Stage 5 is the first mountain day of the tour, finishing in the skiing resort, of Risoul.
The morning breakaway was made of 2 men, Michael Kreder of Garmin, and Leopard rider- Andy Schleck. Andy was looking to regain some time if a break succeeded, or alternatively, to help his brother Frank, by reducing the teams workload.
With our lead so strong, the impetus was on us to drive the peloton, we took on the role after 140km of riding, as the lead hit 7minutes.
The breakaway was caught as the climb neared, and a select group of riders started to form at the front. with 5km to go, F.Schleck, L.Armstrong, R.Uran, B.Feillu, and S.Sanchéz were in the main front group, and they were followed by several other climbers, in a second group 25" behind.
With 4km to go, Schleck made his move. At 3'40 down on the GC, we saw no need to counter, simply upping the pace, rather than jumping out of the saddle in a desparate attempt to close it down.
The rising pace was enough to drop the other riders, Schleck was riding away, holding a lead of around 20" and Armstrong was in second, having out climbed his competition. Peraud from G2 had managed to climb up to Sanchéz, he seems in good form at the moment.
Frank Schleck wins, Leopard pick up there first stage win of the tour, beating Lance Armstrong by 15"who held 18" on Sanchéz, and 20" on Peraud and Rodriguez.
Stage 6 contains 2 climbs, but the finish is a fast long 25km descent, so any attacks will be hard to maintain all the way!
This morning saw a break of 6 let free, however, Astana, Katusha, Rabobank and Exxon, all got involved in the chase, and they were caught 7km before the second climb of the day began.
On the climb, Exxon set a pace for the first 5km, until it was just Lance left, but the thing was, that's exactly what it was! no one else could follow his pace, and he just rode away from 60men on the climb! by the summit, he held a lead of 3'40seconds, it seemed a large enough gap to hold the pack off?
Indeed it is! the pack shrank the gap to 1'54 seconds, but Lance had done enough on the climb, and almost certainly puts the race beyond doubt, with a lead, now at almost 4minutes over second!
Whilst the season has not yet arrived at the point where we can make signings just yet, I felt it was right to let you all know a very interesting piece of news brought to my attention this morning.
The team was sadly lacking during the Flanders classics early in the year, but If we can convince Hincapie to join us for next season, that may solve some of our problems!
George is a great classics rider and he would be able to pass on a wealth of experience to our team, in an area where we lack depth, we will open negotiations with G.Hincapie as soon as we are able to with regards to our success.
Shortlist for the Coming Season
All these men are available at the end of the season, and are targets for our squad.
Tejay Van Garderen: One of the most exciting talents of American cycling, we hoped initially to sign him for this season, but he wanted to honour his contract with HTC until the end of this year. Now though he is free, and we want to get his signature on the books.
Juan Mauricio Soler: The sponsors asked us to have a search around South America, they feel we should make use of the talent on offer, and Soler is one of the best climbers in the Pro Peloton.
Tom Zirbel: Tom is a great American Time Triallist, he was forced to undergo a doping ban, from which he claims innocence. we are willing to believe him, and would like to give him a chance to get involved here at Exxon-?.
The Rest: Greg Brenes is a young talent who may shine in the future, as our climbers are on the twilight ends of there careers, we fell it is the right time to invest in youth, such as Greg.
Not every signing can grow up to be a team leader, and we say farewell to several of the team at the end of the season, we will look to keep a strong all around outfit, which can remain competitive at the very top, and to do that, we will look to sign the best support we can for our team leaders.
The final day, is a hilly route, finishing with 6laps of a criterium loop, containg a short sharp hill.
The break today, was a 2 man group, Koldo Fernandéz, and Michael Barry were both well down on the GC, and were allowed a gap of 9 minutes before the chase began.
Once the gap was down to just 2minutes, 2 of the Pro-Continental teams sent men forwards looking to grab stage glory, now that the GC has been decided. Fabio Duarte and Jan Hivert quickly passed the morning break, opening a threatening gap to the peloton.
Once the attacks started on the final 2 laps however, the groups in front started to get reeled in, all but Duarte fell straight through the front group, containing the stronger GC men, including Lance Armstrong.
with just 5km left to ride, Sastre (Geox-TMC) Soler (Movistar) and Frank Schleck (Leopard) attacked, holding a meager advantage into the final 2km.
Soler holds out! he was the fastest of the sprinters in the front group, and picks up a stage win for Movistar team. Lance meanwhile sprinted in in 6th place, securing the final GC, and also the Points Classes!
General Classification
1
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
28h54'51
2
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 4'10
3
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
+ 4'21
4
Jean-Christophe Peraud
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 4'37
5
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'34
6
Joaquím Rodríguez
Katusha Team
+ 6'54
7
Chris Froome
Sky ProCycling
+ 6'57
8
Carlos Sastre
Geox - TMC
+ 7'49
9
Juan Mauricio Soler
Movistar Team
+ 7'52
10
Damien Monier
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
+ 8'25
Lance has hit a purple patch! following 2nd place in California, He was able to hammer the competition here in France, this victory is also a record breaker, his 3rd success at the Critérium Du Dauphine, placing him on a par with Bernard Hinault!
Points Class
1
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
115
2
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
80
3
Joaquím Rodríguez
Katusha Team
77
4
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
72
5
Jean-Christophe Peraud
AG2R La Mondiale
64
6
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
62
7
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky ProCycling
61
8
Juan Mauricio Soler
Movistar Team
60
9
John Gadret
AG2R La Mondiale
52
10
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
42
When you are right at the top in every single stage, you're always well positioned to take the double, just as Lance has here! Stage wins on 1,4 and 6, as well as 2nd place on stage 7, mean Lance collects the Green jersey, in what has been a fabulous race for Exxon-Duke!
King of the Mountains
1
Samuel Sánchez
Euskaltel - Euskadi
141
2
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
116
3
Fränk Schleck
Leopard Trek
112
4
Juan Mauricio Soler
Movistar Team
88
5
Joaquím Rodríguez
Katusha Team
62
6
Daniel Moreno
Katusha Team
48
7
Damien Monier
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
47
8
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
42
9
Johan Van Summeren
Team Garmin - Cervélo
42
10
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
35
Seeing the Yellow jersey was out of reach, Samuel Sanchéz changed his target, his team helped him, and he takes a great victory thanks to the final 3 aggressive days in the saddle.
Under 25 Classification
1
Robert Kiserlovski
Pro Team Astana
29h03'29 (1)
2
Fabio Duarte
Geox - TMC
+ 1'46 (2)
3
Romain Sicard
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 5'24 (3)
4
Rigoberto Urán
Sky ProCycling
+ 6'33 (4)
5
Steven Kruijswijk
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 8'38 (5)
6
Chris Barton
BMC Racing Team
+ 14'03 (6)
7
Vitaliy Buts
Lampre - ISD
+ 19'17 (7)
8
Jonathan Castroviejo
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 19'22 (8)
9
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Sky ProCycling
+ 20'38 (9)
10
Damiano Caruso
Liquigas - Cannondale
+ 20'57 (10)
Despite dropping time on the TT's, Robert Kiserlovski shows he will be a great rider, given some time to mature, he climbed with the very best to the race, and will be extremely pleased with his final climb of the race - The one up the steps of the podium.
The Time Trial championships took place over a 32km route around Seattle.
Taylor Phinney set the lead time early on, but in the end, it was the day of Lance Armstrong, he takes the TT stars and stripes for this season.
1
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
47'14
2
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
+ 11
3
Christian Vande Velde
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 18
4
Tom Danielson
Exxon Duke
+ 19
5
George Hincapie
BMC Racing Team
+ 38
6
Danny Pate
Exxon Duke
+ 51
7
Tejay Van Garderen
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
8
Taylor Phinney
Exxon Duke
+ 1'16
9
Carter Jones
Trek Livestrong U23
+ 1'28
10
David Zabriskie
Exxon Duke
+ 1'39
US Road Race
A 209km route, including 7 ascents of the one climb of the day, a short 2km climb, averaging 9%.
Chad Beyer, in typical style, broke away after just 17km of riding, he initially took Andrew Bajdali with him, from Kelly-Benefit, but he dropped him after just 60km of riding. The gap just kept widening as we refused to work against Chad, and not even the late breaks could bridge this 12minute gap, and Beyer will ride as US national champion for this year.
1
Chad Beyer
Exxon Duke
5h31'33
2
Christian Vande Velde
Team Garmin - Cervélo
+ 3'46
3
George Hincapie
BMC Racing Team
+ 3'58
4
Levi Leipheimer
Team RadioShack
s.t.
5
Tejay Van Garderen
HTC - Highroad
s.t.
6
Christopher Jones
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
s.t.
7
Tyler Farrar
Exxon Duke
+ 4'30
8
Lance Armstrong
Exxon Duke
s.t.
9
Chris Horner
Exxon Duke
s.t.
10
Tom Danielson
Exxon Duke
s.t.
Other Championships
Mexican RR: Bernardo Colex is far better than his mexican competition, he soloed to victory in the final 25km.
Mexican TT: Colex is the mexican in form, and as one of 2 in the World Tour, (Both Exxon riders) it is not surprising that he kept his cool, to become Double Mexican Champion.
Canadian TT: Hesjedal easily outrode his opponents on a tough course, Rollin was our best rider, in 13th place.
Canadian RR: The course was fairly flat, and Hesjedal was caught Napping by Rollin, who escaped in the final 15km, to become Canadian NC.
We were the first team onto the transfer market on the 1st, and we can report the first confirmed signing for Exxon-Duke of the season, Tejay Van Garderen!
Tejay is hot property, one of the best young cyclists in the world, he's a fantastic climber already, and that at the age of just 22!
We have signed Tejay as a protected rider on a 2 year deal at €45k per month, after which we intend to resign the American as one of our leaders to take over the reigns from the Armstrong-Horner Duo.
Spoiler
Regarding Le Tour, I'm not around this weekend, so I won't be starting Le Tour until I get back
He's not intending to retire this season, that much is definite, I think it probably depends upon his results this season as to whether or not he chooses to continue beyond the end of his contract (Year after this)
@Sutty Cheers, Beyers break was great fun to watch, and considering how well he's done all season, i wasn't about to try and reel him in my self to set up Farrar or similar!
Sadly, as you can all probably see, my Photobucket has exceeded bandwith until the 16th, so the next few days might be quiet, (Ihate using Imageshack/tinypic) but if you are worried about slow updates, dont be, thats why!
Anyway, my bandwith has been reset, and I'm back for our next race- Le Tour De France!
This is a big one for the team, we will be working for both Lance, and Tyler over the next 3 weeks, as we aim to try and Dominate in France!
The Squad
The squad is very strong, with Danielson to work as final leadout on climbs, and Rodriguez to support Farrar on those days featuring a sprint finish, as well as a strong group of our Doméstiques, including Canadian RR champion, Dominique Rollin, US RR champ Chad Beyer, along with Deeney, Aldapé and Lewis.
The Maillot Jaune is the most prestigious trophy in the Calendar, and the strong climbers are all here to contend.
A.Schleck - Could this finally be his year? His most dangerous competition has been injured since Amstel Gold, only being declared fit on 25th June. Could the Pure climbing talent of Andy be enough to break his competition?
C.Evans - Cadel is a quality all rounder, no one can fault him, he seems well set, but will his team be strong enough to carry him through the race?
B.Wiggins - Wiggins isn't an explosive climber, but he's backed by a great team, and he's one of the worlds very best against the clock, valuable in a TT heavy, Mountain weak TdF
L.Armstrong - Questions were asked when Lance came back to pro cycling, especially after a quiet start to the season, however, his victory in Criterium Du Dauphine shows he's top quality, and will be right up there by the end of the race.
V.Nibali - Nibbles is a strong rider, with a strong team to support him, including Ivan Basso, however, a large proportion of there team has already ridden the Giro, how will the legs be?
J.Rodriguez - Strong in the mountains, but it would seem likely, that if a more pure climber wins, then it will be Luxembourger Andy Schleck, slightly more powerful than Joaquin...
S.Sanchéz - Sanchéz will be heavily marked over the course of the race, but a 23km TTT will cost Euskaltel greatly, will the side be able to recover from the early damages?
R.Kreuziger - Astana's man has had a stunning season so far, however it would seem likely that his time will come slightly later down the line, as he ages and grows in experience.
A.Contador - Alberto was out and out favourite on January 1st, however, he has spent the last 3 1/2 months injured, and it seems unlikely he will be able to hold the peloton, with what will surely be a dreadful fitness level.
L.Leipheimer - Levi is another american veteran, he will fight the stages everywhere, but it seems beyond him to win overall, he lacks the firey explosiveness of some of the Stage racers.
Sprinters
All of the Sprinters are here, Cav, Bos, Greipel, Farrar, Boonen, Hushovd, Bennati, Cook, Davies, Freire and Bonnet.
With so many flat days in this years edition, it is unsurpising to see them massing here, we should keep most of them all the way to the Champs Elysées, and the Green jersey will be hard fought throughout!
Week 1
The first week is built for the sprinters entirely, we will start to see some separation in the fight for the Green jersey, but it seems likely that Le Maillot Jaune, will belong to the best TT team up until at least the end of week 1.
Thats all for me for now folks, Stage 1 should go up this evening Edited by baggieboys32 on 16-05-2012 19:03
We're off! The first stage is a relatively easy affair, 191km in length, the only real challenge being a 1.7km climb just before the finish, which may produce a Puncher victory here on day 1.
The thin roads at the beginning of the race, allowed a trio of men to get away, two domestiqués followed, when Belgian Champion, Philippe Gilbert made an attack early on, seeing a chance to open a gap and spend some time out in front.
Wanting to get some exposure early on here in France, 4 more men bridged across the gap after 54km, Rollin, Canadian NC, was one of the men, and they made the catch after 75km.
The group were willing to work, however, the pack was uninterested in a breakaway victory, the pace was upped by Euskaltel and Garmin, and the day seemed doomed for the break.
Indeed they were caught, and the pace was steadily upped towards the finish, where riders were unable to get organised due to the gradient, under the Flamme Rouge, Gasparotto was leading out the sprint, just ahead of Langeveld and Maaskant.
Hushovd and Farrar were the only two sprinters able to hold the group, and they were able to power through most of the pack once they topped the climb, however, Gasparotto had just enough of a gap to take the stage victory, and Astanas man become the first owner of the Maillot Jaune.
