Today's stage has two mountains at the start, but levels out out and should mix up the GC too much.
Team Plan: Try to rest in the peleton for once, get Roche KOM points.
Roche attacked. The peleton chased hard and caught him, but nor before he too the first two climbs.
Peter Velts, Taaramae, and Westra made up the BOTD.
With 22 km left, Westra was the last to be caught.
Evans attacks. All the favorites follow after to amke the chase exept Roche, who was in the peleton but blow form his attacks, and JCP who wasn't in position.
Scarponi led out the sprint. Voeckler was the Europcar rider.
No comment.
Samu 2nd, Schleck 3rd.
Peraud (left) and Roche come in with the peleton, almost 3 minutes back. Peraud loses any chance to podium, but at least now Roche can freely dig up KOM points.
Edited by baseballlover312 on 14-08-2012 14:03
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
He's about 30 points behind now, but he'll have more of a leash now that he's back overall. But I couldn't tell you how much cause my PC crashed on the line.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
If anyone was wondering, this is not dead. I just haven't had a bunch of free time in the sense that I don't have them in long stretches. (I do have a lot overall right now.) I don't have the motivation to find time really though. This is not dead. I told myself when I made a story it would not end like that. So I will finish it for sure. But maybe not now.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Sad news out of Ag2r camp today, both Sebastien Minard and Maxime Bouet have been eliminated following Stage 13. That leaves the French Team with only 6 riders due to Sebastien Hinault's prior elimination. Hubert Dupont is feeling it aswell. Only time can tell whether it will be whittled still lower.
In other news, Cadel Evans is going for his 7th straight stage in Stage 14. Unfortunately for him, it's long and flat. He will have to work to keep it going. In an interview he stated, "I am thrilled with my performance. I feel amazing and still can't believe my accomplishments. Let's keep it that way by winning more." It must be said that the chances of him doing so are slim, if not nonexistant. But he will try.
-Mr. Pickles, Sporting News
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Fedrigo attacked his 4 companions including Kadri and forged ahead.
Peraud knew if he is going to get a podium he needs to test his limits, so he went on the final climb.
Evans followed, but he was the only one.
The attack was subdued, but it did real in most of the break. Strangely though, BMC slowed the pace. It looked like Fedrigo would fry, but you couldn't be sure.
Fedrigo was let go. Around 3 km, a group of 4 riders, including Taaramae and Freire left the peleton. At 2.5 km, Peraud and then Roche too went after them.
Pierrick Fedrigo puts an end to Evans stage streak reign in Pau!
The next group came in at 1:06.
Roche and Peraud came in at 1:30, a full 19 seconds faster than the pack, but somehow, they got the same tiime! I am taking this right to the UCI after this report. That call is a major case of bull.
Words cannot describe how busy I've been and with 1 report every 2 months I'm sure it's hard to convince people but I still care about finishing this story! Time is just needed for long reports for a 1 race story that I have trouble finding. So I'll try to keep this going although as of now I'm failing at that.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Today's stage has two noticable climbs, but the GC should remain the same.
Team Plan: Stay in the pack and protect Jean and the Cockaroche.
Our team sat in the pack early on, knowng it would be a long day in the saddle.
Up the first climb, none of our guys were struggling. Roche and Peraud were sitting cozy.
9 riders made up the break as they hit the climbs. Among the notable were Laurens Ten Dam, Simon Spilak, Sergio Paulinio, and Vladimir Karpets.
After the climbs, all was well. Cherel had fallen off after hard work. Kadri also did work, and was holding on to the peloton, and Kadri and Dupont were sheltering.
With 25 km to go, Vladimir Karpets attacked his companions. The gap was far gone to the pack, and the stage win was within reach.
But the group worked together and not only caught Karpets, but blew him out the back just as easily. A group of 6 made it to the finish line, where Simon Spilak took it! (Sorry for no screen, I must have lost the screen)
After the top 9 spots were taken, there was only one top ten spot remaining. And after relaxing the whole day, Rochie snagged it over guys like Philippe Gilbert and Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Today's stage is bumpy and uneven, which may hurt pure sprinters. However, it's not a day for the GC by far.
Team Plan: Protect our leaders and get into a break.
Riblon attacked first for us, attempting to make the split.
Instead, the pack ratcheted it up to catch him. Who knew his 24th place was in such high demand. Cherel attacked next.
Cherel got in a break, but more riders came up to it and the gap was never really let out by the peleton as they chased.
No important names featured in the breakaway.
30 km later, the pack, led by Sky, caught the escapees.
There was a standstill in the pack. No one tried to make any move until there was only 90 km left, when Rein Taaramae launched a move.
Remember that this is a bumpy stage? Well, some people didn't. A group of 80 riders was split of the pack due to a combination of bad postitioning, crosswinds, and the gradient with 35 km left. The higest placed rider to miss it was Andreas Kloden in 14th place. They would finish behind the peloton.
Despite the confusion, we still had Roche and Peraud where we needed them, near the front half of the pack and out of danger. Taaramae was fried, and he, along with anyone who tried to reach him, was brought back with 15 km to go.
It turned out to be a straight sprint. Garmin had it controlled perfectly until they lost Farrar from there trian, and order was lost at the front.
With 150 meters remaining, the order was Farrar, Greipel, and Cav.
JJ Rojas launched a powerful run on the right, and Cav responded on the left. Sagan and Thomas Voeckler (!) lept after them, leaving Greipel, Dumoulin, and Farrar behind. Evans was in great defending position.
Rojas got a good run, but no one beats Cavendish ina match of pure speed.
The Manx Missile wins stage 16!
Rojas and Sagan followed. Nicolas Roche once again sneaks into the top 10 for us.
Cav with an easy win. Tommy Voeckler surprsiing in 4th.
