Latest Edition Cycling News, Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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Date published:

July 15, 22:00

• Tour jury overturn 15 second deficit from stage ten

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 14:23

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  Leipheimer and Wiggins return to 4th and 5th on GC

  The Tour de France race jury took the decision on Wednesday morning to cancel the 15 second deficit that had opened in the peloton in the final kilometres of stage 10 to Issoudun.

  Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) had found themselves caught in the second group yesterday. However, today's decision to nullify the time gap returns the riders to 4th and 5th on general classification, respectively.
   

  Revised general classification after stage 10

  1	Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale	39:11:04
  2	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana	0:00:06
  3	Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana	0:00:08
  4	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana	0:00:39
  5	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream	0:00:46
  6	Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana	0:00:54
  7	Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC	0:01:00
  8	Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream	0:01:24
  9	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	0:01:49
  10	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas	0:01:54
  11	Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne	0:02:16
  12	Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia - HTC	0:02:21
  13	Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	0:02:25
  14	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas	0:02:40
  15	Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale	0:02:45
  16	Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team	0:02:52
  17	Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:03:02
  18	Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto	0:03:07
  19	Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia - HTC	0:03:16
  20	Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha	0:03:49

• Tour's yellow jersey payback for Nocentini's sacrifices

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 17:55

  By:

  Gregor Brown

  Five days and counting for Italy's Nocentini

  Rinaldo Nocentini has spent five days so far in cycling's most recognised jersey, the maillot jaune. It has given him more popularity and satisfaction than any other win in 11 years of professional cycling.
  
  "I have given it all to cycling and I have never been able to do much with friends," said Nocentini. "When I would go to bed, they were heading out. But, when you arrive at a moment like this, with the yellow jersey on your back, you are satisfied."
  
  The 31-year-old Italian formed part of a nine-man escape group in Friday's stage to Arcalís. Brice Feillu won, but Nocentini gained enough time to take the general classification lead from Fabian Cancellara.
  
  He survived last weekend's two Pyrenean stages to carry the yellow jersey into Monday's rest day. This week's stages are perfect for sprinters and escapes, allowing Nocentini to keep the jersey. He will face his first major challenge Friday on the road to Colmar. The 200-kilometre stage includes two major climbs and the Col du Firstplan climb 20.5 kilometres from the finish.
  
  "I hope that one more time an escape goes clear. My team is strong and can take control of the race. I don't know if the favourites will start a war on the final second category climb, if so I hope I can respond well."
  
  If Nocentini passes Friday's stage with the yellow jersey he could finally lose it on Sunday's stage. The riders face a 207.5km test that ends with an 8.8km climb to Verbier. Second behind Nocentini in the overall classification by six seconds is 2007 Tour winner, Alberto Contador.
  
  Nocentini has won 12 races as a professional, which includes the famous Mont Faron climb at the Méditerranéen Tour in 2007 and a stage at the Tour of California this year. He became the first Italian to lead the Tour de France since Alberto Elli in 2000.

• Zabel and Moncassin recall their sprint rivalry

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 17:59

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Former Tour combatants discuss today's sprinters

  Former sprinters Erik Zabel and Frederic Moncassin recalled memories of their duels in the 1990s when they spoke at the start and finish of stage 11 from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau.

   

  Unlike their famous sprint finishes when they clashed for Gan and Telekom, respectively, the two agreed that the finish in Saint-Fargeau suited Thor Hushovd and Oscar Friere over the eventual winner Mark Cavendish. However Moncassin, who won two stages in the 1996 Tour and was once headed butted by Zabel during a sprint, went further, picking Hushovd as his favourite for the green jersey.

  "Thor is my favourite," said Moncassin at the départ in Vatan. "He’s better than Cavendish on the climbs. Cavendish is good on the flat sprints but in the mountains it’s very difficult for him to gain points. You look at a guy like Thor, and as a sprinter he pretty much has it all. He can use his power on the flat, in the hills and get over the mountains in good condition. I don’t think Cavendish, for all his speed, can quite do that. If you want a prediction I’d even go so far as saying that the green jersey will be decided before the final stage into Paris."

  At the finish, Zabel, who is now part of the Columbia-HTC set up, agreed that the final straight wasn’t best suited to Cavendish’s skills after the Manxman was beaten in the uphill sprint in Barcelona: "Barcelona was a different sprint in that it was longer and steeper but I still thought that today was better for someone like Friere or Hushovd and that it was a bit too steep. But Cavendish did it with a perfect lead-out from his train. They did a super job once again."

  Moncassin, meanwhile, lamented on the lack of sprinting talent at this year’s race, something that he believes wasn’t the case during his and Zabel’s pomp. "I don’t think there are many sprinters in the Tour this year. Once you look past Hushovd and Cavendish there is Farrar, who is okay, Boonen is misfiring and Friere isn’t as strong as he was last year. Cavendish is the best pure sprinter here but there isn’t that much competition."

  On the topic of Boonen, who is without a stage win this year, Moncassin gave a glimmer of hope: "For Boonen it’s difficult. Before the race he didn’t know if he was going to be here or not and that would have effected his preparation. Saying that, I think that he can ride himself into form as he’s getting racing miles in his legs each day. He’ll be a real force for the Champs Elysees. That’s a realistic goal for him."

  Moncassin, who now works for French media also hit out at the lack of French sprinters in this year’s race. "The best French sprinters are Sebastian Chavanel and Jimmy Casper but neither of them is here. Now the best French hope in the sprints is Romain Feillu, but he’s not a thoroughbred sprinter. He can go for hot spot sprints but in the final kilometres he’s not the type of guy who can win against Cavendish or Hushovd."

   

• Freire searches for technical sprint finish

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 18:29

  By:

  Gregor Brown

  Cavendish's Columbia train too much for Freire

  Oscar Freire needs a technical finale to overcome Mark Cavendish's team and to win his first stage win in the 2009 Tour de France. He finished fourth in Saint-Fargeau today behind Cavendish, who won his fourth stage of this year's race.
  
  "It is almost impossible to do a really good sprint when you start nearly 20 metres behind the front riders. It was the perfect finish line for me, but I was in a bad position," Spain's Freire told Cyclingnews.
  
  Team Columbia-HTC made sure to keep its leader Cavendish near the front of the group. It led the race and forced others to follow behind for the final 10 kilometres. Cavendish finished the work of his team on the slight uphill finish with a win. Tyler Farrar finished second, Yauheni Hutarovich third and Freire fourth.
  
  "I am on good form, but now there is a really good team that makes the difference," said Freire. "When you find a team like Columbia with Cavendish it is almost impossible."
  
  Freire has won four Tour de France stages and the green sprinters jersey in last year's race. He is also the winner of three world championships.
  
  Cavendish is the faster finish of the two, but Freire excels when there are many curves and a slight ascent in the finish. After the race climbed the 2115-metre Tourmalet Sunday, Freire finished first in the group sprint seconds behind a two-man escape. Tomorrow's stage to Vittel and Saturday's stage to Besançon are both difficult finishes and may be his last chances in this year's race.
  
  "If there is a very difficult stage then maybe I can win a stage. I think tomorrow's stage could be a little bit harder on the other sprinters."
  
  Freire's last Tour de France stage was one year ago in Gap. He won his first stage in 2002 when he raced for Mapei. He won two stages in 2006 with his current team, Rabobank.

• Wegelius: I'm pleasantly surprised with my Tour

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 18:37

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Briton says best is yet to come from Evans

  At the start of today’s stage in Vatan, British rider Charley Wegelius expressed surprise with his form in the Tour de France and hinted that the best was yet to come from both his team leader, Cadel Evans, and the race itself.

  Wegelius was signed by Silence-Lotto at the end of 2008 after three years with the Italian Liquigas team. His tenure at Liquigas had followed on from stints at De Nardi and Mapei – where he rode with Evans for the first time. However Wegelius, who has forged himself a reputation as a dogged worker and solid climber, was surprisingly left out of Silence-Lotto’s initial Tour team. He was given an eleventh hour reprieve when Tomas Dekker was dropped due to proceedings against him under the UCI's biological passport program.

  "It’s going okay," said Wegelius. "There are some stages coming up where I could get in break before the mountains, but considering I’m so incredibly slow at sprinting I put my chances at winning a stage at quite low. But I think the best is yet to come from the race and also from Cadel," Wegelius told Cyclingnews. Wegelius has, incidentally, never won a road race in his nine-year professional career, despite chalking up two wins in team time trials with Liquigas.

  And in spite of his last-minute call-up, Wegelius is finding the Tour easier than expected. "I am pleasantly surprised with my Tour. The fact that I didn’t know I was going to ride meant I took it quite easy in the build up. That was quite a good thing to do instead of desperately trying to train at the last minute. Maybe it played in my favour. But the key at the Tour isn’t about getting stronger, it’s about getting tired as slowly as possible" he said.

  Despite the relaxed demeanour Wegelius was willing to take a pop at the cycling press. "Typically, they made a big deal that Cadel lost 36 seconds in the cross winds earlier in the race but they didn’t pick up the fact that he gained time yesterday [ed - this was eventually overturned]. The press is a being in itself," he said with a wry grin, "but the atmosphere in the team is good and we’re sticking to our plan. I don’t read the press to be honest and nor do I go online that much, as it’s just a waste of energy. I won’t talk tactics either. You can watch tactics on the television."

  This is Wegelius’s first Grand Tour with a non-Italian team and he compared the experience of riding for Liguigas at the Tour to that with Silence-Lotto. "Obviously riding the Tour with Liquigas isn’t the same as riding it with Lotto or Cadel, who is the centre of attention here. I’d compare it with riding the Giro with Liquigas."
   

• Cavendish defends against charge of racism

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 18:58

  By:

  Richard Moore

  "The nationality of the rider is irrelevant if I’m going to get arsy with someone."

  In his stage winner’s press conference Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) brushed off a story that appeared in Wednesday’s L’Equipe, claiming that an unnamed French rider had described the British rider as "racist" and "anti-French."

  "I think I’m a bit hot headed some times," said Cavendish, "but it’s irrelevant the nationality of the rider if I’m going to get arsy with someone."

  Aware that this didn’t quite clear the story up, he added: "I was shown the article [and] I had to laugh. I’m not like this, and people who know me know I’m not like this.

  "It would have been nice to have the name of the writer, or the rider who supposedly gave this quote, and I could have spoken to him about it," continued Cavendish. "I spoke to some French riders today, to see what the reaction was."

  His shrug suggested that their reaction hadn’t given him any reason to worry. "When you’re a rider," he said, "[and] when you have a public profile, you know that’s going to be the situation with the press – sorry if that offends everybody. It’s gonna be like that.

  "I take it as a compliment that they’re going to try and start shit about something that’s not about bike riding. They can’t criticise my bike riding.

  "I made an effort this winter to try and learn French," he continued. "I’m still not confident to speak it, but to be asked questions in French, then answer in English – I’m able to do that.

  "I love to come here and race," he shrugged again. "I love to be here."

  One of Cavendish’s best weapons is the self-deprecating sense of humour that he sometimes displays, which he deployed here to counter the accusation of racism – and also, perhaps, another of the unnamed rider’s claims, that he is "arrogant."

  "For sure I’m going to get arsy at some riders, because, you know, I’m an asshole," said Cavendish. "But it’s irrelevant their nationality, and irrelevant what they look like, or where they come from. Because, like I said, I’m an asshole.

  "But I didn’t say [what the article alleged] and, really, I’d love to find out the situation," he added. "I have to laugh and brush it off my shoulders, the damage is done now: half of France has read this this morning. I just hope the person who wrote it and said it feels guilty."

• Pellizotti has his mind on the mountains

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 19:11

  By:

  Gregor Brown

  Liquigas rider refocuses his Tour objectives on polka dots

  Franco Pellizotti is looking to bring some of the success he enjoyed in this year's Giro d'Italia to his Tour de France with his aim on the polka dot climber's jersey. The Liquigas rider finished third overall in the Giro in May, but currently sits 49th in the Tour, nearly 16 minutes behind the yellow jersey - most of that time having been lost on one bad day in the Pyrenees on stage 8.

  While his hopes for a high finish in the overall classification at the Tour are over, Pellizotti has refocused his efforts on a stage win and the mountains jersey. "I want to escape and win one of the stages in the Alps. Those have a lot of mountain points and are beautiful days," he told Cyclingnews.

  Pellizotti is third overall in the mountains classification, 23 points behind Egoi Martínez. He took the majority of those points after an escape in Sunday's stage to Tarbes, which covered Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. He narrowly lost the stage to escape companion Pierrick Fédrigo.

  Pellizotti made his intentions clear today when he sprinted for mountain points on the category four Côte de Perreuse. He earned only one point because there was a two-man escape that took the maximum points.

  "Staying protected or making the sprint for third on a small mountain is the same. I missed the points on the first one because I hit my head in a crash. It caused me to misread the sign leading to the climb.

  "I will try on all of the mountains, even a single point could be decisive."

  Pellizotti believes his best opportunity of making an escape is Friday's stage to Colmar or Tuesday's stage to Bourg-St-Maurice. Both stages feature high mountains that award greater points.

  "I have to try to win a stage from an escape, like the other day to Tarbes. If I wait for the finish I am there with the favourites who are battling for the Tour de France, it is too difficult to stay with them."

  Should Pellizotti succeed in taking home the final prize for the best climber in the Tour, he would be the first Italian to do so since Claudio Chiappucci in 1992.

• Business as usual for Eisel

  

  Article published:

  July 15, 19:20

  By:

  Daniel Benson

  Columbia-HTC gets some help on stage 11

  For one rider at this year's Tour de France the race is becoming a little predictable. Day in, day out Bernhard Eisel’s radio crackles into action, orders from the team car come through and shortly afterwards his distinctive figure can be seen at the front of the bunch, punching out a fast tempo in his green shades and Columbia-HTC kit. Occasionally he’ll glance down to calculate the time and distance between the peloton and the break before re-adjusting his gaze and going back to work.

  "I signed my special contract to be at the Tour and was told straight away that I was going to France to work for the team. It’s the same for Bert Grabsch too. I wasn’t going to turn that down, I love the Tour de France and it’s brilliant to work together with the team we have and today we did it perfectly," Eisel said at the finish.

  A sprinter in his own right, Eisel has been a fundamental component in his team's delivery of Mark Cavendish to the line, so far resulting in four stage wins at this year’s Tour, including today’s stage from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau.

  "It was easy to control today with just two guys up there and even the other sprinters teams helped us a little bit today. I was surprised that they came up to help actually."

  During the first week of the Tour Columbia-HTC were forced to control the chase for breakaways, with no help coming from other teams who according to Eisel, had little ambition for the final sprints.

  "They left us alone in the first week and the beginning of this week too. They were saying: ‘Why should we help when Cavendish is going to win easily?’ I could understand that to some degree but if you give up trying and sprinting then you’ve already lost. But yesterday and today nearly every team came to the front to help us." The sight of Eisel imploring and encouraging other teams to help each time he swung off would have certainly helped.

  As for the battle for the green jersey Eisel feels that the tables may have now turned after Cavendish landed a sucker blow to his main rival, Thor Hushovd, winning his fourth stage on terrain many thought best suited the Norwegian.

  "We’ll see. The first big goal for Mark is getting to Paris. Four stages is obviously great and now Cervélo have to chase us instead of us chasing them. It’s advantage Columbia in that respect. It’s a different race for us now."