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Dominik Nerz: The Next Level
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| baia |
Posted on 05-01-2012 23:14
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Great read,great report...you too have lots of work here...wish you good luck and maybe Liquigas will have more then 1 stage win...my feelling..Rojas wins at least 2 stages...
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| roturn |
Posted on 06-01-2012 01:02
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cunego59 wrote:
@ roturn: Didn't know it was yours. I played 15 stages already and can say that it's a very nice variant. Very enjoyable to play. So thanks for that  And about Farrar: When I made the preview, I was very surprised as well. Didn't expect that development. Random potential
It`s the 2008 Tour won by Sastre. So weaker time trialist can still win there.
I really like this year as the hilly first stage is different to the typical prologue and also the Super-Besse and Alpe d`Huez stage are nice. |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 11:16
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.
 July 4 – Tour de France
Stage 1
Well that's a surprise: The first stage was decided from a break! Twelve riders with strong puncheurs like Pozzato or Langeveld got away and never were caught again. On the last ascent, the latter took the lead and kept it until the line. A great success for GreenEdge, who now wear the first yellow jersey of this year's Tour.
| 1 |  Sebastian Langeveld | GreenEdge Cycling | 4h38'25 | | 2 | Anthony Geslin | Saur – Sojasun | s.t. | | 3 |  Xavier Florencio | Lampre – ISD | s.t. |
Stage 2
On stage two, we then saw the first mass sprint of the year. As expected, Tyler Farrar and Mark Cavendish were right up at the front. Farrar won due to a great lead out by Hushovd. Cavendish eventually only finished third as Joaquin Rojas could slip in between them. Simone Ponzi disappointed with a 14th spot. Also, Anthony Geslin overtakes the yellow jersey as he was better positioned today than Langeveld.
| 1 |  Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin – Cervélo | 3h47'24 | | 2 | José Joaquin Rojas | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 3 |  Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | s.t. |
Stage 3
Another mass sprint was expected, another mass sprint happened. This time, Mark Cavendish had the better end on his side: After Ciolek's great lead out, he kept his lead until the end. His former team mate André Greipel completed the podium. Simone Ponzi improved and finished seventh.
Due to the imense speed on the last kilometers, the pack splitted and some riders got caught behind. Most prominent: Alexandre Vinokourov. But especially the young riders were affected: Sicard, Urán, Geniez – all lost more than two minutes. Only Rein Taaramäe finished within the winner's time and underlined his favorite's role.
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | 4h31'33 | | 2 | Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin – Cervélo | s.t. | | 3 |  André Greipel | Omega Pharma – Lotto | s.t. |
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General Classification after Stage 3:
| 1 | Anthony Geslin | Saur – Sojasun | 12h57'22 | | 2 |  Filippo Pozzato | Katusha Team | + 23 | | 3 |  Nico Sijmens | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | + 33 | | 4 | Gert Dockx | Omega Pharma – Lotto | s.t. | | 5 | Jérôme Pineau | Quick·Step Cycling Team | + 1'03 | | 6 | Sébastien Joly | Saur – Sojasun | + 1'29 | | 7 | Philippe Gilbert | Omega Pharma – Lotto | s.t. | | 8 | Simone Ponzi | Liquigas – Cannondale | + 1'43 | | 9 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel – Euskadi | s.t. | | 10 | Alessandro Ballan | BMC Racing Team | s.t. |
Comment:
Well, not much happened so far. The first stage sure was a surprise. For us, Simone Ponzi isn't really convincing yet, although his seventh spot on stage 3 was satisfying. Personally, I think it's nice to see a Frenchman in yellow. Of course, the GC has no importance at all at the moment.
The intermediate results of the other classifications will be posted from the next report on, but nothing happened yet so I didn't think it was worth the work. |
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| alexanderlens |
Posted on 06-01-2012 11:35
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Good job by Langeveld.
Guess who's back? 
Lets see how many friens are still around... |
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| baia |
Posted on 06-01-2012 12:27
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Nice to see Ponzi there....Rojas almost did it...
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| dienblad |
Posted on 06-01-2012 12:58
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Great job by Langeveld, and the 2 best sprinters are fighting for the maillot verde!
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| Alakagom |
Posted on 06-01-2012 16:13
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Great job in the report, entertaining to read
Tour already looks interesting, at last sprinting is great with Cavendish and Farrar already taking stage apiece. Ponzi definitely improved on stage 3 and hope he will improve more
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 21-11-2024 21:47
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 16:15
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Nice to see Ponzi inside the top ten |
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| fcancellara |
Posted on 06-01-2012 16:24
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This will be a promising Tour, with already a surprising victory in the first 3 stages! (Langeveld )
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 18:05
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Thanks (once again ) for all the kind comments. Langeveld's success, the big duel of the sprinters... It looks indeed like an entertaining Tour. Here are the next three stages: |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 18:06
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.
July 7 – Tour de France
Stage 4
The time trial should be a first indication for the rider's shape. One guy doesn't seem to have one at all: Fabian Cancellara, who finished disappointingly on the sixth place, more than a minute behind today's winner Bradley Wiggins. The Britain overtakes the yellow jersey. Luis Leon Sanchez surprised with a strong third spot right in front of Alberto Contador, who underlines his ambitions.
Janez Brajkovic finished decently good on place 11, 1'23 off, and three seconds in front of Samuel Sanchez. Robert Gesink loses 1'48 on Wiggins. Andy Schleck rides mediocrely and finishes 52th, losing three minutes to Wiggins, about the same amount of time as Ivan Basso and Igor Anton, who finished close behind him.
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | 37'40 | | 2 | Tony Martin | Team T-Mobile | + 16 | | 3 | Luis Leon Sánchez | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 21 |
Stage 5
On the longest stage of this year's Tour, the sprinter teams soon took contol and no break stood any chance. The mass sprint showed again that we have two superior sprinters here: Tyler Farrar celebrates his second stage win in front of Mark Cavendish.
Due to the long stage and the high speed towards the end, the pack split. Among others, the likes of Jurgen Van den Broeck, Christophe Le Mevel and Luis Leon Sanchez were caught behind and lost six minutes!
Two fun facts: Today, we saw the first abandoning rider: Sky's Nicholas Walker crashed and wasn't able to continue the race. Apart from that, we have a huge favorite for the lantern rouge: Astana's neo pro Pavel Andreev finished last on every (!) stage so far and is already 1h'16 behind the yellow jersey. Second to last, Matthew Busche, has only a deficit of about 13 minutes.
| 1 | Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin – Cervélo | 5h00'05 | | 2 | Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | s.t. | | 3 | Tom Boonen | Quick·Step Cycling Team | s.t. |
Stage 6
We had both Thomas Peterson and Simone Ponzi in the break but it wasn't meant to be. Despite some late attacks, a group of 40 including all overall favorites sprinted for the win on the last ascending kilometers.
Soon, three riders went clear: Robert Gesink, Alberto Contador and Samuel Sanchez pulled away. And the latter scored the win! Contador comes in second. Those three managed to get a 14 seconds gap to their four chasers Rodriguez, Schleck, Anton and Basso. Another 19 seconds behind finish the big group with the rest of the favorites, among them Brajkovic and Kreuziger, who couldn't do anything today.
| 1 | Samuel Sanchez | Euskaltel – Euskadi | 4h55'10 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | s.t. | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. |
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General Classification after Stage 6:
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | 23h32'33 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 4 | | 3 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel - Euskadi | + 56 | | 4 |  Richie Porte | GreenEdge Cycling | + 1'02 | | 5 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 1'15 | | 6 | Andreas Klöden | Team T-Mobile | + 1'23 | | 7 | Michael Rogers | Sky ProCycling | s.t. | | 8 |  Janez Brajkovic | Liquigas - Cannondale | + 1'26 | | 9 | Levi Leipheimer | Unicef - Oracle | + 2'03 | | 10 |  Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | + 2'05 |
Sprint Classification:
| 1 | Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin - Cervélo | 128 | | 2 | Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | 117 | | 3 | José JoaquÃn Rojas | Movistar Team | 89 |
Mountain Classification:
| 1 | Yann Huguet | Skil - Shimano | 6 | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel - Euskadi | 5 | | 3 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | 3 |
Young Classification:
| 1 | Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | 23h34'38 | | 2 |  Rigoberto Urán | Sky ProCycling | + 3'00 | | 3 | Cyril Gautier | Team Europcar | + 3'36 |
Comment:
So, we have the first indications for the shape of the favorites. Sanchez, Gesink and especially Contador made good impressions. For us, Janez Brajkovic raised hopes for more with his good time trial, he already is among the Top 10, a result he hopefully conserves. Just Simone Ponzi still lacks of good performances. But there are still plenty of flat stages where he can show his potential. |
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| alexanderlens |
Posted on 06-01-2012 18:14
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Robert on 5th. Janez is doing good! Good luck!
Guess who's back?
Lets see how many friens are still around... |
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| fcancellara |
Posted on 06-01-2012 18:15
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What is Kreuziger's GC position?
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| dienblad |
Posted on 06-01-2012 19:30
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Brajkovic in 8th so far is good. Hope you can climb to the top 5.
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| baia |
Posted on 06-01-2012 19:38
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Nice..but still too early...
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| FuglsangxTH3 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 20:45
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A great classification for Brajkovic
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| Neillster |
Posted on 06-01-2012 23:33
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Brajkovic is looking good. Great to see Wiggins in le maillot jaune! At this point I'll only accept him losing it to Brajkovic! |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 06-01-2012 23:35
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Brajkovic looking good in the GC |
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 07-01-2012 19:10
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.
July 7 – Tour de France
Stage 7
Roman Kreuziger did a first attempt to get some mountain points and was rewarded with two points from the first sprint, but then he got caught again. A five men break then broke free and gained minute by minute until they were way out of reach for the pack. Eventually, they finished almost 10 minutes in front of the 45 riders behind them.
Samuel Dumoulin was the fastest in the end and provided the first French stage win of this Tour. Runner-up was stage 1 winner Sebastian Langeveld in front of Mikael Cherèl.
In the fight for the overall, Cadel Evans, Samuel Sanchez, Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck got a big dampener on their hopes as they missed a split on the biggest climb of the day and lost almost three minutes. Brajkovic therefore advances to sixth overall, Kreuziger is on ten. Also, Fabian Cancellara crashed and had to abandon today.
| 1 | Samuel Dumoulin | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | 4h17'48 | | 2 | Sebastian Langeveld | GreenEdge Cycling | s.t. | | 3 | Mikael Chérel | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. |
Stage 8
Matthew Busche made it into the break because we hoped for another coup like yesterday's break had. But of course that didn't happen. So it all looked like a mass sprint when 5 kms to go, a couple of riders around Juan Antionio Flecha attacked. They got away and opened a small gap but ultimately were swallowed by the sprinters.
T-Mobile provided Cavendish with fantastic lead out by Eisel and Ciolek and today, Tyler Farrar lacked a bit of luck and / or attentiveness, as he started the sprints about five bike lenghts behind the Manx Missile. He again had the highest end speed but Cav's advance was too big and celebrates his second stage win. He's now only one point behind Farrar in the points classification.
Denis Galimzyanov surprised with a strong third spot after catching Cavendish's wheel while Simone Ponzi continues to fail, today finishing 23rd after a complete lack of orientation in the sprint preparation.
| 1 | Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | 4h02'58 | | 2 | Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin – Cervélo | s.t. | | 3 |  Denis Galimzyanov | Katusha Team | s.t. |
Stage 9
The first really hard mountain stage, and already Contador shows who is the man and wins the stage. But from the beginning:
A large break including mostly classic specialists went off but was already caught shortly behind the intermediate sprint, where Cavendish took one point to draw level with Farrar. Then, Roman Kreuziger underlined his ambitions for the mountain jersey by taking both small sprints and thus three points.
Under the lead of Sky, the pack did a very easy pace up the first real mountain. Shortly from the top, Kreuziger attacked but was closely overtaken by yellow jersey Wiggins, who surprisingly countered his attack. Nevertheless, tomorrow will be Kreuziger's first day in the polkadot jersey. On the last ascent and the descent, he then slowed down a lot to fall back in the GC so that the other teams might allow him to go on a bigger break to collect more mountain points.
On the last climb we saw a first hint regarding the overall. After a very early attack by Alberto Contador, three more riders crossed the top alongside the Spaniard: Robert Gesink, Andy Schleck and Nicolas Roche. On the following descent, however, a group of 12 could catch up with them. In the following sprint, Contador had the best ending though, as mentioned above.
Unfortunately, Janez Brajkovic wasn't present in that first group. He tried to cover Contador's first attack and overpowered. He lost 2 minutes and falls back to 10th. Also, Ivan Basso collapsed completely. He finished in one of the last grupettos and lost 36 minutes. He must be sick or something.
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | 5h42'07 | | 2 |  Nicolas Roche | AG2R La Mondiale | s.t. | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. |
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General Classification after Stage 9:
| 1 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | 37h45'14 | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Movistar Team | + 4 | | 3 | Robert Gesink | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 1'15 | | 4 | Andreas Klöden | Team T-Mobile | + 1'23 | | 5 | Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | + 2'05 | | 6 |  Ryder Hesjedal | Team Garmin – Cervélo | + 2'31 | | 7 | Igor Antón | Leopard – Trek | + 2'44 | | 8 | Richie Porte | GreenEdge Cycling | + 3'15 | | 9 | Nicolas Roche | AG2R La Mondiale | + 3'19 | | 10 | Janez Brajkovic | Liquigas - Cannondale | + 3'39 |
Sprint Classification:
| 1 | Tyler Farrar | Team Garmin - Cervélo | 163 | | 2 | Mark Cavendish | Team T-Mobile | 163 | | 3 | Tom Boonen | Quick·Step Cycling | 100 |
Mountain Classification:
| 1 |  Roman Kreuziger | Liquigas – Cannondale | 13 | | 2 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky ProCycling | 10 | | 3 | Nicolas Roche | AG2R La Mondiale | 10 |
Young Riders Classification:
| 1 | Rein Taaramäe | Cofidis, le crédit en ligne | 37h47'19 | | 2 | Rigoberto Urán | Sky ProCycling | + 6'06 | | 3 | Cyril Gautier | Team Europcar | + 12'42 |
Comment:
Bit of an up and down, these three stages. First, Brajkovic improves his GC chances a lot as Sanchez, Basso, Evans and Schleck all fail in positioning themselves. But then, Ponzi agains fails to deliver in the sprint, and finally, Brajkovic lost quite a lot on a stage where we hoped he would be able to compete well. But at least, Kreuziger is doing well on his quest for the polkadots.
Meanwhile, Alberto Contador strengthens his role as the top favorite with every stage. He looks really strong and except for Robert Gesink, all the other favorites lost already a lot of time! Bradley Wiggins, on the contrary, does really well so far. He might be one of the big surprises. Also, the sprint classification is extremely exciting! With his stage win, Cavendish drew level with Farrar! We can expect a nice battle in the upcoming stages. |
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 07-01-2012 19:17
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GREAT Kreuziger in the K.O.M lead |
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