Tactics meeting
At the last two Tours, we have used the team time trial to take significant time out of the other contenders. Our TT team should be as good as earlier, as Kreuziger and Phinney should be able to perform as well as Larsson and Gerdemann. Of the other teams, T-Mobile are stacked with TT power, but I wonder about Astana and Saxo Bank. And can Cancellara keep the Maillot Jaune?
Going through the first time check, we held the lead. There was still a long way to go though. Hopefully we hadn't done the same mistake as last year, going too hard in the early parts of the course.
At the second time check, Caisse d'Epargne took an early lead. Valverde's team looked to be going well.
When Contador's Astana team hit the same check, they were 1 minute behind Caisse d'Epargne! They really had a job to do in the final kilometres!
Passing through the second time check, we were still steaming along strongly. Best time, 47 seconds ahead of Caisse.
Due to their lead in the team classification, T-Mobile were the last team to start. Despite their TT strength, they were only 3rd at the second check, 51 seconds behind us.
Having lost Cancellara to Liquigas during the off-season, Saxo Bank were struggling. Andy Schleck's minions were trailing the best teams as they tackled the latter parts of the course.
Astana finished in a provisional 8th place, 1'18 behind leaders Caisse d'Epargne. Just behind the Kazakhs came Saxo Bank, who had stepped it up towards the end. 4th so far for Saxo, 46 seconds behind Caisse d'Epargne.
Cadel Evans' Rabobank team had done a decent time trial, coming in just a few seconds behind Saxo Bank.
Quick-Step, riding for their leader Robert Gesink, had gotten on with the job quietly and effectively, clocking in to a provisional 3rd, 26 seconds behind Caisse d'Epargne. Surprisingly, French team Agritubel still held 2nd place at the finish.
By the time Discovery Channel approached the finishing line, we had caught and passed Liquigas who failed to keep Cancellara in yellow. We hit the line as clear leaders, 1'29 faster than Caisse d'Epargne! Brilliant!
The only team who could threaten us now was T-Mobile. They were behind at the intermediate checks, and couldn't increase their speed towards the end. Still, the Germans finished in a strong 2nd place, 1'10 down on us.
Levi Leipheimer is in yellow again! He last tasted the overall lead of the Tour de France in 2009, where he held the jersey for the first week after his stage 1 win. Now we hope he can increase his total time in the Maillot Jaune to four weeks, and bring it to Paris!
This was one of our best ever team time trials. Most importantly, we crushed Saxo Bank and Astana. Both teams were more than 2 minutes in arrears, and we have a nice cushion going into the mountains. Alejandro Valverde's Caisse d'Epargne team did well though, but Levi should be able to deal with Valverde in the ITTs even if he loses time to the Spaniard on the climbs.
Now we will revel in the glory of the yellow jersey for a few days, before it's business time in the Alps. We come out of the TTT occupying the top six places of the GC!
Thanks, both of you! I always appreciate comments!
I don't consider myself a great player, as I can never get consistently good results in the mountains while playing on hard. But I am quite good at all kinds of TT, so I make up for my limitations in the mountains.
I admire the really good players who have stories here. Off the top of my head, I can think of roturn, baia and Batista15.
Just coming back to my computer and to this story, glad to see it's still going on. Awesome performance at the TTT, looks like it's gonna be a very exciting Tour!
Thanks a lot for this fantastic story. i really appriciate it!
Very interesting how the Tour wil go on. It's the 2003 which is very cool. I hope my man Tony Martin can make a Top 10 Finish in the overall satndings
Tactics meeting
The stage following the TTT is fairly undulating, but nothing majorly difficult. The breakaway's success depends on the sprinter teams' will to chase, as we won't be wasting energy defending Levi's yellow jersey so early in the race.
Caisse d'Epargne were doing the chasing for their sprinter Rojas, or maybe they planned something for Valverde? They didn't get much help though, so they struggled to keep the break within catching distance.
8km from the finish line, four of the escapees had ridden away from the others, and had a lead of 2'40 over the main field. A breakaway success seemed likely. In this leading group were Giordani (Ceramica), Rosseler (Astana), Hary (Cofidis) and Arekeev (Katusha). Cofidis rider Hary won himself the KoM jersey during the stage.
However, with 5km left, the rest of the breakaway had caught up, so they were 10 riders together out front again.
The stage shaped up for a sprint between the escapees. It was impossible to tell who was the best sprinter on paper.
The green jersey switched its owner as well today. Geslin finished a couple of places higher than Haussler in the sprint behind the breakaway, and overtakes the lead in the points competition.
The flat stages continue tomorrow on the long road to Lyon. Will an opportunist succeed in taking the yellow jersey, or will the sprinters have their chance again?
I've had quite a lot to do lately
Will try to post more often from now on. To the comments above stage 6, thanks! Comments keep up the motivation! And Omt78, Tony Martin could well finish in the top 10 with all these TT kms.
Tactics meeting
This is the last flat stage before the Alps. I don't know if the sprinter's teams find it worth chasing, considering the hills towards the end, and the fact that they didn't chase yesterday. We won't chase either, so we may lend out the yellow jersey today.
A lot of the usual breakaway suspects from this Tour were at it again. Paul Martens (Rabobank) and Alexandre Pliuschin (AG2R) had another go. Significantly, so did Kevyn Ista (Lotto). The Belgian was 11th overall after yesterdays breakaway, and was therefore virtual race leader. The best sprinter in the fourteen-man group was Mark Renshaw (Garmin).
There would be no repeat of yesterday's success however, as Vorarlberg led the chase behind for green jersey wearer Anthony Geslin.
But wait! With 30km left, the rather weak Vorarlberg team had spent all their domestiques, and the break was still 6 minutes ahead. The peloton was now disorganized, and Kevyn Ista (1'27 behind in GC) was riding into yellow!
Ista also took the KoM jersey off the shoulders of Maryan Hary (Cofidis). The Lotto rider could have an absolutely brilliant day on the bike. Maybe the stage win as well?
3km from the line, AG2R's Pliuschin had a go! The rest of the breakaway looked incapable of bringing him back. The peloton was also closing in now, and would maybe spoil Ista's dream of yellow.
Alexandre Pliuschin won the stage, while Ista turned the pedals over as fast as his tired legs could manage, and finished 2nd. How much time did he get over the peloton? Did a yellow jersey await the Belgian rider on the podium in Lyon?
No! It wasn't to be. Our rivalling teams obviously liked the idea of us having to defend the yellow jersey from day one in the mountains, so the peloton finished less than a minute behind Ista. The Lotto rider only moves up to 7th overall.
The breakaway was successful for the second day in a row, and this time Alexandre Pliuschin was the cleverest among the escapees. He had obviously learned from yesterday's 6th place. For most of the day, Kevyn Ista looked like he would borrow the yellow jersey for a day or two, but in the end Levi Leipheimer keeps it.
Ista gets some consolation though, as he enters the Alps wearing polkadots. Tomorrow, the Tour goes across the first real climbs on the road to Morzine. I can't promise fireworks, but it will be interesting to see who goes well and who doesn't among the GC contenders.
Tactics meeting
The first day in the mountains is a long but not very difficult one. The breakaway has been successful for the last two days, and I wouldn't be surprised to see an early escapee go on and win this one as well. The KoM jersey will most likely change shoulders today, with lots of climbs on offer. The toughest is the Col de la Ramaz with its summit 20km from the finish. Anybody who wants to win the 2011 Tour de France must keep up today.
We weren't chasing, but T-Mobile were. They had hopes for either Martin, Rogers or Lövkvist. The breakaway was reeled in already before the Col de la Ramaz, which was the main climb towards the end.
And as expected, on the slope of the 1st category Col de la Ramaz, Tony Martin launched an attack! Now we would see if T-Mobile's hard work on the front was worth it.
It turned out that Tony Martin wasn't the biggest fish to test the water on the climb. After the German's attack, the whole race exploded. Andy Schleck decided to give it a go, and only Dutch champion Gesink (Quick-Step), Cobo (Saunier Duval) and our Leipheimer in the Maillot Jaune were able to follow the Luxembourger.
By the time the lead group descended the Ramaz, they had shed Cobo. This was carnage! Most notably, Contador was missing. This could be an opportunity for Levi to put time into the Spaniard.
The Astana leader found himself a minute behind, in a group with Karpets, Wiggins, Cobo and Van den Broeck. The instigator of all the attacks, Tony Martin, was further behind, as was Discovery's number two, Roman Kreuziger.
On the last little climb of Cote des Gets, A.Schleck and Gesink proved to be stronger than Leipheimer. Now he had to make an effort to stay ahead of Contador.
Andy Schleck crossed the summit of the last climb 20 seconds in front of Gesink, who was on good form today. A further 30 seconds behind came the Maillot Jaune, Levi Leipheimer.
There had been some reshuffling of the groups on the last climb. Cobo had gone ahead of the Contador group, who had been joined by a few riders, including Tony Martin. Schleck, Gesink and Leipheimer still had a sizeable lead!
And Andy Schleck got a sizeable stage win! His winning margin was big enough to take him to 2nd overall. Robert Gesink, who has kept good form for a long time now, finished 35 second down on Schleck.
Leipheimer struggled a bit on the last climb, and at the finish, he was caught by Juanjo Cobo. 4th place on the stage for Leipheimer, but he comfortably keeps the Maillot Jaune.
Surprisingly, the big Tour favourite, Alberto Contador, came in 2'21 behind Schleck and 1'07 behind Levi. The Spaniard is not on form at all, as I never expected Levi to gain such amounts on him on an easy mountain stage. Kreuziger is also lacking form, and finished 3 minutes behind the winner, together with another loser on the day, Cadel Evans.
Today's biggest casualty was Alejandro Valverde. He had a disastrous day already on the first mountain stage, and crossed the line 8 minutes behind Andy Schleck! When is he ever going to perform in the Tour de France?
Quite unexpectedly, we got fireworks on the first mountain stage. Andy Schleck was the strongest, but that's not the main news of the day. Contador lost quite a bit of time, and Alejandro Valverde lost any chance of winning the Tour as soon as we hit the mountains. Even Rabobank's Cadel Evans underperformed, and his domestique Kai Reus placed higher than him. Tony Martin recovered well after his attack, and could have a chance of getting a good GC result.
With favourites like Valverde, Evans and Contador far back, Andy Schleck emerges as Levi Leipheimer's biggest rival for overall victory. With the amount of time trialing left, this is looking very good for our leader! There are some bad news for us as well: Our white jersey hope Roman Kreuziger didn't have a good day, and white jersey rival Gesink is now only 4 seconds behind him. Kreuziger is lacking a lot of training though, so he might come good later in the race.
Tomorrow we will know more about who to watch in the race for yellow. Judging by today's exciting racing, I'm really looking forward to the legendary Alpe d'Huez!
A good day for Discover imo. Schleck really seems to be the biggest rival, but with about 100km TT left, I agree that you have a good chance to win the yellow jersey. That would be awesome
@valverde321: Reus isn't too bad, he came 9th in last year's Vuelta (weak field though). Cobo passing Levi in this stage doesn't matter much, as there are no bonus seconds.
@cunego59: I guess I can take at least 2min pr. TT, probably more, on Schleck. So it's up to him to attack in the mountains. Could be a good TdF.
