hey everyone, I've started playing stage 1 twice, and both times my laptop has died midway, forcing the game to crash. Now i have it plugged in, it is fully charged, so expect the first report out soon. I apologize for the inconveniance
Alex977 wrote:
hey everyone, I've started playing stage 1 twice, and both times my laptop has died midway, forcing the game to crash. Now i have it plugged in, it is fully charged, so expect the first report out soon. I apologize for the inconveniance
Passage du Gois - Mont des Alouettes
199.1 Kilometers
Different Start to the Tour This Year
Rather than the usual short Prologue that kicks off the Tour, this year we dive right in, with a full on 200 kilometer flat stage, finishing on a category 4 climb. While it is mostly flat, many sprinters will not do so well at the finish thanks to the final climb. The Press's Favorites
Oscar Freire - Rabobank
Lance Armstrong - US Postal Service
Alessandro Petacchi - Fassa Bortolo
The breakaway of the day was established early, containing several decent sprinters. It grew to 13 riders strong, and it quickly opened up a gap of about a minute on the peloton.
The breakaway escaping the claws of the peloton.
After about 20k in the lead, a chase group of three riders opened up. It included L. Martins of Milaneza-Maia, J. Hroska of Liberty Seguros, and F. Guesdon of FDJeux.
After another 20k or so, they caught up to the leaders, making it a 16 man group, with a 2'46" advantage on the peloton.
As they approached the intermediate sprint point, it was R. Haselbacher of Gerolsteiner who made the first move.
He just beat out the others to take maximum points.
Hasselbarther winning the sprint point.
Eventually, the peloton really started chasing the escapees, lead by Lotto-Domo for Robbie McEwen. The breakaway didn't see it coming, and they were caught, still 97k out from the finish.
Lotto working hard.
More flurries of attacks were launched, and this time the peloton didn't bother to try and pull them back. D. Pieri of Saeco, O pollack of Gerolsteiner, G. Bouvard and E. Berthou of R.A.G.T, and S. Radochla of Illes Balears-Banesto formed a group of five at the front. They opened up a pretty decent advantage rather quickly. With 50k to go, the lead was up to 3 minutes, but once again the peloton had started to pick up it's pace.
As the stage wore on, the peloton had begun to whittle away at the deficit. With 30k to go, it was down to 2'18". With 20k to go, the gap was at just a minute. For sure it was to end in a bunch sprint.
With under 15k to go, with the breakaway nearly caught, Dario Pieri launched an attack. Only Pollack could match him, as they sped away from the other escapees.
Could this attack work?
Unfortunately for the breakaway, they were all gobbled up with 10k to go. Now it was down to the sprinters. However, the drama wasn't over. With 5k to go, thanks to crosswinds, and the devastating pace set by Fassa Bortolo, the peloton split in two!
Were any contenders caught in the back?
As they closed in on 1 kilometer, Fillipo Pozzato peeled off of the front of the pack, and Petacchi launched his sprint, with Freire hitched onto his wheel.
Petacchi the First to Launch his Sprint
Freire had the better positioning, and came right around Petacchi in the last 500 meters. Jaan Kirsipuu just beat out Petacchi for second.
Freire can raise his hands in a well-earned victory.
Friere takes control of all of the jerseys but white.
Stage Results 1. Oscar Freire Rabobank 4h25'48"
2. Jann Kirsipuu Ag2r +0'08"
3. Alessandro Petacchi Fassa Bortolo s.t.
4. Stuart O'Grady Cofidis s.t.
5. Robbie McEwen Lotto-Domo s.t.
6. Mario Cippollini Domina-Vacanze s.t. 7. Filippo Pozzato Fassa Bortolo s.t.
8. Angel Edo Milaneza-Maia s.t.
9. Michele Bartoli Team CSC s.t.
10. Peter Van Petegem Lotto-Domo s.t.
As it turned out, there were several contenders in the back that would lose sine significant time. Andreas Kloden, Jorg Jaksche, Oscar Periero, Levi Leiphimer, Jose Asevedo, and Samuel Sanchez G all were caught in the back group. Bad luck for them today.
So in recap, today was certainly eventful. Freire won an exciting uphill finish, and many contenders lost valuable time before we even hit the mountains. Tomorrow is another chance for contenders to gain or lose time, in the Team Time Trial.
The first stage of the Tour was rather interesting, as the peloton split due to crosswinds with just 5k to go. While most of the race favorites were up front, there were several caught in the back group, which lost over 2 and a half minutes of precious time. Possibly the most notable of them all is Andreas Kloden. Kloden was one of the pre-race favorites, and although this doesn't put him out of contention, it definately makes his life a lot harder. he was confronted after the stage by some news reporters.
Q: Kloden, today you were caught near the back of the peloton, causing you to lose nearly three minutes. Is there any reason you weren't up front with the other favorites?
A: I wasn't on great form today, and it was a long stage. We were nearing the end, and the sprinters were duking it out towards the front. I decided not to get involved, and it cost me.
Q: You're an experienced rider, shouldn't you have known that it would be wise to remain near the front?
A: I should have, I just had a bad day
Q: How does this change your plan on going for a high place overall?
A: Well, it's not exactly a bad thing. Now I can focus more on helping Ullrich and Vino. Sure I'm dissapointed that I'm 3 minutes down. But bigger deficits have been overcome. The team always comes first.
Q: Are there any reasons as to why Erik Zabel has not made an appearance for your team this year?
A: No comment
Kloden eventually escaped the reporters back into his team RV. Other notables who were left out of the lead peloton were Jorg Jaksche, Levi Leiphimer, Oscar Periero, Oscar Sevilla, Jose Asevedo and Samuel Sanchez.
On a higher note, Oscar Freire of Rabobank pulled away from the other sprinters on the finishing hill, and actually was awarded an 8 second time gap. He stepped to the podium four times, for everything except for the White jersey, which was awarded to Filippo Pozzato, who finished 7th on the stage.
Now that Leiphimer is 2'41" down in the overall, it is likely that Rabobank will focus on helping Freire rather than Leiphimer, but neither were interviewed about it.
Another Team Time Trial to Sort out the Overall
Last year there was also a team time trial, which was won by US Postal Service, in which Lance Armstrong gained 43 seconds on Jan Ullrich and 30 seconds on Joseba Beloki. This year he will once again look to gain an advantage over his competitors. Press's Favorites
US Postal Service
Liberty Seguros
Fassa Bortolo
The first team out of the gate was Brioches La Boulaengere. The French team had several contenders for the white jersey, who would look to make up time from yesterday. They finished in 30'51". FDjeux was the first to beat that, but only by one second. That time would not stand on top for long.
The first team to break that would be Phonak, by a whopping 21 seconds
Phonak sprinting to the line.
One of the race favorites, Liberty Seguros, cam across 7 seconds slower than Phonak, a slightly disappointing finish. The first to beat Phonak was Euskaltel-Euskadi, who came across 3 second faster.
Meanwhile, US Postal Service was setting off. They crossed through the first checkpoint four seconds faster than the previous best time, set by Cofidis.
The well-tuned blue machine of US Postal Service
However, at the second checkpoint, Postal Service was 10 seconds behind Phonak.
Meanwhile, it was Fassa Bortolo that came through the first checkpoint, bestin Postal Service by a slight 2 seconds.
Fassa Bortolo being led to the finish
At the finish, Postal Service finished 7 seconds behind Euskaltel-Euskadi, tied for provisional 4th place with Illes Balears-Banesto.
Just minutes later, Team CSC came through and blasted Euskaltel-Euskadi's previous time by 16 seconds
The only two teams left on the road after that were Fassa Bortolo and Rabobank, neither of which came within 15 seconds of CSC.
So CSC came away with a victory today as a team, yet they still only let one rider onto the podium.
Basso? Sastre? Voigt? Who is it?
Stage Results 1. Team CSC 30'08" 2. Rabobank +0'15"
3. Euskaltel-Euskadi +0'16" 4. Fassa Bortolo +0'17"
5. Phonak Hearing Systems +0'19"
6. Illes Balears-Banesto +0'24"
7. US Postal Service +0'24"
8. Liberty Seguros +0'27"
9. Quickstep - Davitamon +0'34"
10. T-Mobile +0'35"
Ivan Basso was put in the yellow jersey, being the first CSC rider to cross the line who wasn't caught behind the peloton yesterday.
How long can the Italian hold yellow?
General Classification 1. Ivan Basso Team CSC 4h56'04"
2. Michele Bartoli Team CSC +0'04"
3. Jens Voigt Team CSC +0'06"
4. Oscar Freire Rabobank +0'07"
5. Fabrizio Guidi Team CSC +0'16"
6. Juan Antonio Flecha Fassa Bortolo +0'17"
7. Dario Frigo Fassa Bortolo +0'17"
8. Haimar Zubeldia Euskaltel-Euskadi +0'17"
9. Marzio Bruseghin Fassa Bortolo +0'17"
10. Aitor Gonzalez J. Fassa Bortolo +0'17"
Spoiler
...
15. Tyler Hamilton Phonak +0'20"
20. Lance Armstrong US Postal Service +0'24"
21. Denis Menchov Illes Balears - Banesto +0'24"
35. Jan Ullrich T-Mobile +0'35"
36. Alexandre Vinokourov T-Mobile +0'35"
43. Roberto Heras Liberty Seguros +0'39"
114. Andreas Kloden T-Mobile +3'08"
Tomorrow we return to the flat stages, so the contenders will have to wait to do battle again. The green jersey is going to be the focus of the Tour de France, atleast until we hit the mountains.
Can an American Steal a July 4th Victory?
In America, July 4th is Independance Day, so any American who could snag a stage win would do great honor to his country. However, there aren't any American sprinters who would be able to beat the likes of McEwen or Freire in an all out sprint, so they're best bet lies in a breakaway. Press's Favorites
Alessandro Petacchi - Fassa Bortolo
Robbie McEwen - Lotto Domo
Oscar Freire - Rabobank
The breakaway of the day started out with just two riders, M. Kessler of T-Mobile, and G. Bonomi of Saeco. Neither was of any concern to the peloton, so the pace slowed, and the leaders built up almost 2 minutes immediately.
As the peloton slowed down, other riders saw opportunities to attack. R. Luhovyy of R.A.G.T. Semences and S. Dumoulin of Ag2r - Prevoyance both joined the breakaway, but that still didn't convince the peloton to speed up.
Nice and Easy for the Peloton
Soon, another attack was launched by S. Zanini of Quickstep - Davitamon. He joined the escapees, which had opened up a gap of over 4 minutes.
As they approached the intermediate sprint, Zanini was the first to make a move. He took the sprint easily, with Kessler in second.
Zanini powering forward to take the sprint
5 minutes later, the peloton came through, and it was McEwen who crossed first, picking up a few extra points.
After the sprint point, the peloton began to pick up its speed, in order to reel in the breakaway, which had built a 5'30" gap.
With 50k to go, the gap was cut down to nearly 3 minutes! The peloton was moving now.
Here comes the angry peloton
Meanwhile, Olaf Pollack of Gerolsteiner, who was in the breakaway on stage 1, made another attack.
With 30k to go, the race was coming together
Finally, just near the 20k mark, the breakaway was caught.
The peloton continued moving along at a fast pace, when suddenly, Boom! A crash!
Who was part of this pile-up?
A huge crash with less than 10 kilometers left! Would any contenders lose time here?
Meanwhile, once again Petacchi and Freire were safe at the front of the peloton, and both were shot from their trains at the same time
Starting their sprint k from the finish?
However, Petacchi couldn't keep the speed up, and instead it was Cipollini who pulled alongside Freire! And he just nips Freire at the line!
What a finish!
Meanwhile, there was word that a chockful of contenders were caught in the crash, and most of them lost loads of time! There were two large groups behind the leaders, one was 1'41" behind, and the other 3'57" behind. Any contenders stuck in those groups will have a much tougher road moving on. However, Ivan Basso avoided the crash, and he stayed with the lead group. So his lead on the other contenders is extended, giving him a bigger cushion heading to the mountains.
Stage Results
1. Mario Cipollini Domina Vacanze 4h12'14" 2. Oscar Freire Rabobank s.t.
3. Fabrizio Guidi Team CSC s.t.
4. Alessandro Petacchi Fassa Bortolo s.t.
5. Danilo Hondo Gerolsteiner s.t.
6. Baden Cooke FDJeux.com s.t.
7. Jann Kirsipuu Ag2r - Prevoyance s.t.
8. Max Van Heesjwik US Postal Service s.t.
9. Steven De Jongh Rabobank s.t.
10. Dario Pieri Saeco s.t.
General Classification 1. Ivan Basso Team CSC 9h08'18" 2. Oscar Freire Rabobank +0'07"
3. Fabrizio Guidi Team CSC +0'16"
4. Juan Antonio Flecha Fassa Bortolo +0'17" 5. Filippo Pozzato Fassa Bortolo +0'21"
6. Alessandro Petacchi Fassa Bortolo +0'27"
7. Max Van Heeswijk US Postal Service +0'35"
8. Danilo Hondo Gerolsteiner +0'39"
9. Baden Cooke FDJeux.com +0'43"
10. Dario Pieri Saeco +0'47"
Spoiler
...
20. Tyler Hamilton Phonak Hearing Systems +2'02"
23. Denis Menchov Iles Balears - Banesto +2'06"
25. Lance Armstrong US Postal Service +2'06"
32. Richard Virenque Quickstep - Davitamon +2'16"
34. Roberto Heras Liberty Seguros +2'21"
43. Gilberto Simoni Saeco +2'29"
53. Haimar Zubeldia Euskaltel-Euskadi +4'14"
62. Alexandre Vinokourov T-Mobile 4'32"
64. Jan Ullrich T-Mobile +4'32"
98. Jorg Jaksche Team CSC +6'30"
111. Oscar Pereiro Phonak Hearing Systems +6'50"
126. Andreas Kloden T-Mobile +7'05"
Young Rider Competition 1. Filippo Pozzato Fassa Bortolo 9h08'39"
2. Allan Davis Liberty Seguros +0'31"
3. Vladimir Karpets Illes Balears - Banesto +3'46"
4. Alberto Contador Liberty Seguros +4'03"
5. Matthias Kessler T-Mobile +4'16"
Will Freire take another uphill sprint?
Today's stage is very similar to stage 1. They are both flat all the way until a final uphill at the finish. This one starts about 3 kilometers out from the finish, and has an average gradient of about 6% up to the finish. Maybe this time it will have a bigger affect on the sprinters than in stage 1. Press's Favorites
Oscar Freire - Rabobank
Lance Armstrong - US Postal Seervice
Alessandro Petacchi - Fassa Bortolo
The breakaway of the day took awhile to establish, as there were a lot of early attacks, none of which succeeded. Finally, two riders got away. It was G. Bouvard of R.A.G.T, and the Portugese roadrace champion B. Casanheira.
Casanheira won the mountain sprint, granting him a single point, so he was tied for the lead with Oscar Freire. Meanwhile, just kilometers later, S. Zanini of Quickstep-Davitamon broke free of the peloton and joined the leaders.
As they passed the unconctested intermediate sprint, the breakaway had a 3'30" lead on the peloton.
As the peloton crossed the sprint point, Freire took 5th, giving him 11 points and the provisional green jersey outright lead.
The peloton didn't start chasing until 40k to go, when the lead was up to 40k.
The breakaway trying to avoid the catch.
With 20k to go, the gap had shot down to 1'30". It was steadily coming down, and was under a minute with 15k to go. However, then came bad news for the peloton.
Bam, another crash near the finish!
Yet another crash near the finish of a flat stage! Hopefully this one wouldn't cause too many large time gaps.
As the peloton really started nearing the breakaway, the leaders panicked, and more attacks were launched. Jose Ivan Gutierrez of Illes Balears - Banesto attacked from the peloton, and dragged Zanini with him. Dario Pieri of Saeco followed them by 12 seconds, Bouvard trailed him by 19 seconds, and he had a 9 second lead over the peloton.
Late race shake up
However, with the absence of most sprinters, who were caught in the crash, the peloton wasn't as determined as usual to catch the leaders. They started the final climb with still a decent gap.
Gutierrez leading Zanini
However, the peloton swallowed up Pieri, and closed in on Zanini and Gutierrez. Zanini couldn't hold Gutierrez's wheel, and the Spaniard launched his final sprint, pulling into the lead, with the peloton closing in.
Gutierrez trying to hold off the sprinters.
Being strong on the uphills, Gutierrez opened up a decent gap. Zanini was soon caught, and Freire made his move. He struggled to catch Gutierrez, and was passed by David Rebellin of Gerolsteiner and Alexandre Vinokourov. However, Gutierrez managed to hold off the chasers, to take the uphill stage win.
( The finishing screenshot got deleted by accident, I'm sorry
Once again, the poor Andreas Kloden, champion of Germany, was caught in the crash, and he loses even more time. This really has not been a good Tour for him so far at all.
General Classification 1. Ivan Basso Team CSC 13h03'36" 2. Oscar Freire Rabobank +0'07"
3. Alessandro Petacchi Fassa Bortolo +0'27"
4. Danilo Hondo Gerolsteiner +0'39
5. Baden Cooke FDJeux.com +0'43"
Spoiler
...
10. Tyler Hamilton Phonak Hearing Systems +2'02"
13. Lance Armstrong US Postal Service +2'06"
35. Haimar Zubeldia Euskaltel-Euskadi +4'14"
43. Alexandre Vinokourov T-Mobile +4'32"
44. Jan Ullrich T-Mobile +4'32"
65. Robert Heras Liberty Seguros +6'07"
117. Jorg Jaksche Team CSC +10'15"
140. Andreas Kloden T-Mobile +10'50"
Now i have it plugged in, it is fully charged, so expect the first report out soon. I apologize for the inconveniance 
You did a really good job with it.
