@Sutty68 + The Schleck Fan: hopefully Thibaut is able to get that time back in the mountains, he has shown that he's better then Van Garderen there.
It’s flat and there are no diificulties. It’s one for the sprinters
Stage Favorites
Mark Cavendish (OPQ)
Andre Greipel (LTB)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
Thibaut Pinot: today was a weird day, not because the stage was difficult or anything. Instead of Bouhanni challenging for the stage win in a sprint, Roy was challenging a stage win in a breakaway. He was even in virtual yellow. Bouhanni showed that he’s again the best of the rest in the sprint department but I’ll let Roy finish today’s report
the usual sight at the intermediate sprint: 4th place
Jérémy Roy: we rejoin the action at 14 km to go and Blel Kadri just attacked Talabardon (Sojasun) had just been dropped from the break while Miller (Garmin)dropped earlier. Only me, O’Grady (Orica) Chavanel (Europcar), Gasparotto (Astana). remained. Talabardon and me went after Kadri but we couldn’t reach him which blew up Talabardon and put me at my limit. So when Chavanel put some extra gas, I couldn’t follow either and watched them go into the distance
the group that would decide the top 3 go away
Miller caught up with me and I tried to follow him but blew up while catching up. That ended my stage basically, I would eventually finish 6th on the stage and thanks to the 13 minute gap with the peloton I would jump into 5th place in the overall standings now. we took the lead in the team classification as well as a bonus.
despite the small climb just before the finish. It will be difficult to take the sprinters by surprise. But nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Stage Favorites
Mark Cavendish (OPQ)
Andre Greipel (LTB)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
GM:
Thibaut Pinot: today was a chance for the breakaway, with a small climb just before the finish. We had two options, Fédrigo to attack on the climb or a sprinter going for a breakaway win. We went for Fédrigo at first
Fédrigo in the break
We started to doubt ourselves when Gerrans was also in the break. When the break was almost caught, we sent Bonnet to go after Fédrigo
Bonnet making first contact
The peloton didn’t want to rider of the same team in the break so Fédrigo dropped back and the gap soon increased to 6 minutes. In the meantime, Bouhanni had a nice fight with Cavendish for the intermediate sprint. Bouhanni started sprinting and Cavendish reacted well, he was immediately next to him
Side-by Side sprinting
Bouhanni cleaverly took the inside line in the corner, leaving Cavendish chanceless
the inside line is always faster
Bouhanni easily takes the intermediate sprint
Cavendish eating Bouhanni’s dust
Skipping to the finale, Gallopin and Nieve tried their luck to get away but just before the climb they were caught and nobody wanted to take the lead, 6 minutes with 8 km to go, they could afford to bluff a little. Bonnet started his sprint just before the final kilometer
Bonnet starting his sprint for hopefully victory
Bonnet was unfortunately not in the right gear for the sprint, in all the excitement he forgot to change gear and he was absolutely gutted. Gerrans got the win that way with Iglinskiy being second, Gallopin finished third, Bonnet only fourth
no major problems, but the two small climbs sitting towards the finish will be a serious handicap for sprinters
Stage Favorites
Peter Sagan (CAN)
Sylvain Chavanel (OPQ)
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
GM: Ok Guys!, I think that today you can stay under wraps, The stage is not very important for the overall standings but do stay awake to avoid being dropped stupidly. Fighters could be in with a chance today, the finish is not suited to the sprinters as there are two climbs fairly close to each other inside Lyon. However goes over the last climb in the lead has got a good chance of winning it.
Pierrick Fédrigo: hey guys, Pierrick here, I’m sorry but Thibaut is too emotional to talk right now, he lost a minute today where he shouldn’t have. More details on that later.
Today was another chance for a break victory and after yesterday’s chance we wanted to have another go at it and after several attempts, I was in the break with Gallopin (RadioShack), Iglinskiy (Astana), Sijmens (Cofidis), Nocentini (AG2R), Charteau (Europcar) and Martinez (Euskaltel).
the attack that made it stick and the break
Bouhanni took the intermediate sprint and Pinot (who didn’t have a good day to begin with) was dropped in the echelon. Before he noticed he was already a minute behind the pack. He panicked a bit a started closing the gap himself instead of letting Argos or his remaining teammates (Jeannesson, Bonnet and Vichot). Even Contador was behind and he was in second and would put his team on the front.
Thibaut wasting energy that could have been spent better
I put in some effort to drop some of the faster man in the break on the penultimate climb and went in the descent first. Charteau, Martinez, Sijmens, Nocentini didn’t have enough strength to follow and could kiss a win goodbye
The three in the lead
When the peloton went over the climb the true disaster struck, a mass crash happened, only a group of 24 managed to escape the carnage and Pinot was not one of those 24 while Van Garderen was. I couldn’t stop to help them, it was just outside the last 3 kilometers and it was every man for himself, so I attacked in the break to get that stage win.
the final attack
Gallopin and Iglinskiy couldn’t follow and I was starting the downhill towards my second stage win this Tour de France
the red tenant!
I never looked back and won the stage, my second stage this Tour.
Stage win number two
However my smile would be wiped away behind the podium when Thibaut said what happened, he lost contact with Van Garderen during the crashes and the group that he left during the stage even caught up with him. Tomorrow the Tour goes to the Mont Ventoux and we all hope that Thibaut can redeem himself a bit a take a lot of time on Van Garderen. the crashes and echolons did a number on the GC. Van Garderen is now second, Contador third. Nibali drops out of the top 10 and is now 12th. Schleck replaces him in 9th place.
the podiums of the FDJ team, Me on the left and Thibaut on the right, who did a great job hiding his disappointing for the crowd
looking at the statestics, it's a pretty good TdF so far. two stage wins, 4th place in the GC, 5th in the points classification, 2nd in the youth classification and leading the Mountain and Team classifications. a improvement is always welcome though the next stage to the Mont-Ventoux would be a great start to bet Pinot smiling again
Stage Results
Place
Country
Rider
Team
Time
1.
Pierrick Fédrigo
FDJ
4h06’22
2.
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack
+0”
3.
Maxim Iglinskiy
Astana
+0”
4.
Nico Sijmens
Cofidis
+0”
5.
Rinaldo Nocentini
AG2R
+0”
6.
Anthony Charteau
Europcar
+0”
7.
Egoi Martinez
Euskaltel
+0”
8.
Mark Cavendish
Omega Pharma
+1’04”
9.
Tyler Farrar
Garmin
+1’04”
10.
Tom Boonen
Omega Pharma
+1’04”
11 -> 32
Group including, Van Garderen, Roy, Wiggins, Rolland, Poels and Kadri
+1’04”
33 ->198
Group with, Quintana Pinot, Contador, Froome, Sánchez and Nibali
sutty68 wrote:
SSJ2Luigi - OK you have twisted my arm with your sob story in the other thread so here i am to take a look around and from what i have seen it seems to be going pretty well for you although i expect better
@The Schleck Fan: pretty sure that's my first banana thanks. a case of one moment your cheering, the next your crying
Patience will be needed by the climbers, who will have to sit tight for more than 200 kilometres before they go on the attack
Stage Favorites
Christopher Froome (Sky)
Andy Schleck (RSH)
Pierre Rolland (EUR)
GM: today we’re done ot the nitty, gritty! It’s a summit finish and it’s important to pick up some time on our opponents for the yellow jersey.
The stage is very long. There’s 240 kilometers!. The start is not very difficult but the on Mont Ventoux will be a nightmare. It’s vital to keep your stretgh for the final kilometers.
Thibaut Pinot: The Tour is starting again and it starts with the legendary Mont Ventoux. Who will be the successor of Juan Manuel Gárate. Because the stage is not very hard in the beginning Bouhanni went in the break for the intermediate sprint, Fédrigo also went in the break, which was not really the plan but he found himself there. Bouhanni was allowed the take the intermediate sprint and gained a lot of points in the points ranking. He was no thread to the stage win because the others are all climbers: Katusha’s Spilak and Moreno, Astana’s Seeldraeyers, Vacansoleil’s Hoogerland and Omega Pharmas’s Chavanel and of course FDJ’s own breakaway specialist, Fédrigo.
Bouhanni’s activities of the day
The break had 10 minutes at the foot of the Ventoux, 16 kilometer of torture. It all started with Van Garderen attack really early to thin the group out, I couldn’t react immediately because the space Fuglsang (Astana) and Izagirre (Euskaltel) between the two of team was really small.
Van Garderen, Contador and Van den Broeck getting a gap
Contador and Van Garderen didn’t want to work with each other however, the numbers 3rd and 2nd of the GC at that moment, allowing the others to come back, including the obviously weaker looking Wiggins
the gap is closed
the next attack was by Basso (Cannondale) and Sánchez (Euskaltel) and surprisingly Chris Froome, Teammate of the GC leader Wiggins, went after him and not to pull the break back. Valverde, Van Garderen, Contador and me also followed
the next attack: Sánchez, Basso, Contador, Valverde, Van Garderen, Froome and Pinot in order
Joaquim Rodriguez also crossed the gap to the Gr. Maiiloit Blanc and followed Valverde’s attack, Van Garderen cracked a bit and when I saw that I went after that group.
Group Contador: Valverde, Contador, Froome, Sánchez, Rodriguez, Pinot
Froome countered Valverde’s attack and the same riders followed, Van Garderen was in my wheel and I felt that if I went with the lead riders I could blow up, I told Van Garderen that he should close the gap if he want to take the Yellow. Wiggins was losing a lot of time and he would move into yellow if it continued like that.
”you’re second, you go after Contador”
He wasn’t strong enough to close that gap and the Contador group went riding away. Schleck joined that group and I found myself in the second classifications riders group: The Europcar duo Rolland and Voeckler, Scarponi, Nibali and Van Garderen.
Group maillot à pois rouges
Van Garderen and Scarponi dropped not much later.
[i[the sight everybody would like to see, Van Garderen losing time.[/i]
Nibali and Rolland dropped Voeckler and me not much later. meanwhile, Simon Spilak was the winner of the stage, beating teammate Moreno. A 1-2 for Katusha, you don’t see that every day. I still needed to do 2,3 kilometers so I wasn’t done yet, together with Voeckler against Van Garderen and Scarponi. 22 seconds was the gap.
doesn’t look like they are going ground
Voeckler, Scarponi and Van Garderen looked exhausted while I still had a little left so I left them behind and got a little gap towards the rest, a total of 9 seconds was gained. Baby steps A real gap!
We got a new GC leader today as well, Contador steps up to take the jersey lost by Wiggins, he is still second though. Valverde passed Van Garderen for third place, the difference is one second though. Roy and Velits drop from the Top 10 while Nibali and Rolland get back in it. I move from 17th to 14th place. 1’55” behind 10th place. I still have the lead in the mountain classification while Bouhanni is now 4th place thanks to the breakaway. Van Garderen has still a semi-comfortable with 5 minutes 20. In the Team classification, Astana has neared us to with a minute. Fédrigo also took the lead in the Combatitivite classification.
if you want to skip to only the Mont-Ventoux, it starts around 9:40 into the vid
Punchers and climbers should enjoy the last climb and use it to their advantage to take off towards victory
Stage Favorites
Alejandro Valverde (MOV)
Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)
Peter Sagan (CAN)
GM: Today is a day for the bold. It’s basically uphill all day long. We can’t afford to miss a chance
Thibaut Pinot: today was a clear breakaway chance, and we have Fédrigo as usual suspect in the break. I also tried to get in the break but while the peloton would let me go, the others in the break didn’t want to ride. So I dropped back and Fédrigo replace me in the break.
the break of the day
Skipping the to the final part of the stage (nothing worth mentioning happened, except Bouhanni winning the peloton intermediate sprint) a group of Valverde, Contador Schleck, Rodriguez, Gilbert and Nibali tried to go early, they were unable to surprise the peloton in the first descent to Gap though. They tried multiple times on the Col de Manse but that only resulted into forming a group of elite climbers and punchers.
the leaders of the elite group
I tried to put some time on Van Garderen in the descent but wasn’t succesfull. I did manage to get a top 10 placing on the stage, while Fédrigo didn’t manage to drop sprinter Hushovd and finished second.
Gilbert taking 6th, Pinot takes 10th
in the overall nothing really changed, only Quintana wasn’t able to follow the pace of the top 20 riders and lost some time. Tomorrow is the hilly time trial, which raises a question: how is going to finish better, the better climber (Pinot) or the better time trailer (Van Garderen).
A very demanding and technical time-trail with victory promised to someone who can both climb and fide fast
Stage Favorites
Bradley Wiggins (SKY)
Christopher Froome (SKY)
Alberto Contador (TST)
GM: you’ve got a difficult time trial waiting for you, you’ve got to stay focused and find the right tempo as soon as possible.
Thibaut Pinot: today was an important day, last time trial I lost over four minutes on van Garderen. Do it again and the white jersey is outside the possibilities. I did a lot of training stages here and I found the right way to distribute my energy with the climbing and downhill.
The stage went well, I made some minor mistakes in the first downhill which made me loss some time. But the climbs and the final downhill went perfectly. I caught Fédrigo who started before me in the second downhill and Voeckler wasn’t much behind me at the same. He didn’t pass me though. I finished in 19th. Much better than the 61th place of the previous time trial.
catching Pierrick in the final downhill
the GC didn't change much, most notable are Chris Froome that jumped from 5th to 2nd, and we have a 2-3 from Sky because Wiggins is 3rd, and Rolland dropping from 9th to 15th thanks to a really bad time trial. teammate Voeckler replaced him in the top 10. I gained a place thanks to Rolland dropping. we also lost the lead in the team classification to Astana. we are 5'44" behind.
A mythical col which must be climbed twice. The Alpe d’Huez will go to a rider with an unquestionable climbing pedigree
Stage Favorites
Alberto Contador (TST)
Tejay van Garderen (BMC)
Christopher Froome (SKY)
GM: This is the queen stage of the Tour with two ascensions to the Alpe d’Huez. But that’s still a long way off. The day starts with the climb of the Monse pass, 7 kilometers at an average of 6.2%.
Thibaut Pinot: there was a small break with Jeannasson, Sánchez (Blanco), Cobo (Movistar) and Albasini (Orica). We at the team hoped that more riders would have joined so that they had more time to the pack. At the first foot of the Alpe d’Huez the gap was only 2 minutes. Gesink, Basso and Hesjedal opend the attacks and where soon followed by Contador!, he attacked with 60 kilometers to go, he must be really strong or really nuts.
Contador one of the first attackers of the day
I thought that I could gain a lot of time on Van Garderen by sticking on his wheel. Other riders had a similar idea . De Gendt, Schleck, Rodriguez, Nibali. The gap to Van Garderen quickly escalated to a minute. If it continued like this, the white jersey would again be a possibility. Schleck, Rodriguez and Contador did some massive turns in which weren’t easy to follow.
the riders making the pace in the break
The gap to Group Van Garderen was 1’12” when Andy Schleck and Rodriguez attacked, Contador couldn’t follow and I couldn’t either. I rode with Contador for a while but then he rode away on his casual pace.
The power of the yellow jersey is too great for the polka dot's power
I rode almost the whole Col de Sarenne alone and was just caught by the group Van Garderen just below the summit.
the catch is made
In the downhill to do Alp d’Huez again, we caught Contador, Rodriguez and Schleck. And at almost the same place Contador attacked Van Garderen attacked and immediately ended my hopes on winning the white jersey, I wasn’t able to follow and couldn’t return on my own pace.
The Prince is dead, long live the new Prince
I continued to ride my pace while Nibali caught, we rode the last 4,5 km together, Nibali to secure his top 10 place in the GC and me to get into that top 10.
the finish of the queen stage, where a former prince found it’s resting place.
Contador won the stage by breaking away again, Rolland was the closest of him and finished second. Valverde and Rodriguez were 3rd and 4th. Van Garderen was 5th. I eventually finished in 9th place. The GC didn’t change much: nobody well out of the top 10, only some switches within (Wiggins drops to 3rd to 5th and Rodriguez jumps from 8th to 6th) I moved into 11th place and the gap to the 10th place (Voeckler) is down from 2’21” to 1’17”.
The Polka dot jersey got a new leader but not a new wearer, I keep wearing the Polka dot as Contador is the new leader, and he’s wearing the yellow tomorrow.
The points and youth jersey didn’t change much.
The team classification got a turned upside down. 3rd place Sky is now the new leader, we stay second, while Astana drops from 1st to 3rd.
No summit finish on this stage but 5000 meters of vertical gain. For climbers and daring riders.
Stage Favorites
Christopher Froome (SKY)
Vincenzo Nibali (AST)
Thomas Voeckler (EUR)
GM: No summit finish today. But it’s still the stage with the most vertical gain of the Tour, a little over 5200 meters. Manage it feel so your fresh for the finish.
Thibaut Pinot: with two HC climbs early, we didn’t want a break collecting all the points but Saxo was willing to let anybody go. In response I asked Geniez and Jeannesson to pull the peloton. Saxo didn’t like that either and let them go. I was on their wheel together with Spilak (Katusha)
a accidental break
A real break wasn’t there today. Scarponi, Kadri and Kruijswijk had a small gap on the top of Col du Glandon but I mange to pick up the remaining points which put me back in the lead of the mountain jersey. I took it easy on the following downhill, no risks and no pedeling, just freewheeling down the mountain. The peloton caught group Scarponi on the Madaleine where I picked up the maximum all amount of points. On the Col de Tamié Contador found it necessary to respond to Rodriguez and Valverde’s attack. Froome and Van Garderen also followed, I decided to wait. I was pretty sure that I could catch them in the break.
The strongest are at it again
On the descent, contender for the Top 10 Rolland had a flat and would finish in the third group today while me, Sánchez and Voeckler caught up with a small group that was ahead of the road and the group Contador. Only Cadel Evans (BMC) and Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) were still ahead.
everybody is back together
Going up the Col de la Croix Fry, the main favorites put in an early attack again. a lot of riders followed but were mainly helpers, I did my own pace, confident that I would catch them again on the downhill. I picked up riders left and right and on the summit only a group of Contador, Valverde, Rodriguez, Nibali, Froome and Schleck and a group with Voeckler, Sánchez, Cunego, Van Garderen, Wiggins and Anton were ahead.
the attackers going away
I caught up with the group Voeckler in the descent
catching up in the descent again
Sadly we weren’t able to catch the lead group, we only finished 53 seconds down in the end, it was a really though day but the end is looking close now, only one hard stage and then the Champs-Élysées stage.
the finish with Paris looking close, finally.
No major changes in the GC, Rodriguez and Wiggins switched places for 5th and 6th place. The gap to 10th place with me is still the same will the gap to 12th place grew a little.
In the mountain rankings I took the lead again from Contador but the gap is only 2 points. With tomorrows summit finish it’s unlikely that I keep the hold of that jersey.
the other classifications didn’t change.
a short stage in which climbers will have no problem coming to the front
Stage Favorites
Christopher Froome (Sky)
Joaquim Rodriguez (KAT)
Alberto Contador (TST)
GM: Today is a bit special. It’s a very short stage: 125 km. It promises to be hectic as the route is ideal for attacks.
Thibaut Pinot: the stage were all but one of the classifications were decided. The General classification, the Youth classification and Team classifications were unlikely to change. Only the Mountain classification could change. I had two options to prevent that, beat Contador on the climbs or let a big breakaway get away and take all the points. A breakaway win was easier to do, so a break with Jeannesson (FDJ), Moreno (Katusha), Nocentini (AG2R), Uran (Sky), Gerrans (Orica), Jeandesboz (Sojasun), Martinez (EUS), Pinotti (BMC), Millar (Garmin), Le Mével (Cofidis), Westra (Vacansoleil), Cancellara (RadioShack), Seeldraeyers (Astana). Enough riders to keep the points away from Contador.
some riders that were in today’s break are attacking
On the Mont Revard climb, I reacted to the an attack of Contador to prevent him getting away and perhaps picking up some points by catching the break. I wouldn’t do any work because I got Jeannesson in front.
Valverde, Contador, Rodriguez and Pinot try their luck.
We were all together at the summit with Samuel Sánchez having a little gap, I closed that gap very easily. In the distance I saw that someone else was up the road, I asked via the radio who that was and got told that it was Rolland. He could pass me in the general classification if he got too much distance. I want after him and caught him just before the end of the descent
another rider caught by master descender: Pinot
On the final climb of the tour, Valverde, Rodriguez and van Garderen tried a bunch of times to get away from Contador but Contador just wouldn’t let go. While all of this was going on I stayed in the leaders group because Froome still had teammates to catch them again. when Voeckler attack however I did follow him.
Voeckler, Schleck, Nibali and Gesink attack aswell
I didn’t let the gap to that group too big but I didn’t catch up either, more like on the border of being dropped and joining the group. Voeckler overestimated his strength and dropped from the the group Nibali with Gesink while I overtook I placed an attack to distance myself towards him.
Voeckler cracks, I had 2,5 km to get a minute gap for 10th place
Then Rolland, teammate of Voeckler showed that he isn’t a good teammate because he left Voeckler behind to benefit from his off-day aswell. He pulled the group along for a while and while he sprinted to 16th place Voeckler lost more time. I managed to pick up some breakaway members on the final meters with Andy Schleck and Froome not being able to follow the pace anymore.
the finish is so close, with Cancellara and Miller from the breakaway
Not all the breakaway riders were picked up. Uran (Sky) and Moreno (Katusha) were able to stay clear from the Spanish trio, Rodriguez, Valverde, Contador and also the two who held out the longest and in the end Rigoberto Uran (Sky) would win the stage in a sprint-a-duex. Le Mével was third while Jeannesson was 4th.
The GC had some minor changes, Valverde and Froome switched 2nd and 3rd places. Rodriguez and Van Garderen did the same with 4th and 5th. Nibali and Sánchez got turned upside down as well with Nibali now in 8th and Sánchez in 9th. Voeckler was still 10th. I got closer to Voeckler for 10th place but the gap was still 47 seconds. I’ll finish 11th this tour, 2 places better than last year’s 13th. Like last year I also take a jersey home. It might not be the white jersey but the mountain jersey this time. The white jersey which I was going for belongs to Van Garderen.
@sutty: indeed, we got some nice stage results, two stage wins and multiple top 10's. that unneeded time loss on stage 14 eventually lost him a GC top 10. oh well nothing to do about it now I guess
The stage does not really begin until the Champs-Elysées is reached and, if tradition is respected. It should be a sprinter who raises his arms.
Stage Favorites
Mark Cavenidsh (OPQ)
Andre Greipel (LTB)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
GM: The Champs-Elysees has arrived, lads!
Thibaut Pinot: we are coming home today, after 21 stages covering 3268 kilometers, the Tour de France 2013 has ended. Alberto Contador is this year’s winner while Mark Cavendish (Green), Tejay van Garderen (White), Pierrick Fédrigo (most aggressive), Team Sky (team classification) and me (Polka-Dot) all have their own awards. There is only one award left. The stage while I just rode along in the peloton all day, Nacer Bouhanni still had something to ride for, he wanted to win the stage and pick up some extra points for the green jersey, first place might be impossible but a podium is still achievable. For the intermediate sprint he went early as he was caught behind a bit and needed to catch up
the inside for the next corner
However, Cavendish wasn’t letting someone surprise him.
The Manx Missile is the king of the sprinters
In the final sprint, Goss let a gap coming out of the tunnel and that let Cavendish and Steegmans, Hutarovich on a big distance before the sprint even started.
is this gap going to be closed?
the gap is still big
Steegmans starts fading, Cavendish has a bus length advantage
Farrar came out of the slipstream of Goss and sprinted to third place
Mark Cavendish wins on the Champs-Elysees, Hutarovich isn’t able to beat him (or get close), Farrar wins the bunch sprint while Bouhanni only manages fourth after closing that gap. Goss luckily only get’s 5th, after letting that gap.
the tour has finished please ignore the stage ranking, that was a different recording
Contador and Van Garderen also finished safely in the peloton meaning that they are the respective winners of the tour and the youth classification.
maybe not the podium place he hoped for but Thibaut Pinot is on the Tour the France Podium again
that's a typo, Kadri rides for AG2R not FDJ and Roy riders for FDJ, not AG2R. sorry for the confusion 
