Astana Team Time Trial
Le Tour de France

The teams will be using the Astana TTT as a last chance to warm up their Tour squads, and then we head onto the race that needs no introduction. A prologue in Luxembourg, and an ascent of the Alpe d'Huez are amongst the highlights of the route.

Astana TTT


Caisse are first out and Contador crosses the line first as they set a solid time of 1h 30' 24"


Engoulvent leads Cofidis on for a very good time. Ultimately good enough for 3rd (+31')


Here's Liquigas and their Giro crew of Basso, Nibali and Duggan.
5th (+1'21)


Even with Menchov and Phinney leading them onwards, Lotto can only manage 10th (+2'17)


Here's Astana, riding around Astana. Provisional 3rd at +1'03


Another team with regional interests are Tinkoff, who fare much worse and end up last on the day's classification.


Gesink was out with his Rabobank team-mates. But it's a disappointing day as they finish well down in 16th (+2'49).


Cervelo were missing Cancellara today and it showed.
11th (+2'19)


Winners at the Tour de Suisse TTT, Barloworld, were expecting to do much more today. They finish 2nd to last in 19th (+2'56)


Michael Rogers leads Drapac to the line as they storm past Vacansoleil. It looks like they are challenging Caisse's leadership... but ultimately it's 2nd place for them, 20 seconds back on the victorious Spanish outfit.

Results

A little known race in France is lined up next in the calendar. Shall we have a look at the route?

Stage 1 (Luxembourg)


Stage 2 (Luxembourg - Metz)


Stage 3 (Metz - Reims)


Stage 4 (Bourg St. Maurice - Le Grand Bornand)


Stage 5 (Modane - Alpe d'Huez)


Stage 6 (Limoges ITT)


Stage 7 (Montereau - Paris Champs Elysées)
[Picassa konked out as I was uploading the final pic..]

And now lets check out the favourites:

PRIMARY CONTENDERS


Robert Gesink (Rabobank)
Diamond League Champion Robert Gesink had been quiet all season... until we hit the Tour de Suisse. His dominance there bodes well for Le Tour. The question is, can he get enough of a gap in the mountains to make up for inevitable losses in the time trial?


Denis Menchov (Lotto)
Narrowly 2nd at Le Tour last year, Denis returns with one intention: Win. Whilst he clearly doesn't have the explosive strength of Gesink and co. on the mountains, he has displayed good form at the Tour de Suisse, where he finished 2nd on the TT and in the overall standings. My money goes on him.


Nairo Quintana (Liberty)
Quintana is out hunting for the Giro-Tour double that Gesink executed perfectly last season. There are factors waging against him however, such as the long time trial, tiredness from the Giro, and his youth. But if he can replicate the consistency and resilience he displayed at the Giro he has a definite chance.


Jose Rujano (Androni)
Rujano wasn't all that convincing at the Giro, where he nonetheless secured 4th place, but perhaps he has been more focused on preparing for Le Tour, where he can make use of the TT kilometres unlike in Italy. He definitely can not be discounted by the others.


Alejandro Valverde (Caisse)
I hesitate to put Alejandro on this list. As one pundit put it, he's become something of a "nearly-man" in the Diamond League, finishing in the top 4 in all 4 GTs so far without success. In all likelihood, he's here in France on the hunt for a stage win, and might end up supporting team-mate Contador, since he will want to preserve energy for the ideally-suited Vuelta later on.

Outsiders:
A. Contador (CAI), S. Sanchez (SAU), I. Basso (LIQ), S. Paulinho (LIB)

Underdogs:
A. Dyachenko (TKF), N. Roche (BOU), T. Duggan (LIQ), J. Van den Broeck (AST), C. Evans (DPC), C. Froome (BAR), R. Kreuziger (JOK)

*****

SPRINTERS
All the expected protagnists have arrived in Luxembourg for the Grand Départ. The most obvious pick of the bunch is Murilo Fischer (Liquigas), whose devastating pace has already been observed in Melbourne and Qatar. Tyler Farrar (BMC) has shown similarly good form in those races, but can he translate that onto the big stage? Mark Cavendish (Barloworld) has been a little more reserved so far, but we all know how much he loves this race. Breschel and Rojas have failed to impress this season, but arguably hold the fastest kick out of the rest of the bunch.

YOUTH
We can expect Quintana to seal up this classification, given he has at least some energy left from the Giro. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) and Egor Silin (Astana) are the next best offerings of youth from the peleton.

I accidently took .pngs for all of Le Tour. Sorry for those with slow internet in advance.


Roche is first to set off in rainy Luxembourg. His final position is 15th. Behind him Rogers sets off and ended up 12th.


Double national champion Jungels represents the home nation best today, finishing with the 26th best time. Frank Schleck loses a minute with the 8th worst time today, whilst brother Andy is still recuperating from a tiring Giro and has skipped Le Tour.


Valverde is 45th (+38').


We might not be in France yet but Time Trial champion Engoulvent still wants to do his jersey justice. 6th for him today.


Sanchez is a good outside bet for Le Tour. A solid 8th for him today, 12 seconds back.


A very good time for Jay Thomson today. He takes provisional best, and ends up in 3rd place at the end of the day.


Devolder is 2 seconds down on Thomson, and seals 4th.


Gesink is not so good on the TT bike, even over a shorter distance. He loses 37 seconds.


Contador says his prayers and gets on his way... promptly knocking Thomson off the provisonal leaderboard.


... Only to be beat shortly afterwards by a flying Denis Menchov!


Rujano is the only man left capable of topping that, but he'll only take a solid 5th.


Giro winner Quintana is last to set off. He's 38th, 34 seconds back.



Great start for Denis Menchov.

Stage 2

Luxembourg - Metz


Rui Costa, Lagutin and Mori form the race's first breakaway. Mori would earn the first polka-dot jersey.


It's horrible conditions out there, and although the pack looks like splitting early on, they regain composure as the race goes on.


As a result of the conditions, a number of crashes occur today. The only major faller was 6th placed Engoulvent, who loses several minutes in the end.


Under the final intermediate sprint, Rui Costa is the last man to be caught. Behind him, it's Fischer and Hunter who take points from the sprint.


After seeing his brother caught, Mario Costa makes a late move and drags Jungels with him, who is evidently keen not to let Luxembourg's mark on the race be forgot.


But it's going to be a mass sprint finish. Franzoi leads team-mate Fischer around a treacherous bend, with Breschel on his wheel. Cavendish took the outside line around the bend and lost some ground.


The sprinters suddenly lose a lot of ground, but, as ever, Fischer is able to punch back through the chaos. You can see that Songezo Jim and even Menchov were up there at the end, so it was a really chaotic finish.

Stage 3

Metz - Reims

The sun is back out, the spectators are in full force, and everything points towards a bunch sprint at the end of a warm summer's outing.


The break. It doesn't look like there's anyone too interesting in there today.


I found a pretty lady hiding amongst the flowers. I'm going to ask her to marry me later


Oh, looks like someone else was hiding too - Jay Thomson (3rd in GC) has joined up with the back of the escape group. Get your eyes of my girl, Jay!


But the Lotto-led pack are keeping proceedings nicely under control.


That's Thomson caught, and now it's time to spoil the day's serenity with a mad dash to the line.


Franzoi again leads out Fischer. Haussler is on his wheel, while last year's green jersey winner Gert Steegmans is led out by Ciolek...


2 out of 2 for Fischer - there's no stopping the Brazilian Express, who is fast becoming something of a standout name in the Diamond League.


Franzoi holds his hands up high... Murilo can thank him for a job well done these last two days, but now they just need to survive until the Champs Elysees, for we head into the mountains tommorow.

Stage 4

Bourg St. Maurice - Le Grand Bornand

A very difficult day in the saddle which is sure to shake up the GC.


And guess who decides to show his face on the very first climb..? I'll give you a clue: his name starts with G and he wears a colourful jersey, and a fan even left the biggest clue on the road...

...Yep, this day just got a whole lot more difficult.


Quintana is alert and marks him to the top, whilst Henao is shepparding Rujano up not far behind.


Whilst those 4 amalgamate, Samuel Sanchez makes a trademark descent to make it 5 at the front now.


Henao is soon dropped however. In the distance you can see the leading quartet starting to build up a lead on the next climb.


The lead steadily stretches out until eventually Menchov decides to head off in pursuit on the final climb, but its going to be too late..!


Sanchez & Rujano have been dropped and now Gesink manages to establish a small gap to Quintana atop the final climb, can he hold it to the line?


That man is unstoppable. He's well on his way to defending his title now. Quintana can be seen behind, crossing the line moments later.


However, Sammy Sanchez and Jose Rujano limit their loses today - Gesink and Quintana may need to find more time on them ahead of the penultimate day time-trial.


Though he made a good effort today, that's the last Denis will see of the maillot jaune... guess who takes control of the jersey?


(That was a rhetorical question )