Editor's Note: The following excerpt, photos and map are taken with permission from Graham Watson's Tour de France Travel Guide. The book, published this spring, is available from VeloPress This excerpt was originally published on VeloNews.com on June 29, but we thought readers would enjoy another look before Saturday's stage. Enjoy. Graham Watson Mont Ventoux panoramic photo
National Racing Calendar points leader Tom Zirbel (Bissell) won Thursday’s stage 3 Skyliner’s Time Trial at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic, 11 seconds ahead of Ian McKissick (BMC) in second, and 44 seconds ahead of Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) in third.
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Stage 17 of the Tour de France was bound to be a make-or=break affair for those aiming at a podium position in Paris. Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck predicted stage 17 would be important during Monday's rest day press conference, “We will see a lot of damage in stage 17 with the Col de Romme and the other four climbs."
Skil-Shimano is the only team in this year’s Tour de France with a component manufacturer as a co-title sponsor. Naturally with Shimano making such investment into this Continental Professional team from the Netherlands, it made sure to outfit it with its latest and greatest components.
Alberto Contador solidifies his grip on the yellow jersey in Thursday's Stage 18 Time Trial at the Tour de France. Casey Gibson was there.
Forty-five minutes after Thursday’s stage, Fabian Cancellara was sitting in the lobby of Hotel Impérial Palace along the shores of Lake Annecy trying to figure out how he lost the 40.5km time trial to Alberto Contador. The reigning Olympic time trial champion doesn’t lose against the clock very often when he’s on form, and Cancellara said he had a pretty good idea of why he lost.
Lance Armstrong admitted suffering during Thursday's time trial in the Tour de France, but says his aim now is to defend his third place in the overall standings in Saturday's climb up Mount Ventoux and even mount a challenge for second against Andy Schleck. Armstrong finished the time trial around Lake Annecy in 16th at 1:30 behind stage winner Alberto Contador, his Astana teammate and the yellow jersey-holder. The American said his goal is to ride well on Ventoux, protect on his spot on GC or even move up on his rival for second place, Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck.
Tour de France race leader Alberto Contador on Thursday refused to respond to questions relating to his stunning climbing performance in the 15th stage and Thursday’s time trial victory. Spain's 2007 champion took another step towards overall victory when he won the 18th stage time trial to take a virtually unassailable lead of 4:11 over Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. Coming less than a week after his impressive victory on the summit of Verbier in Switzerland, it has cemented Contador's reputation as the best stage racer in the world.
News that Danilo Di Luca tested positive for CERA during the recent Giro d’Italia was met with universal disdain among most at the Tour de France. The Italian tested positive for the banned blood booster, CERA, en route to finishing second to Denis Menchov (Rabobank) at the Giro in May, the UCI confirmed. If Di Luca’s B-sample is confirmed, he could be banned for two years and stripped of his second place and stage victories during the three-week Italian grand tour.
Going into this year's Tour, a small, gnawing uncertainty lingered — would stricter enforcement of UCI rules cause start-line drama for any teams or riders? Cycling’s international governing body issued a statement in May indicating they would take a hard line. Specifically, aero bars and seatposts would be carefully measured for compliance with UCI rules.
Yellow jersey Alberto Contador flew around the 40.5km Annecy time trial course to win the stage and cement his lead in the Tour de France. Contador beat time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara by two seconds, and put 50 seconds or more on the other GC competitors, including teammates Andreas Klöden and Lance Armstrong. Contador was fastest through all but one of the intermediate time checks, making his biggest gains on the course’s one climb, and holding his advantage to the end.
Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders) on Wednesday continued her surprise domination of domestic women's racing, taking a second consecutive stage win, this time with a solo attack from the bottom of the final climb. In the men's race, Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla, a former Tour de France Best Young Rider, soloed across the line seven seconds ahead of Peter Stetina (Felt Holowesko-Garmin), taking over the leader's jersey from stage 1 winner Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell).
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From truckloads full of young fans, packed in like cattle, to a cadre of elite mountain troops, the fans came out to see the Tour's toughest stage on Wednesday, and VeloNews photographer Casey B. Gibson was there to capture the scene.
Alberto Contador attacked once on the Col de la Colombière near the end of Wednesday’s queen stage, but it didn’t make anyone happy on the Astana Team. Contador’s surge with about 2km to go to the Colombière didn’t gap the victorious Schleck brothers, but it popped Astana’s Andreas Klöden out of the back of the elite, four-man group. Klöden eventually lost 2:27 to the Schlecks and opened the door for the Schlecks to slip into second and third.
After the most difficult mountain stage of this Tour de France, Alberto Contador appears to have wrapped up his second overall victory in three years. But the fight for the other two podium places will continue Thursday in the stage 18 time trial at Annecy — before being wrapped up on the Mont Ventoux summit Saturday. Five men still have hopes of joining Contador on the podium: his two Astana teammates Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden, Saxo Bank’s Andy and Fränk Schleck, and Garmin-Slipstream’s Brad Wiggins.
Tour de France crash victim Jens Voigt has been told he will have to wait for a decision on whether he faces surgery on his smashed cheekbone, his Saxo Bank team announced Wednesday. The 37-year-old was temporarily knocked unconscious after a high speed crash during the race's 16th stage from Martigny in Switzerland to Bourg Saint Maurice on Tuesday. After being revived at the scene the German veteran was flown by helicopter to hospital in Grenoble where he was diagnosed with a broken cheekbone and heavy concussion.
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) heard the comments from arch-rival Mark Cavendish about how the big Viking needed to DQ the British sprinter to have any chance to win the green jersey. The tension was ratcheting up even since the stage to Besançon when Cavendish was relegated for irregular sprinting in the bunch sprint for 13th place. That UCI jury decision essentially gifted Hushovd the green jersey. But the Cervélo sprinter was too proud to take it that way.
Alberto Contador (Astana) survived another slugfest Wednesday and took a giant step toward winning his second Tour de France in three years. Despite his seemingly insurmountable lead of 2:26 over Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), questions remain, however, about Contador’s durability in the third week of the Tour. Add the pressure of the yellow jersey and sometimes the final week can crack even the strongest of riders. So far, Contador has proven to be quite resilient, resisting both pressures from within the Astana and the attacks from his rivals on the road.
Following their strong performance on the 17th stage of the Tour de France, Saxo Bank’s Fränk and Andy Schleck met with the press. By finishing first and third in what is widely regarded as the toughest stage of the Tour thus far, the brothers have moved up into the top three of the overall standings, trailing only race leader Alberto Contador (Astana), who finished second on the day. Andy Schleck now occupies second place, 2:26 behind Contador, while Fränk is in third at 3:25. VeloNews’Neal Rogers attended the press conference and provides these highlights.
Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong said he is now fighting for second place on the Tour de France after he slipped further off the virtual podium following Wednesday's 17th stage. Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck won the 169.5km ride on the toughest day in the Alps while Armstrong’s teammate, 2007 Tour champion Alberto Contador, finished second to tighten his grip on the yellow jersey. Fränk Schleck’s brother and teammate Andy, third on the stage, is second at 2:26 while Frank is 3:25 adrift in third.
Saxo Bank’s Andy and Frank Schleck climbed their way up in the general classification on stage 17, with only race leader Alberto Contador (Astana) able to follow the Luxembourg riders over the day’s final climb and down to the finish. But Astana continued to show its might, with Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden riding strongly to finish fifth and sixth on the day and shedding the other GC contenders. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) rode with the select Armstrong group towards the end, but lost the wheel on the final climb up the Col de la Colombiere to finish 3:10 down.
Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO during the Tour of Italy, in which he placed second, the UCI said Wednesday. The 33-year-old LPR team leader, who is not competing in the Tour de France, won two stages of the Giro and wore the leader's pink jersey for eight days. He finished second overall 41 seconds behind Rabobank's Denis Menchov. Di Luca was due to take part in the Brixia Tour in Italy on Thursday and had been targeting the world championships at the end of September in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The UCI Press Release:
Under a blazing high desert sun in Central Oregon, the 30th Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic opened Tuesday with the 71-mile Smith Rock Road Race. This season's breakout woman, 26-year-old amateur Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders), took the bunch sprint ahead of Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Chrissy Ruiter (ValueAct Capital). In the men's race, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) soloed away from a break to cross the line 10 seconds before Jeff Louder (BMC) and Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) in second and third.
Editor's Note: Michael Barry is a member of the Columbia-HTC team. Pedaling up the climb without a car in sight, the sun beating down, my open jersey fluttering in the breeze and my legs turning fluidly, my mind started wandering. The road was one I had ridden countless times, alone, with teammates, rivals and friends. I know every meter of road after nearly 10 years of riding in Girona — it now feels like home. Daily, we meet for rides, forming a group that contains many of the best professional cyclists in the world.
Carlos Sastre isn’t a happy camper at the 2009 Tour de France. The defending champion’s frustration poured out in a scathing press conference on Monday’s rest day when he accused the media of not giving him his due respect. Things started off badly, when the first question was innocent enough, querying whether Sastre was happy with how his Tour was going so far.
Popular German rider Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) was involved in a high-speed crash midway down the twisting Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard in Tuesday's 159km 16th stage at the Tour de France, but team officials say that his injuries are not life-threatening.
In a statement issued late Tuesday evening, the team said the 37-year-old German is alert, but will remain hospitalized for observation.
"An examination at the University hospital in Grenoble this evening has initially given positive reports on Jens Voigt's health after the nasty crash during today's stage of Tour
Lance Armstrong said on Tuesday he would definitely ride in next year's race, a reliable source told AFP. Armstrong plans to announce a new sponsor on Thursday, although he refused to say if it would replace his present team Astana. However, his close friend and mentor Johan Bruyneel announced earlier on Tuesday that he is set to quit as Astana's team manager, and rumors are rife that he is ready to start up a new team with Armstrong the likely leader.
With two alpine stages done and the most difficult one coming up on Wednesday, the 96th Tour de France is fast revealing its harshest features. The double St. Bernard stage Tuesday saw longtime race leader Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) and former white jersey Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) fall out of the top 10, while Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) had his worst day ever at the Tour and dropped to 17th overall, 7:23 behind yellow jersey Alberto Contador.
Bradley Wiggins' laid-back approach to challenging for the Tour de France yellow jersey paid off again Tuesday when he came through the tough 16th stage in the Alps unscathed. Wiggins, who rides for the American team Garmin-Slipstream, has been impressing rivals and fans alike by remaining in contention for the race's yellow jersey despite only recently showing his potential as a serious racer on major tours.
Time is running out for the Schleck brothers and their quest to finish on the podium in Paris. The Saxo Bank riders realize that overall victory is difficult, but they believe that if they can dislodge the likes of Lance Armstrong and Bradley Wiggins, they still could be getting kisses from the podium girls when the Tour ends July 26 in Paris. They tried with everything they had in Tuesday’s two-climb stage across the heart of the Alps.
Pedro Delgado knows a thing or two about winning the Tour de France. The Spanish climber won the 1988 and helped herald the golden age with Spanish cycling capped by the five-year reign by Miguel Indurain in the early 1990s. Delgado, who works as a race commentator for Spanish TVE, says Alberto Contador could spark Spain’s second golden era. On the Tour’s second rest day on MondayVeloNews caught up with Delgado, 49, to hear his views on Contador and how the 2009 Tour is shaping up. Here’s what he had to say:
The Johan Bruyneel era at the Astana team will conclude at the end of this season. Bruyneel confirmed to Belgian television Sporza that he will stop running the Kazakhstan-backed team at the conclusion of the 2009 season, citing a breakdown over the expected return of Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov. “Astana is a closed chapter for me,” Bruyneel told Sporza.
A truck belonging to the Astana team was searched for three hours on Tuesday by police, it was confirmed. The truck, containing spare bikes, equipment and food, was making its way from the start of the 16th stage at Martigny, Switzerland to the finish line at Bourg St. Maurice, France. It was stopped at the Swiss-France border near the Swiss village of Le Chatelard and searched by police, but nothing was found, confirmed Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens. "They were very thorough and opened every suitcase, every container and found nothing," he told AFP.
Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) used a daring last-minute break to win the 16th stage of the 2009 Tour de France, a short, tough ride from Martigny in Switzerland, to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in France. The Spaniard claimed his first Tour stage victory by attacking a four-man break in the final 2km, just as it was about to be joined by a second four-man group, and held his advantage to win by just six seconds ahead of Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) with Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) third.
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The German Focus brand is far from a household name in the United States. But with new products, a growing range of models, and now a U.S. sales office, the brand hopes to make an impression on this side of the pond. In their effort to gain recognition, Focus is off to a good start as the official bicycle sponsor of Team Milram. The German brand is (rightly) very proud of the fact that the Milram team is registered in Germany, populated with 17 German pros, and uses a range of German products, including the Focus Izalco bicycle, Lightweight wheels, and Continental tires.
Alberto Contador looked relaxed and at ease on the Tour de France’s second rest day, largely because he was. With his stage victory atop Verbier on Sunday, Contador not only claimed the yellow jersey but he also gave him enough GC cushion that he can breathe a little easier going into the Tour’s final week. With Lance Armstrong publicly declaring his support for Contador, the Spanish climber is now hoping that the Astana team will rally behind him and carry him to victory in Paris.
Stage 15 was the first major test of the Alpine stages and included a mountain top finish, the second of three in this year’s Tour. The finish in Verbier, Switzerland, has never hosted the Tour de France before, but many of the riders know the finish quite well since the Tour of Switzerland has finished in Verbier several times.
Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck said Monday he is ready to give his all in the remaining six stages of the Tour de France in an effort to beat race leader Alberto Contador. Contador, the 2007 champion, took command of the race in style on Sunday when he won the first part of an Alpine trilogy to leave Schleck chasing hard to finish 43 seconds back. Schleck is now fifth in the overall standings at 2:26, but he pointed out that there is still plenty more racing to come.
Cadel Evans said Monday he expects the race to finish first in this year's Tour de France to go down to the wire. Unfortunately for Australia's two-time runner-up, he does not believe he will even be in the running for a podium place. Evans suffered his "worst ever day" on the world's biggest bike race on Sunday when an inexplicable loss of power left him battling to keep pace with the favorites on the summit finish to Verbier on the 15th stage.
The following is the full start list for the 2009 Tour de France. We will continue to update this list throughout the Tour.
Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre lashed out Monday for being shown a "lack of respect" coming into this year's race. And the Spaniard, now almost out of contention for a second consecutive victory on the race, said he believes that "certain riders" are conspiring to make sure he does not win the Tour de France. After the first of three days in the Alps Sastre's yellow jersey hopes have faded after he slipped further down the general classification on Sunday's summit finish to Verbier.
Spanish newspapers on Monday celebrated Alberto Contador's seizure of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France declaring that his win on Sunday marked the end of an era for Lance Armstrong. "Contador marks the end of Armstrong," reported top-selling daily newspaper El Pais which published a photo of the smiling 26-year-old Spanish rider as he donned the yellow jersey he had not worn since his Tour win in 2007.
Georgia Gould (Luna) and Adam Craig (Giant) out-suffered their respective fields to claim short-track wins at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships in Granby, Colorado. The two proved strongest on the course at the SolVista resort, which featured a single long, lung-searing climb to the top of a beginner ski hill and a loose, winding descent back to the start/finish. The loop was noticeably large at nearly half a mile in length, and the course’s size stretched out the field in both races.??
“Contador was the strongest today,” Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck said shortly after Sunday’s intense stage 15 to Verbier. “And now it will be very difficult for us to win the Tour de France. But we will try again.” Saxo Bank surprised many on Sunday by being the team that took charge of the race on the initial slopes of the 8km climb to the finish. “We launched the attack like we planned,” said team boss Bjarne Riis. “And we are very pleased with … the results of our efforts to create the race.”
The 15th stage of the Tour de France marked a big shift of momentum in the race for the yellow jersey. Photographer Casey Gibson was there to catch the action.
Five kilometers of Swiss asphalt was all the Alberto Contador needed to show the Tour de France peloton who’s the new boss. The Spanish climber spun his spindly legs to drop Lance Armstrong, the Schleck brothers and all the other doubters and second-guessers who have been needling him for months about whether he could win the Tour. Contador pulled out his imaginary pistol and shot those doubters right between the eyes.
Britain's Bradley Wiggins called for calm on Sunday as he produced a "fantastic" display of climbing on the Tour de France 15th stage to move up to third overall in the standings. "It's a long way to go, let's not get too excited," said the Garmin-Slipstream rider, who now has only Astana’s Lance Armstrong and new race leader Alberto Contador in front of him. Wiggins, a track specialist who is the reigning world and Olympic pursuit champion, has stunned admirers and rivals alike with a consistent display throughout that has kept him in contention for the yellow jersey.
Saxo Bank leader Andy Schleck insisted Sunday that his team will "try until we die" to take the yellow jersey from Alberto Contador and his Astana team. Contador dominated Sunday's 15th stage on the first of three days in the Alps after leaving his rivals behind on the 8.8km climb into the Swiss ski resort of Verbier. Schleck, who claimed the white jersey for the highest-finishing rider aged 25 and under last year, was the only contender to counter-attack Contador and in the end his gutsy performance moved him up to fifth overall at 2:26.
An emotional Cadel Evans said he suffered the "worst day" of his Tour de France career on Sunday's 15th stage where he slipped back to over four minutes off the leading pace. The Silence-Lotto rider started the 207.5km stage from Pontarlier three minutes and seven seconds adrift but after the 8.8km climb to Verbier had lost still more time, slipping to 4:27 behind new race leader Alberto Contador (Astana).
Lance Armstrong has conceded that his dreams of winning an eighth yellow jersey in the Tour de France this year may have been shattered on Sunday’s climb to Verbier. Armstrong was left suffering early on the 8.8km climb to Verbier, where teammate Alberto Contador launched a decisive attack that showed him to be Astana's best chance of winning the race. The 37-year-old American said afterwards Contador had proved that he is the "strongest rider in the race.” And he indicated that it would now be difficult for him to aim for an eighth Tour crown.
The riders in the Tour de France work as hard as any athletes in any sport. The press documents their efforts extensively, all the way down to a given rider’s heart rate and power output. The mechanics who support them work equally hard but with less fanfare. Indeed, while a stage win or yellow jersey is cause for celebration within the team, it can sometimes mean additional work for the mechanics, in the form of a specially painted tribute bicycle.
Astana’s Alberto Contador won the day and the maillot jaune on Sunday, riding away from a small group of favorites on the final climb in stage 15 of the Tour de France. Contador used the Category 1 climb to Verbier to settle accounts with teammate Lance Armstrong and the rest of his rivals for the overall victory, rocketing away to win by more than 40 seconds over Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck, who collected the white jersey for the best young rider in the process. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) finished third.
Belgian rider Tom Boonen has withdrawn from the Tour de France ahead of the 15th stage because of sickness,his Quick Step team said on Sunday. The Paris-Roubaix champion vomited during the night and had a fever, according to the team. The 28-year-old Belgian sprint specialist was controversially re-admitted to the Tour at the last minute after being initially sidelined by organizers because of a second positive test for cocaine. After Saturday's 14th stage, he was sitting in 148th place in the overall standings, 1:38:42 behind yellow jersey holder Rinaldo Nocentini.
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The 2009 Tour de France turns vertical Sunday with the second of three summit finishes that will go a long way toward deciding who wears the yellow jersey in Paris. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what’s going to happen next, but no one will really know until the final climb up Mont Ventoux next weekend. That uncertainty has built huge anticipation ahead of the final week of racing. The GC is still wound up tight and, despite Astana’s stranglehold on the leader board, the race could still be won by the daring.
The Subaru-Gary Fisher team must now silkscreen “His” and “Hers” national championship jerseys for Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger. The husband-and-wife teammates, together since their dorm days at the University of Colorado and married in 2005, escaped with cross-country wins at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships at SolVista resort in Granby, Colorado. At the line, Horgan-Kobelski called the win, his fifth national cross-country title, “unreal.”
Although Sunday’s stage 15 from Pontarlier in France to Verbier in Switzerland is 207.5km long, the first 200km is almost irrelevant in the context of who will wear the yellow jersey into Monday’s rest day — unless something totally unexpected happens before the leaders reach the climb to the finish.
Five seconds separated George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC) from the yellow jersey in Saturday’s hilly stage across eastern France. How those five seconds are dissected will be the source for debate throughout the remainder of the 2009 Tour de France. At the finish line Besancon, Hincapie seemed poised to move into the maillot jauneafter riding into the day’s winning 12-man breakaway on the hilly 199km 14th stage from Colmar to Besancon. The American started the stage 28th at 5:25 back and was the best-placed rider in the move.
It was another wild day at the Tour de France. Photographer Casey Gibson was there from start to finish.
Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) might seem like a polite gentleman off the bike, but they don’t call him the “Bear from Grimstad” for nothing. For the second day in a row, Hushovd’s emotions got the most of him at the finish line and he was screaming just moments after coming across the line in the intense battle for the green jersey. Yesterday, after battling through the cold and snow to Colmar to regain the green jersey, Hushovd roared at Peter Velits (Milram) for pipping him at the line.
Saxo Bank’s Jens Voigt admitted Saturday he felt like punching someone in anger after a flat tire cost him the chance to stay with a breakaway group on the 14th stage of the Tour de France. The 37-year-old suffered a back-wheel puncture at the 57km mark and despite receiving a new wheel from the neutral support vehicle; he lost his place in a 13-man escape which included eventual stage winner Sergei Ivanov of Katusha. The flat-tire cost him 40 seconds with the German insisting he was powerless to close the gap and resigned himself to being caught by the peloton.
A spectator has been killed and two others injured on the Tour de France Saturday after being hit by a police motorbike on the 14th stage, French radio reported. The accident happened in the village of Wittelsheim, about 40km from the start of Saturday's stage in Colmar The radio later reported that a woman in her 60s died at the scene. According to France Info radio the woman was crossing the road after the breakaway group of riders had passed, when she was hit by one of the several police motorbikes that accompany the race.
Katusha's Sergei Ivanov won Saturday's stage 14, a mostly flat transition stage from Friday's day in the mountainous Verges region and Sunday's first day in the Alps. Ivanov attacked his 11 breakaway companions in the final 11 kilometers and used his time trial skills to roll away to an impressive win. His breakaway companion George Hincapie almost snagged the yellow jersey from Rinaldo Nocentini, finishing just five seconds too late to take the lead.[nid:95377]
Astana won’t have its ace in the hole as it confronts the decisive final week of the 2009 Tour de France. With Levi Leipheimer’s early departure, the team will have to decide to go all in with either Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador. There’s no more full house. The American was fourth overall at 39 seconds back, poised for a run at the Tour podium – and more – when he crashed out Thursday in a fluke late-race spill when he came in too hot into a left-hander and crashed, breaking a bone in his right wrist.
American Tyler Farrar is targeting the Tour de France 14th stage as he bids to beat British sprint king Mark Cavendish in a 'fair and square' speed battle. Cavendish has been the undisputed speed king with four wins so far but Farrar is one of the few riders to have beaten him this year when he won the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in March. With the Tour de France moving into the Alps on Sunday, Saturday's rolling route from Colmar to Besancon could, if the sprinters' teams decide to chase down anticipated breakaways, end in a bunch finish.
Colin Cares and Amy Dombroski required fresh, clean stars-and-stripes jerseys Friday after taking the U23 crowns at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships, held at SolVista resort in Granby, Colorado. Both riders crossed the line coated in layers of dirt and trail grime after suffering mid-race crashes. Cares even had a sizable rock wedged between the vents of his helmet. “I went down on the last lap — I just washed out on a loose corner,” said Cares, who hails from Boulder, Colorado. “The adrenaline kicked in. I got right back on my bike.”
The Italians are already making their mark on the 2009 Tour de France, with Rinaldo Nocentini enjoying his seventh day in yellow after defending it over the Vosges on Friday through the rain and cold. Incredibly, Nocentini is the first Italian in yellow since the 2000 Tour, when Alberto Elli wore the maillot jaune for a few days before the Pyrénées. Franco Pellizotti is another Italian making headway in Friday’s five-climb stage when he bounced passed Basque climber Egoi Martínez to claim the polka-dot climber’s jersey.
Photographer Casey B. Gibson finds that true fans come out for Tour, even on a miserably rainy day.
All week long, people watching the Tour de France on TV have been saying, “This Tour looks too easy. When are they gonna start racing?” Memories are short, and appearances are deceptive. A week ago, everyone was saying that the opening stages of this 96th Tour de France were the hardest in recent memory, and that the excitement level had been ratcheted up several notches by the return of Lance Armstrong. And speculation was high on how the upcoming fight for control of the Astana team between the Texan and his Spanish teammate Alberto Contador would pan out.
Heinrich Haussler rode the cold and rain all the way to Colmar to claim his first Tour stage victory of his career on Friday. The 25-year-old Cervélo TestTeam rider delivered his squad’s second stage win of this Tour and confirmed his status as one of the rising stars of the sport. Second at Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders this spring, Haussler proved that he’s a force to reckon with any time of year. Here’s what he had to say during the post-stage press conference Friday: How important is this victory for you?
Alberto Contador of Astana admitted Friday's cold and rain-hit 13th stage of the Tour de France had hindered his rivals' plans to claim back lost time. However Spain's 2007 champion and current race favorite warned that attacks are sure to come in the Alps. "It was a bad day for the weather today, but it was good from our point of view that no-one attacked us, because it made things more relaxed," said Contador, second overall at 06sec behind race Italian leader Rinaldo Nocentini.
Police have launched an investigation after two riders suffered light injuries when hit by shots fired from an airgun on the 13th stage of the Tour de France on Friday. New Zealander Julian Dean of Garmin-Slipstream and Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank were hit with pellets near the 165km mark of the 200km stage in the hilly Vosges region. Freire, a three-time world road race champion, had to have a pellet removed from his leg by his team doctor after finishing the stage. "He's got a bit of bruising but he will be able to start on Saturday," said his team boss.
American Levi Leipheimer had successful surgery on his broken wrist Friday, but said he may not be able to compete in major events again this year. The 35-year-old American, who had been in fourth place, sustained the injury in a fall 2km from the finish line of Thursday's 12th stage of the Tour de France. He withdrew from the race Friday morning and had surgery later Friday. "The recovery can take a while. I'm afraid I will not be able to do big races any more this year, maybe only some US events,” he said in a team statement.
On a 200km stage, Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) was off the front for 195km. Most important, he was off the front at the very end of the day. Haussler went clear with six others just 5km into a rainy day that featured five categorized climbs. After 60km it was only he, Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi) off the front. After Perez Moreno was dropped on a climb, and Chavanel was dropped on a slippery descent, Haussler simply put his head down and went it alone.