Tour de France 2009...

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

.. pedals off tomorrow...

 

Even though I am probably the only person on these fora that's interested I still plan to bombard you with my usual drivel....

 

More to follow.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Basso backs Armstrong for tour success

 

Former Tour of Italy winner Ivan Basso on Thursday tipped his great rival Lance Armstrong to challenge for an eighth Tour de France title.

 

Armstrong won the last of his seven yellow jerseys in a row in 2005 but this year at the age of 37 he has made a remarkable comeback to professional cycling.

 

In May he finished 12th in the Tour of Italy despite breaking his collarbone in a crash only six weeks before.

 

"Given his great experience and formidable character, Lance Armstrong will be aiming high at the Tour de France," said Basso, the 2006 Tour of Italy winner.

 

"Armstrong finished the Giro in 12th place but in those 16 minutes given up to the winner Denis Menchov he showed at 37 great improvement and powers of recovery given he broke his collarbone at the end of March and spent three years out of competition."

 

The Liquigas team leader twice stood on the podium alongside Armstrong at the Grand Boucle, finishing third in 2004 and second in 2005.

 

But following his Giro win he was banned for two years for doping and he made a disappointing return to major stage racing in this year's Giro, finishing fifth having started as race favourite.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Boonen cleared to race

 

Former world champion Tom Boonen has been allowed to take part in this year's Tour de France by a French arbitration court, according to his Quick Step team.

 

"We just got the news that Tom Boonen has the right to race, the team lawyer just announced it to us," Quick Step spokesman Alessandro Tegner said.

 

A news conference was scheduled for 1.30pm UK time at Boonen's team hotel in Monte Carlo.

 

Tour organisers ASO had banned Boonen from the race after the Belgian failed an out-of-competition test for cocaine in April.

 

The Tour de France starts on Saturday in Monaco.

 

Briton Mark Cavendish, who finds himself with a new rival for the best sprinter's green jersey, welcomed Boonen's entry into the three-week race.

 

"It changes many things, in a good way. Our team will have less pressure in the flat stages," Cavendish said.

 

Boonen, who won world championships in 2005, failed an out-of-competition test for cocaine in April. It was the 28-year-old's second offence in 12 months after he tested positive for the same substance last year.

 

He missed last year's Tour following his first failed test for cocaine.

 

The International Cycling Union said last month they would not open disciplinary proceedings against Boonen after they had threatened him with a six-month ban for spoiling the sport's image.

 

Failing an out-of-competition check for cocaine is not technically considered a positive doping test since the use of the substance is not banned between races.

 

Boonen, who won the Paris-Roubaix classic race for the third time in April, was banned by his Quick Step team on May 9 after it was announced he had failed the test and returned to racing last month.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Contador leads Tour contenders

 

Last year, the Tour de France's status as the most prestigious bike race in the world was placed under threat, with the Giro d'Italia arguably offering a more complete line-up of the world's best riders. Lance Armstrong even described it as "a bit of a joke".

 

No such worries for Tour organisers this year, as all of Astana's big guns are back in action, including Armstrong himself. With him comes mainly positive, and certainly much needed, media attention.

 

But does the Texan still have what it takes to "kick the asses" of the competition, as he vowed?

 

Alberto Contador (Esp, Astana) ****

 

Generally recognised as the best pure climber in the world, and certainly the most explosive, he is the only man in the field to have won all three Grand Tours. More ominously for the competition, his time-trialling has improved immensely over the past two years, confirmed by his second- and fifth-place finishes in the two ITTs at the Dauphin

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Brilliant Cavendish inspiring team

 

Given the electrifying sprint finishes of British rider Mark Cavendish, it is little wonder he is nicknamed 'Cannonball Cavendish' and the 'Manx Express'.

 

After a barnstorming start to his career, where at only 24 he is already halfway to equalling Barry Hoban's British record of eight Tour de France stage wins, Cavendish is once again primed to light up this year's race, which starts on Saturday.

 

In 2008, Cavendish bagged four wins from 14 stages before being hauled out of the race to focus on the Beijing Olympics.

 

This year, Cavendish hopes his rivals will have to put up with him for the entire three-week race, as he said last month his goal was to make it to the finish on the Champs Elysees.

 

With two world championship wins on the track in the Madison (2005 and 2008), plus this year equalling Chris Boardman's British record of 41 major career wins, it is easy to see why the Manxman has been touted as the world's fastest road cyclist.

 

Despite his dazzling form however, Cavendish stays true to his Manx roots.

 

"I'm not in it to be in Rolling Stone magazine or to be wealthy," he said.

 

"They might come as a result. But I want to be remembered for what I've achieved as a cyclist."

 

Cavendish owes a surprising amount to a purple mountain bike that changed his life at an early age.

 

Former coach and friend Mike Kelly, a talented cyclist himself with three Commonwealth Games appearances under his belt for the Isle of Man, always felt that once Cavendish had the right equipment he would be unstoppable.

 

"He was coming last on his BMX but he enjoyed it," Kelly said.

 

"Then he got a new mountain bike and he started winning. He took to it like a duck to water."

 

This ignited a competitive instinct in Cavendish.

 

"There'd be times when he was going away to a top event and he'd say: 'I'm going to win this'," Kelly said. "He never let you down."

 

Kelly tipped Cavendish for the top but had some words for the talented youngster.

 

"One day I said to him: 'You're going to be a world champion, you're going to win a stage in a major tour and you'll win an Olympic medal.'

 

"Then I said: 'Now don't you forget me when you're famous'."

 

Sure enough, Cavendish went to the 2005 world championships and won the Madison with Rob Hayles.

 

On his return to London's Heathrow airport, he phoned Kelly with the words: "I haven't forgot you."

 

Cavendish has not forgotten his home either, and said living there throughout the northern hemisphere's winter was great as it was the best place to train.

 

"You can guarantee you go down to the meeting point every single day of the week and there'll be five or six amateurs minimum," he said. "They'll give everything."

 

Out one day in 2005 on such a ride with seven teenagers, Cavendish witnessed the death of up-and-coming 13-year-old cyclist James Berry, killed when a wheel fell off a passing truck and hit him.

 

"It's so hard when I see his dad, knowing that James would be 17 now and he'd be starting just where I started. It's tragic," he said.

 

"The other guys saw this at such a young age. I'm in touch with them all the time but we don't tend to talk about it. Hopefully what I do inspires them."

 

One of the names at the forefront of a British cycling renaissance, Cavendish is undoubtedly encouraging younger riders with his impressive results.

 

Team Columbia Highroad sporting director Brian Holm, who competed in the Tour de France in the 1990s, said Cavendish was a rare talent.

 

"The way Mark's riding now, the (team) bus driver could take my job and he would still win," the Dane said, adding that the Manxman's effect on his team mates had been impressive.

 

"They can now cycle like madmen. When they know he can win everyone goes deeper."

 

Cavendish hopes in time to be able to give something to charity from his success as a rider.

 

An ambassador for Right to Play, which helps disadvantaged children around the world through sport, Cavendish will be in Edinburgh in August to start a charity cycle ride to London, though his training commitments will not allow him to take part.

 

"I wish I could do more," he said. "If I win races then hopefully I can expose the charity more."

[Horace]

You're not alone NTRSW, I'll be glued to the coverage (and trying to watch the Ashes too!).

[Big J R]

You two should go train-spotting together !

 

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Cavendish wins stage two

 

Britain's Mark Cavendish won stage two of the Tour de France after a trademark lead out by his Columbia-HTC team in Provence.

 

The 24-year-old sprinter made his dash to the line early and held off a late challenge from American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream to take the green jersey.

 

France's Romain Feillu (Agritubel) was third after the peloton was split following a crash on the closing bend of the 187 kilometre stage from Monaco to Brignoles.

 

Cavendish's win is the Manxman's fifth Tour victory to date following last year's superb haul of four victories.

 

As usual, it came after some expert riding from his Columbia team-mates, who reeled in an early breakaway of four riders before George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw propelled their man to the front.

 

"It was brilliant, and the team was so strong," Cavendish told Eurosport. "We were the only sprinting team riding for it and today we meant business. Everyone did their part and I felt good today."

 

Following victories in the Giro, the Tour of Switzerland and Milan-San Remo, Cavendish once again proved he is the quickest man on two wheels and edged closer to Barry Hoban's British record of eight Tour de France stage wins.

 

With no time bonuses available on this year's Tour, overnight leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) retained his yellow jersey after finishing safely in the peloton.

 

Finland's Jussi Veikkanen (Francaise des Jeux) took the polka-dot jersey on his debut Tour after amassing enough points over the four lower category climbs in South East France.

 

Veikkanen was part of a four-man breakaway which formed on the descent of the third-category La Turbie climb 15km into the day's racing.

 

Frenchmen Cyril Dessel (AG2R) and Stephane Auge (Cofidis), and Dutchman Stef Clement (Rabobank) were also part of the breakaway, which was swept up 10km from the finish line.

 

Clement was the best-placed rider of the four following Saturday's opening prologue in Monaco and at one point was riding as virtual maillot jaune.

 

But the Saxo Bank team of Cancellara, who will be amongst the favourites in Tuesday's team time trial, ensured the escapees never held a lead of more than five minutes.

 

The Swiss yellow jersey told Eurosport he intended to stay in yellow for a bit longer. "The goal was the prologue but I now hope to keep the jersey after the team time trial," he said.

 

"But we can't pull the peloton every day like we did today because we have our own plan which we must respect."

 

That plan should involve Frank Schleck, who crashed heavily mid-way through the stage to continue his inauspicious start to the Tour. On Saturday, the 29-year-old from Luxembourg lost 1min 36secs to his team-mate in the testing prologue.

 

The finish of Sunday's stage was marred slightly by confusion on a final bend which saw Euskaltel's Koldo Fernandez overshoot and hit the deck. The Spaniard's fall disrupted a number of the top sprinters, including Quick Step's Tom Boonen and Rabobank's Oscar Freire.

 

Cervelo's Thor Hushovd, one of Cavendish's main competitors for the green jersey, recovered from the split to take fourth place ahead of Japan's Yukiya Arashiro (Bbox Bouygues).

 

Germany's Gerald Ciolek (Milram) finished one place further down but there was no such luck for Italian Danilo Napolitano (Katusha), who was brought down by the crash and pushed his bike the final kilometre to the finish line.

 

The Tour continues on Monday with the flat 196-kilometre stage three from Marseille to La Grande Motte in which Cavendish will be the hot favourite to double his tally.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Cavendish thanks evergreen Zabel

 

Mark Cavendish snatched his first Tour de France green jersey thanks to his stage win in Brignoles and made it clear he could thank team adviser Erik Zabel for it.

 

The Briton won the first mass sprint of this Tour, having had to wait five days last year for the first of his four stage victories.

 

As a result, in 2008 he was never really in a position to go for the points qualification, finally won by Spain's Oscar Freire.

 

"The green jersey is a big goal for any sprinter and it's beautiful and emotional to wear it," said Cavendish.

 

To take it all the way to Paris is another matter but the Manx can count on the very best adviser in his Team Columbia - Zabel who won the green jersey six times.

 

"I think nobody will disagree that Erik was the most consistent rider of his generation.

 

"At 24, I don't have as much experience. But if you combine my ability to sprint with Erik's experience, you've got the recipe for success," Cavendish said.

 

The German, who also won 12 stages of the Tour, was already a great help for Cavendish when his protege won Milan-San Remo in April, a race Zabel won four times.

 

"As for the green jersey, he won it countless times. We work so well together," added the Briton.

 

Yet Cavendish refused to get carried away and start considering taking the jersey all the way to Paris.

 

"It's the Tour de France, you already have to be content with winning one stage. Hopefully, I can win on the Champs-Elysees with the green jersey but it's a dream. I don't want to fix this as a target," he said.

 

In the meantime, the garment can play another useful role for Cavendish on the sunny days to come.

 

"An Englishman is the worst man to put in this heat. Green can cover my red body," he said.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Standings:

 

Fabian CANCELLARA SAX 04:49:34

Alberto CONTADOR AST +00:00:18

Bradley WIGGINS GRM +00:00:19

Andr

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Stage 3 today

 

Departure: Marseille

 

From the Goudes district to l

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Today's stage breakdown:

 

Dist. to finish (km) Dist. from start (km) Place Info Caravan 48km/h average 46km/h average 44km/h average

MARSEILLE Fictive Departure 09:55:00 11:40:00 11:40:00 11:40:00

196.5 0.0 MARSEILLE Real Departure 10:15:00 12:00:00 12:00:00 12:00:00

196.0 0.5 L'Estaque 10:16:00 12:01:00 12:01:00 12:01:00

190.0 6.5 LE ROVE 10:24:00 12:08:00 12:08:00 12:09:00

185.0 11.5 GIGNAC-LA-NERTHE (D.568-D.48.A-D.368) 10:31:00 12:14:00 12:15:00 12:16:00

179.0 17.5 Le Plan-des-Pennes 10:39:00 12:22:00 12:23:00 12:24:00

177.0 19.5 LES PENNES-MIRABEAU (D.368-D.113-D.60.A) 10:42:00 12:24:00 12:25:00 12:27:00

168.5 28.0 Carrefour D.60.A-D.543 10:54:00 12:35:00 12:37:00 12:38:00

168.0 28.5 CABRIES 10:54:00 12:36:00 12:37:00 12:39:00

166.0 30.5 Calas 10:57:00 12:38:00 12:40:00 12:42:00

161.5 35.0 Passage

[MbrunoB]

I also follow the race and this season I am supporting Bradley Wiggins who has a great chance of taking the yellow jersey after the team time trial.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Wiggins has no chance... the hills will kill him.

 

Not too much happening yet, no major breakaway.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Looks pretty hot down there, tough on the peleton for sure.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

8.15 is the gap with a small group of 4 pulling away..... far too early imo....

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The conditions seem to be affecting the motivation in the peloton. The gap has grown to more than 10 minutes as riders pass the 45km mark. Saxo Bank may not be all that inclined to chase hard and it could be a bit of a poker game out there.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

For those of you who remember last year's Tour, you might also recall that one of the men in today's break - Samuel Dumoulin - earned a stage win in the third stage.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

However this stage looks perfect for Cavendish..

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The gap has grown to 12:15 as the peloton is just ambling along. There's still plenty of time to catch these guys, but someone is going to have to take up the chase ... and it looks like Saxo Bank may be disinclined to drive a hard chase out there in this heat.