Stage 5

Modane - Alpe d'Huez

A test of Robert Gesink's strength today as we crest the Galibier and head onto the mythical Alpe d'Huez for the first time in the Diamond League.


Lots of riders have much to gain after yesterday's stage, and Alberto Contador sees the Galibier as the perfect opportunity.


It looks like Duggan, Van den Broeck and 4th ranked Rujano have the same idea.


The main chasing group whittles down atop Galibier. However, we can see that 2nd place Nairo Quintana, in polkadots, is in big trouble further down the mountain. The Maglia Rosa winner has a lot of work to do.


Van den Broeck is detached on the lower slopes of the Alpe d'Huez, leaving three men up front with a sizeable advantage. Gesink's yellow jersey is in peril.


Next Duggan is detached.


Gesink is around 3 minutes back and knows he has to fly up the Alpe to keep yellow away from Rujano.


Contador takes to the front and tries to shrug off Rujano.


He manages to hold the Venezualan off - all guns blazing for El Pisteloro today!


42 seconds back is Timothy Duggan, great ride from him today.


Gesink catches Van den Broeck at the top, but he's lost his chances of defending yellow this year.


An even worse day for Quintana who loses almost 7 minutes but narrowly holds onto 3rd for now.


A change of scene today as Jose Rujano steps onto the podium. In fact, he's almost certain of winning the maillot jaune now!

Stage 6

Limonges ITT

So it's the final day of GC action. Rujano is a strong time trialist and should have little difficulty retaining yellow, unless Gesink flies up the incline with 15km to go and takes 1'27 back. Unlikely though.


Congratulations(?) to Haimar Zubeldia of Tinkoff for wrapping up the lanterne rouge today.


Everybody's favourite Rick Flens sets the early best time, but it will only hold for 29th by the end of the day.


The best French hope today. Engoulvent comes 3rd (+17')


Some Braziliance from Magno Prado Nazaret beats Engoulvent's time and he goes off to sit in the leader's chair.


Tony Martin places 6th (+38')


A decent ride from Contador places him 4th, moving him up to 5th in the GC.


Former maillot jaune wearer Menchov takes the 5th best time, which will see him finish 4th overall.


Samuel Sanchez comes through... and he's topped Nazaret's time. That's good enough to move him ahead of both Quintana and Gesink, onto the 2nd step of the podium.


Evidently it's no good for Gesink today, finishing 46th place.


Le thème: Jaune.

Rujano has no difficulty retaining yellow today, rolling across the finish in 10th place.

Final Stage

Montereau - Paris Champs Elysees


Some riders try to spoil the sprinter's party, as Taaramae did last year. Included in this group are some GC guys - Valverde(7th), Basso(10th) and Paulinho(15th).


The peleton whittle the lead down progressively, but a lone escapee, Simon Clarke emerges from the famous tunnel with a small advance - will there be another surprise winner on the Champs Elysees?


They leave it late, but Clarke is caught with the sprint under way. Vaitkus leads Rojas at the front, whilst Fischer is nowhere to be seen in the fight for his 3rd stage victory in France.


Rojas pulls off but Breschel and Farrar are coming either side of him, it's going to be a close call!


Rojas takes it! Having been largely anonymous this season, what better time to show his nose than in the season's most prestigious sprint?


There's Rujano safely accross the line. He's officially won Le Tour de France!


Groovy stuff for the Venezualan, congratulations to this year's surprise winner of the TdF!

Now the Tour is over, I'll post the new rankings shortly. However, first let's draw our attentions to the U23 circuit, where the young hopefuls have completed their own 'Tour' - The Tour de l'Avenir. Here's a quick summary of proceedings:

Stage 1

Portuguese Eduardo Correia got things off to a flying start in a sprint finish, taking the leader's jersey ahead of Klaus Jiminez Crespo. You might remember Crespo from the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs where he came in second. Could he be Colombia's unlikely answer to Tom Boonen?

Stage 2

Things were more undulating on stage 2 and gaps began to emerge. In the end Taylor Phinney nicked the win out of a group of 5 survivors. Adrien Petit found himself in yellow, whilst time was lost by race favourite Thibaut Pinot.

Stage 3

It was back to flatter roads the next day, and this time it was Petit himself who raced to the line fastest, ahead of Taylor Phinney. Correia was 3rd incidentally after poor positioning.

Stage 4

This was expected to be the most decisive day with a difficult summit finish, and it was. In the end, it was the small frame of Ildebrando Trentino who gave pursuit to Lubomir Mironov on the incline and accelerated past him for the win. However Phinney, 4th place on this stage, looked to have secured the race win.

Stage 5

The final day's time trial produced Phinney's second stage win and sealed the overall classification for the youngster, who displayed impressive all-round abilities in France. 30 seconds back, Spaniard Vernon Cervantes took the day's second best time.

JULY RANKINGS

Riders


Well he might not have managed to defend his Giro or Tour titles, but Gesink has nonetheless re-emerged on top of his throne. Victory at the Tour left Rujano just 1 point behind the Dutchman. Valverde drops from 1st to 3rd, Quintana remains 4th and Menchov jumps from 14th to 5th.

Teams


It sure is heating up both at the top and bottom of the league. It's the same 4 teams brawling it out up top, though Caisse, who broke the 100-point barrier, and Liquigas have exchanged places. Astana have moved out of immediate trouble at the bottom, though the same can't be said for Tinkoff and Vacansoleil.

Next up:
Tour of Belgium

Tour of Belgium

Top sprinters like Cavendish and Rojas are here in the hope of picking a stage win. We move onto the cobbles on the 3rd and final day, where last year's Paris-Roubaix victor Leif Hoste is favoured to shine.

Next up:
La Vuelta

Alejandro Valverde is here vying to finally take top spot in a GT. Will it be 6th time lucky for him? However he faces stiff competition from Giro winner Quintana, and Tour runner-up Sammy Sanchez. The typically rugged route begins with a TTT, climbs of Sierra Nevada and the fearsome Angilru, complemented by a fairly short time trial in Valancia.

*************************************************************



*************************************************************

*************************************************************

Will Valverde hold on? To be continued...

I hope you guys don't mind this style of reports for the meantime and sorry for the lack of a Vuelta preview.