Just 11 stages left and one more rest day. I feel I’ve past the toughest hurdle on the way to Paris now. We are currently sitting a seven straight stage wins and quite frankly we don’t need any more, eventhough I would like to get one along the way. Today is hopefully going to be an easy ride as the stage is more or less flat, with a very small hill just outside Saint Etienne.
Tomorrow is a very hilly stage and if possible I will try to attack in the finale. Only changes in the GC today was because of Rogers abandoning, which meant I’m now back in the Top 20, while Kirchen is back in the Top 10 as our fourth rider.
Interesting stage today for me. If none of the favourites attack surely this is my chance of winning a stage, the profile is absolutely perfect for me. I just need to hope the break will be reeled in, because I won’t be going early since I need to support Thomas in the peloton. This might cancel out my chance of a stage win this season. I’m also starting to feel a bit fatigue and I know what I’m doing as soon as I cross the line at Champs Elysees – RELAX!
The finish today is in La Bourboule, but prior to the flat home stretch we have to negotiate two quite tough hills. Perfect for me to attack and pull some other riders with me and then hopefully take it in the sprint. That’s the plan at least, it might end very differently. Again, here’s some tourist information.
Not surprising that the finale will be so rolling with a landscape like this surrounding the city.
While I was doing a water round by the cars about 30 kilometres into the stage something quite interesting happened as Di Luca, sitting 22nd in the GC 22 minutes down, attacked at the first climb on the day to catch the early break shortly after the summit. Being the leading team we of course controlled pack and reckoned we would let Di Luca go as he was so far back in the classement. So we did. At the second climb Di Luca began pulling away from the others and he had about 2 minutes going over the top. With Di Luca going solo we were even more content as there was no way he would make it on his own with so far to go.
Di Luca in a bold attack.
We were setting a low pace going over the second climb and then following on the next flat part before the two finale climbs. This led to Di Luca gaining an advantage of 25 minutes. At this point though Astana went to the front and upped the pace. Seems like Contador wants to try something.
Di Luca had already crossed the top of the penultimate climb before we hit it. Here things kicked off though with podium candidate Augustyn attacking alongside Andy Schleck as they would get a gap on the pack.
A few hundred metres later Contador went, Dekker countered. Linus wasn’t feeling good today, and as Brian and Rolf wanted support for Dekker I went with it feeling pretty great! Unfortuneately I could quite keep up with the strongest riders who formed in a group behind Schleck and Augustyn.
Dekker, Contador, Moreno, Valverde, Evans and Lowe.
I was just 30 seconds back though as I was part of a trio together with Mollema and Samoilau.
I was digging deep to come across and I think I would’ve if it wasn’t because I was told to stop relaying as there was no point in dragging Mollema further up the road as he was about to take Linus’ 3rd place. Augustyn were already doing this though. He and Schleck were still leading the Dekker Group.
Di Luca was not going to get caught by the favourites, but suddenly another rider from the early break, Pauriol, was just 1 minute back as they were nearing in on the top of the final climb!
Di Luca would cross the summit leading the Frenchman by one minute and the favourites by almost ten! Contador attacked on final climb, but Dekker could easily follow as they got a small gap on the four others. I was still sitting about a minute and a half ahead of the pack but still trailing the group Dekker had attacked from.
The two Tour candidates in a new battle!
Meanwhile Danilo Di Luca held off Pauriol confidently as he took an absolutely amazing victory after a solo run of 150 kilometres! Special, special victory. I’m quite proud to have beaten this guy. What a performance!
Augustyn and Schleck held off the Dekker and Contador as they fought it out for 5th place on the stage, they finished 6’24 after Di Luca. Dekker and Contador caught some of the early attackers on the finish line, but they were also caught by Lowe, Valverde, Evans and Moreno.
I beat Mollema in the sprint 17th place as we caught Menzies on the line, also from the early break. We finished 9’34 later.
Sutton led the pack in just over a minute after me, Mollema and Samoilau, meaning Gerdemann will unfortunately drop down in the GC. Besides from that we had a pretty good day as Thomas once again confirmed he can match Contador on the slopes and I also enjoyed my ride today. Sitting with Mollema in these climbs is not bad. Once again I’m very well pleased, but tired.
We’re not in Pyrenees yet, but nevertheless today’s stage features a HC Mountain. And that’s it actually as today is a mountain time trial up the Le Puy de Dome, which is actually a volcanoe, so I hope we’re in for a spectacular scene today. Thomas needs to be ready here, if he has an off-day he could quickly lose his whole advantage on Contador, let’s hope that won’t happen. I’ve reached a point where I’m starting to change my plans a bit. Instead of going for a stage win I might try to try and stay inside the Top 20, which is another prestigious achievement in Le Tour, so that’s most likely what I’m going for unless today’s stage turns out disastrous for me. I’ve ridden one other mountain time trial in my career earlier though. That was in this year’s Paris-Nice, which went quite well, so I’m hoping I can duplicate on that performance today.
Le Puy de Dome in Massif Central.
First up: My performance. I think I could’ve done better but I’m starting to feel pretty fatigue and maybe I should just trash the Top 20 goal and go for a stage win as there’s still three flat stages to go and hell, why not try a bold attack on a mountain stage a la Di Luca? I might still give it a shot I don’t know yet, let’s see how the legs feel the next stages. I took 31st about 3 minutes after the winner, so I did manage to stay inside the Top 20, but only just as Løvkvist is just 4 seconds after in 21st and Sastre in 22nd just some 20 seconds.
Oh and then Dekker. Did I mention just how incredible this guy is? Maybe I have, but I’ll to say it again as he took a dominant win today beating Mollema by 22 seconds and Contador in 3rd by 49!
So Thomas extends his lead to over 3 minutes and there are just three mountain stages between him and the overall victory now. Again, this is not bad…
1 Thomas Dekker Team High Road 36'55
2 Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 22
3 Alberto Contador Team Astana + 49
4 Cadel Evans Lampre + 56
5 Yaroslav Popovych Team Astana + 59
6 John-Lee Augustyn Caisse d'Epargne + 1'22
7 Andy Schleck Team CSC + 1'23
8 Janez Brajkovic Team Astana + 1'25
9 Javier Moreno Silence - Lotto + 1'31
10 Robert Gesink Rabobank + 1'40 11 Kim Kirchen Team High Road + 1'44
12 Vladimir Karpets Lampre + 1'48 13 Linus Gerdemann Team High Road + 1'50
14 Trent Lowe Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O + 1'51
15 Denis Menchov Rabobank + 1'54
16 Tom Stubbe Saunier Duval - Scott + 2'03
17 Wout Poels Team Astana + 2'05
18 Ignacio Sarabia Caisse d'Epargne + 2'08
19 Branislav Samoilau Quick•Step + 2'14
20 Carlos Sastre Caisse d'Epargne + 2'32 31 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road + 3'20
A flat stage from Montpellier to Perpignan at the foot of the Pyrenees today, so the next three stages will all be in the mountain range between France and Spain, with the last rest day after tomorrow’s stage to Ax-3-Domains. We were just interested in an as easy day as possible today and with the next three stages being so crucial so were the rest of the teams, the ones with GC riders at least.
Perpignan marks the beginning of the Pyrenean stages.
Perpignan at the foot of the mountains.
With the GC teams not interested today a big group of 13 riders go away, with 30 kilometres to go the gap was about 15 minutes.
Cazaux, De Maar, Bouet, Van Garderen, Creed, Duque, Vigano, Verbist, Impey, Quemeneur, Nuyens, Guillou and Vaugrenard.
With 15 kilometres to go Vaugrenard attack and built a gap of 20 seconds entering the last 10 kilometres.
He was caught by Bouet, Guillou, Impey, Nuyens and Verbist and these six would settle the stage between him, with Bouet leading out the sprint challenged by Impey.
And being the strongest sprinter, Impey takes the stage, barely.
Hagen took the sprint of the pack for 14th as he is now back in the Green Jersey. About myself, I’m not feeling very fresh anymore, it’s been a hard race and I’ve been taking a lot of wind for Dekker through these first two weeks and I’m not confident I can keep my Top 20 placing on tomorrow’s stage, which is going to be incredibly tough. Hopefully Thomas is ready though.
No doubt Contador will attack today and Dekker needs to be at his best to keep his lead intact coming into the last rest day of the Tour tomorrow. I know what this profile means for me, work and loads of it and I’m going to spend my entire day at the front. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on me in this entry though as it’s all about Dekker today and the next two stages. For me it’s just about making it through to Paris, and then try to get in the early break on stage 17 or 18.
Polka Dot Jersey wearer Robert Gesink went already on the first climb today to gain points and secure the win as Di Luca is just a few points behind him. Here he is leading the stage at the second climb, Col de Jau.
Now, I didn’t have to sit at the front today, but that mean that the stage got easier for me, on the contrary actually, as Astana and Caisse d’Epargne set a relentless pace practically through the whole stage to set up their captains Contador and Augustyn. So already after the Col de Jau, the pack was thinned down to just 17 riders. Dekker only had Gerdemann with him.
Just as the favourites hit the penultimate climb, the almost mythical Port de Pailheres, the attacks started as Augustyn, who has been incredible coming into the last week of the Tour, and Contador attacked. Dekker kept up with Contador but couldn’t catch the South African. He’s not a big threat though.
Augustyn quickly caught and dropped Gesink at Pailheres.
Schleck leading the Favourites’ Group. I heard over the radio that Thomas was struggling a bit today.
Andy, Menchov, Lowe, Dekker, Mollema, Popovych, Eltink, Contador and Evans.
Dekker made it over Port de Pailheres, but at the final climb up to Ax-3-Domaines, he was really starting to struggle and he just had to ride his own pace and couldn’t go with any accelerations without blowing up.
Dekker has lost a few metres with 6 kilometers to go.
Augustyn was caught again at this point, but he kept in there, as Dekker had made his way back with 4 kilometres to go in spite of Contador setting the pace now. Tireless effort by le Maillot Jaune!
Contador had more in the bag though as he shattered the Favourites’ Group with just under 2 kilometres left, only Popovych could follow!
Dekker was focused on keeping his own rhythm and at the final bit he had done a great job limiting the loss.
Contador took the win and 46 seconds on Dekker and he is now exactly two minutes down in the GC. This is going to be close.
I finished the day dead-beat of course, in 40th place over 16 minutes back as I’m out of the Top 20 and I’m not coming back for sure. I thank god there’s a rest day tomorrow before the final two Pyrenean stages.
The rest day couldn’t have come more convenient for me. I know have been whining a bit the last few days, but I was really tired after the last stage to Ax-3-Domaines, but after yesterday I’m feeling refreshed and ready to continue the adventure through the Pyrenees and I just realized how this is my first time ever riding in these mountains. I have been close in the Basque Tour, but these are the real Pyrenees. The tactic after Thomas showed some signs of weakness on Stage 14 has changed a bit as we wanted to put a few riders in the early break to help him out later. Luckily today’s stage didn’t feature an uphill finish, as the finish line were in the city of Massat at the foot of Col d’Agnes, which is the final climb of the day. It’s not the toughest pass in the Tour, and that may be good for Thomas.
Étang de Lers in Massat
Still on the French side of the Pyrenees.
The couple of riders we wanted to get in the break turned out to be Løvkvist and then me! I was in my first break of the Tour de France ever. We both attacked on the first climb on the day and caught up with the four leaders to form a 6-man leading group.
Only problem was that the others weren’t content with us being two riders, so they either refused to relay or tried to attack away. This eventually led to me falling back to the pack, as we agreed that Thomas was stronger than me today. That was brief. At the third but last climb, Col de la Core, Thomas found himself soloing. His gap wasn’t big though as Dekker’s signs of weakness on the last stage had spurred on Astana to set an incredible high pace the whole day.
He was still ahead as the Favourites’ Group hit the penultimate climb, but he was quickly reeled in. It seemed like the battle would be on Col d’Agnes until Andy Schleck attacked within the last kilometer of the climb and pulled Contador with him. Dekker couldn’t come across!
Dekker was struggling.
Contador and Schleck hit Col d’Agnes with a gap of about 40 seconds.
Dekker was fighting to limit the loss!
The gap was growing slowly and Contador managed to get rid off Schleck with a few kilometers to the summit, which he crossed leading Dekker’s Group by 1’30!
He would need 1’40 to catch Dekker in the GC as Contador were looking to grab the 20 bonification seconds. Linus hit the front in the descent with everything he had to defend his captain’s jersey!
The advantage was kept just about static around 1’40 and this was going to be by the skin of the teeth if Dekker was going to defend his jersey. The stage win was long gone though. Contador for the second stage in a row!
Schleck finished 31 seconds after and Dekker’s Group ended up losing 1’43. Dekker finished 6th place, so he lost the jersey by 3 seconds!
He’s going to keep fighting though as tomorrow is the last mountain stage and the final climb to La Mongie isn’t that tough and there’s one 50 kilometres time trial left. Dekker is still very much within a shout! I didn’t have a good day finishing in 90th place more than 16 minutes back as even Cornu managed to outclimb me.
1 Alberto Contador Team Astana 5h50'38
2 Andy Schleck Team CSC + 31
3 Bauke Mollema Rabobank + 1'43
4 Trent Lowe Slipstream - Chipotle powered by H3O s.t.
5 Branislav Samoilau Quick•Step s.t. 6 Thomas Dekker Team High Road s.t.
7 Tom Stubbe Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
8 Alejandro Valverde Saunier Duval - Scott s.t.
9 John-Lee Augustyn Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
10 Cadel Evans Lampre + 2'16 11 Linus Gerdemann Team High Road s.t.
12 Vladimir Karpets Lampre s.t.
13 Yaroslav Popovych Team Astana + 3'54
14 Theo Eltink Rabobank s.t.
15 Luis León Sánchez Team CSC s.t. 16 Kim Kirchen Team High Road + 4'37
17 Ignacio Sarabia Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
18 Janez Brajkovic Team Astana s.t.
19 Carlos Sastre Caisse d'Epargne s.t.
20 Alberto Losada Caisse d'Epargne s.t. 90 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen Team High Road s.t.
I think some of my teammates are getting tired of my moaning and especially my roommate Løvkvist as the first thing I have done the last few mornings is whine about how tired and completely battered and bruised my body is. But with the prospect of finishing the Pyrenees and the final mountains of the race today, I kept my mouth shut, at least until I got on the bike, where my legs were actually hurting quite a bit. I have been struggling a lot more during this Tour than I thought I would, but the finish line is getting closer and closer and I still have the stage win in the back of my head, but one thing’s for sure: It’s not going to come today. This is about Thomas now, if he can limit the loss to Contador today he should be able to regain the lead on the decisive time trial on Stage 19, so he needs to be sharp today. There’s one good thing about having lost the jersey though. I don’t have to sit at the front of the bloody pack another day! Honestly though I would have preferred to have taken that for the team in exchange of the yellow jersey, but as said Thomas is still very much in it.
Today’s soloist was Denis Menchov, who took off at Col de Peyresourde, the fourth last climb of this year’s Tour. He still had the lead on the penultimate climb, Hourquette d’Ancizan.
Here’s the remnants of the Favourites’ Group. Dekker didn’t have Linus with him, but Kim had made the cut today.
Contador, Lowe, A. Schleck, Dekker, Mollema, Kirchen, Augustyn, Poels, Sastre, Losada, Gesink and Karpets.
Menchov had a slim lead as he hit the foot oft he climb to La Mongie, but he was quickly brought back in. It didn’t take long before Contador put in his attack to take some much needed additional time on Dekker!
Again in the third week of the Tour the two Winner Candidates are back in front!
The fight for 3rd is also tense as Augustyn need to take more time on Mollema before the time trial. These two made up the chasing group and Karpets latched onto their wheels as he was having his best day in this race.
Contador trying to drop Dekker, he needs to do so if he wants to feel secure of anoher Tour victory.
But Dekker had recovered great from yesterday’s stage and he wasn’t going to get dropped. I was getting updates on how he was doing through the radio and at some points I almost rode into the spectators as I couldn’t focus on riding with Thomas refusing to let go up front.
Contador put the hammer down in the final 500 metres, but he wouldn’t gain much on Thomas!
Another win for the Spaniard as he extends his lead to 18 seconds, surely that’s not enough. One thing’s for sure. The time trial is going to be a true thriller!
"We all know that wasn't the real footage of the Worlds anyway. That was just the staged footage to perpetuate the coverup that it was actually Vinokourov that won the race."
I’m going to wait until tomorrow, I was just feeling too old as I got up this morning and I think I managed to annoy Løvkvist again emphasizing how freaking beat I am. Tomorrow it is. Brad wanted to give it a go today though and he put himself in the early break of 12 riders. Today’s stage took off from one of the most traditional Tour de France cities, Pau, and the finish line is in Coutras, meaning we’re finally turning towards Paris.
Coutras.
Turning away from the mountains. Thank you!
Liquigas wouldn’t let the break make it as they tried to reel them in. Wiggins proved to be among the strongest in the break as he was one of the final four riders.
They were reeled in with 15 kilometres to the line though. Mark gave Edvald a fantastic lead out as Edvald is looking to secure his Green Jersey, all he needed was to pass Sutton and the Stage win was his.
He did and so did Mark as they took home another 1-2 for the team and of course another stage win as Edvald looks like the winner of the green jersey now.
I had an easy day so hopefully I feel up for it tomorrow. It’s my last chance of a stage win.
My chance has finally arrived at the last real stage of Le Tour, if I actually end up winning today I have truly been efficient. Still though, I’m not feeling very good and my day-to-day recovery is not very good, but today I don’t care, this is worth the shot. At least we’re talking about a stage win at the Tour de France. I need to hit the break first of course. Today’s finale should be quite beautiful as the finish is in Les Sables-d’Olonne at the Atlantic Ocean. A great place to win a stage surely. Let’s see.
This looks inviting, I don’t hope I’m doing anything important after today’s stage.
First me and Cornu tried to get in the break together and we did establish a pretty strong group of, I think, 15 riders, but we were reeled back in. Big setback already. I had a bit left in the tank though so I went with the next wave and after some very hard work to keep off the pack we managed to establish a breakaway group of 9 riders. So far so good.
Unfortunately Liquigas wanted to set things up for Steegmans so they hit the front just as our advantage looked like it would last. LPR and Milram would eventually join in. With 50 kilometres to go we still had 4 minutes, so everything was possible. With 30 kilometers to go I had gone clear with two others from the break, still holding a gap on the pack.
Normally I would just try and beat these guys in the sprint, but not today as I decided to attack and go for a solo win! I got the gap! Now, Can I hold ‘em off?
Going for a massive solo victory!
But it didn’t work out as the pack would bring me in with 20 kilometres left. So no stage win for me in my first Tour de France, it’ll come around eventually hopefully.
I was completely drained from my effort, so I just fell through the pack and soloed in nice and easily. Mark and Edvald tried same mission template as yesterday, this time with Hagen leading out. But Sutton won the stage ahead of my two teammates!
So tomorrow is the final battle for the yellow jersey. I’m just going to take it easy and head into the team bus to watch Thomas on the TV as soon as I finish the 52 kilometres. We should be in for some day.
Dekker needs to grab 19 seconds on Contador to win the Tour de France. I just need to complete. With 52 kilometres that should be very possible for Dekker though being the better time trialist, even though Contador did beat him on both time trial during Tour de Suisse, but back then Dekker wasn’t on form like he is now. If I wasn’t feeling as fatigue as I was today then I might had a chance of going Top 20 as the route with its many hills is quite good for me, but my legs were hurting right from the outset and I just wanted to finish as quickly as possible so I could watch Thomas’ time trial from the team bus.
I ended up in 5th place, 5’08 slower than the winner, but I did a positive experience during the stage as I managed to catch and pass Yann Huguet, who is normally a better time trialist than me. I think it’s the first time ever I catch a rider in a time trial, if I remember correctly.
Catching Huguet along the route.
Shortly after me it was CSC’s LL Sanchez who took the lead, from Jurgen van den Broeck who had had the lead for some time, only to have his bettered by more than a minute and half by Sanchez. Then a bit later Hagen hit the course and he had a great day as he went provisional 2nd.
We move into the Top 20 now. Vladimir Karpets were very invisible during the first two weeks of the Tour but in the Pyrenees he finally found his climbing legs. He took a great 4th place today and will finish 13th in the GC.
Danilo Di Luca had his race saved by his nothing less than amazing Stage 11 Victory after a solo ride of 150 kilometres. He finished 55th today and will take overall 16th.
Kim Kirchen has been an incredible helper for Thomas in the mountains and he is one of the reasons Thomas is in the position he is now. 24th on the stage and a good 14th place in the GC makes for a fantastic Tour for Kim.
Robert Gesink dropped his GC credentials this year and went successfully for the Polka Dot Jersey after some amazing solo rides in the mountains. He goes 17th today and finishes in 12th overall.
Linus was no doubt Thomas best helper in the mountains and in the Alps in particular as Linus faded a bit in the last week of the race. Still he successfully defended a well-earned 9th place in the GC today. Great Tour de France for Linus.
One of the biggest surprises in the GC this Tour was no doubt Javier Moreno. Having earlier showed glimpses of his potential in La Vuelta, he today finished 18th and defended a brilliant 8th place overall.
Andy Schleck’s first half of the Tour was awful and that cost him a place on the podium most likely as he was outstanding during the Pyrenees stages. On today’s time trial he finished 14th and secured 7th overall. Overall disappointing.
According to me, Trent Lowe of Garmin delivered the biggest surprise of the Tour as he rather unnoticed sneaked home an overall 6th place mainly by just not being dropped in the mountains. 15th place today and overall 6th.
You didn’t really notice he was there, but somehow Cadel Evans scored another Top 10 result in the Tour de France as his bid for the victory finally seems to be over for the veteran. 12th place today and 5th overall.
Bauke Mollema has managed to keep his form since finishing 2nd in Tour de Suisse and being just one minute behind 3rd place John-Lee Augustyn his chances of finishing on the podium in Paris were quite good.
John-Lee Augustyn has been one of the most entertaining riders during this Tour. Being a pure climber he really animated the mountain stages and he came close to grabbing an incredible victory at Ax-3-Domaines, but just missed out. Unfortunately he had to see his podium spot slip today as Mollema beat him by more than 2 minutes, to make it 2 Ducthmen in the Top 3. A shame for Augustyn, who surely deserved the podium spot.
Time for the main even of the time trial. I was sitting in the team bus at the TV with Mark, Brad, Løvkvist and Dominique with the others still out on the course. This is it. 18 seconds stands between Thomas and the overall victory in the Tour de France. This was going to be nerve-wrecking.
At the first check it was looking very good for Thomas as he had already taken 15 seconds on the Spaniard. No-one had been able to match LL Sanchez yet, not even Thomas.
At the second check with 14 kilometres to go, Contador had pulled back the deficit as they were both 1’16 slower than LL Sanchez! Had Dekker over-extended himself? The atmosphere in the team bus was hitting a low at this point, but with 14 kilometres to go things could still happen. Thomas caught Augustyn with 9 to go!
The final indication would be at the finish line and apparently Thomas had absolutely blitzed the last part of the stage as he was just 15 seconds slower than LL Sanchez on the finish line. Dekker’s Time: 1h10’40!
Could Contador match the change in pace of Dekker?
He could not! At the home stretch it was quickly clear as his time expired the magical 1h10’58 with still about one kilometer to go! Contador’s time: 1h12’16! Dekker has won the Tour de France as we went completely ballistic in the team and rushed out to congratulate him. After three consecutive years of Top 4 Results he has finally won it! And I’m on winning team in Le Tour de France in my first year here. Amazing. Dekker of course has to complete tomorrow’s stage, but in all honestly, We’ve won Le Tour de France!!!!
(Sorry A_Schcleck)
