The miracle of the multiplication of the Zabels (catch that reference in the text if you can )
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
July 11:Le Tour de France – Stage 4 | Villers-Cotterêts > Joigny – 193 km
Stage Profile
There’s one man dominating the Tour right now and it would be redundant even to mention his name. He took over the yellow jersey yesterday in a quite unusual fashion, when he exploited a strong side-wind to break off the pack alongside a lot of Quickstep and Milram riders. This resulted in him winning the stage and he now has a lead of over 2 minutes to 2nd in the GC, Fabian Cancellara. Today is most likely going to be another mass sprint finish and I’ve put some money on Boonen this morning, to win the stage. He just seems untouchable right now. Haedo is in absolute peak condition also, so we hope he can do something today.
The new team in charge let a group of opportunists get away after the excessive attacking at the start of the day came to an end.
These opportunists were Burghardt, Kiryienka, Coyot, Ivanov, Baldato, Bertogliato and Domniguez Lemos. A clever move by Lampre as they wouldn’t have to any chasing to set up Napolitano who surprisingly seems like their best sprint, as he occupies 2nd place in the points competition and therefor he rides in the green jersey today, as Boonen can’t wear both yellow and green. There hasn’t been much focus on the other jersey, so just to give the riders wearing them a little credit, we have Dumoulin wearing the polka dots while Løvkvist is the owner of the young riders jersey.
The gap for the breakaway topped at around 7 minutes with 80 kilometres to go, so the pack led by Quickstep for Boonen, Discovery for Davis and Milram for Zabel, didn’t take any chances now where Lampre wouldn’t participate. It’s a bit odd that we haven’t seen Predictor relaying so far and I’m sure the other sprinters are frowning a bit over this, but then again, McEwen hasn’t seemed strong after all, so maybe they don’t care about them not relaying. The chase went incredibly fast and already with 50 kilometres to go of the stage the group was reeled in again. You would think a new breakaway would then form, but apparently no one had the courage to take off from here. At this point the pack was going to hit two back-to-back 4th category climbs located just a few kilometres apart. Patxi Vila won the both and therefor gained 10 points meaning he will be in the polka dot jersey at the end of the day.
So with no other breakaways getting away the pack drove quite calmly towards the finish line in Joigny, to set thing up for a new mass sprint finish. At the start of the finale we had to trains. One on the right with just three riders: Van Heeswijk – Rodriguez – Brown. In the other, in the middle of the road, we had Thor Hushovd, who was in the relaying train, with Napolitano, Haussler, Boonen, Zabel, Freire and Steegmans in his wheel.
This looked a bit chaotic at the start of the sprint and Rabobank in particular wasn’t very organized with Freire not being in their train.
Haedo tried to stay with Boonen but just before the sprint he had to let go. Apparently the pace got to him. Van Heeswijk wasn’t strong and Hushovd, only with Napolitano in his wheel powered away. This was going to be too long a sprint for the Norwegian. Napolitano waited and waited until Boonen came like a rocket from behind. In the final turn Napolitano accelerated and got past Hushovd. Boonen had had his rhythm disturbed by the turn and he didn’t close in fast enough on Napolitano who took an absolutely justified win, after he have been up there on all previous stages this far. Boonen took 2nd, while Hushovd came 3rd. Zabel was 4th ahead of Brown and Freire, while Haussler edged out Haedo for 7th and Valverde and Van Heeswijk completed the Top Ten.
Danilo Napolitano took his 2nd Grand Tour stage win of the season as someone finally managed to break Boonen’s hot streak.
Tomorrow we finally hit some hills and Boonen might lose his jersey to a better climber because it will take some ability to get properly over the final hill.
Napolitano gained Lampre their first win of this year’s Tour de France as he beat Boonen and Hushovd to the line.
(The game crashed at the end of the stage so I couldn’t export the result – is there really no other way to do it?)
July 12:Le Tour de France – Stage 5 | Chablis > Autun – 182,5 km
Stage Profile
Finally some undulating terrain as the riders have to climb the first 2nd category climb of the Tour followed by a short 3rd category with with just over 10 kilometres to go of the stage. Jens Voigt has been very frustrated following the stage to Compiegne where he lost his Top ten spot in the GC, so we told him to try and make it to the breakaway today. And so he of course did.
Jens Voigt in his right element today; in a breakaway on a hilly course.
He got away with Dumoulin, Capecchi, Wrölich, Azanza Soto and Klimov. There is a lot of KOM sprints today so maybe Voigt will go for the polka dot jersey now where Vila is in the pack. He only gained 2 points from the two first KOM sprints, but then he began going for it. The gap topped at 10 minutes with 100 kilometres to go, but Voigt was in fantastic shape so maybe he would be able to hold them off if he could get away.
Quickstep decided it was time to reel the breakaway in again with 100 kilometres to go – smart decision as Wrölich were only 3’30” back in the GC.
The leading group stayed together for the next two KOM sprints, which Voigt claimed to gain another 13 points. But before the next KOM sprint, Azanza Soto and Dumoulin had to let go. Not a good sign for the break. Voigt claimed the next 5 points, bringing his tally to 20 and he was now the virtual owner of the polka dots. Voigt also took the 20 points at the 2nd category climb of Haut-Folin. A lot of riders were dropped from the pack on this climb as it was cut to just 112 riders. Guys like Napolitano, Hincapie and Ballan got dropped. Also Dave and JJ had to let go here. A bit dissapointing for Dave, who I thought would be stronger.
At the summit of Haut-Folin the gap to the pack was 1’30” and Wrölich had been dropped by Voigt, Capecchi and Klimov. At the end of the descent with about 30 kilometres to go and just under 15 kilometres to the last hill, Côte de la Croix de la Libération, Voigt pulled away from his companions. But it was going to be tough. The pack was only one minute down with 20 kilometres to go and Voigt had to give in after a few kilometres on the last climb.
Jens Voigt got a consolation today as he will take over the polka dot jersey from Vila, and with the form he is we might see him go for it all the way.
1 CSC rider caught, but still 5 left in the pack (Vandevelde had also been dropped) and one of them is called Fränk Schleck. And Fränk decided to take off with a few kilometres to the top and he looked strong as he quickly got a gap. A lot of riders tried to counter, but no one could stay with him so not only did he snatch the 10 points at the top, he also got himself a 30 seconds gap with about 8 kilometres left.
Frank Schleck descending ahead of the peloton, can he stay clear and claim a fantastic win?
The pack didn’t gain a whole lot on the descent nor the flat part towards the finish, so Frank started the sprint with a gap of 300 metres to the pack. We’d hoped that the big sprinters were too long down because of the climb and at first it looked like that was the case as it was guys like Laurent Brochard and Nick Nuyens at the front of the pack. But Hushovd, Freire, Boonen and Zabel was there. They were long down but they came fast as they hit the final stretch. If anyone could challenge Frank it was going to be one of them.
Frank had a small advantage on the home stretch and it looked as though he could bring this one home.
Fränk were putting in a last-ditch effort and he was digging deep right now. Freire and Hushovd were nearing in from behind but we kept on hoping in the support car. But they were too close now, Fränk was dying out and he couldn’t hold them off any longer as the went past him with 500 metres to go of the stage. Very bitter for Fränk. Hushovd were leading now but he Freire coming up on his left hand side. He gained on the Norwegian but it was too late for Freire who had to settle for 2nd behind stage winner Hushovd. Valverde took 3rd and gained 8 seconds today, while Zabel finished 4th ahead of Haussler and Schleck.
Fränk Schleck had to see five riders sprint past him on the home stretch. Thor Hushovd was the strongest of these and he claimed the stage win.
So very bitter day in the end for us but we recieved some very positive signals from our riders. Voigt is in great form and he’s got us a jersey. Frank Schleck is also coming along a lot better than he did in Switzerland and Sastre said he felt perfectly throughout the whole and also on the climbs, so I’m very confident right now and I hope to be still, when we hit the first mountains in two days. Tomorrow features some flat terrain and a mass sprint, most likely, but then the next day we have mountains on the profile.
Le Tour de France – Stage 5 | Result
1 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE 4h27'45
2 Oscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
4 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t.
5 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t. 6 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
7 Pierrick Fédrigo BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
8 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
9 Laurent Brochard BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t.
10 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
12 Kim Kirchen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
13 Koldo Fernandez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
14 Vicente Reynès CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
16 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
17 Gert Steegmans QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
18 Igor Astarloa TEAM MILRAM s.t. 19 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Jérôme Pineau BOUYGUES TELECOM s.t. 69 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
73 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
95 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
103 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
123 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 2'54
156 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
175 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 7'32
Le Tour de France – Stage 5 | GC
1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 22h48'41
2 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 2'17
3 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 2'22
4 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE + 2'23
5 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'30
6 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'31
7 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA + 2'33
8 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'35
9 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'36
10 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 2'38
11 Yaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'39
12 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'40
13 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 2'43 14 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 2'46
15 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 2'49
16 Yuriy Krivtsov AG2R PREVOYANCE + 2'50
17 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'54
18 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS s.t.
19 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 2'55 20 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 2'59
66 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'16
69 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'29 75 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 5'47
90 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 6'30
102 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 9'07
122 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 10'27
138 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 13'07
153 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 17'53
Le Tour de France – Stage 5 | Points Competition
1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 152
2 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM 122
3 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 121
4 Oscar Freire RABOBANK 106
5 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE 106
6 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 92
7 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 92
8 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 80
9 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 70
10 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 62
Le Tour de France – Stage 5 | King of the Mountains Competition
1 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 40
2 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER 27
3 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS 24
4 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PREVOYANCE
5 Serguei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 16
6 Jorge Azanza Soto EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 11
7 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL 10 8 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 10
9 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 8
10 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM 7
Thor Hushovd won the fifth stage to Joigny as he is looking better day by day.
July 13:Le Tour de France – Stage 6 | Semur-En-Auxois > Bourg-En-Bresse – 199,5 km
Stage Profile
The last flat stage before the Alps. The next two stages will feature a lot of mountains and they will surely be decisive for who come away on top in this year’s Tour, but today it’s flat again and we should see the stage be settled in another mass sprint. The profile doesn’t fit any of our riders to take off early, so we kept everybody together in the pack to keep Carlos out of the wind and to prepare Haedo for the sprint.
Six riders got away today, but only five of them formed the leading group as Hincapie was riding solo between them and the pack.
The five riders in front were Geslin, Trussov, Fischer, Etxebarria and Bonnet. The gap began coming down when Milram and Quickstep took the lead with 100 kilometres to go of the stage. At this point the gap was just over 10 minutes. With 75 kilometres left to race the gap had come down to just 4’45” and it was all over for the leaders after just 70 kilometres of chasing, when they were reeled in with just under 30 kilometres to go. So it was going to come down to a sprint, meaning Boonen will be in yellow on tomorrow’s mountain stage, if he doesn’t crash of course.
Haedo looked really good today as he got himself into a perfect position. He was in the leading train, led by Sacchi who was followed by his captain Zabel who then had Haedo and McEwen in his wheel. Behind McEwen were Haussler, Napolitano, Boonen and Hushovd. Valverde was also up there with Freire and Eisel jostling for his wheel just ahead of Davis.
Sacchi has shown himself a lot this Tour in the mass sprint and today he got his leader in perfect position, but can Zabel’s old legs finish it off?
Sacchi provided the perfect lead-out for Zabel who took his time behind him. Valverde had worked his way up to Zabel and Haussler was coming with Napolitano and Boonen in his wheel on the outside, when Zabel accelerated into the lead with Haedo following. In the final left turn Haussler came scorching on the right, but the turn messed with his rhythm and he didn’t gain that much on Zabel from here. Haussler moved past Haedo and Boonen was also closing in on our sprinter ace.
Zabel wasn’t to be touched though as he took an impressive win in the green jersey. Haussler took 2nd, while Boonen just managed to edge Haedo out of the top 3. Napolitano came in 5th while McEwen took care of 6th place. Yesterday’s winner, Thor Hushovd, only managed 9th.
Erik Zabel has still got something left in his legs as he added yet another victory to his incredible resumé.
None of our riders were dropped today and Haedo looked very good so we are very well please with outcome today. Sastre is in peak condition and he needs to be because tomorrow we have the first mountain stage of the Tour. Here the riders will have to conquer two 3rd category climbs and a 4th category before they hit the first 1st category climb of the Tour, when they after 167 kilometres begin the ascend to Col de la Colombière, with its 16 kilometres and an average slope of 6,7%. The stage finishes at the bottom of the descent where we could see a small group of favourites fighting it out. Eventhough I have confidence in Sastre, I think Valverde will win tomorrow. But Schleck could also be a good bid.
Le Tour de France – Stage 6 | Result
1 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM 4h32'50
2 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
3 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t. 4 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC s.t.
5 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t.
6 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
7 Oscar Freire RABOBANK s.t.
8 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
9 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
10 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
11 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Fabio Sacchi TEAM MILRAM s.t.
13 Jean-Patrick Nazon AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
14 Jimmy Casper UNIBET.COM s.t.
15 Jeremy Hunt UNIBET.COM s.t.
16 Baden Cooke UNIBET.COM s.t.
17 Fred Rodriguez PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
18 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER s.t.
19 Steven De Jongh QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
20 Fabian Wegmann GEROLSTEINER s.t. 79 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
85 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
86 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
89 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC s.t.
90 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
91 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
94 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
107 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
Le Tour de France – Stage 6 | GC
1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 27h21'23
2 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 2'25
3 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 2'30
4 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE + 2'31
5 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'38
6 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'39
7 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA + 2'41
8 Mikhail Ignatiev TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'43
9 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'44
10 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 2'46
11 Yaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 2'47
12 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'48
13 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 2'51 14 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 2'54
15 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 2'57
16 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM + 2'58
17 Yuriy Krivtsov AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t.
18 Amaël Moinard COFIDIS + 3'02
19 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 3'03 21 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 3'07
66 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'24
69 Alberto Contador DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 5'37 75 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 5'55
90 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 6'38
102 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 9'15
121 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 10'35
133 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC + 13'15
151 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 18'01
Le Tour de France – Stage 6 | Points Competition
1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 178
2 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM 157
3 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 143
4 Oscar Freire RABOBANK 125
5 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE 123
6 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 122
7 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 110
8 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 96
9 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 90
10 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 77 11 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC 68
17 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 42
29 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 18
34 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 15
Le Tour de France – Stage 6 | King of the Mountains Competition
1 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 40
2 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER 27
3 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS 24
4 Samuel Dumoulin AG2R PREVOYANCE 17
5 Serguei Klimov TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS 16
6 Jorge Azanza Soto EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 11
7 Patxi Vila LAMPRE - FONDITAL 10 8 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 10
9 Frederic Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX 8
10 Murilo Fischer LIQUIGAS 7
Old Erik Zabel has still got the moves and he showed this by winning the 6th stage of the Tour de France.
stuartmcstuart wrote:
Do you think Haedo can keep his form through the mountains? If he does you'll surely get a win with him then when the other sprinters tire
I hope he can, but evenso it'll be hard to grab a win with, considering he is only 78 in the Sprint.
EDIT: I have some updates coming up today.
Edited by niconico on 09-02-2008 16:31
July 14:Le Tour de France – Stage 7 | Bourg-en-Bresse > Le-Grand-Bornand – 197,5 km
Stage Profile
Today we finally hit the interesting stuff. Today the GC will begin to form when the riders have to climb the terrifying Col de la Colombiere, with its 16 km and and an average slope of 6,7%. None of the GC favourites can afford to lose a lot of time today, but we will most likely see a few of the biggest favourites lose time today and it’s going to be interesting to get the first answers to the GC question. The profile fits perfectly for a Alejandro Valverde type of rider and to be honest I think he will win today. I hope I’m not jinxing it
It was quite strange stage as no breaks ever managed to get decisively away. A lot tried but they always contained to dangerous riders, so the pack wouldn’t run the risk of letting Alberto Contador take part in the early breakaway. So as the pack hit the final climb of Col de la Colombiere we had a pack with 187 riders in it.
Caisse d’Epargne believed in their leader Valverde as they controlled the pack before the final climb of the day. Surely Boonen was on his last 50 kilometres as 2007 Tour leader.
But we were also confident in our leader and we didn’t feel like giving Caisse the initiative so a few kilometres before the 16 kilometre ascend to the summit of Col de la Colombiere, we hit the front with all of our riders to be on top of things when the climb begins. Unfortuneately Frank had told us that he was feeling awful today, while Carlos wasn’t feeling too good either. But he’s in peak condition, so we were still sure he could do something on this mountain.
Fränk led the pack on the first part of Col de la Colombiere, but he wasn’t sure if he had the energy to attack.
Nevertheless Fränk gave it his all when he accelerated away with Carlos and Valverde countering. Fränk couldn’t keep up but Carlos and Valverde managed to get away, to form the leading group together. Moments later Fränk was joined by Moreau, who was absolutely fantastic today. He managed to reel in Carlos and Valverde, with Frank on his wheel. Frank had to let go immediately, so the front consisted of Carlos, Valverde and Moreau with some 8 kilometres to the top.
Carlos Sastre was the first GC rider of the Tour to challenge the others when he took off on Col de la Colombiere.
Behind a group of 5 riders had formed. Løvkvist, Garate, Klöden, Caucchioli and Fothen were in it. Leipheimer and Menchov attack a bit later, with some 6 kilometres to the top, but they nevertheless managed to join up with the group of 5 ahead of them, where Schleck also were now, meaning it had become a group of 8 riders. With 3 kilometres to the top this group was 1’11” after the leaders. Evans had also made it to that group, while Løvkvist had been dropped. The pace was very high however and at the summit there were only 5 riders left in the chasing group. These were Evans, Klöden, Leipheimer, Fothen and Menchov. Gárate was a bit behind them on his own, while Schleck simply didn’t have anything in his legs today, so he was pack in the pack, which was cut to just 17 riders at this point and we still had Voigt, Vandevelde, Julich, Zabriskie and Cuesta in it.
Menchov seemed strong but he might have attacked too late as his group was a lot behind at the summit of the Col de la Colombiere.
The gap between the leaders and the chasers came a bit down on the descent and on the home stretch it was just some 40 seconds or so. Sastre had to lead the sprint out, but there was no way he was going to win anyway.
Carlos Sastre, Valverde and Moreau was going to settle the stage between as all three of them have strenghtened their GC winner potentials substiantally.
Moreau went past Sastre almost instantly and for a moment it looked as though Valverde was too beat to go past the Frenchman. But it was just a play to the gallery by Valverde as finally raced past Moreau to claim a fantastic win and the leaders jersey. Because of the bonus seconds awarded to Moreau he would move to 2nd in the GC, while Sastre will be 3rd. Cadel Evans won the sprint of the chasers 43 seconds later, with Fothen, Klöden, Menchov and Leipheimer following him closely. Surely Leipheimer must be disgusted with the loss he suffered on the 2nd stage when he was dropped from the pack.
Alejandro Valverde became the third rider to wear the yellow jersey when he beat Moreau and Sastre to the line on the first mountain stage of the Tour.
Good day for Sastre but a bit unfortuneate that Frank was feeling so bad, because he is in great form and I still think he can break into the top ten. Eventhough a guy like Klöden lost some time today he is far from being out of the GC fight, because with this time trial abilities he should be able to gain the time he has lost on Valverde, on the next time trial. Tomorrow features the first mountain finish when the riders have conquer Montée de Tignes. A 1st category climb of 17,7 kilometres and an average slope of 5,5%. None of the GC riders can afford to have an off-day.
Le Tour de France – Stage 7 | Result
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 5h19'25
2 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE s.t. 3 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC s.t.
4 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 43
5 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER s.t.
6 Andreas Klöden ASTANA s.t.
7 Denis Menchov RABOBANK s.t.
8 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t.
9 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 2'31
10 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 3'44
11 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t.
13 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
14 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
15 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
16 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA s.t. 17 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC s.t.
18 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
19 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC s.t.
20 Yaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL s.t. 21 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC s.t.
23 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC s.t.
25 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
73 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 13'33
92 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 15'49
Le Tour de France – Stage 7 | GC
1 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 32h43'16
2 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE + 11 3 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC + 18
4 Andreas Klöden ASTANA + 45
5 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER + 1'01
6 Denis Menchov RABOBANK + 1'12
7 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'17
8 Juan Manuel Gárate QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC + 3'29
9 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 3'39
10 Vladimir Karpets CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 3'54
11 Thomas Lövkvist FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 3'55
12 Paolo Savoldelli ASTANA + 3'57
13 Michael Rogers T-MOBILE TEAM + 4'00
14 Yaroslav Popovych DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 4'03
15 Chris Horner PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 4'19 16 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC + 4'23
17 Pietro Caucchioli CREDIT AGRICOLE + 4'37
18 Gilberto Simoni SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 4'49
19 Linus Gerdemann T-MOBILE TEAM + 6'45
20 Tom Danielson DISCOVERY CHANNEL + 6'51 22 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC + 7'11
34 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 10'31
46 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 11'51
50 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC + 13'30
54 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC s.t.
79 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC + 19'17
85 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC + 19'59
Le Tour de France – Stage 7 | Points Competition
1 Tom Boonen QUICKSTEP - INNERGETIC 190
2 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM 169
3 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 145
4 Danilo Napolitano LAMPRE - FONDITAL 143
5 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER 128
6 Thor Hushovd CREDIT AGRICOLE 127
7 Oscar Freire RABOBANK 127
8 Allan Davis DISCOVERY CHANNEL 96
9 Robbie McEwen PREDICTOR - LOTTO 90
10 Bernhard Eisel T-MOBILE TEAM 77 11 Juan José Haedo TEAM CSC 68
17 Fabian Cancellara TEAM CSC 0 42
25 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 26
30 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 21
35 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 20
61 Bobby Julich TEAM CSC 9
63 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC 8
65 Christian Vandevelde TEAM CSC 7
94 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC 1
Le Tour de France – Stage 7 | King of the Mountains Competition
1 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC 46
2 Christophe Moreau AG2R PREVOYANCE 40
3 Cadel Evans PREDICTOR - LOTTO 39
4 Denis Menchov RABOBANK 36 5 Carlos Sastre TEAM CSC 35
6 Markus Fothen GEROLSTEINER 30
7 Alejandro Valverde CAISSE D'EPARGNE 30
8 Peter Wrölich GEROLSTEINER 27
9 Eros Capecchi LIQUIGAS 24
10 Levi Leipheimer DISCOVERY CHANNEL 18 19 Frank Schleck TEAM CSC 10
46 Iñigo Cuesta TEAM CSC 1
Alejandro Valverde took over the yellow jersey from Boonen on stage 7.
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