Cycling Beat

Cadel Watch all comes down to Stage 19 - the 55.5km Time Trial from Cognac to Angouleme. The situation is this: Cadel Evans needs to make up 1'50" over Alberto Contador. Levi Leipheimer has to make up 2'49" over his team-mate and 1'00 over Cadel Evans.

The time checks on the course come at the 17.5km mark, the 35km mark and the 50.1km mark.

Time check #1 :
Levi Leipheimer 00:19:36
Cadel Evans 00:19:50
Alberto Contador 00:20:12

At this point Leipheimer has taken 14 seconds off Evans and 36 seconds off Contador while Evans has taken 22 seconds off Contador.

Time check #2 :
Levi Leipheimer 00:39:44
Cadel Evans 00:40:19
Alberto Contador 00:41:13

Leipheimer is taking big time off Evans while Evans isn't taking enough off Contador. It's going to be close by the end of the time trial.

Time check #3 :
Levi Leipheimer 00:57:14
Cadel Evans 00:58:05
Alberto Contador 00:59:23

It's gonna be close...

Finish Line
Levi Leipheimer 01:02:45
Cadel Evans 01:03:35
Alberto Contador 01:05:03

Wow! Contador has produced the time trial of his life to wind up with a 23" lead over Evans and Leipheimer has scorched to a stage victory and is now only 8" behind Evans. Only 31 seconds separates 1st to 3rd heading to the Champs-Élysées

Top 10 for Stage 18

General Classification

The Jerseys

Yellow (Leader's) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)
Green (Sprinter's) Jersey : Tom Boonen (Quickstep)
Polka Dot (Climber's) Jersey : Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld)
White (Youth) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)

Team Leaders : Discovery Channel

We're coming down to the final road stage of the Tour before the time trial and the Paris "Grand Parade". My Cadel-centric summary continues with Stage 18 of the 2007 Tour de France.

The Stage

Stage 18 is 211km long from Cahors to Angouleme and an early break is once again expected. 4 early Category 4 climbs will provide a few points and bit of extra petty cash for someone in the break. The details of the climbs :
At 15km - Côte de Salvezou, 1.3km Cat. 4 climb;
At 24km - Côte de Lavercantière, 1.2km Cat. 4 climb;
At 39.5km - Côte de Martial-de-Nabirat, 1.5km Cat 4 climb;
At 70.5km - Côte de Saint-Cyprien, 2.8km Cat. 4 climb.
There are 2 Sprints in the stage coming at the 66km mark and the 192km mark.

The Highlights

At the top of the first ascent at the 15km mark, the points were won by:
1. Frederick Willems (LIQ) 3pts
2. Jerome Pineau (BTL) 2pts
3. Sandy Casar (FDJ) 1pt 

Well, no sign of the Caisse d'Epargne squad at the front of the peloton today. According to Cadel Evans when they called the chase off yesterday members of the peloton actually applauded - even Tom Boonen was yelling at them to stop chasing. A break away of 4 developed at around the 17km mark. They are : Michael Boogerd (RAB), Sandy Casar (FDJ), Lefevre (BTL), Frederick Willems (LIQ). Surely no-one would begrudge the break succeeding and Boogerd taking the stage after the monumental performance he has put in for Rasmussen.

Discovery Channel come to the front of the peloton and, if yesterday is anything to go by, this should mean the break will get away.

The points at the top of the second climb (at 24km), the points were won by:
1. Laurent Lefevre (BTL) 3pts
2. Michael Boogerd (RAB) 2pts
3. Sandy Casar (FDJ) 1pt 

What the??? Another dog has brought down Willems and Casar has been caught up in it too. Who brings a dog to the Tour de France? The break had gotten out to 2'25" but that crash meant that Willems was caught by the peloton leaving Boogerd and Lefevre out in front. Ever the opportunist Axel Merckx has joined Casar and set out after the lead two.

The leaders are 4 by the 36km mark, 5'35" ahead of the peloton.

At the top of the climb at the 39.5km mark, the points were won by:
1. Laurent Lefevre (BTL) 3pts
2. Michael Boogerd (RAB) 2pt
3. Sandy Casar (FDJ) 1pt

The points for the first intermediate sprint of stage 18 were won by:
1. Axel Merckx (TMO) 6pts/6"
2. Laurent Lefevre (BTL) 4pts/4"
3. Michael Boogerd (RAB) 2pts/2"

The points for the fourth and final climb of the 18th stage were won by:
1. Michael Boogerd (RAB) 3pts
2. Sandy Casar (FDJ) 2pts
3. Laurent Lefevre (BTL) 1pt

The escape group have built their lead to 17'30". The best placed rider in the break is Michael Boogerd who started the day in 16th place, 27'50" behind the leader. If the race were to stop now he would have climbed up into 6th place overall...not a bad result after the letdown of Rasmussen's departure.

Once the lead meant that top 10 GC postitions were in danger a few teams came forward to work and drag it back to a more manageable margin, most noticably Euskaltel-Euskadi.

The final sprint was left to the 4 escapees with Sandy Casar leading the sprint out and holding the other 3 off. In the battle for the green jersey Tom Boonen widened his lead by leading the rest of the bunch home.

The biggest surprise of the day was Contador failing to cover Cadel Evans completely on the line, losing 3 seconds by allowing himself to get caught up in the backwash of the sprint. When every last second counts, losing 3 seconds on a stage like this could prove very important.

Top 10 for Stage 18

The Contenders - GC Top Ten

Check all the details of the entire stage.
The Jerseys

Yellow (Leader's) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)
Green (Sprinter's) Jersey : Tom Boonen (Quickstep)
Polka Dot (Climber's) Jersey : Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld)
White (Youth) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)

Team Leaders : Discovery Channel

Stage 18 is the last road stage before the ride into Paris on Sunday taking us from Cahors to Angoulême over a distance of 211 flat kilometres.

Alberto Contador now officially has the yellow jersey on his shoulders and will proudly be leading of the pack when the race starts.

I didn't have to be a genius yesterday to get my tip about a successful breakaway correct with the Discovery Channel team ensuring that the chase by the peloton was lacklustre (don't want to risk the wrong people getting time bonuses, do we?)

So I reckon there'll be more of the same with Contador, Evans and Leipheimer conserving their energy for Saturday's time trial and another group going out in search for a final chance at a stage victory. Anyone want odds on the chances that Jens Voigt will be somewhere out there again?

As an Australian watching the 2007 Tour de France my focus is largely on Cadel Evans and his progress from stage to stage. My Cadel-centric summary continues with Stage 17 of the 2007 Tour de France.

The Stage

Stage 17 is 188.5km long from Pau to Castelsarrasin and should be a relief for the field after the last few stages. Although it's a flat stage there are 5 Category 4 climbs and a Category 3 climb, but none of them should cause anyone any trouble. The details of the climbs :
At 23km - Côte de Baleix, 1.4km Cat. 3 climb;
At 54km - Côte de Villecomtal, 3.7km Cat. 4 climb;
At 59.5km - Côte de Miélan, 1.4km Cat 4 climb;
At 63.5km - Côte de Sainte-Dode-aux-Croix, 2.0km Cat. 4 climb;
At 72.5km - Côte de Theux, 1.4km Cat. 4 climb;
At 169.5km - Côte de la Montagnère, 1.4km Cat. 4 climb.
There are 2 Sprints in the stage coming at the 44.5km mark and the 146.5km mark.

The Highlights

It only took until the 5km mark before the first break of the day was established with 8 riders attending. A few familiar faces among this lot : The riders in the move that began at the 5km mark are:  Jens Voigt (CSC), Martin Elmiger (A2R) , Daniele Bennati (LAM) , Daniele Righi (LAM), Markus Fothen (GST), Manuel Quinziato (LIQ), Matteo Tosatto (QSI), David Millar (SDV).

Up the first climb they go with a lead of 1'20".

The points at the first climb were won by:
1. Matteo Tosatto (QSI) 4pts
2. Jens Voigt (CSC) 3pts
3. Markus Fothen (GST) 2pts
4. Daniel Righi (LAM) 1pt

By the time the break reached the first intermediate sprint of the day they had stretched their advantage out to 2'05".

The points for the sprint at the 44.5km mark were won by:
1. Manuel Quinziato (LIQ) 6pts/6"
2. David Millar (SDV) 4pts/4"
3. Martin Elmiger (A2R) 2pts/2"

The peloton was being driven by 3 teams by this time - Francaise des Jeux, Bouygues Telecom and Credit Agricole and by the top of the 2nd climb the margin was cut back to 1'30".

The points for the 2nd climb of the 17th stage were won by:
1. Markus Fothen (GST) 3pts
2. Matteo Tosatto (QSI) 2pts
3. Martin Elmiger (A2R) 1pts

The points at the top of the third climb - the Cote de Mielan (59.5km) were won by:
1. Markus Fothen (GST) 3pts
2. Matteo Tosatto (QSI) 2pts
3. Martin Elmiger (A2R) 1pt

The points at the top of the fourth climb - the Cote de Ste-Dode-aux-Croix (63.5km) were won by:
1. David Millar (SDV) 3pts
2. Daniel Righi (LAM) 2pts
3. Daniele Bennati (LAM) 1pt

While Caisse d'Epargne were at the front of the peloton they kept the break's lead down to around the 2 minute mark. No idea why they were bothering to keep the break in check with no sprinter of note in their team.

The points for the 5th climb at the Cote de Theux (at 72.5km) were won by:
1. David Millar (SDV) 3pts
2. Daniele Righi (LAM) 2pts
3. Markus Fothen (GST) 1pt

At around the 85km mark Denis Menchov (Rabobank) stepped off his bike and abandoned the Tour de France.

Discovery Channel take over the head of the peloton with absolutely no intention of catching the escapees and the lead begins to grow quickly blowing out to around the 8 minute mark. At this point things steady and that lead is maintained.

The points for the 2nx intermediate sprint at the 146.5km mark were won by:
1. Daniele Bennati (LAM) 6pts/6"
2. Jens Voigt (CSC) 4pts/4"
3. Martin Elmiger (A2R) 2pts/2"

Jens Voigt punctures with 25km to go and drops around 25" behind the 7 other escapees. Within 3 minutes he reintegrates into the group.

At the top of the Cote de la Montagnere (169.5km), the points were won by:
1. Jens Voigt (CSC) 3pts
2. Daniele Bennati (LAM) 2pts
3. Markus Fothen (GST) 1pt

Look out boys! When Jens Voigt is in a break away you've got to make sure you're ready to cover his moves. Righi and Quinziato were shaken loose first up the final climb and then Voigt attacked again and Millar and Tosatto were the next to go. The lead group is now down to 4 riders but notably the Lampre sprinter Daniele Bennati is still there.

With 10km to go the leading 4 of Voigt, Bennati, Elmiger and Fothen are ahead of the chasing 2 by 1'00" and ahead of the peloton by 9'00".

Down to 4km to go and Jens Voigt makes another attack hoping to shake Bennati loose but Bennati is too vigilant and chases him down.

Cat and mouse down the final kilometre as everyone's trying to force Bennati to the front so they can follow his wheel. Finally Fothen goes for home and Bennati jumps all over him before casually pulling out around him and cruising in to win the 17th stage.

The General Classification now officially changes with everyone moving up a spot. Alberto Contador has the yellow jersey and the podium is now decided. It just comes down to what the final order will be.

Top 10 for Stage 15

Yellow (Leader's) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)
Green (Sprinter's) Jersey : Tom Boonen (Quickstep)
Polka Dot (Climber's) Jersey : Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld)
White (Youth) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)

Team Leaders : Discovery Channel

We will see no yellow jersey today as the Tour continues in the 17th Stage as we see them travel 188.5km from Pau to Castelsarrasin and as we can see by the profile, it's a far cry from yesterday's mountains.

King of the Mountains has now been decided with Juan Mauricio Soler now 80 points ahead of Alberto Contador our attention returns to the sprinters. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) holds a 20 point lead over Robbie Hunter (Barloworld) with Erik Zabel (Milram) a mer 1 point behind him.

You can be sure the breaks will come thick and fast in this stage and it will be up to Quick Step, Credit Agricole and possibly Lampre to chase them down. I'm not sure that Barloworld or Milram will have the personnel to drive the peloton and with plenty of tired bodies around the chase may not be as co-ordinated as it could.

So I'm tipping that the will be a successful break-away today, it's just a matter of who will be the lucky few get themselves into it. 

Well this is all getting too much. After celebrating a magnificent stage victory in which he was able to overcome a determined and co-ordinated Discovery attack up Col d'Aubisque during the 16th stage everything looked rosy for Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen. He had pretty much secured 1st place in the Tour after the ride after beating off every challenge that was thrown at him.

But it wasn't Discovery that was going to be his downfall in the 2007 Tour de France, it was his own team at Rabobank. His team discovered that he lied about his whereabouts in June. He had told his team he was in Mexico when in fact he was apparently in Italy.

Rabobank has removed him from the Tour and the team on the grounds that he broke team rules.

It seems that we've got to be incredibly careful before celebrating anything in this year's Tour. I went to bed last night after watching what I thought was one of the best stage wins in recent years and now the leader and likely winner of the Tour is gone.

Big winner out of this is Alberto Contador who takes over the leader's jersey. Cadel Evans and Levi Leipheimer move up to 2nd and 3rd respectively.

I'm a little bit gutted by all of this.

As an Australian watching the 2007 Tour de France my focus is largely on Cadel Evans and his progress from stage to stage. My Cadel-centric summary continues with Stage 16 of the 2007 Tour de France.

The Stage

The final day in the Pyrenees begins in the village of Orthez with the stage a gruelling 218.5km in length ending at Gourette - Col d'Aubisque. Let's go through the mountains on the stage : at 79km is the Port de Larrau, an Hors Category 14.7km climb; at 93km is the Alto Laza, a 3rd category tiddler; at 131km is the Col de la Pierre-Saint-Martin, a 14.2km 1st Category climb; at 180.5km is the Col de Marie-Blanque, a 9.3km 1st Category climb; and finally, the Col d'Aubisque, a 16.7km Hors Category climb with the finish line at the top of the mountain.

The Highlights

An early breakaway of only 4 riders managed to get away on the flat section of today's stage. Christophe Rinero (Saunier-Duval), Stephane Auge (Cofidis), Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Vincente Garcia-Acosta (Caisse d'Epargne) stretched out to a lead of as much as 8'55" by the early slopes of Port de Larrau.

1st Sprint

1. Christophe Rinero (SDV) 6pts/6"
2. Stephane Auge (COF) 4pts/4"
3. Gorka Verdugo (EUS) 2pts/2"

As suspected, both Carlos Sastre (CSC) and Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) have made early attacks on the ascent of the Port de Larrau. Soler is taking his shot at winning the King of the Mountain Classification and the best way to do that is to be aggressive. Sastre is intent on climbing up the GC, possibly aiming at the podium. Joining them was Iban Mayo (Saunier-Duval) hoping to claw a few places back as well.

The points at the top of the Port de Larrau were won by:
1. Garcia-Acosta (GCE) 20pts
2. Verdugo (EUS) 18pts
3. Rinero (SDV) 16pts
4. Auge (COF) 14pts
5. Soler (BAR) 12pts
6. Sastre (CSC) 10pts
7. Mayo (SDV) 8pts
8. Rasmussen (RAB) 7pts
9. Dekker (RAB) 6pts
10. Contador (DSC) 5pts

This gives Soler a 3 point lead over Rasmussen in the Mountain Classification. As they went over the top of Port de Larrau Soler, Sastre and Mayo were 1'30" in front of Rasmussen's group which contained the rest of the top 10 with the exception of Kim Kirchen.

The points at the top of the Alto Laza were won by:
1. Vincente Garcia-Acosta (GCE) 4pts
2. Gorka Verdugo (EUS) 3pts
3. Stephane Auge (COF) 2pts
4. Christophe Rinero (SDV) 1pt

At the 110km mark the trio of Sastre, Soler and Mayo caught the breakaway to form a group of 7 as they head for the next climb. Together the group increased their lead over the peloton to 4'20", but at this point the pace of the peloton really started to pick up and the chase began in earnest.

The points at the top of the Col de la Pierre St-Martin :

1. Mauricio Soler (BAR) 15pts
2. Carlos Sastre (CSC) 13pts
3. Gorka Verdugo (EUS) 11pts
4. Vincente Garcia-Acosta (GCE) 9pts
5. Iban Mayo (SDV) 8pts
6. Stephane Auge (COF) 7pts
7. Christophe Rinero (SDV) 6pts
8. Jens Voigt (CSC) 5pts 

The peloton was over the top at 4’55" behind Sastre's group which puts Sastre up into 2nd place on the road.

The points at the top of Col de Marie-Blanque :

1. Mauricio Soler (BAR) 15pts
2. Sastre (CSC) 13pts
3. Mayo (SDV) 11pts
4. Verdugo (EUS) 9pts
5. Garcia-Acosta (GCE) 8pts
6. Rasmussen (RAB) 7pts
7. Contador (DSC) 6pts
8. Menchov (RAB) 5pts

And with just the Col d'Aubisque to go, the lead of Sastre, Soer and Mayo is beginning to come down. The most frightening thing for Rasmussen would have to be the ever-present shadow on his back wheel of Alberto Contador. It's all going to come down to the final major climb of the Tour for the much anticipated attack.

The points for the sprint in Laruns were won by:
1. Sastre (CSC) 6pts/6"
2. Soler (BAR) 4pts/4"
3. Mayo (SDV) 2pts/2"

By the time they reached the bottom of the final climb the lead was down to only 45 seconds with a member of Caisse d'Epargne coming to the front to give Rabobank some help and possibly indicating that Valverde was feeling pretty good today.

At 15km to go, Carlos Sastre decided it was time to go and upped the tempo. Mayo was able to answer while Soler was not and began the slow fall back to the peloton. At the time they was only 40" ahead but with the acceleration they were able to increase it out to about 53".

As soon as Denis Menchov and Michael Boogerd were finished for the day at around 11.7km to go, it was Discovery Channel who took control of the peloton and despite a couple of attacks by Sastre set about reeling him and Mayo in. Disc had Rasmussen surrounded at this point with Popovych and Contador in front and Levi Leipheimer behind him.

10km to go and the pressure was well and truly on. Popovych had dragged the remainder of the peloton to only 11" behind. This little group was made up of Popovych, Contador and Leipheimer (Discovery), Rasmussen (Rabobank), Evans (Predictor). That's what I call isolated!

The catch is made and it's Levi Leipheimer to take off first. Rasmussen falls for it and chases Leipheimer. Sastre and Mayo are immediately dropped and there's 4 left with Evans and Contador making up the group.

Inside 9km to go and Contador makes his move stamping on the pedals and Rasmussen for the moment just watches him go. After 100m or so Rasmussen makes up the gap and they're all together again.

8km to go and right on cue Levi Leipheimer attacks and Rasmussen is left to chase him down again. 7.2km to go and Contador hits them with another burst, Leipheimer drops in behind Rasmussen and Evans remains in 4th. It looks as though this effort has taken its toll on Leipheimer and with 6.7km to go Leipheimer begins to fall back.

6.5km to go and Rasmussen attacks Contador who calmly rides on his back wheel and then promptly attacks Rasmussen back. The effect is that Evans is shaken loose for the moment.

After that flurry they all sit and recompose themselves. At 6km to go Contador attacks again and Rasmussen again matches him. Evans is off the back and this time Leipheimer catches back up to him.

5.2km to go and Leipheimer attacks Evans and heads back up towards Contador and Rasmussen. Evans does all he can to collect himself and work his way back.

5km to go and Leipheimer has caught Rasmussen and Contador again while Evans is struggling. Rasmussen seems to be getting his knicks in a knot about the television motorcycles waving at them to get out of the way.

4km to go and Evans is still hanging in only 3 or 4 seconds behind the leading 3 riders.

3km to go and Leipheimer leads Rasmussen and Contador and Evans has probably slipped back to around 5 or 6 seconds behind them.

2km to go and Evans is suffering now and is 17 seconds behind.

800m to go and Rasmussen has attacked Contador and Contador can't go with him. Fantastic effort by Rasmussen after Disco threw everything at him at the way up Col d'Aubisque and he has prevailed and even increased his lead.

Top 10 for Stage 15

Check all the details of the entire stage.

The Jerseys

Yellow (Leader's) Jersey : Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank)
Green (Sprinter's) Jersey : Tom Boonen (Quickstep)
Polka Dot (Climber's) Jersey : Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld)
White (Youth) Jersey : Alberto Contador (Discovery)

Team Leaders : Discovery Channel

Alright, Astana are gone, baby, gone. Forget about them, we've got a Tour de France to finish...and have a look at this little beauty.

Stage 16 is a 218km monster from Orthez - Gourette-Col d'Aubisque and it promises to be a real heart-breaker with the relentless climbs sure to take their toll on everyone. Alberto Contador has already signalled to Michael Rasmussen his intentions by dancing circles around the yellow jersey while ascending the Col de Peyresourde. I'm guessing he's not going to wait until he's within 2 kilometres from the top of Col d'Aubisque before he tries to put the hurts on the rest of the field and Rasmussen in particular.

Tactically, Discovery Channel has been easily the most impressive with well-calculated break-aways and team members willing to put their bodies on the line for each other. The perfect illustrations of this have been the two times that Contador engineered final attacks up mountain passes that were sustained long enough to reach his team-mate George Hincapie just as Hincapie himself was going over the top. Obviously this wasn't coincidence with the intention being to give Contador someone to work with on the descent.

I think the only chance Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) will have to drag back time will be to somehow secure an early break that will get him to the final climb ahead of his main rivals. He'd have to have good memories of Col d'Aubisque considering he was first over the top the last time the Tour visited the mountain.

Carlos Sastre (CSC) is another to have consistently ridden passively behind the Rabobank train only to find he didn't have the power to go when he had to. Perhaps he might change things up and go it alone in an all or nothing bid for the podium.

The other question is just how badly does Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) want to win the polka dot jersey. From the looks of the last stage or two I would say the answer to that is : pretty bloody badly. If he were to try to amass points early in the stage I doubt Rabobank would jeopardise their yellow jersey chances by trying to chase him down.

I'm not forgetting Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) in all of this reckoning, but I would have to think that he will be working for Contador now. Perfhaps they'll try to get him down the road to provide some assistance later on but my gut feeling is that he will sit close to Contador and help him from there.

Everyone agrees that Alexandre Vinokourov's stage 15 Tour de France victory was an inspiring display of mental toughness and was a stirring comeback after being buried the day before. But essentially, in choosing to put Vino, Serguei Ivanov and Daniel Navarro into the early break, the Astana basically announced that they believe Andréas Klöden cannot win. With Kloden going into Stage 15 4'38" behind Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen in 5^th place and Andrey Kashechkin still riding strongly in 7^th, one would have thought their GC aspirations were still alive. With the prospect of an enormously strong man like Vino riding for his new leader and dominating the peloton it may have been possible to isolate Rasmussen early and make significant time gains.

As it was, 3 Astana team members who were all feeling strong took off and let Rabobank set the tempo of the chase group putting Klöden and Kashechkin at their mercy. Sitting around all day waiting for Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) and Rasmussen to start attacking each other on the final climb didn't work on the way up to Plateau de Beille, so it definitely wasn't going to work going up the Col de Peyresourde.

Perhaps the Kazakh team has changed its focus to winning the Team Classification, after all, they managed to wrest the lead back off Discovery Channel. It seems a passive option to me.

But you never know, there's still one more day in the Pyrenees to go and, with the rest day to think and plan (and recover) we may see an Astana team that is prepared to work for Klöden, take charge of the peloton and challenge to Rabobank boys who must be tired after 2 days of heavy work for their new leader.