Cycling Beat

2007 Tour de France Team Report Cards

• Author: Damo
• July 31, 2007
• Category: Pro Teams, Tour de France

The 2007 Tour de France is over and we all celebrate the efforts of Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer, Tom Boonen and Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez. But just how did each team fare this year. I’ve decided to cast my eye over the teams to extract their high points, their low points, their dominance and their insignificance during the race. We’re going to go in alphabetical order.

AG2R – Team placing : 10th. Noted moments in the Tour : Christophe Moreau finished 4th in stage 8 on the climb up to Tignes. This took him to 7th place on the GC. He climbed to 6th after stage 9.
High GC positions : Stephane Goubert – 27th
High Stage placings :
Martin Elmiger – 3rd (Stage17)
Christophe Moreau – 4th (Stage 8)

Agritubel – Team placing : 17th. I think AGR will be known as the “other wildcard” entrant in the 2007 TdF with little of note in terms of memorable moments. Freddy Bichot picked up the Combativeness award in the final stage.
High GC position : Moises Duenas Nevado – 39th
High Stage placings :
Romain Feillu - 5th (Stages 1 & 2)

Astana – Team placing : Ejected After Stage 15. The first team removed from the Tour were flying high on top of the Team standings thanks to strong showings from Andreas Kloden and Andrey Kushechkin. Two stage wins by Alexandre Vinokourov looked to have settled things a little after Vino’s earlier crash and shocking injuries. But then the blood-doping scandal broke, Vinokourov and the entire team were asked to leave.
High Stage placings :
Alexandre Vinokourov – 1st (Stages 13 & 15)

Barloworld – Team placing : 15th. The revelation of the 2007 Tour de France. This is how you make the most of a wildcard invite with a couple of stage victories and taking ou the King of the Mountains competition courtesy of Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez. The team was impressive across the board riding up the front of the peloton when required and generally making their presence felt.
High GC position : Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez – 11th
High Stage placings :
Robert Hunter – 1st (Stage 11), 2nd (Stage 4), 3rd (Stage 12)
Juan Mauricio Soler – 1st (Stage 9), 3rd (Stage 14)

Bouyges Telecom – Team placing : 14th. Matthieu Sprick picked up the combativeness award for his attacks in Stage 4.
High GC position : Xavier Florencio – 46th
High Stage placings :
Laurent Lefevre - 3rd (Stage 18), 5th (Stage 7)

Caisse D’Epargne - Team placing : 2nd. Here was a team who put in a strong showing throughout the entire Tour, challenging for GC honours and stage victories yet falling frustratingly short each time. High stage placings were the order of the day without managing to take out a major honour.
High GC positions : Alejandro Valverde – 6th, Oscar Pereiro Sio – 10th
High Stage placings :
Alejandro Valverde – 2nd (Stage 9), 3rd (Stage 8)
Vladimir Karpets – 3rd (Stage 19)

Cofidis – Team placing : Ejected after stage 16. The other team to be thrown out of the 2007 Tour thanks to the positive drugs test of Christian Moreni. Before that the team was having a memorable tour with some jersey wins and high stage placings. Most notable were Stephane Auge who held the polka dot jersey for stages 3 & 4 only to give it up to team mate Sylvain Chavanel who held it on stages 5, 6 and 7. Sylvain Chavanel won the combativity award in Stage 5 and Bradley Wiggins also picked up a combativity award for his lone break away ride in Stage 6.
High GC position : N/A
High Stage placings :
Bradley Wiggins – 4th (Prologue), 5th (Stage 13)

Credit Agricole - Team placing – 9th. Thor Hushovd picked up a stage win early on and Patrice Halgand was awarded the combative prize for Stage 10 in a Tour that provided only rare highlights.
High GC position : Dmitriy Fofonov – 26th
High Stage placings :
Thor Hushovd – 1st (Stage 4), 2nd (Stage 1), 2nd (Stage 20) 
Patrice Halgand – 4th (Stage 10)

CSC – Team placing : 3rd. There always seemed to be a member of the CSC team up towards the front of the race. Whether it was Jens Voigt in a break away (For which he took out the combativity award in Stage 17) or Carlos Sastre trying to make it happen in the mountains, they figured prominently and with great consistency. Not only that but Fabian Cancellara took out the Prologue and then won the 3rd stage, holding onto the yellow jersey for 6 stages of the Tour.
High GC position : Carlos Sastre – 4th
High Stage placings :
Fabian Cancellara - 1st (Prologue), 1st (Stage 3), 2nd (Stage 11)
Jens Voigt – 4th (Stage 17)

Discovery Channel – Team placing – 1st. Far and away the best team of the Tour not only for the strength of their personnel but also the strength of their tactics and the way they both attacked and defended. They consistently put riders in break aways, protected the yellow jersey when they had it and took stage victories. It was an all around impressive display. Early on Vladimir Gusev took the white jersey before it was won by Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer’s win in the 19th Stage time trial was an awesome display and Alberto Contador’s explosive climbing speed was a sight to behold. Throw in the work done at the front of the peloton on the big mountain stages by George Hincapie and Yaroslav Popovych and it was a true team effort.
High GC positions : Alberto Contador – 1st, Levi Leipheimer – 3rd, Yaroslav Popovych – 8th.
High Stage placings :
Alberto Contador – 1st (Stage 14), 3rd (Stage 16) 4th (Stage 9)
Levi Leipheimer – 1st (Stage 19), 2nd (Stage 16) 4th (Stage 14)
George Hincapie – 3rd (Prologue)
Yaroslav Popovych – 4th (Stage 19)

Euskaltel – Euskadi – Team placing – 5th. Although the Euskaltel team were often prominent in the mountain stages, stage victories were narrowly elusive. Two top 10 finishers is a good indication of how consistently strong the team were. Amets Txurruka was rewarded for his aggression during the race by being awarded the Most Aggressive Rider of the Tour.
High GC positions : Haimar Zubeldia – 5th, Mikel Astarloza – 9th
High Stage placings :
Inigo Landaluze – 2nd (Stage 7)
Haimar Zubeldia – 3rd (Stage 15)

Francaise de Jeux – Team placing – 19th. A stage win and a second placing by Sandy Casar made this a reasonably successful Tour de France for the FDJ squad.
High GC position : Thomas Lovkvist – 64th
High Stage placings :
Sandy Casar – 1st (Stage 18), 2nd (Stage 10)
Sebastien Chavanel – 4th (Stage 1), 4th (Stage 6)

Gerolsteiner – Team Placing – 16th. Difficult to find anything of note to mention about the GST performance other than Markus Fothen’s second placing in the 17th stage and the occasional appearance of Bernhard Kohl at the head of the group. Sprinter Robert Forster could never really get going with a best placing of 6th (twice).
High GC position : Bernhard Kohl – 31st
High Stage placings :
Markus Fothen – 2nd (Stage 17)
Robert Forster – 6th (Stage 1), 6th (Stage 3)
Fabian Wegmann – 6th (Stage 7)

Lampre – Fondital – Team Placing – 8th. Daniele Bennati’s 2 stage wins capped a pretty good Tour for the Lampre – Fondital squad. They spent most of the Tour at the head of the peloton, particularly when chasing down the early stage break aways, often helping Quick Step in whipping up the pace.
High GC position : Tadej Valjavec – 19th
High Stage placing :
Daniele Bennati – 1st (Stage 17), 1st (Stage 20), 3rd (Stage 5), 6th (Stage 6), 4th (Stage 12)
Danilo Napolitano – 3rd (Stage 3), 5th (Stage 4)
Allessandro Ballan – 5th (Stage 11)

Liquigas – Team Placing – 11th. Always prominent throughout the Tour, the LIQ tam were rewarded with a stage victory pus a few minor places. Whenever a break away was orchestrated there invariably seemed to have a member of the team at hand.
High GC position : Manuel Beltran – 18th
High Stage placing :
Filippo Pozzato – 1st (Stage 5), 3rd (Stage 2), 4th (Stage 11)
Michael Albasini – 3rd (Stage 10)
Murilo Antoniobil Fischer – 3rd (Stage 11)

Milram – Team Placing – 18th. Through Erik Zabel the Green Jersey was Milram’s for 1 day and the sprinter also kept the team’s colours flying at the end of each stage.
High GC position : Christian Knees – 47th
High Stage placing :
Erik Zabel – 2nd (Stage 3), 4th (Stage 4), 5th (Stage 5), 3rd (Stage 6), 2nd (Stage 12), 3rd (Stage 20)

Predictor – Lotto – Team Placing – 7th. An outstanding Tour for PRL and for Cadel Evans in particular, only 24 seconds away from standing on the top step of the podium in Paris. Add to that a stage win by Robbie McEwen and the team can be well pleased with their efforts. Chris Horner was courageous in his support of Evans during the arduous Pyrenean stages. A few more team members able to ride for Evans might have changed the result a tad.
High GC positions : Cadel Evans – 2nd, Chris Horner – 15th
High Stage placing :
Robbie McEwen – 1st (Stage 1)
Cadel Evans – 3rd (Stage 8), 2nd (Stage 13), 4th (Stage 16), 2nd (Stage 19)

Quick Step – Innergetic – Team Placing – 12th. No team had more stage wins the QSI with Tom Boonen taking a couple, Gert Steegmans winning one in a lead out that was so quick Boonen couldn’t get past and a successful break away by Cedric Vasseur. In the early stages it was the Quick Step Team that reeled in every break away to give Boonen sprinting chances. The result was a fine Green Jersey win for the Belgian sprinter.
High GC position : Juan Manuel Garate – 21st
High Stage placings :
Gert Steegmans – 1st (Stage 2)
Tom Boonen – 2nd (Stage 2), 4th (Stage 3), 1st (Stage 6), 1st (Stage 12), 5th (Stage 18), 5th (Stage 20)
Cedric Vasseur – 1st (Stage 10)
Juan Manuel Garate 5th (Stage 15)

Rabobank – Team Placing – 4th. Everything was on track for a wonderfully successful Tour for the RAB tam, but the storm clouds began brewing early on over the missed documentation supplied by Rasmussen earlier in the year. Rasmussen took both the yellow jersey and the polka dot jersey on Stage 8 and was still wearing them when his team ejected him from the race. Herculean performances were put in by his team-mates, most notably Michael Boogerd who was having an outstanding final Tour. The team was understandably gutted when Rasmussen left after Stage 16.
High GC position : Michael Boogerd – 16th
High Stage placings :
Michael Rasmussen – 1st (Stage 8), 2nd (Stage 14), 1st (Stage 16)
Michael Boogerd – 4th (Stage 18)

Saunier Duval – Prodir – Team placing : 6th. Noted moments in the Tour : David Millar held the climbers polka-dot jersey for stages 1 & 2. Millar also managed to be on hand to condemn every rider that was thrown out of the Tour with a solid sound bite or two. That, and his skin condition which was the subject of much conversation by commentators each day, occasionally brought the team to my attention. They were also regularly mistaken by my 7 year old son as the leaders of the Tour mistaking their yellow jersey for the leader’s jersey.
High GC positions : Iban Mayo – 16th, Juanjo Cobo – 20th
High Stage placings :
Iban Mayo – 2nd (Stage 8)
David de la Fuente – 3rd (Stage 7)

T-Mobile Team – Team Placing – 13th. A brief moment in the sun for Linus Gerdemann was the high point for the T-Mobile Team. He held the yellow jersey and the white jersey after a momentous stage victory up on Le Grand-Bornand. This was to be some consolation for the team because they were about to lose team leader Mick Rogers in the next stage just as he was moving into the virtual lead in a crash while descending the Cormet du Roselend. Kim Kirchen assumed the team leadership role and rode bravely to finish inside the top 10 on the GC.
High GC position : Kim Kirchen – 7th
High Stage placing :
Linus Gerdemann – 1st (Stage 7), 2nd (Stage 8)

So there we have the highlights, some of the low lights and some who passed unnoticed despite their best efforts. Unfortunately this year’s Tour de France was not without its fair share of controversies, but it ended up one of the closest ever finishes and threw up 1 or 2 extremely exciting prospects for us to follow in the years to come.

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Iban Mayo Positive for EPO

• Author: Damo
• July 31, 2007
• Category: Drugs

The Saunier Duval – Providor team has been notified by the UCI that Iban Mayo has tested positive for EPO following a test on July 24.

The team has issued a statement on their website saying that Mayo has been suspended until the B sample has been tested and, if found to be positive, he will have his contract rescinded.

So now we have a 3rd rider from this year’s Tour de France testing positive after what looked to be a decisive move by the UCI to fight drugs in the sport. In a classic understatement Saunier Duval’s team manager Josean Fernandez Matxin called the news about Mayo a “disagreeable surprise.”

Seeing as how team mate David Millar was so quick to chuck his two cents worth in on every other controversial subject during the Tour it should only be a matter of time before his lips start flapping about this one too.

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Tour de Wallonie – Stage 3 Results

• Author: Damo
• July 31, 2007
• Category: Races

The 2007 Tour de Wallonie is a 5-stage race held from 29 July – 2 August.

The 3rd stage was a long one, 217.5km from Chievres – Thuin. This was to be a fairly fast race over flat terrain with 3 sprint opportunities and a small but reasonably formidable 3rd category climb over Mur de Thuin just a kilometre from the finish. 

An early break of 4 was established and by the 110km mark Gert Omloop (Rabobank), Angelo Furlan (Credit Agricole), Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ) and Pieter Mertens (Predictor – Lotto) were out by the best part of 7 minutes. With the Unibet.com team in charge of the peloton defending their leader and they were able to pull back the escapees before the climb.

Although relatively short, the climb split the main field with a group of around 20 surviving to fight out the final dash for the line. Italy’s Giuseppe Palumbo (Aqua & Sapone) was first ahead of Greg Van Avermaet (PRL) and Antonio Bucciero (Ceramica-Panaria) in 3rd.

More details below.

The profile for the third stage looks as follows:

Stage Standings

1 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Saponne                                                       – Cafe Mokambo                                                                                   5.10.24 (41.946 km/h)
2 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Predictor – Lotto
3 Antonio Bucchero (Ita) Ceramica-Panaria-Navigare

Overall GC

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Tour de Wallonie – Stage 2 Results

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Races

The 2007 Tour de Wallonie is a 5-stage race held from 29 July – 2 August.

The 2nd stage was a 157km race from St Georges – Perwez. Along the way were 3 sprint points as well as a 2nd category climb up the Cote de Peu d’Eau. Spaniard Luis Pasamontes was able to hang onto his lead after a bunch sprint decided the stage which was won by Predictor – Lotto’s Greg Van Avermaet. More details below.

The profile for the second stage looks as follows:

Stage Standings

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Predictor – Lotto   3.47.34 (41.394 km/h)
2 Aurélien Clerc (Che) Bouygues Telecom
3 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick.Step – Innergetic

Overall GC

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Tour de France At a Glance

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Tour de France

Here’s my ”at a glance” rundown of the 2007 Tour de France.

Number of Stage Wins
Quick Step – Innergetic - 4 (Gert Steegmans [2], Cedric Vasseur [10], Tom Boonen [6 & 12])
Team CSC – 2 (Fabian Cancellara [P & 3])
Rabobank - 2 (Michael Rasmussen [8 & 16])
Barloworld – 2 (Juan Mauricio Soler [9], Robert Hunter [11])
Astana – 2 (Alexandre Vinokourov [13 & 15]) * provisional *
Discovery – 2 (Alberto Contador [14], Levi Leipheimer [19])
Lampre - 2 (Daniele Bennati [17 & 20])
Predictor-Lotto – 1 (Robbie McEwen[1])
Credit Agricole – 1 (Thor Hushovd [4])
Liquigas – 1 (Filippo Pozzato [5])
T-Mobile – 1 (Linus Gerdemann [7])
Francaise de Jeux – 1 (Sandy Casar [18])

Most Combative Rider
Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel – Euskadi)

You can also read my highs and lows from the 2007 Tour.

Prologue

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 8

Stage 9

Stage 10

Stage 11

Stage 12

Stage 13

Stage 14

Stage 15

Stage 16

Stage 17

Stage 18

Stage 19

Stage 20

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Cadel Evans Watch 2007 Ends in Paris

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Tour de France

When I started my Cadel-centric watch of the 2007 Tour de France I had never imagined that the journey to Paris would be quite so eventful – I doubt anyone could. Evans’ performance was never really in doubt, but the drama of 31″ separating the top 3 finishers on the GC helped make the final Time Trial of the Tour enthralling viewing.

For 20-odd years now I’ve been following the Tour de France from Australia. We’ve come a helluva long way from getting a highlights package on a sports show aired weeks (probably even months) after the event through to a nightly half-hour packageand on to the current situation where we get ever stage live, the sport has grown down here enormously in popularity.

Having an honest to goodness contender for top GC honours certainly doesn’t hurt the growth in popularity here in Australia and it definitely felt a bit weird to be sitting at the SCG watching the Sydney Swans play Richmond and overhearing a couple of guys behind me discussing the events of the previous stage and opining on how the Time Trial would pan out. We are in a brave new era, indeed.

Here are what I considered to be my highs and lows from this year’s Tour de France.

Highs

Cadel Evans. The performance of Cadel Evans was nothing short of sensational. Love or hate his riding style there is no questioning his guts and sheer determination. He was obviously out-climbed by a couple of pure climbers but that didn’t stop him from digging down deep into his stores of courage and battling right to the finish line. A podium finish is nothing short of what he deserves.

Alberto Contador. It’s always exciting when a talented youngster enters the scene and Contador has announced himself in the ultimate way possible by winning this year’s Tour. A stage win and the White Jersey (Best Youth Rider) is icing on a pretty impressive cake. Where to from here?

Levi Leipheimer. You would have to consider yourself unlucky to come withing 31 seconds from the Tour winner and still only manage 3rd, but Leipheimer’s Stage 19 time trial was an awesome display of sustained power. Equally as impressive was his support of Contador in the mountains and his ability to continually fight back when put into difficulty.

Tom Boonen. Winning the Green Sprinters Jersey and a couple of stage wins marks a very successful Tour for the Belgian sprinter. He answered every challenge in the best possible way and his team rallied nicely around him when required. 

Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez. Another young newcomer who came from nowhere with a gutsy stage win handing wildcards Barloworld the first of their two wins. Then, to continue on in the Pyrenees was enormously impressive. he hasn’t got what you would call the most fluent of riding styles but it certainly is effective.

Johan Bruyneel & Discovery Channel. The tactics were first class and the execution was almost flawless. It is refreshing to see a team attack with a purpose and they have reaped every reward that they deserve.

Michael Boogerd. It would be remiss to neglect to mention the effort that Boogerd put in for his Rabobank team-mate Michael Rasmussen while they carried the yellow jersey. Boogerd gave absolutely every ounce of himself to his team during this race and surely everyone felt for him when Rasmussen was dismissed from the Tour. All of that fight and determination in his last Tour de France wasn’t for nothing because he gained the respect of millions of cycling fans around the world.

Lows

Stuart O’Grady and Michael Rogers. The double blow of the crashes of O’Grady and Rogers was a double blow to me, watching from an Australian perspective. It was a shame to lose Rogers in such a way just as he had moved into the virtual lead of the Tour over the Cormet de Roseland in Stage 8. He has promised big things and finally as a team leader it would have been fascinating to watch how far he could have gone this year. Stewie O’Grady is such a plucky rider I’m sure we would have seen him in a break or two after the Alps. I wish them both speedy recoveries.

Alexandre Vinokourov. There has been a lot said and written about the blood doping situation and with the B-sample positive and what looks to be legal issues pending I’m not going to rehash it here except to say it was disappointing but sadly predictable given his unbelievable turnaround in performance from one stage to the next.

Patrik Sinkewitz & Christian Moreni. Drugs and all that fuss. It’s all been said. They will serve their penalties and we move on – ever vigilant.

Michael Rasmussen. This was a wild roller-coaster of a ride with emotions ranging from deep admiration for his two stage wins to continued concern over the breaking news about his missed notifications of his whereabouts during training. His dumping from the Tour by his team on the night of what I would regard as his best stage victory was a vicious blow. Unfortunately there will always be question marks over his performance as a result.

If anyone else would like to chime in with their own highs and lows from this year’s Tour are welcome to add their comments.

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Brixia Tour – Final Results

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Races

The 4th and final day of the 2007 Brixia Tour was a 184.5km stage from Pisogne – Darfo Boario Terme consisting of 3 46km laps before the final 20km run to the line. The stage was tightly controlled by the Liquigas team with a mass sprint deciding the stage. Davide Rebellin defended his title grabbing the lead in the first stage and holding it throughout.

Stage 4 Results

1 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas     4.24.31 (41.28 km/h)
2 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Kio Ene-Tonazzi-DMT
3 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Team Milram

General Classification

 
Davide Rebellin

 
Santo Anza

Matteo Carrara

Overall Standings of Drapac Porsche riders

105 Darren Lapthorne @ 45’44″
110 Stuart Shaw @ 46’45″
120 Robert Mclachlan @ 52’52″
122 Mitchell Docker @ 53’45″
132 Casey Munro @ 1 00’33″
134 Phillip Thuaux @ 1 02’40″
DNF Robert Williams – Abandon
DNF Dean Windsor – Abandon

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Sachsen Tour International – Final Results

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Races

A wet final day greeted the riders of the 2007 Sachsen Tour International and with 4 mountain passes to get over before the treacherous downhill dash to Dresden and the final circuits before the finish line. In the end the top of the GC was unchanged from the stage before and Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) would go on to take out this year’s event.

Stage Results

1 Stephan Schreck (Ger) T-Mobile Team  3.24.49 (46.02 km/h)
2 Erik Hoffmann (Nam) Team 3C – Gruppe Lamonta
3 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Gerolsteiner

Overall Standings

General Classification 

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Team Classification : Rabobank

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Tour de Wallonie – Stage 1 Results

• Author: Damo
• July 30, 2007
• Category: Races

The 2007 Tour de Wallonie is a 5-stage race held from 29 July – 2 August. Without any mucking about the race launches straight into a demanding 143.5km stage that will give the climbers an immediate chance to strut their stuff. The profile looks as follows:

Stage Standings

1 Luis Pasamontes (Spa) Unibet.com                3.32.04 (40.458 km/h)
2 Luca Celli (Ita) Team LPR                                 0.00
3 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick.Step – Innergetic    0.27

Overall GC

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Brixia Tour – Stage 3 Results

• Author: Damo
• July 29, 2007
• Category: Races

The 3rd day of the 2007 Brixia Tour was a 156.5km stage from Concesio – Passo Maniva that ended with the last 46km comprising a leg-burning climb to a mountain top finish. Profile, stage results and overall results follow.

Stage 3 Results

1 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Rus) Tenax-Menikini      4.01.10
2 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner
3 Santo Anza (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni

General Classification

Overall Standings of Drapac Porsche riders

114 Darren Lapthorne @ 45’10″
124 Stuart Shaw @ 46’45″
138 Casey Munro @ 51’59″
140 Robert Mclachlan @ 52’24″
143 Mitchell Docker @ 53’45″
157 Phillip Thuaux @ 59’30″
80 Robert Williams – Abandon
168 Dean Windsor – Abandon

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