been told he will not be leder in 2010 - young gun Van den Broek will be. Pack your bags Cadel, there are a few new teams on the way Sky (British), Renault (french in name but looking at being backed by a spanish bank and Fernando Alsonso - possible destination of one Alberto Contador) and of course Lance's team radioshack.

Cuddles is going to struggle from here on in.

Carlos Sastre
Now he might really see how lucky he was to be on Team CSC (saxo bank)last year when they ground the opposition into the dust up L'Alpe d'Huez and the schleck brothers knocked all his opposition out and gave him the yellow jersey. Sure he can climb but he is a grinder. Took the money and ran to Cervelo who then left Simon Gerrans, who was being groomed as his domestique in the hills, out of the race for going for a ride with Lance Armstrong and apparently giving away secrets. You will not see him in contention again. I hope Simon Gerrans leaves Cervelo and is riding for Lance next year!

Tom Boonen
3rd positive test for Cocaine - out of competition. Court rules he can start in the race after the tour wanted to ban him. Quickstep should not have bothered. Team did not work for him once, the basically sat up in protest and didn't even offer the former world champ and green jersey winner a lead out. They should have gone with Aussie Allan Davis. Boonen then crashed a number of times and said he had a virus. Sure.

The TV.
Why cant we get all stages from start to finish? Especially mountain stages?
Apparently there is no "feed".
not good enough in this multimedia world.


back to the good though....

The Selections

Before the race this was my predicted top 10......

1. Alberto Contador - tick
2. Andy Schleck - tick
3. Lance Armstong - tick
4. Denis Menchov (horrible)
5. Cadel Evans (ditto)
6. Michael Rogers (crashed a few times)
7. Levi Leipheimer (crashed and out)
8. Carlos Sastre (very poor)
9. Frank Schleck (5th)
10. Roman Kreuziger (9th)

So the first 3 in order was not terribly hard to pick but we had that, if only the trifecta was a bet type here. This neatly segues into the betting. Cavendish was backed to win a number of stages (not hard- best price was $3.25!) but the big result was Franco Pellizotti for the polka Dots at $24. he saluted and a decent profit was ensured.


Back again next year!

Tour de France 2009 - Stage 21

Stage 21 - Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris Champs-Élysées 164 km



Let the celebrations begin! This is the traditional ride into Paris with the final race on the Champs-Elysees which has taken place every year since 1975. They take it easy, catch up with other riders, sip champagne, pose for photos. Then the peleton will get down to business ramp up the pace and conduct what is basically a criterium race on the “world’s most beautiful avenue”. 8 laps with intermediate sprints for points on the 2nd and 4th laps and then the big prize for sprinters is at the finish, winning on the Champs-Élysées is a distinguished achievement.

Look at some of the names that have won here.

• Hinault (x2)
• LeMond
• Abdoujaparov (x2)
• McEwen (x2)
• Boonen
• Hushovd
• Vinokourov

The Paris stage has always meant success for some, relief for many others.



Generally no one attacks on the last day, although Gilberto Simeoni did in 2004 and got reeled in. The 8 lap race at the end is the domain of the sprint train and most are happy to let it go that way - although 2 exceptions do spring to mind. In 1994 Eddy Seigneur attacked the peleton just before the champs - Elysees and won and in 2005 the incomparable Alexandre Vinokourov attacked the same way, won and with the time bonus got himself into 5th place. It can happen but this year Columbia will make sure that Cavendish gets stage win 6. Hushovd can still lose the green jersey, but to get back 25 points Thor is going to have to have his worst day yet. He can finish 5th and will lose only 13 points. Maybe it will happen, stranger things have, but i think all 3 jerseys are sewn up.

Spaniards on top of Mount Ventoux.

Juan Manuel Garate claims victory at Mt Ventoux

It was a fantastic idea to have the penultimate stage of the Tour de France finish on one of the greatest-ever climbs. For race director Christian Prudhomme, the dream was for Mont Ventoux to be the deciding moment of the 2009 Tour.

Alberto Contador conspired against him though, his performances over the past 3 weeks, have been sublime. With 3 stage wins that all took significant time out of his rivals - a team time trial, an individual time trial and a summit finish at Verbier, meant that when the riders got to the Ventoux the race was all but decided. They could try and crack the Spaniard but all he had to do was ride defensively. The battle for 3rd was on with less than 2 minutes between 3rd and 7th, but in the end only one position changed.

I lost count of how many times Andy Schleck attacked Contador, again and again he went but every time he did, Contador stuck to his wheel like glue. Make no mistakes, Andy Schlecks performance last night to lead the yellow jersey group for the majority of the 21km climb of Mount ventoux was extraordinary. He and Contador showed that they are that far ahead of the bunch when it comes to climbing, they could have ridden off and contested the stage win. Instead, when it became apparent to Andy that he was not going to crack Contador he dropped back and tried to help his brother crack Armstrong and leapfrog him in the classification so they could stand together on the podium. Lance rode so well though, he had 3rd place and like contador, all he had to do was ride defensively. All he had to do was follow Franks wheel and that is what he did. No need to respond to the other attacks, he rode brilliantly to nullify Frank. Contador and Armstrong were perfect defensively, just as Andy Schleck was so good at attacking. There was not much anyone else could do.

The winner on the day was Juan Manuel Garate, he had been away from the peleton in a 16-man break since the third kilometre, Garate bided his time until the lower slopes of the bald-headed mountain. Early on, he had just Tony Martin and Christophe Riblon for company with less than five minutes separating the trio from the big guns 20 kilometres from the finish. After a short dig by Garate, the three decided to work together in search of the impossible. Soon they dropped Riblon and Garate and Martin were two minutes ahead of the groupe maillot jaune 10 clicks from the finish. And despite their advantage shrinking to 38 seconds by the line, Garate's last surge gave him the edge, and the situation stayed largely the same, as GC favourites Andy Schleck, Contador, Armstrong, Fränk Schleck, Kreuziger, Pellizotti and Nibali all finished within 20 seconds of each other.

The race director almost got it right. If the Gap was 2 minutes between 1 & 2 then this would have been the ultimate. Instead it was a brilliant mountain stage on one of the most revered climbs in the sport. Over 500,000 people lined the Ventoux and they would have like what they saw. I am sure Prudhomme will continue to tweak this race and make it better as he has done each year. Removing time bonuses, returning team time trials (jury is out) less ITT, more summit finishes, he is going to make this race better every year and i think we will see a penultimate summit finish rather than an ITT again in the near future.

We have seen a changing of the guard in this race. Contador has assumed the position of worlds best rider, he won his first tour at 24, missed last year and showed us this year how mcuh he has improved. He should have had 3 in a row. Last years top 3 of Evans / Sastre / Menchov were destroyed in this race by some young guns who are going to go head to head for the next few years. Sure Lance will be throwing everything at it but consider along with Contador at 26 years of age you have Kreuziger 23, Tony Martin 24, Andy Schleck 24, Vincenzo Nibali 24. And they all can climb. The elder schleck is 29, Wiggins is 29. The only guys in the top 10 this year over 30 are Armstrong , Vande Velde and Kloden.

No positive drug results (yet) and a bunch of youngsters including 24 year old Mark Cavendish, 3 new teams next year - the future of cycling has never looked better.

Now on to the Champs - Elysees for the celebration and Mark Cavendishs 6th stage win!

Stage 20 - Mount Ventoux.
1 Juan Manuel Garate Cepa (Spa) Rabobank 4:39:21
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC 0:00:03
3 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:38
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:00:41
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:43
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:00:46
8 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 0:00:56
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:00:58
10 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:03

General classification after stage 20
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 81:46:17
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:04:11
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:05:24
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:06:01
5 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:06:04
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:06:42
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:07:35
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:12:04
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:14:16
10 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:14:25

2009 Tour de France - Stage 20

Stage 20 - Montélimar - Mont Ventoux 167 km

"Put me back on my bloody bike!"

The last words of Englishman Tom Simpson before he died on the ascent of Mount Ventoux, July 14 1967.

Mount Vetoux sends a shiver down my spine. I have been waiting for this since they announced the route. I love this climb and ever since it captured my imagination in the 2000 & 2002 editions of the tour i have been waiting.

Some of the Tour's most legendary chapters, both glorious and tragic, have been written on the slopes of the dreaded 'bald mountain' - the Mont Ventoux (pronounced mon von too). This year, the giant of Provence has been strategically placed just 24 hours prior to the final coronation on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, it could have been the ultimate cycling spectacle. We can only wish that Contador was not so far ahead, but even with his 4.11 lead - it is going to be war.

Contador and Astana will have to defend the yellow jersey as they will be constantly attacked by his closest challengers - the brothers Schleck. The climb is 21.2km and averages 7.6 % gradient, the perfect setting for an epic. As far as Contador is ahead - make no mistakes, he can still lose the 2009 Tour de France today. In the midst of the rocky white moon like scenery of the Ventoux, strengths and weaknesses are laid bare. Riders can crack on climbs like this - but when they crack on the ventoux it is not one or two minutes that they lose, it is 5 or 10.



Ventoux is often ascended, but rarely this late in the race. It will add a whole new dynamic of fatigue. Riders are tired, they have been on their bikes for nearly 3 weeks. As the name might suggest (venteux means windy in French), it can get windy at the summit, especially when the mistral blows - the french northerly - wind speeds as high as 320 km/h have been recorded. The wind blows at 90+ km/h 240 days a year. The road over the mountain is often closed due to high winds. The top of the mountain is bare limestone without vegetation or trees. The white limestone on the mountain's barren peak means it appears from a distance to be snow-capped all year round (its snow cover actually lasts from December to April). Its isolated position overlooking the valley of the Rhône ensures that it dominates the entire region and can be seen from many miles away on a clear day.

After the tour first came here in 1951 journalist Antoine Blondin wrote "We have seen riders descend into madness due to heat and stimulants, some going down the hairpins when they think they are going up. There are few happy memories attached to this witches' cauldron, climbed with a heavy heart." After the 1955 visit Roland Barthes wrote, "No other ascent seems to have a personality, A god of evil, a despot of cyclists," he called it. Barthes's point was this: most of the Tour's great ascents are passes, between two mountains. The Ventoux is unique because the cyclists have to go up a whole mountain, 5,000 feet from its vineyards at its base at Bédoin to its wind-blasted summit with the famous observatory. There is nothing else higher for many miles around. Ventoux stands alone, visible from 65 miles away. If the weather is clear, at some point today the peleton will come up a rise after leaving Montélimar, and they will see it, even if it is several hours of pedalling away. That plays on the mind, as does the steepness of the road, particularly the early kilometres, which go straight up the side of the mountain through a rock cutting and between stunted oak trees, without a single hairpin to give even a few seconds respite.

The road to the summit has an average gradient of 7.6%. Until Saint-Estève, the climb is easy: 3.9% over 5,8 km, but the 16 remaining kilometres have an average gradient of 8.9%. The last kilometres may have strong, violent winds. The ride takes over an hour even for the pros. The fastest time so far recorded has been that of Iban Mayo in the individual climbing time trial of the 2004 Dauphiné Libéré: 55.51. The time was measured from Bédoin for the first time in the 1958 Tour de France, in which Charly Gaul was the fastest at 1:02.9.



Mont Ventoux is legendary as one of the most gruelling climbs in the Tour de France - its not the longest, it is not the steepest, but the combination of length and gradient which are both near the top of each category, combined with the wind, heat and altitude make this the mountain generally regarded as the toughest. The tour has ascended the mountain thirteen times since 1951. The followed trail mostly passes through Bédoin, only once has the tour been up the giant from another starting point.

The mountain achieved worldwide notoriety when it claimed the life of British cyclist Tom Simpson during the 1967 tour from heat exhaustion caused by a combination of factors including dehydration (caused by lack of fluid intake and diarrhoea), amphetamines, and alcohol; although there is still speculation as to the exact cause of his death. He began to wildly weave across the road before he fell down. He was delirious and asked spectators to put him back on the bike, which he rode to within a half mile of the summit before collapsing dead, still clipped into his pedals. Amphetamines were found in his jersey and bloodstream. There is a memorial to Simpson near the summit which has become a shrine to fans of cycling, who often leave small tokens of remembrance there. In 1970, Eddy Merckx rode himself to the brink of collapse while winning the stage. He received oxygen, recovered, and won the Tour. In 1994, Eros Poli, not known for his climbing ability, stole away at the beginning of the day's stage, built up a substantial time gap from the peloton, and was first over the Ventoux and eventual stage winner despite losing a minute of his lead per kilometre of the ascent. The last winner on the Ventoux was the French climber Richard Virenque. Lance was second.

But the 1965 world champion is not the only life claimed by the Giant of Provence. There is a host of crosses on the slopes to pilgrims who failed to make it to the chapel just below the summit. More recently, a cycling fan was struck by lightning on the day the 1994 race went over, soldiers from the observatory were frozen to death in blizzards, at least one driver died in the motor races that use the mountain, while most surreal of all, a woman tourist was killed in the 1970s by stones picked up by a particularly vicious wind on the summit.

This place is hell.

There has been finishes on the summit of Mont Ventoux seven times.

The winners were

1958 (ITT) Charly Gaul
1965 Raymond Poulidor
1970 Eddy Merckx
1972 Bernard Thévenet
1987 (ITT) Jean-François Bernard
2000 Marco Pantani
2002 Richard Virenque

5 of those men won tours.

The 2000 battle between Armstrong and Pantani was a cracker, Lance rode off on his closest rivals Ullrich and Beloki and claimed Pantani before later giving him the win - which Pantani later denied, reckons he won it fair and square. He also was banned for using EPO and dies of a cocaine overdose, so i know who i believe. You watch and decide - Armstrong v Pantani.

Climbs.
Km 14.0 - Côte de Citelle - 5.2 km climb to 3.9 % - Category 3
Km 65.5 - Col d'Ey - 6.7 km climb to 4.8 % - Category 3
Km 87.0 - Col de Fontaube (D.72-D.41) - 4.7 km climb to 4.2 % - Category 4
Km 121.5 - Col des Abeilles - 7.7 km climb to 4 % - Category 3
Km 167.0 - MONT VENTOUX - 21.1 km climb to 7.6 % - Category H

Contador can still lose, i doubt it will happen, but it will be awesome to watch them try and crack him. This may be the greatest stage ever. But only if they crack the Spaniard.

If you only watch one stage of the tour, make it this one.

Number 5 for Cavendish.

Cav wins again & leads Hushovd in again!

Thor Hushovd wears the Green Jersey as leader of the Sprint Classification, however even he must know deep down that he is not the best sprinter at the Tour. That honour lies with Mark Cavendish who claimed his 5th stage of this years race. Hushovd has not beaten the manxman once - in fact nobody has been able to beat Cavendish in a sprint a this tour, every single sprint he has contested, for stage wins or points at the head of the peleton, has been won by Cav. Last Saturday in Stage 13 Hushovd protested about Cavendish's tactics in the sprint - Cav was relegated, Hushovd got 13 points on his rival and a green jersey to wear.

Cavendish was reported to have told BBC Radio that Hushovd's green jersey will forever be stained because of that protest - He later denied he made such a remark.

On the seventeenth leg to Le Grand-Bornand, Hushovd went on a rampage through the Sallanches valley and cleaned up both intermediate sprints; looking towards the TV camera after the first, he tugged at his jersey, and appeared to say, ‘I earned it'. He collected 12 points in those intermediate sprints and his lead was out to 30 points.

So the lead is back to 25 after Cavs 5th stage win, if we subtract the 13 he earned when Cav was relegated and it would be back to 12 points. This comp would have been closer, but Hushovd would still be in green and would still be favourite for the sprint title. On the final stage there are 2 intermediate sprints (1,2,3 are awarded 6,4,2 points) and then the final sprint is awarded points 35,30,26,24,22. Hushovd has certainly proved himself the second best rider and it is very doubtful that Cavendish would get those points back anyway, but there will always be the questions.

The fact remains that the best sprinter does not always win the Green Jersey, Erik Zabel won 6 of them and collected 12 stages in 14 tours - he was not the best sprinter but he was the most consistent, was always in the finish and he was able to get himself intermediate sprints. Much like Cavendish here he is unbeatable in a sprint, he has 9 stages in 2.5 tours and will make it 10 on the final day. I posted a rant about how good he is earlier in the tour - view it here.

Cav was gracious in victory though, he said afterward "That was humiliating for me the other day (referring to Thors solo escape in Stage 17) that was a beautiful ride by Thor, He's shown he's fought for that jersey, he's not just been put in that position. If anybody deserves to be in Paris with that, it's him. Somebody who's fought for the jersey like that, I can't compete with that – I said it to him the other day."

Columbia HTC decided that this was a sprinters stage, even though none of the experts and commentators thought so. The breakaway was 20 men, it never got more than 3 minutes away and Cav was able to master the final 14km cat 2 climb without to much trouble, Columbia reeled in the few who slipped away on the descent and then Cav just did what he does best - win.

"I got a bit carried away when I was in green, but I've gone back to my original plan now – I just want stage wins," said Cavendish.

He's got one more chance left.

2009 Tour de France - Stage 19

Stage 19 - Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas 178 km



Stage 19 gives one last chance to the breakaway men. Sure winning a stage here does not get the plaudits and coverage of the first week (remember Mark Cavendish?) but it is still a stage of the tour all the same and everyone wants to win one!


The sprinters will have to take a back seat here, the strong men & classics riders will have a go at this. It is likely that all the teams (maybe with the exception of Astana and Saxo Bank) will try and get riders in a breakaway, which will mean lots of attacks early and then probably a big bunch of 25 or so will form and settle in until the beginning of the last climb. From there i bet plenty in that breakaway will be prepared to attack each other and the 14km climb of the Col de l'Escrinet that peaks just 16km from the finish should provide the platform for that. So you have to be a strong rider, able to maintain 45km/h on the flat for long periods and then have the ability to climb the mountain at the end, its not that hard (average 4%) but 14km uphill will sort them out. Then whoever is left will have to descend like a mad man to get the prize.

Think Oscar Freire, Luis Leon Sanchez, Sylvain Chavanel, Heinrich Haussler, George Hincapie, Jurgen Van den Broek, Kim Kirchen, David Moncoute, Sandy Casar, Thomas Voeckler and of course Thor Hushovd will be there chasing sprint points - he can still lose his green jersey but it is unlikely, he can also put it beyond doubt. Cadel Evans might even have a go, he seems to be holding back for something and it could be this.

Winner to come from one of those - bet in play though.

Contador all but crowned......

Alberto Contador stamped himself as a future legend of the sport with his win in the stage 18 Time Trial. He is already a superstar, we knew he was the best climber in the peleton, but the recently crowned Spanish time trial champion has now proved himself as an elite rider in time trials as well. How are they going to beat him over the next few years? He averaged over 50km/h in beating World TT champ Fabian Cancellara, they were the only two to average over 50.

He extended his lead to over four minutes which, with his climbing ability, is basically unassailable. Andy Schleck lost 1.41, Frank lost 2.34, Lance lost 1.29, Wiggins lost 0.42, Kloden 0.53 and Nibali 2.05.

The race looks over but we have Ventoux to come. The Schleck boys will throw absolutely everything at Contador on the famous climb of the bald mountain, they may well beat him but they won't be getting 4 minutes off him.


Results
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:48:31
2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:03
3 Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:15
4 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:32
5 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:40
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:00:42
7 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:43
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 0:00:45
9 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:00:53
10 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:01

General classification after stage 18
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 73:15:39
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:04:11
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:05:25
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:05:36
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:05:38
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:05:59
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:07:15
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:10:08
9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:12:38
10 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:12:41

2009 Tour de France - Stage 18

Stage 18 - Annecy to Annecy 40.5 km Individual Time Trial

They dont call this 'the race of truth' for nothing.
Yesterdays epic stage put the brothers Schleck into second and third overall, but the Time Trial around Lake Annecy will see if they can keep their spots ahead of Saturdays rendezvous with Mount Ventoux. This is the first time in tour history that a mountain stage has followed the final time trial, for the past 15 years the penultimate stage has been an individual time trial.

This is different (and good), the short relatively flat course means that losses will be limited compared to the longer TT that is usually in the last week that can also feature more hills.


The Saxo Bank boys are really up against it here, Contador is ahead of them and they have Armstrong, Kloden, Wiggins, Nibali & Vande Velde behind them - all who can time trial very very well. its not that the brothers can't time trial, only that the others are better at it.

Contador - 2nd in the opening Time Trial to Cancellara, has won multiple TT races since that famous TT against in 2007 when he was 5th. Spanish TT champ and he goes at it pretty well. Does not get his favoured hilly course here but wont be losing much time to anyone.

Armstrong - A Freak TT rider. Has won 8 TT stages in Tour de France races (2 prologues). He will be primed! Everyone should remember when Armstrong passed Ullrich in 2005. Can not be underestimated and he wants to be on that podium. Will be flying.

Wiggins - We've been put on notice during this Tour de France as to the enormous potential in Bradley Wiggins. He dropped 7 or 8kgs after the olympics and is climbing really well. He has three Olympic gold medals - in the individual and team pursuit from Athens and Beijing - we know he is good against he clock, once upon a time it was his 'thing'. Whether he has lost some of his power with his weight loss remains to be seen, we shall find out!

Andreas Kloden - great TT rider although it will be interesting to see what yesterday took out of him or if he is leaving anything for Ventoux. Astana have the chance for clean sweep of the podium so i think he will go hard. He is a winner of multiple TT stages in other races and a proven performer in the last week of the tour, should be in the top 5 or 6.

Roman Kreuziger is a really good TT rider, will be interesting to see what his young legs have left, he might be able to push for a top 5 spot in this stage, his team mate Nibali needs a good TT to keep himself in contention.

And then there is poor old Cadel. Team Politics yada yada yada. There is always a whinge with the guy, always an excuse, he is constantly on the defensive. Yep i dont like him and neither does all of Europe. He was so bad yesterday and the day prior that it is possible he has been holding back so he can unleash here. possible.
but not likely.

but my prediction?
Fabian Cancellara - no one does the TT better than the big man.
no value though at $1.87!

Betting.
we are cashed up, or more to the point, pretty confident that when Pellizotti wins KOM we will be (laid off at $1.03 to guarantee the profit on the $24 bet.) so.......

2 bets, both to finish top 3.
$4.20 Lance Armstong
$19.00 Cadel Evans.

Boom !!! Saxo Bank explodes the peleton

Frank Schleck leads Alberto Contador and brother Andy over the line to win and epic stage 17.

The Alps provided a beautiful backdrop for an absolutely stunning stage. This was the hardest single day of the tour with 4 category 1 climbs and the best climbers certainly won the day, with Frank Schleck beating brother Andy and Alberto Contador over the line in Le Grand-Bornard. Full honours to Saxo Bank here, just like on Alp d'Huez last year they had a plan and they executed it to perfection. The brothers now sit 2 & 3, this might change after the time trial but it sets things up so that Contador is going to have to be on his game big time up Mount Ventoux on Saturday.

Post race Bjarne Riis said "We knew what we wanted with this stage, which was planned before the Tour even began, the plan was quite clear and simple: we were willing to put everything on the line and to explode the peloton."

That they did, they exploded the peleton and smashed all bar Alberto Contador.

The day started with the usual break, 10 men with KOM points on the Agenda, Pelizotti extended his lead in that classification by claiming the first climb before the ranks of the breakaway swelled to 22. On the descent of that first climb Thor Hushovd was off the front of the leaders, he would ride solo for some 90km cresting 2 climbs in first place (well ahead of pelizotti both times) and claimed both intermediate sprints to extend his lead over Cavendish to 30 points. After he crossed the second intermediate sprint point he sat up and took it easy for the rest of the day, his work was done.

This stage will be remembered though as the perfect day for Team Saxo Bank.

Behind Hushovd and the breakaway Team Saxo Bank were putting enormous pressure on the peleton thanks to Stuart O'Grady making one of his first appearances on the front end at the tour. Obviously planned he has bee waiting for this. Bet it is the same on Mount ventoux as well. The pressure from O'Grady dropped country man Cadel Evans on the Category 2 climb of the Cote d'araches - he is clearly suffering or making a point to his team. Former white jersey wearer Tony Martin (Columbia) was spat out the back with a host of other big names. The gap between Hushovd was quickly reduced as the breakaway group was swallowed up with Hushovd soon after.
On the third of today's five climbs the Astana riders went to the front and helped Team Saxo Bank tiring the peloton which kept getting smaller.

At the base of the Col de Romme, the second last climb, last year winner Carlos Sastre launched an attack that set the wheels in motion for the implosion of the main group. The Schleck brothers took over on the front and made short work of destroying all bar the elite, prior to the summit a group of 8 remained. Andy & Fränk Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), Armstrong, Contador and Kloden (Astana) Nibali (Liquigas) and Vande Velde and Wiggins (Garmin).
Andy Schleck then attacked, Contador and Kloden were able to go with him, they opened a small gap on the other 5 but you could sense Andy was waiting, Frank took a quick look at his group and summed them up, he would rather ride with his brother so off he went and bridged the gap making it the Schlecks against Contador and Kloden with a 1.20 advantage over the 4 in Armstrongs group.

Up they went over the last climb and thinks remained even until Contador launched an attack (the best form of defence? he really did not need to, just stay with them) but Andy and Fränk Schleck reacted rapidly and closed the gap but Contador managed to drop his teammate Andreas Kloden. Contador was isolated for the first time however i dont think the Schlecks were going to risk him riding off on them again.

On the final descent the Schleck-brothers increased the gap down to Klöden who was eventually picked up by Armstrong who again rode a great race, he attacked his group on the final climb and with Nibaldi was able to put valuable time into wiggins.

Contador did not work on the descent and no doubt the boys reached a gentleman's agreement that he would not contest the win which Andy (and Alberto) were happy to give to Frank. Franks second Tour stage after Alp d'Huez in 2006 and the third stage victory for Team Saxo Bank in this year's edition.

That was an epic, however the stage to mount Ventoux on Saturday is going to go off like a bomb.

Full Results
1 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:53:54
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
3 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:18
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:27
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:03:07
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 0:04:09
9 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 0:06:10

General classification after stage 17
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 72:27:09
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:03:55
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:04:44
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:04:53
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:05:09
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:08:08
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:09:19
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:10:50

Mountains classification
1 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 196 pts
2 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 118
3 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) BBOX Bouygues Telecom 97

Points classification
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team 230 pts
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - HTC 200

2009 Tour de France - Stage 17

Stage 17 - Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand - 169.5 km

With five climbs and some of the steepest stretches in the entire Tour, this stage is set to be an epic. Almost the entire stage is either up or down. Even the flat parts aren’t really flat! Every mountain the riders climb is going to be feeling tougher than the last, this is probably the hardest stage of them all. 169.5 km with four category one climbs and a category two in the middle.





The Climbs

Km 18.0 - Cormet de Roselend - 18.1 km climb at an average of 5.7 % - Category 1

This stunning climb is the highest point of the stage at almost 2000 metres. While never too steep, it’s long and a tough start to the day. The descent does not look that technical, although as we saw yesterday with Jens Voight, its not always the turns that get you. I hope he is alright and that Paul Scherwen and Phil Ligget are not to sad that their love child has exited the race. This descent has one famous casualty though, in the hairpins below Cret Bettex, Johan Bruyneel (the Astana team boss & director for lance and Contador for all their tour wins) crashed over a ledge in the ‘96 Tour - look for the “Johan” written in yellow on the safety wall. Race footage of the crash is here.


Km 56.0 - Col des Saisies - 15.1 km climb at an average 6 % - Category 1

The riders hit the bottom of the first climb and then it is stright back up the Col de Saisies. Another fifteen kilometers of ascending, the six percent average gradient masks the fact that although there is a slight descent halfway up, there is also another section that touches 11%.
The riders descend down to Flumet and enter the easiest section of this stage. The town of Praz-sur-Arly hosts the intermediate sprint (but it will not be contested by sprinters!) before some more descending and a little further down the road lunch is served. Expect the peleton to slow here and grab their breath and any breakaways to try and put the hammer down to extend their lead.

Km 111.5 - Côte d'Araches - 6.3 km climb to 7 % - Category 2

Only 6.3km uphill at an average gradient of seven percent makes this the easiest climb of the day.

Km 140.5 - Col de Romme - 8.8 km climb to 8.9 % - Category 1

The climb to Romme is the steepest of the stage at nearly nine percent average gradient, with sections above 10%. This is where i imagine the attacks will really start in the GC. Astana and Saxo bank will be looking to drop as many hangers on as possible to try and make it a select group to see if they can isolate riders or drop them off the back. Quite a short descent follows, a five km downhill and straight up the Col de la Colombière.

Km 154.5 - Col de la Colombière - 7.5 km climb to 8.5 % - Category 1

This climb might be very even, but it's hard at nine percent incline all the way to the summit, all on a nearly straight road. The last 3 kms are along side a cliff, very steep, and almost always into a strong wind. This will be the 19th time the Tour has been over the Col de la Colombière - but the 1st time via Col de Romme ensuring that it is all the harder this year. After the previous 4 climbs the peleton is going to be pretty thin and fairly select, expect the Astana / Saxo Bank rivalry to continue with a few riders each including their big guns, Wiggins and Vande Velde from Garmin, Nibaldi and maybe pelizotti from Liquigas and really anyone else who might be able to hang on. If anyone is going to take time off Contador and has dreams of winning this would be the time to launch an all out assault. no point waiting for the ventoux on Saturday.

Down the other side they go, then with two kilometers to go the descent ends when the riders cross the bridge of the river Borne where the surface suddenly becomes flat for a change. If the sprint is decided by the GC-riders remains to be seen, the ITT is tomorrow so they might not want to dig too deep. a breakaway would have to be pretty strong to get away on this stage, with all the climbing the big guns are really going to come to the fore.

One thing is certain, the winner today will be able to climb.

Betting

Alberto Contador $5.00

Im thinking attack is the best form of defence. If Andy and Frank Schleck try and crack him on the Colombiere he might just decide ( like he did on the climb to verbier in stage 15) that it is not worth hanging around for their fun and games and say "adios" to them.

This should be spectacular, certainly one of the best stages to watch of the tour so far.

The Battles on the Bernards......

Euskaltel-Euskadi are mountain climbers. They dont bring sprinters and they dont do lead out trains. The Boys from the Basque country (well it's actually a disputed zone) relish the challenge of the mountains, they live in the Pyrenees and usually perform there, but today Mikel Astarloza brought his climbing legs to the Alps. After tough climbs over the two Saint Bernards, Astarloza descended brilliantly and then attacked his 3 breakaway companions (and the 4 hot on their heels) with 2km to go for a well earned victory.

Franco Pellizotti was in the leading group over the line again, he is riding in fine style and certainly cemented his lead in the mountains classification with a gutsy performance being the first rider to crest both the grand and Petit Saint Bernard summits. That gained him the maximum 50 points available today and his lead went from 9 points to 59 points. Should mention here that if you look back to the preview section for the race, we backed him at $24! Yeah!

There was of course another race going on involving a few fellows after a yellow jersey. The 'grand' saint Bernard was without trouble but on the slopes of the 'Petit' Saint Bernard things started to get interesting.........

Saxo bank were up to their usual tricks of quickly thinning the peleton, Nicki Sørensen and Chris Anker Sørensen (not related BTW) took a big turn each on the front to whittle the peleton back to about 20 men, setting things up for the Schleck brothers who took their chance to shake things up and went with all their might. Andy Schleck skipped away from the peleton for a brief moment but then across came brother Frank, Contador and his sidekick Kloden, Brad Wiggins and the emerging Nibaldi. This small but select group quickly put 40 seconds into the group behind containing Armstrong and the rest of the GC contenders. Sastre was initially dropped by the asrmstong group but worked hard to get back, same can not be said for Cadel Evans though, he was gone and lost almost 3 minutes on the leader by the end of the day.

Then we saw Armstrong attack his group, he was able to bridge the gap to the Schleck led front group and it was an amazing few minutes from the 37 year old who gritted his teeth and reminded us of old times. He got across to his two teammates, dragging Christian Vande Velde and Rigoberto Uran with him. Not sure why he dragged other contenders up though? Was it planned? Certainly once back in the group with contador he worked for the man in yellow. With 3 Astana riders in their group the brothers Schleck looked broken and the attacks ended, they tried and they almost isolated Contador. They will be trying again tomorrow i would think.

The early breakaway group had splintered, Astraloza/Pelizotti and their small band of cohorts had gone and their were remnants of this breakaway scattered across the mountain. The Schleck/Contador/Armstrong group sauntered their way through these lone riders, the momentum was gone though and the big move of Andy Schleck to fracture the peleton was undone when the groups came back together to make a bunch of 20 with all the big names present except Cadel Evans. Dave Zabriskie led the peleton down the descent at a great rate of knots but they were never going to catch Astarloza and his group, eventually coming in 59 seconds behind the stage winner.

I was glad Saxo Bank had a decent go, it was not a particularly hard climb, just long. Tomorrow there are 5 category 1 climbs in what some commentators are saying is the single hardest stage of the tour. I think it will be on for young and old again.


Full Results
1 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4:14:20
2 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:00:06
3 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) BBOX Bouygues Telecom
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence - Lotto
6 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
7 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 0:00:11
8 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
9 @ 0:00:59 - 19 riders including Contador / Nibali / Armstrong / Kloden / Wiggins / Vende Velde /Schleck & Schleck / Kreuziger / Sastre etc etc.Velasco (Spa) Astana

General classification after stage 16
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 67:33:15
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:01:37
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:01:46
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:17
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:51
7 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:03:09
8 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25
9 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:03:52
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:03:59
11 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:04:38
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 0:04:40
13 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - HTC 0:05:05
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:26
15 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:05:40
16 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:05:56
17 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0:07:23
18 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:08:23
19 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:09:14
20 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0:10:00

2009 Tour de France - Stage 16

Stage 16 - Martigny Bourg-Saint-Maurice 159 km

Stage 16 takes the riders from Switzerland into Italy and then back into France. This small sojourn into Italy is the sole reason Alejandro Valverde is not here, he is banned in Italy (but not anywhere else) so i guess he figured they might pull him off his bike.

anyway....

After having their hearts broken by Alberto Contador the riders took a well earned rest day yesterday, so feeling fresh they will tackle two really big mountains here, first the Col du Grand St Bernard and then the smaller Col du Petit Saint Bernard - the Big Saint Bernard and the Little Saint Bernard - but really it is not that small!

On paper it looks a short stage, just 160km, but it does up, then down, then up then down. No flat stuff - all climbing or descending.

Climbs

This particular pass through the alps has been used for almost 3,000 years. The riders today follow basically the same route over the Saint Bernard that has been used forever. Julius Caesar crossed with an army in 57 BC and famously Napoleon crossed here with 46,000 soldiers in 1800.

The Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard is 24.4 km climb at an average of 6.2 % - a Hors Category climb, just the second of the whole tour and i really dont think there have been enough. The climb summit is just 40km from the start and the riders are actually climbing from the beginning of the stage, really the ascent is just over 40km. Either way this is a monster climb with the last 5kms above 9% gradient and they are climbing from the start of the day!

The Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard is 22.6 km climb averaging 5.1 %, a Category 1 climb, however the map shows that the riders are actually going up for closer to 30kms. Not as steep and not overly difficult for the GC contenders, however what happens on the first climb will influence the second.

You might see some fast tempo climbing by the stronger teams here (Saxo Bank/Astana) to try and drop the domestiques and therefore isolate the threats. Will the peleton let a small breakaway go and just leave Alberto Contador in Yellow, saving themselves for later stages? Will we see some challenges from those further down the classification (Evans, Kirchin, Kreuziger, Karpets, Feilu)? Will saxo bank try and soften up Alberto and his team with a series of attacks on the first climb leaving them possibly vunerable on the second? Or will the non astana riders band together for the greater good and send a flurry of attacks Contadors way? Doubt it but we can live in hope.

Lots of climbing and lots of pain, and that can only be good to watch with excellent roads lined by thousands of half drunk fans and scenery like this shot of a lake near the summit of the big saint Bernard with the Swiss/Italian border crossing and a still operating hospice that was opened by Saint Bernard of Menthon in the 900s!